by Victoria Zak
Bex hurried to a row of lockers in the back room. Hands still shaking, she fumbled with the combination lock, finally popping it free. Sweat rolled down her back as she reached in and grabbed a black case. Unzipping it, she palmed the cold vial, warming it up. Thank God, she sighed, she had enough serum. She grabbed a syringe from a nearby bin and peeled it free from its plastic package and plunged the needle through the rubber top of the serum bottle.
Every milliliter she drew back was a reminder of the false life she’d been living. She wasn’t the perfect daughter her parents bragged about. Her dark secret had stayed hidden ever since she felt the shift at the age of ten. Raised by humans, she hadn’t been taught how to be a dragon shifter, nor did she have another she-dragon to confide in. It wasn’t like she could run to her mother for advice—Hey, look Mom, I have a tail and wings. How do I use them? Yeah, that would go over like snow in hell.
Growing up a dragon in a human world was difficult. A scared little girl terrified of the beast inside, she’d hidden her secret. When the shifts came, she chained herself inside caves, vacant warehouses, it really didn’t matter where, as long as the she-beast was contained and couldn’t hurt anyone. In a way, she was still that scared little girl, but now she didn’t need to hide.
Bex pulled the syringe from the vial and yanked down her khaki pants, enough to expose her right butt cheek. This was the bittersweet moment, right before she injected herself with anti-shift serum. Regrets were a bitch she fought every time she suppressed her dragon, and knowing she did this all out of fear, shamed her even more. Feeling her dragon fade away into darkness tore her up inside. If only she had the courage to let her fly and explore, but she couldn’t. An uncontrolled she-beast was far too dangerous to be free. She had to play it safe until she fully understood the dragon.
Pushing those thoughts aside, for nothing was going to change her mind, she injected herself. She pulled up her pants and braced her hands on the table, taking deep breaths until her dragon stilled. She was lucky she had made it to the lab before she’d lost all control.
What am I doing? Bex hung her head, her long blonde hair shielding her face. All her life, she’d been searching for answers about dragons. Throughout college, she took science classes and majored in biology in hope of gaining the knowledge she needed. After four years of listening to professors tell her that dragons didn’t exist, she knew she had to search deeper. It took a lot of digging around before she stumbled on the research institute. With her degree and impressive grade point average, she was accepted as an assistant researcher in the Draco-sapien lab working toward her doctorate.
However, she still didn’t trust her dragon, nor fully understand her kind even with three years at the institute. Her second year here, she’d discovered, through research, a way to suppress her dragon. No one knew about it. She was conducting undocumented research. If Dr. Valstrath ever found out, Bex would be terminated, her hard work a complete waste. Plus, the serum still needed tweaking.
As of late, the side effects were brutal, hot flashes, high fever, and stomach cramps. Her insides felt like a volcano and she was going to erupt at any moment. The injection was losing its potency and she couldn’t figure out what was causing this change.
Bex straightened and pulled her hair back into a ponytail, then grabbed her white lab coat from her locker after stashing her black zipper case. Putting on her glasses, she walked to the refrigerator and removed a box of slides she’d been working with. Placing the slides next to her microscope, she sat down at her lab station and opened her personal laptop. First, she needed to check her email from the great Oz. Every morning, Dr. Valstrath checked in via email.
Odd, she thought as she scrolled through her emails, finding nothing from Dr. V. Relieved she’d have time to work on her anti-dragon serum, she opened a spreadsheet where she’d documented the data about her serum. After reviewing it, she grabbed the slide labeled as A1 and placed it under the lens. Just as she was about to study it, the door swung open and her lab partner, Mel, bounced into the room.
“Hey, girl,” she said as she walked to her locker.
“Hey.” What is she doing here? Bex scrambled, shutting her laptop and quickly tossing the box of slides in her lab coat pocket. “I thought you weren’t coming in today.”
“Me, too,” Mel huffed. “I stayed late last night and still no progress. I just don’t understand F and V dragon genes. Seriously, they are both dominate. I say we cross them and create a fire breathing, venom spitting beast. Muwhahaha,” She laughed evilly, which she did too naturally, as she entered the lab stations.
