by Rinelle Grey
© 2019 by Rinelle Grey
www.rinellegrey.com
All rights reserved.
Cover design by
Table of Contents
Blurb
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
About the Author
Blurb
Warrian has slept for three hundred years. The whole world has changed. He might be a dragon shifter prince, but he has no idea if his clan is even still alive, although he knows his enemy is. And the only person he can rely on in this brand new world is the maddening, secretive, all round enchanting human woman, Rita. Warrian knows she's hiding something from him, but his body doesn't seem to care.
Rita's determination to find out facts about dragons for her newspaper article is matched only by her attraction to the gorgeous dragon prince. But while that attraction has to be caused by dragon shifter magic, the news story is what will ensure her future. He'll be gone the moment the ritual is complete, she's sure of it.
So why can't she convince herself the story is more important?
Enchanting the Dragon is Part 2 in the Dragon Forged Serial.
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Chapter 1
As the lengthening shadows heralded a cooling of the intense heat, Rita heaved a sigh. It had been a long day. She scrunched up some old newspaper and began to stack some sticks for a fire in an attempt to ignore Warrian’s eyes burning into her back. Unlike the temperature, his gaze hadn’t cooled any.
A blanket of silence stretched over their little camp, deep in the outback. They were at least fifty kilometres from Mungaloo, maybe more. No one would find them here—not Todd, not any of the Rian dragons, and hopefully not even Ultrima.
Despite the heat, Rita gave a shiver at the thought of the enemy dragon. This time, she didn’t even bother questioning if Ultrima was an enemy. She was seriously starting to regret having made a deal with him. Without question, he had tricked her into this and purposely omitted all the ramifications of waking Warrian from the Mesmer sleep.
She wished she could ignore the deal she’d made. Warrian seemed like a far more honourable dragon compared to Ultrima. She’d love to switch to his side and support him and his clan. She suspected she’d have a better chance at getting her story if she worked with him, rather than against him. The story wasn’t out here, it was with the dragon clan.
She gave an internal laugh as she told herself the exact words she’d told Todd earlier. How ironic. If she was being a wise reporter, she’d take Warrian back to his clan and watch the sparks fly. But right now, she was on shaky ground. If Ultrima found out she’d betrayed him… She gave another shiver at that thought.
Warrian hadn’t said much since their conversation about dragons, but she hadn’t been able to put his presence out of her mind for even a second. She hadn’t even felt game to sneak a moment alone to write down all the tidbits of information she’d gleaned from him.
She’d learned enough, though, to realise the story Lisa had told her had been very limited. Lisa had told her about the dragon war, about the dragons in their Mesmer sleep, and about the Trima dragons guarding the Rian clan’s lair, but that was about it.
Lisa had certainly never mentioned this Mesmer bond, and she had to have known about it. She’d been the one who had woken Verrian from his Mesmer sleep, so she definitely would have experienced it. She couldn’t have missed it. Although knowing Lisa, she’d probably slept with Verrian straight away. Rita’s lips twisted, but who was she to talk? She was more than tempted to do the same.
But Warrian had confirmed the Mesmer bond was the reason she could think of little else besides him. And for some reason, knowing the overwhelming craving she felt for him wasn’t her own, that it was only the product of some magical ritual, was kind of disappointing.
That knowledge alone should have been enough to convince her that she needed to keep her distance. But no matter how much she tried not to, she couldn’t help imagining what it would be like to fly on his back through the clouds. Or to fly with him on a more earthly adventure—a naked one.
Her body heated at the thought, and she turned away from the stacked sticks, her eyes seeking out Warrian. When she met his steely grey eyes, her body responded strongly, urging her to go to him, to touch him, to run her hands over his body.
It took effort, but Rita resisted the urges. They weren’t real, they were created by the Mesmer bond.
Mostly anyway.
“Do you need help with that?” Warrian’s gravelly voice sent another surge of need though her body, and it took her a moment to actually focus on his words.
That’s right. The fire.
Rita glanced back at it, judging it about ready to light. It was probably a good idea to get Warrian involved, since he was talking to her. Keeping him talking would be better than the silence. Silence only gave her time to think, and for the first time in her life, Rita suspected she should put a bit of distance between herself and her thoughts right now.
“Can you light it?” she asked.
He stared at her strangely. “Light a fire? I’m not a fire dragon.”
Huh?
“I thought all dragons breathed fire?” Rita stared at him for a few moments, but when he didn’t move, she pulled a box of matches out of her bag and lit the fire. Luckily she’d remembered to bring them.
Warrian was staring at her disapprovingly. “Fire dragons are gold,” he instructed, sounding very much like one of her high school teachers trying to teach her about animal classification. “My grey hide indicates I’m a metal dragon. As I told you earlier, when I stopped your friend’s car.”
