by Rinelle Grey
© 2018 by Rinelle Grey
www.rinellegrey.com
All rights reserved.
Cover design by
Table of Contents
Blurb
Prologue
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
Epilogue
Fun & Flirty
About the Author
Blurb
Two overprotective dragon shifter brothers. One overprotective human one. It's a wonder Morian is allowed to breathe on her own.
Not only that, but she's different.
Her power as a life dragon to influence and heal is rare and valued among her kind. Keeping her safe is all her parents want. But when they send her home, they put her in more danger than what she left.
Undercover police officer Finn Harley has problems of his own. After coming face to face with a dragon in his human form, he's acquired a phobia of the scaly creatures. At least his investigation only involves following a young woman seen leaving the dragon lair to find out what she may be hiding. He's at no risk of encountering another dragon. Or, so he hopes.
But on this tropical island resort, nothing is as it seems. As Finn and Morian are drawn together, everyone and everything seems determined to pull them apart. Even if they can get her brothers to back off, can Finn overcome his phobia when he finds out he's in love with a dragon?
Dragon Hopes is book 3 in the Dragon Island Hideaway series.
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Prologue
Morian tried to keep the frustration off her face as she handed her driver’s licence to the police officer guarding the lair. He was supposedly there to keep the dragon shifter clan safe from the humans, but apparently his protection wasn’t enough for her parents. Instead, they were sending her away.
As if the humans would be a danger to her. No, that couldn’t be their problem. It had to be Ultrima.
For a few minutes there, when she'd flown into the lair two weeks ago and faced off against the leader of the Trima clan who had invaded their lair, she'd felt like she was finally coming into her own. Like she had a chance to be who she was meant to be.
A chance to repay the enemy dragon for all he’d done to her clan and her family. And she’d been more than ready to do it, despite the fact that what she’d felt from him had been despair and loneliness.
Maybe that had been a trick, created by the life dragon at his side. Morian couldn’t do something like that, but the other dragon was older than her and maybe more skilled. When she'd looked into the pale blue eyes of the rival life dragon, she'd felt both an affinity and a challenge.
But there had been no fight. Ultrima had left, and Morian had spent the next couple of weeks sitting around, listening while her father and the other dragons talked and talked, but achieved nothing. Morian had told them she was ready, that she could take on Ultrima any time they wanted.
That was what she’d been preparing for her whole life, what she had been born to do, even if her father had insisted that wasn’t the case. But the stories Morian had been told, of how he’d killed her entire clan, had always left a sour taste in her mouth and overcome her natural empathy.
Sure, her clan had actually just been in hiding, but that couldn’t undo the years of anger Morian felt towards him. Whether her clan had survived or not, there was no denying they had suffered at Ultrima’s hands. He still had much to answer for.
But her father had said no. He'd insisted that there would be no fighting, that they could resolve their differences peacefully.
Well, Morian could have helped with that too. Her powers of persuasion could have convinced the humans to accept dragons, even if they might not have worked as successfully against the rival clan's life dragon.
But no one would let her use her powers. In fact, her father had sent for her mother to talk to her. Both of them had tried to explain that using life dragon magic to attack Ultrima would be wrong, that her powers should be used only to protect, not to hurt.
And maybe that was true, for most people at least. But Ultrima was different. Whenever she thought of him, she felt a deep rage for all he’d done to her family and her clan.
How could her parents not want to pay him back? Because of him, Morian and her brothers had grown up never knowing they had a clan. Her father had spent years separated from his clan and his brothers and sisters.
Not using her powers when it came to the enemy life dragon seemed pointless to Morian. Ultrima wouldn’t have done the same if the situation had been reversed, she was sure of it. And if she had the ability to solve their problems, to save their clan once and for all, then how was it wrong not to use it?
And if they were waiting for things to be serious enough to need such powers, it seemed like now was the time, if it ever would be.
But what did she know? She was just a kid. Or at least, everyone treated her like she was.
That was why her parents were sending her away.
Just when she’d been starting to think she might have a place here, a place where she didn’t have to hide who she was, a place where her unique life dragon powers were admired and respected, a place where she was admired and respected and where she could finally do something without being surrounded by three brothers who were determined not to let her do so much as break a nail, she was being forced to leave out of an overprotective concern for her safety.
Thinking about that wasn’t really doing much to help her frustration or the problem in front of her. She didn’t want to have to deal with this man realising she was a dragon. This was yet another place where her life dragon magic would come in useful. And at least this was protecting, not fighting.
Wasn’t it?
Morian battled with her frustration again. It was so hard to have a power like this, one that could solve almost any problem, and yet not be allowed to use it when it really mattered.
