One True Mate 1: Shifter's Sacrifice

by Lisa Ladew

  Another earthquake rattled the bluff, as much of a surprise as the first one.

  Graeme squared his shoulders. “I’m afraid that’s not good. They’re fighting over there.”

  Mac howled again and Troy couldn’t take it anymore.

  Now! Let’s do it!

  “As you wish.” Graeme disappeared and a red and yellow dragon stood in his place, no bigger than Troy.

  Troy snorted. I thought you fellas were bigger.

  Just wait. The dragon’s neck stretched out and Troy felt a gathering in the air, like a strong wind, but centered only in front of him. A tiny black spot appeared in his line of sight. He stared into the dragon’s eyes, concentrating as hard as he could, doing what the dragon had told him to, thinking of what Graeme had described the Pravus as being like, and lending the dragon all the mental energy he had. Next to him, he could hear a deep mental rumble that sounded almost like a cat purring, as his brother did the same.

  “Go boys, you’re doing it,” Wade whispered.

  The spot widened, grew, and leaves began to lift from the ground. When the black spot was a foot across, the leaves trembled and flew directly into it, along with some dirt and twigs. Troy watched as a moth whipped in front of his face and into the hole.

  Sorry, little flying buddy.

  Concentrate! his brother threw at him.

  Right, sorry. Troy doubled down, fixing the image of the Pravus in his mind and giving it everything he had. The hole grew wide enough to allow him in. He prepared to jump, still straining as hard as he could. Graeme went through first, then Trent, then Troy last. The hole slipped as he was jumping but when he landed hard on the other side, he turned and stared at it, holding the image in his mind still, not daring to look around at reality.

  The hole was closing at an alarming rate. It was Graeme. He was flagging. Troy doubled down again, but he couldn’t hold it by himself. He felt his mind slipping, ripping free from where it had always been.

  Mac’s white wolf sailed through the hole, landing between Troy and Trent, even as the hole fell shut and disappeared, clipping a bit of the hair off Mac’s tail.

  Shit. They hadn’t all made it through! Troy whirled around to see Graeme passed out on the pale, dusty ground, a bit of fire coming up from a crack and hitting him on his scaly cheek that was pressed against it.

  Troy latched onto the dragon’s tail as gently as he could, pulling the dragon away from the fire, though why he bothered he didn’t know, dragons couldn’t be burnt, right?

  That done, he looked around at the bleak and empty landscape to their fronts, and the wall of fire twenty feet to their backs.

  What were they going to do now?

  Chapter 46

  Ella faced the too-big Khain and watched him grow before her eyes, the cuts her offensive had made on him healing like they’d never been there.

  So, your father gave you power to fight me with. Too bad. He should have kept some for himself. Then he wouldn’t have been my prisoner for so long.

  Ella put a hand to her head. Khain’s voice in there was just as awful as what she had heard before, and it made her brain crawl.

  She ignored what he was saying. Whether or not he had her father was irrelevant. He was trying to distract her. Trying to make her forget what she was about to do.

  She stood in front of Trevor, arms out, and let loose the anger inside her with a scream, just like she had before. But this time, the energy did not come. She tried again, her cry echoing off the walls of the dark chamber as Khain squared his shoulders, waiting for her onslaught.

  Curdled laughter entered her head. Let me just help you out, shall I?

  Khain held out both his hands and Ella could see the power building in them. She was about to be flash-fried. Terror built in her chest and she retreated, throwing her body over Trevor’s.

  But the pulse came as soon as her body touched Trevor’s. It stopped the double-wide flame Khain had sent at her and hit him square in the face and body, knocking him backward against the far wall, but not incapacitating him.

  Trevor did not respond in the slightest.

  Ella felt a great wind move over her and she looked up to see what could only be a dragon the size of a cow flying at full speed towards a winded Khain. Ella gaped, watching it as it grew to match Khain’s size, then opened its mouth and spit fire at Khain. Fire against fire, although she could tell the dragon’s fire was different than Khain’s, and it hurt him.

