Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

E vander Logmire slowed the flapping of his dragon wings and laughed when he saw Anton waiting for him on the roof of the castle. The man was his best friend, and even though they weren't related by blood, Anton was his brother in all the ways that mattered.

He was close with all of the men in his clan, but Anton had actually lived with him and his family for twenty years before they joined their King, and the two of them had been with Alric a long time.

He felt ancient when he thought about how long, but aside from the human mates and Sabine, he and Anton were the youngest of the group. One hundred and fifty years was a long time to full-humans and regular shifters, but dragon shifters were immortal—for the most part, anyway—and he would be alive for a very long time.

Which meant that it could be years before he found his own mate... if he ever found her at all. Hell, the way time worked, she might not even be born yet, and though he understood it, that definitely wasn't something he wanted to think about. Luckily, he was used to being single, and didn't mind spending time alone.

Honestly, he couldn't even remember the last time he'd gone looking for a woman, but whenever he did, they were easy to find. He wasn't drop-dead gorgeous or anything, but he was tall and muscular, and that alone drew attention whenever he walked into a room. Not as much attention as his King, but he had no problems finding a willing woman if he wanted one.

And yet, one-night stands did nothing for him, and he didn't want to waste time on someone who wasn't his mate. He'd tried relationships in the past, but despite his desire to go all in, something had always held him back. It just didn't feel right giving his all to someone who wasn't truly his, and he'd eventually just given up on the relationship thing.

He didn't want to share his life with anyone who wasn't his mate.

But what if you never find her?

He pushed the thought out of his head when his feet touched the ground. That line of thinking wasn't healthy, and he didn't believe it anyway. He would find his mate someday, and everything would be perfect.

He shifted back into his human form, and started walking toward Anton.

The roof was a huge rectangle with a tall turret in every corner, and Anton was seated on the two-foot-high wall that surrounded the rest of the space, leaning against one of the towers. His legs were stretched out in front of him, crossed at the ankles to mimic a casual pose, but Evander knew the look was anything but casual.

Anton was waiting for something, and his eagerness made Evander laugh again.

"It's not for you, dude," Evander said, referencing the bag he held in his hand.

His mom had given him a pie to give to his King and Queen, and there was no way he wasn't following through on that order. His parents weren't part of his clan, but he was close with them, and even now, hundreds of years later, his mom could always tell when he was lying.

"Are you kidding me?" Anton asked, getting up from the wall. "That's just not right."

"She said you have to visit to get a pie—and you can't come alone. Sabine has to be with you."

"We were just there," Anton laughed. "Like literally last week. Your mom is diabolical."

Evander laughed at his friend's description of his mom. His parents had opened their arms—and their hearts—to Anton from day one, and they had always respected his need for space. Until Anton mated with Sabine. Now, all bets were off, and his mom leaned in hard to accepting the other woman as her daughter.

And that was good, because Sabine's parents had been terrible, too, and both of his friends needed the love and support his own parents seemed to overflow with.

"She did send cookies for you guys," Evander said, reaching into the bag, "but I think they're supposed to be guilt cookies or something."

He handed the tiny bag of cookies to Anton, and laughed at the look on the other man's face.

"There are only like three cookies in here. Please tell me Sabine and I don't have to split this?"

"Sorry, man," Evander laughed again. "You were right about her being diabolical. I, on the other hand, got a whole pie and dozens of cookies all to myself. She wouldn't even let dad have any."

"You suck," Anton grumbled.

"Well, I am her favorite son."

Technically he was her only son, but Anton knew he was only teasing. The other man still referred to the couple as his mom and dad , but they both knew his parents loved them both, and if he garnered a little extra on the love scale because he was related by blood, it was never obvious to either of them.

Anton and Sabine had gotten their pies and cookies last week, only he hadn't gotten anything when they returned from their trip. Probably because the pair had eaten all the extras while mom gushed all over Sabine, but Evander didn't care. He didn't mind sharing his parents with his friends, and one day, he hoped to share them with his mate, too.

"Think Sabine will let me eat all of these?"

"Only if Eron has cinnamon rolls stashed someplace."

Eron was the King's brother, and their second-in-command. He was also the leader of the Royal Guard, but considering there were only four of them in the Guard, that title didn't really hold much weight. The man was also their resident chef, and though they all cooked for themselves on most occasions, Eron actually liked to cook, and he like to bake. A lot.

Cinnamon rolls were his specialty, and when those things came out of the oven, all bets were off. Finding a spare stashed somewhere was a rarity, but it did sometimes happen.

"True. I'm going to check. See you later, man."

"Later."

Evander had a feeling that if Anton found a cinnamon roll, Sabine might be the one to get the cookies, or in reality, get whatever she wanted. Because his friend would do anything to make his mate happy. Hell, all of his mated clansmen would do the same for their mates, and even though he wasn't mated, yet, he understood their actions.

His parents had been a great example of that, and though all of his clansmen were great men, each one had become better once they'd found their other halves.

He continued walking past the kitchens and knocked lightly on Alric's open door before stepping inside.

