by Viola Grace
Table of Contents
Dedication
Carnival: Gray
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
About the Author
Can any structure of man take the heat of two dragons in the throes of passion?
Graylin Treel is on a deadline. With only a few hours to go, she needs to put herself in the path of the dragon that she has chosen as a mate. The problem is, he thinks she is a pathetic human. When the glamour drops and their senses are aroused, can any structure of man take the heat of two dragons in the throes of passion?
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Abandon
Copyright © 2017 Viola Grace
ISBN: 978-1-4874-1452-8
Cover art by Martine Jardin
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Abandon
Half-Blood Club Book 3
By
Viola Grace
Dedication
To anyone with a close group of friends. You know, the ones that you can see every week or once a year, and it is like you were never apart.
Carnival: Gray
Gray sat in the armchair sideways, flipping from page to page. She couldn’t focus and the rustling paper was expressing her restlessness.
Arabel gave her a long look. “Graylin, if you can’t be still, go for a walk.”
Gray set down her book on a nearby table and she sighed. “Walking is boring. There is nothing around here.”
Her mother tapped her nails on the desk. “Then, go for a drive and find some humans. You need to work on your interpersonal skills if you are to move in the human world.”
Gray blinked. “Without you?”
“You will have to do it sooner or later and I read you that book while you were in the shell. Go out and meet people. You might like them and if you don’t, you can come home.”
Gray got to her feet. “I can take the car?”
“Take whichever one you wish, just bring your identification and license with you. Oh, and don’t forget currency. You will need it.”
Graylin hummed to herself as she drove down the highway looking for a place where humans were gathering and she could blend in.
If she had her way, she would drive the entire day and return home, but she had promised her mother that she would try to be human and she never broke a promise.
The signs for the carnival had been taunting her for the last few miles and when she could finally see it, she knew that she had found her destination.
The two dollars for parking was reasonable and she settled her black sports car into a slot before steeling her nerves and getting out.
The blast of popcorn and oil scented air struck her the moment she raised her head above the roof of the car.
She checked her cross-body purse, locked the door and walked across the gravel lot toward the ticket booth.
The wind tugged at her hair and she tried to inhabit what she knew she appeared to be. Inside, she was only on her fifteenth year in the outside world. Outside, she was twenty-six and striking.
She got in line and waited for her turn. A young woman stood behind her, her crimson hair a bright banner in the hot sun. Gray could see her out of the corner of her eye but her attention was suddenly taken by the bored woman in the kiosk.
“Adult and child?” The eyes flicked from Gray to the girl behind her.
“Child... no, one adult.” She didn’t shake herself but put the money on the counter. Being a child in a woman’s body was difficult.
She got the band that would let her go on all the rides, she moved toward the mechanical behemoths at a quick clip.
She dodged in and out of the crowds before getting in line for the track that waved through the air, picking up speeds that made the occupants scream.
There was a long line ahead of her but she could wait. She had hundreds of years in her lifespan, after all.
When she arrived at the front of the line the young man put his arm out in front of her at chest level. “You can’t ride alone.”
She blinked. “What?”
“No solo riders. The ride is balanced and we can’t have an empty seat.”
“What do you mean that there are no solo riders? I am not here with friends so does that mean I can’t even enjoy the most basic rides?”
She looked around and saw the red headed woman who had been behind her in line. The young woman was turning away and beginning a dejected walk away from the line.
Gray held her hand up to the man, indicating that he wait. He blinked and nodded.
She strode through the crowd and grabbed the young woman by her arm. “You are alone?”
The girl looked shocked. “Yes.”
Gray grinned. “Come with me.” She hauled her new companion to the front of the line.
“Here. Two people, front of the ride.” Gray smiled at the young man. He appeared dazzled and removed the boarding chain.
She kept her grip on her companion and pulled her to the front of the ride, allowing her to get in first.
When the restraints were secured the young woman introduced herself.
“My name is Mel, by the way.”
Gray reached for the extended limb “Graylin. Thanks for this. I haven’t been to one of these before. I didn’t realize you needed two people.”
The moment of contact sent a zing through Graylin. The woman next to her was made of magic but she didn’t seem like any mage Gray had ever heard of.
Graylin smiled as the roller coaster began to click forward. “Magic?”
Mel nodded. “Shifter?”
Graylin’s smile widened to a grin. “What do you want to go on after this?”