  Her attention was drawn by a pounding of feet behind her, almost like a stampede. She turned, never so glad in her life to see Troy and Trent, and another wolf running at them full speed. The wolves separated, running around her and Trevor like water, all heading for Khain, launching themselves at him. She could see their feet burning as they jumped from rock to rock over the barely cooled lava.

  Ella held her breath as all three wolves jumped on Khain, biting and tearing, their mouths and noses filling with that awful black blood, their snarls terrifying her, even from across the room.

  With a great bellow, Khain pushed himself away from the fray, swatting the wolves off his knees and running towards her. Ella threw herself over Trevor, knowing she was poor protection.

  Khain was shrinking as he ran, his gray face set, his eyes on the door behind her. The dragon shrieked and flew for him, but Khain feinted and shot straight up into the ceiling instead, seeming to disappear completely.

  Ella stared after him for a long time. Even when the wolves came to her, whining and pushing Trevor’s limp body with their noses, she could not look away. The white wolf transformed. She knew him. He was Mac. And he was naked. She kept her eyes averted as he lifted her mate from the floor.

  She scrambled to her feet, still not looking. “Be careful with him, he’s hurt,” she said.

  “Graeme, let’s go!” Mac shouted at the ceiling where Graeme was flying in slow circles. “Get us out of here.”

  The dragon stared hard at their group, and Ella felt wind pick up around her. Ash began to fly through the air, then in front of her, a small black hole opened. Through it, she could see only darkness, but the smell! It smelled of home. She waited for the hole to grow bigger but it didn’t. Trent and Troy were staring at the hole with the same concentration the dragon seemed to have. She held her breath and prayed whatever they were doing would work.

  A piece of whirling ash landed on her arm, burning her. She slapped it away. And still the hole did not grow. The dragon dropped to the outcropping she had been held on and stretched out its somehow graceful neck. She could see his eyes glow purple.

  “Come on, come on,” Mac urged.

  Trent barked once, deep and low and Troy whined and sat down, his neck stretched in the same way the dragon’s was.

  “Yes!” Mac exclaimed and Ella snapped her head to the portal. It was almost the size of a small window.

  “You first,” Mac said, pushing at her with Trevor’s body. Ella was not about to argue. She jumped at it, having to leap through, since it hung four feet above the floor.

  She hit the ground rolling, sticks and twigs scratching her skin, leaves gathering in her hair. Above her, the moon shone brightly, welcoming her. She scrambled to her feet, watching Mac jump through, drop Trevor with a thump, then turn and yell through the hole.

  Oh no. “My sister!” she screamed, but Mac ignored her, yelling encouragement at the others. A man came next that she’d never seen before, diving like he was going headfirst into water. No, she’d seen him. The man in the wall crack. Next came Trent, who jumped neatly through, then turned and focused on the portal. Then was Troy and he did the same.

  Ella waited for the dragon to come, knowing they couldn’t risk any more lives for her sister. Tears streamed down her face. She’d always hoped that one day they would reconcile. Now that would never happen.

  The dragon’s snout was first and she wondered if he was going to make it, the hole was closing already. But then his neck and body came, and in his great claws, he held the limp body
of her sister. He pulled his tail close to his body and tumbled to the ground as the hole closed with a deafening snap.

  Ella couldn’t believe it. She sat in the dirt and underbrush for long enough to pinch herself, then scrambled to her feet and ran to Trevor.

  Trent and Troy flopped over on their sides and panted, with almost identical wolfy smiles that she had to ignore. Mac whooped up at the moon, then looked around. “Where are we?”

  Troy sat up, pointed his nose at the moon, and howled. “Arooooo.”

  The sound, long and low, made Ella think of Trevor. She bent over him, placing her head on his chest. “Guys, I don’t think he’s breathing,” she said, her voice hitching.

  They all scrambled to her as an answering howl came from their left. Then another, then another.

  “Wade will be here soon,” Mac said, standing straight and tall, not caring at all that he was naked.

  “Can’t you heal him?”

  “We can take him to a doctor, but that’s all. Wolves who can’t shift can’t heal.”

  “A doctor…” Ella stared down at him, trying to remember how to do CPR on a canine. Her brain wouldn’t work right. Her vision blurred as tears dropped from her eyes.

