Daddy Shifter

by Juniper Hart

  “I’ll be watching,” he said. “Remember the soulstone.”

  “I’ll remember.”

  He gave her one last, lingering gaze. “I can’t bear the thought of anything happening to you, Cassia,” he said as he looked away. “You look even more beautiful today than when we first met.”

  With that, his body expanded until he was the size of a pickup truck. Emerald green scales grew over his body as he shifted into his dragon form. When she’d first seen it, it had taken her breath away. After seeing it many, many times, it still amazed her. Finally, he was in full dragon form with his majestic, shimmering green hide. He used his massive wings to push off the ground and fly off towards the sunset. Soon, he was just a small dot on the horizon, then he was gone, off to wherever he was going.

  She could’ve followed him, of course. She could’ve fired up her own transformation into a dragon and chased after him, but she couldn’t do much more than sit in the chair and watch her ex-husband vanish off into the distance. He’d given her the gift of immortality, and that was not something she took lightly. She still had a lot of respect for him.

  She leaned back and took a sip from her drink, which was now watered down from the melted ice. She glanced down at the ankle bracelet, letting the cold steel run through her fingers.

  “Dammit,” she sighed.

  Chapter Two

  She’d sat around outside and finished her drink. Just because Terran had shown up after so many years of not even seeing the guy didn’t mean she was obligated to stop relaxing. Getting all worked about up him wouldn’t serve any purpose. Or would it?

  Part of her just didn’t want to think about what Terran said, because when she did, she was giving into the idea that she was no longer safe. She’d have to switch off her relaxation and move back into the real world where her boyfriend was a murderer.

  No! No, that wasn’t it. Terran must have been wrong. Hale was a decent person. He was strong, handsome, and smart… She found herself running out of good things to say about Hale. He wasn’t particularly nice, although he had always been kind to her.

  One of the many traits that she loved about Terran was his trustworthiness. Hale just gave off an untrustworthy vibe, though she had never caught him lying to her. Also, he had been away for so long recently. Where had he been? She hadn’t thought about it because she really didn’t care. After two hundred years of being with the same man, she loved their time apart so she could enjoy some alone time.

  She’d been with Hale ever since she left Terran. She wasn’t all that interested in what he did in his day-to-day business. He had an oil company to run, so he traveled frequently, meeting with the major clients and making sure his corporation ran smoothly.

  Was it possible that Hale had killed the Chancellor? Cassia thought to herself.

  Terran, as irritating and stubborn as he could be, had never been wrong about something like this before. Could he be wrong about little things? Oh, hell yes. But about the big things? She couldn’t think of a time when he’d been more than a tiny bit off.

  It was the reason he was so good at his job as the Keeper of the Mountain. When he’d first tried to explain his responsibilities, it confused her. His mother had given Terran power over the earth, and his father gave him his dragon-shifter genes.

  Terran’s three brothers had different realms: fire, water, and wind. Earth sounded like the least impressive one, but when she learned more, she was absolutely blown away at the amazing amount of power that came with his abilities

  Water? There were deserts where there wasn’t a drop. Fire? Water extinguished fire. Wind? Caves and basically anywhere indoors could block wind. But earth? It was everywhere.

  Terran had the power to rip up the earth, create earthquakes, and make mountains with nothing but his mind. She hadn’t believed him the first time, but that was before he had formed a private island for her out in the middle of the Pacific.

  That kind of power came with incredible amounts of jealousy. Terran’s subjects loved him. He was an excellent leader, but everyone else knew if they killed Terran, there would be a fight for all the most powerful people to take his position through power plays and coercing.

  Though they wouldn’t have his power, they would still rule his realm and own the title of Keeper of the Mountain. The position hadn’t been created for Terran; he was simply the most logical representative due to his tremendous abilities and lineage. Terran hadn’t made it so long just by being tough. He was smart and resourceful, and he knew how to investigate threats.

  She looked down at the ankle bracelet, which was still in her hands.

  Terran believes Hale is behind the murder of the Chancellor.

  She swallowed. She tried and failed to avoid thinking about that picture that Terran had showed her of Hale in the subway in New York. He was nowhere near London like he should have been. That didn’t settle quite right for her…

  No! She would not turn on Hale so easily. She’d spent centuries with the sorcerer. He’d been there to protect her in her darkest time. Leaving Terran had been rough. At one time, she thought they were soulmates. Maybe she still did. He meant everything to her, but she just couldn’t forgive him.

  She’d given up the ability to grow old with someone for Terran. When she became immortal, it was like she was frozen in time. She would never get old or sick. She had literally committed herself to an eternity.

  When they had that last fight, she had been broken for years, decades even. Some people can forget the reason behind an argument as time passes, but even after centuries, Cassia couldn’t forget, although she eventually did forgive him.

  Terran made her believe that becoming immortal would be easy because they were soulmates. He was right. The transformation wasn’t painful. When she became pregnant with Terran’s child, her body changed to be able to carry the child. She became like Terran: immortal, and she gained the ability to become a dragon.

