DRAGON'S GAP: Set Includes Stories 1-3 Plus Love's Catalyst

by L M Lacee

  Pearl lay where she had dropped and watched as her mate, the one who she needed now more than ever turn his back on her and walk away. She watched her betas with heart broken cries of anguish shift and run into the darkened night. Pearl did not have the energy or the desire to call them back. She lay in the dirt and slowly lost her mind. Minutes that seemed like hours later. She felt a hand under her arm and looked up at John, Robard’s first beta as he helped her stand saying in an emotionless voice. “It is cold, let us go inside Alpha.”

  Weary beyond belief Pearl looked around at the remaining wolves as cries and howls of broken males and females filled the night. Not one wolf would look her way even the betas refused to look at her. She pulled her arm free from John’s grasp and walked into her home. All that remained of the once proud arrogant female, was a broken soulless shell of a wolf.

  CHAPTER FIVE:

  Three Years later.

  T he beat up old SUV sat in amongst the brush, just off the gravel road. Somewhere in a remote part of America. It was not quite 1.00 am, dawn was still hours away. Joseph Ian Michael known as Mitch led a line of fifteen children. Aged between five and twelve years old, girls as well as boys. Not including the six-month old in his arms up the steep incline. None of the children made a sound as they scaled the rocky terrain. Finally, he reached the summit and turned to lend a hand to the ones behind him, but it was not needed they all scampered past him on silent feet.

  Mitch quickly looked around with a bit of worry, he was sure he was in the right location and at the right time, yet there was no one to greet him as there should have been. That was until he took another look and saw a vehicle partially hidden and heaved a sigh of relief. Swiftly he guided the young ones towards it. Opening the back door, he stood looking at the kids and the space provided, a woman’s voice came out of the darkness. “Have them shift, if they can. It will be easier to get them all inside.”

  Mitch did as she said and watched over half the children shift into their animal skins. The baby in his arms who was full-blood was still too young. As shifting only became possible after the child’s first birthday.

  By the time the ones capable of shifting had done so and made themselves comfortable. And the others had climbed in as well and found places and blankets to snuggle down with. A woman carrying a bundle in her arms appeared. As soon as the baby in Mitch’s arms saw her, she started to cry and reach for he chubby arms out for her.

  The woman moved quickly and was instantly by his side, taking the child and placing her on her hip. Where the baby cuddled in close as the woman whispered over and over again until the little girl became quiet. “Hush honey, it’s alright now. I have you baby girl.”

  This was the first time Mitch, and Sage had met. Usually, she was on the other side of the country or the world rescuing or in some cases stealing half-blood or full-blood shifters. It made no difference to her or her team of retrievers, who they were rescuing. If they were able to find refuge at Dragon’s Gap, she and her team would take them there.

  It had been three very long years since that fateful night when she had walked through a glowing doorway. With over three hundred females and thousands of other half-blood shifters from around the world. Saying goodbye to her old life. Then arriving at a town called. Dragon’s Gap. Owned and ruled by dragons. It had been a stunning and amazing time for all the shifters.

  The town had not been empty as they had first thought when they had stepped through the glowing portal. Which they had learnt was a gateway from one place to another. As far as Sage knew only dragons had that kind of magic and it could only be used only at the grace of the Dragon Lord. Of course this did not mean the Elementals could not open portals. It seemed they had done just that in conjunction with the Dragon Lord apparently on that night.

  When they arrived at their new home, Dragon’s Gap, they had been greeted by shifters and dragons alike. All ready with open arms and honest to goodness hope for the future. It took the shifters a few months to settle in. And only a little longer to lose the wariness and distrust from living the life they had been subjected too. As expected it was hard for them to believe in the goodness of others. To realize they had the freedom to trust and the belief that they were in control of their own lives and destinies. Sadly for some it was the very first time in their lives they had any experience of this type of freedom.

  Sage did what she could to help them adjust, herself included. The hardest change was becoming accustomed to seeing large dragons flying or walking around the town and countryside. The new inhabitants of Dragon’s Gap found it difficult to accept dragons as just another shifter for some it was disconcerting to see a myth come to life. Although all shifters knew of dragons no one ever believed they were real.

  The town was aptly named, not only did dragons own it and live there, they keep it hidden from the rest of the world with magic. The dragons adored everything about their small town of four streets with a single diner and bar so opening and inviting the shifters to live there Sage assumed, must have been a hard decision. Of course this would never accommodate the new inhabitants, and dragons understood this. Which spurred them into a building frenzy to cope with the influx of new residents. And soon everyone found out that dragons by their very nature were magical as their quaint and isolated town grew in leaps and bounds.

  Sage knew all creatures were to some extent, just like she was, but dragons surpassed all that. They employed all types of magic and defied the rules of physics on a regular basis. It seemed to Sage that they had no conception of what they could not do. Their motto was. If you can think it, we can do it with magic and if not that was what hands were for.

