Deceived by the Shifter

by Juniper Hart

  Nyle’s eyes focused on hers, the blue-gray globes glimmering in the light of the flame. But as she looked up to him, speckles in her irises caught the light, illuminating a metallic silver in her eyes.

  “She’s half Elemental,” Evryn revealed, lowering his hand as the flame dissipated. “I assume this estranged father of hers had silver, not gray eyes. Since her mother is human, it’s dulled the metallic glimmer. She has no markings, but she might have abilities. Without the training of the Elementals, it would be hard to say if she could water or air-bend. She may very well have a longer lifespan, too. I truly have no idea. She’s the first known of her kind. Whoever her father is, he broke generations of tradition.”

  “Wait, wait, wait,” Daisy interjected, scoffing at the old man. “Are you trying to tell me you think I’m half dragon?”

  “Yes,” Evryn answered simply.

  “That’s ridiculous,” she said shaking her head, not believing it. “The cut has to burn for some other reason. Maybe I’m allergic to whatever you cut me with?” Daisy thought aloud, trying to make sense of it.

  “Could be, I suppose,” Evryn shrugged. “If you’re not a hybrid, then the cut will do nothing. But if you are a hybrid, then you’ll be needing this,” he said, producing a vial of medicine from his satchel. “Or else that cut will kill you—or at the very least make you very, very ill.”

  Nyle peeled back from Daisy, holding her at arm’s length. “Daisy…” he said in a barely audible voice.

  She knew she was being stubborn, but she really couldn’t help it. For the twenty-two years she had been alive, she believed dragons were work of fiction and lore. That evening, she found out the man she was sleeping with was a prince of a clan. Now they were trying to tell her she was half dragon?

  “I… I…” Daisy stammered, trying to find something to say, but she was speechless.

  If she didn’t accept it soon, she could die? The wound was already burning rather badly. It felt like she’d been cut with a blade soaked in chemicals. In the end, the pain proved to be too real for her to hold onto her stubbornness.

  “I’ll take the medicine.”

  Evryn handed the vial to Nyle. “Apply it to the wound and have her drink a teaspoon of it, but no more than that. I really have no idea how she’ll respond to any of our medicine.”

  Nyle slowly unbandaged her arm and grabbed a clean cloth, applying some of the medicine to it before wiping the cut. It was a potent smelling concoction, smelling strongly of citrus, myrrh, and mint. It stung the wound, making Daisy wince slightly, but almost instantaneously it took away the burn of the cut. Could she really have been half dragon and never known?

  “Nylyrias, you know this won’t make it any easier for you to make her your mate,” Evryn voiced over her thoughts.

  “I think it will be a little easier,” Nyle spoke as he poured the medicine into a spoon and held it to her lips. Daisy drank it. Her face soured as soon as it hit her tongue. It was so oily and potent that even a small spoonful was horrendous and offensive to her taste buds.

  “Maybe this was meant to happen, Evryn. A way to bond the two breeds again after all these years,” Nyle offered.

  Evryn let out one sharp laugh. “You really think that’s possible? My boy, I believe both sides are going to find her to be an abomination.”

  “Maybe, but do you really think the Elementals would stand for the Royals killing her? Even if they feel that way, she’s still half their breed. They wouldn’t want her dying at the hands of one of us, and I won’t stand for them killing her,” Nyle spoke to him as he redressed her arm, making sure it was snug, but not too tight.

  Then his golden eyes flickered up to hers as he wrapped his arms around her waist to help her down from the counter.

  “I’m not saying any of this is ideal. I know ideal would be for either us to not be soulmates, or for her to somehow be a Royal, but she’s not, and she is my mate. There has to be a purpose for that. It’s just… too coincidental that she’s half Elemental, Evryn. With all your wisdom, you have to recognize that.”

  Daisy leaned into him and pressed her cheek to his chest and reached her arms up around his neck. It was so beautiful that he was thinking of it like that. Nyle was bound to have been raised to hate the Elemental Dragons, since the feud between the two clans had been going on for so long. Not to mention, his father had apparently taken the entire state of Pennsylvania away from the Elementals in a territorial siege. While it was going to take a long time to fully grasp that dragons really existed, it warmed her heart that he was willing to overlook that she had his enemy’s blood in her veins. Nyle hadn’t even hesitated to defend her.

