Cimmerian Shade: A Limited Edition Paranormal Romance & Urban Fantasy Collection

by Kiki Howell

  He passed the welcome sign for Enve. Human houses were so close together he felt stifled just looking at them. The yards were fenced in like cages. He tapped the brakes, slowing to the posted speed limit, then took a left just inside of town, driving past the elementary school. Dovie’s Books sat on a street corner in a white building, its windows trimmed in dark blue.

  The school bell rang as Torren stepped inside the shop. The smell of old books and apples assaulted his nose.

  “Welcome to Dovie’s. Anything I can help you find?” Honey-brown hair with blond highlights wisped around light skin and blue eyes. Torren nearly tripped over his feet before finding a shelf to turn his attention toward.

  “I’m good, thanks.” He cleared his throat and focused on the shelf in front of him. Kids’ books. He didn’t think the artifact would be on that shelf. It was older, thicker than a children’s book. “Actually, where do you keep your older books?”

  “Collectibles?” The woman moved from behind the counter.

  He meant to keep eye contact but, damn the stars, the black pencil skirt hugging her hips and thighs made it impossible to look anywhere else. She practically sashayed in slow motion, one long leg at a time, and those little black heels didn’t make a sound along the carpet. Torren swallowed.

  “Is there a specific author I can help you find?”

  He let his gaze wander up her frame. His tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth. She was several inches shorter than his six-foot-one. All he had to do was look down to catch a glimpse of cleavage in the buttons of her white shirt. . . He shouldn’t.

  His eyes darted down, then right back up, finally making eye contact with her. She smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “Author? No, I don’t know the author, just what the cover of the book looks like.” His pants had become a little too tight for his liking. He resisted the urge to adjust himself.

  “I keep the older books behind the counter—well, the collectibles anyway—and then I have a few just plain old books toward the back of the store. Maybe if you tell me what the cover looks like, I could at least send you in the right direction.”

  “Leaves. It has leaves etched into the cover. Hardbound, I believe. I only saw it in a black and white image.” Which was mostly true.

  “Hmm.” She put a finger to her full lips; her nails were a pale pink against the brighter red of her lips. An image of his finger tracing those lips entered his head. “Well, maybe behind the counter. Let’s go take a peek.” She turned and Torren nearly groaned at the sight of her curved ass walking away one damn step at a time.

  He adjusted himself as quickly as he could to accommodate his hard-on. He just had to meet an attractive human so close to the change, didn’t he? Just his luck. As a dragon, his internal animal brought out his sex drive. It rose highest right before, during, and after the monthly dragon shift. But even this close to the full moon he could already feel the effects. Torren hadn’t expected to react this strongly to a human, as even during the shifting period, his treacherous member didn’t stiffen for a female on sight. He blamed it on overzealousness for this year’s challenge and followed the human to the counter.

  A couple white shelves rested along the wall behind the cash drawer. Light shone into the little shop, brightest right by the window, almost glaring off the countertop. A small green plant hung in the corner, and a cup of steaming coffee sat next to the drawer.

  She thumbed through a few books on the first shelf. “Well, I don’t see one with leaves etched in here. Might be in back. I can’t recall seeing one recently at all.”

  Torren glanced at the bottom shelf, the familiar leaf pattern catching his eye. “There.”

  She turned to face him. He pointed to the dark bottom corner of the shelf. It just had to be the bottom shelf, didn’t it? To Torren’s complete amusement, she bent over to retrieve the book. That damned heart-shaped ass would haunt his dreams.

  Chapter Two

  DOVIE COULD FEEL the man’s eyes on her ass; of course he looked. She swallowed a reprimand and pulled the book off the shelf. She hadn’t recalled seeing it before, but working in a bookstore created habits, like putting older-looking books away without thinking too hard on them until it was inventory time. She turned to hand the book to the champagne-eyed customer. And the minute his hand touched the book, yellow-brown scales shimmered over his skin. She didn’t let go and he didn’t pull away. They both stood there, watching each other.

