by Kendal Davis
Dragon Captain
(Elterian Shifters, Book 2)
By Kendal Davis
Text Copyright © 2019 Kendal Davis
All Rights Reserved
Cover design by Melody Simmons
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Kat
Chapter 2: Cobalt
Chapter 3: Kat
Chapter 4: Cobalt
Chapter 5: Kat
Chapter 6: Cobalt
Chapter 7: Kat
Chapter 8: Cobalt
Chapter 9: Kat
Chapter 10: Cobalt
Chapter 11: Kat
Chapter 12: Cobalt
Chapter 13: Kat
Chapter 14: Cobalt
Chapter 15: Kat
Chapter 16: Cobalt
Chapter 17: Kat
Chapter 18: Cobalt
Chapter 19: Kat
Chapter 20: Cobalt
Chapter 21: Kat
Also by Kendal Davis
Chapter 1: Kat
The last thing I saw of Elter was sand swirling everywhere as the power of the portal between the worlds whipped the dry air into a frenzy. The desert land of dragon shapeshifters was a harsh, unyielding place. Only a few days ago, I’d never imagined that such a setting existed.
I’d been transported there against my will, unable to stop myself and my friends from passing through the portal. Now, after what seemed like a much longer stay than it had been, I was going home. I knew that Olivia and Count Indigo were there, watching from the air above us, but I could barely catch a glimpse of them in the rising dust.
It was hard to wrap my mind around the fact that I might never again see my friend and her dragon mate. Indigo, the blue dragon who was Count of all that surrounded us, held steady in the air, beating his wings firmly to allow him to remain in position. Olivia, the blunt and fearless professor whom I had known first as a client of mine, then as a dear friend, sat perched on the dragon’s back, waving at me.
That was the last I saw of them before the fine, whirling sand obscured everything from my view. The pale yellow sky, the mountains in the distance, and the dragons of House Caeruleus faded into the past for me.
I was so glad to be leaving.
The desert world of Elter had pretty much knocked me on my ass. I’d be sorry not to see my friend again, but the rest of it? It could stay right where it was. In my rearview mirror.
The few days that we had spent in that world had been characterized mostly by dragons threatening my life. It was uncanny to realize that although we had teleported into a complex mess of political intrigue on a land of immortal dragons, the way they acted was not that different from how men behaved at home, in my own world. Everything had to be a contest. Every time they wanted to show off, they ended up trying to boss women around.
I was done with that.
When I stepped out at the other end of this swirling interdimensional portal, I was going to get back to my own life, where I was in charge of my destiny. With my younger brother at my side, I planned to pick up the pieces of our pleasure boating business in the Caribbean, and put our lives in order again. My future would have nothing at all to do with dragon politics.
The cold, dark nothingness of the doorway between the worlds took my breath away, even though I remembered the lack of sensation from my first trip through the portal. It was inconceivable that everything could just stop like that. There was no sound, no light, nothing at all.
Then, with a burst of sensation, we were through. I put one foot forward, like stepping off an escalator, and then both of my feet were finally on the land of my own world again. The hard concrete was warm beneath the thin soles of my Elterian sandals. Sounds assaulted my ears from every direction, making me turn around in disorientation. All I needed to figure out was where we had come through, but there was little daylight left to help me decipher landmarks.
My brother, Andres, stopped me with a touch of his hand on my shoulder. “It’s ok, Kat. Look, we really are home. We’re safe. See the sign? We’re outside that corner bar on Third Street.”
I blinked, finally able to orient myself. Through my confusion, I managed to send him what I hoped was a reassuring smile. “Ha. I’m not sure I’d call this bar a safe place to be in the dark. But yeah, we’re home. I can’t believe it.” I put my hand out to pat his arm. “Are you ok? That portal is a rough way to travel.”
The tall man behind me cleared his throat, reminding me that Andres and I were not the only travelers who had just appeared out of nowhere in the parking lot. When I turned to face him, I saw that he was as relaxed and easygoing as ever. For a burly man whose job was mostly physical, he had a surprising gentleness. His kind blue eyes met mine.
“Kat, is this really where you live? I was happy to come through with you and make sure you were safe, but I pictured it a little differently. Is this building your home?” Cobalt spoke with his customary goodwill, but I could see that he was serious. He might not be in his home world right now, but he was still the conscientious Captain of the Guards. He had been charged with getting me home safely, and he meant to fulfill that duty.
I tried my best to send him a stern look, but I knew I was grinning back at him. He always treated me with friendly respect, and it made me respond with the same for him. “Cobalt, seriously? No, this building is not our home. We’re standing in the parking lot of an island bar. This is the kind of place where the roughest tourists go to mingle with the thirsty locals.”
“Kat, have you been inside this bar before?” Andres looked around, wide-eyed. My brother was twenty, but he was still as sheltered as a teenager. I liked that about the guy. He was such an introvert that most people didn’t understand him. They never knew that they were missing out on the rich inner life that was the province of shy people.