  A voice filled her head, deep, with a thick brogue accent. Bite me.

  She looked up. It could only be the dragon. What? Troy’s voice.

  Someone has to bite me. I’m too weak. Dragon’s blood has healing properties.

  Troy looked up, but Ella could tell he hesitated to leave Trevor. “Mac, the dragon says to bite him. Dragon blood has healing properties.”

  Mac looked at the dragon, laying on its side in the leaves and underbrush, then looked at Trevor. He grabbed Trevor by the haunches and hauled him over to Graeme, then shifted. Ella held her breath, thinking if she could go without breath for that long, so could Trevor. She prayed.

  Mac’s wolf latched onto a meaty part of the dragon’s front arm? paw? claw? and bit, growling as he did so. Fat drops of blood appeared at once, reddening Mac’s muzzle. Ella rushed forward and moved the dragon’s arm over Trevor’s muzzle, trying to drip blood into his mouth. One big drop, then two, then three.

  That’s enough, the dragon sighed in her mind.

  What about you? Do you need some?

  My own blood will not heal me.

  Ella stared at Trevor, about to ask how long it would take, when before her eyes, he shifted, his muzzle shortening, becoming a proper nose, his fur pulling into his skin, his ears shortening and moving, his body lengthening.

  In the moonlight, though, she still couldn’t tell if he was breathing. She dropped to her knees and put her ear to his mouth, looking down his body.

  Her eyes went wide as she saw he had an erection, bigger than she had ever seen it. Trent and Troy scrambled backwards.

  That’s a side effect of dragon’s blood. He’ll have it for a few hours. But it does mean he’ll be fine.

  Ella didn’t know if she should laugh or cry. So she did both.

  Um, Mr. Dragon, sir, can I give some of your blood to my sister? she asked, thinking it awful of her, but unable to help herself.

  Of course. Take what you need quickly, before it clots. I’m going to sleep now.

  Ella touched him gingerly, not wanting to hurt him. She cupped her hands and gathered a few drops of blood from him, the same as she had for Trevor and walked to her sister, tipping the blood between her lips.

  Then she returned to Trevor’s side to wait.

  Chapter 47

  Ella sat in the chair beside her sister and watched her slack face as the monitors and IV machines beeped mercilessly around them.

  She could hear her guard out in the hall, swapping stories. Mac’s voice was the loudest.

  “You should have seen it. He came to, then breathed this spout of blue fire that totally obliterated Khain’s fire. We could run through it. It didn’t burn us at all! Then when we got down into the dungeon, he flew right at Khain’s face. That Graeme, he’s an all right guy. I’ll be happy when he’s up and moving again.” His voice lowered a bit, not quite as excited, but not hostile. “Good job adding him to the team, boss.”

  Ella smiled as she heard the surprise in Trevor’s voice. “It was all Wade. I was against it.”

  “Eh, you had a good reason, I’m sure, but he’s staying right?”

  “That male can stay as long as he likes. I might even give him your job, Mac.”

  A wave of laughter greeted that, but then another male spoke. She wasn’t sure if he was Harlan or Crew. She didn’t have their voices down yet, although she didn’t think Crew talked much, so maybe it was Harlan.

  “Any word on the foxen?”

  “Nope, it’s been five days and no one has been able to find him. We lost his scent in a stream.”

  “What’s our operating belief? Was he there against his will or not?”

  Trevor sighed. “We have no way of knowing. We just need to find him and question him. Oh, hi Doc.”

  “Gentlemen.”

  The curtain moved and Shay’s doctor moved into the room. “Hello, Miss Carmi, good to see you.”

  Ella smiled. “Thank you, doctor.”

  “I have some news about your sister. Unfortunately nothing has changed. Her vital signs remain strong, but her brain is still dormant. No activity at all.”

  Ella dropped her eyes. How was that news?

  “Miss Carmi, did you realize Shay is pregnant?”

  Ella sucked in a breath, feeling its coldness as it passed over her teeth. She half-stood, then dropped into the chair again.

