by Anna Lowe
Love of the Dragon
Book 5
by
Anna Lowe
Aloha Shifters: Jewels of the Heart
Love of the Dragon
Copyright © 2017 by Anna Lowe
[email protected]
Editing by Lisa A. Hollett
Proofreading by Donna Hokanson
Cover art by Kim Killion
This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner without the express written permission of the author except for the use of brief quotations in articles or reviews.
This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons is purely coincidental.
Big thanks to all the members of my amazing plot wizards group for all your support and fantastic ideas! An equally big thank you to star beta readers Beth, Jen, Colleen, Cindy, and Renee, who all contributed to making this story the best it could be. Thank you so much for your support!
Other books in this series
Aloha Shifters - Jewels of the Heart
Lure of the Dragon (Book 1)
Lure of the Wolf (Book 2)
Lure of the Bear (Book 3)
Lure of the Tiger (Book 4)
Love of the Dragon (Book 5)
Lure of the Fox (Book 6)
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Desert Wolf: Friend or Foe (Book 1.1 in the Twin Moon Ranch series)
Off the Charts (the prequel to the Serendipity Adventure series)
Perfection (the prequel to the Blue Moon Saloon series)
Contents
Other books in this series
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Contents
Love of the Dragon
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Sneak Peek: Lure of the Fox
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Love of the Dragon
Dragons, duty, destined mates, and a deadly rival…
Silas Llewellyn, the last of a once-mighty dragon clan, doesn’t have time for anything but work and duty. He certainly doesn’t have time for love — not with a ruthless enemy plotting to destroy everything he holds dear. When a priceless diamond — one of the legendary Spirit Stones — surfaces in New York, Silas knows the jewel is nothing but trouble…just like the alluring woman who refuses to relinquish the gem.
Bartender Cassandra Nichols never asked to inherit a mysterious diamond, and she really never intended to come between two warring dragons. But with one near-miss escape after another, she has no choice but to choose sides. Before she knows it, she’s whisked by private jet to an oceanfront estate in Hawaii for her own “protection.” Is the enigmatic Mr. Llewellyn just another billionaire dragon who thinks he can claim anything he wants? Or is there more to the soulful stranger than meets the eye?
Chapter One
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***
“Going once. Going twice… Gone.”
The auctioneer slammed his gavel, and a murmur rippled through the crowd.
Silas went very still. The next item for sale was the one that had brought him all the way from Maui to this swanky event in New York. The one he needed. Badly.
“We’re up next,” Kai said in a low, growly voice to Silas’s left.
Silas didn’t look at his cousin. Instead, he glanced across the auction hall, ignoring the crystal chandeliers and gold accents that hinted at wealth and treasures to be obtained. No matter how hard he tried to keep his eyes trained straight ahead, they kept roving over to the gray-haired man in the third row. A man who fit in perfectly with the crowd — tailored suit, diamond cuff links, silk tie. One of the well-to-do in New York’s high society. But that man was different in one critical way.
Drax — the mightiest dragon lord of them all. Silas’s bitter enemy.
Drax folded his hands on his lap and cast a bored glance at Silas.
I am king here, his smug, disdainful look said. I have it all, and I will keep it all.
And Drax really meant all. Properties around the world. A dragon hoard beyond compare. The riches Drax had seized from Silas’s family a generation before. And above all, the woman Drax had wooed away from Silas less than a decade ago.
Moira.
Just thinking of her together with Drax made a thousand emotions roil.
Then something red and silky flashed, and those emotions turned into a whirling storm.
Moira, his inner dragon muttered through clenched teeth.
The people in the third row stirred as Moira made her grand entrance. She nodded as she swept by them the way a queen might nod to peasants. Halfway along the row, she paused and lifted her right heel to inspect some invisible imperfection.
Silas grimaced. That was all part of Moira’s show. The woman craved attention. She was addicted to it, just as she was addicted to wealth and power.
She sashayed to the empty seat beside Drax and sat with her hands folded neatly, casually. On the outside, a perfect lady. On the inside, a ruthless abuser of hearts, fortunes, and souls.
She was younger than Drax — much younger — but the hand she placed high on Drax’s thigh advertised to the world how intimate they were.
Silas’s hands clenched into fists as he ordered himself to remain cool. So Moira had broken his heart when she’d left him for Drax, eight years ago. That was all water under the bridge, right?
His dragon snorted. Right. That’s why your pulse is through the roof.
Okay, so maybe he had loved Moira, once upon a time. That was all over now.
It’s not over because it never started, his dragon insisted. We never truly loved her. We just thought we did.
Silas made a face. Love was all in the head anyway.
Love is in the heart, and hers is made of stone. His dragon lashed its tail.