"A gift from my parents, my Liege."

He placed the bag holding the pie on the man's desk, and then bent into a half-bow. Of course, the language and the bow were only for fun. Though they used a lot of the old terms frequently, they were a small, tight-knit clan, and very seldom stood on ceremony. By the time he was born, his parents hadn't belonged to a clan anymore, but they still taught him the ways of their kind, and still respected royalty.

Because Alric was his King, and was mated, his parents always sent back a gift out of respect. In the beginning, he'd try to quell their need to follow the old ways, but after several decades, he knew it was a lost cause.

Alric rolled his eyes and pulled the pie out of the bag.

"I love your mom," he laughed. "She always spoils us."

"That she does," Evander nodded.

"Hi, Evander," Petra practically bounced into the office. "I'm glad you're back. I need to ask you for a favor."

"Of course, my Queen," he nodded once. "What do you need?"

"I need to go shopping—alone—and I need an escort."

"Okay." He glanced back and forth between the King and Queen, wondering why Alric wasn't taking her shopping. It wasn't his place to ask, but it was his place to protect Petra with his life, even if that meant being her escort for a shopping trip. "When would you like to go?"

"Tomorrow? The store is about an hour's drive away, and they are open until seven. I was thinking we could leave around two."

"Two is good," he nodded.

"Good," she smiled. "Thank you, Evander. Now I will take this pie into the kitchen so Alric can talk to you man to man."

She grabbed the pie and bounced out of the office the same way she came in, only this time she was laughing.

"She's going shopping alone?"

"It's a lingerie place," Alric sighed. "They have stuff in her size, and she wants to pick it out herself as a surprise for me. You are to take her to the shop, leave her there once she is safe inside, and then meet her at the door when she texts you that she's done.You are not to go inside the shop with her, or ask to see what she buys."

Um...ewww.His Queen was a beautiful woman, but he had no desire to see any of her lingerie. Especially not anything that she picked out as a surprise for her King.

"I would never?—"

"I know," Alric said, shaking his head as he sat back down. "I just had to say it. I'm happy she wants to do this on her own, but it's a little hard for me. I hate the fact that the store is so far away, so this was the arrangement that we agreed upon. Thank you for taking her."

When the Queen first arrived in the castle, there was no way she would have done a trip like this alone. Not only had she been isolated in a life filled with fear, but it took her a long time to get used to spending the King's money. Seeing her leave the castle for a shoppingtrip on her own? That was definitely progress.

"It's my duty and honor," he said. "I'll keep her safe."

"I know you will. Thank you, Evander." The King passed him a sticky note. "Here's the address, and I'll text her later, but please thank your mom for the pie."

"I will," he nodded. "I'll take care of this right now."

Alric nodded, and he left theroom without another word. The King trusted him to find the best route to the store, but he also wanted to take a look at the area and find out what was nearby. He hated going into things blind, especially when he was acting as an escort for any of the women.

Clara and Sabine often made fun of him for his attention to detailin that area, but that was mostly because they weren't human and could definitelytake care of themselves. Not that it mattered. He took his job as Royal Guard seriously, and it was always good to be prepared when visiting someplace new.

K ari Donovan sat down on the edge of her bed and took a deep breath. The fighting in the hallway was right outside her door, and though she thought about calling the police, she knew they wouldn't come. At least not anytime soon.

She glanced at the little alarm clock next to her bed and cursed. The longer she waited, the less time she had to get to work on time, and if the yelling didn't stop soon, she was going to be late. Her boss would probably be okay with it—she was rarely late—but this was going to be the second time in a week, and she didn't like pressing her luck.

She needed her job—even if all it paid for was this dump—and she couldn't risk getting fired.

A big bang caused her to jump at the same time her door rattled on its hinges, and a wave of fear washed over her. Even though they were much louder, the sounds reminded her of the muffled noises she'd heard from her hiding spot in the ground nearly fifteen years ago, and when she looked around her small studio apartment, the space felt like it was closing in on her.

She was trapped, just like she had been all those years ago, and a sudden wave of sadness swept over her. Tears filled her eyes as she thought about all she'd lost that day, and as another bang sounded against the wall, one errant tear slipped down her face.

Beneath the surface her wolf growled, reminding her of her power, but she wasn't as strong as the animal, and if those men in the hall decided to attack her instead of each other, there was no way she could fight them off.

The wolf paced, unhappy with being confined, and though the animal was usually more agreeable to their circumstances, she shared the frustration.

Living in the city instead of someplace wide and open meant that she could only shift once a week after a long bus-ride to the closest, heavily-wooded, State Park, and even then she had to be careful. Luckily, her shift was instant, and she didn't have to take off her clothes, but that didn't mean that she was always safe.

No matter how deep she tried to bury herself in the woods, some overzealous human would always try to track her down. Some were photographers who just wanted pictures of wildlife, but others were people who tried to hurt her. The State Park had a posted "No Hunting" law, but laws didn't stop some people from breaking them, and it wasn't only humans she had to watch out for.

