by T. S. Ryder
The two werewolves charged at each other. Both shifted in the blink of an eye. Jackie gasped, drawing back. She had never seen Myles’s werewolf form before. In all appearances he looked like any regular werewolf–only much, much bigger. His shoulder would reach the top of her head, and his thick, powerful body was covered in gray fur with paws the size of a school desk. Harley was almost as big, though his fur was brown.
Snarling filled the air as they clashed. Myles slammed into Harley's chest, mouth open, teeth slashing at his face. Harley whipped around, biting at Myles's neck. A yell went up from the Alpha, causing Jackie to shriek as well. She thought her heart might burst right out of her chest, but she couldn’t tear her eyes from the sight.
Myles locked his teeth around Harley's leg and yanked back. The other werewolf yelped, snarled and bit at the Alpha's side. Myles danced around him, dragging the limb with him until Harley flipped onto his back. The Alpha lunged, paws beating against the other werewolf's belly, but Harley kicked out, curling upwards so his back paws managed to hit Myles full in the throat. Myles jerked back, gasping.
The brown werewolf flipped over, springing at Myles again. Teeth closed around Myles's throat and Jackie screamed. She started forward, fists clenched, as though she could do anything, but Myles's mother caught her and held her back.
"Whoa, there!" she said. "You'll get yourself hurt and Myles won't like that one bit."
"But he's going to—"
Even as Jackie shrieked, Myles reared onto his back legs, kicking and clawing at Harley until the brown werewolf released him with a yelp. Myles dove back in, his teeth closing in around the back of Harley's neck. With a powerful shake of his shoulders, he had the other werewolf on his back again, and this time he did not release him, except to adjust his hold on the brown werewolf's throat.
Harley's eyes rolled and he gasped, lips pulled back as he kicked and bucked. Myles did not loosen his hold, dragging the other werewolf across the field. The gathered crowd parted as the Alpha dragged Harley to the road. By that time, Harley's movements were jerky, uncoordinated, and when Myles released him he melted back into his human form, a hand going to his bleeding throat. Pure hatred shone from his eyes as Myles stood over him, snarling.
Faster than Jackie could register, Myles had also shifted. Though blood trickled from various wounds on his naked body, he stood tall and strong, his eyes like fire as he glared down at Harley.
"You will be financially compensated for your lands so you can't claim they were stolen, but the title of ownership will be transferred to Tamara. And then you will leave. You are no longer welcome in this pack or on these lands. Leave now, and never come back."
Harley snarled, but he slowly stood and slunk to his car. Myles stared after him until he was gone, then he turned. He seemed unfazed by his nakedness, as did the werewolves that surged forward, congratulating him. Myles worked his way to Jackie and his mother and spoke over the noise of the crowd.
"I thank you for your support," he called. "And now I would like to rest with my family. Please return to your homes. Now."
Despite being worded as a request it most certainly wasn't, and the gathered werewolves slowly trickled away, though many couldn't seem to stop themselves from further congratulating Myles for his victory. He nodded tensely at them all and led Jackie back into the house while his mother made sure everyone left.
"Are you okay?" she asked, once they were away from the other werewolves.
Myles leaned against her, closing his eyes. "I will be soon. But I need to shower. I don't want Tamara's girls seeing me covered in blood like this."
Jackie nodded and helped him up the stairs to the bathroom attached to his room. There she turned the water on and stripped off her own clothing to stand with him in the shower. Myles sighed, his muscles relaxing, as she grabbed a washcloth and started dabbing at his wounds. The water turned pink as it ran over his body.
"I can't believe you did that. You could have at least told me you were going to fight!"
"I didn't want you to worry."
Jackie glared at him. "Because waiting until you were actually in a fight made me so much less worried."
"Sorry."
Jackie huffed.
Myles gave her a crooked grin. "Does this mean I can start the application for us to become mates?"
Jackie stared at him. "Are you for real? You want to talk about that now?"
"I have wanted to talk about it every second of every day for the past month. I want you, Jacqueline Smith. Not just as a girlfriend and mother of my child. I want you for my mate, for the rest of my life."
His arms wrapped around her waist, bringing her as close as he could. Their bodies slipped against each other, the water heating between them.
Jackie didn't know what to say.
"I haven't said it because I didn't want to scare you away. Maybe it's the adrenaline, but I need you to know right here, right now. You are mine and I want the world to know it."
Jackie's heart fluttered. The water ran down her face, tasting sweet on her lips, and she stared back at the cool, confident gray eyes. A hundred reasons why she should say no flitted through her mind. She wanted this, whatever logic said. But was it a good idea?
"I love you," he said softly. "You know that, don't you?"
And just like that, all her doubt disappeared. He did love her. He would hold her through thick and thin, and he'd fight for her, even if he had to fight against her to make sure she knew how he felt. Emotion welled in her heart and she nodded.
"I love you, too. Let's start the application."
Epilogue
Five years later, their application had finally been approved.
After a busy day of planning for the mating ceremony, Jackie kissed her five-year-old son's forehead, pulling the blankets up to his chin while Myles put away the book they had been reading. Tim smiled in his sleep, and Myles took Jackie's hand, leading her from their son's room to their own.
