Healed by the Earth Dragon Prince
Aria Winter Jade Waltz
Copyright @ 2021 by Aria Winter & Jade Waltz
Healed By The Earth Dragon Prince. All rights reserved under International and Pan American Copyright Conventions.
By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen.
No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the written permission of Aria Winter and Jade Waltz except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Published in the United States by Purple Fall Publishing. Purple Fall Publishing and the Purple Fall Publishing Logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Purple Fall Publishing LLC.
Publisher’s Cataloging-in-Publication data
Names: Winter, Aria, author. | Waltz, Jade, author.
Title: Healed By The Earth Dragon Prince / Aria Winter & Jade Waltz.
Series: Elemental Dragon Warriors
Description: Purple Fall Publishing, 2021.
Identifiers: ISBN:
978-1-64253-298-2 (pbk.)
978-1-64253-242-5 (ebook)
978-1-64253-476-4 (audiobook)
Subjects: LCSH Space exploration--Fiction. | Human-alien encounters--Fiction. | Dragons--Fiction. | Shapeshifting--Fiction. | Science fiction. | Romance fiction. | BISAC FICTION / Science Fiction / Alien Contact | FICTION / Romance / Science Fiction | FICTION / Romance / Paranormal / Shifters
Classification: LCC PS3623 .I6675 H43 2021 | DDC 813.6--dc23
Cover Design: Kim Cunningham of Atlantis Book Design
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Dedication
To my husband: Thank you for all your love and support. You are not just my husband, you are my best friend and my rock. I love you more than anything.
-Aria Winter
To My Husband,
Thank you for being my support and rock during this writing journey. I love you!
-Jade Waltz
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Epilogue
Chapter 1
Anna
Sirens blare and red lights flash across the corridors as we race through the ship. Terrified screams echo behind us. I wrap my arm tighter around Jarod’s waist as he leans heavily against me, dragging him toward the escape pods. His breathing is ragged as he tries to keep up. His arm around my shoulders grows heavier with each step. Normally, I wouldn’t dare move a patient with such a severe injury, but I don’t have a choice. I refuse to leave him behind.
“Leave me,” he rasps. “I’m not going to make it.”
“Don’t give up now,” I tell him, not bothering to slow down. “We’re almost there.”
An inhuman roar fills the air. The alien pirates have forced their way onto the ship. A blast of light zips past us, hitting the panel next to my head.
“Hurry!” a woman wails. “They’re coming!”
I look over my shoulder and gasp when yellow eyes with vertically slit pupils meet mine. Covered from head to toe in light-green scales, the alien raises his blaster and fires off a shot. The world shifts into slow-motion as light erupts from the barrel and races toward us.
Jared slams into my side, pushing me back against the wall and out of the path of the shot. I watch the blast hit Jarod square in the chest, horrified. He cries out and goes silent, crumpling to the floor.
“No!” I fall to my knees and lean over him, pressing my hands to his chest as if I can somehow stop the bleeding.
His eyes are wide and unfocused. He takes my hand weakly in his. “Go,” he barely manages.
Still in shock, I reach down and brush a lock of white hair from his brow, the blood on my hands streaking red through the strands. I cannot speak through my tears. Someone approaches to my right and I look up just in time to see the alien aim the blaster at Jarod’s head and fire.
“No!”
“Anna!” Holly’s voice rips me from my sleep. I jerk upright in bed and place my hand on my chest, trying to calm my pounding heart. Drawing in a deep breath, I look at my friend.
“I’m sorry I woke you,” she murmurs, “but you were having a nightmare. Are you all right?”
When I close my eyes, an image of Jarod’s lifeless form fills my mind. He was like a father to me after my parents died. I’ll never be all right again.
“Yeah,” I lie. “I’m fine. It was just a dream.”
I brush my long chestnut hair back from my face and throw my legs over the side of the bed. I hate this. Ever since alien pirates attacked our colony ships, there have been very few nights that I don’t relive the experience in my nightmares.
I pull on my long green robes. My friend Lilly gave them to me yesterday. She picked out this fabric for me because she said it matched my eyes. As I gaze at myself in the mirror, I believe she is right.
I glance around the room. The deep-orange and crimson brick walls of the apartment are a welcome sight, reminding me that we’ve left the colony ships behind. Ever since the Drakarians—the dragon-shifter aliens who inhabit this planet—of the Fire Clan found us in the desert, they’ve been nothing but kind, going out of their way to help us settle in their capital city, Valoria.
My friend Lilliana is now married—I mean, mated—to Prince Varus of the Fire Clan. I’ve spent enough time around them to see what a great guy she picked. He practically worships the ground that she walks on. When these Drakarians fall for someone, they fall hard.
Varus found Lilly when we were still in the desert. She had ventured from camp
