“I won’t let him escape me. You know full well that no male can escape the mating fire.”
“Oh, shit! Don’t tell me he’s the one that’s destined for you. If the reports on him are accurate, I feel so sorry for you. You have a difficult journey ahead of you. And it’s not going to be strewn with roses and champagne.”
“I know. The Fates mock me. They must be having a grand laugh as we speak.”
“I am sorry, Grania.”
“Don’t be sorry. He’s not that bad of a chap. He’s got a huge ego, and he’s got a big mouth…”
“If you ask me, it sounds to me as if you’re already falling for him.”
“I didn’t realize how strong the pull of the dragon’s heart could be. Maybe we should just become completely human—I’m wondering if our dragon side makes us weak. I do think less with my heart when I am in my human form.”
“Weak? You call your super strength in human form a weakness? I’d call it a power to be revered and valued. Maybe you’ve been living among the non-shifters for far too long.”
“Perhaps…” Another crashing noise caught her attention. “I need to go—he’s trying to break through the enchantments that I had put on this cottage long ago.”
“How is it going?”
“He’s mighty powerful. He could just find a loophole, and I can’t allow that to happen.”
“May the flame of your life force never grow dim!” He saluted her, placing his right arm over the left side of his chest.
“Or yours.” She nodded her head to him, placing her hand over her heart in farewell.
Flames exploded in the globe cutting off their communication link.
Sighing heavily, she ran to up the steps, and headed straight for his bedroom. When she tried the handle, she wasn’t surprised to find it locked.
“William, you open this door immediately! As your protector—you can consider that an order!”
“I’m sleeping.”
“Sure…and I’m standing out here buck naked.”
There was a short pause. Apparently, he was trying to decide whether or not he should give up his escape attempts. “I’m off to dreamland” His voice sounded a bit strangled. She heard a loud whooshing noise. Then, more silence.
Holding her hand up, she wasn’t surprised when she was faced with the shape of a dragon glowing.
“Lead me to him—the old bloody fool.” A swirling vortex opened before her. So, this was how he’d finagled his way out of the cottage. He was one crafty little bugger. “The things you do for future love…and for the fate of the world itself.” Heaving a deep breath, she jumped into the vortex.
Blinding light engulfed her as she was hurled through the magical tunnel. Seconds later, William’s magical tunnel belched her out. Fortunately, she had the foresight to somersault into her landing so she landed on her feet.
“Whoa.” She felt queasy from that. She preferred flying rather than magical transportation. Even though she had to travel through similar means to reach Dragonia the unsettling sensation never left her for at least a few minutes after arrival.
Shaking her head, she looked around. Where was she? By all appearances, it seemed as if she was in someone else’s home. Beautiful portraits lined the wall…she glanced upward.
She was standing in the grand hall of some majestic building—if she was correct, she was standing inside one hell of a grand house. Scratch that, the place looked like a castle. Some of it had to date back almost one thousand years.
“That’s out of the question. You shouldn’t have come here, William. You’ve been marked—she’s bound to follow you. You silly boy! I don’t know what you did to get hooked up with that dragon shifter bitch—but I don’t need you bringing that trouble to our doorstep.”
She raised her eyebrow at the insult. She’d show them just how much of a dragon shifter bitch she could be.
Her boots clanged against the wood flooring as she headed toward the room where William sat.
Pushing the door open, she took in the inhabitants of the room.
“Oh, bloody hell.” William stood on the far side of the room, he had his hand wrapped in a bandage. She resisted the urge to smile. He’d probably been spooked when he felt the tingling sensation on his palm only to see the dragon mark on his palm.
“So, how many things did you break in your bedroom trying to work past the enchantments surrounding the cottage?”
“That’s all you have to say to me?” His face fell. A look of complete wonder crossed his features.
“That’s all. I’m not here to condemn you—I’m here to protect you.”
There were three older people sitting in the room. One was a woman, the other two were men. They all bore a strong resemblance to William. If they were immortal like William they hadn’t exactly retained their youthful appearance.
“Are you going to introduce me or should I introduce myself?”
“Mum, Dad, Uncle, this is Grania Burns.”
“Hello.” All three of them talked in unison. They wouldn’t meet her gaze. Instead, they all seemed unnaturally interested in their feet.
“Well, isn’t this cozy.”
“William, you should go with Ms. Burns. I’m sure she knows best.”
“I do,” Grania said simply.
“Mum…”
“You should really listen to your mother, William. She only wants to look out for your own well-being. She wouldn’t want you to get blown up in a hail of dragon fire,” Grania murmured.
His mother gasped. William’s father grunted, and his uncle continued to inspect his feet.
“Now, you see here, young lady, I don’t think it’s funny for you to joke about such ludicrous things!”
“You said it yourself. You didn’t want William bringing trouble to your doorstep—well, like it or not, I’m not the dragon shifting bitch you need to look out for—I can tell you this much, there are probably a few dragon shifting bitches and bastards that are on their way here as we speak.