Ordinarily, Rita would have objected to his use of the word ‘friend’ to describe Todd, not to mention his disapproving tone, but she was too interested in what he was saying to let herself get distracted. This was the stuff she wanted. This kind of information was gold. She bet no one else knew about the different kinds of dragons.
“Yeah, but the legends say dragons breathe fire. I just assumed all of you would.”
Warrian just looked at her disapprovingly. “Dragons all have specialties that are indicated by the colour of our hides. And fire dragons don’t breathe fire, they throw it.”
“Well, I haven’t seen your hide,” Rita pointed out, trying to prompt him to continue. “So I had no idea it was grey. And I certainly haven’t seen a fire dragon.” She would remember if she’d seen a gold dragon somewhere. Verrian had been purple, and the dragon that had chased them had been silver.
Warrian inclined his head. “True. But a dragon’s hide colour is reflected in the colour of his eyes.” He stared at her then, his eyes whirling, narrowing into slits, their grey colour seeming to swirl like molten metal.
The display did something to Rita’s stomach. It jiggled about, maybe doing a few flip flops. And it definitely heated faster than the fire, which was still mostly just smoking.
She swallowed. “Right. Um…” She searched around for something to ask. “What other kinds of dragons are there? What would a… a… purple dragon be?” Okay, so that question wasn’t entirely random. She was curious what Verrian’s powers were. She’d never seen him display any that she could particularly identify.
Warrian’s eyes returned to a more human shape, and then narrowed suspiciously. “How did you know sound dragons were purple?” he demanded.
Oops. She probably should have asked about silver dragon first. He knew she’d seen one of those. “Lucky guess I suppose. Aren’t there dragons of every colour?” How was she supposed to know purple was rare?
Even as she tried to deflect his suspicion, her mind was turning over this new information, fitting it into the picture of dragons that was beginning to emerge. A sound dragon. That explained Verrian’s singing voice. That certainly could count as a magical power.
Warrian was still staring at her warily, but he did answer her question. “No, there are six kinds of dragon magic, Fire, water, wind, sound, metal and lightning. Each is a different colour, although there is some variation within each type.”
Rita nodded, glad she’d been able to gloss over her lucky ‘guess’. She needed to be more careful and keep him talking without giving away anything else she wasn’t supposed to know. “Uh, so the silver one we saw at your sleeping place, that was…”
“That was a lightning dragon,” Warrian supplied. “They are the enemies of Rian clan.”
Rita had already noticed all the enemy dragons were silver. She’d seen Verrian battle another silver dragon on the bonnet of her car. She’d even had pictures of it, before Lisa had taken them. But until then, it hadn’t occurred to her that their enemy status was determined by colour. She wrinkled her nose. “All the lightning dragons are your enemy? Why is that?”
“Not all,” Warrian corrected. “My sister, Princess Sarian, isn’t our enemy. But the rest are.”
He didn’t elaborate. Rita’s curiosity was burning. One lightning dragon wasn’t an enemy, but all the others were? This could be the heart of the story. And of course it was the bit he didn’t seem inclined to talk about.
She hesitated, wondering how far to push him. But surely it would be normal to be curious about this?
“What happened?” she asked softly.
This time, a shadow passed over Warrian’s face, and for a moment she thought he wasn’t going to speak.
This time, when she looked over at him, he did not meet her eyes. His face had a faraway look, and from the twist to his lips, the memory he was reliving wasn’t a pleasant one.
The distress on his face caused a pain in Rita’s chest, almost as if the hurt was her own. Another product of the Mesmer bond? Why else would she be feeling so bad about Warrian’s pain? It wasn’t like she cared about him.
Rita pushed that thought away quickly. She couldn’t afford to let herself feel for him. He was only here because of the Mesmer bond. He certainly didn’t care for her. He had far bigger problems to deal with. If she let herself get involved, she’d just get hurt and lose her story—again.
But despite knowing that, Rita felt guilty enough for making him feel bad that she was just about to tell him it didn’t matter when he spoke.
“That is a long story,” he said slowly.
The pained hush to his voice sent a shiver up her spine, a good one this time. This was going to be a good story. Long stories always were.
Rita wished she dared reach for her phone to take notes, maybe even to record him speaking, but that would have been too obvious. So instead she focused on what he was saying, committing it to memory as she nodded encouragingly.
Warrian’s voice was quiet and solemn as he said, “It all started with my sister, Princess Sarian.”
“You mentioned her. She was a lightning dragon, right? But not an enemy one.”
Warrian nodded. “My sister was born a lightning dragon, but because she was a princess, and destined to be queen, she never associated with the other lightning dragons in the same way. They should have looked to her as their leader.” His lips twisted. “But he always thought he was better. Even though he had no official position, the other lightning dragons listened to him. I should have known he would cause trouble one day.”
He had to be talking about Ultrima. Rita could almost recognise the Trima leader in Warrian’s bitter statement. She caught herself just before she agreed with him, afraid he’d guess she’d met the enemy dragon, and then her whole cover would be blown.
