Bound by Heat
M.K. Eidem
J.A. Hornbuckle
Michelle Howard
“Kirall’s Kiss” by M.K. Eidem Copyright ©2015
“A Dragon’s Promise” by J.A. Hornbuckle Copyright ©2015
“Rylin’s Fire” by Michelle Howard Copyright ©2015
Kirall’s Kiss
By M.K.Eidem
Kirall’s Kiss
By M.K. Eidem
Copyright © 2015 by Michelle K. Eidem
First E-Book Publication January 2016
Cover Design by Judy Bullard
Edited by: [email protected]
All rights reserved: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without the author’s express written permission.
All characters, places, and events in this book are fictitious or used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, actual events, locale, or organizations are strictly coincidental.
License Statement
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Synopsis
Kirall was desperate. He was a Black Prime Dragoon, the strongest and fiercest of his kind. He was returning home after defeating the Varana when a small planet’s moon triggered his Joining Heat. It shouldn’t have been possible.
He was right.
Autumn was desperate. She was human, female and struggling to survive. At twenty-two she was barely making ends meet. It’s why she agreed to impersonate her roommate as a waitress for the weekend at a private party. She believed the money would change her life.
She was right.
Two unlikely people are brought together because of desperation. If they can find a way past the deceptions that brought them together, they will change not only each other, but possibly the Universe as well.
Chapter One
The Dragon’s enraged roar filled the air, his wingspan casting a large shadow on the land below. His prey became nothing more than a speck as the ship it was on escaped the planet’s atmosphere. With one last roar of challenge that the Dragon knew General Terron would never accept, he turned and surveyed the battleground below; bodies littered it. Some were Terceirians, the species the Dragon was fighting with and for, but the majority of them were Varanian soldiers left behind as their leader fled.
They had finally been victorious over the invading horde of Varana, but the cost had been high. The decimated planet, Terceira, and its inhabitants were nearly wiped out before enough help had arrived in the form of two Dragoons, and ships filled with the fiercest fighters from every corner of the universe.
Still General Terron had been able to escape.
That infuriated the Dragon because it meant they’d have to go through all this again when Terron attacked another planet whose inhabitants were weaker than him. The Dragon nearly had Terron, but the General slipped away when Dafydd, the leader of the Terceirians, was surrounded by five Varana. The short amount of time it took him to save Dafydd had allowed Terron to escape.
As his large, clawed feet touched the ground, the Dragon shifted into what was known as his Battle Beast form, a different kind of killing machine; one that stood on two legs and worked better in tight quarters. His Battle Beast also didn’t kill everyone in its path, just the enemy.
“Terron got away,” Dafydd walked up to the Beast, his eyes looking to the sky. “You should not have come to my aid, Kirall.”
“Your people wouldn’t have survived without you, Dafydd,” the Beast growled. “I will kill the General another day.”
“But until then, others will suffer as my people have,” Dafydd sighed heavily.
“If that is Kur’s will.”
Dacke found himself slammed down onto his back for a third time, and this time he wheezed as he tried to catch his breath.
“Kur, Kirall! What are you trying to do?” he wheezed. “Kill me? We’re supposed to be sparring! You are attacking like I’m General Terron!”
Kirall forced himself to take a step away from his friend. Dacke was a Minor Dragoon, and therefore smaller and weaker than him, no matter his color. What was wrong with him? Dacke was right. He was attacking as if he wanted to kill. It had been a month since they’d vanquished the Varana from Terceira. While he didn’t like staying in his Other form for so long, it was necessary when traveling in space. If he didn’t, his Battle Beast would rampage, and his Dragon… well, there was no ship large enough to contain a Prime Dragoon in his Dragon form.
The ship they were currently on, the Inferno, was returning them to their home on Mondu. The Inferno was out patrolling this distant part of the universe when they received the Terceirians call for help. It wasn’t until they arrived on Terceira that anyone realized just how dire the situation really was. The Varana were launching a full out assault on Terceira, and had already killed half the planet’s inhabitants. Dacke immediately requested that another Dragoon be sent to assist him, and Kirall volunteered to assist his friend.
Spinning on his heel, Kirall moved to stare out the observation window of the Inferno. Before returning home, they were stopping at the small planet he could see growing larger in the distance. Some of the males wished to spend some recreation time with the local females.
Kirall was getting his first look at this small planet and its moon, since the ship he had taken to Terceira had used a more direct route. Dacke and this ship stopped at this planet nearly a year ago. All Dacke could talk about was how he couldn’t wait to experience the female he met a year ago again.
Kristy.
Every male on the ship had been regaled with stories of her willingness to not only produce loud sounds, but to use all her orifices. He had requested she be invited back to the ‘gathering’ as they called it, and had been informed she had accepted. He was the envy of every male on the ship.
