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SECRET CONTENT: #2
The Dragon Born Academy
Authors note:
*spoilers for Cracked Open.
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Originally, I had the opening scene of Hard Boiled between Ashe and his brother, Vaughn, to introduce him and also to get more insight into Ashe and his family. However, this scene didn't sit well with me, so I rewrote the prelude to include Corbin instead who takes a more compassionate approach with Ashe.
Deleted excerpt from Hard Boiled
Copyright T.L. Christianson 2021
ASHE
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If I allowed Vaughn to see what boiled inside me, then I’d break. Being twelve years older, he’d practically raised me. He’d been the one to bandage my injuries as a kid or cover for me to mom and dad. He’d been the one who’d had the birds and the bees talk with me before I went off to boarding school.
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In his thirties, Vaughn was married, had three children, and as a physician, owned his own Urgent Care Clinic in town.
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I needed to lose myself… and if it wasn’t in that bottle, then it would be between the legs of a willing woman.
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Instead, I was being questioned by my brother.
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“Fine. I’ll tell you what happened, but…”
He cut me off, his hand on my arm. “I won’t… I won’t judge you. You know that. But, by the ancestors Ashe - what were you thinking?” he whistled, and it sounded like something falling from the sky.
I frowned. “I thought you weren’t going to judge.”
Vaughn held his hands wide. “I’m trying not to.”
Taking the bottle from him, I took another swallow before gazing at him out of the corner of my eye. “Fine. I didn’t mean for it to happen.” I gazed down at my hands and sighed.
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How could I explain the instant heat between Sydney and me? The way she
warmed my blood with one look? The initial connection?
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My voice was raspy with emotion. I said, “I knew immediately that there was something between us. But I tired… I tried to ignore it.”
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“Hmmm… so you were in the cave at her ceremony? People say that Eondian broke free and nearly killed the girl. Did that really happen?” He asked quietly.
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I growled, “Not quite. He slipped my control, but I was ready to step in. Then yeah… Aaraeth appeared, and uh…”
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“It’s already legendary. Wow. A Prime bond.” Vaughn’s voice drifted in the warm night light as a feather.
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I rested my elbows on my knees as I gazed up at the sky at Eondian’s shadow in the distance.
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He stopped the bottle as I went to drink another gulp. “Don’t. Evgeni’s here and has been waiting to talk to you.”
Have you read all the books in this #1 bestselling series? Click the links to check them out!
The Dragon Born Academy
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Sunny Side Up
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Dragonborn
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Court of Sand and Dragons (coming 2023)
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Dragon Born Academy: Isla
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Impatient Inferno (coming 2023
Have you read my vampire series, Shades of Red?
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Shades of Red
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Carmine (stand-alone)
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Vermillion (stand-alone novella)
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Bloodthirsty Bastard (stand-alone)