Professor Dragon's Virgin (Irish Dragon Shifter Brothers Book 5)

by Brittany White

  Nora savored the feel of Shannon in her arms. If Niall wasn’t interested in her, then she would probably stay single for the rest of her life. She did not trust any other males. She could not imagine that changing. It would not be right to bring a human into her world.

  Once again, she had the distinct feeling of being watched. Her eyes were drawn to the treeline in the distance. She closed her eyes and pushed her senses outward, using a simple spell she’d learned as a child.

  There, hidden behind the trees. It was the alpha. Nora could feel him.

  She swallowed hard and started walking fast. She had to get Shannon back to her parents. She found Clara throwing sticks onto the bonfire. “I need to use the restroom,’’ she said, handing Shannon over. “I enjoyed holding this little snuggle bug.”

  Clara studied her face. “Is everything okay?”

  She must be really transparent tonight for a human to notice her distress, even in the dark. She was used to concealing her feelings. She’d had a lifetime of practice. The alpha was here for her, not for anyone else. There was no reason to alarm Clara.

  “Yes,” Nora said. “Everything’s great.”

  Clara reached out and touched her arm. “We’re so glad to have you here. We’re glad to have Niall too.”

  This statement was coming from a human who had been kidnapped and tormented by her mother and her mother’s coven members, all while they threatened to kill her and keep Kellan’s child as a hostage. Her capacity for generosity and forgiveness was more than Nora could have ever imagined. Nora wiped her eyes. She’d had this family and their loving acceptance for such a short time. But if the alpha was here, it had to end. Nora was going to have to leave. She could slip away without anyone noticing.

  She hugged Clara. She wished she could hug each and every one of them, but it would be too obvious. If she could stay until they were leaving, she might get a proper goodbye, but that wasn’t possible.

  She had to lead Maxim away. All of the dragon shifters would be safe from him. A single werewolf didn’t stand a chance against a dragon. But there were two human women there, as well as a Fae. She had no knowledge of a Fae’s power or what Fallon could do.

  Most of all, she wished she could say goodbye to Niall. She had never deserved his understanding, and she would always treasure the time she spent with him. She would always treasure that he was the male who took her virginity.

  She vowed right there inside their bedroom in the castle that she would never let another male touch her. Witches might not take mates, but in her mind, Niall was her mate. He was her one and only, for life. She had shared her mind and her body with him. No one could ever take his place.

  She grabbed her bag and stuffed her clothing inside. She didn’t have long to wait. Maxim would grow impatient soon. She slung her bag over her shoulder and turned to leave. On her way out, she ran directly into Niall’s broad chest.

  “Hey,” he said, grabbing her arms. “Where are you going? Why do you have your bag?”

  She froze.

  “Nora. Tell me what’s wrong right now.”

  “Niall, please let me go.”

  He dropped his hands, but he didn’t move out of her way. “Please tell me what’s going on. You’ve been acting oddly all night. I want to know why.”

  She had not laid eyes on the alpha. What if it wasn’t even him? What if she was hallucinating, imagining the worst-case scenario? Should she tell Niall?

  No. She could not tell him. He would insist on knowing the entire story. If he harmed Maxim, the entire werewolf pack would feel it. They would come after them all. Nothing would stop them. Guilt washed over her. She should have told him the truth before now, but now it was too late. She couldn’t think straight.

  One werewolf might not be able to harm a dragon shifter, but a large pack could do a lot of damage. They would follow Niall to the university. They would follow Kellan and his clan back to Cedar Lake, Texas.

  She would not allow her new friends to live in fear as she had for four years. She would not allow them to be hostage to the alpha and his vile pack. She would have to be strong, to keep them all safe.

  The only choice was for her to leave.

  16

  Niall

  It was true that he was falling for Nora. He even suspected she might be his mate. All night, he had noticed that she was acting oddly. She was always a little hesitant, but that night, she kept looking around. Every few moments, her eyes were drawn to the tree line.

  A few moments ago, Clara had come to him while he was showing the hatchlings how to climb the castle walls. “I think Nora is upset,” she said. “She was crying.”

  His heart had nearly stopped. “Did something happen?”

  “Not that I know of. She was holding Shannon. She seemed to like that part, but she was emotional. She said she had to use the restroom, but she hasn’t come back.”

  “Thank you for telling me. I’m going to check on her.”

  Nora had been through a lot. They all had, but this clan had each other. And they insisted that he was a part of them if he wanted to be. They said the same about Nora, but she still seemed to feel isolated and alone. He couldn’t blame her.

  Now he was standing in the castle bedroom, looking at Nora. Clara had been correct. Nora had been crying. He could smell the salt on her skin, and he could see the redness in her eyes. Her entire body seemed to sag with sorrow. Her eyes kept darting around the room, and worst of all, she was holding her overnight bag.

  At that moment, he fervently wished that he could read her thoughts. Even without reading her mind, it was obvious there was a big problem. If she thought he was going to let her walk away in the middle of the night with no car and no money, she was sadly mistaken.

  “Nora, tell me what’s wrong. I’m not going to let you walk out of here.”

