by Kendal Davis
Dragon Cipher
(Elterian Shifters, Book 3)
By Kendal Davis
Text Copyright © 2019 Kendal Davis
All Rights Reserved
Cover design by Melody Simmons
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Laurel
Chapter 2: Safyr
Chapter 3: Laurel
Chapter 4: Safyr
Chapter 5: Laurel
Chapter 6: Safyr
Chapter 7: Laurel
Chapter 8: Safyr
Chapter 9: Laurel
Chapter 10: Safyr
Chapter 11: Laurel
Chapter 12: Safyr
Chapter 13: Laurel
Chapter 14: Safyr
Chapter 15: Laurel
Chapter 16: Safyr
Chapter 17: Laurel
Chapter 18: Safyr
Chapter 19: Laurel
Chapter 20: Safyr
Chapter 21: Laurel
Also by Kendal Davis
Chapter 1: Laurel
I tried not to shout at the man behind me, but I couldn’t stop myself. “Take your hands off my herbs right now! I won’t have you disturbing my magic!” I knew my voice was too loud. Several of the women at the marketplace turned to watch us. They did not worry me. They would be on my side, no matter what.
Well, they were women, not so different from me, and I’d just given them my money for their herbs. But maybe it was a bit of a miscalculation to shout about magic spells here at a public market in Miami. Perhaps that wasn’t the best way to get the locals to think I was one of them.
What really concerned me was whether the dragon man I’d just publicly embarrassed would take his revenge on me later. When nobody was looking, he might feel tempted to find me and punish me. What form would it take? Dragons were vengeful, arrogant creatures.
I could feel the flush rushing up my cheeks as I tensed, bracing myself for his answer. I knew I wasn’t supposed to talk to dragons like that. Damn it, I knew. I was getting too comfortable here in this world, forgetting how to keep myself safe.
His deep voice reached my ears just before I gave in to my temptation to break into a run. “Laurel. Easy now.” He reached my side, but stopped short of touching me, even though he looked like he wanted to. Did he want to stop me from drawing any more attention to us? “You are safe here. Just remember that.”
The tall, blonde woman who hurried over to us from the table stacked with brightly colored fresh cherries and peaches sent him a reproving look. “Cobalt, you make it sound like that’s an easy thing to do. You can’t expect her to get used to things here so easily. It will take time.” She laid her hand on her dragon mate’s arm as if she thought she could calm him.
I knew she couldn’t. She wouldn’t have a hope of stopping him if he decided to turn against her. I had known all my life that dragon shifters were the most dangerous beings in any world, no matter what form they currently took.
I collected myself, slowing my breathing. “No, it’s ok. Kat, he’s right. I do know that I’m safe here. Sometimes it just takes a little reminder, that’s all.” I hoisted the bag of herbs higher on my arm and nodded at the tall man in a lame apology. “Sorry, Cobalt. I know you were just offering to carry the bag. I didn’t mean to shout at you like that.”
The last thing I was about to do, though, was let him carry my things. I was trying to believe that he was one of the good ones, a dragon shifter who didn’t want to kill me, but old habits ran stronger than that in my heart. I held the bag close to my body, not planning to let anybody take it from me. These herbs were too valuable for that.
Kat saw that I was still feeling more combative than I was letting on. She smiled at me encouragingly, and then she deliberately let it go. Her smile was reassuring and generous, just like her personality. She had been a good friend to me ever since I met her in my little town when she was a visitor to my world. Now I was the off-worlder, and she was the more sure-footed one of us on her own territory.
“Look, Laurel,” she said as she pointed. “I just found the best peaches in the whole market. Come and see.” She steered me toward the table with the red and white checked tablecloth where a suntanned old lady was smiling at all who passed by.
Cobalt, the muscular, blue-eyed man whom I’d just inadvertently humiliated in front of everybody at this downtown farmers’ market in sunny Florida, stayed back. He watched us without smiling.
Great. Now he was going to have it in for me.
I had spent my whole life under the threat of what could happen to a peasant who offended a dragon. In my little town at the base of the mountaintop stronghold of House Caeruleus, most of the peasants had hardly even bothered to live. They had merely gone through their days like sleepwalkers. They never called attention to themselves or sought to excel at anything.
What was the point, when we all knew that dragons would eventually consume us to supply themselves with magic?
Kat pretended to be interested in the fruit, exclaiming over each peach and different variety of cherry. No, I realized, she wasn’t pretending. She was really having a good time. I expelled the breath I hadn’t realized I was holding.
When I inhaled again, I smelled the sweet, fresh fruit. I took in the salty air of the ocean as it wafted to us from the beach. I stopped to try to listen to each individual noise that filled the market square. Children were laughing to my left as they chose honey straws. A dog underneath somebody’s table was panting happily at the outing.
This was a new world to me. It would take time and discipline to get used to it. I had plenty of the latter. But how many hours could I waste here when I could be back on Elter, helping my people break free of dragon rule?
“I’m so envious of you, Kat!” I exclaimed. “You grew up here, in this world, where there were no dragons terrorizing your people. I can’t even imagine what that must have been like.”
