“He’s not that old, Faye Cleopatra.” Faye grinned, and Lorna’s love for her daughter spread throughout her body. “I love you, hen.”
“Love you, too, Mum.” Faye walked to the door. “I’ll let them know you’re coming!”
With that, Faye left Lorna alone. The thought of an empty cottage would’ve crushed Lorna a few months ago, but now she had Ross. The sooner she mated him, the sooner she would have someone by her side for the rest of her life.
Her dragon grunted. Why are we still standing here? Let’s go. The sooner we get your human celebrations out of the way, the sooner I can claim Ross tonight.
You just had him last night.
Aye, but I want more.
Pushing aside her beast’s lusty thoughts, Lorna exited the small room that hadn’t been damaged in the attack and walked down the hall. At the entrance to what had once been the great hall, she took a deep breath and entered the room.
Clan members filled the spaces between the former walls of the room. By the look of things, the entire clan had turned out for her mating ceremony.
However, after a cursory glance, Lorna met Ross’s gaze, and everyone else melted away at his wink. Even after all this time, one wink sent shivers down her spine.
Wanting to put a formal claim on him, Lorna picked up her pace. It was time to take Ross Anderson as her mate.
~~~
While Ross was grateful he and Lorna’s ceremony wasn’t being broadcasted, the front row of photographers from both media outlets and the Department of Dragon Affairs irritated him a wee bit more with each click and flash of the camera. At this rate, his vision would be full of spots, and he wouldn’t be able to appreciate Lorna’s beauty.
Then he finally saw her enter the room. The dark blue of the dress made her skin glow, but he barely noticed as he held her gaze. Every day he wondered how he was lucky enough to have Lorna MacKenzie at his side, let alone her love, too.
But for whatever reason, he did, and Ross was less than five minutes away from claiming Lorna as his mate for the rest of their lives.
At that thought, he realized he would gladly brave a hundred cameras and go permanently blind if it meant securing the DDA’s permission again to mate his woman.
Luckily, he already possessed the signed document in his sporran. His and Lorna’s mating was legal.
Lorna walked toward him, never taking her gaze from him. When she finally arrived at his side, he took her hands and squeezed. Not caring that every dragon-shifter in the room could hear him, he murmured, “You’re so lovely.”
“You clean up well yourself.”
There had been some debate, but ultimately, Ross had convinced Lorna to let him wear the human kilt with the Anderson tartan of blue, red, and yellow, paired with a black suit jacket and bowtie.
They probably would’ve gone on staring at each other for a while if Finn hadn’t cleared his throat from the front row. No doubt, he was worried about Arabella.
Sometimes, Ross wondered how female dragon-shifters kept from murdering their mates in their sleep.
Releasing Lorna’s hands, Ross picked up the silver arm cuff engraved with his name in the old language. “Lorna Stewart MacKenzie, before everyone here today, I claim you as my mate. I never thought I’d get a second chance in my lifetime, but you were the shining star in a sea of darkness. Through your sheer stubbornness, you kept me from dying. I fought cancer and won for you, love. Please tell me you’ll accept my mate claim.”
“Of course I will, despite your hyperbole.”
Grinning, Ross placed the cuff on Lorna’s upper arm. Seeing the silver glinting in the light and knowing it was his name on her arm satisfied a primal part of him.
Lorna picked up a silver ring engraved with her name in the old language. The clever dragonwoman had suggested incorporating both human and dragon-shifter traditions into the ceremony, to show the dragons were open to new ways of doing things, too.
If he could love her more, Ross would.
Lorna eased the ring on the fourth finger of his left hand. “I accept your claim, Ross Anderson. Everything about you makes my life more fulfilling. I never expected to laugh or love as hard as I once had. But then you showed up in my life, and my heart woke up. Not only do I shiver at your touch, but I also love how you care for others, including me. You will keep me on my toes for the rest of my life, and I look forward to the adventure. I love you, Ross, and claim you as mine in front of the entire clan.”
“Good, then come here.”
As the audience chuckled, Ross pulled Lorna flush against his body and kissed her. Each stroke of her tongue against his made him forget about everyone watching them. At that moment, all he could think about was the dragonwoman who had stolen his heart and given him a second chance at a happily ever after.
*~*~*
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The next story in the Lochguard Highland Dragons series will be Faye and Grant’s story, The Dragon Warrior, out in early 2017. (The next Stonefire Dragons book will be about Dr. Sid and will be out in October 2016.) In the meantime, you could check out the first book of my Asylums for Magical Threats series, Blaze of Secrets. Turn the page for an excerpt of Blaze of Secrets and for glimpses of my other works. Also, make sure to sign-up for my newsletter for updates, new release alerts, and exclusive contests.
Blaze of Secrets
(Asylums for Magical Threats #1)
After discovering she has elemental fire magic as a teenager, Kiarra Melini spends the next fifteen years inside a magical prison. While there, she undergoes a series of experiments that lead to a dangerous secret. If she lives, all magic will be destroyed. If she dies, magic has a chance to survive. Just as she makes her choice, a strange man breaks into cell, throws her over his shoulder, and carries her right out of the prison.