“You’re a sick puppy, you know that, right,” Bex chuckled.
“But you love me anyway.” Mel kissed the top of Bex’s head on her way to grab a stack of Petri dishes.
“So, tell me again why a wolf-shifter is studying dragon genetics,” Bex asked jokingly.
Mel unloaded the containers next to her. “Because I’m continuing my education.” She gave Bex a toothy smile.
The real reason why Mel was assisting in the lab was first, there were no female dragons enrolled in the institute, and secondly, no male dragon scientist would touch Bex’s dissertation subject: Assessing reproductive interest and options for the female Draco-sapien. Of course, they wanted to assist her with her reproductive options, but that’s not what she wanted. Because of her subject matter, she was lucky when Dr. Valstrath fronted the grant money for three years. The whole department was counting on her—to screw up.
Bex’s career depended heavily on nailing her dissertation and quite frankly, she wanted to prove them all wrong. If she could pave the road for future she-dragons and help open up more opportunities for her kind, then it was worth the long hours and sleepless nights.
Bex adjusted her microscope to the magnification she wanted and then looked through the eye piece. From the corner of her eye, she saw Mel leaning against the table with her arms crossed over her chest, staring at her.
“What?” Bex pulled away and met Mel’s gray gaze.
“You look pale.” Mel reached out and touched Bex’s forehead. “You’re burning up.”
“I’m fine.”
Mel looked down at Bex. Her best friend had a nose for bullshit. She knew better than to hide anything from her. “Seriously, I’m fine. It’s just hot in here.”
“No, you’re not fine, Bex. Every day from the time we met, you’ve been buried in your research. You’re burning both ends of the candle and need to take a break before you burn out.”
“Mel, I’m—”
“Take a break,” Mel insisted. “I can handle the lab for a week.”
Bex shook her head as she went back to the microscope. “I can’t. Besides, I have to prepare for my dissertation presentation.”
Mel sighed heavily. “Knowing you, you’ve rewritten the damn thing serval times over. Listen, I’m worried about you. If you don’t stay healthy, everything you’ve worked so hard for will be for naught. You can handle a week off.”
Bex had never known her best friend to be so adamant about something like this before. Apparently, she wore her sleepless nights on her face. There wasn’t enough concealer in the world to hide the dark circles under her eyes. Thankfully, Mel didn’t know the why behind the hot flashes and flushed skin. “You aren’t taking no for an answer, are you?”
“Nope.” Mel grinned and pulled the microscope plug from the wall. “You’re officially unplugged.”
Bex rubbed her hands nervously down her khaki-cladded thighs. “I don’t know where to go. You know I’m a hermit, right?”
“Live a little. Just get in your car and drive where your heart takes you. Hopefully, it leads you to a sexy man waiting to ravish your body.”
No, that was the last thing she needed.
They shared a laugh as Mel settled into her work station. “I don’t want to see you until next Monday. But you better call me and tell me all about the sexy man.” Mel winked.
“I can’t believe I’m doing th
is.” Bex grabbed her laptop and walked to her locker. After stuffing the computer into her backpack, she reached back into the locker and pulled out her zipper case, then hid it deep inside the bag. “I wish you could go with me.” She flung the backpack over her shoulder and walked back to Mel.
“Me, too.” Mel stood and gave her a hug. “I’ll live enviously through you.”
“Are you sure about this? I could just take a day off, catch up on some sleep.”
“You’re not talking yourself out of this, girlfriend.” Mel playfully pushed Bex toward the door. “Go.”
“Fine.” She held her hands up in mock surrender. “I’m going.”
Five hours later, Bex stood at the end of the hallway entrance of her apartment, nervously chewing her cuticles while staring at the two gray, oversized bags she had packed sitting by the front door. She’d paced the small area, indecisive about leaving. She didn’t have time to run off and leave work behind. I have a laptop; I can work from wherever. Yeah, that excuse wasn’t going to work. Who’s going to water the plants? What, the dying one in the corner? No matter how many lame excuses she’d thought of, nothing was keeping her here. But why did she feel so damn guilty?
