Sabina's Ex-con

by Miranda Bailey

  “Lucy,” Damcho began, “I think the curse has broken. Philip tried to save you, without hurting anyone. He was willing to die to save your life. I told the villagers what I think happened. They don’t want to hurt an innocent, good man. Let me check his pulse.”

  Damcho bent down as Lucy held her breath in hope.

  “He’s alive, Lucy. He’s going to be okay. When he comes round, I’ll check his eyes. Now, let me untie you.”

  Damcho untied Lucy, apologizing for his behavior earlier; he was truly sorry for being responsible for this, though secretly thrilled the curse appeared to be broken.

  As soon as Lucy was free, she fell upon Philip, sobbing from a mixture of fright and relief. “I love you, I love you. Please wake up,” she pleaded, between sobs.

  As if he heard her, Philip stirred slightly. He opened his eyes and Lucy was startled to see they were a dark shade of hazel, no longer emerald green. It was then she knew the curse was truly broken. They were both going to be free together, forever.

  In the months that followed, Lucy and Philip grew closer than ever. The curse was truly broken and they were the happiest they had ever been. Lucy found it difficult at first to wake up to hazel eyes, rather than the bright green ones she fell in love with, but she soon adjusted. She had never felt so loved or wanted; she was truly content.

  Lucy and Philip decided never to return to England, instead choosing to travel the world together until they felt at home. She called her family and told them of her plans. She told her mother she had fallen in love and her mother seemed genuinely thrilled for her; she was even planning to visit them in Thailand. Rob didn’t return her calls; he had met someone the day Lucy left. Lucy was happy for him too; her life was so perfect it was hard not to be happy.

  For the first time, Philip felt truly free. Their futures planned and their love was true. Leaning forward, Philip kissed Lucy, her delight radiating as a sign of things to come.

  The End

  II

  Taken by 2 Dragons

  Shifter Menage Romance

  About the Book

  “Stop haunting me in my sleep, mother! You’ve been gone three months now, and still you’re going on about this?!”

  “Nathan Luther, Nathan Luther, Nathan Luther…” the name she keeps repeating in my dreams and a place called ‘Furth im Wald’.

  The only problem is Furth im Wald is all the way over in Germany.

  So I finally decide to make the trip, only to discover that ‘Nathan Luther’ isn’t a person, it’s two people: die-on-the-spot sex gods, Nathan and Luther. And these two men just can’t stop sending me signals!

  Things are just so perfect...

  Until they tell me that they’re dragon shifters and they need me to travel back in time with them to break some kind of evil curse or I will die...

  Great! I knew this whole thing was just too good to be true!

  5

  “Hannah, you must go to Furth im Wald, you must find Nathan Luther. He is the only one that can save you.”

  As Hannah reached for her mother, she started to float away; always near but never close enough to touch. Why couldn’t she ever reach her mother? Straining to reach her, pushing against the incredible weight that seemed to hold her down, Hannah stretched her arm out until she was sure it would dislocate if she went any further.

  “Nathan Luther, Hannah. Nathan Luther.” As her mother finally floated away into the ether Hannah woke from the dream that had been plaguing her ever since her mother passed away. Pushing her black hair back from her face she looked around her dark room.

  “Seriously, Mum. This is how you haunt me? Why are you still haunting me, anyway? You’ve been dead for three months now! I have no idea who Nathan Luther is. The internet has no idea who Nathan Luther is. If the internet says they don’t exist, well then, they must not exist!” She spoke out loud, knowing that if her mother had actually been present she’d have never spoken to her that way. Hannah wasn’t actually sure if her mother really was haunting her. Perhaps it was her own psyche, her own thoughts harassing her while she slept, leftover guilt for not being there when her mother slipped away in her sleep.

  She was starting to think the dream wasn’t going to leave her alone. Not until she went there. Going to her mobile phone, she flicked through screens until she found her banking application. Logging in she saw that her balance was finally in the positive. Her small inheritance from her mother wasn’t enough that she could term herself as rich, but at least she wasn’t going to starve for a while.

