“Did you tell anyone that you were different?”
“No. No one.”
“That sounds really lonely.”
“It was. But we stayed busy. I opened the bar and I'd let the guys use it as their clubhouse.”
“So you were in charge of the clubhouse for a bunch of big, tough guys?”
“Yes. I always found that amusing. About once a month we would organize a big ride to a nearby state.”
She had only met these women, but she could tell already they would accept her without conditions. She was going to tell them about everything she had done.
“I also had a secret hobby at night. I haven't even told Davi yet. Not because I don't want him to know, but because we just haven't had time.”
“You guys have had a crazy reunion.” Clara leaned forward. “Tell us what you were up to.”
She was not going to mention her ex-boyfriend. She still hadn't mentioned him to Davi, but it wouldn't be fair to tell someone else first.
“Once everyone in the club had gone to bed, I'd leave the compound. I would ride my motorcycle to Vegas and then I would walk up and down the strip listening for anyone being mistreated. And then I would intervene.”
Juliana squealed. “Oh my God. You're a vigilante. Please tell me you wore a mask and a cape.”
“No, I just wore my motorcycle leathers and my leather jacket.”
“I think that might be even cooler,” Fallon said.
Clara propped her hands on her chin. “What kind of crime did you hear the most?”
“I expected it to be muggers but it really wasn't. There were a lot of drunk people who have lost control. Some domestic violence, sadly. Fits of temper because of lost money. And there are a lot of fights between casino employees. The last one was between a casino employee who had been stealing money. He figured out who reported him and threatened him in the alley.”
“Wow. that sounds intense.”
“It was intense. But it was a good way for me to blow off steam, and hopefully help a few people. The motorcycle was the closest thing I had to flying. It's at times I would shift and fly out in the desert. Flying’s not the same when you're alone. So riding my motorcycle gave me my wings back in a way.”
“Oh that's beautiful,” Brynne said.
She took a sip of the wine Juliana handed her. “Now I've gotten Davi to drive one. I think he enjoyed it.”
“Of course he did. He's a male shifter, and that bike goes fast,” Clara said, rolling her eyes. “So tell us about your plans for the wedding.”
“We want to have it in Vegas on one of the balconies that overlook the Bellagio Fountains.”
“How soon?” They all wanted to know.
“Pretty soon.”
Clara tipped her head to the side. “Are you interested in our help? If not, it won't hurt our feelings. We can still amuse ourselves with picking out dresses for ourselves.”
“I would love your help. As I said, I've spent the last five years immersed in the world of motorcycles. On the rare occasion there was a wedding, we had it at the clubhouse. And everyone wore their motorcycle clothes, then we rode to Utah to celebrate. But I'd like my wedding to look like a wedding. We’ll have a traditional shifter ceremony in Portugal in the future. But for now, we want to be legally married.”
“That makes perfect sense to us. If you're interested, we can help you pick out the dress while you're here.”
“I would love that. I know what style I want, I just need help finding it,” she said.
Carolina wasn’t sure how she’d gotten so lucky.
Epilogue
Thanks to the Texas dragons, they organized the wedding in only two months’ time, and they were going to be married on an evening in September.
Once the date was decided, Davi called Garrett. He filled him in on their big news, and then let him know the wedding was going to be in Vegas.
“Sweet. You want me to play at your wedding?” Garrett asked.
Davi did not have any strong feelings about Garrett’s music, but he was a fellow dragon shifter. He looked at his mate, who took over the phone call.
“We would love for you to play, Garrett. Thank you for offering. They won't be many of us so you won't get mobbed. Actually you might get mobbed by my friend Brynne. But it will be about shifter business. She's a lot more interested in your shifter genetics than your celebrity status,” Carolina said.
And Garrett just laughed. “I’ll be there. And hey, why don’t you have the reception in my penthouse? Best view in town.”
“That sounds great,” Davi said.
“I have a house up in Nova Scotia if you want to use it for your honeymoon. I don’t know of any shifters up there, but if there are, I’m sure your crew will sniff them out. But anyway. It’s a good place to go if you want to soar.”
Davi had been speechless for a brief moment. Garrett had proven to be a loyal friend. He had come to help Davi when Carolina was missing in the desert, and he’d just kept on helping them ever since. “I appreciate that. If Carolina’s interested, I’d love to use your house.”
During their time in Ireland, Carolina and Nora had become very close, which surprised everyone.
It even surprised Carolina. After all, one of the reasons she left Davi on the side of the Grand Canyon, was because he was friends with a witch.
At that point, she couldn’t fathom how he could trust anyone who wasn’t shifter or human.
But when Nora arrived in Vegas for the wedding, Carolina ran straight to her. She lifted the tiny witch right off her feet. “I have missed you,” she whispered into her ear.
Niall stepped onto the balcony, wearing a handsome suit. He was going to be Davi’s best man.