  Sage did not think it was a very good motto but did not have the heart to tell them so, because it sort of said it all. In essence dragons loved to build and not always with magic.

  It was fascinating to wake each morning and see new buildings erected overnight. To find new streets that held homes and parks for families to enjoy. Or to walk down another new street leading to shops or empty buildings ready for businesses to take over. The town in the last three years had expanded from a small village to the size of a city.

  It often amused Sage that they still referred to Dragon’s Gap as a town. It was so much more now but no one wanted to call it anything different. She wondered if that was because if they acknowledged their town had grown and expanded so much it would lose that feeling of community. That feeling of a small town. She believed that feeling would never change. And that was thanks to the shifters and dragons who loved their growing town and worked hard to keep the community feeling alive.

  There were always events that pulled the people together, all day picnics and cook outs. They had night time outdoor movies. Sage especially liked the carnival days, with fun rides for adults and children alike. Or the nights when concerts were held by musicians, who held the people entranced well into the early morning hours. Then there were the themed dance competitions that anyone could and did join in on, which usually ended in a massive pot-luck picnic. This type of community activity had been a new concept for the dragons as many of the new concepts brought to Dragon’s Gap were.

  For all their magical ability, the dragons were in some ways quite old fashioned in their thinking. Sage thought that maybe being long lived, one did not rush into every new venture although most of the dragons loved the festivals which happened once a month. There was always a reason to have fun in her town. It was a joy for Sage to see people meeting people and making friends, she had met her two best friends at the very first event.

  Sadly there were some like the dragon nobility who held themselves apart but as far a Sage knew it was a small number so far. They did not affect the feeling of the town that Sage felt and enjoyed whenever she went home. The dragons still kept the town secluded. It was said this would remain so until it was strong enough to defend its people and its place in the world apparently that time was not now. So Dragon's Gap stayed hidden by dragon magic.

&nb
sp; Only a select few knew how to access the town by themselves, they would arrive in cars or on foot and would be assimilated within the town quickly. Mostly shifters and the occasional human were guided to the town by the Goddess and Elementals. And she had heard there were other divine forces who also sent people there, but no one was saying who they were!

  CHAPTER SIX:

  A fter the initial confusion of being at Dragon’s Gap and learning about dragons and everything she need to know about the town. Sage had managed to stay there for three months before she found she was unable to settle. She started making plans to leave the safety of the town for the wider world not really understanding what it was that was pulling her from her new home. At times her anger and grief became more than she could bear. Especially when she saw families come together and people started to find contentment and love around her. Even when she was with her close friends, she felt alone and constantly restless.

  It was on a sleepless night that Sage once again found herself walking the cobblestone streets. She had dreamt of her parents which had once again driven her from her bed. As she walked, she allowed sad memories of them to come and others to fade. Her father, unfortunately, had passed away from a senseless car accident when she was sixteen. Leaving her and her mother alone and grief stricken. Sage’s mother, Skye Harris had been an independently powerful witch until the day she cast a very intricate spell. A spell that the world was never going to be ready for. Consequently, the spell had unforeseen results, causing Skye to fall into a coma from which she would never recover.

  At the time of her mother’s sudden illness, Sage was a secretary to the mayor of their small town. It was a difficult time in her life, holding down a full-time job as well as nursing her mother. But Sage had lovingly persisted in the hopes her mother would reawaken. Unfortunately, that was not to be and seventy-one days after trying to cast her spell. Skye finally succumbed to whatever magic she had invoked and she slipped from the world. Sage always hoped her mother joined her mate in whatever afterlife they believed in. Sadly Skye left her only child adrift in the world with an abundance of power and no guidance.

  It had always been supposed that a mating between a wolf and a witch would be unlikely to produce a child. This was an impossibility widely accepted amongst shifters and witches. A truth had held true until Sage’s parents who were true mates produced their daughter. Sage was proof this impossibility was no longer a fact and had the power to back up that claim. Over her lifetime Skye Harris often prophesied a day when Sage would be able to use her birthright, sadly she never lived to find out if she was right.

  Sage knew deep down her guilt over her uncle and aunt’s betrayal kept her from settling into Dragon's Gap and constantly made sleep impossible. Just as much as it kept her from finding her own peace. She finally admitted this to herself right before the Goddess appeared bedside her. One minute she was alone on the street and the next she felt a presence beside her.

  What troubles you my Sage?

  Sage sighed as a calmness enveloped her. “I feel guilt over my uncle and aunt’s actions or maybe I am feeling guilt over my inaction. There must be more for me to do. I have all this power, this knowledge, and yet I do nothing?”

  What would you do if you were able?

  Sage stopped walking and turned to the Goddess. “I would bring as many as I could to Dragon's Gap to show them that hope survived in this world. I would save the young.”