Instead she focused on the princess. “So what did your sister do?”
For a moment, she thought he wasn’t going to answer, and then, as though a dam had broken within him, the story began to pour out.
Chapter 2
“Sarian is the eldest of my brothers and sisters,” Warrian explained. “And when our parents retired, she would have become queen.”
Rita listened to him intently, her lips parted slightly and her eyes wide, as though what he was saying was the most fascinating thing ever. She didn’t interrupt, just nodded, encouraging him to continue.
Warrian should have hesitated. Rita wasn’t a dragon. This was none of her business. If, as he suspected, she had an ulterior motive, then telling her could be dangerous.
But for some reason, he wanted to tell her. He felt he could.
Maybe it was because she wasn’t a dragon, because she didn’t know who he was or who his sister was, that he felt it was safe. But no, he couldn’t risk telling her the whole story. He couldn’t tell anyone that. If they ever found out what he’d done, then it would tear his clan apart more so than it had already been torn.
He needed to bear that burden by himself.
But he could grant himself a little indulgence. Tell her the part of the story his family already knew. Even sharing that much helped him feel less alone.
“There was a lot of pressure on Sarian,” Warrian explained, his stomach twisting as he remembered how the strain on his sister’s face had worried him. “Our clan was in trouble, even then. We had only one life dragon left, and Lirian was growing older. Once he was gone, we would lose a part of who we were.”
“What’s a life dragon?” Rita interrupted. “You didn’t mention those.”
She was observant. “A life dragon is more powerful than any of the other kinds of dragons. He or she can manipulate life to heal or hurt, to manipulate or help. They have always been greatly revered among dragons, looked to for advice. They were considered to be the highest evolution of dragons.”
“And why was that so important?”
Warrian hesitated. That was harder to explain to someone who wasn’t a dragon. He wasn’t even sure he could. It was just something he felt in his heart—if his clan lost this special kind of dragon, they would be less.
He didn’t know how to put that into words, so instead he said, “Without a life dragon to advise our clan, we would be in danger. My parents had sacrificed much in an attempt to create one. They were successful in producing a child of each other type of magic, but no matter what anyone did, no life dragons were born.”
“There must have been something missing,” Rita said musingly. Her eyes held a faraway look. One Warrian had seen in many of the dragon scholars’ eyes.
He nodded. “That is what many of us assumed, but the fact remained that the only successful method we’d found for producing life dragons was mating a life dragon, and even that was only successful half the time.”
Rita nodded, as though his words made sense. “The baby would receive half its genetic material from each parent, so only half the babies would carry the life dragon gene. So you needed your remaining life dragon to produce some offspring. Preferably lots,” Rita guessed.
Warrian had no idea what a gene was, but her explanation sounded eerily similar to when one of the scholars had tried to explain the situation to him. He couldn’t help suspecting that dragon scholars would love to talk to her. Maybe, if they had some of this knowledge the humans seemed to have gained, his sister wouldn’t need to make this sacrifice.
But Sarian had made the best choice she could with the information they’d had available at the time. “My sister, Sarian, chose this responsibility for herself. She would mate with Lirian, and hopefully produce a life dragon king or queen. This would ensure the success of our clan.”
Despite her earlier quick thinking, Rita frowned at this. “What would a life drago
n king or queen be able to do that your sister couldn’t?”
She didn’t get it. How could she, not being a dragon? Warrian should stop his story now, and move on to more important things, like finding his clan.
But the expression on her face, genuine curiosity and a desire to know, caught his attention, and he found himself saying, “A life dragon king or queen could advise us in a way no other dragon could. They would have the answers to everything.”
“Were you facing other problems? Problems you needed a life dragon’s advice to overcome.”
Warrian gave her a half smile and waved his hand around them. “You have to ask? Humans have taken over our world. My clan needed a life dragon to keep us safe, to hide our presence here from your people who sought to wipe us out.”
Rita’s raised an eyebrow. “Dragons were afraid of humans? Really?”
Warrian bristled at her disbelieving tone even as he cringed a little at the truth. “Yes,” he admitted. “While dragons are powerful, humans have always been… inventive. The weapons you came up with to overcome the limitations of your puny frames always were admirable. Dragons tend to be steeped in tradition and hesitant to try new things. Most of them anyway.”
“And life dragons weren’t,” Rita guessed. “It wasn’t just their magic you needed, it was their different way of thinking, wasn’t it?”
She’d seen right to the truth of the matter immediately. It was no wonder his clan had needed a life dragon to combat her kind. “Yes,” Warrian admitted. “While the humans here seemed happy to leave us alone, we knew we couldn’t count on that forever. Obviously we were right.”
Rita waved a hand. “All right, so your sister was going to mate with a life dragon to make little life dragons. How did that lead to all the lightning dragons being your enemy? Did they disagree on making more life dragons?”
“Not exactly,” Warrian admitted. “They, or rather, he, just disagreed on how.”