  She squared her shoulders. “You can’t stop me.”

  “I absolutely can stop you.”

  “You’re going to hold me here against my will? Are you going to use your clan to gang up on me and hold me prisoner? Is that what you’re threatening me with? Because I’ve been held prisoner before, and I don’t plan to do it again.”

  Taken aback, he blinked in surprise at her vehemence. “No, I’m not threatening to hold you prisoner. I just want you to tell me what’s going on. We’re in the middle of a party, a party that you were a part of until you disappeared. I came up here to check on you and found you about to sneak out with your bag without a word to me or anyone else. I don’t even see a note.”

  “There is no note. I didn’t want you to know I was leaving.”

  “So you are leaving?” He felt like his heart was being ripped out of his chest.

  “Yes. I’m leaving, and there’s nothing you can do to stop me,” she said.

  Her wishes were clear. She didn’t seem to be under the influence of any type of spell. He couldn’t detect any foreign magic around her. He had no choice but to let her go, no matter how much his dragon protested.

  No. No. No. Mine. His dragon roared. It was all Niall could do to keep him from coming forward.

  “All right,” he said. “I won’t argue with you. I won’t try to convince you to stay. I won’t follow you. I have to think about my clan out there, and I can’t trust you, so maybe it is better if you left.”

  Niall regretted the words the instant they were out of his mouth, but it was too late to take them back. He wanted nothing more than to wrap his arms around Nora and protect her for the rest of their lives.

  She refused to meet him halfway, though. He turned on his heel and left, closing the door behind him. The last thing he saw was her shocked face as he turned his back on her and walked away.

  17

  Nora

  Every part of Nora was crushed. She was in love with Niall. Now that he’d walked away, it had hit her square in the chest. She was in love with him, and she ruined it. She never even got to tell him. She had thought that he might want her as his mate one day
.

  She did not chase after him, though. Leaving was the right thing to do. She was still convinced of that. This dragon shifter clan had been through so much. She could not be the cause of any more of their suffering.

  It was true that she had not left a note yet, but now she was going to. She put her bag down and found a pen and paper in the desk drawer of the castle. They had included several modern amenities, even wireless internet, but she didn’t need anything that sophisticated.

  Dear Niall,

  I am very sorry for walking on you. I wish I were human. I wish I were normal. I wish there weren’t monsters hunting me all the time. I wanted to protect your family from my fate. You deserve happiness. As long as I am a witch, I will never be free. I love you always.

  —Nora

  It wasn’t nearly enough, but she was out of time. The presence of a werewolf was more pronounced now.

  She scurried down the narrow staircase and left out the back door, the one that led directly toward the trees. She would travel as a human to the nearest town. The night sky that had felt so happy and carefree while she created fireworks for the hatchlings was now ominous. The smell of oak leaves and wet grass had been a happy scent, but now that she was running away, both smelled sour to her nose.

  Before she could blend into the shadows, the alpha stepped forward. “Hello, sweet Nora. You left those shifters behind. Have you accepted your fate? Are you ready to be my mate now?”

  Her stomach rebelled. Before she could conjure a spell to stop it, she doubled over and vomited in the grass.

  “Oh, no, little Nora. You’re ill.” He made a tasking sound. “It is such a shame you could not stay with the shifter clan. I know how hard you tried to blend in. But you are a predator at heart, just like us. You belong with us, with people like you.”

  He was trying to sweet-talk her in his own way, but the cruelty was always under the surface. She would never accept a position as his mate. If Niall was not her mate, then she would have none. She wiped her mouth as she stood up and faced him. She was going to have to kill this alpha, but first, she had to get him far away from Niall’s clan.

  18

  Niall

  Niall might be a big, strapping dragon shifter, but his heart was broken into two pieces. As he walked away from his bedroom in the castle, he felt like he was leaving his soul behind. He wanted to go back and talk to her again, but he didn’t dare.

  The things she said about him holding her prisoner resonated in his mind. She said she’d been held captive before. He had no clue what she meant. For a brief second, he had been tempted to prevent her from leaving, which wasn’t like him. He never wanted to force anyone to do something against his or her will. He’d been a witch’s captive before. He should understand more than anyone why he couldn’t hold her hostage.

  So it was better to stay away. That way, he wouldn’t be tempted.

  He thought that maybe she was his mate, but maybe he was wrong. His mate wouldn’t want to walk away from him. She wouldn’t lie to him about what was wrong. It was a sad truth, but he could not trust her.

  He wandered back out to the festivities, although he no longer felt very festive. Most of the shifters had abandoned their costumes to go swimming in the lake. Liam was standing by the bonfire, holding his baby, little Finn, who was still too young to race.

  “What’s wrong?” Liam asked.

  “How do you know anything’s wrong?”

  “Usually, shifters can tell when one of our own is in a bad mood. It’s written all over your face. You’re very expressive.”

  Niall shrugged. “And you’re very observant.”

  Liam shifted Finn to his other hip and kissed the top of his head. “I’m a trial lawyer. I have to be observant. Often, my clients like to alter the truth. I’ve gotten good at calling them out.”