"Did you watch the news?" he asked, his eyes sparkling.
Today was the day that the Supreme Court was going to rule on whether the laws surrounding werewolf mating were constitutional or not. "I wanted to, but I was too nervous. Besides, I was planning for our wedding next month."
Myles grinned and pulled her closer. "We won."
"We won?"
Myles kissed her fiercely, bringing her body flush against his. Jackie slung a leg over his hip, excitement coursing between them. Even if their mating application had already been approved, this was still a major victory for werewolves across the country. After five years of long legal battles, finally, finally, it was recognized that werewolves didn't pose any danger to the humans they wanted to mate.
"We won," Myles whispered again, stroking Jackie's hair from her face. "We won."
"We did," Jackie whispered back, and she knew Myles wasn't just referring to the legal battles they had fought for free matings. He clutched her tighter. This was also about the two of them. In spite of the odds, they had been brought together, they had fallen in love and they had a beautiful little boy who had his mother's blonde curls and his father's steely determination.
Myles pulled her in for another kiss, a kiss that marked the start of a new world, a new life, for all of them.
*****
THE END
The Dragon Shifter's Love Potion
Description
A witch in love with her best friend’s older brother PLUS a dragon shifter with a bad boy attitude PLUS a risky love potion!
Thea, a twenty-one-year-old big, beautiful woman, has fallen in love with her best friend’s older brother.
As a witch, she knows how to make the best potions, but love potions are risky...
They only work if the drinker already has some feelings for the maker. Thea mixes the potion and spikes Logan’s drink, but she isn’t sure the sip he took was enough. Later that night, when Logan comes to her dorm room, she thinks the potion has worked after all. But the next day, Logan se
ems to have changed his mind, leaving Thea questioning everything.
Does Logan have real feelings for Thea? What will happen when she tells him her secret? And what will her best friend do when she knows that Thea slept with her brother? Find out now!
Chapter One
Thea went into the closet of her dorm room and pulled the door shut behind her. She turned on the lamp, illuminating the small space and all the objects she had brought in there with her. Several containers held crushed herbs or other elements, like the dove feather she’d had to find. There were several test tubes of liquid and a candle to heat the mixture.
She looked at her book of potions, reading the instructions again. She poured oyster oil into an empty flask and added her own saliva. Then the dove feather. Next, she added the rose petals and lavender. She swirled the mixture while holding the tube over the candle’s flame, as the book instructed. She added the remaining ingredients, heating and cooling, stirring and sitting as the potion called for.
When it looked to be the correct color, Thea dipped in her finger and tasted the potion. She’d never made a love potion before, so she wasn’t sure what it should taste like. But there were always certain things to check for with potions, like whether it tasted burnt from the flame or rotten in any way. She also needed to know how strong the taste was and what might hide it the best.
This potion, though, unlike many others, was designed to be hidden. Most times, people didn’t knowingly drink a love potion. They had to be tricked into it. Tricked into loving the person who’d brewed it. When she tasted it, its taste was very faint. She could likely hide the potion in almost anything. Except maybe water. Or something too clear. It did have a pinkish hue to it that would show if whatever she put it in didn’t have a color or taste of its own.
With the potion ready, Thea turned the lamp off and opened the closet door. Her dorm room was empty. That made things much easier. She mixed potions and did spells in the closet sometimes to keep them hidden from her roommate, but always worried that one time she’d come out of the closet to find Marie standing there, staring at her like she was crazy. And she would surely look crazy, having hidden in the closet for who knows how long. What excuse would she give? Was she looking for something? Was she crying in private? Or praying? None of them really applied, but her roommate wasn’t here, so all was well.
She stood in front of the mirror, checking her outfit. She wanted to look cute, but not like she’d dressed up on purpose or anything.
Her denim shorts and t-shirt seemed perfect. The shorts hugged her voluptuous waist and the t-shirt showed off her ample chest. All of her curves looked good today. She smiled, tossed her dark hair over her shoulder, and slipped the tiny vial of love potion into her pocket.
Thea picked up her purse and left her dorm room, locking the door behind her. She walked out of the building and down the street three blocks, then over two blocks until she reached the gray house. It stood tall and eerie before her, its many dormer windows reaching into the sky.
Maybe it only seemed creepy to Thea because she knew what went on inside the huge house. It was full of college students, like most houses on campus, but this one was a bit different. Each of the six students who lived there was a dragon shifter. This was not public knowledge by any means, but since she herself was a witch, also bound by secrets and magic, Thea was in on it. Though she wasn’t allowed to live here. It was exclusively for shifters. The “nest”, as her best friend Elise called it.
She walked to the front door, where they had brazenly and ironically installed a dragonhead door knocker. Clearly they found humor in their secret keeping. Thea knocked and waited. Elise was expecting her, and just a few moments later, she opened the door and smiled at Thea.
“Morning!” Elise said, rubbing her eyes.
“Or afternoon, but whatever,” Thea said.
“Oh.” Elise yawned and looked at her watch, then shrugged. “We were up late.”