Nevertheless, I didn’t want to admit that I had, indeed, been in this sleazy bar. Andres didn’t know everything about me. He wasn’t clued in to the fact that when we were home from the touristy boat trips that paid our bills, I made a habit of letting off steam with late nights of dancing. It was never more than that, but I was uncomfortably sure that if my mom were still around, she wouldn’t approve of the shady bars I frequented. I tried to bluff my way out of the question. “Does this look like the kind of place where I’d spend any time? This is obviously a pretty crazy crowd.”
There. I’d answered without quite having to lie to my own brother.
Sometimes I felt like my life was nothing but work. For the past five years, since our parents died, keeping Andres safe had been my top priority. Every so often, I needed to forget how much responsibility weighed me down. If I did that by staying out late with some disreputable characters, that didn’t mean anything much. Nothing wrong with having a little fun, right?
Cobalt chuckled at me. “Well, now that you’ve spent time in a land of dragons, you might find that you have developed a new, more adventurous side.”
“Travel may have broadened me, but not that much,” I answered. “If anything, now I long for the quiet life. Come on, you two. If we cut through here, we’ll come out only a couple of blocks away from home. No sense waiting around here when we could be on our way.”
Andres nodded silently and matched my speed. I knew that the last few days had been hard on him. We would both be glad to be back in our little apartment.
I supposed that once we were settled in, we would have to say goodbye to Cobalt. He was only here to escort us home safely. He had taken on the role of my protector in his world, but I knew it was only because that was his job as Captain of the Guards. It was nothing more than that. It hurt to think about him leaving, though, so I closed that door in my mind.
I would just not think about it, and then there wouldn’t be any pr
oblem.
“Hey! Pretty lady! I know you!” A staggering, unshaven man called out to me as we neared the back of the parking lot. I wished I could just ignore him, but I figured I should take a peek to see if I actually knew him. There were a few people around this part of town that I was friendly with, even if I’d rather not admit it.
I stopped, with Andres and Cobalt on either side of me. This man was brave to harass a woman with such an escort, or so I thought at first. Then I realized that he was so drunk he had probably been making far worse choices all night long. His eyes were half-closed, making me wonder if he could even see the two men with me. Cobalt was tall and muscular; he alone ought to have scared away anybody who wanted to bother me.
“Sorry, but I don’t know you,” I mumbled, turning to leave. There was no way I was going to let this man start a conversation with me. He was bad news, and I was sober.
“No, wait!” His voice slurred as he came closer to us. “I know you from that weekend a little while ago. You danced on the tables until they closed us down. You told us all about your boat. You were the life of the party, Captain Kat. See, I remember you. Wait a sec, let me see you a little better…” As he lurched closer, his hand lifted as if he might touch me. “What is that dress you’re wearing? And are these guys in actual cloaks? It’s like Ren Faire around here tonight.”
In a flash, Cobalt stood between me and the other man. The dragon shifter had moved so quickly that I hadn’t even seen it happen. He was so tall and powerful that he stood out already in this world. More than that, though, he was far faster than any human. He snarled. Without a word, he conveyed unequivocally that he had no intention of allowing this drunkard to get near me.
In an undertone, Cobalt spoke to me and Andres. “We will leave now. Do not bother to answer this fool. He is so far beneath you that it would serve no purpose.” He glared at the man with enough force to stop a small army from following us. The man from the bar slowly lowered his hand, realizing that he had no chance of pursuing any more conversation. He stumbled backwards and left, mumbling to himself.
With Cobalt setting the pace for us, we moved away briskly.
“Okay, Cobalt, that’s enough.” My tone was sharper than I intended, perhaps because I wanted to cover up my embarrassment at having been caught in untruthfulness. “You didn’t need to scare the daylights out of that guy. Now people will start talking about how I walk around the island with a bodyguard.”
“Perhaps you should have one,” Cobalt answered. “If you frequent that sort of establishment, I don’t believe you can guarantee your own safety.”
Huh. It looked like I hadn’t fooled him at all, probably not even for a moment.
I looked down at my feet, sure he was judging me. I just liked to go out dancing sometimes, that was all. I knew there wasn’t necessarily a problem with that. I also knew that if I made it a habit to choose better company, I wouldn’t have had to make a fool of myself with the one man I secretly wanted to impress.
When we reached our small, first-floor apartment, Andres relaxed visibly. During the remainder of our walk, I’d felt his concern about whether I was truly annoyed with Cobalt. My shy little brother disliked conflict more than anybody I’d ever known. With a quick hug, he disappeared into his bedroom, closing the door with a soft but definite click.
I looked up into Cobalt’s face. I was still chagrined at having been busted as a bar-crawler, but I was also glad he had been with us. “Shall I get some blankets for the couch? I wish I had a better spot to offer you, but I’m afraid that’s all there is. We don’t have a lot of space here.”
His eyes crinkled with warmth as he met my gaze. “That would be just right, thank you, Kat. I will be perfectly comfortable here in this room.”
“Will you need anything? You were pretty fierce when you were staring that guy down. You won’t just turn into a dragon without warning, will you?” I meant it as a jest, but it fell flat.