Silas looked around. What would the people in attendance do if they discovered dragon shifters in their midst? He almost wondered if the guests would care, given how intently they focused on the next item for sale.
An attendant with white gloves stepped forward with a black velvet box, and the auctioneer tapped his gavel. Everyone leaned forward, including Silas and his companions. Even Drax, he sensed, leaned forward and held his breath.
Is that it? Is it a Spirit Stone? Tessa, Kai’s mate, whispered into Silas’s mind.
He pursed his lips. From this distance, it was impossible to tell.
The auctioneer cleared his voice and spoke. “Lot number 457. An exquisite thirty-six-carat diamond from an anonymous collection.”
At anonymous, a low snort went out from the back of the crowd. Silas craned his neck and caught a glimpse of a woman whose arms were crossed tightly over her chest. Her chestnut hair reflected the light of the chandeliers, and for some reason, his heart skipped a beat or two. But the room was so packed, she was blocked from view a moment later.
“Lady Montgomery DeWitt was known to have worn this diamond before it was lost to the public eye, and before her…”
The auctioneer droned on with a long list of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century socialites who had once owned the diamond. None of those facts was new to Silas. He’d been feverishly researching the Windstone ever since the first of the Spirit Stones appeared on Maui less than a year ago. The Windstone was far older than that recent history implied. Far more important than any other jewel — if that diamond truly was The One.
He closed his eyes, trying to pick up on the subtle radiation of power all the Spirit Stones exuded. But when a Spirit Stone slumbered, there was no way to tell it from just another jewel.
Just another jewel? his cousin, Kai, huffed, reading Silas’s mind as all closely bonded shifters could.
“Are you picking up on anything?” Tessa whispered.
Kai shook his head. “I can’t tell yet.”
Silas’s eyes slid to Drax. The man sat ramrod stiff, and his eyes had the slightest hint of dragon glow.
That has to be a Spirit Stone, Silas’s dragon whispered. It has to be.
He took a deep breath. Even without more evidence, he knew this was it. Slowly, inexorably, everything was coming to a head. He and Drax had been steering toward all-out conflict for years. First over Moira, and then over the Spirit Stones. Their indirect power struggle had become increasingly intense, as if destiny wanted to unleash a new shifter war upon the world.
Was it coincidence that the Windstone had surfaced now? Hardly. Like the other Spirit Stones, it was part of a collection of precious stones with magical powers. But the dragon that had watched over the Spirit Stones had died generations ago, and the jewels had been scattered and lost.
Until now. One by one, the Spirit Stones had resurfaced. And one by one, they’d ratcheted Silas’s conflict with Drax to ever-higher levels. Drax had refused to acknowledge Silas for years, but not any more. Not with Silas gaining his own power, experience, and supporters.
Silas ignored the look of open appraisal Drax threw his way.
Look all you want, his inner dragon growled. I have nothing to fear from you.
Except he did, and he knew it. He had strengthened his position over time, but he’d become more vulnerable too. The very men and women who gave him strength — the shifters of Koa Point — were also his Achilles’ heel. Some of the couples were close to starting families, and Drax wouldn’t hold back from exploiting any advantage he could.
Drax smirked, and Silas nearly bared his teeth to show his fangs.
We need that diamond, Kai grunted.
“Bidding opens at $500,000,” the auctioneer announced.
Kai caught his gaze, but Silas shook his head. There was no need to bid early on. He would draw too much attention as it was when bidding reached the serious stages.
Silas gripped the edge of his seat, frowning. The problem wasn’t bidding, but whether he could match other bids. Drax had far more money, resources, and power scattered in dark, shadowy corners of the globe than Silas could ever amass. All Silas and his clan really had was a generous benefactor and the other four Spirit Stones: the Firestone, the Lifestone, the Earthstone, and the Waterstone.
Surely, the power of those four outweighs that of a single Windstone, his dragon said.
Silas wanted to believe it, but with Spirit Stones, you never knew. And according to legend, the five Spirit Stones would create a single, combined power if they were reunited. They could be used to aggregate incredible wealth and power — something Silas had no doubt Drax would do, given half a chance. But other shifters understood that such power was better left untouched. Silas and his friends would protect the Spirit Stones, and the Stones would protect them in turn, allowing them to live in peace and prosperity.
Silas sighed. Prosperity came and went; he wasn’t concerned about that. But peace — true peace, mental and physical… God, that would be nice. Not just for him, but for all the shifters of Koa Point — and for generations to come. Nina and Boone were already expecting — twins, as the proud papa wolf had predicted. And it was only a question of time before Kai and Tessa started their own family too.
So much was at stake. So much depended on the Windstone.
Silas watched closely as the auctioneer’s assistant tilted the case for the crowd to see. Rays of light caught in the diamond’s facets and shot across the ceiling. The moment that light flashed across Drax’s greedy face, Silas knew. That was the Windstone.
