Dragon Hopes: A Shifters in Love Fun & Flirty Romance (Dragon Island Hideaway Book 3)

by Rinelle Grey

  Then, as they all stared at her with a mixture of shock and disbelief, she turned and stormed out of the room and into her bedroom, slamming the door behind her.

  As soon as she was alone, all her pent up energy drained away, and she suddenly felt completely exhausted. She threw herself down on the bed, and let herself cry it all out until she had no energy even to cry anymore.

  Chapter 16

  Once Mora left, some of Finn’s terror faded away, only to be replaced by a different kind of panic.

  He’d really done it now. He’d screwed up even more than usual.

  Mora had practically handed him a chance to fix everything on a silver platter, topping it with an admission that she loved him, and he’d thrown it in her face.

  Every time he thought of it, Finn felt sick to his stomach.

  Even if he could fix this, did he really want to? Mora was a dragon, the very thing he’d been terrified of the last few weeks, the thing all the politicians and the media were saying was going to be the downfall of the country. He’d seen what they could do.

  And he’d been terrified.

  But Mora wasn’t like that. She’d done nothing terrifying at all.

  She’d even left when he’d told her to, despite the fact that he could tell she hadn’t really wanted to.

  Why would he be terrified of her?

  Logically, that train of thought made perfect sense. Finn cared about Mora, and right there, for one perfect second in the middle of what he’d thought was going to be his worst nightmare, she’d said she loved him.

  And instead of standing up like a man and telling her he loved her too, he’d cowered in the corner and whimpered for her to go away and leave him alone. All because she was a dragon.

  Did being a dragon change who she was?

  Well, yeah, it did. There was no getting around that. Finn couldn’t love her without loving that part of her too, because it was part of who she was.

  Could Finn get past it? Would he ever be able to look at her and see beauty in what she was?

  Could he ever look at her and not be afraid?

  Even thinking about it now, a knot of fear twisted his gut, making his knees feel weak and his mouth go dry.

  But the fear wasn’t quite as bad as it had been.

  Maybe, given enough time, he’d be able to get used to the fact. Maybe the lessening of his symptoms meant he could overcome them with time.

  Or maybe, his inner sceptic insisted, it was just that she wasn’t here right now. As soon as she’d left the cabin the feelings had lessened. That didn’t mean they wouldn’t be just as bad the next time he saw her. Or next time she did something dragon-y, like that whirling eye thing.

  Finn slumped against the wall and stared at nothing.

  Why? Why did she have to be a dragon? Why did he have to be petrified of dragons? Why was the universe so unfair?

  As if to emphasize this fact, his suitcase rang. Or rather, the phone he’d stuffed in it did. Great timing.

  Finn stared at it blankly for a few moments, his brain working overtime.

  Just a short while ago he’d been ready to throw his career to the wind, give it all up for just the smallest chance he could stay here with Mora and that there was some way to make this work.

  And now…

  Now he had no idea what he wanted.

  No, that wasn’t quite right. He knew what he wanted. He wanted to go back to the moment before she’d told him she was a dragon, back when he’d thought she’d just been visiting dragons. He wanted to go back to when he’d thought there was a chance they could be together.

  But he could no more go back in time than he could will his phone to stop its incessant ringing.

  Finn sighed and got up, rummaging through his suitcase until he found the phone, then answered it. “Finn Harley here.”

  “Officer Harley.” Detective Inspector Williams’ voice was clipped and impatient, not that Finn had ever seen him be patient. “Can you talk now?”

  “I… Yes, of course.”

  “Do you have anything to report?”

  That was the question, wasn’t it? Oh, he had plenty of things he was sure the inspector would like to know. He’d very much be interested to hear that Mora was a dragon and her three brothers probably were too. That had to mean one of her parents was, especially since they were apparently at the lair too.

  The inspector would probably send helicopters and officers here to evacuate the island and barricade it off, just like they had at the lair.

  That would make Dragon Island the third dragon area to be cordoned off. The public would be freaking out, although perhaps not as much as Finn was.

  Either way, once the police arrived, Finn wouldn’t see Mora again.

  She’d never forgive him for betraying her. And he wouldn’t blame her.

  Even if she could somehow forgive him, he was pretty sure her brothers wouldn’t. They probably wouldn’t even now. If Mora told them what he knew and who he was, they’d be knocking his door down.

  Really, the most sensible course of action was for him to confess all to the inspector and request immediate extraction. It was his safest option.

  And yet, Finn couldn’t bring himself to do it.

  He and Mora had shared something special, a connection he’d never even imagined could exist. He couldn’t imagine betraying her, even if she never wanted to speak to him again. It would feel almost like betraying a piece of himself.

