Table of Contents
Chapter One – Sapphi
Chapter Two – Alex
Chapter Three – Sapphi
Chapter Four – Alex
Chapter Five – Sapphi
Chapter Six – Alex
Chapter Seven – Sapphi
Chapter Eight – Alex
Chapter Nine – Sapphi
Chapter Ten – Alex
Chapter Eleven – Sapphi
Chapter Twelve – Alex
Chapter Thirteen – Sapphi
Chapter Fourteen – Alex
Chapter Fifteen – Sapphi
Chapter Sixteen – Alex
Chapter Seventeen – Sapphi
Chapter Eighteen – Alex
Chapter Nineteen – Sapphi
Table of Contents
Copyright
Free Book Offer
Foreword
Chapter One – Sapphi
Chapter Two – Alex
Chapter Three – Sapphi
Chapter Four – Alex
Chapter Five – Sapphi
Chapter Six – Alex
Chapter Seven – Sapphi
Chapter Eight – Alex
Chapter Nine – Sapphi
Chapter Ten – Alex
Chapter Eleven – Sapphi
Chapter Twelve – Alex
Chapter Thirteen – Sapphi
Chapter Fourteen – Alex
Chapter Fifteen – Sapphi
Chapter Sixteen – Alex
Chapter Seventeen – Sapphi
Chapter Eighteen – Alex
Chapter Nineteen – Sapphi
Get In Touch
Also By Harmony Raines
Single Daddy
Dragon
Return to Bear Creek
(Book Fifteen)
***
All rights reserved. This book, or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner without the express written consent of the author or publisher.
This is a work of fiction and is intended for mature audiences only. All characters within are eighteen years of age or older. Names, places, businesses, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, actual events or places is purely coincidental.
© 2018 Harmony Raines
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Single Daddy Dragon
Return to Bear Creek
(Book Fifteen)
Dragons!
Alex has a problem. He's on the run, although he's not sure who from. After a panicked phone call from Archie's mom, Kim, he gathers up the baby and hits the road, heading for Bear Creek. But when he arrives there is no sign of Kim. However, there are signs of other dragons. Particularly one special dragon, his mate, Sapphire.
Raised by a mother who believed they were the last dragons, Alex and Archie are soon accepted into Sapphi’s family. But will his secret put the dragon family in danger?
Just because you are a powerful dragon shifter, doesn't mean life is easy. Especially, when you decide the life you mapped out for yourself, isn't the one you want. As if things weren’t complicated enough, a close encounter with her mate sends Sapphi tumbling out of the sky.
Did she mention complicated? Single-daddy-dragon kind of complicated. Not only is her mate in town, but he already has a baby. And a secret. As events unfold, Sapphi must decide where her future and her loyalties lie.
Can she find it in her heart to love baby Archie? Or will he drive a wedge between her and Alex?
Chapter One – Sapphi
Sapphi glided on the thermals above the mountains surrounding Bear Creek. Free. In her dragon form, she was free, released from the choices life demanded of her. She sighed, and pushed any reminder of everyday, mundane life away. This was dragon time!
She wheeled to the west, her sister, Ruby, following, their dragons synchronized. They flew as one, a shared intuition, as if their minds were connected, nerve endings picking up the same signals as they flew higher, racing toward the moon.
Exhilaration filled every atom of her body, as if she were truly leaving her earthbound body behind. If she could find the strength, she would break out of the atmosphere and reach the moon. Muscles ached, lungs burned, her heart beat hard, fast.
What the hell! Something hit her. Sapphi’s dragon flight faltered, her wings useless as she lost all sense of direction. Up became down, west became east, as she tried to unravel her blue leathery wings that shimmered in the moonlight.
Behind her, Ruby turned her body into a graceful dive, following Sapphi as she plummeted toward the Earth. They didn’t share a telepathic link, but when Sapphi locked eyes with Ruby for a nanosecond, she could hear her sister screaming her name.
Think. Sapphi had never lost control before. It was as if the Earth below was calling her name, dragging her down to her doom. But it didn’t feel like doom. It was…
Gone.
In the haze of her dizzy vision, a dark shadow flew rapidly to the east, taking her heart with it. Rent in two, she gasped for air, as she fought to make sense of what her brain was trying to tell her.
Ruby, panicked at the thought of losing her sister, ducked beneath Sapphi and tried to stop her fall. If Sapphi didn’t act quickly, they were both going to die.
With tremendous effort, she stretched out her wings, and with a strong downward beat, pulled herself out of the dive. Her headlong fall faltered, and she inched higher. Below her Ruby angled her body perfectly, her red scales burnished fire as she flew alongside Sapphi, guiding her to safety. Guiding her to the ground.
“What the hell was that?” Ruby stormed toward Sapphi in her human form as soon as they touched the ground. Her eyes blazed, she was fierce, a beautiful young woman who knew her own mind, and knew her own destiny. A pang of jealousy hit Sapphi in the chest. That used to be her. Once, Sapphi knew everything. Now she knew nothing. The path Sapphi thought she wanted her life to take was ripped up and dumped in a pile of trash that she didn’t know how long it would take to begin to sort through.
