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Ultimate Resolve (The Exceptional S. Beaufont Book 12)
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Ultimate Resolve
Exceptional S. Beaufont™ Book 12
Sarah Noffke
Michael Anderle
This book is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Sometimes both.
Copyright © 2021 LMBPN Publishing
Cover by Mihaela Voicu http://www.mihaelavoicu.com/
Cover copyright © LMBPN Publishing
LMBPN Publishing supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.
The distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
LMBPN Publishing
PMB 196, 2540 South Maryland Pkwy
Las Vegas, NV 89109
First US Edition, February 2021
eBook ISBN: 978-1-64971-453-4
Print ISBN: 978-1-64971-454-1
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
Chapter 81
Chapter 82
Chapter 83
Chapter 84
Chapter 85
Chapter 86
Chapter 87
Chapter 88
Chapter 89
Chapter 90
Chapter 91
Chapter 92
Chapter 93
Chapter 94
Chapter 95
Chapter 96
Chapter 97
Chapter 98
Chapter 99
Chapter 100
Chapter 101
Chapter 102
Chapter 103
Chapter 104
Chapter 105
Chapter 106
Chapter 107
Chapter 108
Chapter 109
Chapter 110
Chapter 111
Chapter 112
Chapter 113
Chapter 114
Chapter 115
Chapter 116
Chapter 117
Chapter 118
Chapter 119
Chapter 120
Chapter 121
Chapter 122
Chapter 123
Chapter 124
Chapter 125
Chapter 126
Chapter 127
Chapter 128
Chapter 129
Chapter 130
Chapter 131
Chapter 132
Chapter 133
Fairy Godmother College
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Sarah’s Author Notes
Michael’s Author Notes
Acknowledgments
Books By Sarah Noffke
Check out Sarah Noffke’s YA Sci-fi Fantasy Series
Books By Michael Anderle
Connect with The Authors
The Ultimate Resolve Team
Thanks to the JIT Readers
Dorothy Lloyd
Diane L. Smith
Jeff Goode
Veronica Stephan-Miller
Wendy L Bonell
Peter Manis
Deb Mader
Jackey Hankard-Brodie
Angel LaVey
Micky Cocker
If we’ve missed anyone, please let us know!
Editor
The Skyhunter Editing Team
Once more, for Craig, because these books seemed to have led me to you—my gillie.
— Sarah
To Family, Friends and
Those Who Love
to Read.
May We All Enjoy Grace
to Live the Life We Are
Called.
— Michael
Chapter One
Fire streaked from the orange dragon’s mouth, scorching the line of trees, instantly covering them in flames. The fire burned hot and fast and would be incredibly difficult to extinguish, having been started from multiple places. None of the forest fires would be linked to the Rogue Riders who were starting them since they were cloaked and unseen by the mortals the land belonged to. The only piece of evidence that would supposedly point to who started the fire was lying in Versalee’s hands as she sat atop her dragon, Ash—and it was a total ruse meant to start a war.
The orange dragon rose into the air as Versalee dropped the detonator straight into the raging fire. The scorching temperatures of the flames wouldn’t fully destroy it. That was crucial to the Rogue Riders’ leader because she needed the fire's cause to be traced to the neighboring nations that manufactured the detonators.
There had been ongoing feuds between the Borsins and the Nocos for centuries. Tensions were always high between the two countries. Recently the Nocos had all but accused the Borsins of trying to sabotage their forestry projects. Now, when they found the detonator, there would be no question. War between the two countries would be imminent.
Versalee grinned as she yanked on her dragon’s reins, steering Ash in the opposite direction and higher into the air away from the scorching temperatures of the fire that was officially out of control. The heat didn’t bother Versalee or Ash. They enjoyed i
t. It was part of the orange dragon’s element. Plus, it had been the aspect of the Rogue Riders’ new headquarters that lent them their recent strength, making them more powerful than ever.
That’s how Versalee had managed to cloak herself and her riders. That’s how she’d become so incredibly powerful that she’d soon be unstoppable. The Dragon Elite had thought they’d won when they defeated Nathaniel in Las Vegas, but she’d fooled them. While the two fought, Versalee had been growing her army, securing her headquarters, and planning a series of attacks on foreign countries.
All of the attacks were stealthily executed. Not only had she planted the fire that would put the Borsins and the Nocos at war soon, Versalee had poisoned the water supply for a third-world country and leaked information that it came from a plant just over the country’s border. Her men had stolen precious resources from another nation and hid them in their neighbor’s secure reserves—all while tipping off the other government.
Versalee laughed out loud to the hot winds as she and Ash soared over the fast-growing fire. Soon the world would be fighting each other, and the Dragon Elite would have their hands full as adjudicators. That would leave the Rogue Riders free to do as they liked, which was exactly that.
The leader of the Rogue Riders was tired of being told what to do or what she could or couldn’t take. That was all about to end because the Dragon Elite would either be exhausted putting out the “fires” Versalee started, or they’d throw themselves in front of a bullet launched by one of the warring countries. Regardless, the do-gooders wouldn’t be her problem anymore.
Chapter Two
“I got ninety-nine problems but Trin ain’t one,” Evan sang, grinning up at his girlfriend, the cyborg housekeeper for the Castle at the Gullington.
