Dragon in Love
Terry Bolryder
Copyright © 2020 by Terry Bolryder
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
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Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Epilogue
Sample of Built Fur Love Box Set
Also by Terry Bolryder
Chapter 1
“Sorry, can you hold on for a minute?” Chad kept his voice calm, as always, as he put his hand over his phone’s mic and listened to the crashing noises downstairs.
“Jay, I’m going to have to call you back later. I texted the address. Let me know if you think you’ll need backup.”
“We can handle it,” Jay said confidently. “You go deal with… whatever it is you’re dealing with.” The blue dragon’s soothing voice was sympathetic, if a little amused.
“I will.” Chad assured him before hanging up. No matter what, Chadwick always did his duty.
As he was writing quick notes about the assignment he’d just given the red and blue dragons, he felt another vision pressing at the back of his mind.
As purple dragon and leader of his group, Chadwick was expected to use his abilities to see past, present, and future to help those in his region.
But part of what made Chadwick so effective was his ability to sense the vision coming, sense the urgency, and keep his peace of mind long enough to make notes.
He closed his eyes and let the horror of the scene flood him. It was important to stay calm to get all of the details.
“Alley behind O’Neill’s,” he said to himself as he wrote the same words on a Post-it note. “Tomorrow at eight p.m. Kidnapping.”
Chadwick took a deep breath, and as he exhaled slowly, expelling his stress at the same time, another crash sounded from downstairs.
He stood, heart pounding, trying not to clench his hands into fists.
He was not someone who lost control of his temper or his emotions, but the fae were really testing him.
Especially since she had showed up.
Chadwick had been excited when he learned a human who had been in the fae world would be coming to help the fae adjust.
Any help should have been good help.
Isabella was proving the exception to the rule.
“What’s going on down there?” He strode out of his room and looked over the balcony to see one of the fae land a punch on the other, sending him toppling over a couch in the living room.
Ivar, the white-haired fae who’d thrown the punch, seemed simultaneously confused and pleased with himself. He studied his fist, then looked over to Isabella, who was perched on a nearby ottoman. “Was that the right amount of force?”
Isabella laughed, glancing up at Chad just long enough to rub in it that she was completely ignoring him as she turned to Ivar, her emerald eyes sparkling. “Still too hard, probably. Even for a bar fight.”
“How odd that humans fight in bars over absolutely nothing,” Tynan said. Brushing his dark hair back, he stood, looking as if the punch hadn’t even affected him. “Barbaric.”
“Humans fight for lots of reasons,” Isabella said. “Protecting others is one of them.”
“Because other humans are terrible,” Ivar said. “And you don’t keep the bad ones walled off.”
“Some fae are terrible too,” Tynan said. “That’s why we’re here.”
“Yes, but fae do things like take over on a huge scale. Humans do things like grope each other.”
Ivar grimaced. “Like common wolves.”
Chad leaned over the balcony. “Please explain what the point of this lesson is, because it seems like an excuse to just damage more of my property.”
Isabella grinned up at him, always glad for an excuse to get under his skin it seemed. “I’m teaching the fae the proper amount of force for fighting a human. If it comes to that.”
Ivar let out a breath. “I would rather not if it could be avoided. It’s like fighting a child, pulling my strength that much. I’m here to fight fae, not humans.”
Isabella shrugged, looking a bit like a pixie with her short, wavy blond hair and emerald eyes. That curvy little body…
Chad bit his cheek, reminding himself to stay focused.
“You might not want to fight them, but when you’re as moral as you are, Ivar, you need to know how to do it safely if someone sets you off,” Isabella said.
Ivar looked resigned.
“All right,” Tynan said. “My turn now.” He stood before Chad could get over there, and clocked Ivar in the face so hard Ivar flew back and hit the wall, making ceiling plaster fall over him.
Ivar looked up, cringing when he saw the damage. “That might be too hard.”
Tynan laughed, winding up his arm. “Okay, let me try again.”
“I think that’s enough human-punching practice,” Chadwick said, getting between them and putting up both hands. “You’re both enjoying it too much.”
“We’re warriors,” Ivar said. “We’re bored. Let us go out and fight some fae or dragons or something.”
Chadwick sighed, letting them follow him as he walked into the kitchen. “You need to focus on your training. Before you know it, you’ll be out in the human world and out of my hair.”
Tynan sighed, sidling up to the counter and leaning on it. His human form was several inches shorter than his fae form but still intimidating with his short pitch-black hair and glittering black eyes, long-lashed and keen.
Ivar had light silver-blond hair now and gray eyes that flashed blue and violet.
The fae began to talk about some human topic Isabella had introduced as Chad cast a look over his shoulder to see where she had gone.