Kirall stared at the planet’s moon, and as he did he felt it pull at him, filling him with a strange need. A full body shudder went through his massive frame, and he looked down in shock to see his claws digging into the metal rail he was gripping, and heard his Dragon hiss loudly in his head.
No! This couldn’t be happening. Not here! Not now!
“Kirall...” Dacke approached cautiously. Even though he and Kirall had been friends for hundreds of years, he had never seen him like this before. Kirall was a Prime Dragoon, a Black, the strongest and most powerful of their kind. He could easily destroy Dacke if he wanted to. “Is there a problem?”
“Kur, yes!” Kirall spun around, and his elongating eyes had Dacke taking a startled step back. “I’m starting my Joining Heat!”
“What?!! Here?!! But... is it...”
“No! It’s only been forty-six years since my last heat.” They both knew a Dragoon only went into a Joining heat every hundred years.
“How is it possible then?” Dacke demanded.
“I don’t know, but the closer we get to this planet’s moon, the stronger it gets!”
“Then I offer you Kristy,” Dacke immediately told him even though his own Dragon roared in protest.
“What?” Kirall looked at him in shock, knowing how much Dacke had been anticipating being with this female again.
“Kristy is a very accommodating female. She will e
nthusiastically respond to all your needs, and as I have said, she is very willing to give you her sounds of pleasure. You will need that during this Heat.”
“She was to be yours,” Kirall said.
“I know, but we both know what will happen if you reach your full heat before you find a willing female.”
“My Beast will rampage.”
“And take any female available until he finds one that satisfies him.”
Kirall sighed heavily because he knew Dacke’s words were true. It was why a male Dragoon always made careful preparation for his oncoming heat. A heat he should have known was coming for months, not mere hours. Why was this one so different? He wished he could contact his father and ask.
“Thank you, my friend. I accept the use of your Kristy. When we return to Mondu, I will find a way to repay you.”
“Not killing me during sparring is payment enough.” Dacke smiled, moving back into a sparring position, not wanting Kirall to know how truly concerned he was. A planet’s moon shouldn’t be able to trigger a Dragoon’s Joining Heat. He needed to speak to the Healer as soon as possible. “Ready?”
Kirall moved to stand in front of Dacke assuming a sparring position. He knew what his friend was doing, and could also see the concern he was trying to hide. Only extremely old Dragoons experienced sudden Joining Heats. It was because they never found their mates, and were losing control of their Dragon. Those Dragoons were eventually ended because they were a threat to all females.
That couldn’t be what was happening to him. He was only four hundred and forty-six years old. He had millennia before he had to worry about that.
“Begin!” Kirall ordered, and both males moved.
“This is never going to work, Kristy,” Autumn said for the umpteenth time. Autumn watched in the mirror as Kristy attempted to tame Autumn’s unruly hair, and make it look like her own.
“It will,” Kristy huffed out. “How can you stand to have hair like this? You need to go to a stylist, and have them do something with it. Especially these ends.”
Kristy lifted some of the hair that so offended her. She’d never seen anything like the shimmery white that appeared along the last two inches of Autumn’s amazing red hair. It was what had first caught her attention when she’d seen Autumn waitressing in the diner down the street from her apartment. When the light struck the ends just right, they almost looked silver, and Kristy was always looking for a way to make herself stand out. So she struck up a conversation with the waitress. Something she normally never would have done because... well... the girl really wasn’t up to Kristy’s standards. But she had to know about the tips, and also how she’d managed to get those perfect shades of bright, medium, and dark red in her hair. That stylist was money.
She hadn’t believed Autumn when she said it was all natural. Kristy had been spending a fortune trying to achieve that exact color, and for this girl to have had it all her life and done nothing to earn it? That wasn’t fair. So Kristy made it her mission to earn the waitress’ trust, something that was harder than she had expected, hoping to find out the truth.
That had been three months ago. Two months ago, she’d convinced Autumn to move in with her, giving her a crazy low price to rent out her spare bedroom. It hadn’t taken her long to realize that Autumn was telling her the truth, since it was nearly impossible to keep secrets from roommates. Autumn had no special hair products, made no appointments at salons, and the girl’s wardrobe...
No, Autumn had been telling her the truth. Her amazing hair was natural and because of that, Kristy planned on telling her she had to move out. Anyone that came by her apartment seemed more interested in Autumn than in Kristy, and that just wouldn’t do.
Then this little problem had come up.
A year ago, Kristy had been invited to a swanky party to serve rich, out-of-town men looking for a good time. Kristy had just ditched her boyfriend, and as she was always up for a good party and good sex, she’d willingly gone. It wasn’t until she’d arrived that she discovered they actually expected her to ‘serve’ the men. As in drinks. As if she was a waitress.