“I will give it some thought—ahhhhh!”
Gray held on as the mechanism took them over hills, through valleys and she understood the urge to scream.
Her grin was unseemly when the ride finished but she was flushed with triumph. She had made a human friend. It was a successful day and it wasn’t even over.
Prologue
When the half-blood club left Hookey’s house, and Hex magically transported herself home, Jinx asked George for a ride.
George grinned. “Sure. Give me a moment.”
She obliged and shifted from a svelte woman to an emerald dragon in seconds. Jinx climbed aboard and in moments they were on their way to her home.
“You
are far faster than taking my car and way more comfortable than the bus.” Jinx ran her hand along the neck of the dragon. Talking into the wind took practice.
With her entire body immune to magic, Jinx was unable to transport herself in a speedy and efficient manner. So, the ladies shuttled her where she needed to go.
The lack of magical talent also meant that she was unable to communicate with her trusty steed if she didn’t shout, unlike anyone with magic that George would transport. The telepathy just didn’t work for her.
In under an hour they were swirling to land in Jinx’s backyard. She—and all the club members—kept a large open space in their back yards just for George.
“Are you coming in for coffee?” Her dismount should have been easier; she’d had a lot of practice.
“You bet. I’ll make it though, yours can be a little chewy.” The human-formed dragon swept into the house ahead of Jinx, and she shook her head as the domestic ritual was attended to.
Jinx grinned and wandered in to wait in her study. Soon, her friend appeared in the doorway with two cups of coffee, Jinx’s was just the way she liked it. George took the chair across the desk from her and looked on expectantly while sipping the dark brew.
As predicted, “So, Jinx, are they ready?” Graylin Treel chewed on her nail and gave Jinx a serious look.
“Of course. Exactly as requested.” She twirled one of her curly locks around her fingers and then met her friend’s gaze. Meeting her gaze was the only safe spot. George was naked, as usual. “Are you sure that you want to do this? You are setting yourself up here you know.”
“I know. But it is the only way to get the dragon of my choice and not have the council choose one for me. My pedigree is bound to make me very popular, so I need to move quickly.” She straightened and visibly put on a hopeful expression. “What exactly did I get?” She propped her chin on her fists and waited.
“You know that this is like a weird house party thing, right? You place an order and a few weeks later I deliver.” She could nearly feel her green eyes twinkling as she drew out the suspense. George was not known for her patience.
The human dragon snarled, “Just spill it already!”
Jinx waggled the scrolls at George. “Alright. You have one hidden flight spell; good for any one creature. A spell to summon transportation and a communication spell for any glass surface. He should pick one of them.” She shrugged. It was the best she could do on short notice. The magic flowed out of her pen and onto the paper in the form of spells. She couldn’t use any of that magic, but she could create it.
Jinx was frustrated by her own magic that refused to be shaped by her will.
“Fantastic. He will be sure to go for the flight spell. There are only a few of them in existence, and me and Mom have the other two.” A blinding smile lit her face and she rose to hug Jinx. Melissande wrinkled her nose, stood still and accepted the embrace. Her friend’s strength was easily provoked, so she simply kept her own arms loose and relaxed as she returned the hug. She avoided anything that would prompt a squeeze. “You did great, kid.”
Once in a lifetime was enough to be crushed by a dragon. It had taken her weeks to heal. She sighed in relief as her friend released her.
“I am heading off to Grandma’s house. I should be there tomorrow, George. You have fun, but be careful. And come to visit if you get the chance.” Jinx grinned. Telling a dragon to be careful was just too much fun, and so was the face that George made as she returned to dragon form and tapped Jinx carefully with her tail.
The night waited and her friend was flying out to meet it. It was a glorious sight.
Chapter One
George straightened her hair and took a look at her reflection in the rear-view mirror of her sensible sedan. This was it. Her mate was beyond those doors, whether he knew it or not.
She looked good, she had the spells that she was brokering and the glamour was going to come down while her visit was in process. She had left nothing to chance.
“Sitting here like an idiot isn’t going to get me in there, and won’t get him in anything either.” She shook her head and kept muttering to herself as she turned to the speaker box near the gate and pressed the button.
The gates swung open soundlessly and she drove on without needing to say anything. The way her skin was prickling, there were at least three scrying balls trained on her at that moment. The speaker box would simply be a nuisance. A mundane inconvenience.
