Dragon Seeker [Part One]

by Carina Wilder

  “Yes, you should. If the Dragon shifters think that someone from the other side is offering advice, they won’t particularly like it. I haven’t even told Lumen about her.”

  “Fair enough.”

  “Listen—I hate to say it, but the reason that I called is that I need to ask you—can you come to a quick meeting?”

  “I suppose I can—where and when?”

  “One hour from now. The flat’s at fourteen Devonshire Street. Buzz number 2, flat’s on the second floor.”

  “God, Neko, I’m exhausted…”

  “Please, Trix. It’s very important, and I think you’ll agree when you know what it’s about.”

  “Okay. I’ll be there. One hour.”

  As soon as she’d hung up, Trix raced into the bathroom to shower, then dressed, slung her weapons on and threw on a short trench coat to cover them up, dashing out the door to make her way to the nearest Tube station.

  A grim feeling was gnawing at her gut. During their brief conversation, Neko hadn’t explained what this meeting was about. Had they come upon another Forsaken? Had something horrible happened to Lyre?

  She arrived at the building on Devonshire Street after a seventeen minute journey, the old house’s elegant white façade impressive in her sights as she approached. Someone wealthy lived within its walls, but who, she couldn’t begin to guess. When she reached the row of buttons that served as doorbells, she hit number two and waited only a moment before Neko’s voice called out, “Trix?”

  “Yes, it’s me.”

  “Come on up.”

  When she heard the grating, buzzing sound, she opened the door and made her way up a set of steep stairs, breathing heavily as she realized she hadn’t eaten breakfast, or even had her usual coffee. But her mind was quickly pulled away from hunger; something familiar hung in the air, a scent of musk perhaps. The pleasing aroma of Dragon men, it was a distinct smell, alluring and potent. For a moment she wondered if she’d see Lyre, and in her belly a fevered butterfly dance began.

  When she arrived at the second storey, Neko had already opened the door to greet her.

  “Come in,” she said, escorting Trix quickly down a long hallway after shutting the door. “This is Minach’s flat, and…he has something to tell you.”

  “Minach?” Trix’s heart galloped in her chest. What could Lyre’s twin possible have to say to her? Oh, God. Maybe something had happened to his brother.

  Neko escorted her into the living room, where Minach sat waiting for her in a large, beautifully upholstered arm chair. So much like his brother and yet so different. Deep creases formed a parallel set of vertical lines between his brows, frown lines outlining his mouth. The surly bastard was living up to his reputation, unable to so much as smile at his visitor.

  Lumen stood by a window, arms crossed over his broad chest, and Neko joined him there.

  “Beatrix,” Minach said, his voice remarkably soft for someone who looked so angry. “Forgive me for not standing—my legs are still a little weak from my altercation the other week.”

  “It’s fine,” she replied, choosing to remain by the door. “But please tell me—why am I here?”

  “It’s Lyre,” Minach said. “He’s gone.”

  Trix turned towards Neko and Lumen, her jaw tightly set. “Gone?” she asked. “What do you mean? Where?”

  “I don’t entirely know, though I have my suspicions,” Minach replied. “It seems that he’s trying to escape his destiny. He’s fled London.”

  “I’m sorry. I don’t understand any of this, not one bit. What exactly are you trying to tell me?”

  Minach’s expression softened. Perhaps he could tell how upset she was growing. Maybe the bastard had some empathy, after all. “You saw him last night, did you not?” he asked.

  “Yes, but…he left at the end of the evening. I assumed that he went home.”

  “Yes, I know that he left.” Minach’s tone was impatient in spite of his efforts to the contrary. “He left because he couldn’t stand being around you another second.”

  Trix gasped at the man’s rudeness. Insult to injury would have been an understatement. “You’re saying that your brother dislikes me,” she uttered, her voice grating along her vocal cords. “Well, thank you so very much.”

  Eyes narrowing, Minach ground his jaw. “No, I most certainly am not saying that. My brother likes you, and far too much for his own good.”

  “I don’t understand.” Trix was desperate now. “Just what are you saying?”

  “You’re his bloody mate. That’s what I’m saying. You’re his mate, and he’s run off to escape everything that it means. He wants you so badly that it’s destroying his insides, Beatrix. That’s what I’m damned well saying.”

  Something burst inside Trix then, a sea of hot embers floating to every extremity and then flying back to her centre, where they imploded inside her chest. Happiness and sorrow, all at once.

  “His mate?”

  “Yes, you and he are meant to be together, just like these two vile creatures.” The shifter gestured towards Lumen and Neko, who had remained silent. Neko looked irritated, Lumen concerned. Neither replied to the insult, which they were accustomed to by now. “He’s your intended,” Minach continued. “And you’re his. And he’s gotten the hell out of London to avoid that inconvenient truth.”

  “Wait—he told you all this?”

  “No, he didn’t bleedin’ tell me. He doesn’t tell me anything. But I’m his twin, and half Dragon. I feel everything he does. I have all my life. Every bit of joy, every bit of pain. I know when he’s happy, when he’s upset. I know when he’s torn into a million jagged pieces on the inside. I feel it all. He doesn’t know, of course. He thinks I’m made of ice, that I hate him. He has no idea how I really…”

  For the first time, Minach’s expression changed. All of a sudden he seemed profoundly sad. Trix almost wanted to approach him, to give him a hug. Never had she seen a person so in need of affection as Lyre’s twin in that moment.

  “But—if he’s to be with me, why would he take off?” she asked, standing her ground, resisting the urge to approach.

  “Because he thinks you’re too fucking good for him. Because he’s a bloody idiot.”

  Trix nearly laughed. How on earth could such a man think her too good for him? He was a living, breathing god. “Minach, I have to tell you that I still don’t know why I’m here.”