  Maybe that was because of some weird dragon magic, but if it was, Finn couldn’t make himself believe it was a bad kind of magic.

  Mora would never try to hurt anyone, he had no doubts about that,

  Even if there couldn’t ever be anything between them, the least he could do was protect her secret. He owed her that much, after she’d been honest with him.

  “Officer Hartley?” Inspector Williams sounded irritated.

  Finn wondered how many times the inspector had repeated his name. “Yes?”

  “Do you have any information to report?”

  “No, sir,” Finn said, the lie coming easily after so many. “In fact, that was what I was ringing to say. I can’t find anything at all unusual here on the island or with the target. She seems like a normal, well adjusted young woman. I don’t even think she’s mated to one of the dragons, since she was quite happy to agree to a date. I’d say she was just a curious visitor, who’s now returned to her normal life.”

  As if anyone could return to their normal life after an encounter with a dragon. Finn gave a pained smile at the irony.

  Inspector Williams though, didn’t seem to think there was anything abnormal in his comment. “That’s good to hear. We’ll send in someone to question her just to be sure, but you might as well head back. Good job.”

  “Thank you, sir,” Finn said and hung up. He didn’t even feel bad accepting the pat on the back for his lies. Mora and her family were safe. He’d given her that at least.

  Except not quite safe. Someone was coming to question Mora. Someone who believed she was human. Finn was sure she could handle it either way, but…

  But he owed her a warning. It was the least he could do, after everything else that had happened. Then he could go home without guilt.

  Or with less of it anyway. Somehow, Finn suspected he’d never be able to look back on this experience without feeling an intense sadness at what might have been—if only he’d been up to the challenge.

  Finding Mora and warning her though, that he could do. He could face up to her in human form long enough to deliver his warning, he felt sure of that.

  At least, he did when he wasn’t face to face with her.

  But he’d worry about that when he came to it. First he had to find her.

  Normally he’d start by going to her house or phoning her. But it wasn’t like he had her number or knew where she lived. And while going around and asking everyone who worked on the island where he could find her might produce results, or at least get her attention, it could
also get the attention of her brothers. And Finn suspected that would be a very bad idea right now.

  No, he needed something better. Where else might she go?

  The answer was clear. There was only one place he could imagine Mora going if she was upset. Her favourite place. The waterfall.

  As soon as the thought formed, Finn knew he was right. He was sure that was where he would find her. So certain that he tossed the phone back into his suitcase and headed out of his cabin.

  He felt completely sure of his decision all the way out of the resort and up the path. Until he stepped past the sign. Then suddenly doubts began to assail him. Maybe he was making a mistake. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all.

  Last time he’d come through here he’d been with Mora. It hadn’t mattered that they’d been breaking the rules because she was the one who had made them.

  And this time, he knew the sign wasn’t just a way for her to have privacy at the waterfall. Now he knew the sign could be hiding a dragon. One not just in human form.

  He could easily imagine a dragon swimming around in the pool, tossing its head under the waterfall, it was more than big enough.

  A shiver ran down his spine at the thought. He might be able to face up to Mora again in human form, at least for long enough to give her the warning, but could he cope with seeing her in dragon form?

  He stood there, frozen in an agony of indecision.

  Chapter 17

  Morian wasn’t sure how long she’d lain on her bed, staring at the ceiling. Maybe she’d even fallen asleep for a while. At least until something woke her—or brought her back to the present anyway.

  A feeling, on the edge of her periphery, of someone being somewhere they shouldn’t be.

  It took her a few moments to realise what it was. Someone had run into her protections on the path up to the waterfall.

  For a moment, she was tempted to ignore it. She wasn’t there right now anyway, so any chance explorer would find nothing. Not that that whoever it was would make it past her second barrier anyway. There wasn’t any need to interrupt her misery with any sort of action.

  Except… there was something about the feeling, something… familiar.

  Morian sat up, her heart pounding. Finn. It was Finn. She knew it was him. His presence was almost as familiar as her own.

  She winced as soon as she recognised him, and realised he’d be experiencing the full brunt of the protections she’d woven around the waterfall. Most normal people couldn’t face them, what chance did Finn and his dragon phobia have?

  She couldn’t lift them from this distance, she’d have to be there for that. But by the time she arrived, it would be too late. He would have already turned and fled, she was sure of it.

  Why was he going up the path to the waterfall anyway?

  There was only one reason she could think of, and it caused her heart to give a hopeful leap. He was looking for her. He had to be.

  Morian threw her legs over the side of the bed, ready to fly to the path to save him, but before she could move any further, she paused.