  Curious, she looked up flights to the nearest airport to Furth im Wald and saw that she could get a hotel and a flight for less than some of her friends spent on a weekend out to the city. Making a snap decision, she booked the flight and the hotel and suddenly realized she wasn’t even sure which date the flight was for. Looking at her mobile again she saw she had less than 24 hours to pack and get ready. She thought about her best friend, Annie, as she started going through her clothes.

  “She’s going to be so chuffed I’m going on an adventure on my own! Or in a mood. One of the two, but oh well, I’m going” she said as she giggled to herself.

  “You are going to Germany in a few hours? On your own? With all of those hot guys, the even hotter women and without me? You little cow!”

  “I take it that means you’re just a little shocked?” Hannah replied to Annie. They were sitting in a pub not far from Hannah’s apartment, having a pint before Hannah left for her trip to the airport. Hannah smiled at her blonde haired friend. Annie’s brown eyes had lit up when Hannah told her what was happening and she seemed really happy, adding to Hannah’s own sense of excitement.

  “Just a bit, love. Just a bit. What brought this on?” Annie asked, taking a sip of her drink.

  “You’ll laugh, you really will. That or send me away.” Hannah said with a laugh but growing serious, thinking about how to word what was happening. “I’ve been dreaming about Mum a lot. She’s the one that told me to go to Germany. I’d never even heard of Furth im Wald until I started dreaming about her. So I looked it up, it’s famous for dragons apparently. I dismissed it but I keep having the dream over and over, every night so I finally gave in.”

  “Ah, right, I see why you’re rushing off then. A bit creepy but it seems that either your dear old Mum or your brain is telling you to go. Just make sure you call me every day!” Annie looked at Hannah sternly, but her face brightened as she cracked a smile. “How are you getting there? Do you want me to drive you down?”

  “That would be great actually. I was just going to take the train but that takes ages doesn’t it? Thank you so much and thank you for supporting me! I really do appreciate it!” Hannah smiled at her friend. For the first time she was starting to feel nervous about her decision. Some friends of Annie’s came in and Hannah drifted into her own quiet world, imagining scenarios of what might happen when she got to Germany, wondering if there’d be pitchforks and burning torches in her future. Dismissing the thought, Hannah reminded herself Germany no longer lived in the Dark Ages. They didn’t burn witches anymore.

  Hannah’s flight went well and she checked into her room without any problems. She loved the town, combining old world and new to create a unique culture that Hannah adored. She took a quick nap before heading out to explore, only to wake up panting because, yet again, her mum had been in the dream. This time, she’d been telling Hannah to go to the Dragon’s Inn.

  “Great,” she said to herself, “at least Mum’s saying something different now I suppose.”

  Hannah had spent most of the flight asking herself just exactly what she was doing. Losing her mind she suspected, but she’d resolved to pay attention to what was going on in her dreams since they’d brought her here. Going down to the front desk she asked if anybody knew how to get to the Dragon’s Inn. One of the girl’s there looked a bit confused that Hannah had asked for directions, but gave her what she asked for.

  Dismissing the odd looks, Hannah left t
he hotel and went out in search of the place that she at least knew existed. Taking her time, she wandered the streets she’d been directed to go down and finally reached her destination. She understood the looks now; it was the German equivalent of a biker bar in America. Shiny chrome and black motorcycles lined the front, loud music seemed to roll out of the inside and loud voices seemed to be roaring over each other.

  Hannah looked down at the white linen dress she had on, the sandals that were serviceable for walking but still pretty and wondered, once again, if she’d lost her mind. She wasn’t really going to go in there? Hannah pulled her shoulders back, took a deep breath and thought that this is where her mother wanted her to go; she must have a reason for it. Taking one more breath Hannah tucked her handbag against her side and walked in. Everybody in the place went quiet, staring at her. Lovely, one of those places.