  Minach pushed himself up, his powerful arms making up for the weakness of his legs, and hobbled over to a nearby writing desk, gesturing to her to come closer. He pulled a leather-bound book towards him and, opening it to one of the first pages, pointed at a symbol etched on its surface.

  Trix drew a sudden intake of breath, her mind reeling at the sight. But how could this possibly be?

  “Have you seen this before?” Minach asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Where?”

  She looked around at Lumen and Neko before making eye contact with Minach. “I…it will sound bonkers.”

  The Dragon shifter’s right hand balled into a fist. “Damn it, woman. Just tell me where you’ve seen the symbol.”

  “In my mind—I imagined it. Thought I’d invented it, even. And then I…”

  Fucking hell. The best way to explain it was to show him. And so, slowly she unzipped her jeans, pulling them down just enough to show him the new tattoo, its swirling pattern a permanent mark just above her right hip bone. “After it came to me I drew it for the artist. I genuinely thought I’d lost my mind. I don’t know where it came from.” She looked at the desk again as she zipped her jeans back up. “What is that book?”

  Minach closed the leather cover and for the first time, Trix saw its title, emblazed in gold lettering: “Dràgon Adhair.”

  “This book charts the ancestry of our line,” said Minach softly. “The Dragons of Air and Ice. Lumen over there is a Dragon of Water. That is why Neko and he were charged with the finding of the first Relic, the symbol of Water. Lyre—or I
—must find the second.”

  “The Relic of Air.”

  “Yes. And I am unfit for the task, so it’s fallen to him to locate it.”

  “But why would he run away from his duty? He’s no coward. He took down the Forsaken last night, for God’s sake.”

  “No, he’s no coward,” Minach said, his voice softening again. “Quite the opposite. He’s run off in order to save you.”

  “Save me? From what?”

  “From him.”

  “I don’t understand…”

  “Trix.” This time it was Neko who spoke. She stepped forward, away from the window, laying a hand on Trix’s arm when she was close enough. “We need you to go find him. Please say you’ll do it.”

  “Me? How on earth am I going to do that?”

  “All I know is that I saw a bond forming between you two, when we were in the Guild’s Chamber under the Heath, and on the day when I found the Relic. I could feel it. Which means that you felt it times a thousand, or a million. I have no doubt that you feel it now, as you’re standing here. You have his mark on you. I know better than anyone what that means.”

  His mark. Her tattoo was her link to Lyre. So, that was why she’d wanted—needed—the strange mark so badly.

  “Yes,” Trix said, misery painting dark strokes over her usually chipper voice. “There’s a bond between us, though the word seems way too weak to describe what’s happened to me. I haven’t stopped thinking about him in weeks, and last night…” Her light eyes met Neko’s. “Last night when he left, I thought I might die. What the hell is wrong with me?”

  But Neko smiled. An odd reaction to such a helpless question. “He’s hooked you. Not through any fault of his own, of course. But he’s the man—the Dragon shifter—for you. And my dear, if you don’t have him, it’ll tear you to pieces. And it’ll do the same to him. Trust me when I tell you that.”

  “But I can’t have him. He told me as much, when…” She stopped herself, unwilling to give any more away.

  “Trix.” Neko leaned forward, her hands moving to her friend’s shoulders now. “Find him. If he’s run away, it’s from his feelings, never from his duty. I believe you two are meant to be. Now, more than ever.”

  “How can you say that? We hardly know each other, really.”

  “Hardly know each other, and yet I’ll bet when you close your eyes you can see the outline of every one of his eyelashes. Every muscle on his body. You know his scent better than your own. Don’t you?”

  Trix’s head bobbed a misery-laced series of nods.

  Neko continued. “A Dragon shifter doesn’t require months of conversation. He moves inside you like blood through your veins. Find him, Trix. You’re his Seeker. There’s no doubt about it.”

  Scalding heat surged through Trix, her heart dancing in her chest. Seeker. That was what Amara had called her, too. The strange, ghostly woman she’d met in the street had known her fate, just as Neko did.

  “His Seeker? So you mean…” Could it really be true?

  Neko nodded. “You need to help him find the Relic…and more than that, as well. You need to be with him.”

  Trix turned back to Minach. “I don’t know where to start,” she said. “How do I do this?”

  “He’ll no doubt have gone to the coast,” Minach began. “There’s a place we loved as boys. He still goes there when he’s upset.”

  “Dover. Of course. He showed me.” Trix recalled the vivid picture of the house atop a cliff. “I think I know where to go. But I’ll need help getting there.”

  “Well, I can fly,” said Lumen. “I’ll drop you anywhere you need to be.”

  “Thank you, Lumen. I need to find him, I need to see him. I…need to be with him.”

  Or I think I really will die.

  To be Continued in Dragon Seeker, Book Two.

  Also by Carina Wilder

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  Dragon Hunter Chronicles:

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  Dragon Seeker, Book One

  The Seekers Series:

  Sought by the Alphas Box Set

  Seeking Her Mates Box Set

  Illusions

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  The Plenty of Shift Choose Your Own Sequel Shifter Dating Series begins here:

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  Naomi and Quinn, Book Three

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  Winning the Alpha

  Bearing Up In Wolf Rock

  The Right to a Bear's Arms

  To Lie With Lions

  Alpha’s Hunt

  The Billionaires and Curves Serial:

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  About the Author

  Carina Wilder is a writer of Paranormal Romance, world traveler, researcher of all things hot and male, and lover of anything edible and tasty.

  Among her books are the Wolf Rock Shifters Series, Sought by the Alphas, Seeking Her Mates, the Plenty of Shift series and the Dragon Hunter Chronicles.

  When she’s not writing, Carina can be found romping around fields, pondering her next adventure, and sipping wine with her real-life love.

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