The Warrior Princess (Made For Each Other: The Dragon Shifters Book 3)

by Renee Carr

  “Why do you keep working here then?” Ivy asked.

  “I just...I have nowhere else to go right now,” Shelley said, with a shrug.

  “Yeah, I know how that feels,” Ivy replied.

  She finished getting dressed, and then slunk into the dressing room chair, pulling out her phone. Every chance that she got, Ivy tried to apply to singing gigs. Her small-town agent didn’t seem to be doing his job, and Ivy was not about to let opportunity slip through her fingers. She sent out demos and links, and wrote and rewrote emails for what felt like millions of times a day.

  There was a booking in her inbox, which made her happy until she saw that it only paid $50 for the night. She took all the gigs, big or small, because everything added up when it came to making a living. She was determined that she would never go back to waitressing, even if she was counting pennies at the end of the night.

  After double-checking her schedule, she accepted the gig, trying not to roll her eyes at the paycheck.

  It wasn’t that she didn’t value herself, because she did. But every time someone handed her money to sing, it felt like she was slapping those who told her she would never get paid for it in the face. She was proving them wrong, dollar by dollar.

  It was exhausting, to constantly be running to auditions, working and applying for jobs all at once. Tonight was one of those days, and she hated that she hadn’t found more time to practice what she was singing tonight. She told herself when she booked it that she would work hard because South Bar was a make or break booking. But staying determined meant trying to do everything at once, and there were only so many hours in the day.

  “You’re on in 10,” came a knock on the door. “Make sure you’re ready.”

  “I’m ready!” she called, standing up. She wanted to do something different and looked around the dressing room.

  There was a small box in the corner, and inside were fake flowers. The flowers were on every table of the bar, so it wasn’t the most creative addition. Still, she picked a few up, tucking them into thigh-high tights. She could use them as a giveaway for the crowd, drawing them in as she sang.

  She headed out into the wings of the stage, humming softly to herself to warm up her voice. The bar was busy, and it was impossible to guess through a crack in the curtain who was a talent agent and who was a regular Saturday night drinker.

  The last performer’s song ended and Ivy almost missed her own opening notes because she was fixing one of the fake flowers.

  Putting on her game face, she stepped out onto the small stage.

  She had dreamed about performing on this stage forever. She knew so many dreams had been made, as long as the performer gave the performance of their lifetime.

  Ivy approached the microphone in the darkness, putting one hand on it. She was wearing a mini skirt that barely covered her upper thighs and a silky long sleeve top that had cutouts in strategic places. Her lean body was framed by her long red hair tumbling down her back, and her ruby red lips were encrusted with glitter. It was actually not the most comfortable look, but she knew from past experiences that she could catch every eye in the room.

  The lights went up and the music began to play. Ivy felt like her body was filled with electricity as the opening notes streamed through the bar.

  There was general conversation and the clinking of glasses, but the moment she started singing, there was dead silence in the bar.

  Does her singing go well? What happens with Ivy and Nathan?

  Check out the rest of Ivy’s story on the Kindle Store The Dragon and the Singer