Hunted Warrior

Praise for The Dragon Kings

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“Piper did a great job setting up this new series with the first book, and this second knocks it out of the park. . . . The romance is swoonworthy, the sexual tension is red-hot, and it's suggested you find a chunk of free time or you'll be reading long into the night, unwilling to put this book down.”

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RT Book Reviews
(Top Pick!)

“Lindsey definitely knows how to stuff her books full of interesting characters and situations. . . . I absolutely loved Lindsey's writing (she's got talent!).”

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USA Today

“A very unique and definitely imaginative fantasy series . . . [with] vivid world-building, cryptic myth, and one-of-a-kind plot.”

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Talk Supe

“Piper creates a paranormal world that is unique and exciting. This is not your typical PNR book.
Blood Warrior
, and the entire Dragon Kings series, will take you on an adventure of epic proportions. Believe me when I say, it isn't something you want to miss!”

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Coffee and Characters

“Dramatic and packed with intensity. . . . The world of Dragon Kings is uniquely depicted with colorful details and characters with exceptional traits.”

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Single Titles

“A heart-pounding adventure from the very beginning. The paranormal world that Piper writes is fresh and multilayered.”

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Literati Literature Lovers

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“I loved it. Seriously one of my new favorite series. The characters were extremely well developed, and the world-building was solid and fierce.”

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USA Today

“This new series is off to a promising start, pairing paranormal elements with a gladiator setting. . . . Keep[s] pages turning at a fast clip, and the setup for future books is sure to have readers coming back for more.”

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RT Book Reviews

“Piper's gritty tale of survival and love will appeal to those who like blood-and-sweat fantasy and romance.”

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Booklist

“Fans of gritty paranormal romance will appreciate the strong and emotional story, which builds slowly to an exciting conclusion.”

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Publishers Weekly

“If you've become jaded toward serial paranormal romances, you should give the genre one last try.
Caged Warrior
is an excitingly fresh beginning to what promises to be a quality new series. The story is complex and demanding, the hero is both brutal and somehow innocent, and the premise, well, that's just insane. The plot has a really nice twist, a shock that occurs that'll have you dashing through the pages to find out what happens. Highly recommended.”

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All About Romance

“A fresh, innovative take in the world of the paranormal. . . . An excellent beginning for what looks to be a winning series.”

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Fresh Fiction

“I read this book in one sitting. I just couldn't make myself find a place to stop.”

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Fiction Vixen

“I was captivated from start to finish. . . . Lindsey Piper does an outstanding job making this new world vividly ingrained in your imagination and creating a story that will have you riveted to the pages.”

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Tome Tender Book Blog

“At its heart, this is the story of a mentor and his protégé—where both learn more than they expected from the exchange, and it helps them to grow and to fall in love. New fan girl obsession? Yup.”

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The Window Seat on a Rainy Day

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Available exclusively as an ebook!

“A must-read. . . . The perfect opportunity to jump into the series.”

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USA Today

“Darkly imaginative and exceedingly sexy.”

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Single Titles

“Blistering and brutal. . . . I can't wait to see this world expand.”

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All Things Urban Fantasy

“The world-building is incredible. . . . A compelling introduction to this series.”

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Fiction Vixen

“Fighting scenes, smoldering passion, and vibrant worlds are just some of what Piper has in store for you! Scenes are poignant and seething in detail. Piper has opened a door into a riveting new world that will have readers pleading for more.”

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Readaholics Anonymous

To NCW and RM.

We made it.

I am forever grateful to the following people for making this book possible: Lauren McKenna, Elana Cohen, Kevan Lyon, Cathleen DeLong, Tria Braun, Sarah Maudlin, Mary and Janet, Fedora Chen, Sarah Frantz Lyons, Ericka Brooks, Dave Schilz, the Group That Shall Not Be Named, Dennis and Kathleen Stone, and Keven, Juliette, and Ilsa Lofty. From confidante to life raft to compassionate professional, you've been there for me. I thank you.

CHAPTER

T
hey called her the Pet, but she didn't think of herself as a creature in need of protection, care, or condescension. She'd left that life behind. Neither was she a captive, as she picked her way through the ruins of a crumbling rock labyrinth on the island of Crete. How she'd come to be there was a story she didn't dare contemplate for fear of going mad. There was no rhyme, no reason, no guide other than the future she saw in bits and patches.

The sun was fierce and gorgeously freeing on the back of her neck. She was a Dragon King, and Dragon Kings loved fire. Most wouldn't admit how much the cold sunk under their skin and sapped their sense of near-invincibility. Maybe that was for the best. The would-be gods didn't realize that all empires ended, even those blessed with access to what humans would consider supernatural.

Turning to stare into the blinding white-yellow glare, she didn't bother to shade her eyes. Her second sight—the gift from the Dragon that gave her the ability to see the future—was always with her, no matter its unpredictability. A man sought her.

A man who hid his violence behind titles and lineage.

Time was slippery like moss on a riverbank. Time was slippery on her fingertips. Time was running out.

She continued her cautious journey through the abandoned ruins of ancient kings. The ground was strewn with pieces of the crumbled labyrinth. Once-high walls had been reduced by countless rains and droughts, decades and centuries, until all that remained were bleached waist-high spikes and jagged edges. There was nothing to grab should she fall—not without impaling her hand. Dragon Kings healed rapidly, but some damage was too much for even their advanced physiology to repair.

Archaeologists had long ago dubbed the site of little historic worth. Its condition was so deteriorated that they could gather little new information about the Minoans of Crete. How blinded they were. Humans suffered the hubris of a society that believed itself the most advanced to ever walk the earth. Any thought as to the Dragon Kings' existence was disregarded as fairy tales of Valkyries and Olympians and countless messiahs.

The woman called the Pet knew differently. All the myths were true. What was once, would be again.

The Chasm isn't fixed.

Why her predictions of the future had led her to Crete as a means of stopping the Dragon Kings' slow extinction was beyond her. She had to trust. She'd always needed to trust, when little in her life stood as an example of why to believe. Maybe her real gift from the Great Dragon wasn't the ability to see the future but to have faith in what she couldn't explain.

The labyrinth was waist-high, yes, but it was still a tangle of dead ends, wrong turns, and twenty-foot pits. When she realized a mistake, she couldn't climb over the wall and continue on. Her hands would be shredded. So, as with all mazes, she doubled back and kept the details firmly in mind. The conventional wisdom was that if one chose a direction and stuck with it—all left turns, always, no matter what—the heart of the geometric puzzle would be revealed.

Those three-story pits barring certain passages made that impossible.

And time . . . Yes, time was slippery. She needed to hurry, because the man was coming.

Yet she couldn't even describe what she sought. A gift for Cadmin. That's all she knew.

She drew on powers as both soothsayer and true believer to remind herself of her journey's importance. Cadmin was the closest she'd ever known to having a baby of her own, although the fetal child had developed in another woman's womb.

“It took some time to find you,” came a voice at her back. “But you knew I'd never give up.”

The Pet turned and met the steady, distant glare of Malnefoley of Tigony, the Honorable Giva. With that title, he should've been the unquestioned leader of their people. His leadership was a listing ship, however—the derisive nickname the Usurper attested to as much—barely righting itself in time to escape the swell of each new wave. It wouldn't survive much longer.

“I escaped,” she said. “I didn't attempt to hide.”

“I'm taking you back to Greece.” He flicked his eyes across the irregular half walls. He stood some two hundred meters away, just beyond the outermost wall that marked the border of the labyrinth. Given time and patience, he could climb across three lanes to apprehend her physically, but he had a gift far more crippling and violent than hers.