“I know. It’s my fault. I never should have got involved with him in the first place. But when he promised a child when the wait was so long anywhere else—”
“Dad. Did he hold that adoption over your head?”
“Not in so many words. But I always felt grateful and he didn’t mind taking advantage of that. And now he has Steph. Son, I’m so sorry.”
“We’ll get her back. Wherever she is, I’ll find her.”
“Can you do that? Find her as a dragon?”
“I don’t know. There is so much I don’t.”
His father made another call, turning his back to Ryan as he did it.
“Okay. Okay,” he muttered. “Thanks.”
He faced Ryan again. “Yes. You should be able to hone in on anyone that you have an emotional connection with. Do you have that with Steph?”
“Yes, Dad. I love her.”
“I was hoping that you’d say that. I think she is a wonderful girl.”
Ryan smiled. “Good. Then we are agreed. Now how am I supposed to hone in on this emotional connection?”
He grew antsy as they drove out to the country but his father didn’t want there to be any witnesses to Ryan shifting to his dragon form. But their driver pulled into the first of the many Connecticut State parks they came too and Ryan got out.
“Thanks, Dad.”
“Is there anything you need?”
“Something to stuff my clothes in.”
“You’re in luck,” he said as he pulled out a backpack from behind his seat.”
“What? It has something in it.”
“Something I think you might need.”
Ryan unzipped it and found a significant stash of cash in it. “If you find her, don’t come back right away until we know it is safe. I have a passport for you in there and had one for Steph too. And there is something else there too, just in case.”
Ryan felt around inside until he felt all the things his father mentioned. He hugged his father, something he hadn’t done in a long time and probably something he should have much more often.
“There’s an international phone in there too, in case you need to call. Be safe, son.”
“Thanks, Dad. For everything. I promise you I’ll come back and make you proud.”
“You already do. Now, go.”
Ryan walked into a stand of trees and took off his clothes and shoes and stuffed them in the bag. He let out the strap as much as he could then slung the pack over his shoulder. He hoped that would work because the idea of carrying the thing in his mouth while he was flying did not appeal to him at all.
He stood in the grove as the afternoon sun trickled down on him, hoping that no one happened upon him while he was naked. Ryan didn’t need to be arrested again.
He thought about Steph, how beautiful she was and how much he wanted to be with her. He got an image of her standing in on a grassy oval with a ruined building around it and he knew where she was. He grew furious then, knowing she was taken there against her will.
She was probably frightened and she most definitely was alone in that nest of vipers. And with his anger his body expanded. Instead of being in the middle of a stand of trees, he brushed up against them. With a huge roar and a great leap from his hind legs he was airborne.
He had one purpose now as his wings beat against the air taking him higher. He loved the feeling of wind against his wings but he wasn’t going to get lost in the sensation of flight. He had to get to Steph.
His heart hammered in his great chest as he gained altitude, then sensing the right moment and taking a deep breath he dove. Ryan fixed his thoughts on Steph willing his dragon body to take him where she was.
He dropped rapidly into the atmosphere. In his haste, he was going too fast. The friction of his passage danced along his scales bringing back the memory of pain from the fire. But nothing was going to stop him. He scanned the area below and found the grassy oval and the ring of ruined building. Looking even closer he saw Steph with her glorious red hair standing near the stone table and the dragons that surrounded her.
They were waiting for him.
Ryan dove, roaring his displeasure. He wasn’t going to hide. He was outnumbered so he had to make a show of bravado to pull off he plan he formulated in his head.
He lighted on the ground, flapping his wings. And then he transformed.
Steph’s eyes widened and then she ran to him.
“You shouldn’t have come.”
“They knew I couldn’t stay away.” He slung the backpack off his shoulder and placed it in front of him. It would like he was trying to be modest. But Ryan’s plan depended on an object his father placed in the backpack. He felt around for it, covering his actions by Steph standing in front of him.
“Come here, baby,” he said, pulling her to the side with one hand. As he did he pressed the object into her hand she placed it behind his back. He leaned to her ear. “Go for Rhea,” whispered.
Steph stood on her tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek. “Ok, baby,” she whispered.
“Stand away from my son,” said Rhea haughtily.
“No, Steph, you stay right here.”
