Excerpt of Apocalypse Dance by Michael Barnette
Book One of the Dragon Dance Cycle: Bells & Nikki
Release date TBA through Shadowfire Press


With the world population decimated by a mutated strain of Ebola civilization as we know it has gone down in ruin. Warlords rampage across what was once the United States of America, killing, raping and adding to the misery and horror that has swept the once proud nation.

Nikki, once on her way to becoming a brilliant doctor, is being sought as a concubine by Roderik, self-styled King of the Lone Star Empire.

Now it's up to Nikki, her friends and an enigmatic blond known only as Bells to end his reign of terror.

The problem is, Roderik is an Immortal Dragon, and only another Dragon can stop him.

"Come here," there was a distinctive growl in his tone as he pulled her gently into his lap and set his lips to hers in a kiss that scorched her to the bottom of her soul. It was a hungry, demanding, possessive kiss, and her body reacted strongly to his passion, nipples tightening while her mind reacted with panic. Roderik's brutal abuse was warring with her desire for the blond.

When he broke the kiss, Bells was breathing raggedly, eyes blazing, the irises very evidently glowing in the candlelight.

"I shouldn't have done that," he told her quietly as he turned his head away, the bells at the ends of his braids chiming sweetly.

Nikki stared at him, her heart pounding. Did she dare? Could she do it? Steeling her nerve, she said, "No. You shouldn't have." Grabbing a handful of his braids, she set her mouth to his, giving back as good as she'd gotten. Her lips parted, her tongue sliding along the seam of his lips which opened, giving her entrance. Bells was letting her be the aggressor, their tongues writhing in a seductive dance.

He pulled away, eyes alight. "Too many clothes," he said as he stripped off his shirt and tossed it aside. Before she could reciprocate he grabbed the bottom of her blouse and pulled it gently off over her head, his hands reaching behind her to free her breasts from the bra she was wearing.

Nikki gasped as his mouth closed over a peaked nipple, his tongue sweeping across the sensitive flesh while his hands sought the button and zipper of her jeans.

Part of her mind was sounding an alarm, whimpering in fear over what they were going to do. Roderik had been brutal, rough, his brand of sex more like the rutting of a beast than the act of a human being. And always he'd restrained her, held her helpless to his will. She was a thing to sate his appetite, not a person.

But Bells wasn't nearly as physically menacing as Roderik, who towered over her the same way Hawk did. No, the slim blond was only an inch taller at most, and he didn't have the unbelievably powerful musculature of the other man. He was fit and lean, a graceful athlete built for speed. Next to him, Roderik's bulky weightlifter's physique would look clumsy and ill-formed. He wasn't a tall man, but he was perfect in form, and far more beautiful than any man, Immortal or otherwise, had a right to be.

She kissed him, gripping his hair at the nape of his neck, seeing how long he'd let her have the dominant role.

* * *

His mind was telling him he shouldn't be doing what he was doing, but his body wanted more, and so did the powerful creature at the center of his being. The taste of her skin, the scent of her body inflamed him. He wanted to back away, leave the room, douse himself in a pool of ice water. He wanted to claim her, make the woman his as the Beast strained at the chains he'd bound it with. His mental control was battling the power of his own soul and part of him had to lose—either his mind, which was crying out against his desire, or the creature's passion. Both sides couldn't win.

Her mouth on his was hot and sweet. The salt of her tears added a poignancy to their kiss. It wasn't really him she wanted. It was the solace of pleasure, of human contact, and the closeness of warm skin on skin.

He couldn't deny her that comfort. Wouldn't because she needed him, if only for the moment. If only to ease her own pain. It would be enough. Would have to be enough because he couldn't risk letting It get free.

"Nikki..." he gasped her name, breaking their kiss to stare into her heated sable eyes. Her fingers were tangled in his braids, gripping them tightly. Under the passion there was a trace of fear, and he understood that someone had hurt her. A man had hurt her. And he knew who that man must be. Roderik.

Fury rose up from the darkest regions of his soul and he slammed down the emotion, a tremor running through him at the nearness of the disaster he'd barely curtailed. It was seething to get free, fighting for release. He focused on Nikki to cool the rage with another kind of emotion, one less caustic in its virulence. And for him unbridled desire was almost as dangerous as hate. Courting disaster on either hand, he would at least retain more conscious volition under the lash of passion than he'd retain under the driving fire of a murderous rage.

Going slowly, watching her eyes for any traces of panic, he pulled her jeans off, sliding his hands down her long legs, revealing creamy flesh, feminine perfection. Her sex was covered with a pair of silky pink panties, the color reminding him of the soft petals of a woman's inner folds. The delicate satin of her most tender flesh. He knelt in to dip his tongue into her navel, then stood slowly, drawing a line of damp flame up her stomach and across her right breast. Her hand was still locked tightly in his hair, pulling, adding a tiny hint of pain that added a piquancy to the desire heating him. It felt good and he wanted more.

He heard the catch of her breath. Saw the way her body shuddered, the nipples of her breasts peaking so tightly it looked like it should hurt. He drew the tip of his tongue around the areola, one hand pressed at the small of her back, holding her still for his exploration.

She tensed slightly and he eased his hold, sensitive to her reactions, both positive and negative, learning what she liked and what sent a dampening of desire through her on the wings of fear. He didn't want her to be afraid of him. He wanted her to know nothing but pleasure from his every touch, his every whispered breath across the silk of her skin.

"Bells..." she almost screamed his name as he closed his mouth around the stiffened nub, sucking, teasing it with the edges of his teeth.

Pulling away, he met her gaze. Awakened desire warmed her sable eyes. "Do you want this from me?"

"Yes!" There was no reservation or hesitation in her reply, nor in the way she kissed him afterward, her entire being seeking what he offered with the same intensity he had sought her. Her answer was as immediate as her need, and just as heated as his own.

"Good." He swept her up off her feet and lay her down on the bed, kissing her breasts and throat, easing his weight down on her a bit, gauging her reaction.

When she froze, a look of rising terror in her eyes, he understood what had been done to her. He shoved his own flash of wrath aside and raised himself off of her to shower her soft body with kisses, driving away the panic.

"Please, please," she gasped, fumbling with the button on his jeans.

Eyes burning, he left the bed, pulled his boots and pants off, his gaze locked on the beauty of her face, the perfection of her form. Female. Feminine. Delicate and beautiful. But she was strong of spirit. Capable. Courageous.

And he wanted her.

Coming November 7th, 2008 from Shadowfire Press