  The Goddess smiled. I can make that happen Sage! She then proceeded to tell her as they strolled the streets about the most vulnerable of the shifters, full and half-bloods. And as Sage listened, she knew she had found her mission. So they struck a bargain. Sage would form teams of people and lead them to retrieve all the vulnerable, the forgotten, the preyed upon. Shifters and human or dragon, any that needed her. All would be rescued until the day the Goddess called her home to Dragon's Gap.

  Sage agreed with a stipulation of her own, that the only reason she would remain home was if she had a family of her own. She told the Goddess if that was to happen she would also like to keep working to recover those that needed rescuing. For some reason that stipulation seemed very important and yet totally unlikely. Sage could not explain even to herself what had driven her to include that stipulation. But the deal was struck and for the first time in months Sage was happy and filled with a purpose.

  After that night the Goddess oversaw the training of her powers. Within weeks she was able to swiftly access that part of her, she had kept hidden, magic was hers to shape and make her own. On one of her training nights she cast her first spell, it was a beautiful piece of magic. Sage had taken herself from Dragon’s Gap to somewhere or sometime else. She wanted to remember where but unfortunately the spell knocked her out, but she had learnt something useful. Always keep your concentration even when a Goddess tries to distract you. Also, she learnt that she was more powerful than her mother had ever been. The bruisers she sported for the following week were a good reminder of that fact.

  All the aspects of her training advanced with the help of the dragon Hunters. Those dragons that kept dragon kind safe. She coaxed several males to teach her combat skills and then to teach classes for the other shifters. Her physical training in defense and combat grew along with her power as a witch. Sage became a formidable weapon. Twelve weeks to the day Sage made her deal with the Goddess, she found herself assembling willing shifters. Their mission to scour the world for not only vulnerable shifter children and females but any that needed help, full or half-bloods.

  They also would help locate any wild dragons who apparently needed to return to Dragon's Gap. They were told this was in the hopes the dragons would find their Shadows and help increase the population of dragons. The retrievers were fortunate that they had the dragon Hunters to call on who did the really hard work. Usually consisting of destroying a town or village which had concealed or stolen females and young ones.

  CHAPTER SEVEN:

  N ow Sage was tired and ready to settle down she had worked through her remaining issues regarding the loss of her parents and the betrayal of her uncle and his mate. On those rare occasions that she was at Dragon’s Gap, she felt more at home and centered the feeling increased with each visit. As the months and years had moved on she found she wanted to remain home longer, to put down roots and make a home.

  She no longer saw sadness or anger in the faces of the shifters, now the faces she encountered were usually filled with hope and peace. She saw love and happiness… so much happiness. Females walked with purpose and males worked with pride. Each step of the way these wonderful males and females had clawed their way out of the dark world they came from and found a new bright shiny life. Young ones lived in freedom, no longer frightened of adults. Some went to school and became what they were meant to be, happy young people that knew only loving arms and gentle words.

  There was no better example of this than when Sage watched the dragons that were bonded or mated, adopt young ones. Over the last nine months, the steady stream of rescued had increased as the shifters started to realize there was to be no reprieve from the Goddess’s sentence and shifters who were once healthy started to lose their battle with life and died.

  In the first months after the declaration from the Goddess there had been mass suicides and killings of half-bloods, from the angered and resentful pure-bloods. This above everything else helped spur Sage and her teams into making rescues.

  When young ones were taken to Dragon's Gap, they were firstly seen and treated in some cases by a healer. Then if they were not already attached to a couple or a person, the dragons would come into the adoption room to choose the young.

  No child regardless of species, Sage was told when she first arrived would be without parents. Eventually, every child would belong to a family and so far the children had found homes, sometimes alone or in multiples. Amusingly they were not always the same species of shifter, it was a fascinating dynamic. Sage knew of one dragon couple that had six children a
nd not one of them came from the same birth parents or were the same species of shifter.

  It even made her smile when she was assured that the matching was done from both side’s adults and young. Even newborns chose their parents. It made Sage’s heart sing to watch the children find their parents and to watch the parents fall in love. On her last visit home Sage had watched as a dragon couple had come into what was known as, the claiming room, by staff. Within minutes a baby boy had crawled over to them and pulled himself up using the male’s legs. The male with stunned amazement had picked him up, and the infant had tucked himself into his shoulder and promptly gone to sleep. Before she had left the room, another boy and girl had found their way to the couple who cried to realize a dream come true. For them it was a miracle, for Sage it was the power of love at work and the magic of Dragon’s Gap.

  She had been back at home for the first time in three months and had only been there for two days. Hardly time enough for her to see all the changes that had taken place in the town or to catch up with her friends. When she had received the call from Mitch’s mate Sara, a half-blood tiger. Mitch was a full tiger, together they roamed the country looking for children, or females that have been spirited away to be hidden or in some cases sold. It was something that was occurring more and more of late.