“I don’t know.” Sapphi’s shoulders slumped forward. “It was as if I forgot how to fly.”
“Sapph.” Ruby’s voice softened as she reached out to touch her older sister. “Are you okay?”
Sapphi nodded, then shook her head. “I don’t know.” She took a deep, shuddering breath.
“Come on, let’s sit down.” Ruby put her arm around Sapphi’s shoulder and guided her toward a large boulder. “After you’ve rested, we can walk down the mountain from here. Or you can ride on my back.”
Sapphi dashed a stray tear from her eye. “I can fly.” Could she? Did she trust her dragon? Her dragon who had gone silent inside her head. What if she was dying?
“What if it happens again?” Ruby asked with concern.
“Just give me a moment.” Sapphi collected her thoughts, focusing on her dragon.
What happened? her dragon asked as soon as their consciousness touched.
Sapphi let out a sigh of relief, she was still there. I don’t know. I thought you would.
There was a sudden…awareness. Her dragon sounded confused.
What kind of awareness? Sapphi drew the image of a large dark shape, moving fast into the night, back into her mind. Was that real?
Yes, her dragon answered. That was real, and whatever it was, I believe it was responsible.
Sabotage? Sapphi asked.
I
don’t know. Her dragon stalked off, leaving Sapphi dissatisfied. Her dragon was holding something back. Unusual, since secrets between woman and beast were always shared, no matter how deep or dark.
“Sapph, we have to get moving,” Ruby said, getting up. “Fiona will be wondering where we are.”
“I’m old enough to stay out late if I want to,” Sapphi retorted.
“You know Fiona and Harlan worry,” Ruby told her sister. “And we owe them a lot. So we’re going to get home. On time. Then you can tell them what happened.”
“No.” Sapphi shook her head. “They’ll only worry more.”
“They should worry. We should all worry,” Ruby replied, her eyes wide as she looked at Sapphi in the darkness. “You could have died.”
“Ruby.” Sapphi pulled her sister into a tight hug. “I would have recovered my flight.”
“Didn’t look like it from where I was.” Ruby’s voice wavered as she hugged her sister and buried her face in Sapphi’s sweater. “You are the only blood relative I have left. And you, me, Fiona, Harlan and Harlan Jr. are the only dragons left.”
“What if we’re not?” Sapphi whispered.
Ruby’s head jolted back. “What do you mean?”
“As I was falling, there was a shadow…” Sapphi shook her head. “It might have been nothing.”
“Or it might have been a dragon?” Ruby’s eyes narrowed as she searched her sister’s face. “Is that what you’re saying?”
Sapphi turned away from Ruby and walked away, staring out into the darkness. “I can’t be sure, but…”
“When we get back, let’s ask Fiona and Harlan if they were out here. It might have been one of them, keeping tabs on us.” Ruby came to stand next to Sapphi. “Or it might be a new dragon. Can you imagine, meeting another dragon shifter?”
“No,” Sapphi replied simply. “We’ve always thought we were the last.”
“And so did Fiona, and so did Harlan.” Ruby’s voice rose in excitement. “There might be hundreds out there. Just waiting to be found.”
“And what if one of them has found us?” Sapphi asked, a cold chill creeping through her veins. “Why didn’t they come and say hello?”
“Have you met Fiona?” Ruby tried to make light of Sapphi’s remarks. “She’s enough to scare anyone away.”
Sapphi sighed. “Not if it was a big male dragon.”
“Uh, are you having fantasies about your mate sweeping you off your feet?” Ruby asked in mock shock.
Sapphi shook her head. “Not really. I have enough problems without a mate to compound them.”
“Like what?” Ruby snorted. “You’ve left college, you have an internship lined up…”
“What if I don’t want to do the internship?” Sapphi blurted out.
“Oh!”
“Yes. Oh! My life isn’t as perfect as you think.” Sapphi turned and walked away from Ruby. Without another word, she shifted into her dragon and leaped into the air, her large wings spread wide as she caught a thermal. With a steady beat of her wings, her dragon rose higher, before skimming across the lower slopes of the mountain.
Home. Her dragon knew where the house she lived in with her sister and adoptive family was. No matter where she flew, an inbuilt homing beacon always guided her true. Was that the reason she didn’t want to take up the internship? It was a great opportunity, working in Harlan’s main offices. He wanted to groom her to take over running the company.
But it wasn’t what Sapphi wanted. Over the summer, she’d spent time alone with her thoughts and realized she didn’t want to live a corporate life. She wanted to live here, in Bear Creek, work in Bear Creek. Home.
However, she could never find the words to tell Fiona and Harlan her decision. What if they thought she was kicking sand in their faces? Was she betraying them, after all they had done for her and Ruby?
Taking on two teenage daughters couldn’t have been easy, but that’s exactly what Fiona and Harlan had done. Making a family for two orphan girls, and loving them as their own.
A tear fell from her dragon’s eye. Should they follow their own dream, or live the one her adoptive parents had helped her carefully plan? Two months ago, it had been perfect, her ideal life. Now, she’d changed her mind and didn’t know how to tell anyone.