  Evryn finally commented as he headed for the door. “Well, I don’t know. I need to think on this. And I’m sure you both need to as well. We’ll talk more later.”

  “Evryn,” Nyle called after him, the old man stopping mid-stride. “If it comes down to it, will you stand with me to defend her being my mate?”

  His champagne eyes flickered over to his prince and then back to the door. “I can’t answer that right now. What I can assure you is that I won’t tell anyone of this. I’ll leave that to you.”

  “Thank you, Evryn. I appreciate your discretion,” Nyle nodded to him.

  With that, Evryn was gone. Nyle’s arms tightened around Daisy.

  “Are you all right? I’m so sorry he attacked you. I wouldn’t have called on him if I had known he’d do that.”

  Closing her eyes, Daisy took comfort in his embrace. “It’s okay. We did want answers, but I’m not convinced that I’m some sort of dragon hybrid. This is all a lot to process.”

  “What do you know about your dad?” Nyle asked carefully, knowing she may not want to talk about it.

  “Not much. My mom dated him for about ten months, nine of which she was pregnant with me. But he was gone a lot, so she really didn’t see him all that much. He had short curly black hair and gray eyes. My mom said he was really aloof, so she didn’t know much about him either. They met at a concert and dated casually for a couple of weeks, and then she found out she was pregnant. He came to all of the appointments and my birth, and then he was gone.”

  Nyle frowned, hating that her father, no matter if he were human or dragon, was a piece of shit. “That’s not much to go on. There’s really no way to tell if he’s an Elemental,” he sighed. “We don’t need to talk about it anymore. I’m sure you’re worn out, so we can go lie down if you want.”

  Daisy nodded, wanting to do nothing else. In one fluid movement, Nyle scooped her up into the bridal position, carrying her toward the stairs.

  She smiled weakly, “You know, my legs actually work.”

  “I know,” Nyle chuckled, ascending the stairs with her in his arms.

  He turned and used his back to push open the bedroom door, then walked her to the bed and lay her down. Daisy pulled the blankets up around her, positioning herself on her side. Her eyes idly watched Nyle as he undressed for bed, noticing the blood stains on the cuffs of his shirt. As she laid there, soaking in the day she had just gone through, she felt her heart begin to pound. She was experiencing a full-blown identity crisis, and it made her panic as the reality started to hit her. Her father could possibly be a dragon and probably didn’t stick around because she was deemed an abomination in his culture. It weighed heavily on her mind.

  If she really did carry dragon blood, could she forgive her father? She wouldn’t be alive if it weren’t for him, and her father probably would have been exiled from his people if they knew he had a half-human child. Still, it didn’t make it feel any less shitty. Daisy couldn’t believe all of this was real. Her life had gone from rather boring to utter fantasy.

  His warm body appeared on the bed next to her. Nyle’s arm draped over her side, and his hand rested flat against her stomach. Daisy tried taking subtle, but deep, breaths to calm herself, but the more Daisy tried, the more overwhelmed she became. She didn’t want all this chaos; she wanted things to be normal. But a
t the same time, she really knew that deep down what she felt for Nyle was real and something no one else she knew had ever experienced. It was more than being lovesick; she was plagued with it. Nyle was complex, caring, and warm, and even though she had just met him, she knew her intuition was right on. The man was like an embodiment of a dream with his snowy hair, toned muscles, and smoldering gold eyes. The feeling that he was all hers, and her one true soulmate, was divine.

  However, having a soulmate didn’t change the dire circumstances they faced. She was a monster to his people, and his kingdom was depending on him to marry another dragon to keep their clan strong. Could Nyle be right, though? Could it be their destiny to unite the two clans? How in the hell had her life become about drama between dragon clans?

  Before she even realized she was crying, Nyle wiped the tears from her eyes with his thumb and kissed her forehead. Daisy turned to face him, burying her face in the crook of his neck.

  “I’ve got you,” he whispered, one hand running through her hair and the other rubbing her back.