Sometimes other shifters tried to chase her down, and there was always the fear of a dragon finding her. Luckily, dragon shifters didn't seem to spend a lot of time in the woods.

They didn't seemto spend a lot of time in the city, either, and the one or two that she'd come across over the years had left her alone, but she always worried about the ones that had killed her family.

Did they know whether or not her parents had another child? Did they care?

She didn't have the answers to those questions, and she hadn't seen the dragons in their human form, so she tried to avoid any interaction with dragons as a whole. And the best way to do that was staying away from wide-open spaces.

At least she thought that was the best way, because what did she really know about dragons, anyway? God, she wasn't even an expert on her own kind. Most of the stuff she'd learned about her wolf had been after her family had been killed, and she'd never met another shifter that she knew well enough to confide in.

Another bang hit the wall, but this one was further down the hallway, and because there were stairs on both sides of the building, she might be able to get out of her apartment unnoticed.

She didn't move though.

Instead, she looked around the space, and tried not to feel like a prisoner.

The small studio apartment was furnished when she'd rented it, so the only piece of furniture that actually belonged to her was a small bistro table that she used as a nightstand. She'd found the unique piece on the street a couple of months after she'd moved in, and it had a piece of paper attached to it that read "Free".

Since she didn't have anything to call her own except a very limited wardrobe, a few dollars in her pocket, and her sketchpads, the table had felt like the beginning of something new. She'd taken the piece home, cleaned it up, and had made it her own by lacing a piece of lavender ribbon around the edge and finishing it with a bow.

Since then, the table had felt like a promise to herself—a promise that she would one day have more things of her own—but it had been a years since that day, and not much had changed. She'd been living in this tiny apartment for almost ten years, and though she had added to both her wardrobe and her bank account, there wasn't much she could do to improve her living situation.

The cost of renting something bigger—and in a better neighborhood—was too much for her modest paycheck. She had tried working two jobs in the past, but she couldn't handle it for long. She'd never had any free time, and her wolf had grown edgy from only being able to shift once every couple of months.

When her boss at her current job gave her a raise and a permanent schedule, she'd given up on working two jobs, and both her human and wolf sides had thanked her for it.

She'd been happy with her decision at the time, but over the years, the area she lived in had gotten a lot worse, and she often wondered if she should try to find a way to earn more.

Or move to a smaller town.

But every time she thought about a small town, she thought about her childhood home, and the fear would return.

Her family had been attacked seemingly without cause, and she'd been the only one to survive. Now, she was on her own. She didn't have the luxury of anyone to look out for her, and she definitely couldn't afford to pay for protection. Not that she would even know where to look for something like that.

She'd seen bodyguards in the movies, but none of those guards were watching over shifters, obviously, and she doubted anything like that existed for her kind. Of course, she could be wrong, but she would never trust her safety to anyone. She'd been taking care of herself for a long time, and though some days she felt as if the loneliness would suffocate her, she didn't want to pay for someone's protection.

Especially not another shifter.

She was stronger than human females, but some human men could still hurt her, and a there was no way she could fight off a male shifter. If she put her trust in the wrong person, she could die the same way her family had.

Except you would never hire a dragon.

That was true. She would never hire a dragon, so she wouldn't be burned alive, but there were other ways to die, and though she healed fast, she wasn't invincible.

She shook her head rid herself of the morbid thoughts, and glanced at the clock again.

Ugh! Too much time had passed, and now she would be late even if she ran to work, which she flat-out refused to do. Outside of her wolf form, she wasn't much of a runner anyway, and arriving at work looking like a hot mess didn't appeal to her or the customers.

She was an expert at walking fast, though.

She listened again for the sounds in the hallway, and when she didn't hear anything, she grabbed her ID case, keys, and phone, and then eased her door open just a crack so she could hear better. When nothing but silence filled the air, she opened her door fully, and stepped out into the hall.

She knew better than to expect the corridor to be empty, and seeing a few people hanging around didn't bother her. At least, that's what she told herself every time she had to walk past some random stranger leaning against the wall between her and her neighbor's door, or blocking the stairwell because they were waiting for someone.

Most of the time those loitering didn't mess with her, though, and for that she was grateful.

She locked her door and then hurried past two men who were deep in conversation and taking up half of the hallway, and then moved quickly down the stairwell. Once she was out on the street, she sucked in a deep breath of fresh air, and quickly took in her surroundings before she started to move.

The bar and restaurant she worked at was a thirty-minute walk away if she moved at a normal pace, but she didn't have time for normal, so she quickened her steps. It always amazed her how the scenery changed as she got closer to work, and even though she knew to never let her guard down, this part of the city was a lot safer than the part where she lived.

Normally the difference didn't bother her so much, but today she was already dreading the walk home.

She knew that was mostly because of the fightin the hallway, and all of the old feelings that had resurfaced, but she hated the fear that seemed to blanket her as she walked in the back door theyused as the employees' entrance, and punched her time card.

Hopefully, everything would be back to normal by the end of her shift.