A scent on the breeze drew her back to the present. It was familiar, and yet strange. A mixture of pinewood, and sage, and something else. Something she couldn’t put her finger on, she’d smelled it before. But not on the mountain.
Ruby’s presence by her side made Sapphi turn her head, she’d smelled it, too. Whoever, whatever, she’d seen, had taken off from close by. Nodding to Ruby, Sapphi circled around, tracing the scent to the north. An idea came to her, and she flew faster. The scent trail confirmed her suspicions.
Lower, the two dragons flew down to a clearing in the forest, where a cabin belonging to Carter Eden stood, empty now that he’d moved into town with his mate, Caroline. Carter still came here, staying overnight with Caroline and their children in the summer. At other times, hikers from town took refuge if they needed shelter from a storm.
The smell of damp wood smoke filled the clearing as the two dragons landed. Their enhanced dragon senses told them there was no one here. But that didn’t mean someone hadn’t been here. Someone who had taken off when they sensed the two dragons overhead. Was it possible?
“Shall we go in?” Ruby asked as they cautiously approached the cabin.
“Yes, there’s no one here now.” Sapphi looked at Ruby for confirmation. “Is there?” Sapphi no longer trusted her dragon senses one hundred percent. Even now she felt odd, as if she were coming down with an illness.
“No, not as far as I can tell.” Ruby went first. Brave and surefooted, she mounted the porch, placed her hand on the latch, and pushed the door open.
Sapphi was at her side as they stepped over the threshold. The fire in the grate had been extinguished, but the faint glow of the embers was still visible in the darkness. Ruby reached into her pocket for her phone and switched it on, holding it up like a flashlight to illuminate the cabin.
“Someone’s been here,” Ruby whispered, the light resting on a bowl on the table. They walked toward it, looking around as they went. “Applesauce.”
Sapphi nodded as she sniffed it. “Applesauce.” She glanced around. “Shine the light here.” Sapphi moved across to the sink, next to which sat a jar. “Baby food.”
“Fresh. Someone was here with a baby?” Ruby’s confused voice echoed Sapphi’s.
“And then flew off?”
“The scent in the air… It must have been.” Ruby swung her light around, blinding Sapphi in the process. “We should go. It’s late. We can come back tomorrow in the day and have a proper look around.”
Sapphi blinked as they left the cabin, her night vision gone for now, thanks to Ruby’s phone. At least her human night vision was gone. As she launched herself into the air, her dragon’s senses kicked in, which included enhanced night vision. Not as clear as daylight, but clear enough for Sapphi to make out the forests below, the streams running down the mountain, which joined together to form tributaries, which in turn fed the rivers and the creek that ran through the town of Bear Creek.
Shadows of animals moved across the mountain slopes, running from the perceived danger of the dragons flying on silent wings above their heads. As she swooped lower, the outlines of cliffs and plateaus, of small cabins nestled along the lower slopes, revealed themselves—and finally the house where she lived. Home.
The two dragons landed in the large backyard behind the house. The open area was one of the reasons Fiona and Harlan had moved here. It gave them plenty of space to land but was shielded from prying eyes by the house and the trees that bordered it.
“Come on, let’s go get a snack, and tell Fiona and Harlan,” Ruby suggested as she walked toward the house.
“Not tonight,” Sapphi replied. “I’m tired. It can wait until tomorrow.”
Ruby paused
and turned to face Sapphi. “Okay, but only if you promise me you will tell them. This isn’t something you can keep to yourself. It’s important.”
Sapphi nodded. “I promise.” As they walked to the house, side by side, Sapphi looked up into the sky and wondered what the dark shape was, and where it had gone. And why it was eating baby food.
Chapter Two – Alex
Flying with a baby in your mouth was not an easy feat. Not that the baby was actually in his mouth. Alex wasn’t a fire-breathing dragon who enjoyed snacking on babies. No, instead his dragon flew with baby Archie strapped in his car seat, the safest way to carry a baby between large dragon jaws.
Jaws were much easier than claws. Believe it, because Alex had tried.
He used his dragon senses to check the area. Whatever he’d sensed, whatever had made him run, was gone. But he didn’t dare risk going back to the cabin. Pity, it was a good hideout while he rested and figured out what the hell was going on. But he couldn’t hide there forever, he had to go into town. Bear Creek, it was the place he’d been trying to get to since this whole drama began. First by road, and then on dragon wings.
But reaching Bear Creek wouldn’t mean safety. There were still people out there who might come to town to take Archie, to use him as leverage to get what they wanted.
However, that was for tomorrow. Tonight, he would find a nice cave, or a hollow in the ground and curl up with his thick leathery wings wrapped protectively around the baby. A baby he would protect with his life, against anything.
So why the sense of unease emanating from his dragon as he circled a cliff face, before landing on a wide ledge? There he carefully set down the baby, plus a bag of baby paraphernalia and a small backpack with his own belongings stuffed hastily inside. The small boy, who had captured his heart, and who needed Alex if he was going to survive, looked up at the dragon and lifted both his hands as if attempting to cuddle the scaly beast, while kicking his feet enthusiastically.
Single Daddy Dragon Page 1