  What they didn’t plan for was losing the baby three months into the pregnancy. Tears held onto the brim of Cassia’s lashes as she remembered the fateful day. There was no pain like losing a child—even though it was a child she’d never met. Then, centuries later, they had another miscarriage.

  The second miscarriage was too much for her to bear.

  Maybe he was grieving, too, and needed comfort from me. The thought shocked Cassia. She had spent centuries blaming Terran for the fight that was the final straw. Maybe it was partially my fault. He needed me, and I shut him out.

  The tears won and poured from her eyes. She had no idea seeing Terran would bring up such raw emotions.

  When she left Terran, she’d spent months wallowing in her own sorrow, feeling alone and afraid. Eventually, Hale had been there to protect her and give her a home. At first, it was just a place to stay until she could get back on her feet, but then she didn’t leave, and it grew into something more.

  Hale had given her a home. He had given her hope. He’d taken her in and made her feel special and loved. Terran loved her so passionately, but she had been furious at him. She’d ignored him and cut him out. Hurt, he did the same thing. Soon enough, he was single, and she was with Hale.

  Hale wasn’t anything like Terran. Terran had Hale beat in almost every quality. But Hale was handsome and dashing—and at the time comforted Cassia when she needed it most.

  She groaned. Why does everything have to be so complicated?

  She spotted one of her guards wandering by the beach with an assault rifle in hand. He was one of the basic grunts, not like the ones that had silver bullets for putting down werewolves—or the ones with the copper ammo for dragons. Hale hadn’t quite ever said it, but he had made sure that everyone knew Terran was not welcome there.

  “Hey!” she called at the guard. “See anything?”

  “Everything’s clear, ma’am!”

  She scowled. Moron.

  Then again, it was unfair to expect them to catch Terran. After one of them had spent entirely too long st
udying her body while she was tanning, she’d asked Hale to make sure that nobody just sat and watched the beach. They had shifts, and Terran had planned it so that he could slip in between them.

  Cassia was bored, but Hale put a lot of restrictions on her under the guise of keeping her safe. Cassia figured it was more about control than safety, but she lived a good life and didn’t want to complain. Hale was very successful, and Cassia wanted for nothing.

  Well, that wasn’t exactly true. She was given every material possession she’d ever wanted, but what she didn’t have was a purpose. She had always loved children and dreamed of being a mother. Apparently, that wasn’t in the cards. She volunteered with children, but Hale asked her stop because it took up so much of her time.

  She gave it up to make him happy, but soon realized it was at the expense of her own happiness. Hale encouraged her to organize fundraisers, which he suggested would bring her joy. Cassia discovered the fundraisers really just provided new networking opportunities for Hale. Besides, the fundraisers weren’t the same as working directly with the children. She gave up organizing fundraisers and took up the lifestyle of being a kept woman—laying by the beach, reading, attending parties, and going shopping. Being rich was nice, but her lifestyle left a big hole in her heart.

  Hale always said, “If you own a successful business for long enough, eventually you’re going to start making money.”

  In Hale’s case, he’d owned a very successful company for almost a thousand years. Of course his company changed names over the centuries. Although he was extremely wealthy, one of the richest men in the world, he had to keep a low profile. If he became well-known, people might start to question why he never aged.

  On the other hand, Terran also had wealth, but he also had a literal kingdom.

  She remained in her comfortable lounge chair a little longer before she decided to go inside her house. She had bought the house in the South of France thirty years prior, and although it was only her summer home when she purchased it, Cassia had made it her full-time residence because she fell in love with it.

  Her home was recently remodeled by an interior designer she had seen on HGTV. It was ultra-modern, with floor-to-ceiling glass windows that gave her a breathtaking view of the ocean. She had once wanted a cozy mountain getaway, but the mountains always reminded her of Terran, so she opted for an oceanfront home.

  She brought her drink into the house and set it down on the counter. She could see a couple more guards wandering around outside, watching for something.

  What are they looking for? Evidently not dragon princes.

  She would need to talk to Hale about increasing security, but not because of Terran. That…that she would keep to herself. If Terran could get in, that meant other people could get in as well.

  She grabbed some cardstock and her artist pencil and went back outdoors to sit down at the white marble table that gave her a nice view of the Atlantic and other beautiful homes along the coastline. She could hear her hot-tub bubbling pleasingly and wished for a feeling of serenity to come over her. She was in a beautiful location, had a slight buzz from her vodka soda, and had every material possession in the world that one could want. But she couldn’t get Terran off her mind. As long as he was in her thoughts, she would have no peace.

  She put the pencil tip onto the paper. And then did nothing. She tried to get her brain to work, to get the pencil to move. Despite her best efforts, she couldn’t muster up any inspiration. Normally, the creative process was easy for her. She was an excellent artist—she’d had many lifetimes to perfect it, and she spent most of her free time either drawing or gardening. She shaded nothing mindlessly.

  Terran thinks Hale is a killer. The thought was innerving, and she couldn’t remove the feeling that there was some truth to his accusation.

  She reached for her phone and entered her passcode. Unlike Terran, she changed her passcode regularly and would never pick numbers in a sequential order. It was habit. She had the attention span of a gnat, so she got bored with anything after a little while. Her phone was no different, except for cases. She got attached to cases and felt bad for throwing them away. She had no particular allegiance to passcodes.