Garrett had agreed to play classical music for the ceremony. He was very good at the violin, and he was going to use that as the instrument for the wedding. Then he’d been given permission to play whatever he wanted for the reception on his electric guitar, which was taking place in his penthouse. It really did have the best view.
Apparently, he had written a song for them called Canyon Dragon, and it was going to be on his next album.
They had decided not to force a group of shifters to sit down, so they all picked a spot on the balcony overlooking the Bellagio Fountains.
As predicted, the shifter hatchlings went nuts for the jumping water fountains, and only Rowan tried to jump over the railing.
Davi’s bride stunned everyone when she walked out. Kellan walked her down the aisle, gloating because she’d chosen him.
She wore an ivory gown that flowed like water to the floor. It looked so much like the dresses she’d always worn when they lived in Portugal. He pressed his lips together. He knew his eyes must be shiny at this point. She saw him looking, and their connection flared.
They couldn't share thoughts, but she understood at that moment that he understood why she’d chosen the dress. It was a symbol, just like the inscription on her ring.
Garrett’s violin playing was tasteful and understated, two things the rock star was usually not, and they all smiled in unison as his elegant notes filled the balcony.
Before he knew it, Kellan was putting Carolina’s hand in his, and then she and Davi were repeating vows.
As a sheriff, Brennan acted as the officiant, and he was patient when they lapsed, forgetting their vows to stare into each other’s eyes. He declared them the most romantic couple on the planet, and then Davi heard the words he’d anticipated the most: “You may now kiss the bride.”
He did just that. He swept his lifelong mate into his arms, and he pressed his mouth against hers.
“My love,” he said. “You are now my wife.”
They kissed until Islee, one of the toddlers, tugged on Carolina’s dress and said, “Time for cookies?”
Everyone laughed, and then finally, it was time to head to Garrett’s penthouse for the reception.
Davi and Carolina stayed behind for just a moment, watching the spray of the
water beyond the railing. “Can you believe this?” she said.
“No.” He lifted her hand in his, tracing his finger over her ring. “Each day I am thankful for you. And for the new life we’ll have together.”
They had come full circle, from a childhood friendship that blossomed into romance, to unspeakable tragedy, to now.They had found wedded bliss, along with a pieced-together clan of shifters they called family.
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Professor Dragon’s Virgin (SNEAK PEEK)
Irish Dragon Shifter Brothers Series
1
Nora
“You will never outrun us,” a cruel voice called out. “There’s no point in trying.”
She jumped over a log and was met with blinding pain as her face smacked into a branch. Eyes stinging, she kept going, stumbling over a fallen tree. She managed to get upright, only to slip on a patch of ice. As the sun set, the overhang of the leaves in the forest was so thick that she could barely see. Her eyesight was far better than a human’s, but it was far inferior to a werewolf’s perfect night vision.
It was true that Nora Deacon couldn’t outrun a werewolf. She might be a powerful witch, but she wasn’t a fast runner. She swiped her arm across her forehead, and er white sleeve came away stained with blood.
She wasn’t going to make it if she kept running from them. She crouched behind a large tree. Its gnarled branches provided a little bit of cover. She sucked in a few desperate breaths while her heart thundered. Their hearing was good too. It was certainly better than hers. They’d probably hear her gasping for air.
She had avoided using her powers so far, and using them now would only make it easier for the pack of wolves to find her. She couldn’t risk it, not yet. If they caught her… She couldn’t bear to think about it. She’d already been their prisoner for almost four years since she turned eighteen.
When she turned eighteen, she’d been living in Ireland with her mother’s coven. In response to her mother’s increasingly harsh behavior, Nora decided to find her father. She had no memory of him, and like so many young people who grew up without a father present, she wanted to know who he was. But unlike most eighteen-year-olds, she was the daughter of an influential witch, a witch who’d led a massacre against a well-known dragon shifter tribe and lived to brag about it. Hearing the stories made Nora’s stomach turn.
Her mother’s gloating over their conquests and destruction was one of the main reasons that Nora left.
There weren’t many witches in the world—they kept their numbers low on purpose. Witches didn’t mate like others who had supernatural abilities. Many witches despised their partners and left them as soon as they conceived. Most only partnered with humans so that they could control them. They never slept with Fae or with shifters because they could not tolerate being challenged. But Nora’s father was not a human. He was a wizard.
That coupling was very rare. The result of the union between a witch and a wizard was Nora, a young witch who had quite a few abilities.
If someone gave her a choice, she’d get rid of her powers. She’d be human and have a happy life. She’d even settle for a mediocre life. Eighteen years of feeling out of place in her mother’s coven had left her living in pure despair, which led to a futile quest to find her father.
She had not found her father. Instead, she’d wandered directly into a den of werewolves. The alpha was called Maxim when he was in his human form. He was big, burly, and vicious, but he had a small amount of charm from time to time. It quickly evaporated, and she saw his true nature.
They had enticed her to stay at first by promising to find her father. That search had never materialized, and then they wouldn’t let her leave. They’d immediately sensed her unbridled talent for harnessing magic, and within months, she was their captive. They made her help them hunt. They made her help them steal, and they made her help them expand their commune in the woods.