“Rhea,” said Reanne. “You should reconsider this. If you harm his mate, Ryan will not ally himself with us. It is better if—”
“Silence,” yelled Rhea. “I did not ask for your editorial, Reanne. No dragon will mate with humans. Period.”
“Sorry, Rhea,” said Ryan. “It already happened. You can’t change me and Steph no more than you can swap the moon for the sun.”
“I will kill her myself,” said Rhea advancing.
“You know,” said Steph. “I’ve heard of monsters-in-law before, but this is ridiculous.”
“What are you talking about?” said Rhea advancing on the pair. She was within ten feet of them, which for Steph was just about perfect.
“Now, sweetheart,” said Ryan.
Steph whipped out the gun Ryan had pressed in her hand and aimed for the space right between Rhea Gentrix’s eyes. She released the safety, took a quick breath and squeezed the trigger just as she was taught. The report of the pistol rang on the decayed walls of the one great palace.
Rhea screamed, and her face morphed strangely from human to dragon to human again. She stood with a look of total surprise on her face and then fell to the ground twitching.
“It doesn’t seem to be a kill shot,” Steph said.
“Doesn’t need to be,” said Ryan. “Hold this.” He stuffed the backpack into her hands and then shifted as the other dragons ran toward Rhea and shifted and leapt into the air again, holding Steph as close to his heart as he could while they flew away from the dragon palace.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Steph
“Mom, Dad, you’re here!” squealed Steph in her excitement.
“Yes,” said her mother. “And your brothers will be here shortly. They are all coming in on the same plane from Frankfurt.”
“I’m so happy.”
“So where is this man of yours that you’ve hidden from us?” said her mother pointedly.
“I haven’t hidden him, Mom. It’s just Ryan has been busy helping his father with the business. They got that new government contract and it’s a lot more work than they thought.”
“Well take us to him,” said her father gruffly. “I want to meet this man who didn’t bother to ask for my permission to marry you.”
“Dad! You absolutely won’t harass, Ryan. He’s been very good to me.”
Ivan Kaur walked to the group.
“Mr. And Mrs. Brooks,” said the elder Kaur smiling. “I’m Ivan. Ryan is my son.”
Steph put her hands to her face thinking that her father would say something to Mr. Kaur to embarrass her, but her father merely smiled and stuck out his hand.
“Ivan. Pleasure to meet you. Though,” he said with a glance to Steph, “I wish I could have met you sooner.”
“I understand. It’s not always easy to get a furlough from the Ma
rines.”
“Yes, I suspect someone must have put in a good word for me.”
Ivan Kaur’s face flushed which Steph never saw before. “I don’t know what you mean. Let’s let the ladies chat and come to the bar with me. I could use a drink.”
“Well,” said her father, “a beer might be good. It’s hot in this dress uniform.”
“Wool, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then a beer it is.”
Mr. Kaur led her father off and Steph was alone with her mother.
“I see your hair and make-up are done. Why aren’t you dressed, dear?”
“Well, to tell you the truth, the dress the wedding planner talked me into is too much for me to handle on my own.”
“Don’t you have bridesmaids?”
“Oh, yes,” said Steph. “A bunch of debutantes from the Kaur’s social circle. I need someone who knows how to deploy camouflage.”
“You would think,” her mother started as they walked toward the house. But she stopped talking looking at the different people gathered near the bar. Many were dressed in formal attire and her mother looked down at her dress and blushed.
“Don’t worry mom. I got you a mother-of-the-bride dress. I hope you don’t mind. The wedding planner insisted.”
“Are you going to blame everything today on the wedding planner?”
“Ryan tells me he has it on good authority that the wedding planner’s primary function is take the blame for everything. It’s why the good ones are so outrageously priced.
Stephanie took her mother to the bedroom upstairs that was set up as Steph’s dressing room for the day. The make-up artist and the hairdresser sat on the bed chatting but stood quickly when Steph walked in.
Steph pulled a dress from her closet. It was beautiful royal blue taffeta that would float gracefully over her mother’s generous frame.
“This? For me?”
“Sure, mom. You deserve a beautiful dress.”
“I can’t, this is too much.”
“No it isn’t,” said a deeper voice from the door. “Anyone who raised such a wonderful woman deserves it.”
Ryan stood leaning against the doorjamb dressed in a black tuxedo that made him even more devastatingly handsome than he was. Steph wanted to melt into his arms right there, but that wouldn’t be right especially in front of her mother.
