Damaged Daddy Dragon

by Leela Ash

  Damaged Daddy Dragon

  Shifter League

  Leela Ash

  Copyright ©2019 by Leela Ash. All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic of mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

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  … also check out these stories of mine within the Shifter League Universe!

  Dragon’s of Kaldernon Complete Collection

  Stonybrooke Shifters Complete Collection

  Oak Mountain Shifters Complete Collection

  Banished Dragons Complete Collection

  with Tabitha St. George…

  Wellsprings Chronicles world

  Dragon Dreams Box Set (WC Series 1)

  Shifters of the Aegis (WC Series 2)

  Damaged Daddy Bear (Book 1)

  Alpha Protector Dragon (Book2)

  Damaged Lost Wolf (Book 3)

  Captive to the Chimera (Book 4)

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  …and if you are interested, here is another series from Totally Romance Publishing that I think you may enjoy!

  THE LOST CREEK SHIFTERS

  The Lost Creek Shifters series is a collection of novelette length standalone Bad boy romances that fit together to tell the longer story of the ancient tale of the bear and wolf shifters in a small mountain town. Enjoy!

  Lost Creek Shifters Complete Collection

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  Table of Contents

  1.

  2.

  3.

  4.

  5.

  6.

  7.

  8.

  8.

  9.

  10.

  11.

  12.

  13.

  14.

  15.

  Epilogue

  Preview of Burning Falls Shifters

  1.

  A rapid tapping at the window caused Quinn’s brow to furrow. So, the punks were back, were they?

  She inhaled deeply, giving her yoga space a cursory glance before turning to face the group at the window. She caught the eye of Isaac, a guy she had dated for about six months back in college. Well, when he had been in college. She had dropped out that semester and had been stuck in a toxic relationship with him while she put her plans on hold.

  “Oh man, she’s standing upright now!” one of Isaac’s lackeys shouted. “Hey, hot yoga lady! Come a little closer and bend over!”

  The muffled laughter reached Quinn through the glass and she gritted her teeth in anger. Isaac was egging the others on, clearly harboring a grudge because she had finally dumped him the moment she found her self-respect.

  Why couldn’t he just get over it? She hadn’t wanted to be the arm candy of some alpha brute who thought he could get away with whatever he wanted by bullying his way through life. She wanted to live her own life and be respected for who she was. But that seemed like it would never happen. Especially, in a place like Greendale.

  “I like your leggings!”

  “I’d like them better on the floor.”

  “Ike would know!”

  The men outside howled with laughter. Why did they always stop to harass her like this? Lately, she had been seeing more of them than usual. They really needed to grow the hell up.

  “Don’t you guys have anything better to do?” Quinn said, balling her fists. She felt angry heat rising to her cheeks.

  Quinn’s response brought another irritating cackle to rise in the group. God, they were like a pack of hyenas or something. Sometimes, she wished she could be anywhere but Greendale.

  It had always been her dream to get a great education and escape the confines of her fishbowl of a town once and for all. She had always been the cerebral, spiritual type. Greendale just wasn’t the kind of place where a mind like hers was appreciated. Not that she thought she was a genius or anything. She was just too different from everybody else to have ever found her equilibrium. She didn’t feel like she belonged anywhere.

  And when her mother had suffered a heart attack and her father had been working himself to the bone to pay for her hospital expenses, there was no way Quinn could accept their help with school. So, she had dropped out and did all she could to contribute.

  Now, all she had was the studio, where her little band of outcasts liked to gather in the evenings to find a quiet, peaceful place in a world where none of them felt they belonged. Quinn had rented the studio out as a kind of gift to herself; a way of trying to make the best out of an unpleasant situation. She was stuck in Greendale. Even once her mother had made a full recovery, Quinn had realized that she was never going back to school. Something about the situation had really shaken Quinn. Even if she went back to school, she wasn’t confident that leaving Greenrock was ever going to be possible. As much as she wanted it, her parents were aging. She wouldn’t feel right about leaving them behind. Especially if they needed her.

  Her plans to venture out in the world seemed like something she could only dream about. There was no adventure left for her. Only a set of predetermined circumstances that would hold her back for the rest of her life. And it was something she was learning to live with.

  “Sexy, hot yoga!”

  …some days were easier than others.

  Quinn finally had enough and stalked over to the window, closing the curtains on the gaggle of jackasses outside. Their laughter followed her through the studio as she crossed to the door that linked her space to the gym she was renting it from. Class was about to begin.

  “Hey, girl!” Nera was already waiting outside when Quinn unlocked the door. Nera was an overweight but enthusiastic girl, just out of high school and working on a degree in childcare. She was adamant about coming to every class. She enjoyed the work and learning the skills, despite not being the most natural at it. She was like a breath of fresh air, and Quinn finally let herself smile, relieved that things were starting out on a positive note despite the jerks outside.

