The younger dragon-shifter motioned a thumb behind him. “Archie and Cal are at it again. If you don’t break it up, they might shift and start dropping each other’s cattle for the second time this week.”
Finn sighed. “I should assign them a full-time babysitter.”
The younger man grinned. “You tried that, but my grandfather escaped, as you’ll remember.”
“That’s because he’s a sneaky bastard.” Finn looked to Holly. “This is Jamie MacAllister. He’ll take you to my mate, Arabella. She can help you get settled before you meet Fergus.”
“Who’s Fergus?” Holly asked, even though she had a feeling she knew.
Finn answered, “Fergus MacKenzie is my cousin, but he’s also your assigned dragonman.”
Of course she’d be given the cousin of the clan leader. After all, Holly was the first human sacrifice on Lochguard in over a decade. They’d want to keep tabs on her.
Holly didn’t like it, but since she had yet to meet this Fergus, she wouldn’t judge him beforehand. For all she knew, Fergus MacKenzie might be a shy, quiet copy of his cousin.
Maybe.
Not sure what else to do, Holly nodded. After giving a few more orders, Finn left to address the problem and Jamie smiled down at her. “There’s never a dull moment here, lass. Welcome to Lochguard.”
Holly wasn’t sure if that was a warning or a welcome.
~~~
Fraser MacKenzie watched his twin brother from the kitchen. His brother, Fergus, was due to meet his human sacrifice in the next few hours and instead of celebrating his last hours of freedom, Fergus was doing paperwork.
Sometimes, Fraser wondered how they were related at all.
Taking aim, he lobbed an ice cube across the room. It bounced off his brother’s cheek and Fraser shouted, “Goal.”
Frowning, Fergus glanced over. “Don’t you have a hole to dig? Or, maybe, some nails to pound?”
Fraser shrugged a shoulder and inched his fingers toward another ice cube. “I finished work early. After all, it’s not every day your twin meets the possible mother of his child.”
As Fraser picked up his second ice cube, his mother’s voice boomed from behind him. “Put it down, Fraser Moore MacKenzie. I won’t have you breaking something if you miss.”
He looked at his mother and raised his brows. “I never miss.”
Clicking her tongue, his mother, Lorna, moved toward the refrigerator. “Stop lying to me, lad. You missed a step and now have the scar near your eye to prove it.”
Fraser resisted the urge to touch his scar. “That was because my sister distracted me.” He placed a hand over his heart. “I was just looking out for the wee lass.”
Lorna rolled her eyes. “Faye was sixteen at the time and you were too busy glaring at one of the males.”
“He was trouble. Faye deserved better,” Fraser replied.
Fergus looked up from his paperwork. “Where is Faye?”
Lorna waved a hand. “The same as every day. She leaves early in the morning and I don’t see her again until evening.”
Fraser sobered up. “I wish she’d let us help her. Does anyone know if she can fly again yet?”
His younger sister, Faye, had been shot out of the sky by an electrical blast nearly two months earlier while in dragon form and her wing had been severely damaged. While she was no longer in a wheelchair, the doctors weren’t sure if Faye would ever fly again.
His mother turned toward him. “I trust Arabella to help her. Faye will come to us when she’s ready.”
Jumping on the chance to lighten the mood again, Fraser tossed the ice cube into the sink and added, “I’m more worried about Fergus right now anyway. Who spends their last few hours of freedom cooped up inside? Even if he doesn’t want to go drinking, he could at least go for a flight.”
Fergus lifted the papers in his hand. “For your information, this is all of the new procedures and suggestions from the Department of Dragon Affairs. Finn worked hard to make Lochguard one of the trial clans for these new rules, and I’m not about to fuck it up.” Lorna clicked her tongue and Fergus added, “Sorry, Mum.”
Lorna leaned against the kitchen counter. “I still applaud you for what you’re doing, Fergus. After the last fifteen years of near-isolation, the clan desperately needs some new blood.”
Fergus shrugged a shoulder. “It’s not a guarantee. Besides, how could I pass up the chance to help our cousin?”
Fraser rolled his eyes. “Right, you’re being all noble when I know for a fact you just want to, er,” he looked to his mum and back to Fergus, “sleep with a human lass.”
“No one around here has stirred a mate-claim frenzy and I’m not about to look in the other clans. I’m needed here,” Fergus replied. “A human sacrifice is my only other chance.”
“And what if she’s not your true mate, brother? Then what?” Fraser asked.
“I’ll still try to win her over. If she gives me a child, I want to try to convince the human to stay.”
Lorna spoke up. “Her father’s ill, Fergus. Let’s see how things go before you start planning the human’s future.” Lorna looked to Fraser. “Let’s just hope she has spirit. I can handle anything but fear.”
Fraser answered, “If Finn picked her out, then we should trust that he chose a good one.”
“You’re right, son,” Lorna answered. She waved toward the living room. “Now, go get that ice cube.”
“Fergus is closer. He could just toss it over.”
Fergus looked back at his stack of papers. “Get it yourself.”
