Shifter's Heart: A Paranormal Shifter Romance (The Hills Book 1)

by Sarah J. Stone

  Alvin softened slightly. “Good for you, Ariel. Many of us wander through life not really knowing who we are. You're one of the rare few.”

  Her heart broke, and she lowered her head. “Just leave it open,” she said, turning away. It was time to go home. No one moved, and she didn't turn back. “Just go.”

  “Goodbye, daughter,” Alvin said, and she sighed.

  “Goodbye, father.”

  She waited half an hour after they had cleared out to make sure that the carapace magic was gone. Finally, she sent the text indicating the all clear. When the dragons arrived, she knew they were against the wire.

  “You can't come back,” she said to Alexander as she slipped an arm around his waist. “I'm sorry. It's as simple as them being too powerful when they hang out together.”

  “I know,” he said, weakly. “Eleven years, Ariel, and I never thought it would end like this.”

  “End?” she replied. “Why would it end?”

  His face reflected surprise.

  “I can no longer transport you,” he replied. “And I cannot ask my brothers to take the risk.”

  “Cole,” Ariel spun around. “Do you love me?”

  Cole smirked. “Of course, I love you. I have to come back anyway, all the time. Enya and I won't mind the company, would we?”

  “Cole, you can't,” Alexander said. “She is my wife. My responsibility.”

  “If you feel so strongly,” Ariel said. “Then we'll stay in the kingdom.”

  “What?” Alexander asked, in shock. “You'll give up your life here?”

  “If you would have asked me six months ago, I would have told you that you were nuts and pushed the divorce papers on you. But having you away from me and seeing you like that made me realize that I've been taking you for granted. I don't want to be apart from you, Alexander. I don't want our marriage to end.”

  He grasped her hand, leaning slightly into her.

  “I never wanted that, my dear. I knew what I was saying all those years ago.”

  “I think I did, too,” she said. “But it scared me. All I wanted was a home and a family, and it's been staring me in the face this whole time.”

  “Shall we go home then?” he said, and she nodded.

  “Yes,” she replied. “Now, sit before you fall.”

  It took Cole and Peter concentrating and Ariel trying to suppress her magic to get them home. She never thought she'd have been so relieved to land in the ante chamber of the throne room. Nicholas happened to enter just as they emerged.

  “Where the hell have you been?” he asked, looking frustrated. “Building a new kingdom?”

  “You could say that,” Ariel said as she snaked an arm around Alexander's waist. Back home, he was already regaining color. “We're back now, anyway.”

  “Good,” Nicholas said. “Because I've been holding down the fort, and there's so much to do. Alexander–”

  “I will take it,” Peter said, grabbing the scrolls Nicholas gave him. “I am king. You will report to me.”

  “About bloody time,” Nicholas said. “Cole, I need your help. Let's go.”

  “All’s well that ends well,” Ariel said to Alexander in English, as the rest of them left the room. He smiled, kissing her on the cheek.

  “You might forget English if you spend enough time here,” he said.

  “Dragon lore sounds prettier anyway,” she replied. “I'm content, Alexander. What I spent my whole life searching for is right here. I just needed to realize it.”

  “I will do anything I can to keep you happy,” he said, and she shrugged.

  “You do make me happy,” she said. “Hell, if I was getting all sappy, I'd say I love you.”

  “Oh, my dear,” he said. “I have loved you since the moment I first saw you dance. I knew you were strong; I knew you were different. That’s why I had no hesitation marrying you. I knew that whatever happened, you would find a way, because you've had to find a way your whole life.”

  She leaned into him, taking comfort in his arms.

  It wouldn't be an easy future ahead of them. But she was determined that, whatever happened, they would get through it together as husband and wife.

  Peter

  (Dragons of Umora Book 3)

  SARAH J. STONE

  CHAPTER 1

  “Peter!”

  Peter sat up with a start, his heart hammering his chest. He was tense, on guard, looking for threats.

  The fact that he had no idea where he was for half a moment threw him off.

  His leg hurt from the sudden jerk against the four-post bed. His head throbbed from lack of sleep. This wasn't the way Other was supposed to be. Other was supposed to be heaven – a place free of pain, stress, and responsibilities.

  But Peter, the dragon shifter king, was not in the Other anymore. He had closed his eyes one day, many years ago, unable to deal with the pressures of life on the throne. He had been the crown prince, his father's greatest pride, when he simply decided to fade in the Other – to die, for all intents and purposes. He was depressed; he could barely breathe through his depression. But he had been pulled back from that magical world a few months ago, finding his father dead and the crown on his head. He wasn't the only one who had returned from the Other. It appeared that the veil had basically fallen, and there were many others who were thought dead walking their streets, flying the skies, and returning to all the worlds of the universe. It wasn't just the innocent either. Those who had been executed for crimes were starting to show their faces again.

  It was a very different world than he had left, and being king was almost the least of his worries.