  6

  Staring back, Hannah saw denim and black leather everywhere her gaze fell. Even the chairs were covered in denim and black leather. The tables were all painted black with the yellow head of a dragon stylized in the middle. Biting her lip, looking momentarily terrified and a second away from fleeing, Hannah heard a voice calling her name and looked over at the bar.

  Two blonde gods stood there, beckoning her to them with a smile. At this point Hannah had fled to Germany in an attempt to appease either her brain or her dead mother; she still wasn’t sure which she believed. She as in a biker bar in a strange country and now two of the most gorgeous men she’d ever seen in her life were calling her name, wanting her attention. Either the whole thing was completely implausible or she was dreaming. She didn’t feel as though she was dreaming, she was starting to believe her mother really was haunting her. To hell with it, maybe there was a perfectly reasonable explanation as to how these two men knew who she was! Perfectly reasonable, she assured herself.

  Plastering a smile on her face, steeling herself once more, Hannah walked over to the two men that were apparently the barmen. She sat down on a black leather covered stool, feeling almost guilty for sitting on the yellow dragon head and smiled at the men. Looking at them expectantly, waiting on the explanation, Hannah was shocked when they spoke.

  “You’ve made it then, great. We can get started.” A man with jade green eyes spoke in a tone that implied she’d understand what he was on about.

  “She looks a bit confused Nathan, perhaps she doesn’t know what’s going on?” this man had eyes that were such a light shade of brown they were almost yellow. Those eyes were smiling at Hannah, asking for her trust without speaking the words. For some reason, she wanted to give him whatever he asked for.

  The men spoke in barely accented English, conversing easily with Hannah. If she could make her tongue work, that was. She kept staring at them: they were tall, sexy, muscular gods. Both appeared to be in their early 30s, more than likely, with killer smiles stretching their faces. The only similarities were their style of clothing and the tattoos their arms were covered with. Intricate patterns that made no real sense unless you followed the lines, an image beginning to form, but their black t-shirts covered most of the shape. Hannah wanted to find out what was beneath those shirts and not just to see the tattoos. Nathan apparently hid nipple rings under his t-shirt from what she could see of the outlines there. He also had a darker shade of blonde hair than the other one did.

  Slowly, after some staring, Hannah realized the yellow eyed man had called the green eyed man Nathan and reality exploded in her brain. Now, why did she suspect the other’s name was going to be Luther? A sense of doom had Hannah tensing in her seat: her life was so far out of control right now. She thought it might be best to go check herself into hospital. Panic evident in her eyes, on her face and in the rapid pace of her breathing, Hannah was on the verge of bolting out of the door again when the other one placed his hand over hers and made soothing sounds to her. Instantly she calmed, a sense of peace encircling her the way his large hand encircled her tiny one.

  “You have a pianist’s hands, Hannah, do you play?” he asked, kindness in his eyes.

  “Yes, yes I do. How do you know my name? How do you two know me?” she asked; bewilderment evident in her voice. She was calm but she still felt lost, confused, and totally out of place.

  “We have a story to tell you. I suspect you already know my name but I will introduce myself to you anyway, because I don’t believe you’ve been told anything about us except that you needed to find us. I am Luther Harman; my over-eager friend here is Nathan Carles.” Luther paused to gesture to his friend, who was staring at Hannah with a severe case of “I want to eat you whole” coming loud and clear from his body language. Instead of being repulsed however, Hannah felt a stirring response within her own body, a “bring it on” wanting to escape from her lips. Clamping down on that feeling she turned her attention back to Luther. That didn’t really help when she could see the same attraction there, only his version had been clamped down on and was being throttled into submission.

  The longer she was with these two, the stranger her thoughts were. She seemed to be noticing things she’d have never noticed before. She could almost, she thought, hear what they were thinking. Almost. An image of herself, bent over the bar, naked and writhing with an image of Luther’s hands on her hips, flashed into her brain and Hannah gasped, covering her face. She knew it was Luther by the swirling tattoo that snaked up the outside portion of his left hand.