  He is a freaking dragon!

  “You’re. . . you are a moon dragon.” Dovie blinked. There was a dragon in her store. There was a freaking dragon in her store. Dovie’s heart slammed into her chest. She finally let go of the book.

  When she’d been a girl in the orphanage, she’d often snuck out of her window to watch the dragons fly. As she’d grown up, she’d found herself drawn to stories and rumors about them. She knew basic facts: They lived on the Wandering Mountain, which stretched thousands of miles long. They could shape shift. And they were powerful. There were so many things she wanted to ask the man in front of her, but where to begin?

  “Yes ma’am, I am. How much do I owe you?” A smile sprang up on his clean-shaven face. His skin was tanned, as if he spent a lot of time out in the sun. Light brown hair scattered over his head, falling in and out of his eyes as he moved for his wallet. Damn if she didn’t find him even more attractive. No. No. No dragons. She repeated it over and over, trying to tell her libido he was off-limits. He looked so human though. “Ma’am?”

  Righting herself, Dovie cleared her throat and said, “Oh, right. Um, Dovie, please.” Why did she suddenly feel like prey? He wasn’t technically in dragon form. How big would he be if he turned into a dragon right here? Did he sleep in a cave? She cleared her throat. “Owe? Uh, on the house.”

  “I can pay. It’s not like I’m going to breathe fire out of my mouth and eat you with ketchup. Well, not for another nineteen days or so.” His smile reached shimmering eyes. He must be joking, right?

  Truth was she hadn’t priced it. She didn’t even remember it being in the store before he pointed it out. “Really, take it. I hadn’t gotten around to pricing it yet anyway. Besides, it seems to like you.”

  The moon dragon blushed. Since when did dragons blush? She hadn’t met any of his kind until now, just heard about them, seen them here and there and, like everyone else, looked the other way when they shifted and could be heard near the Wandering Mountain. Once a month they seemed to flock in giant hordes across the sky. Once a year there were too many to count as they held some kind of festival near the Never Caves. No one ventured into their region without permission. At least no one she knew.

  There were rumors they mated with humans though. How much of what she’d been told was true? She used to pretend a dragon would swoop in and take all her problems away. Naturally, it had been just a girl’s dream, but being abandoned left an impression and dragon clans didn’t have orphanages. As far as she knew, they didn’t abandon their families. She wanted that. Wanted to be accepted, to be cared enough about that they wouldn’t abandon her.

  “Well, take this for your trouble.” He placed a ten-dollar bill on the counter. “Sorry to take up so much of your time and I didn’t mean to startle you. I’ll be on my way.” He nodded and those broad shoulders turned.

  If she didn’t say something, he was going to walk out that door and she’d likely never see him again. And it wasn’t every day a dragon walked into her shop. “Wait!” She came around the counter. He stopped midstride and looked at her over his shoulder, his eyes slitting, then turning back to normal pupils. She needed to say something quickly. She couldn’t bear to see him walk out of her life without trying to find out more. “I’m curious about you.” Curious about him? Had she really just blurted that out like some kind of mad scientist? “Not like that. I mean. . .” She wasn’t quite sure what she meant but she knew she didn’t want him to leave.

  He turned and she found herself up close to a very tall, well-built dragon. Well, the
y’d have to be well-built, wouldn’t they, to be dragons and all. Get it together, Dovie. Heat emanated off him in waves.

  “And, Dovie, how did you mean it?” He grinned. His eyes slipped down to her lips, then back up. His gaze darkened. Her lips parted of their own free will, and somewhere in the very back of her mind, she actually wondered what it would be like to kiss a dragon.

  If she stepped back, would he see it as a weakness? She wasn’t going to let him see her as prey. Dragons were giant, angry creatures; weakness would be bad. She stood her ground even when he bent down, his face inches from hers. She looked up at him despite her entire body telling her to go back to the safety of her counter. “I’ve never met a dragon before.”