  For no clear reason, a sharp pain stabbed through Niall’s chest. It was so intense that he grabbed his chest with both hands.

  Liam turned toward him. “What happened?”

  “I feel like I’m being run through with a hot poker. But I wouldn’t even know what it’s like to be stabbed. Only a spell or a curse could make one of us feel like this.”

  Liam frowned. “There is another possibility.”

  “What is it?” Niall gasped, barely able to get the words out. The pain grew more intense by the second.

  Liam frowned. “It could be your mate. She could be in danger.”

  “I don’t have a mate.”

  “Are you sure? To me, it looks like Nora is your mate.”

  Liam pushed on his chest to try and circumvent the pain. “Pretty damn sure. She just walked out a few minutes ago. She left me.”

  Liam’s head whipped around, searching the area around the campfire. “What? She’s gone?”

  “Yes. She left a few minutes ago.”

  “Shit. Something’s wrong, then.”

  Clara walked by, and Liam motioned for her to take the baby. She seemed to realize there was a problem and took Finn immediately.

  He turned toward Niall. “My guess is that Nora is your mate. A shifter can form a mate relationship with anyone they love. Kellan and Quinn both have a mate’s attachment to their wives. It doesn’t matter that the humans don’t have the same traits. They’re still mates.”

  “She might be in danger?” Niall cursed himself. “I let her leave.”

  “Why did she leave?”

  Niall shook his head. “She wouldn’t tell me. We argued. I told her that I couldn’t trust her, and then I walked away from her.”

  Hell, what had he done? His mind sped through questions rapidly. Was there any way for him to repair the damage? Could he use his senses to find her? Would she be able to cloak her location to conceal herself?

  Mine. Mate, his dragon roared.

  “Why do you think she’s in danger?” Niall asked, aware that his dragon was barely contained.

  Liam ran his hands through his hair with frantic motions. “I’m basing this off my own experience. Brynne is a shifter, so we have a complete mate bond. When she was in danger, I could feel it even though I was half a world away. Since the two of you were in close proximity, it’s probably much more intense.”

  “But she’s not a shifter,” Niall said.

  “She may not be a shifter, but she’s a witch—a powerful witch. Because I don’t know of any witch and shifter pairing, I don’t have any idea how the bond might work.”

  How had he let her walk away? Maybe he didn’t deserve a mate. “Goddamn it. I have to find her.”

  “I’ll come with you.”

  Niall grasped Liam’s arm. “No. She’ll think we’re coming after her. She ran from me the first time I met her. She’s had trouble believing that any of us—especially all of you—would ever be able to accept her or forgive her.” Or love her, he thought to himself. “So if both of us go, she’ll think we’re trying to capture her.”

  Liam nodded. “I understand.” He pulled Niall in and hugged him. “Good luck. Go get your mate.”

  19

  Nora

  “You are coming with me, back home to Sortavala.”

  “Yes.” She would go, but she would never be his captive again.

  He pulled out a pair of metal handcuffs and dangled them in front of her. “Then you will not mind wearing these. I had them spelled so that you cannot escape them so easily.”

  She would wear the handcuffs, at least until they were safely away from the castle. She hated to break it to Maxim, but the spell he’d cast on the handcuffs wasn’t nearly strong enough to hold her.

  She suspected the werewolf pack never truly understood the scope of her abilities. Maybe she’d go back and show them the magnitude of her power. She could level their commune in just minutes. She wouldn’t even work up a sweat.

  No. She would not do that, not if it could be avoided. She would not turn into her mother. She would not become bloodthirsty with a lust for power and revenge. If she had to, she would end Maxim’s
life, but she would only act against the rest of the pack if they forced her hand.

  She held her hands out, letting him put the cold steel around her wrists.

  “You have changed,” he said.

  She really didn’t want to engage in conversation with him, but maybe it was a good idea if it meant he’d let his guard down a little.

  “How have I changed?” she asked.

  He poked at the metal of the handcuffs. “You were not so accommodating before.”

  “I supposed I’ve had time to think.”

  “About how you would like to be my mate, I presume.”

  Her skin crawled. If she let herself think too hard, she’d vomit again. She might have left Niall, but he was the only male she’d ever allow inside her body. If it meant the wolf pack commune burned to the ground by her hand, then so be it. She swallowed the putrid acid in her throat. She didn’t want to vomit. She didn’t want him to have that kind of power over her.

  “I will treat you well,” he said. “And you will bear my pups and raise them to be strong, capable wolves.”

  She had news for him. Just as she would not let him into her body, she would not be raising his children.

  He ran his finger along her collarbone. “I cannot wait to see how your magic manifests itself in our pups.”

  She dug her fingernails into her palms. She had to say something. “It will be exciting.”

  His grin turned feral. “We will consummate our mating as soon as we arrive back in Russia. I will have my beta prepare the mating ceremony at once.”

  Her stomach knotted up again. Even though she knew there would be no mating with him, it was still hard to listen to.

  With a sudden movement, he grabbed her chin and tipped her head back, forcing her to look into his eyes. “Why did you leave the dragon shifters? I thought that I would have to come into their celebration and pry you away.”