  She tried to clear her head of all the troublesome thoughts. Hoping to bring herself back to the present moment, she inhaled his musk, felt his hand in her hair and the warmth of his skin. She concentrated on her senses to remind herself that it was all real. The hand on the back of her head moved to her jaw, stroking the length of it with a delicate touch.

  Daisy finally pulled her face back from Nyle’s neck and looked up to him with tear-filled eyes. He planted sweet kisses all over her face and tried to keep her calm. Tears slowly fell, but Daisy felt herself calming down with each moment that passed. She melted at his touch. When Nyle’s kisses drew near her lips, Daisy tipped her head in his direction, and her lips brushed against his. Tension instantly rose around them, his golden hues glued to her blue-gray eyes. Her attention flickered to his lips for just a moment before she kissed him passionately.

  Emotions turned to desire, her body desperate for some release from all the emotional turmoil and stress. Nyle, of course, couldn’t turn her away. His lips moved in harmony with hers, though she could tell he was letting her take the lead—likely because he didn’t want her to feel like he was taking advantage of her vulnerable state. With each kiss, her body came alive, aflame with longing and lust.

  Daisy grabbed the hem of her shirt, moving away from the kiss only long enough to pull it over her head. Nyle drew her closer by the small of her back, his other hand groping her chest and gliding down her front. She kicked off the lounge pants she wore and threw them from the bed. Nyle rolled on top of her and moved his lips down to her neck. Nyle reached behind Daisy’s back and skillfully unhooked her bra, freeing her breasts from its hold.

  His lips traveled to her chest, his mouth sucking and nipping at her skin. Goosebumps appeared all over her skin from the thrill of his touch. His hot breath was at one of her nipples, his soft lip rubbing against the tip. The warm flesh of his tongue then caressed the erect bud, as she was unable to suppress her sighs of pleasure. Every touch made her body crave him more. Her hips began to squirm from the arousal as Nyle moved over to her other breast. A single fingertip touched the middle of her chest and traveled down the center of her torso, going over her belly button and down to the hem of her panties. Hooking one finger through the panties and the leg hole, he pulled them down, Daisy shimmying them from her legs. Nyle’s hot tongue then followed down the same path as his finger, making her squeal with delight.

  Pushing her knees up, Nyle then parted them as his tongue reached between her hips and just above her sex. His smoldering eyes flashed up to her; Daisy met his eyes with a yearning smile. With his arms looped around her thighs, he lowered his face to her sex. The first thing she felt was his hot breath, her body quivered in anticipation. With a light flick of his tongue, he grazed her lower lips. He then traveled the length of her sex with his tongue flattened, making her moan breathlessly. His motions became rhythmic, licking and sucking the sweet flesh of her center and clit. The act was carried out with passion and care. It amazed her how much effort he put into pleasing her and making her comfortable, not at all like any of her past partners.

  Ecstasy started to build as moans liberally passed her lips. As her hips began to squirm, he lightly pushed them into the mattress, keeping her still as he skillfully sucked on her clit. Daisy’s grasped the bed sheets as the muscles in her thighs tightened. His tongue flicked over the surface of the sensitive bud and slipped a finger into her swollen heat. Moving his finger in a hook motion, he hit a pleasurable spot within her walls. With just a few strokes, Daisy peaked in pleasure, her entire body shuddering at his touch. Nyle dragged his tongue against her sex as she came down from her climax.

  Daisy bit down on her lower lip and looked down at Nyle as he sat up from between her legs. She wanted more. Grabbing her by the hips, he flipped Daisy over onto her stomach and helped her position onto her knees. He shrugged down his boxers, freeing his erection. Her heart pounded loudly in her ears as she anticipated his touch. Nyle moved her bottom up high by grasping both of her hips and positioned himself before pressing his member to her entrance. The position allowed his manhood to push all the way inside of her as low growl sounded from him. The pleasure was heightened for Daisy as her body still tingled from her last orgasm.