  She looked towards the door, but heard only happy banter between the males out there.

  “I didn’t, doctor, and I need you to do me a favor. Don’t tell anyone else.”

  The doctor’s eyes narrowed but he nodded. “Of course. We would not. Doctor-patient confidentiality.”

  Ella nodded. “Good. And you still plan on moving her tomorrow?”

  “Yes, to the facility we talked about.”

  “Thank you, doctor.”

  He left quietly and Ella took Shay’s hand. It was cold. Or Ella was cold. She wondered if there was any place in her new life for her sister, if her sister ever recovered. The dragon blood had not helped and Ella didn’t know if anything could. The doctors seemed to think not.

  An image flashed through her brain, the pendant she’d found while going through the boxes at her aunt’s home with the angel on one side and the wolf on the other. Ella could see it perfectly in her mind. An angel… and a wolf. That was no coincidence. She would give anything to have that item back again. She had heard Mrs. White had moved her business to another shop. She would visit and try to buy it back as soon as─ well, as soon as she could.

  Trevor came in the room. “Sorry to rush you El, but we are out of time.”

  Ella stood. “No. I’m ready.” She took Trevor’s hand and walked out of the room, on her way to be mated, finally.

  Chapter 48

  “Such pretty hair,” Lorna said, looking at Ella in the mirror as she twisted Ella’s black hair up above her head. “And your dress? It’s going to be perfect. Worthy of being seen at the first mating ceremony in twenty-eight years.”

  “I didn’t realize your mating ceremonies were so much like human weddings,” Ella said, trying to hold still as Lorna pushed bobby pins into her hair. They were at Ella’s aunt’s house, getting Ella prettied up. She could hear her guard joking and laughing in the living room, but Trevor wasn’t there. He was already at the farm property they’d rented one county over to have the ceremony at. He’d calmed down in the days since they’d returned from the pravus, letting the KSRT look at her and talk to her and even be her constant guard without him there. Even Mac, as long as Trent and Troy were with him. Ella hoped the guard thing would ease up once they were mated. It was getting tiring.

  “Of course, honey, we gotta pass for humans. We can’t go doing too much too different.”

  “What was your mating ceremony to
Wade like?”

  Lorna laughed. “That was a long time ago. I barely remember. But he was handsome as all get-out in his tuxedo. I couldn’t wait to get to our honeymoon suite after.”

  “Oh, a honeymoon? Do you think we will go on one?”

  “Perhaps, though how you are going to drag seven wolven and maybe a dragen after you, I don’t know.”

  “That’s the issue, isn’t it?” Ella pushed it out of her mind. She wasn’t going to let anything ruin the day. Her day. Her… wedding.

  “So is anything different than at a human wedding?” she asked.

  Lorna tsked her tongue. “Only if you haven’t been claimed yet, but I’m sure Trevor did that long ago, pretty little thing like you, he wouldn’t be able to help himself.”

  “Claimed?” Ella felt tiny tendrils of panic flutter in her belly. She had no idea.

  “You know, where he bites you right here.” Lorna touched the back of her shoulder. “Right where your renqua would be if you had one.”

  “Bites me? He’s going to bite me?”

  Lorna stared at her in the mirror for a second, then moved to the front of her and leaned down. “You mean to tell me he hasn’t already?”

  “No, will it hurt?”

  Lorna stood and clasped her hand to her heart. “Wow, that is special then. I haven’t seen a claiming in a hundred years.”

  “Seen? What?” Ella had an image of a dozen wolven watching her and Trevor together. She couldn’t do that.

  “Don’t worry, honey, we don’t actually watch, but if a female hasn’t been claimed by her male yet, the claiming happens right there at the ceremony, in a special room behind the bower, or sometimes right in the woods, depending on the size of the ceremony. But the males who stand for your mate don’t let anyone near the couple. Sometimes, Rhen’s blessing can be seen in the sky afterwards.”

  “Rhen’s blessing?”

  “Oh child, it’s beautiful, thick clouds in the shape of the couple’s renquas, combining in the sky, with the sun shining behind them like Rhen herself smiling down on the couple.”