Moira licked her lips and whispered into Drax’s ear. Something like, That’s the one, no doubt. It’s beautiful. It’s powerful. And I want it. Now.
Silas took a deep breath. At least there was that — the only emotion Moira stirred in him these days was anger. Still, his heart hammered away. So much depended on what happened next.
“$500,000,” the auctioneer said, pointing to a bidder in the fifth row.
Another hand shot up, and the auctioneer swung around. “$600,000.”
Kai nudged Silas, but he kept his hands folded firmly in his lap. Too soon.
When the bidding hit one million, Drax casually raised one manicured finger.
The auctioneer pointed. “One million dollars to Mr. Drax.”
A murmur of recognition went through the crowd, and Kai made a face. What kind of shifter draws attention to himself by living big in high society?
The kind who thinks he can get away with anything, Silas replied in his driest tone.
Drax’s smirk grew as bidder after bidder dropped away.
“One-point-five million dollars… One-point-six…” The auctioneer pointed at each successive bid. “One-point-nine. Ms. Lee?” He raised his eyebrows at an Asian woman with a phone pressed to one ear. She held her hand out in a flat, stand-by position.
“Who is that?” Tessa whispered.
“A rep for an absentee buyer,” Kai murmured as the woman spoke into her phone.
“Anyone you know?” Tessa asked.
Silas shook his head. “It could be anyone.”
Ms. Lee turned her thumb down. No go.
“I have one-point-nine million dollars with Mr. Drax’s bid.” The auctioneer scanned the crowd. “Going once…”
Kai looked at Silas as the tension in the room rose.
“Going twice…”
“Silas…” Kai started, but Silas already had his hand up.
“Two million dollars,” the auctioneer cried.
Every head swiveled toward Silas, and he took a deep breath. Like any self-respecting dragon, he hated the limelight. He’d grown accustomed to a certain level of scrutiny on Maui, but he still hated the prying, appraising looks. If only people knew how little wealth he had left, given that Drax had stolen most of his inheritance decades ago.
A long minute later, everyone looked at Drax, who nodded. Moira’s lips curled in one of her carefully calculated, I’m so rich, everything bores me — but why not indulge myself? smiles.
“Two-point-one,” the auctioneer said.
Two-point-two million dollars came from an oil magnate Silas recognized from the newspapers. Fine. Let Drax and that man duke it out for a while.
Fine — except for one thing, his dragon reminded him.
The higher the bidding went, the less likely he was to be able to keep up. Drax and the oil magnate might have unlimited resources, but he didn’t.
How much did Uncle Filimore leave you? Kai asked.
A blur of sentimental images swept through his mind. His great-uncle waving him toward a chair in the library of the family estate in southern France, where Silas had spent summers as a child. Or his uncle kneeling to hug him goodby
e the first time Silas had left for boarding school after his parents died.
A pang of regret sliced into his side. Filimore had become a father to him, and Silas hadn’t visited nearly enough in recent years. His uncle’s recent death from mysterious causes had left a gaping hole in Silas’s heart — and in the dragon world. As the last of the ancient dragons, Filimore had maintained a certain degree of law and order among their volatile species. Since then, the dragon world had been holding its breath for a new leader to emerge — or for chaos to break out.
Silas blinked a few times, fighting away a burning sensation. His eyes were starting to glow. He couldn’t allow that in public, no matter how much he despised the idea of Drax ascending to power.
Silas? Tessa called softly, pulling him back to Kai’s question. How much had Filimore left to him?
He gritted his teeth. Three million.
The other two winced.
That’s it? Kai protested.
Filimore’s fortune was vast — even greater than Drax’s. But he had only bequeathed three million in cash to Silas. The rest was being held back as lawyers pored over the will. And truthfully, Silas wasn’t interested in the luxury properties, ten-digit accounts, or glittering treasure said to be hidden in various corners of the globe. All he really wanted was peace for the shifter world. Everything he treasured — his home and the future of his clan — hung in the balance.
The diamond glittered from the podium.
“Two-point-five million dollars,” the auctioneer cried, pointing at Drax.
Silas hid a scowl. Drax was bidding with money he’d stolen when Silas’s parents died, years before. In fact, Silas suspected Drax of orchestrating his father’s death, even if Drax hadn’t directly participated in that fight.
Drax grinned as if to rub in the point. Two-point-five million dollars. What do you say to that?
Silas kept his lips sealed as a hundred pairs of curious eyes peered at him. Drax’s haughty black eyes pierced his, while Moira’s deep grays mocked everyone. But the gaze that captured Silas’s attention came from the back of the room — so intense, he had to fight the urge to turn around.