Her heels clicked and echoed as she approached the double-doors. The house itself was fantastic. A gothic-modern combination that managed to be both ornate and spare at the same time. Dragons loved big houses and Rikard was no exception.
The doors swung open as she reached the steps and her feet took her down the well-worn path that would lead to the study. She had been here before.
“Grace? What do you have for me today?” He spoke without turning around so she was able to admire his physique from where she stood. Wide shoulders, narrow hips and a fantastic butt were all in her line of sight. It took her a moment to realize that he had spoken to her.
“Three brand new spells. If I may?” She gestured to the sofa and coffee table. At his nod, she took a seat and drew the scrolls out of her bag.
They looked ornate and ancient, but that was part of Jinx’s magic. She could write a spell with a ball-point pen on a post-it note, but when she blew on it to set the spell, it would transform into a scroll fit for the most white-haired wizard.
With care and dexterity, she rolled out the scrolls and fastened them down. She had done this often enough in the last few years. It had become Jinx’s main source of income in under two months after the first ‘made to order’ spells had come on the market.
The magical community had money, and the club was willing to profit from it.
Hex got the ideas, Hookey did the functionality tests and George was the front man. They did take custom orders, but normally Hex had come up with an idea for a new spell months earlier.
Rikard turned from his contemplation of the world outside the window and a businesslike wave crossed over his features, settling the light bronze features into a foreboding shape. The icicle blue eyes went with his dark gold hair, and George wondered idly if he had been born in Norway as one of the Northern Ocean dragons.
“What have you here?” He pointed to the scroll that she knew he would gravitate to.
“A spell to keep dragons in flight and launch from being seen by human eyes... or devices. It is one of only a handful in existence so far.” She let him peruse it. Until her seal was affixed to the bottom of the spell, it would not stick in the mind of the reader. They may be able to try it for a second, but the words would fade.
“The next one to it is a spell to summon transportation, wherever the user happens to be.” She paused and smiled. “The most appropriate use would be while hiking or travelling alone.”
“The final spell is a communication spell that works with any reflective surface. Even your microwave.” She smiled again and left him to his perusal. Every few seconds she checked her watch; it was less than five minutes now until the dropping of the glamour. Hookey might be in trouble, but George was going to get herself laid.
She tried to let him have his time to focus on the product as all good salespersons should. Instead, she gracefully rose from the couch and wandered over to the same window that he had been staring out earlier.
The yard was well maintained and extended to the forest half a mile beyond. Being a dragon, Rikard had purchased the hills and mountains behind his property to keep his hoard. There was no way that he would have not made sure that they were accessible to him at the time of purchase.
The garden sprawled in orderly bands of ten meter stretches of blooming flowers. They formed a sort of sunbeam pattern originating at the house. It was oddly symbolic, and very optimistic. It was a pattern usually found in males who were trying to impress a female. From her research, he was single, and aside from an occasional e
xcursion for sex, he wasn’t stalking any one woman in particular.
She felt her nipples come to attention within the confines of her bra. It would only be a few minutes and the hunt would begin. She almost jumped out of her skin when he spoke.
“Where do you find these fantastic spells? I have never seen anything like this that could be applied not only to modern man but modern equipment.” He shook his head and his hair flipped and gleamed invitingly in the light streaming through the window. “If I didn’t know better, I would think that you had just made these up.”
She laughed; it was practiced. “That is impossible. No new spells have been written for centuries. I simply have access to some grimoires that are not public knowledge.” Her voice stayed light; it had taken a dozen or more experiences with this same question to get her response believable.
“In all my centuries of life, I have never seen this type of spell. Nor have I heard of any books of the type you describe.”
She smiled at him in a condescending manner, “Not all of the Archives were taken by the councils immediately. Some lived well into their twenties before becoming slaves to the Magus or Warlock councils. Who knows how many original spells are still to be discovered?”
He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. It was an odd gesture as dragons did not grow facial hair unless they had humans in their bloodline. “I suppose you are right. I don’t know why I didn’t think of that.”
George turned rapidly back to the window to stifle her laughter. The reason that no one thought of it, was that it was the first spell that the first abducted Archive had written. She had duped a warlock into reading it, and thereafter hidden her personal writings and those of all Archives who would come after.
The Archives knew their history. It became the first thing that they wrote when their talent came, and Jinx had shared this information as well as the personal journals that she had Hex find for her. It was a fascinating history and one well worth remembering.