  “Welcome back!” Quinn said. She meant it. With her geographic location, it was difficult to get many people who were interested in yoga to stop by her studio. Greendale, she was learning, was not the place for something like this. But there were a few stragglers here and there who made her job worth it, even if she found herself discouraged by the lack of interest at the end of the week.

  “Tom said he was running late but will be here soon.”

  “Good,” Quinn said. “Why don’t you get set up while we wait? I have fresh cucumber water on the table.”

  “Awesome!”

  After about half an hour, the others were all there. Quinn looked around the room at her students, who had dubbed themselves her band of misfits. She couldn’t help but smile at the name. Tom was a middle-aged man who had been diagnosed with heart problems. He was as serious as they come and had only tried yoga because his wife had pushed him into it for his health.

  There was also Elaina, who had an edgier approach to life and seemed far too alternative for a place like Greendale. She was deeply knowledgeable about the poses but executing them properly was still quite a challenge for her. Then, of course, there were the Thompson sisters, who exuded a nerdy charm despite their lack of stamina in the classroom. This probably had something to do with the fact that to make
up for their nerdiness, they had each been smoking close to a pack a day since their high school days. Now, they were in their mid-thirties and beginning to feel the toll of their choices. Just like everybody did at some point.

  And they had all come to Quinn for help. For some sense of balance and belonging in a town where none of them felt particularly welcome. Except maybe Tom, who had an eye for business and a serious disposition. He ran his own company and was generally considered a valuable member of the community.

  Tom had resisted the yoga class for a long time, mostly because he was concerned about his reputation as a red-blooded man. But, ultimately, his wife’s peace of mind was more important to him than being called a sissy, so there he was, every class, usually right on the dot.

  “Is everything okay, Tom?” Quinn asked when she was able to speak with him privately. “You’re not usually late.”

  Tom inhaled deeply. “You say to breathe through your troubles, right?”

  Quinn nodded. “Yes.”

  “Well, my store isn’t doing so well. The thing about selling the highest quality tools is that, once you have them, you don’t really need to buy anymore. I’m afraid I’ve just about tapped out the market here. Everyone in town has what they need! And it will last them a lifetime.”

  Tom shook his head, ducking away from Quinn before she could comfort him.

  “Let’s do some yoga!” he said, clapping his hands.

  Quinn hid her concern behind an inviting smile. “All right, let’s get started then!”

  It would do them all some good to stop focusing on their troubles and appreciate the present moment. The jerks at the window appeared to be gone, her “band of misfits” had arrived for their session, and they were going to focus on the positive, even if just for a moment. Things could always get better.

  2.

  “They’re arriving tomorrow, Apollo. Are you ready?”

  The familiar tightness returned to Apollo’s chest, but he nodded anyway and ignored it. It was something he didn’t talk about; the incredible weight of this responsibility. He had been chosen for his ability to handle it, and he didn’t want to do anything that would cause others to question that. Especially not Bados, the dragon shifter elder who was responsible for his position.

  Apollo glanced down at the crumpled napkin in his hand. He didn’t even remember picking it up. None of the food in the dive of a restaurant appealed to him. Not when there was so much to consider. In fact, from what he could tell, the whole town was kind of a dive. That was probably why he had been stationed there. Nobody would suspect him. Apollo turned his attention back to Bados. “Sure.”

  “We’re all counting on you to get this started quickly. There are a lot of people back home rooting for you.”

  Bados was a go-between. He was able to visit the mystical dragon shifter planet of Fiora and come back with news about the exploits of his people. Bados knew of things Apollo could only dream of… or at least, that had been the case until Apollo’s first chance to visit the planet for himself.

  Still, even stepping foot on the planet didn’t give him the same wisdom the elders had. Bados was full of insight. And it was believed that he had chosen Apollo because of his inherent talents; his ability to go beyond the call of duty. When the universe was on the line, that was the kind of man you wanted to be able to depend on.

  “It seems time has gone quickly,” Apollo said, hoping not to betray his concern. Saving the universe was no small feat. He had been working over the past several years toward getting to this point; getting himself into strange and unlikely situations repeatedly because that was what he had been called to do. But now that the stakes had been raised, the pressure building in his chest hurt. It almost felt as if he were going to be torn in half by it.

  “Yes. You have been busy,” Bados said. “I understand there is to be a hotel for the bear and the wolf shifters. These lodgings are adequate?”

  Apollo gave a half-hearted shrug. “I haven’t gotten to check them out yet, but that’s the first thing on my to-do list.”

  “Very good.”

  “You said they’re arriving in the afternoon?”

  “Oh, no. Bright and early.”

  Apollo sighed, and Bados chuckled.