  She pulled up Hale’s number. It had a couple hearts off to the side. She tried to push the button and hesitated. What was she going to say?

  Hey, sweetie! Hope your trip is going well! Say, you wouldn’t just happen to be behind the murder of the Chancellor, would you?

  She pushed the button and turned on the speaker.

  Ring. Ring. Ring.

  “Hello?” Hale answered from the other side.

  She smiled. They hadn’t talked in a while, and she missed him.

  “Hey, babe! How’s the trip going?”

  “Good,” he said with just the hint of unhappiness under his smooth voice. “How are you doing? Is there something you need? I’m really busy right now.”

  “Well…” she looked at the ankle bracelet that she had set on the table. “No,” she said. “Not really. I just miss you. When are you coming back?”

  “Tomorrow morning,” he replied with a slightly annoyed tone to his voice. “You know that. You feeling okay?”

  “Yeah…”

  “Huh.” He didn’t sound convinced. “I’ll fly in first thing in the morning. I might even be there for breakfast.”

  “You’re in London, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “Hey, you didn’t just happen to swing by New York, did you?”

  There was a pause. “No. Why?”

  “Oh, just curious! I thought you could swing by that macaroon place on the Upper West Side if you had some time. You know those are my favorite.” She hoped her story was convincing. “Maybe we can go there together later in the week.”

  “You hate New York.”

  “True. But I love macaroons,” she replied. She was not Terran. She was terrible at investigating. She was also a terrible liar. “Okay. Well, I’m tired.”

  “Get some sleep. I’ll be back tomorrow. Sound good?”

  “I guess,” she replied. “Love you.”

  “Be home tomorrow,” he told her and hung up.

  She glanced at the timer. Thirty-seven seconds. That’s all it took to simultaneously comfort and panic her. Thirty-seven pathetic seconds. She tried to calm herself down. She was getting herself all worked up, probably for nothing. Hale would fly in the next day. He could explain everything.

  Right?

  Cassia couldn’t help remembering the first time that she had met Terran. Back then, she had been a regular young woman that thought humans were the only things out there. She had expected to have a regular life, meet a man she loved, and eventually die.

  Regular life? Nope. Man she loved? She thought she’d found it with Terran. Eventually die? Not likely, unless she got killed. Immortality could be cut short.

  Terran came to her village with two other men, who she later found out were leaders of his army. Cassia’s father had owned a small inn, and Terran needed a place to stay for the night.

  He was there to unwind from the pressures of being Keeper of the Mountain and asked for a simple meal. He couldn’t keep his eyes off her. She felt an immediate—almost supernatural—attraction to him, and she later found out the feeling was mutual.

  The men he traveled with stared at her intimidatingly and made it difficult to get close to him until his meal was ready. She swallowed hard and sauntered over to him, all without taking her eyes off his taut body and emerald-green eyes.

  She couldn’t be blamed that she wasn’t paying attention. Or that she caught her foot on the rug that she had insisted was going to trip someone someday. Or that she lost her balance. It might, however, have been her fault that she accidentally tossed the entire contents of his meal, and his drink, onto his chest.

  “Oh no!” she cried “I am so sorry!”

  Terran stood up, accidentally hitting a picture on the wall and knocking it off. In a moment, the men he was with
grabbed her and shoved her up against the wall, bending her arm behind her back painfully.

  “Ow!” she yelped. “Ow! Please let me go. It was an accident.”

  Terran pulled his guards off. His shirt was soaked, letting off steam. “Let her go,” he ordered. “Now!”

  The hulking guards moved away from her like buildings, like her tiny frame stood any sort of threat towards Terran. “I am so sorry,” she told him. “I tripped. I did not see the rug and—”

  “It is fine,” Terran replied.

  He scowled, understandably, then looked at her with a reassuring smile, as if telling her she was forgiven.

  “Please allow me to clean your shirt.”

  “Do not worry, miss. I am fine,” he assured.

  The next morning, Terran asked her father for her hand in marriage. Cassia did not know his true nature at the time. All she knew was that she felt drawn to him and could not resist his proposal. Terran had given her family a comfortable life for the remainder of their years. For that, she would be forever grateful.

  In the present, Cassia smiled. Back then, everything had been so simple. That was before their great loss. Terran had been everything a girl could want. She truly thought everything would be perfect for all of eternity.

  She still wasn’t sure why she didn’t give Terran another chance. He tried, hard, to get her back. He’d apologized and begged for her forgiveness. She had probably been stupid to ignore him. She tried to shut off all feelings for Terran, who she deemed responsible for her pain.

  She slipped the anklet around her ankle and latched it tight.

  Why not? Just because she wore it didn’t mean she was turning her back on Hale; it just meant she was keeping her options open. Even if a danger wasn’t related to Hale, it was nice to have Terran on call. He was a tremendous ally, and it comforted her to know he was nearby.

  But that didn’t mean she was interested in pursuing a relationship with him! She was happy with Hale. The dream of living with Terran, as sweet as it was, lived in the past with a more naïve, younger version of herself.