One True Mate 2: Dragon's Heat

by Ladew, Lisa

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Glossary

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Epilogue

  Notes From Lisa xoxoxo

  One True Mate 2; Dragon’s Heat

  by Lisa Ladew

  All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons or organizations, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.

  Copyright © 2016 Lisa Ladew All Rights Reserved

  Book cover by The Final Wrap smooches Hi Rebecca!!

  Cover model: Scott King

  Photographer: Eric Battershell

  Special editorial assistance by The Blurb Diva and Savan Robbins. As always, mayo-ing up my world. ;)

  Thank you to **Kristine Piiparinen** for your incredible coolness and assistance. <3

  Thank you, beta readers, arc readers, babes, and all of my readers. Goodness, you make writing worth doing and so much easier and fun.

  I also want to thank Fay Reid for answering so many questions from me about Scottish culture, and to Alexis Riddle for her help with the Gaelic language.

  You all really need to know that Amanda Quiles, my shifter guru, has ideas for days, and answers for years. Amanda, I hope you like the dragon). Sorry he’s not a gingy.

  Glossary

  Bearen - bear shifters. Almost always work as firefighters.

  Citlali - Spiritual leaders of all Shiften. They are able to communicate with the deities telepathically, and sometimes bring back prophecies from these communications.

  Deae - goddess.

  Dragen - dragon shifter. Rare.

  Echo - an animal with the same markings of a shiften. Usually seen as a harbinger of bad things, but could also be a messenger from the Light.

  Felen - big cat shifters. Almost always work as mercenaries. They are also the protectors of Rhen’s physical body and a specially-trained group of them can track Khain when he comes into the Ula.

  Foxen - the Foxen were created when Khain forcibly mated with female wolfen.

  Haven, the – final resting place of all shiften. Where The Light resides.

  Impot – a shiften that cannot shift because of a genetic defect caused by mating too close to their own bloodline. Trent and Troy are not thought to be impots because they were born during a klukwana.

  Khain - also known as the Divided Demon, the Great Destroyer, and the Matchitehew. The hunter of humans and the main nemesis of all shiften.

  Klukwana – a ceremony where a full-blooded shiften who mates another shiften does so with both in animal form, then the mother stays in animal form during the entire pregnancy. The young in the litter are always born as their animal. Wolven from a klukwana always come in at least 4 to 7 young. Bearen are always two cubs, and felen are unpredictable, sometimes only one. Shiften born from a klukwana are almost always more powerful, bigger, and stronger than regular shiften, but many parents don’t try it because of the inherent risks to the mother during the (shorter) pregnancy and the risk that the shiften young may choose not to shift into human form. A lesser known possibility is that the shiften young will have a harder time learning to shift into human form, especially if no one shifts near them in the first few days after birth.

  KSRT - Kilo Special Response Team, or Khain Special Response team. A group of wolven police whose primary goal is to hunt down and kill Khain, if that can be done.

  Light, The – The creator of the Ula, humans, Rhen, Khain, and the angels.

  Moonstruck - Insane. Shiften who spend too long indoors or too long in human form can become moonstruck slowly and not even realize it.

  Pravus - Khain’s home. A fiery, desolate dimension that sits alongside ours.

  Pumaii - a small group of specialized felen tasked with tracking Khain when he crosses over into our dimension.

  Renqua - a discoloration in a shiften’s fur which is also seen as a birthmark in human form. Every renqua is different. The original renquas were pieces of Rhen she put inside the wolves, bears, and big cats to create the shiften. Every pure-blooded shifter born since has also had a renqua. Half-breeds may or may not have one. Some foxen acquired weak renquas when they mated with shiften. Also called the mark of life.

  Rhen - the creator of all shiften. A female deity.

  Ruhi – the art of speaking telepathically. No humans are known to possess the power to do this. Not all shiften are able to do it. It is the preferred form of speaking for the dragen.

  Shiften - Shifter-kind.

  Ula – earth, in the current dimension and time. The home of the shiften.

  Vahiy – end of the world.

  Wolfen - a wolf shifter. Almost always works as a police officer.

  Wolven - wolf shifters, plural.

  Zyanya - When a wolfen dies, the funeral is for the benefit of humans, but the important ceremony is the zyanya. The pack mates of the fallen wolfen run in wolf form through the forest, heading north to show the spirit the way to the Haven. When they reach a body of water, they all jump in and swim to the other side, then emerge in human form.

  Chapter 1

  Wade peered out the windshield at Remington’s house as he drove up, dread eating at him. Gah, all those cats. They did something to him, got in his mind somehow. No wonder Trevor was the only one who still came out here to check in on Graeme, a full week after his mating and almost two weeks after their successful but costly rescue mission into the Pravus.