Mel was right, her presentation was done. There wasn’t one single reason for her not to go. If she was honest with herself, a week off sounded heavenly.
“I’ll go.” Bex tightened her ponytail and shoved on a light sweater, covering up her white tank top, then grabbed her car keys from the counter.
With her bags in hand, she headed to her red Toyota Corolla. She tossed the bags in the backseat, then got in. Breaking out her cell phone, she connected it to the car’s stereo, playing her favorite music. She gripped the leather steering wheel and exhaled. “Now, where to?”
3
“Welcome to Ember Brooke.” Bex read the sign on the way into town and slowed down to the strictly enforced speed limit, twenty-five miles-per-hour. It was late and she was tired, but the picturesque mountain village was everything she needed to relax. For the last hour, she could barely keep her eyes open, and she’d already pulled over for one pit stop and a coffee break. She needed to find a place to stay overnight.
As Bex kept her eyes peeled for a hotel, a blue, two-story Victorian home turned into a bed and breakfast grabbed her attention. A vacancy sign flashed over the door. She dimmed her headlights as she pulled into the driveway. She stepped out of the car and stretched.
Bex took in her surroundings, and from what she could make of it, the place was quite charming. She looked down the sidewalk. Fog haloed the street lights that lined the sidewalk in front of matching, white-picket fences. All of the homes were in the same style as the bed and breakfast. She could barely make out the mountains in the distance as they were perfectly camouflaged by the night sky. The scent of roses and lavender lingered in the air as the wind blew softly across Bex’s skin. She shivered, pulling her sweater tight against her body. There was a stillness here that calmed her soul.
Deciding the B&B was a safe place to stay, she grabbed her bags and walked up the lighted walkway. Before Bex could knock on the door, an older, gray-haired woman greeted her with a bright smile and held the screen door open. “Welcome to Miss Dorothea’s Bed and Breakfast. I’m Dorothea.”
“Hi, I’m Bex.” She shook the woman’s hand. “I need a room for the night.”
Dorothea walked behind a desk and pulled out a thick, black book from the drawer. “Just for the night, darling?”
“Yes.” Bex stepped inside and was taken back a few centuries. The interior was exquisite and true to the Victorian era. From the pictures on the walls, to the floral-patterned rugs framed by rich mahogany wood flooring. Bex felt like she should be sitting and sipping tea. As she admired one of the paintings on the wall, the wallpaper shimmered behind it. In awe, Bex ran her hand across the soft, subdued gold dragon pattern. The warm glow from the lamps made the dragons come to life.
“Usually, I only take reservations for week-long stays.” Dorothea slipped on her glasses that were hanging around her neck. “Since it’s late, I’ll make an exception.”
The woman’s voice tore Bex away from the dragons, and she walked back to the desk. “Actually, I’d like to stay the week.”
Dorothea looked over her purple bifocals and gave her a warm smile. “You’re in luck, I have a room available until Saturday morning. The rose room is eighty-five dollars a night and checkout is at eleven o’clock. It has a private balcony overlooking my rose garden.”
“I’ll take it.”
Bex followed Dorothea up the stairs and into the room. She wasn’t kidding when she named it. A trace of fresh roses lingered in the air and pink roses dotted the wallpaper and matching bed covers. A statue of a dragon with a rose in its mouth sat on the dressing table.
“I own the diner next door and give all of my guests a complimentary breakfast.” The woman pulled back the covers on the bed. “Towels and toiletries are in the bathroom. There’s a directory of Ember Brooke and a map on the nightstand.”
“Thank you,” Bex said as she placed her bags on the bed.
“If you need anything, you let me know.” Dorothea left, shutting the door behind her.
Bex plopped down on the mattress and sighed, cradled in softness and the smell of freshly laundered sheets. It wasn’t long before she rolled over and fell asleep.
