Lyons Gate: Nightmare Escape

Firic is a Druid king and a dragon trapped in a world in which his dragon magic sleeps and kings no longer live in castles or rule over peasants. Lacking his Valkyrie or an overking to swear fealty, he suffers from the darkness in the Druid magic and the inability to shift and fly. He tried living as just a man. He even had a mistress, but the magic called him to serve the Ghost High King. He followed the summons to Draoithe. Estelle Realtree almost got away. She fled the seedy underworld, a petty small-time crime-boss, and drug addiction. She sought a new chance with a personal assistant position and hoped to get lost in the Dallas, Texas cityscape. When she made a wrong turn and ran out of gas in the middle of nowhere, her only hope was to beg help from the wealthy land-owners behind the gate. Estelle had unknowingly strayed into the Leaindeail, the lace Firic was desperate to return to. Accosted by a couple of shifters seeking to target the immortals who lived at Draoithe, she finds herself in a magical trap after one shifter bit her. She was saved by a gargoyle and flown to safety by a vengeful royal dragon knight. Can she escape her nightmare by making a deal with a Druid dragon in the dream? If she thinks he will turn loose of his newfound treasure, she will have to think again.

Lyons Gate Nightmare Escape 1 Estelle How could she run out of gas? In the middle of the night? Did that even happen to real people? Estelle had goosebumps. The whole scene felt like something out of the horror films she refused to watch. There she was sitting on the side of the road. Her second-hand car was an older Mazda. It didn’t have a low fuel warning signal. Lenny’s blacked-out Lincolns were luxurious with bulletproof glass. They had all the bells and whistles. She was long past being desirous of luxury, but now things like that seemed as if they were more like necessities. She’d bought the Mazda for only a thousand dollars. She was damn near flat out of money within six weeks of leaving his sorry ass. It had been all she could afford. She had less than a hundred dollars to her name, and she had almost no hope of getting into Dallas in the morning for the job interview for the position she was in desperate need of. Not without a gas can and some help anyway. She’d get over the embarrassment. She needed help to get a job and a different life. If begging was her only choice... It was only a personal assistant position, but it would feed her. That was better than stripping or bartending. Now that was never happening either. Estelle refused to give up. She’d made it that far. She’d simply made a wrong turn somehow. It was still fixable. She’d worked with no sleep before. As long as she didn’t need to stand still all day, she should be fine. Estelle looked around her trying to get her bearings in the forest. There was nothing except for trees for miles and miles on either side of a road that only had a double yellow stripe down the center. It seemed to go on forever into more forest in both directions. On the left, the fencing along the road looked newer. It was the only sign of civilization. She pulled up a map of the area on her phone as she shrugged into a light sweater and saw a rather large building set behind the fencing. She decided to walk back. If it wasn’t too far, she’d make it. Maybe someone would be there and take pity on her. Her leg would ache, but she’d get over that. She’d passed a pretty ornate gate. Surely she could find someone who might help her at that big house or building. Servants, groundskeepers, a security guard, or something. She stepped out of the car. It was eased off the road far enough that it wouldn’t cause an accident. She’d made sure all the lights were off, and the windows were rolled up, then she locked the doors. Estelle looked both ways as she pocketed the keys in her jeans before she crossed the street. She began walking along the road back the way she came hugging herself. It was quiet. There were no other cars on the road, just her footsteps, and the crickets. Her phone read the time as a bit after one in the morning. She turned off the screen and pocketed it with her keys. It was her fault. She should’ve never gotten involved with Lenny. Two months after escaping that monster, Estelle was out of money, out of ideas, and nearly desperate. She refused to crawl back to him.