Trin smiled down at Evan, her half-human, half-metal-and-bolts face constricting oddly as she did. However, Sophia had always thought that the housekeeper was beautiful and not despite being partly a machine, but because of it. There was something uniquely attractive about Trin, and Evan had brought that out of her simply by accepting and relishing in the fact that she was a cyborg.
Sophia spread butter on her biscuit, watching as Trin laid a plate full of various pastries down in front of Evan.
“Well, it’s not every day that it’s your birthday.” The housekeeper kissed Evan’s forehead and winked at him.
“It’s not his birthday,” Wilder dryly stated while eying the platter of glossy pastries.
“It’s when I celebrate it,” Evan replied.
“Well,” Wilder ate a bite of his toast smothered in avocado, “I’ve decided to start celebrating my birthday today, so you’ll have to share the festivities with me.”
Evan scowled at the other rider. “You know that your birthday is May twenty-first. Some of us don’t have that luxury.”
Seeing the confusion on one of the new rider’s faces, Sophia offered them a knowing look. “Evan apparently doesn’t know the exact day that he was born because it was on one of the northern islands that didn’t have good record-keeping at the time so they recorded all birthdays as the first of every month.”
“Therefore,” Wilder cut in, “the show monkey steals the fun of New Year’s Day every single year, making us all celebrate him, rather than the blessed event of ringing in another year.”
“Well, if you don’t like it, you don’t have to come to the party,” Evan spat, cramming a large cinnamon roll into his mouth and chewing.
“I wasn’t planning on coming,” Wilder teased, pretending not to be insulted. The two were making the new riders who had shown up on New Year’s Eve think they disliked each other.
The Dragon Elite had been celebrating the Scottish New Years', Hogmanay, when out of the blue, three new dragonriders crossed through the Barrier and strode across the Expanse. Now the newbies were looking dumbfounded from their spots at the breakfast table, trying to make sense of the new world they’d stepped into.
The new riders were all men, all of their dragons having hatched at the Gullington a short while before. Sophia wondered if and when another female dragonrider would join them. It was weird that Versalee was the only other female dragonrider. She hoped that there were more out there, especially because it was highly likely that Versalee was doomed to a grave soon.
The Dragon Elite had been successful at taking Nathaniel down in Las Vegas. However, Sophia hadn’t allowed herself to celebrate too much. Versalee’s absence during that battle didn’t make Sophia feel any better.
She didn’t expect that the Rogue Riders’ leader had simply left Nathaniel to run the operation and had turned over a new leaf, intent on doing good with her powers from that point forward.
No, the absence of the evil dragonrider made Sophia uneasy, sensing that Versalee was up to something even more treacherous than what Nathaniel had been doing, running an underground crime network in Sin City.
“What I don’t get,” Sophia began, turning her attention to Wilder beside her, “is that you’re older and you know the day of your birth and weren’t raised too far from where Evan came from.”
He nodded. “What you’re forgetting is that I wasn’t raised by wolves.”
“No, worse,” Evan stated smugly. “You were raised by monkeys.”
“I was raised by wolves,” one of the new dragonriders said from the far side and down the table. His name was Alex, and he had short brown hair that he’d kept covered with a hoodie. It had partially obscured his face, which he kept down, making it hard to make out his features. Sophia honestly hadn’t had much time to study the new dragonriders since they’d only arrived the night before. She suspected that she’d get the chance now that it was daylight, but even then, they were mostly Mahkah’s and Wilder’s responsibility since they’d handle their training.
Everyone looked down the table at Alex, all of them silent as if they expected him to continue.
“Yet you can construct a sentence much better than my friend Evan here,” Wilder joked after a tense moment.
There was forced laughter.
“I’m a werewolf,” Alex said, making everyone’s chuckling seize.
A fork dropped on a plate.
Evan froze in mid-bite.
The newbie dragonrider beside Alex slid non-discreetly to the side a few inches.
Sophia sighed. “Oh seriously, you all. It’s the twenty-first century. Don’t you know anything about werewolves? They aren’t to be feared. They’re simply misunderstood.”
Wilder gave her a look of disbelief. “No, I didn’t know that, but apparently you’re going to blow my mind by rocking that knowledge. Is there anything you haven’t learned in your short few years on this planet compared to the rest of us?”
Sophia gave him a nervous smile. “I know about werewolves because of Liv. She had a case in Lupei, Romania a while ago where there was a supposed problem with werewolves. That’s when I learned that they’re good people, but some choose to be monsters.”
Nodding, Wilder flashed her an appreciative look. “The same can be said about all people, really. Look at dragonriders. There are good ones and bad ones.”
“Also good magicians and bad ones,” Mahkah added, stoically from his usual place at the table. However, he looked different with the line of new dragonriders down the table from him. Two spots were empty though, because Evan had been adamant that they all stayed in their assigned seats. Sophia wanted to tease him that he was reserving not only Mama Jamba’s usual chair but also Quiet’s, almost as if he didn’t want the groundskeeper sitting too far away from him. It might have been so it was easier to tease and antagonize him, but it also might be because on some level, the two were friends, even if neither would have admitted it.
The timing was incredibly ironic since Quiet entered while Sophia was reflecting on this.
“The same can’t be said for gnomes,” Evan quipped. “They’re all bad.”