  Wade doubted Trevor wanted to deal with the cats, but Ella wouldn’t take no for an answer. Graeme had saved them both, plus Ella’s sister, and Ella wouldn’t let Trevor forget that, horde of fur balls or not.

  Besides, Trevor had two cats living in his house now. Wade pulled into the driveway of the large two-story house that looked more like a museum than a doctor’s office or home, and shuddered at the thought. Living with cats. How… unnatural.

  Wade shut off his engine and hopped out of the Jeep, his work boots crunching on the asphalt of the driveway as he landed. He had dressed down, knowing he’d be heading out to Remington’s place and not wanting to draw attention to himself in his official capacity.

  Cats appeared as if from nowhere, heading straight for him. A minute before, the place had seemed empty, no people or cars or cats in sight, but now he counted seven, no, twelve cats coming from under the wide porch and appearing as if by magic from under the hedges. He grimaced and began walking for the front door, ignoring them.

  A yellow and orange cat yowled and tried to rub up against his boot even while it was in motion. Show no fear. They are tiny, you could rip t
hem apart if you wanted to.

  One of the cats, a large black and white one, with fur so long it dragged on the ground as it walked─ no, slunk─ alongside Wade, made a snuffling, snorting sound through its nose.

  Is he laughing at me? Little beast. Wade bared his teeth at the cat and started up the steps to the front door. A pied-piper-like clowder of cats followed him, winding between his feet, threatening to trip him. And when they did, they’d be on him, no doubt, little fangs ripping into his skin like needles…

  Wade turned and growled at the cats, moving his foot in a wide arc, pushing the ones in his reach back away from him. A few cats hissed at him, but most wound their way in between his feet again, one standing on its hind legs and pawing up at his knee. Weren’t there more now? Twenty, at least? Wade turned toward the door and pounded on it, his skin crawling, his fangs growing of their own accord. His animal wanted out, badly, and it wanted to crunch on cat spines like chicken bones. He held his wolf back with everything he had. Felen-wolfen relations were at an all-time high, and there was no way he would be the cause of any sort of erosion there. War was coming, pups were coming, and they would need the felen more than ever.

  The screen door bounced in its frame, the heavy door inside open to let in the light, proving Remington had to be around somewhere. If only he would hurry up.

  “Remington!” Wade shouted, his voice strangling on the last syllable. Soft cat feet plucked their way up the back of his pant leg. A claw snicked out and brushed his skin.

  “Remington, where are you?” he almost screamed, kicking backwards, somehow connecting with nothing.

  A male appeared in the yard from around the corner of the house. “Ah, Wade,” Remington said, looking up at him as he strolled to the steps that led up onto the porch. “I was taking one of my daily walks. I didn’t think you would be here so early.”

  The sea of what had to be at least thirty cats parted, letting Remington through effortlessly. Wade eyed Remington’s college-boy looks, styled hair, and earring in his right ear with distaste. Remington didn’t look old enough or distinguished enough to be a doctor at all, but he was the only shiften doctor living in the area. Wade made a mental note that they needed to recruit or something. If the fight with Khain was only about to intensify, like he was sure it was, they would need more.

  Shiften couldn’t shift to heal if they had bullets in them or were unconscious, and no one could forget that there were actually going to be babies born in a few months. Well, nobody knew how long Ella’s gestation would be… nine months like a human, or closer to five months, like a wolfen?

  Claws breached his pant leg again, pulling him out of his thoughts. He kicked out with his foot, dislodging the little beast. “Call your cats off me, Remington.”

  “They aren’t my cats,” Remington said lightly, his smile and tone amused.

  “Whatever, just tell them to go away.”

  Remington took a step backwards and folded his hands, his face smug. “Nobody owns a cat.”

  “Thanks for the zoology lesson,” Wade grunted, backing up into the screen door. “Why do they follow me like this?” he asked, motioning his hands towards the moving mass of cats at his feet.

  “Because they know you don’t like them.”

  Wade looked at Remington and cocked his head. That was ridiculous. “So, what do they do with someone who likes them?”

  “Depends on their mood. Probably mostly ignore them.”

  Wade grumbled under his breath, looking down at the backwards felines, most of whom were now staring at him, a few meowing lightly and trying to brush up against him. He could see cat hairs on his boots and his pants. He would throw the uniform away. Maybe burn it, if he ever got out of there. “Ridiculous beasts. No sense.”

  “What was that?”

  Wade looked up sharply. “Can we go inside?”

  “Ah, yes.” Remington pushed past him and opened the door for Wade, hissing something out of the corner of his mouth.

  Wade was relieved to see none of the cats followed him inside. When Remington shut the screen door behind them, Wade was able to breathe a bit easier.

  “So, I called you for a reason,” Wade said.

  “I wanted you to come here for a very important reason,” Remington said at the same time.