To rescue his brother, Jaxton Ward barters with his boss to rescue one other inmate--a woman he's never met before. His job is to get in, nab her and his brother, and get out. However, once he returns to his safe house, his boss has other ideas. Jaxton is ordered to train the woman and help her become part of the anti-magical prison organization he belongs to.
Working together, Kiarra and Jaxton discover a secret much bigger than their growing attraction to each other. Can they evade the prison retrieval team long enough to help save magic? Or, will they take Kiarra back to prison and end any chance of happiness for them both?
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Blaze of Secrets is now available on all major online retailers.
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Excerpt:
Chapter One
First-born Feiru children are dangerous. At the age of magical maturity they will permanently move into compounds established for both their and the public’s protection. These compounds will be known as the Asylums for Magical Threats (hereafter abbreviated as “AMT”).
—Addendum, Article III of the Feiru Five Laws, July 1953
Present Day
Jaxton Ward kept his gaze focused on the nearing mountain ledge ahead of him. If he looked down at the chasm below his feet, he might feel sick, and since his current mission was quite possibly the most important one of his life, he needed to focus all of his energy on succeeding.
After all, if things went according to plan, Jaxton would finally see his brother again.
He and his team of three men were balanced on a sheet of rock five thousand feet in the air. To a human, it would look like they were flying. However, any Feiru would know they were traveling via elemental wind magic.
Darius, the elemental wind first-born on his team, guided them the final few feet to the mountain ledge. As soon as the sheet of rock touched solid ground, Jaxton and his team moved into position.
The mountain under their feet was actually one of the most secure AMT compounds in the world. Getting in was going to be difficult, but getting out was going to take a bloody miracle, especially since
he’d had to barter with his boss for the location of his brother. In exchange, he had promised to rescue not just Garrett, but one other unknown first-born as well.
Taka, the elemental earth first-born of Jaxton’s team, signaled he was ready. He nodded for Taka to begin.
As Taka reached a hand to the north, the direction of elemental earth magic, the solid rock of the mountain moved. With each inch that cleared to form a tunnel, Jaxton’s heart rate kicked up. Jaxton was the reason his brother had been imprisoned inside the mountain for the last five years and he wasn’’t sure if his brother had ever forgiven him.
Even if they survived the insurmountable odds, located Garrett, and broke into his prison cell, his brother might not agree to go with them. Considering the rumors of hellish treatment inside the AMT compounds, his brother’s hatred would be justified.
Once the tunnel was big enough for them to enter, Jaxton pushed aside his doubts. No matter what his brother might think of him, Jaxton would rescue him, even it if took drugging Garrett unconscious to do so.
Taking out his Glock, he flicked off the safety. Jaxton was the only one on the team without elemental magic, but he could take care of himself.
He moved to the entrance of the tunnel, looked over his shoulder at his men, and nodded. After each man nodded, signaling they were ready, he took out his pocket flashlight, switched it on, and jogged down the smooth tunnel that would lead them to the inner corridors of the AMT compound.
If his information was correct, the AMT staff would be attending a site-wide meeting for the next hour. That gave Jaxton and his team a short window of opportunity to get in, nab the two inmates, and get back out again.
He only hoped everything went according to plan.
*~*~*
Kiarra Melini stared at the small homemade shiv in her hand and wondered for the thousandth time if she could go through with it.
She had spent the last few weeks racking her brain, trying to come up with an alternative plan to save the other prisoners of the AMT without having to harm anyone. Yet despite her best efforts, she’d come up empty-handed.
To protect the lives of the other first-borns inside the AMT, Kiarra would kill for the first and last time.
Not that she wanted to do it, given the choice. But after overhearing a conversation between two AMT researchers a few weeks ago, she knew the AMT would never again be safe for any of the first-borns while she remained alive.
The outside world might have chosen to forget about the existence of the first-born prisoners, but that didn’t make them any less important. Kiarra was the only one who cared, and she would go down fighting trying to protect them.
Even if it meant killing herself to do so.
She took a deep breath and gripped the handle of her blade tighter until the plastic of the old hairbrush dug into her skin. Just as she was about to raise her arm to strike, her body shook. Kiarra closed her eyes and breathed in and out until she calmed down enough to stop shaking. Ending her life, noble as her reasons may be, was a lot harder than she’d imagined.
Mostly because she was afraid to die.
But her window of opportunity was closing fast; the AMT-wide meeting would end in less than an hour. After that, she would have to wait a whole other month before she could try again, and who knew how many more first-borns would suffer because of her cowardice.
Maybe, if she recalled the conversation between the two researchers, the one which forebode the future harsh realities of the other AMT prisoners, she’d muster enough nerve to do what needed to be done.
It was worth a shot, so Kiarra closed her eyes and recalled the conversation that had changed the course of her life forever.