She nodded thoughtfully. “And I can’t imagine what it was like for you back on Elter. But that’s in the past for you now. You’re here now. You can stay with me and Cobalt as long as you want.”
I smiled at her, but raised an eyebrow as well at the idea that it would be relaxing to living with a dragon man. “I’m very glad for your hospitality,” I allowed, “but I don’t want to stay long. I just need enough time here to gather knowledge that will help me back on Elter. I still need to learn more about the magic that will allow the peasants to live in freedom.”
Kat tried to look sympathetic, but I could tell that her feelings for Cobalt made it hard to see the winged creatures as I did. “Not every dragon is bad.” She spoke softly, but she looked serious. “Things were bad for you there, but they follow different rules here.”
My hands balled into fists at my sides. “No, they really don’t. The magic they use here, even in this dimension, still comes from the destruction of my people.” I touched her arm, wishing I could make her understand. If I could make anybody at all listen to me, maybe I wouldn’t be so angry. “They are your people, too. The peasants back on my word are descended from the same ancestors as you humans here.”
I waved a hand around me, indicating the bustling market, where stalls of produce and crafts drew people from all over town. “These people, Kat! Your people! They are just the same as the peasants I’m trying to save. Why can’t you see that?”
Crap.
I was shouting again.
With a closed expression, Cobalt joined us, walking smoothly yet swiftly. He’d been leaning against a wall, watching us, but now he approached as if he meant business.
“Laurel, maybe that’s enough marketing for the day. Did you get the herbs you wanted?”
I sighed. All I was doing here was causing trouble. I could see that my presence caused te
nsion between Kat and the dragon mate she had chosen. Too late, I remembered that she was a dragon now herself. When she had mated with Cobalt, he had transformed her into a dragon shifter like himself. She might look like a woman right now, but that facade concealed her ability to shift into a great, menacing ruler of the skies.
Here I was, getting all upset about the misdeeds of dragons, and I was forgetting that both of my hosts in this world were the creatures I loathed. Why in any world had I agreed to come on this visit?
Kat leaned toward me, gently touching my shoulder. “I know it’s a lot to take in. Let’s get back home now. You want to save everybody, and you are wondering how it fits in with that plan to accept any help from dragons when you hate them so much. I get it.” She spoke softly, but she looked worried.
Was she afraid of her own mate?
Kat burst out laughing as she saw my face. “Good heavens, no, Laurel! You’ll see. When you meet somebody you love, you will understand better how things are between me and Cobalt. I could never fear him.” She grinned at him as he walked at her side. “Besides, I’m a dragon as well now. I could probably kick his ass, no problem.”
Cobalt threw back his head and laughed. Gone was the tension that he’d emanated at the market. His answering smile at his mate was so brilliant it seemed that it lit up the shady street that we strolled as we left the market square. He wrapped an arm around her and whispered something in her ear. She giggled and leaned into him with a wriggle.
Loneliness threatened to swamp me. I had always been an outsider back on my home world of Elter. I had been the only peasant in the town who could work my own magic. I had tried diligently to teach my skills to others, but with little success. All my life, I’d been aware that one day, dragons would take me for my powers.
Now I was here, in a completely different world, feeling out of place all over again.
I frowned down at my bag of herb treasures from the market. I was going to make my mark on dragon history. But it wasn’t going to be by dying for them.
Kat turned to me again. “Sorry, Laurel. Listen, we really will do everything we can to help you get settled here, for as long as you want to stay. Let’s spend the evening at Cobalt’s club. I can show you around. Maybe you’ll meet a handsome guy and hit it off.”
Cobalt nodded without adding anything. He was a man of few words. I’d known him all my life as the Captain of the Guard. His dragon crew menaced us, terrorizing peasants throughout Caerulean town. It was going to take some getting used to if I wanted to be able to be comfortable with him in his new role as ordinary businessman in this dimension.
Here in Miami, Cobalt was no longer a Guard. He was just one of the eternally handsome, wealthy few who formed a stylish and urbane community of expat dragon men.
That sounded almost as daunting, now that I thought of it.
“Yes.” I answered Kat decisively, giving myself no chance to back down. “Let’s do that.”
“Good!” My beautiful blonde hostess, who was trying so hard to put me at ease, relaxed into a genuine smile. “I can lend you something to wear. Not that there’s anything wrong with your Elterian clothes, I mean, but it’s fun to have something different.”
I looked down at my clothes, trying not to let on that her words had worried me. I’d thought my Elterian clothes were fine here. My top was brief, that was true, but Kat had assured me that it covered what it needed to. My long skirt was gauzy, floating around my legs. The sandals that protected my feet from the strange, hard street surfaces here were flat and serviceable.
Kat noticed my covert glance at my outfit. “Really, what you’re wearing is just fine for the daytime, Laurel. As I told you before, it’s kind of a hippie chic. It fits right in with a certain crowd here in this city.”