  “Peter,” Alexander said, again. Alexander was his Irish twin, just eleven months his junior. Up until Peter's return, Alexander had been running the kingdom under a complicated rule. He had done a good job, despite the fact that inheriting the throne had never been in his life plans. And now, as Peter waded through the heavy soup of his mind, Alexander guided him as best he could. “You're supposed to appear on the throne in five minutes.”

  “Oh,” Peter ran his hand over his face, trying to get his bearings. “You can do it.”

  “I am not king,” Alexander said, taking a stance. It wasn't that he disapproved or questioned his king, his brother. It was that he felt that he should not be taking duties that were meant for the king. When Peter was gone, it was a duty he did with heavy shoulders Now, he felt that his job was to act as heir and regent when he could.

  “I am fully aware of that,” Peter replied, gritting his teeth. There had been mornings when he screamed at him; mornings when he simply didn't answer; mornings when he felt like he couldn't understand a word that anyone said. “What do I need to know?”

  Alexander sighed. He had tried to go over this last night, but Peter didn't want to listen.

  “There are various citizens here to plead for mercy, or cases to be resolved. In addition, Ariel has brought us documents from her last trip to Earth that show multiple cases of returnees from the Other.”

  “Brother,” Peter said. “You know I disagree with your carapace wife risking someone else in returning to Earth.”

  Alexander's wife, a marriage of convenience that had turn solid, was a carapace, which meant she could block the magic from the various magical creatures around her. carapaces were considered dangerous, and were once slaughtered by dragons for their own safety. Having spent eleven years around Ariel, the most powerful carapace ever born, and then surrounded by malicious carapaces on their last visit to Earth, meant that Alexander's magical defenses had been lowered permanently. He was too unwell to transport her to Earth, where her powers were even stronger. Their youngest brother, Cole, had a human wife who needed regular medical treatments and maintained a life on Earth. Cole was strong, cheeky, and happy to transport his feisty sister in law when needed.

  Alexander didn't really want to have this fight again. “Well, you'll have to look at what she has.”

  “Are you prepared to interpret?�
� Peter snapped at him.

  “I…” Alexander thought of his full schedule. Not long after Peter had disappeared, he and his brothers had learned English quite well. Ariel also spoke dragon lore almost fluently, and Cole's wife, Enya, was learning. But Peter seemed to be refusing to learn, even though it was now part of his job to review cases from Earth. Dead dragons turning up in all parts of the universe were still his responsibility. “I can't, today, Peter.”

  “Huh,” Peter grunted, indicating that Alexander should go so he could dress. Alexander sighed, closing the door behind him.

  “Ah, that's the sigh of the man who's acting as king without any of the benefits,” his wife, Ariel met him in the hallway with her sister in law, Enya. They won't the only people on Umora who were from Earth, but they were the only ones in the palace. So, despite being radically different people, they could often be seen speaking together on a variety of terms. “What is he doing this time?”

  “It's not what he's doing,” Alexander said, choosing his words carefully. “It's mostly what he isn't doing.”

  “Ah,” Ariel said, smiling. “Learning English, remembering the eight times we've told him about the history in the past few years, or just flat out refusing to sit on the throne?”

  “It's not that he's refusing to sit,” Alexander said. “It's mostly that I think he's overwhelmed by everything. Being king is not easy on a good day. Being king when you are missing half your information and language is an insurmountable task.”

  “I might be able to help,” Enya said. She was still unsure in her time in Umora, and her dragon lore was broken at best, so she rarely spoke up. Alexander turned kindly to her, raising an eyebrow.

  “Anything would be welcome,” he said. Enya was half a foot smaller than Ariel, and although both girls were thin, Enya's came from a lack of health. She was smart though, despite her body's limitations, and studied translation, already in her third year at school. Alexander suspected that dragon lore was difficult for her because her brain had several other languages bouncing around.

  “Since I've married Cole, I've learned so much of the hidden magic world on Earth. There was a girl I met in the hospital named Yvette. The second she saw Cole, she knew what he was. Turns out, she is working with the people who have returned from the Other, teaching them culture, language, everything, in exchange for their magical ability to convince the hospitals to give her free health care.”

  Alexander processed all of that in silence.

  “Really?” he managed. “That is quite interesting.”

  “She seemed good at what she did,” Enya said, “because she moved right in on Cole like a used car sales man.”

  “What?” Alexander asked, and Ariel laughed, rapidly translating for him. Enya tried to follow the words, trying to remember them for later. It frustrated her that the language was hard for her. “Do you know how to contact her?”

  “Maybe,” Enya replied. “She took a few pictures of Cole and I, and her hospital bracelet dangled in a shot or two. I might be able to find her last name.”

  “Do so, please,” Alexander said. “Perhaps she'll be of use to us. Peter may not respect what we are asking, but I am at the end of my rope. It does not sit well with me that I am behind the scenes while he should be making the choices.”

  “Most people would just hit him and be angry,” Ariel pointed out, even though she knew that her husband was not like that. “But good on you for being dignified.”