Unless, we leave now, and go back to my enchanted cottage, you all will be talking about this at the Gates of Heaven. They will leave your family alone, as long as you come with me right now, William. At this point in time, Draco isn’t interested in the rest of your family.”
“Draco?” His uncle finally spoke. His face had turned as white as the walls. “My boy, if he’s after you—you have no hope. You need to leave now—if Grania thinks she can keep you from harm, she is your best bet.”
“No. I can fight him,” William contradicted.
“I’m afraid you can’t, son.” His father was now adding his two pence worth. “The last time we fought Draco we literally had our asses handed to us. You can’t fight a dragon shifter that not only uses the magic of his kind—but knows how to use our magic as well.”
“It is true. When my father was very young, he studied the sort of magic that witches and wizards use. He is such a powerful dragon shifter, that it didn’t take him long to figure out how to master your craft.
While he is not as powerfully attuned to witch magic as you are—he will not disappoint you in a battle. You might have thought you were cleaning the floor with Denys—my father will be different. Much different. He sees you as a threat, when his assassins take you, they will bring you to Draco for extermination.”
Her heart froze as she voiced aloud the horrific thought. An imaginary knife twisted her gut. She couldn’t allow that to happen!
“William, go with her. I don’t care what she is—just allow her to keep you safe until you can finish the spell.” His mother sounded as if she was going to stand her ground.
“I thought with all of your help I could finish it that much sooner.”
“Not possible. I promised to never again stick my magical hand in that sort of a spell. It is the worst kind of spell any of our kind could ever make—it is the worst kind of curse, I won’t do it.” His uncle shuddered.
“And yet, my king and queen need that spell. It’s the
only way to keep this world from falling into a literal reign of fire.”
“Is it that serious?” His mother seemed surprised.
“It is. Before William pulled off his great escape, I was talking with our prince. He tells me that the war is going very badly. We would appreciate support from the witch and wizard community if they would like to give it.”
“I will bring that matter to our leader’s attention.” His mother nodded her head in determination.
Then, she gave Grania a serene smile. Whatever had inspired such a swift change of heart in his mother?
“That means my mother will put it to the council tomorrow. She usually gets what she wants.” William gave her a dimpled smile. “If I must return with you—then, so be it.”
Dragon shifter battle cries filled the night air. His mother jumped up from her place on the sofa.
Her eyes were wild with fear.
“Don’t panic.” Grania forced her voice to remain calm. By the sounds of it, they had sent about six or seven dragon shifters.
“Can you open another one of your portals back to my cottage?”
William crossed the distance to her side. “I can try…that sound is rather unsettling, isn’t it?”
She nodded her head. “Does it sound like a death knell to you?”
His eyes snapped angrily at her. If she didn’t know better she thought she’d just hit a very raw nerve of his. “No.” A muscle danced in his cheek. His jaw was set in a firm and determined line. “Well, that’s some kind of shitty luck. I can’t seem to get the portal to open.”
“Shitty luck? That’s the worst luck. They must have figured out a way to jam such transportation devices. We will have to fight.”
“Fight?” He sounded absolutely shocked at the thought.
“Okay, I’ll do most of the fighting.” Then, beneath her breath she muttered, “That’s my bloody job anyway.” She raised her voice so that everyone could hear her. “Just keep your heads down. That way, I won’t have to worry about any of you getting accidentally killed.”
The battle cries stopped. She looked wildly around the room. Resting her hand on her sword, she waited. “Get ready! It’s about to get very hot in here.”
Chapter Four
Grania hit the nail right on the head, with her latest statement. He watched her catch his gaze and hold it. Nodding her head to him, she drew her sword from its scabbard. In the next second, she held her hand up and his mother, father and uncle were moved toward him so they stood flanking his sides.
“Be safe.” Flames erupted in her green eyes. A wall of fire enshrouded them.
“Damn.”
His mother’s horrified face turned to meet his. “She’s going to burn us alive!”
“Come now, Mother. You should know better than that. Do you feel hot?”
“Strangely…no.”
“Dragon shifters have control over the elements. They can influence the temperature of their flame to either be scolding hot—lukewarm, cool, or icy cold. This flame is cool to the touch. Hence, the reason why it’s blue.”
“She does know her stuff, William.” His father beamed over at him. “We could have helped her—I’ve fought my fair share of dragon shifters in my day.”
“You are out of practice, Timothy. Don’t even think about walking through this flame barrier to assist that young girl. She was entrusted to protect our son, I highly doubt her king and queen would have given her such a responsibility if they didn’t believe she could keep him safe.”
“Even if Father wanted to walk through the flame, he couldn’t. It’s been erected as a bloody shield. Bloody hell, she’s got grit, I’ll hand that to you.” Pride welled in him.
“She’ll hold her own. I’m certain she’ll drive them away.” Her mother gave him a confident smile.
“She said there were six or seven of them coming.”
“No, William, she didn’t.”
“Your mother is right…she never said a thing about how many were coming.”
“Oh, my aching head.” Earlier that night, Denys had played with his head, and now Grania was doing it.