  Without thinking too hard on it, she reached up a shaking hand. Would his skin feel like a human’s or a reptile’s? When her flesh met his cheek, it was surprisingly warm and soft, human. His skin shimmered again with yellow brown scales, like a ripple of water, and then it was gone. Electricity shot up her arm.

  Dovie jerked her hand back. The current sizzled straight to her core, heating her entire body, and she fell to her knees, moaning. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head as a lash of energy continuously lapped between her legs until it crested on the wave of a spontaneous orgasm. It crashed over her, curling her toes as the spasm slowed. Her breath came in short gasps and her hands shook as they held her up on the floor.

  What the fuck was that?

  “I think you need to come with me, Dovie.” The moon dragon had knelt down beside her. He didn’t try to help her up and she decided that was perfectly fine. She had no idea what had just happened, and until she did, she wasn’t sure touching him was a good idea. Her body had reacted to him, dramatically. She had no control and that scared the crap out of her.

  Still in shock, she sat up. She wobbled as she stood, holding her arms out for balance. Once she found it, she gathered the nerve to look at him again. “I’m not sure I should.” She met his eyes. They hooded over with what she assumed was either desire or anger. He had a death grip on the book, his knuckles white. “I don’t even know your name.”

  “Torren, and the choice isn’t exactly yours to make anymore, Duv.”

  Chapter Three

  TORREN SUPPRESSED A growl. Why had he let her touch him? He should have kept walking out that door and not thought twice about the lilt of her voice as she asked him to wait. He shouldn’t have let himself get that close. Damn the stars, he didn’t want a family. This was the last thing he needed. Not only would he have to fight the urge to rut, now he’d have to get the clan leader to detach them. Electricity sparked between them, the sign that they could mate, that they could have a family. There were tons of dragons who could have dragonlings. He didn’t want them. He didn’t want to commit to anything but his dream of apprenticing. The clan leader would recognize this and set them both free. He had to. Detachments happened all the time, though he’d never thought he’d need one.

  “My truck is right outside. We need to speak with my clan leader.” Torren headed for the door.

  “What?” she spluttered. “I’m in the middle of work. I can’t just drop everything because you say I need to go with you. And spontaneous orgasm isn’t a valid reason.” Dovie’s cheeks reddened. She was adorably flustered. No, no, she was not adorable. She was human and she meant family and he didn’t want that.

  “I could walk out of here, head on up to my clan alone. But do you know what would happen to you? You are attached to a dragon, and while we may not know each other, our bodies now do. Our chemistry plus my dragon magic says we can mate and eventually bear a child. If you decide to stay here. . . you aren’t doing yourself any favors. Your body will go into withdrawal, as if you were coming down from an addictive high. And it won’t stop until we are together again.”

  Dovie blinked, looked around her store, and ran a hand through her hair. “You’re saying you are like a drug to humans? Why aren’t people aware of this?”

  The female was going to make this difficult. Torren suppressed his frustration and replied, “Look, if you want answers, let’s go.” He held the book with his left hand and encouraged her out the door with his right. “Or, damn the stars, I can pick you up, you’ll orgasm the entire time I’m touching you—in front of everyone—and you’ll end up headed to my clan anyway.” He didn’t actually know if she would orgasm the entire way. His cock twitched at the thought, but he had to get her up there to get this undone. “Besides, we can be detached in no time and you can be back down to your store before tomorrow.” He smiled at her, trying to encourage her to move forward.

  Her eyes widened and her pretty lips formed an O as his mind imagined what her mouth would feel like over the tip of his hard-on. He moved the book in front of his jeans as his cock strained against the material. He bit his cheek, waiting for her response.

  “No need to manhandle me. I’ll close the shop, but I better be back tomorrow. People will know if I’m gone. They will come looking for me.”

  Torren laughed. Did she really think dragons ate humans or something?