  “Don’t worry, my boy. Everything is going to go splendidly.”

  “British vernacular?”

  “Do you like it?”

  A wry grin tugged at Apollo’s lips. “It suits you somehow.”

  Bados chuckled and puffed his chest out importantly. “I thought so. Throughout my travels, it seemed the most esteemed of the human languages.”

  Apollo nodded, though he didn’t necessarily agree. In fact, he didn’t really give a damn one way or another, but it wouldn’t do any good to voice that. Bados was a man to be respected; a noble in the court of his home world and the main source of information Apollo had. If anything bad was going on, it would be Bados who informed him about it. He wouldn’t treat Bados with the same attitude he treated everybody else. This man had his full respect.

  “At any rate, Apollo, this is not going to be an easy mission. We must locate the Portal Room. We know it exists and that it is close, but until we know exactly where it is and have secured a safe route of passage that cannot be detected, the threat persists.”

  “I understand.”

  Apollo gritted his teeth. If the enemy forces were able to locate the Portal Room before he did, that meant they would have free reign throughout the universe. They could hop from planet to planet in an instant, destroying everything in their wake. Even his own planet, Fiora. He couldn’t let that happen.

  “It is better not to let yourself get too emotionally concerned,” Bados said, a gentle warning in his voice. Dragon shifters had an innate ability to sense the energy of another person, and Apollo’s concern must have been showing. “We need to keep clear heads and get everything accomplished as quickly as possible.”

  “If you want us to keep a clear head then why have the elders been pushing mates on us?” Apollo frowned deeply. He didn’t want a mate, damn it. Not again. Probably never again. He’d already had a couple of girls chase him down as soon as he arrived in town. And as alluring as the trysts may have been, it wasn’t something that Apollo was particularly interested in pursuing. He had other shit on his mind. Didn’t the elders understand that?

  “I know this is rather primitive and difficult to wrap your head around, but our ancient customs were performed quite differently.”

  “Well, I know that much, but it’s the present! Even in Fiora things have become a little more modernized.”

  “That may be true,” Bados said quietly. “But you do understand the importance of a strong family structure in our culture. You understand the role an alpha must play. If a man can’t be the head of a family unit, how is he to be head of anything as important as an entire planet?”

  Apollo rolled his eyes, and again, Bados spoke.

  “We still haven’t found our way back to the other home worlds. We only know of the dragon planets. Fiora, Kaldernon… As for the wolf shifters, the bear shifters, and any of the others, we have heard nothing. We don’t know how their customs may or may not have evolved, or if the planets have survived at all.”

  “So what?”

  “So, it’s possible that, if a group of unmated shifters randomly show up on their planet trying to tell them about the danger they’re in, they might see you as the threat. Or, at the very least, laugh right in your faces. We need to be certain the inhabitants of these planets take us seriously. They’re going to need our help, and we’re going to need theirs. If you want any chance of this plan succeeding, don’t screw it up by being stubborn about something so small to us but something that could be monumental to these other cultures.”

  “I still think it’s stupid!” Apollo protested. “Being an alpha is about more than just having a woman at your side.”

  “Yes, I know. And so did our ancestors. However, there is a certain power that
comes from being a part of a successfully mated pair that an alpha is otherwise lacking. A power that may ultimately be greater than all other things. There are several ceremonies that our ancestors performed that claim a man who has faced all his demons and overcome himself through the power of his union can face any foe.”

  Apollo thought about this for a moment. He certainly hadn’t overcome himself through the power of his union. In fact, he would argue that being with Heidi had fucked him up more than it had “completed” him. He could live without it, no matter what the people on a planet that may or may not exist might think.

  “In either case, keep it in consideration, Apollo.” Bados knew Apollo well enough by now not to push the subject, which Apollo was thankful for. He would consider it, sure. But that didn’t mean he had to do it. Let the other men have their mates and visit the alien planets. He could keep watch elsewhere.

  “Yeah, I’ll keep that in mind.”

  “At the very least, remind the others. The men will be here soon. Then things should begin to progress rather quickly.”

  “You’re sure the device Gavin gave us will work?”

  Bados sighed. “It is our best option, currently. If there should be any updates in that field, you will be the first to know.”

  “All right. I guess I should get going,” Apollo said. He was sick to death of having these long conversations with the elders. He knew everything he could possibly know about the threat by now. The most tricky thing, from this point forward, would be the execution. And that was what brought the sharp pains to his chest.

  “Of course. Good luck, Apollo. You know how to reach me.”

  Apollo nodded. Yeah. He knew.

  As soon as he got out of the restaurant, Apollo took in a sharp breath; the air was cool and refreshing. He glanced at the sky. Overcast. If it rained, that would mean he would be soaked by the time he got to the hotel.