“I am afraid, William, that you don’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of ever getting away from young Grania.”
He looked at his uncle sharply. “What do you mean, Uncle Jonas?”
“I meant exactly what I said. You must be her mate…she probably unintentionally allowed you to hear her thoughts. I’ve heard about the wonders of these dragon shifters when it comes to love. Your own aunt once held a torch for one of them.”
“That’s true. Rachel was quite smitten with one of them once. She even offered her magical services to many of them when it came to enchanting their lands so the humans wouldn’t notice when they shifted.”
“Aunt Rachel, of course, now it all makes sense. That’s why I had such a bloody hard time working past her enchantments—family spells are bloody hard to impregnate. She had to have been the witch that Grania got to bless her cottage.”
“Indeed. Our sister does know how to write and cast them.” His father nodded his head, beaming with pride.
The sounds of ferocious battle met their ears.
“Oh, dear. They’re going to make such a mess of the hall. And after all of that restoration work we had done.” His mother lamented.
“We’ll repair it, Mum.” His heart pounded loudly. His hand tingled again. He should be helping her. He didn’t like the thought of having a woman protect him—he was all for women having equal rights as men, but it made him feel unmanly to have such a beautiful and fragile looking woman caring for him. She had to learn that he could help her.
A resounding crash shook the floor. Screams of agony met their ears.
Glancing over at his mother, his stomach fell at the look of fear on her face.
“What if she loses?” Her change in mood was swift—for being so confident only moments before, she now faltered in her faith.
His heart stood still. He didn’t know why—but he couldn’t allow that to happen. Maybe it was the fact that she was meant to be his—“Dad, if you can’t go through a wall of fire—you can go around it, correct?”
“Son, I don’t know what you’re concocting in your head—but stop. If you try to interfere you run the risk of ruining it completely. She’s in a fighting zone right now—she could hurt you without meaning to.”
“She won’t hurt me. She’ll never hurt me. I’m under her skin…and in her heart.”
“Now you are talking plain nonsense, William. You can’t fall in love with a woman in only a matter of hours. Think rationally. You need to settle down with a nice little witch, and have nice little magical witches and wizards.”
“Mum, please just knock it off.”
She gasped. “William, if you carry on with her—I will, I will have to…”
“What? Disown me?”
Heartbreak glistened in her brown eyes. She turned away from him. “Do what you have to do. You always have.”
He nodded his head. Looking up at the ceiling, he slowly drew in his breath. “Here goes absolutely nothing.” Releasing his magic, he levitated himself up into the air and made himself intangible so he could float straight through the ceiling. He’d come back down right in the middle of the fray. “I’m a scholar not a fighter—I guess I’ll just have to learn a few new tricks.”
“Good luck!” They all said in unison. The hairs on the back of his neck prickled. He drew his wand. He hadn’t used his wand to channel his magic for years—he had to use it now to amplify his powers. In order to do the sort of damage he intended to mete out, his firepower had to be on equal playing ground of the dragon shifters.
He heard her voice in his head just before he phased through the ceiling. She’d been wounded. Yet, she still fought on. He admired her courage—he’d never met such a brave woman. She was going to protect him no matter what. In that instant, he found an entirely new kind of respect for her…and her people.
As soon as he trans
ported himself through the ceiling and turned himself solid again, he had the attention of the evil dragon shifters. He felt Grania’s surprise—concern—and rage all at the same time.
“No! William!” She raced to put herself in front of him. He moved too swiftly for her—she was injured—he wasn’t.
“Greetings, Grania! How’s it going?” He tried to sound cheerful. At the sound of his cheekiness, she frowned. Evidently, she thought he’d just committed an unthinkable act.
“My, my, it is quite hot in here, isn’t it?” he joked.
“We have him. Take him, and retreat before we, too, feel the sting of her sword.”
Silently, he assessed the situation. He saw three dragon shifters, which meant she’d likely taken out half of their force. Admiration welled inside of him again. He definitely was being protected by one bad-assed dragon shifter—bad-assed, but oh, so, good. He was certainly glad she was on his side.
Her sword dripped red blood. No bodies remained, since they had disintegrated in their death fire.
“Say hello to Mr. Wand, boys and girl.” Waves of his magic channeled through his body and then in a rush, exploded out through the tip of his wand. He hit two of them.
Shrieks rent the air. He looked over at Grania. Her eyes widened to the size of emerald coloured golf balls. She stepped backward. He could feel her fear—and revulsion.
His attack spell whirled around the two male dragon shifters. Their skin started turning to leather. They were transforming from the inside out. Their dragon skin ripped through their human flesh.
“What are you doing?” she demanded, fear still glittering in her eyes.
“I’m killing them—to save you.” At his words they blew up. He threw a shield charm around the two of them.
Tears glistened in her eyes. She continued backing away from him. “You truly are the destroyer of my kind. Mistress Kendra, return to your master and tell him that his end is near. Tell him, his journey is coming to an end. Pray, let Draco know just how gruesome the end will be.”
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