  “Eleven years and this surprises you?” Alexander teased her. She rolled her eyes good naturedly.

  “Come on, Enya,” she said. “Let's go find these pictures.”

  “Please report back to me as soon as you can,” Alexander called after them, as they headed down the long, marble hallways. The palace was so grand, so spectacular, and yet he felt his bride commanded it with an equal amount of regal presence

  “Those two are on a mission,” Nicholas came up beside Alexander, startling him. Alexander jumped, not impressed with his brother's sneaky ways.

  “Every time,” he said. “It's as if your feet don't even touch the ground.”

  “Well, we are dragons,” Nicholas replied, and Alexander rolled his eyes.

  “You are in human form right now; did you know that?”

  “Am I?” Nicholas grinned, patting himself down. “What a surprise. What did you send the girls off to do?”

  “Hopefully, help Peter,” Alexander replied. “Where have you been?”

  “Nowhere,” Nicholas replied. The third oldest brother, he had once enjoyed the privilege of being the heir to the throne. He took it lightly, grinning his way through his regency. He often vanished for days at a time, working hard before he left to make sure no one could claim he wasn't doing his part.

  Alexander would find an entire day's chores done before done when they were teenagers, and wonder what in the hell was motivating his brother. These days, he was often too exhausted to even wonder.

  “Well, you're here now,” Alexander replied. “Peter has throne duty, and I have other things to attend to. Can you be there to translate for him, if he needs?”

  “I can,” Nicholas replied, with a shrug. “Although he really should make an effort to learn a different language once in a while. It's not that's difficult.”

  “Where is Cole?” Alexander asked, and Nicholas shrugged.

  “I just got back,” he said. “If you have questions, you need to ask them yourself. Now, if you'll excuse me, I can't exactly enter the throne room looking like this, can I?” he asked, pointing to his traveling clothes.

  “Nicholas,” Alexander caught his arm. “Have you heard any word of Father, possibly returning?”

  “No,” Nicholas said. “But anything is possible, isn't it? Although if he does return, what do we do? Dethrone Peter and go back to the way things were?”

  “Things have changed,” Alexander said. “And Peter and Father will have to accept it. We no longer stay away from Earth except for a slaughter. We no longer consider ourselves alone in this world, superior to everyone else. We are modern; our partnerships have changed.”

  “But we are still dragon lords,” Nicholas said. “And that's what we must not lose sight of.”

  “Right,” Alexander replied. “Go change, please.”

  Nicholas sauntered off, leaving Alexander standing alone in the hallway. Despite that the palace was bustling with people, this was often how he felt. Alone, unsure, and no one to bounce his ideas off of. If he was going to fix the problems that plagued them, he would have to do it himself. Although there was support in another room, he often learned that the only person he could rely on was himself when it really came down to it.

  Everyone envied them in the palace, but no one saw the pressure on his shoulders – the weight of the crown. He felt guilty of how relieved he was when Peter returned.

  He had at least three meetings to attend in the next two hours. He should be in one right now. Instead of rushing, however, he knocked on Peter's door.

  “All is well?” he asked, listening.

  He heard Peter grunt his answer. “Fine.”

  “Lovely,” Alexander said, and eventually strolled off. Another day to figure out how to run the world from dust to dawn.

  He hoped that the girls could find a solution. He wasn't sure how much longer he could keep up this pace; relentless and painful. The crown was more harmful than it was a privilege.

  CHAPTER 2

  “Alexander, are these dragons?” Ariel showed up just outside his meeting several hours later, photographs on her phone right in front of his face. The girls had been amazed that their phones had Wi-Fi up on Umora, which he thought was ridiculous They were an advanced society, far ahead of Earth. Wireless internet technology was something Umora had long before Earth. Their phones were primitive compared to the holographic tablets, but both seemed content with what they had.

  “Uh...” He blinked and took a step back, trying to focus on what was in front of him. He had brilli
ant eyesight, but nobody could see when something was held half an inch from their face. Eventually, he focused on a few pictures in a collage of a girl a little bit younger than Enya, surrounded by several people at a Christmas tree. They were certainly dragons, with tinted yellow eyes, and the tall, lean, strong bodies gave them away. He also recognized them. “Yes. That's Dr. Donizetti and his family.”

  “Oh?” she said. “They live on Earth.”

  “Yes,” Alexander replied. “Dr. Donizetti made the move to Earth nearly thirty years ago, when my father started to wage wars on a constant basis. He used to work as a doctor within the palace, and he left on good terms. He is peace loving and kind. The people surrounding him are not his blood relations, but they've joined his family – his clan – as like-minded dragons. Although…” he squinted at the photo. “Some of them have passed on. This is recent?”

  “It's dated last week, so I assume,” she said. “This is Yvette,” she pointed to the girl in the middle, who was clearly human. Short and fragile, she wore an oversized sweater and leggings, her face paler than the rest. “From what I can gather, she is living with them. They are her primary sponsors at the moment. I think I know what town they live in.”