  Nyle’s hands moved from her hips around to her stomach. He moved her back to sit on top of him. With her back arched, her shoulders were drawn close to his chest. His hands groped her breasts as his hips pumped into her with vigor and ardor. Nyle’s lips kissed below her ear, and his fingers lightly pinched her nipples, his perfect body crashing against hers in waves of sensuality. Her arms were extended behind her, her nails digging lightly into the sides of his hips. Her own pelvis moved with energy, caught up in the sensations he provided. The confusing and overwhelming events of the day melted into the background. The only things in existence were their bodies, hot breaths, and animalistic desire for each other.

  She bounced her hips against each of his thrusts, pushing him hard into her slick center. Her moans sounded into his ear as his lips kissed along the freckles on her shoulder. One of his hands drifted from her breast, moving between her legs. He rubbed at her clit with a rhythmic motion, her sex tightening around his member. She moved her hips rapidly, moving up and down his shaft excitedly. Nyle slammed into her with each motion, biting down on her shoulder as he tried to contain himself. Daisy moved herself down, with her stomach against the bed, and raised her bottom high in the air to give him the best angle.

  “God, you’re perfect,” he groaned, thrusting into her swiftly.

  In just a few thrusts, Daisy was once again pushed over the edge. She cried out into the fabric of the pillow as she rode through every tidal wave of satisfaction. When he pulled out, Daisy let herself fall flat on the bed, completely worn out from the intense sensations and wild day. She felt Nyle cover her back in light kisses before he stood from the bed. The last thing she heard was the bathroom door close before passing out from exhaustion.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Daisy hadn’t slept long—maybe an hour at the most. Sleeping off the initial exhaustion, she couldn’t stay asleep with her mind racing. Her blue-gray eyes stared blankly at a painting he had on one of the walls. It was a plain white canvas with paints of gray, gold, and burgundy splashed onto it with aggressive brush strokes and careless splatters. She couldn’t shake Evryn’s words, thinking back over every little detail he had said about her father. Although it seemed like the only explanation to her being Nyle’s mate, and the burn she got from the blade, it just didn’t feel real.

  It was possible that her mother, Cassandra, could give her a better idea about her father’s identity. It had been such a sore subject for her mom that Daisy had seldom asked about him growing up.

  She lay wide awake in bed for a couple of hours staring at the painting and listening to Nyle’s calm breathing as she remained trapped in her thoughts. When the clock read three o’clock, she couldn’t take it anymore.
Daisy cautiously rose from the bed, being careful with her weight distribution so that she didn’t stir Nyle. Making her way over to the shopping bags from the prior afternoon, she plucked an outfit from the bag. The shopping trip felt like it had happened weeks ago. She pulled out a pair of gray skinny jeans. She slid them on along with a thin lavender blouse, and a black and white peacoat. Daisy pulled her hair up into a bun and found her handbag before heading to the door. As she opened the door, Daisy paused and looked back to Nyle.

  With the moonlight coming through the windows, his pale skin looked like marble, truly making him look like a god walking among them. He slept soundly, his chest rising and falling with each deep breath; his snow-white hair tousled from his restful sleep. For a moment, she was tempted to stay, to crawl back into bed with him and simply enjoy being in his presence for a while longer, but Daisy knew she wouldn’t be able to relax, even if she wanted to. What if he woke up while she was gone? Thinking quickly, she reached into her bag and pulled out one of her company cards and a pen.

  Couldn’t sleep, so I’m going to my mom’s for a little bit. I’ll be back in a couple of hours. xoxo, Daisy

  Tiptoeing to her side of the bed, she laid the card on her pillow so that he would see it if he woke up. Taking one last look at him, Daisy left the room. When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she realized she wouldn’t be able to get back into the apartment without his keys. Daisy didn’t want to take them without permission, but she would be back in just a little while. And he was sleeping, so it wasn’t like he had to go anywhere. She reluctantly grabbed them from the counter before heading to the door.

  ***

  Daisy walked onto her mother’s porch and hesitated briefly before ringing the doorbell. She knew her mother would be annoyed that she was coming by so early in the morning, but she needed to talk to her. The rather high-pitched bell rang through the house twice before she could hear someone shuffling around from inside. The light on the porch turned on, and the curtains on the door parted before the door opened. Her mother stood in her robe, her wild red hair pulled back in a ponytail, and heavy bags drooped under her eyes.