With a sigh, Fraser moved toward the living room. “You were always a lazy sod.”
Fergus looked up. “Takes one to know one. But at least this lazy sod is about to get his own cottage.”
Lorna’s voice drifted into the living room. “It’s about time. One down, two more to go.”
Fraser scooped up the ice cube and faced his mother. “Don’t worry, Mum. You’ll always have me. If I’m lucky, I won’t have a mate until I’m fifty.”
Fergus chimed in. “She’ll kick you out on your arse before then.”
“I’m feeling the love, brother.”
Fergus looked up with a grin. “Someone has to love you, you unlovable bastard.”
Tossing the ice cube into the sink, Fraser dried his hands. “You know you’ll miss me, Fergus. I give it a week and then you’ll be begging for my company.”
“We’ll see, Fraser. If I’m lucky, I’ll be spending a week in my sacrifice’s bed.”
The thought of not seeing his twin every day did something strange to his heart. Brushing past it, Fraser headed toward the door. “As much as I’d love to stay and watch you read boring protocol, I’m going to watch some paint dry instead.”
Fergus raised an auburn eyebrow. “What happened to spending time with your brother?”
“I never said anything about spending time with you. I wanted to show you a good time. The offer’s still open if you’re interested.”
Shaking his head, Fergus answered, “Your good times always result in us waking up in strange places and not remembering the night before. I think I’ll stay here.”
Fraser shrugged. “Your loss.” He looked to his mum. “I’ll be home for dinner, don’t worry.”
Lorna answered. “You’d better be. Finn wants us to have a quiet dinner with Holly and help ease her into her new life here.”
“Quiet is a bit of a stretch.”
Lorna picked up an apple and tossed it at his head. Once he caught it, she answered, “Just get your arse home on time.”
Fraser winked. “I’ll try my best, but you know how the lasses love me.”
Not wanting to hear his mother’s lecture about settling down for the hundredth time, Fraser ducked out the front door.
While the human wouldn’t be over to their house until dinnertime, she was due to arrive on Lochguard at any moment. He had known that Fergus wouldn’t want to go out, but asking gave Fraser the perfect cover and
no one would suspect what he was about to do.
It was time to spy on his brother’s future female and make sure she was worthy of a MacKenzie.
———————————
The Dragon’s Dilemma is a full-length book and is available on all major online retailers.
Books by Jessie Donovan
Asylums for Magical Threats
Blaze of Secrets (AMT #1)
Frozen Desires (AMT #2)
Shadow of Temptation (AMT #3)
Flare of Promise (AMT #4)
Whirlwind of Change (AMT #5 / TBD)
Cascade Shifters
Convincing the Cougar (CS #0.5)
Reclaiming the Wolf (CS #1)
Cougar’s First Christmas (CS #2)
Resisting the Cougar (CS #3)
Kelderan Runic Warriors
The Conquest (KRW #1)
The Barren (KRW #2)
The Heir / Keltor & Azalyn (KRW #3 / Jan 11, 2018)
Lochguard Highland Dragons
The Dragon’s Dilemma (LHD #1)
The Dragon Guardian (LHD #2)
The Dragon’s Heart (LHD #3)
The Dragon Warrior (LHD #4)
The Dragon Family / Finn and Arabella (LHD #5 / May 2018)
Stonefire Dragons
Sacrificed to the Dragon (SD #1)
Seducing the Dragon (SD #2)
Revealing the Dragons (SD #3)
Healed by the Dragon (SD #4)
Reawakening the Dragon (SD #5)
Loved by the Dragon (SD #6)
Surrendering to the Dragon (SD #7)
Cured by the Dragon (SD #8)
Aiding the Dragon (SD #9)
Finding the Dragon (SD #10)
Craved by the Dragon / Killian and Brenna (SD #11 / March 2018)
About the Author
Jessie Donovan wrote her first story at age five, and after discovering The Dragonriders of Pern series by Anne McCaffrey in junior high, she realized people actually wanted to read stories like those floating around inside her head. From there on out, she was determined to tap into her over-active imagination and write a book someday.
After living abroad for five years and earning degrees in Japanese, Anthropology, and Secondary Education, she buckled down and finally wrote her first full-length book. While that story will never see the light of day, it laid the world-building groundwork of what would become her debut paranormal romance, Blaze of Secrets. In late 2014, she became a New York Times and USA Today bestseller.
Jessie loves to interact with readers, and when not reading or traipsing around some foreign country on a shoestring, she can often be found on Facebook. Check out her pages below:
http://www.facebook.com/JessieDonovanAuthor
And don’t forget to sign-up for her newsletter to receive sneak peeks and inside information. You can sign-up on her website:
http:///www.jessiedonovan.com
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the writer’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Finding the Dragon
Copyright © 2017 Laura Hoak-Kagey
Mythical Lake Press, LLC
First Digital Edition
All rights reserved. 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 a book review.
Cover Art by Clarissa Yeo of Yocla Designs
ISBN: 978-1942211532
Finding the Dragon Page 11