Cobalt became very still. “No, of course not. I am sorry to have embarrassed you back there. I did not realize that he was a person you really knew.” His hands moved into loose fists at his sides as he remembered the boor who had approached us, then he relaxed. “However, you need not worry that I will shift into my dragon form while I am here. I promise to remain in the form of a man, so as not to cause you any trouble.”
I nodded at him, not sure how much I should tell him about how I was feeling. Maybe he didn’t really want to hear it. “Cobalt, I’m sorry if things here aren’t what you imagined they would be, when you agreed to bring us back home. I think I was different when we met in your world. Here, I’m always trying to make ends meet. There isn’t much room in my life for anything more than that.” I lifted my hand to rub my forehead. “To be honest, I don’t know what I’m going to do without my boat.”
He nodded in understanding. “I know that has been on your mind. I wish we could have brought it back with us, but it was beyond the limits of dragon magic. The craft was destroyed.”
I felt tears pricking at the backs of my eyes. Damn it, I never cried. I tried to bluff my way through by cracking a joke. “I would try to make an insurance claim, but I think crashing it in another dimension might not be covered.” Instead of cheering me up, the mention of insurance brought me even closer to crying. All those premiums I’d paid, now gone for nothing.
Cobalt cleared his throat, aware that I didn’t want him to see me like this. I should have remembered that dragons had some telepathic abilities. Was there to be no privacy at all in my life now?
“Kat, you do not need to concern yourself with this right now. I will help you purchase a new water craft, so you can continue on with your business. That was understood, when I came here to assist you in returning to your world.”
“That’s ridiculous. Where would you get any money to do that?” I hadn’t meant to sound so crabby, but it was true.
“Go to bed, my Kat,” he said gently. “We will solve these problems tomorrow. I promise.”
I couldn’t say any more without bursting into tears. Keeping my lips closed tightly, I retreated to my own room. It hadn’t been so awkward between us back in his home world. Why was it so much harder for us to be friends here? I was already sorry that I’d snapped at him, but it seemed like trying to talk more would only make it worse.
I drifted into sleep, as exhausted by wanting Cobalt to like me as I was by the day’s interdimensional travel. The night was warm, as it would be for months on our island in the Caribbean. The breeze that rustled the curtain above my bed was a relief, but it also kept waking me. There had been no such breezes in the heavy, dry air of Elter. Cobalt must be missing his home.
He had said he would stay long enough to make sure we were safe, and until I could figure out what to do now that my boat was in ruins back in the sand of his world. That boat had been my pride and joy since the day my parents left it to me. It had sustained me and Andres through five years of our small business, putting food on our table.
Now I had to come to terms with the fact that my boat wasn’t coming back through the portal, not ever. It was smashed and marooned on the desert of another planet.
I drew a long breath. This was just a new kind of problem to work out. I would find a way to buy a new boat. I didn’t know what Cobalt had in mind, but I didn’t need to rely on him to save me. There was a solution here, waiting for me to find it.
If I wasn’t the Captain of my own boat, taking care of myself, then who was I?
Chapter 2: Cobalt
Morning woke me with a start. I’d spent the night dreaming of a slender woman with long blonde hair and a wide smile. Kat was not of my world, but she had filled my mind constantly since the moment we met. I was sure now that she was meant for me. The hard part was knowing how I was going to tell her that it was our destiny to become eternal mates.
The couch had been perfectly serviceable. That was not a problem, just as I had promised Kat. My physical comfort was not important. It was far mo
re important that I keep her safe as she adjusted to being home again.
What was concerning to me was that she was so distraught about her livelihood. I understood that she needed her boat to earn money for herself and Andres. Just as the peasants in our town at home had to keep busy, she wanted to spend her time in useful work. On my world, dragons provided humans with their basic needs. Here, though Kat would need to earn money to live.
This idea of money was an odd concept, but not one that was new to me. I had spent a great deal of time in this world of hers, far more than I’d revealed to Kat. She thought that I did not understand the ways of her people. I would let that go on if she enjoyed acting as a guide. Whatever gave her pleasure was the course of action I preferred to take.
Sitting upright there in Kat’s tiny living room, I realized what had woken me. A human male was approaching the door of the apartment. He had not yet reached it, but my dragon senses told me that he moved with purpose.
Was she accustomed to having men visit her here?
After last night’s awkwardness, I knew I should proceed with caution. Nothing that this bewitching woman could ever do would drive me away, but I did not know how to tell her that. She was shy about letting me into her life here. I would move as slowly as she needed me to.
By the time the man outside knocked sharply at the door, I was already standing, ready to protect Kat and Andres if necessary. I had folded my blankets and tidied the room to remove any sign of my presence. Should I stand guard here, or retreat to another room? Only Kat would know.
Her bedroom door banged open, and she stumbled into the living room. She had dressed hastily in a blue bathrobe. Her long blonde hair was in disarray, and her face was shadowed with what I knew had been a night of uneasy rest.
She would feel much better when I provided her with a new boat. I would present her with new everything, as long as she would accept it from me. She deserved to have every worry wiped from her life.