I shrugged, not able to gauge how accurate that was. From what I’d seen at the market, most people wore boxy soft shirts and pants that ended above their knees. They clothes were plain compared to mine.
Kat went on. “But I can give you something pretty that’s just right for an evening out, you know? When you want to feel beautiful for a man.” She walked next to me, chattering about the club. Little did she know that I’d never had that particular impulse. I mean, I liked men in general, but I’d never had time for fun before.
Cobalt strode along with us, but he kept an eye out for anything amiss as we walked. He was still an enforcer at heart.
And what was I? I hardly knew. I was no longer a peasant witch who ran my own herb and charm shop in a quiet side street of the town. I had agreed to come on this visit to Kat’s Miami home, leaving Elter behind for just a short while. I had a plan to find whatever resources I could in this world that might augment my magic. This visit was going to be the making of my sorcery, giving me access to new herbs and spells.
I had to do whatever I could to free my people entirely from dragon rule. Things were better now in Caerulean town, with the blue dragons that ruled there, but there were many other communities on my world where people needed my help.
I didn’t really have time for gallivanting around at some social club.
There wasn’t enough time in my day to worry about clothes or hair. I was a focused professional, a maker of magic. A revolutionary.
And seriously, the last thing I had time for on this visit was meeting a man.
Well, I knew that the club we planned to visit was an all-dragon shifter kind of place. So I wouldn’t have any opportunity to get involved with a man there. Only a dragon.
And that was something I was never, ever going to do.
Chapter 2: Safyr
I loved every damn thing about this club for dragon shifters. We’d built it from the ground up. When Cobalt asked me to go in with him on this business venture, he’d had been under the impression that I was going to be his second-in-command. That was not at all true, but I let him think that.
Cobalt was a good friend, and if it pleased him to believe he was in charge here, that was fine by me. He didn’t need to know that I’d bought half of Florida from the Spanish crown long before he ever visited here. This wasn’t just the world I’d chosen to live in, as he had. It was mostly under my ownership, as well.
“This is the busiest night we’ve ever had!” Cobalt was right next to me, but he had to raise his voice for me to hear it. Although dragons were able to communicate telepathically, we reserved that for our mates. I liked the guy, but we weren’t that close.
No, it had been my pleasure to watch as Cobalt finally found his mate in Kat. I’d been glad to be able to help them get together. With the beautiful, formerly human woman, he was the happiest I’d ever seen him. I’d known him for thousands of years, of course. Our little island club was much younger than that, but our friendship stretched all the way back to when he first arrived in this dimension as a casual visitor. We’d met an ocean or two away from here, in what they called the cradle of civilization here, a phrase that made dragons smile.
I nodded at him. “It makes you glad you bought this island a hundred years ago, doesn’t it?”
He laughed. “I think I always knew that I wanted to live here full-time. When I met Kat, there was no doubt that we would make this place our home.” He elbowed me, slipping into one of his usual jibes. “So when are you going to find our own mate, Safyr? I can’t decide whether you are looking for a human woman here, or if you are waiting until you meet the right dragon female.”
“You know, I can’t decide either,” I answered easily.
“Well, one thing is for sure, if you are looking for a dragon woman, you won’t find one here. They never leave Elter, and I don’t think that will ever change.” He frowned at me. Why was it that people who were happy in love were always trying to make it happen for their friends as well? “So that can’t be your plan, since you’re the only dragon I know who doesn’t ever return home.”
I felt my expression stiffen. I never talked about that, and he knew it. Using the deep well of reserves that I’d developed t
o avoid discussing my permanent absence from our own land, I forced a smile. “Yeah, maybe that’s because I watched you try to live in both worlds for so long. You were here, building up this club in Miami, and then you were leading your other life there as Captain of the Guards at the same time. Looked exhausting.”
Cobalt slapped me on the shoulder. “And we all know that you take the path of least resistance. Parties and the clink of glasses, all night, every night. You’re a man who likes the easy life; there’s nothing wrong with that.” He flashed me a quick smile to take any sting out of his words, then waved to a friend across the room. As I watched him head over for a quick chat, I mentally schooled myself to let my irritation go.
He was a good man. It wasn’t his fault that he knew so little about me. Nobody in any world knew who I was. Not these days.
It had been a long time since any dragon knew my real identity. The scope of my memory was vast, especially in comparison to the tiny life span of a human. I knew that I would never fall in love with a human woman as Cobalt had done. It was ludicrous to think that I could have anything in common with a being who had lived for only a blink of an eye. From my perspective, even a young dragon like Cobalt had hardly begun to live.
Surveying the men in the club, I noticed for the thousandth time that they were all so young. True, all dragon shifters had the stamp of eternal youth on their faces. But more than that, these dragon men were so new to the world as to seem like children to me. When I considered how old I had been when they were born, it was a miracle that I had such a good time here, mingling amongst them every night.
And I did.
This place was what kept me going.
The club had brought so much laughter and friendship into my life. It wasn’t a stretch to say that it had saved me from myself. So if Cobalt wanted to see me as a partier who loved the easy life, that was just fine. Nobody was ever going to know anything other than that.