It hadn’t taken long for one of the men to single her out. He’d been tall, good-looking...She frowned, trying to remember more about him and found her mind blank. That was strange. She must have drunk too much. But she knew she’d had sex, and a lot of it, because when she’d gotten home her body had been sore in ways only sex could cause, and they’d paid her ten grand.
A month ago, right before Autumn had moved in, she’d received a call from a Mr. Bonn, telling her that Mr. Dacke would be returning, and that he had requested she be there. Kristy had pretended disinterest at first, but when this Bonn guy had told her they would pay her twenty grand with a two thousand dollar advance, she’d readily agreed.
Things had changed in the last month. Kristy had started dating a very wealthy guy who treated her like a princess, showering her with gifts, and taking her on exotic trips. She wasn’t going to screw that up for a paltry twenty thousand dollars.
But someone had to go since she’d already spent the two thousand dollars, and that’s where Autumn came in. If she could just get Autumn’s hair to cooperate then there was a good chance Autumn could pass for Kristy. She felt a little twinge of guilt because she was pretty sure Autumn was a virgin, but she ignored it. Who in this day and age was still a virgin at the age of twenty-two? She would be doing Autumn a favor, getting her laid, plus she’d told Autumn she could have the remaining money she had been promised...Well, not all the money.
Kristy wasn’t stupid, after all. This was only happening because of her, so she deserved a share of the money. She had cried, ruining her makeup, as she convinced Autumn to take her place; telling her she would lose Philip if she went, and would be in big trouble if she didn’t. She’d sworn that all Autumn had to do was serve drinks, just like she did at her night job, only this one paid a lot more.
Autumn had been skeptical because they both knew Kristy didn’t ‘wait’ on anyone. But Kristy had quickly spun a tale about how the boyfriend she’d had, before the two of them met, had cleared out her bank account. She’d been desperate for money until it had gotten sorted out. Autumn seemed to believe that, silly girl. Like Kristy would ever let a man get the better of her.
She’d then gone on to tell Autumn that the remaining eight thousand would be hers, and then Autumn could take the night classes she’d been talking about... and find her own apartment. Not that Kristy had said that.
So here she was, doing her best to get the shorter, thinner Autumn to look like her. And yes, she hated Autumn for that. All of this, so Kristy could go away with Philip for a weekend trip to his private island in the Caribbean.
Autumn sat in the back of the limo. She couldn’t believe she had agreed to this. Something didn’t ring true in the story Kristy had told her. Even if Kristy had been broke, Autumn couldn’t see her serving drinks to out-of-towners, wealthy or not. Autumn did that at her night job, and they always expected more for their tips than just drinks. But eight thousand dollars for two nights work...She couldn’t pass that up. It would change her life.
The limo slowing down pulled her from her thoughts, just in time to see them enter an underground garage.
Where was she? She should have been paying closer attention to where they were taking her; instead she’d been lost in thought.
When the door of the limo opened, Autumn slid out, not very gracefully. She stood, clenching the purse that held the copy of Kristy’s I.D. and paperwork.
“You Kristy Pwff?” A big man, with a face only a mother could love, asked.
“Yes.” She handed him the papers.
“Follow me,” he ordered taking the paperwork from her without even glancing at it. He led her past a line of women who were all different shapes and sizes, then down a hallway. Were those the women she would be working with? She never got to ask when her escort opened a door and gestured her inside.
No one noticed the large figure lurkin
g in the shadows.
“Kristy Pwff,” he announced to another even bigger man.
“Kristy, I’m not sure if you remember me.” He took the paperwork, tossing it on the table behind him. For some reason, the man behind her snickered as if they were sharing a private joke. “I’m Mr. Bonn. I’m the one that contacted you on behalf of Mr. Dacke.”
“Mr. Bonn,” Autumn nodded slightly, but didn’t smile. She’d met his kind before. The kind who believed that because they were big and strong they had the right to prey on those smaller and weaker than them. The kind that enjoyed doing it. If the men at this party were like him, she was in big trouble.
“You can put your clothes in one of those lockers. Here’s your uniform.” He shoved a hanger at her.
Autumn barely contained her gasp as she looked at what little fabric there was on the hanger.
“I’ll be back in ten minutes, and we’ll get you to where you are needed.” With that, Bonn and the other man exited the room through a different door.
Autumn stared at the door, her unease growing. Walking back to the door she’d entered, she discovered there was no inside handle. There was only going to be one way out of this room, and she was sure it would only be allowed if she changed. Looking at the clock on the wall, she saw she was down to six minutes. Keeping one eye on the door, she stripped down to her bra and panties. There was no way she was giving those up. Quickly she put on the tiny top and skirt they’d given her. She knew the scars on her back would be easily seen through the sheer fabric of the top, but there was nothing she could do about that. She’d barely finished buttoning up the shirt when Bonn reentered the room. The way his eyes ran over her exposed skin had her shivering in revulsion.
Bound By Heat - Dragon Shifter Page 1