They had a few low-level mages who’d banded together to keep her from leaving. Then they’d threatened to kill her. Eventually, she’d tried to escape anyway. She’d made it out of their compound, but then they’d upped their threat—they said they’d kill every human in the nearby village if she left. She knew those villagers. She’d bought vegetables from them the few times she was allowed to go to the market. They always waved at her and greeted her with a warm smile.
She couldn’t let them die. So she’d stayed and suffered there alone for nearly four years. The breaking point came a month ago when the werewolf pack had decided she was to be the alpha’s mate. There were no words to describe the revulsion she felt.
“I won’t do it,” she’d told the head beta. “I will not mate with him.”
Maxim was a big, nasty brute, and she was untouched. She was a virgin, and she intended to stay that way, maybe forever. She certainly would not share her body with one who didn’t value her as a living being.
The beta had sneered at her. “You will mate with him on the winter solstice, and we don’t want to hear another word about it.”
She had over two months to make her escape. Already, the bitter cold was creeping into their tiny compound in Sortavala, Russia. Sortavala was a tiny town near the border closest to Finland. They lived in the forest, hidden away from humans. The wolves posted guards at every exit, and they never stopped watching her.
So, just like she had years ago, she complied with their requests. She acted like she’d given in and that she really planned to mate with Maxim. Only this time, she wasn’t going to be threatened. They really would have to kill her. She didn’t want any blood on her hands, but she just had to hope that she could get to a town fast enough to call for help. She wasn’t sure if her mother’s coven would help her or if help would come in the form of the humans that lived in Sortavala.
She shivered in the twenty-degree night air. Without magic, she felt cold, just like a human. The wolves didn’t feel the cold much at all. They could stay out here all night, circling her, salivating at the thought of catching her.
She would never give them the satisfaction. She would not let him have her, not her body, and not her soul.
She pressed the palms of her hands into the rough bark of the tree, drawing on its strength. The tree understood her. When it was time, the tree would help her. She closed her eyes and tipped her head back, letting all the energy pour into her body. She’d always been able to channel the elements around her, and she drew on the strength of the tree, the roots beneath, the soil, and the water that coursed deep below the surface of the ground.
She exhaled and opened her eyes. Now she was glowing. They would see her, that was certain. She’d just have to overpower them. All these years, she’d refrained from hurting them. That ended now. She would be no one’s property. She belonged to the earth and no one else. Not to the coven where she’d been born, and certainly not the bastards who’d held her against her will for so long.
With her heightened senses, she heard the sound of their growls as they closed in on her. She heard their steady heartbeats, which were steady because they were so certain of their mission and believed they’d be successful. They felt like she was theirs.
A branch cracked, and she whipped her head to the side. She could see them.
“Come on, little witch. We know you’re close by.” The alpha made a show of sniffing the air. “You aren’t getting away. You’re mine,” Maxim rumbled low in his chest.
Every cell in her body reacted. Her skin vibrated with the force of her conviction.
I will never be yours. I will never belong to anyone.
She balled her hands into fists, and then she released them, unfurling her magic. She didn’t need
a spell or an incantation. She only had to think about what she wanted. With an ear-shattering bang, the tree exploded. It wouldn’t kill them, but it would slow them down.
As she crossed the border into Finland, she finally took a deep breath. The werewolves rarely left Russia. She was going home to Ireland.
As she stepped out of the airport at the Shannon International Airport in Ireland, her stomach clenched. She was home. For some, returning home was a cause for celebration. For Nora, it was apprehension. Yet there was no denying that the land called out to her. The magic that flowed through her veins came from this land. Her ancestors had been there for thousands of years.
The air was heavy with fog, and the lake stretched out in front of her. She couldn’t bear to crawl into a cramped taxi. She was going to walk.
She knew exactly where she was going—to the National University of Ireland, Galway. She would leave her magic behind. If she didn’t use it, most of the supernatural world wouldn’t be able to detect her presence. She would remain hidden to Fae, vampires, werewolves, witches, and, most importantly, dragon shifters.
Now that she was home, hiding from the dragon shifters was crucial for her. Once upon a time, her kind had an ancient alliance with the dragons. They’d formed a pact that vowed cooperation between their groups and protection for the witches as long as the humans were not harmed.
It was her mother who resented humans so greatly that she violated the pact. Her actions forced the dragon shifters to withdraw from their alliance. The witches would not abide by their withdrawal. They viewed it as the ultimate betrayal. The dragon shifters maintained they were doing the right thing by not allowing humans to be slaughtered.
For Nora, no other word besides massacre was appropriate. She’d been seven years old when the witches attacked. She would never forget the piercing screams as the witches had gathered together and combined their spells. The dragon shifter clan had been caught off-guard. The dragons had no warning that anything was coming for them.
Soldier Dragon's Second Chance Page 13