  Wade frowned. “What? Is he worse?”

  Remington raised his eyebrows and put out his hand, pointing Wade into the patient care room immediately to the right of the front door. “See for yourself.”

  Wade walked into the room he’d been inside several times already, distressed to realize that he could tell at a glance what Remington was probably referring to.

  Graeme lay on his side in the hospital bed, wires running to his bare arms and chest, a white sheet covering most of him. Behind him, a wooden contraption held eight vials of blood, and Wade noted with alarm that the ones farthest to the right looked almost green, instead of red.

  The heart monitor next to Graeme was off. His cheeks were sunken, his dark hair completely lifeless, his skin sallow and diseased-looking. He looked like he’d lost twenty pounds in just the few days since Wade had last been there. “He is worse.”

  “Touch him,” Remington said.

  Wade looked up, a sneer on his face. That didn’t make any sense.

  “Just do it. Anywhere. On his hand.”

  Wade approached the bed and held out his hand. When his fingers were still a good three inches away from Graeme, a spark leaped out of Graeme’s flesh and shocked him.

  “Ouch! Motherfucker!” Wade cried, pulling away from the bedside and shaking his hand.

  Graeme moaned, and his arm flopped backwards, but something stopped his body from following. Remington stepped forward and pulled a wedge out from the hollow of Graeme’s back so he could move.

  “That started yesterday. I think it’s a bad sign,” Remington said, not looking at Wade. “It’s why the heart monitor isn’t on. He shorted it out.”

  “Why didn’t you get shocked just now?”

  “Because you did. You released the buildup of energy. It will take another hour or so before a tiny spark builds up again. The longer I wait to release it, the bigger it gets.”

  Remington stared Wade in the eye. “That’s why I called you. You have to move him. I’m afraid he’s going to burn my house down.”

  Wade shook his head. “Absolutely not. And that’s why I called you. This is taking too long. You need to find an expert on dragen. Get him better. You said he needed a rest, but this is looking like a coma, Doctor.”

  Remington’s right eyebrow raised, but nothing else did. In the same sickeningly smooth voice he said, “There are no experts. I’ve called every doctor I know, even a few in Scotland who I didn’t know. They all thought dragens had been gone for centuries. No one knows anything about them.”

  Wade’s fist twisted around the side of the hospital bed, and his voice rose for the second time that visit. “Then find a different expert. Branch out. Start calling veterinarians, if you have to. I don’t care how you help him, but you can’t just sit here and do nothing!”

  Remington curled his lip as if he were going to say something smart─ or stupid. Wade heard himself growl deep in his throat and he cut it off mercilessly. He had to keep control.

  Wade motioned to the form on the bed. “He saved our asses, he’s irreplaceable, and he’s an awfully nice male. I’d hate to think that this is how we repay him.”

  Remington frowned. “Did you ever think maybe he doesn’t want to be repaid, or saved?”

  Before Wade could answer, Graeme moaned again, his big body twisting under the flimsy sheet that covered him. His mouth opened, and Wade could see his lips were dry and cracked. Wade leaned forward, trying to catch the soft words coming from his lips.

  “So cold. So wet. So awful. I’m ready to go. Take me. It’s been so long. Too long. I don’t want to…” His words trailed off.

  When Wade looked up at Remington, fear in his eyes and his heart,
Remington only nodded. “He talks like that a lot, especially at night when the moon is high in the sky.” He took a deep breath. “I don’t think he wants to live anymore.”

  Chapter 2

  Ella sprinted through the woods in her bare feet, feeling the springy dirt and leaves under her toes. Her breath caught in her throat as her heart trip-hammered inside her chest.

  She whipped her head around to look behind her. Was he still there? Was he gaining? She saw nothing but trees and heard nothing but her own blood pounding in her ears and the rasp of her breathing, but she could feel him. He was close, closer than she could even imagine─

  Growling sounded far in front of her, and she tried to stop, her heels skidding as she threw her momentum backwards, not wanting to run right into him, not wanting to be caught so easily.

  Her eyes wide, trying to take in everything at once, she managed to keep on her feet, but barely. She thrust her hands out and held on to the small saplings on either side of the trail, hearing the rustle of the tiny trees as she moved them, and the minute crackle of the dry leaves beneath her.

  When she had come out to these woods, she had been able to see her breath, but now it was invisible in the relative mid-day warmth. Her feet were cold because she had kicked her shoes off at the start of the chase, knowing it was the only chance she had for any sort of evasion, if she even had such a chance.

  She heard the growling again, ahead of her and off to her right. Was he toying with her? Enjoying this?

  She tiptoed off the trail, knowing it wasn’t safe, hoping the noise wouldn’t give her away. Maybe she could find a place to go to ground? Or would climbing a tree be smarter? Give her more of a chance?