Stolen by the Wind Dragon Prince
Aria Winter Jade Waltz
Copyright @ 2020 by Aria Winter & Jade Waltz
Stolen by the Wind 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.- purplefallpublishing.com
Publisher’s Cataloging-in-Publication data
Names: Winter, Aria, author. | Waltz, Jade, author.
Title: Stolen by the wind dragon prince / Aria Winter & Jade Waltz.
Series: Elemental Dragon Warriors
Description: Purple Fall Publishing, 2020.
Identifiers:
ISBN: 978-1-64253-392-7 (pbk.)
978-1-64253-208-1 (ebook)
978-1-64253-357-6 (audio)
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 S76 2020| DDC 813.6--dc23
Cover Design by 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.
-AW
To My Husband,
Thank you for being my support and rock during this writing journey.
I love you!
-Jade
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
Chapter 23
Epilogue
Chapter 1
Skye
Everything is chaos as alarms blare through the ship. Thomas runs ahead of me, the flashing red lights casting a pink glow over his golden hair as we race down the corridor. Smoke fills the hallways, so thick I can barely see the ground ahead. Disembodied cries and screams echo behind us.
My heart hammers as the sounds of blaster fire pierce the air. The aliens must have already forced their way in through the hatch.
“Don’t look down, sis!” Thomas calls over his shoulder as he grips my hands firmly, pulling me along behind him. “We’re almost to the escape pods.”
Too late, I dart a glance at the floor. Bile rises in my throat at the dozens of burned, bloodied bodies haphazardly strewn around us.
An inhuman roar fills the air and a blast of light zings past my shoulder, hitting Thomas in the back of the head.
He crumples to the ground. The world slows as I drop to my knees beside him. Grasping his shoulder, I turn him toward me. His eyes are open but unseeing. A broken sob escapes me as I pull his head into my lap.
“No, Thomas.” My voice is barely a whimper. “No.”
I wake with a start. The fog of my nightmares slowly recedes as awareness trickles back into my mind. My gaze drifts to the flapping gray tarp in the gaping doorway, reminding me where I am.
I hate falling asleep. In my dreams, I relive Thomas’s death every night.
“You’re awake.” Lilly leans over me and takes my hand. Her long red hair spills over her shoulders as she studies me in concern. “How are you feeling?”
Numb. “I feel fine,” I lie and do my best to flash a convincing smile.
Her blue eyes narrow slightly. My best friend can always see right through me. “It gets easier, Skye. I promise it does.”
I know that. I lost my parents three years ago to the flu that swept through our colony ships. Yet somehow, I never thought I’d lose my brother as well. He’s only a year younger than me.
Tears sting my eyes but I blink them back as I correct myself. He was only a year younger than me.
Drawing in a deep breath, I lift my gaze to Lilly. “What’s the plan for today?”
I pull the tarp aside to follow her out of the escape pod. The dry, desert wind is cool against my skin, a sharp contrast to the burning orange sun in the sky overhead. The scarlet sand stretches out in all directions. Wisps of dry dust sweep across the dunes, filling the air with the strange scent of spice, reminiscent of cinnamon and nutmeg.
What a coincidence to find such a familiar smell on this desert world.
“I’m going to go check out that area today,” Lilly points off into the distance, toward the orange rock formations that rise from the endless sand. “If the soil is good there, we can plant some of the emergency seeds to establish a food supply. We might even be able to create a permanent settlement there. The towers and canyons should provide some protection in the event of a sandstorm.”
“How do you know sandstorms will be an issue?” Milo asks.
I turn and he greets me with a pained smile. Milo is my friend and Talia’s brother. He and Thomas are—I swallow thickly. They were the same age. They used to be practically inseparable on the ship.
Talia walks up beside him. “We don’t know—it’s just a guess. But it’s better to be safe than sorry. Besides,” she shrugs, “the escape pod is so busted up, it’s only a temporary shelter until we find something more permanent.”
A glance over my shoulder tells me that John doesn’t agree. Even though I was part of