Strapped to a cold metal examination table, Kiarra kept her eyes closed and forced herself to stay preternaturally still. The slightest movement would alert the researchers in the room that she was conscious again. She couldn’t let that happen, not if she wanted to find out the reason why the researchers had increased her examination visits and blood draws over the past two weeks.
Most AMT prisoners wouldn’t think twice about it, since they’d been conditioned not to ask questions, but Kiarra had gone through something similar before. The last time her visits had increased with the same frequency, the AMT researchers had stolen her elemental magic.
Since then, no matter how many times she reached to the south—the direction of elemental fire—she felt nothing. No tingling warmth, no comforting flame. She was no different from a non-first-born, yet she was still a prisoner, unable to see the sky or feel a breeze, and forced to live in constant fear of what the guards or researchers might do to her.
Of how they might punish her.
Dark memories invaded her mind. However, when the female researcher in the room spoke again, it snapped Kiarra back to the present. The woman’s words might tell her more about her future, provided she had one after her treatment.
She listened with every cell in her body and steeled herself not to react.
“Interesting,” the female researcher said. “Out of the ten teenagers, nine of them still can’t use their elemental magic, just like F-839. Dr. Adams was right—her blood was the key to getting the Null Formula to work.”
It took all of Kiarra’s control not to draw in a breath. Her serial number was F-839, and all of the extra blood draws finally made sense—the AMT was using her blood to try and eradicate elemental magic.
The male researcher spoke up. “They’re going to start a new, larger test group in a few weeks and see if they can stop the first-borns from going insane and/or committing suicide. If we don’’t get the insanity rate below ten percent, then we’ll never be able to implement this planet-wide.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll get there. We have a few million first-borns to burn through to get it right.”
Kiarra opened her eyes and embraced the guilt she felt every time she thought about what had happened to those poor first-born teenagers.
Because of her blood, not only had five teenagers already gone insane, but their insanity was driving an untold number of them to suicide.
And the researchers wanted to repeat the process with a larger group.
She couldn’t let that happen.
They needed her blood, drawn and injected within hours, as a type of catalyst for the Null Formula to work. If they didn’t have access to her blood, they wouldn’t be able to conduct any more tests.
There was a chance the researchers might find another catalyst within a few weeks or months, but it was a risk she was willing to take. Stopping the tests, even for a few months, would prevent more people from going insane or committing suicide.
Kiarra needed to die.
I can do this. Think of the others. Taking a deep breath, she tightened her grip around the shiv’s handle and whispered, “Please let this work,”” before raising the blade with a steady hand and plunging it into the top half of her forearm.
Kiarra sucked in a breath as a searing pain shot up her arm. To prevent herself from making any more noise, she bit her lip. Despite the AMT-wide staff meeting, a guard would come to investigate her cell if she screamed.
You can do this, Kiarra. Finish it. With her next inhalation, she pulled the blade a fraction more down toward her wrist. This time she bit her lip hard enough she could taste iron on her tongue.
While her brain screamed for her to stop, she ignored it and gripped the handle of the blade until it bit into her palm. Only when her heart stopped beating would the other first-borns be safe—at least from her.
An image of a little girl crying, reaching out her arms and screaming Kiarra’s name, came unbidden into her mind, but she forced it aside. Her sister had abandoned her, just like the rest of her family. Her death wouldn’t cause anyone sadness or pain. Rather, through death, she would finally have a purpose.
This was it. On the next inhalation, she moved the blade a fraction. But before she could finish the job, the door of her cell slid open.
Kiarra loo
ked up and saw a tall man, dressed head to toe in black, standing in her doorway and pointing a gun straight at her.
Shit. She’d been discovered.
———————
Blaze of Secrets is now available on all major online retailers.
Books by Jessie Donovan
Asylums for Magical Threats
Blaze of Secrets (AMT #1)
Frozen Desires (AMT #2)
Shadow of Temptation (AMT #3)
Flare of Promise (AMT #4)
Cascade Shifters
Convincing the Cougar (CS #0.5)
Reclaiming the Wolf (CS #1)
Cougar’s First Christmas (CS #2)
Resisting the Cougar (CS #3)
Lochguard Highland Dragons
The Dragon’s Dilemma (LHD #1)
The Dragon Guardian (LHD #2)
The Dragon’s Heart (LHD #3)
The Dragon Warrior / Faye and Grant (LHD #4 / Early 2017)
Stonefire Dragons
Sacrificed to the Dragon (SD #1)
Seducing the Dragon (SD #2)
Revealing the Dragons (SD #3)
Healed by the Dragon (SD #4)
Reawakening the Dragon (SD #5)
Loved by the Dragon (SD #6)
Surrendering to the Dragon (SD #7)
Cured by the Dragon / Sid and Gregor (SD #8, October 6, 2016)
Author’s Note
Originally, I hadn’t planned on writing Lorna’s story. But as more and more of my readers asked for her tale, I started to get the idea for this novella. Since writing about an older couple is actually risky in romance, I hope my readers enjoyed this story. In the end, I think Lorna and Ross are a perfect match for each other!
The Dragon's Heart (Lochguard Highland Dragons #3) Page 10