  “It’s not funny.” She flipped over her closed sign, then sauntered to the counter. When she bent over and her heart-shaped ass faced him, he bit the inside of his mouth so hard it bled, the copper taste keeping him in place and not bounding over to rut with her. He would curse the fact he was dragon born, but he enjoyed it far too much. He would need to keep his distance as much as possible because once he crossed that line, his dragon wouldn’t let him come back. If he claimed her, he couldn’t ask for the detachment. They would forever be joined by the dragon bond.

  Dovie grabbed a black purse, and then headed toward the door. Torren followed quickly behind, then waited for her to lock up. He even opened the truck door for her to climb in, trying not to stare at her ass every time she turned from him. The magic below his skin prickled if he neared too close to her skin. If she felt it, she didn’t say anything.

  “So how will this work? Will it hurt?” Dovie asked. She looked out the passenger window.

  Torren kept his eyes on the road in front of them as they headed out of town. “I’ve never had a detachment performed before, but I know others who have. No one has commented about it hurting or anything.”

  “So then what does happen? Because that answer doesn’t reassure me. I’m human and you’re a moon dragon. I bet it will feel different to both of us.”

  “Let me break it down for you, Duv. We go to my clan leader, I ask for the detachment, they perform it, and you’re free to go back to Enve. It shouldn’t be that big of a deal.” He hoped. She had a point; they would feel the detachment differently, but it couldn’t be that bad if others had gone through it. Silence filled the cab of the truck for the duration of the ride.

  As the familiar structure of the Star Arena came into view, Torren relaxed. The dome, large enough to hold nearly the entire dragon horde, towered above Theron city. As he passed through its streets, he glanced halfheartedly at dragons coming and going in their human forms. His city was thriving due to the Draconic Challenge. Shop stalls were up on all corners, vendors promoting the challenge and encouraging others to buy their wares. Most of them were dragons, but every once in a while, a human manned a stall too. Torren turned up the dirt road leading to Brooks’ home. Brooks, the current clan leader, would be replaced this year after the Ancients appointed a new horde sovereign at the end of the Draconic Challenge, who would then appoint new clan leaders.

  “It’s beautiful up here.” Dovie was fixated on the sights out her window.

  Torren drove up the winding road, passing a long row of trees that lined the driveway to a three-story mansion. Why a clan leader needed a three-story house was beyond Torren, but if a family lived there, he supposed the room would be useful.

  “Do you live here?” Dovie asked as Torren parked the truck.

  “Nope. The Theron clan leader does.”

  “And this Theron is going to detach us?” She stepped out of the truck, h
eels clicking on the pavement as she walked around to stand beside him.

  “Theron is our clan name; our clan leader’s name is Brooks. Come on, let’s get this over with.” Torren walked ahead of her, leading the way. His stomach turned as they closed in on the front door. The magic beneath his skin spiked, as if in warning of what might come to pass, and his chest knotted in dread.

  Chapter Four

  DID THE DRAGON have to be so vague about everything? He lived here. How could he not know what effects this detachment would have on her? Dovie would just have to ask his leader if Torren wasn’t willing to tell her. She followed his broad form up a path decorated in colored stepping stones. The sun glistened off the top of Torren’s light hair in a halo. The urge to touch him increased, but she stopped herself. Orgasming in front of the clan leader didn’t sound like it would make a good impression. Did she want to make a good impression? Her stomach fluttered as they passed through an iron gate. A man or dragon stood on the other side, stoic, as if waiting for something to happen. A guard maybe? Did dragons really need guards?

  The questions overwhelmed her and she hated not knowing what to expect. Part of her hoped this was over quickly; she had rent to pay and couldn’t leave the store closed for an extra day. The other part of her wanted to stick around and understand these beings that were and were not a part of her existence. Interacting with them on a human level was one thing, but what about their dragon form?

  They came to a mahogany front door. Dovie looked up, past Torren, and not at the walkway for the first time. The mansion was huge! Like a governor’s place. There were windows everywhere. Torren knocked lightly and the door swiftly opened.

  “I need to speak with Brooks, please.” Torren’s voice came out steady, as if he’d known their leader for a long time. How long did dragons live anyway? For all she knew, they could have been friends for centuries.