Mad Lizard Mambo (35 page)
“You got your hairs in a knot when I sold a dead egg to a museum and nearly lost your mind over the dragon skeleton.” I pushed against him, catching a whiff of sweetness from his skin. “I can’t see you being too happy about what Tanic did to make me and probably the others. Because I wasn’t the only one. Just the only one that survived. Burying that slab? That’s just common sense. I’m
wrong
, Ryder. Fricking wrong on every level where the sidhe are concerned, and no one—
including me
—wants someone else to find that thing and make more monsters.”
“When are you going to believe me when I say you are not a monster? We revere dragons, consider them our cousins. How can I not revere you?”
He sighed, sliding his arm around my waist. It was a comfortable, casual touch. I didn’t do comfortable
or
casual touches, but Ryder seemed to need the contact.
“I don’t want anyone to use that magic for ill, but neither do I want you to believe I think you’re wrong.”
“That spell? Those rocks?” I nodded to the pile. “It’s all just a tool. Who wields that tool—and why—makes the difference. You know who else has that tool? Tanic. It’s already out there. He brought it over with him from Underhill. Aisla went looking for it, probably because he wouldn’t share it with her. Don’t put the stone back into the ground. Let your healer do her work. Trust your gut, Ryder. Give your people fat, happy babies.”
“And if someone takes that tool and abuses it?” he asked softly. “Then what?”
“That’s where I come in,” I answered. “Because that’s what I do. Maybe that’s what I’m meant to do.”
“Of all the things I have held, you are the most precious, the most treasured.” Ryder leaned into me. I let him rest his arm around my waist for a few moments before I began to pull away, but Ryder held on, refusing to let me go. “What if the one who abuses this power is me? What if—one day—I become what I hate the most? What if I become Tanic? Become Sebac? What will you do then?”
“Then I’ll kill you,” I promised gently. “Because you’d want me to. To protect your people. To protect your Court. And I’d do it quickly so you wouldn’t even feel a thing.”
“That is possibly the most romantic, sweet thing I have ever heard you say, Kai Gracen.” Ryder’s smile was a sensual slide of humor and desire, lightening the dark in his eyes. Kissing me softly on the edge of my mouth, he whispered, “And if that ever happens, I will love you even more for keeping that promise.”
The Kai Gracen Series: Book One
Ever since being part of the pot in a high-stakes poker game, elfin outcast Kai Gracen figures he used up his good karma when Dempsey, a human Stalker, won the hand and took him in. Following the violent merge of Earth and Underhill, the human and elfin races are left with a messy, monster-ridden world, and Stalkers are the only cavalry willing to ride to someone’s rescue when something shadowy appears.
It’s a hard life but one Kai likes—filled with bounty, a few friends, and most importantly, no other elfin around to remind him of his past. And killing monsters is easy. Especially since he’s one himself.
But when a sidhe lord named Ryder arrives in San Diego, Kai is conscripted to do a job for Ryder’s fledgling Dawn Court. It’s supposed to be a simple run up the coast during dragon-mating season to retrieve a pregnant human woman seeking sanctuary. Easy, quick, and best of all, profitable. But Kai ends up in the middle of a deadly bloodline feud he has no hope of escaping.
No one ever got rich being a Stalker. But then few of them got old either and it doesn’t look like Kai will be the exception.
Kismet Andreas lives in fear of the shadows.
For the young tattoo artist, the shadows hold more than darkness. He is certain of his insanity because the dark holds creatures and crawling things only he can see—monsters who hunt out the weak to eat their minds and souls, leaving behind only empty husks and despair.
And if there’s one thing Kismet fears more than being hunted—it’s the madness left in its wake.
The shadowy Veil is Mal’s home. As Pestilence, he is the youngest—and most inexperienced—of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, immortal manifestations resurrected to serve—and cull—mankind. Invisible to all but the dead and insane, the Four exist between the Veil and the mortal world, bound to their nearly eternal fate. Feared by other immortals, the Horsemen live in near solitude but Mal longs to know more than Death, War and Famine.
Mal longs to be… more human. To interact with someone other than lunatics or the deceased.
When Kismet rescues Mal from a shadowy attack, Pestilence is suddenly thrust into a vicious war—where mankind is the prize, and the only one who has faith in Mal is the human the other Horsemen believe is destined to die.
RHYS FORD
is a firm believer in love and let love, short walks to a coffee shop and having a spare cat or two. Most days she can be found swearing at her laptop and trying to come up with new ways to kill off perfectly good random characters.
Rhys Ford was born and raised in Hawaii then wandered off to see the world. After chewing through a pile of books, a lot of odd food, and a stray boyfriend or two, Rhys eventually landed in San Diego, which is a very nice place but seriously needs more rain.
Rhys admits to sharing the house with three cats of varying degrees of black fur, a black Pomeranian puffball and a ginger cairn terrorist. Rhys is also enslaved to the upkeep a 1979 Pontiac Firebird, a Toshiba laptop, and a purple Bella coffee maker.
Ink and Shadows
THE KAI GRACEN SERIES
Black Dog Blues
Mad Lizard Mambo
Published by
DSP PUBLICATIONS
www.dsppublications.com
“I devoured all 246 pages of it as quickly as I possibly could… Rhys strings descriptive prose together in a way that I loved.”
—Boy Meets Boy Reviews
“Dark, gripping, intense and imaginative… I thought this was a great read.”
—MM Good Book Reviews
“Rhys Ford is an artist; her words are dredged off the palette and brushed on the pages, creating a world that overwhelmed my senses for days after I read the last words.”
—The Novel Approach
“This author plunges you straight into a gritty scene that totally showcases her ability to create sounds, smells and the essence of a scene from mere words.”
—Sinfully… Addicted to All Male Romance
“This story is everything a fantasy should be… not only a fantastic story, its technically excellent and smartly edited. It’s definitely an example of the brilliance I’ve come to expect from Rhys Ford.”
—Love Bytes
“I'm in awe over this Urban Fantasy world that Rhys Ford has created and I want more!”
—Rainbow Book Reviews
Published by
DSP PUBLICATIONS
5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886 USA
www.dsppublications.com
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of author imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Mad Lizard Mambo
© 2016 Rhys Ford.
Cover Art
© 2016 Anne Cain.
Cover content is for illustrative purposes only and any person depicted on the cover is a model.
All rights reserved. This book is licensed to the original purchaser only. Duplication or distribution via any means is illegal and a violation of international copyright law, subject to criminal prosecution and upon conviction, fines, and/or imprisonment. Any eBook format cannot be legally loaned or given to others. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law. To request permission and all other inquiries, contact DSP Publications, 5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886, USA, or www.dsppublications.com.
ISBN: 978-1-63477-743-8
Digital ISBN: 978-1-63477-744-5
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016913069
Published September 2016
v. 1.0
Printed in the United States of America