She was slouched in a recliner, pulling out her book.
“Can I talk to you?” Chadwick asked in a way that was more demand than question.
“Sure!” Isabella responded, looking infuriatingly casual about everything, as usual. She stood and stretched, setting aside her book. “What’s up, boss?”
Chadwick led the way up the stairs to his office, opened the door for her, and pulled out a chair in front of his desk for her to sit on.
He then sat in his much larger chair and glared at her for a moment before speaking. “When are you going to teach the fae something more useful?”
“I told you,” she said. “Punching humans is useful. You know they’re going to pick fights out there. Their sense of right and wrong is intense.”
“True,” Chadwick said. “And the fae do tend to align around order or chaos.”
“Right, the bad ones cause chaos,” Isabella said. “So you know if humans cause chaos around the fae, they’re going to get punched. Now what if a human goes through a brick wall and dies? Have you seen how strong the fae are?”
“It’s easy to control it,” Chadwick said.
Isabelle grinned. “Yeah, but you’re a dragon. Fae are degrees of
magnitude stronger.”
“That’s not proven,” Chadwick said irritably. “We haven’t tested all dragons and all fae.”
“Well, I’d bet on a fae to win over a dragon. Sorry. Not that I’d trust any supernatural again.”
Chad frowned. “I don’t blame you after what you went through. Trafficked by wolves.”
Her expression darkened, but then she smiled at him, her usual, casual self.
“Anyway, can I go now?”
Chadwick shook his head. “We still need to talk. I have work to do. Important work, and I can’t do it with violence breaking out at any time of day.”
“There was no violence, as you call it, yesterday,” she said.
“That’s true, though your impromptu ‘teach the fae how to dance’ lessons were both loud and jarring for most of the day.”
“Hey.” She raised a shoulder bashfully. “I was told to help them be human. That’s what I’m trying to do.”
Chadwick raised an eyebrow. “What are your qualifications again?”
She eyed him flatly, and he tried not to notice the pure green of her eyes was like clover in rain. “I’m willing, and I know more about fae than any other human available.”
“But how?” He pulled out his phone, looking at the notes the oracle had sent him. “Your experience was with wolves.”
“In the fae world,” she said flatly. “Look, I don’t owe you any explanation about my background and credentials. I’m here as a volunteer, just to help out and do my civic duty before I go back to the human world and put this all behind me.”
“By having your memory erased,” Chadwick said.
“Yup.” She nodded eagerly, making the short blond waves that came down to her chin shine in the afternoon sunlight. “I plan to forget it all.”
“Even though you could help more people by staying in this world. Even though you could enjoy the world here, take a mate—”
“I’ll never take a mate,” Isabella said sharply, shaking her head. “Never. I’m going back to the human world to be normal.” She smiled. “And I’ll be glad to have the fae and shifters like you out there keeping us all safe.”
Chad frowned. Clearly, she just wanted fun, and going back to the human world would give her that.
“I suppose we should just be grateful that you’re helping us at all,” Chadwick said.
“You should.” She folded her arms. “Humans who survived the fae realm are rare. Mostly because it’s rare we even get over there.”
Chad narrowed his eyes. “But you want to forget it.”
Her emerald gaze shuttered. “Yeah. I do.”
Chadwick felt a surge of anger at whomever or whatever had placed that look on her face. Under his desk, his hands clenched into fists at the fact that humans like her still got abducted and traumatized despite all the work dragons like him did to prevent it.
It only made him want to work harder.
“I’m not trying to be a jerk,” he said carefully. “I do appreciate your help. But at the same time, if I can’t focus, people could die.”
She let out an aggrieved sigh, kicking back in her chair but looking repentant. “All right, tell me what you need.” She looked to the side. “Don’t want what happened to me to happen to anyone else.”
For a moment, he wanted to ask her about that. But he could tell her walls were already back up and as high as the sky.
So he focused on the topic at hand.
“I don’t know what you know about dragons like me, but purple dragons have visions. They’re tough mentally. If it’s too loud, I can’t focus. I—”
“All right, I get it,” she said, staring sullenly to the side. “I’ll make sure we keep the noise down.” Her gaze perked as she looked back at him. “But I’m going to decide what activities we do. The oracle seemed to think that was important, obviously.”
Chad had been about to retort but bit his lip. “Obviously.”
Isabella leaned over the desk, and her pink sweatshirt fell open, showing a hint of cleavage in the white tank top she had underneath.
Chad averted his eyes, but it wasn’t fast enough not to have the image burned into memory.
She stayed in her position, hands flat on the desk, and grinned at him, eyes twinkling mischievously. “You need to relax. You should come down and hang with us.”