“Ryan!” scolded Steph. “You aren’t supposed to see the bride before the wedding.”
“Why not? I’ve seen her every other time,” he said with a smirk.
“You are a bad, bad man. Get out, before I call this off.”
Ryan stepped in and winding his arm around her waist gave her a deep and passionate kiss. “You can’t get rid of me, Stephanie Kaur.”
“I’m not Stephanie Kaur yet. And if you don’t let me get dressed, I might not be.”
“Okay. I know when I’m beat. It was good to meet you, Mrs. Brooks. I’ll meet you later on the dance floor.” He winked at her and left the room.
Her mother let go a deep breath.
“Oh, my,” said her mother. “Were did you find him? He’s perfect.”
Steph smiled. She and Ryan had every good thing to look forward to. Once Ryan settled in with her and the business his wild ways were finished. Ryan’s father insisted she take the job as liaison between legal service and the family and found herself immersed in her work. Ivan Kaur did something he wouldn’t talk about that forced Mr. Watins into retirement. And they hadn’t heard from Rhea Gentrix or any other dragon for nearly a year.
“At work,” she said lightly. “Now let’s get dressed. We’ve got a wedding to deploy.”
End of Book
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Dragons of Paragon
A Dragon’s heart
Book 1
Jan Dockter
© 2017
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Chapter One
Aldain Kincaid sat on the couch sulking. He would never admit that is what he was doing, but that is exactly what someone would call it. His friends Cade and Becca were basking in their love for each other, while he was alone, with no one to call his own. He would never admit he was jealous of their relationship but he craved that kind of relationship for himself.
There were many dragon shifters that never found their soul mate. They either married someone other than their soul mate or chose to remain alone the rest of their very very long lives. He fell into the latter category, he wanted all or nothing. His friends noticed that he wasn’t really acting like himself. By having them watch him every day for the last several months they have been living with him was obviously affecting him. He was glad to have them there. His castle was more than big enough to accommodate them and give everyone their privacy. The only places shared were the Den where the books were kept and the room that housed the satellite television.
Aldain thought of asking them if they wanted their own private den closer to where their bedroom was but he doesn’t want them to think that they are not welcomed in his home and that their company is not enjoyable. He really does enjoy having them there; it was the days like today he was having a pity party for himself wishing that they would snuggle up somewhere else. He knew that today wasn’t a good day for him because his face seemed to be in a perpetual scowl. Becca looked questioningly at him but said nothing. She respected his privacy enough to think if he wanted her to know what was bothering him, he would tell her. He knew it would never dawn on her that he was anything but happy for them. He loved Becca and both she and Cade knew this, but they also knew he could neve
r love her as he would a soul mate and his love for her was more like a family member. There was a time he was willing to try and make a different kind of relationship with Becca work, but that was when Cade was treating her so badly she would cry herself to sleep every night.
Thank God, those days were behind everyone and everything worked out for them. He just wanted what they had and it wasn’t until he was around them long enough that he realized he really was lonely.
He knew he had to get out; he was getting so miserable that he couldn’t even stand himself. He looked over at the couple across from him, snuggled up to each other watching some kind of re-run on television. He quickly stood up from the chair he was in, and while heading for the door yelled, “I am going out for a while. I may be late so don’t hold dinner for me; I will eat while I am gone.” Without waiting for a reply, he shifted into his dragon form and flew away.
Aldain flew for what seemed like hours, then his stomach started to grumble. He seemed to have lost track of time. He was surprised to find that he was starving, he was so deep in thought wondering if he would ever find his soul mate. He flew to an island he saw and decided to see if he could find anything on it dinner worthy. He didn’t see any people on it but he did see wild goats. His mouth watered as he dove down towards them. The goats saw him coming and took off running in all directions, bleating warnings to each other, but a dragon was much faster than a goat. Aldain caught his dinner in his mouth, full of foot long teeth, and landed on the beach as he ate the goat whole.
When a dragon shifter gets extremely hungry, his dragon takes over to the point he is more dragon than human and the only thing on his mind is filling his stomach. If there was a human who knew about dragon shifters and saw anything like that, it would scare them so badly that they wouldn’t care about the human half. They would probably never want to have anything to do with another dragon shifter as long as they lived.
Kissed by The Dragon: (The Dragon Lords - Book 2) Page 13