  “Sorry about that it slipped through, I guess.” Luther looked guilty but then made his face blank, closing his eyes as he visibly took back control of his brain.

  “Okay, somebody has to explain this to me and they have to start explaining now!” Hannah exclaimed, starting to become angry rather than panicked. Something strange was happening, she wasn’t actually going crazy and these two had the answers. She wanted those answers and she wanted them now. Apparently her glare wasn’t as intimidating as she thought because Luther just smiled at her and Nathan somehow looked hungrier. Raising her left eyebrow she stared at Nathan. He backed down.

  “Oh, wow”, she thought, “That worked!”

  She squinted at him and she could have giggled when his head went down, looking up at her with pitiful puppy dog eyes. Thrilled with what had just occurred, she looked over at Luther and remembered what she was here for. Answers, not obedience training. Right. Back to it then.

  “So what do you know?” she asked Luther.

  “Let me get someone in here to take over the bar and we can talk in our office, alright? Won’t be a second.” Turning back to Nathan, she looked him over again. She wondered what those nipple rings did for him? Picturing him thrusting beneath her as she tugged on them brought a dreamy smile to her face. Moving her eyes to meet his, she noticed he looked to be in a lot of pain.

  “You have to stop thinking like that if you want me to control myself, Hannah.” He rasped out. It sent shivers down her spine, but at the same time his words made her eyes widen.

  “How did you know what I was thinking?” she said as she leaned over the bar towards him, wanting to pull him to her for privacy’s sake.

  He stepped away, dodging her question for the moment as well. Luther came back just then, saving him from giving an answer. Before she could glare at Nathan again he practically ran back to the office Luther had indicated, as a woman with long purple hair came over to take their place. Looking the woman over, Hannah thought the woman was rather fit, but Luther pulled her along with him to the back of the office.

  “Down girl! Talk first, play later. Maybe,” he told her, his hand wrapped over hers. It sent shivers up her arm, straight to somewhere she’d rather not think about at the moment. Giggling, she followed him.

  “Alright, what’s happening to me? Somebody has got to explain this. I’m far too serious most days to be sat around giggling like a teenager. What’s going on?” she asked the men seated on a couch across from her. Luther had led her to a chair so she could face them but not be between them. She’d thought it was so
she would feel more comfortable but looking at them she wondered. They looked nervous, tense even.

  “Do you know anything about dragonkin? Did your parents ever tell you anything or leave anything behind, in the case of your father?” Nathan asked her, looking calmer now there was some distance between them.

  “No, my father died when he was 28, almost the same age as me now. He died on his birthday, in fact. I’ve never known much about his family, mum simply wouldn’t talk about him. What are dragonkin?” she asked them, looking from one to the other questioningly.

  “Oh, this is going to be much more difficult then. Tell me, how did you arrive here?” Luther queried.

  “Honestly, insanity would have to be the word for it. My mother passed away not long ago and from that first day she’s been haunting me. Well, my dreams at least. At first all she would say to me in the dream was ‘Furth im Wald’, then, just before I came she told me I had to find Nathan Luther. Night after night I was having these dreams. I thought it was just my brain but here you are, Nathan and Luther, not Nathan Luther. You’re in Furth im Wald, just as she told me. And there is some really strange shit taking place here, we’re reading each other’s minds aren’t we?”

  Luther looked at her with some sympathy, knowing what he was going to tell her next wasn’t going to be easy for her to take.

  “Right, so you don’t know anything. Nathan and I are dragonkin. We can turn into dragons, at will. We share a bond with you, as we have with all of your father’s line. We’ve been waiting for this day for a long time. We’ve been watching your grow up since the day he died. You are the last of your family line. We either break the curse with you or it goes on to any children you may produce.”