Chad shook his head, trying to ignore her. The way she smelled like fresh wildflowers. How beautiful her smile was.
How long had it been since someone affected him like she did.
Maybe no one ever had.
But that didn’t change anything in regard to Chad doing his duty. “I don’t have time to mess around with useless activities.”
“I already told you that what we do isn’t useless. But don’t you ever just let your hair down and have fun? It keeps the stress down.” She leaned forward farther, propped her weight on one hand, and reached out the other to lightly push back a lock of his hair, grazing his skin with blazing heat. “Though, I could think of other ways to relieve stress if you’re up for it.”
She was teasing him, but Chadwick was up in a second, catching her by the wrist and standing up to walk around the desk so he could pull her in against him.
She made a surprised gasp when he turned her and pressed her to the door, holding her hands above her.
His eyes fell to her lips, which were drawn in a teasing smile.
“Do you tease the fae this way?” he asked, his heart pounding for reasons he couldn’t comprehend.
She frowned, shaking her head avidly. “Of course not.”
“Just me, then?” Chadwick asked, getting down to the real reason she’d been driving him crazy ever since she came to the mansion a few days ago. “You flirt with only me incessantly, despite your apparent lack of respect for dragons.”
She rolled her eyes. “I don’t care what kind of magical creature someone is. I care if they’re hot.” She pulled a hand out of his grip to poke him in the chest again. “Which you are.”
He grabbed her hand and returned it to the other so he could pin both again. Not because he planned to do anything to her, but to stop her from doing anything to him.
“You have to quit doing this.” It was driving him to distraction. “I told you. Nothing is going to happen between us.”
She pursed her lips in a pout. Chadwick knew she was only teasing him, but a part of him wanted to give her what she was constantly asking for.
See what she said then.
Isabella glanced up at her hands, then grinned at him again. “You say that, but you’re still holding me. Does that mean I’m going to get lucky?”
Dammit, she’d won again, and Chad let out a groan as he released her. He’d never be able to beat her at her own game.
“Fine,” she said as he walked back around his desk to ignore her again.
It seemed to be his only option.
“I’ll try to be quieter,” she said. “But I’m not going to stop teasing you. It’s too fun, especially when you get all mad about it.”
She winked at him and exited the room, leaving Chadwick alone with his shock.
Chapter 2
“Did you get in trouble?” Tynan was clearing out a whole sleeve of cookies in record time, but he managed to pause shoving them in his mouth long enough to ask Isabella the question.
“No,” Isabella said. “No trouble.”
“Bullshit,” Tynan said. “As humans would say.”
“Did you get any action?” Ivar asked, tilting his head so his white-blond hair slid over his forehead.
Both men were gorgeous in the way only supernaturals could be.
Isabella wasn’t interested in either of them, though. Never would be.
She sighed. “No luck this time.”
She wasn’t even sure why she loved teasing Chadwick so much, except she liked getting under the uptight dragon’s skin.
At least that’s what she told herself she wanted to do.
Truthfully, there
was something in Chad’s purple eyes that drew her. His quiet adherence to duty without complaint. His solid strength and leadership.
His kindness.
There was something safe about Chadwick. Something dangerous too.
“Well, keep at it,” Ivar said. “He has been despondent without his partner, who’s on his honeymoon.”
“That’s right,” Isabella said. “They’re supposed to mate in pairs. What happened?”
“His partner found a mate. Couldn’t share.”
Isabella grimaced. “That sucks. Poor Chadwick.”
“I believe Chadwick approved,” Tynan said. “He was supportive.”
“Of course he was,” Isabella said. “Friggin’ Boy Scout.”
“He does what is right,” Ivar said. “I have tremendous respect for him. He’s also extremely strong for a dragon.”
“Could a dragon ever take on a fae?” Isabella asked.
“Depends on the dragon. Depends on the fae,” Tynan said, shoving another cookie in his mouth as he leaned over the counter. “I think Chadwick could take on certain fae. He’s special, though.”
“How so?” Isabella asked.
Tynan and Ivar looked at each other before Ivar gave a little shake of his head.
“We shouldn’t talk about it,” Ivar said. “It’s not our business to discuss Chadwick.”
Isabella sighed. “Well, he wants us to make less noise during the day. Because of his visions.”
Ivar frowned. “I hadn’t even thought of that. We don’t want to disrupt his work.”
“Oh, come on,” Isabella said. “This is a huge mansion. We can do anything.”
Tynan eyed her with disapproval. “If Chadwick wants us to calm down—”
“My job is to teach you to be human,” she said indignantly. “If I think we need to do things that end up being loud, so be it. You won’t be here forever. You’ll be going to the human world, and I’ll be going back to—”
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