Morian focused her attention on observing the police officer and using only a little of her magic to determine if he was going to guess the truth. She had no wish to be arrested, even if it would be more exciting than going home.
Beside her, her newly found aunt, Karla, handed over her licence as well. She looked almost bored, which she probably was considering she was human. She had nothing to hide.
The police officer stared at Morian’s licence for a long time, a frown creasing his face, as though searching for something wrong with it. Morian sensed suspicion from him, disbelief in what he was seeing. He glanced up at her, then back at the licence, as though comparing her to the photo.
He would find nothing wrong. She matched the photograph exactly and looked completely human. Her parents had always insisted on that. From a very early age, after the first person
had asked if she was an albino, they’d dyed her white hair blond, and when she’d reached her teenage years, they’d bought her coloured contacts to hide her pale blue eyes. Luckily, unlike true albinos, her milky white skin tanned just fine, and living on a tropical island meant she always had a tan, even if that did only bring her skin up to a normal colour.
Unlike her brothers, they’d even called her Mora, her human name instead of her dragon name, just so she never made a mistake.
Even so, Morian had always hated pretending to be normal and boring. As a child she’d tried to convince her parents that pink hair would be much better than blond. Or even an electric blue. As she’d grown older, she’d begun to have an aching wish to let her hair be the colour it was supposed to be, the colour that matched her dragon scales.
Even if, right now, being able to blend in was useful. The fear and uncertainty she was feeling from everyone she met made her sad. For the first time ever, people were looking at her and wondering if she could turn into a giant scaly beast that could fly. They were wondering if she might be a threat to them.
Morian didn’t like that at all. The negative feelings weighed her down and drained her. Morian had always been sensitive to the feelings of everyone around her, and with the exception of Ultrima, she’d never wished to hurt anyone. She just wanted everyone around her to be happy.
“Wait here.” The police officer took both licences over to his car and sat for a while. Morian’s sensitive dragon hearing caught snippets of him talking over the radio, verifying that their licences were all in order, checking their records and finding out everything he could about them.
It didn’t matter that there was nothing wrong with her licence, that it was completely legal and valid and had been obtained in the usual way. It didn’t matter that Morian was half human and had spent her entire life living in the human world, not even knowing the dragon clan, her family, existed.
Even her human name on the licence, Mora, wasn’t enough to calm his suspicions. From the way he’d scrutinised her photo, it was clear he took his job very seriously. If she wanted to make it past this checkpoint, she might just have to intervene a little.
She and Karla weren’t the first to take advantage of the deal the dragons had going, the one where humans were permitted to come and go from the lair without hinderance. But though they’d no doubt seen Karla before, Morian was new. Although she and her father had flown into the clan just before the police had arrived, they had stayed inside, keeping their presence quiet so as to protect the resort.
If he somehow guessed she was, in fact, a dragon, and a dragon who had a human ID, then it wasn’t going to be a problem just for Morian. It would be a problem for all the human mates now living in the lair as well, including Karla. And that was not good.
Morian glanced sideways at her aunt, who was just six years older than her, only to find Karla watching her just as intently. Her aunt gave a slight nod.
Was that encouragement for Morian to use her magic? Not that she was waiting for permission. She had no problem with influencing the human if necessary. That wasn’t fighting, and it wouldn’t hurt anyone.
No, that wasn’t what stopped her. What gave her pause was that no one appreciated her help. No one respected her as she’d been told the life dragons of old were respected. She might only be twenty-one, but the truth was, Morian wasn’t that much younger than many of the dragon leaders participating in the talks. Prince Taurian was only twenty-six.
But apparently that was different. The princes and princesses were the ones in charge, her father’s brothers and sisters. She was the child, no matter what her powers were. It didn’t matter that she was technically a princess too.
No, instead of including her in the talks between the dragon leaders and the human politicians where she might have been able to actually help make a real difference to dragon lives, they were sending her home like a child. As though she’d done something wrong by wanting to use her magic to protect her clan.
Oh, sure, they hadn’t said it was about that. And her mother had seemed genuinely concerned that both her older brothers had somehow ended up mated in the week or two they’d been away. But Morian wasn’t convinced.
Damrian and Zara’s mating hadn’t been a surprise at all. Everyone had known they’d had a thing for each other since before Zara had left the island. Of course they’d worked things out the instant she’d returned.
Hayrian’s mating was a little more surprising. He’d been a determined bachelor. No one had expected him to mate at all, much less so suddenly. The fact that none of them had even met his human mate, Audrey, and that he’d fallen in love with her and mated her in such short order was a little surprising. But it hardly seemed to warrant sending her all the way home over it.