They hugged and Thea followed her into the house.
“So, what were you up late doing?” Thea asked.
They went to the living room, where all the windows were covered in thick curtains. Their purpose was to keep anyone from seeing in, so the shifters could shift whenever they wanted to, but it also made the whole house feel very dark and spooky. The curtains, a stiff burgundy fabric, glowed blood red in the afternoon sun, sending a red tint over everything.
“We were working on a spell.” Elise flopped down on the couch and Thea sat beside her. “Want some coffee or something?”
“Sure. What spell?”
They both did magic, like all dragon shifters and witches did, but the shifters could often do more powerful spells. Something in their blood connected them to the magic more strongly than it did for their purely-human counterparts. Thea was always slightly jealous of this, but also knew the hassle and dangers that came with being a shifter.
So many times she’d had to sit with Elise through the night when she couldn’t shift back for some reason. Either she’d gotten too emotional or drunk too much, and she couldn’t get her head in the right place to make the shift. Or there were the times when she accidentally shifted, the worse being in the middle of class in high school, when Thea had had to cast a memory spell on all the students to make it seem like nothing at all had happened in class that day. The moon affected her, as did certain foods and spices, and being out in nature was always dangerous. Anything that tied back to nature, which was the root of all magic, could affect dragon shifters if not handled correctly.
Most shifters, by the time they reached their twenties, had gotten a good handle on shifter life. They stuck together closely, helped each through it and relied on their witch allies to help as well. And the dragons often worked with witches to do more powerful spells. It was a big advantage for them both that they were best friends. Even if she didn’t have the increased magical ability that Elise did, Thea had to admit that many times she was glad she didn’t have to deal with the hassle of shifter life. Her world was much simpler.
Elise padded into the kitchen to make coffee. “We’re working on levitating objects.”
“Whoa.” Thea followed her, leaning on the counter to watch as Elise yawned again, then poured coffee grounds into the filter. “Did you get very far?”
“We didn’t do too badly. Little things are easy now, but bigger things are still difficult. We did manage to move the furniture around.”
“That’ll make moving much easier.”
Elise chuckled. “Sure will. People are next. Lifting living objects is pretty hard, though.”
Thea groaned. “Not as hard as my calculus homework.”
Elise gave her a look. “It is way too early in the morning—err, afternoon—to be thinking about math. I need at least two cups before I pull out any books.”
“I have a test Monday. Guess I’ll be studying all weekend.”
Elise leaned back against the counter while the coffee brewed. “I’ll help.”
“Elise!”
Thea recognized Logan’s voice, coming from the basement. Her heart jumped at the sound. So he was home, after all. Not that she didn’t love just hanging out with Elise, but having her older brother around made things extra special.
Elise walked to the top of the basement stairs and called down, “Yeah?”
“Can you come down here a minute?”
Elise gestured for Thea to follow her and they walked down the creaky basement stairs into a dim room. This was often where they shifted and did spells. The floor was cement, and dirty with bits of plants and herbs. There was no outside light at all and, where there had been small windows high on the walls, they were now covered with cardboard and lots of black duct tape. The walls were lined with long, narrow tables full of miscellaneous bottles and containers. Potions, plants, magical elements. Many candles as well. In one corner there was a sofa with a large tear on one side, probably from a claw or spike from someone getting too close while in dragon form.
> Logan stood in the middle of the room, watching them walk down. Thea smiled at him and tried to act cool. But every time she saw him or was near him, her body went into overdrive. Her pulse sped, palms sweat, the whole bit. She’d known him for years, of course, and it seemed like every year he got hotter and hotter. And he was the coolest guy she knew, too. She’d had a crush for a long time, but then their friendship had grown when they had gone off to college. Many times it had been just her and Logan having a deep conversation late into the night, while Elise and the other dragon shifters were asleep upstairs. She wanted something to happen with him so badly. But she thought his primary hesitation was Elise.
“Oh, hey, Thea. I’m glad you’re here,” he said. “Would you be up for helping me out for a minute?”
“Always,” she said.
“Are you still levitating?” Elise asked.
“Yeah.”
Thea looked him over while he talked to Elise. His dark hair was in short spikes today, glistening with some sort of product. He wore a close-fitting t-shirt that showed off his arms nicely and his jeans hung just right on his hips. His bare feet stuck out the bottom and he looked chill and relaxed like he always did.
“So, Thea,” he said.
She snapped her attention from his body to his words.
“Yes.”
“After Elise casts her spell on me, would you be willing to be my object?”
She raised an eyebrow at him.
“I want to try levitating a person.”
“Okay, sure.”
“Thanks.” He smiled at her and she thought he could have asked her just about anything and she would have agreed to it. “I’m going to shift now.”
She stepped back to watch him. First, he cast a spell over himself, raising his arms and speaking the magical words. This, Thea knew from what Elise had told her, took care of the tangible physicals, as Elise called them. In other words, it made sure that anything he was wearing at the moment of transformation would be there when he changed back to human form. Shredding your clothes wasn’t necessary when you had magic to take care of that for you.