Somewhere between passing out and the hot flashes, Bex had stripped down to her bra and panties. She flung the covers off her heated body, cursing her damn dragon. In an irritated huff, she got out of bed and went into the bathroom and poured herself a glass of water from the sink. God, she felt like she was going to spontaneously combust. She pressed the glass against her cheek in an attempt to cool off. What she needed was fresh air.
She put the glass down, then looked in the mirror and pulled her hair into a messy bun before returning to the bedroom. She looked at the clock hanging on the wall. “Three o’clock in the morning.” She sighed as she padded across the room to the French doors leading out to the balcony.
A blast of cool air rushed in as she opened the doors. It provided some relief but wasn’t enough. She walked out to the white, rod iron balustrade that overlooked Miss Dorothea’s rose garden. Pink, red, and white petals dance under the glow of the moon. She bet in the daylight the garden was breathtaking. In the distance, a mountain reaching for the sky beckoned her. She’d never been the adventurous type, never thought about hiking, but for some reason she had the urge to climb that peak. She decided to check the brochures for a guided tour.
Gripping the railing, she leaned her head back, taking in the calm night. There was something about this place that settled her soul.
The bushes rustled below tearing her away from the tranquility. She scrutinized the shrubs, expecting an animal to appear. Then a deep, heart-stopping growl made her freeze. The intensity of the noise rippled through her body like electricity. Her core temperature rose unlike it ever had before. She moaned. What’s happening to me?
There were no little animals below. She looked closer, not sure she wanted to find out what was behind that growl. Her throat went dry and the hairs on the back of her neck sprang to attention. She gasped, then blinked in surprise. A set of green eyes stared back at her.
More curious than afraid, Bex quickly ran inside and grabbed her glasses from the nightstand, then stepped back onto the balcony. Something was out there, but she couldn’t see it. Quietness settled in and her body relaxed as if nothing had happed—the surge of electricity gone. What’s going on? No human could growl like that, nor cause her body to react like fireworks exploding inside her.
Or was it all in her head? Was the she-dragon making an appearance? Was it already time for another dose?
4
Thane’s Firebird roared to life as he gunned it through a green light, heading to Dorothea’s place. Every morning she saved him a hot cinnamon bun and occasionally made his lunch. She made a mean meat meatball sandwich. But today he wasn�
�t racing like the devil for a sticky bun. His mate was here.
He hadn’t planned on seeing her so soon. However, his greedy-ass dragon had other naughty things on his mind. It was wrong, hiding behind the shrubs, staring at her like a peeping Tom. It wasn’t his style. Yet, once he tracked her scent, leading him straight to Dorothea’s, he couldn’t tear his dragon eyes off her.
Fuck yeah, she’s my mate!
When he’d returned home from his flight, the distance between them should have given him a chance to cool off. However, he’d paced the floors like a dog in heat with images of the stunning blonde standing on the balcony wearing a white lace bra and panties. He remembered the way her nipples strained against the lace when she realized she was being watched. Even now, he could still smell a trace of her arousal and didn’t that make his cock jerk to attention like a soldier. Sergeant Dick, stand down.
One look at her and his hormones were out of control like a teenager. The struggle within was real. The nature of his beast craved nothing more than to race up to her room, pin her to the wall, and wrap those long legs around him as he plunged deep inside her. The other side warned him not to soar off the deep-end and do something stupid. As she retreated inside, it gave him the perfect opportunity to take to the sky and fly home.
Thane pulled behind the B&B and cut the engine. Looking in the rearview mirror, he combed his fingers through his hair and took a minute to compose himself. Today was the day he’d welcome his mate into his home and start a family—that was how it worked for dragons. Each male dragon had a mate, and once together, they mated for life. A dragon never knew when his mate would be summoned by the elders. The dragon gods knew a dragon’s mate before they were born. Like it or not, when a prime she-dragon called, the male had to answer. There was no leave a message and I’ll get back to you.
To appease the gods and show them he was ready for a mate, he’d built a love nest for his queen and had claimed Serpentine Mountain as his own. This was the legacy he would pass down to his children. Yet his mate had never appeared. Tired of trying to tune in to dragon radio, Thane gave up and accepted his destiny—living alone.