What could she do about her brothers’ mates anyway? Once a dragon mated, that was it. They were bonded for life. Even her life dragon magic couldn’t change that. It seemed a bit pointless for her parents to get concerned about it at this point.
No, it was clearly an excuse, a reason to send her home, a reason to stop her from using her life magic in ways they disapproved of. A reason to shut her out of everything and protect her.
Morian got it. There hadn’t been a life dragon born in Rian clan for over three hundred years. She was special.
And apparently that meant she had to be wrapped in cotton wool her entire life. Apparently that meant she would never get a chance to use the magic that made her so special.
That made her powers seem pointless.
And yet, her father had brought her with him to the dragon lair with the belief she could help them. Which she had. She hadn’t even needed to fight, just her presence had deterred the enemy dragons. And the danger clearly wasn’t over yet.
What was the use in being a life dragon if she couldn’t save her clan?
She glanced sideways at Karla. Maybe if she could convince her aunt, then her aunt could convince the princes. Karla was certainly more involved in what was going on than Morian.
But they had to get past this checkpoint first. And when he returned, the police offer’s suspicious stare hadn’t lessened any. He’d taken way too long. It didn’t take life dragon magic to guess he was still suspicious.
Morian slipped some of her life magic into his mind. Not enough to completely control him, so her parents could hardly object, but just enough to influence his thoughts slightly. She tweaked his suspicions, toning them down a little, reminding him that there could be any number of humans he hadn’t seen yet in the dragon lair. She added a few waves of reassurance about how normal the driver’s licences looked and how they had checked out. Neither she nor Karla had a criminal record, and anyway, dragons had no way to fake ID.
His expression relaxed a little. Her human appearance and genuine licence did the rest. There was nothing he could do to hold her, not based on simple suspicion. “It all looks like it’s in order,” he said, handing their licences back with a nod. Then he waved them through.
Morian saved her sigh of relief until they were sitting in Karla’s car with all the doors closed and locked. She was surprised she even felt that big of a relief. She hadn’t been in any danger, not really. If necessary, she could have used a far stronger suggestion on him, one a mere human couldn’t resist.
But the moment had been tense. And whether she liked to admit it or not, being back to being a half human trying to hide her dragon genes felt more natural than being a dragon princess.
Karla pulled out onto the dirt road, not saying anything. Morian was glad for the silence, glad for a few moments to collect her thoughts. But somehow, her own problems weren’t the ones foremost in her mind.
Instead she glanced sideways at the woman driving her. Karla’s emotions were in turmoil too. Morian had seen enough of her in the last few days to know she was concerned about the clan. Concerned about what all these talks would mean for her dragon prince husband.
She was probably concerned about the new half-drag
on/half-human life growing in her belly.
She hadn’t told many people yet, but she couldn’t have hidden it from Morian. As a life dragon, Morian could see many things that others, dragons and humans, couldn’t.
Her parents had always told her that meant she was special. And when she was little, Morian had believed them. Back then, she’d imagined growing up to save the clan, helping wake her aunts and uncles and protecting them from the bad Trima clan.
She’d never expected they wouldn’t actually let her do it.
The question was, did Karla know why?
“Do you know why they’re doing this? Sending me away?” she blurted out. She sounded petulant, like she was sulking, but right now she didn’t care. She was over being treated with kid gloves, like she might break if someone breathed on her too hard. She wasn’t a kid anymore, and she was tired of everyone treating her like one.
“I know it’s hard,” Karla said, her voice sympathetic. “But hopefully this will all be sorted out soon, and you and your brothers can come and go as you like.”
Karla didn’t get it. Probably because she’d been included in every conversation and private meeting that had been held. As a dragon prince’s mate, that had been her right, even though she was a human.
She hadn’t been excluded like Morian. And she wasn’t being sent home.
“It’s not about being able to come and go,” Morian said, frustration colouring her voice. “It’s about not being allowed to do anything to help. There’s so much I could do, but they won’t let me. I could help them, tell them things about the humans’ plans and motivations they can’t see themselves. It makes no sense for them to send me away now.”
“You’re their daughter,” Karla said, her voice soft. “And you’re a dragon princess. On top of that, you’re Rian clan’s only life dragon. Of course they want to protect you.”
Morian’s life magic helped her see what Karla wasn’t saying, that she was wondering how she was going to protect her own child in this strange new world, a child that would straddle the human and dragon worlds, part of both, belonging to neither, a child who, if the dragon elders were correct, had a high chance of also being a life dragon.