  Much as she wanted to believe he’d changed his mind about her, she found it hard to believe. She’d felt his terror when he’d found out what she was. He wasn’t going to have just changed in the hour or two since.

  She had to remember that Finn was a police officer, and he’d admitted he was investigating her, that he had been trying to find out her connection to the dragons at Rian lair. And now he knew she wasn’t just connected to them, she was one of them.

  Was there a possibility that he’d lied to her about his fear? That he was actually going up to the waterfall to further that investigation? Even if he was looking for her, she couldn’t discount the possibility he was hoping to gather more information about her. Maybe he’d even guessed that was where she assumed her true form and wanted to catch her in the act to get proof.

  No matter how logical an explanation that was, Morian couldn’t believe it. Quite aside from the fact she had a firm belief that Finn wouldn’t do anything to hurt her, she knew that whatever else he had lied about, Finn’s fear when dragons were mentioned, when he’d found out she was a dragon, was completely honest. If he thought she would be in dragon form, he wouldn’t go anywhere near the place, of that she was certain.

  Morian shook her head. His going up to the waterfall made no sense. Finn had clearly been terrified of her in human form. So why would he be looking for her where he might find her in dragon form?

  That was when she felt another tingle, another person passing through her protections. More than one. And she didn’t find it hard to recognise who they were at all—Hayrian, Damrian, and Rowan.

  Damn those three.

  While her protections did affect them, since they knew what they were they wouldn’t find them hard to defeat. They certainly wouldn’t stop them going after Finn, whichever direction he was going in.

  “Just what do you think you’re doing?” she demanded in dragon speech into all three of their heads. Rowan, as a human, couldn’t answer her, but the other two certainly could.

  “I’m sorry, Morian.” Hayrian’s response was immediate. The fact that he used her dragon name indicated how serious he was. They’d known she would find out where they were going. “But this isn’t just about you anymore. His presence here puts us all at risk. It puts all of Rian clan at risk. We can’t just sit by and do nothing any longer.”

  “Just what are you planning to do?” Morian scrambled off the bed as she spoke, hurrying out of her room, intending to go after them. Whatever they had planned, she was pretty sure Finn wasn’t going to like it. She had to protect him, no matter what his intentions were.

  Hayrian had to have told the others about Finn being a police officer, and from there they could easily have guessed about the investigation, especially given her responses earlier.

  The question was, what were they going to do about it?

  “We’re just going to give him a fright, Mora,” Damrian volunteered. “Not hurt him. If he’s as scared of dragons as you say, it’ll be easy to convince him not to reveal our existence.”

  Morian winced. She could just imagine. Terrifying Finn wouldn’t be hard at all. She’d done it just by looking at him.

  She didn’t want him to have to deal with any more of that. And she was angry at her brothers for ignoring her wishes. “I’ll deal with Finn,” she said firmly. “You all need to leave him alone.” As she spoke, she headed out into the living room only to come face to face with Zara and Audrey, both standing there as though waiting for her.

  “Seriously?” she demanded of her brothers. “You left your mates here to try to stop me? Do you really think that’s going to work?”

  There was silence from her brothers. Either they really were counting on their mates, or they were too busy climbing the mountain. Did that mean Finn had made it past her protections? And if it did, what did that mean? She needed to get out there, and fast.

  Morian ignored her brothers’ silence and turned to Zara and Audrey.

  “You’re not going to be able to stop me,” she told both of them firmly.

  “Stop you?” Audrey said, obviously confused.

  “Does this have something to do with why Dam headed off and told me to stay here?” Zara demanded. “Because if you’re going after him, I’m going too. What has he done now?”

  It was Morian’s turn to look confused. “You’re not going to stop me?” she repeated.

  “No,” both women said at once. Then Zara asked, “What’s going on?”

  Morian didn’t have time for explanations. It was already going to be next to impossible to get to Finn before her brothers. Nor was she sure she could even begin to explain. Maybe to Zara, they’d known each other since they were kids, even if Zara had been more inclined to agree with Damrian than her, but Audrey she didn’t even know.

  “Those three buffoons are going to hassle my mate,” she said, her voice coming out in more of a growl than she’d inte
nded. “And I’m going to stop them.”

  “Why would they do that?” Audrey screwed up her nose.

  “Because they think no one is ever going to be good enough for their little sister,” Zara said shrewdly.

  Morian wasn’t surprised Zara got it. She’d been there, seen how her brothers had protected her. Maybe even been a little jealous of it.

  Audrey looked at Morian knowingly. Perhaps she had overprotective brothers too. “Do you love him?” she asked Morian.

  As if it was even a question. As if a dragon could not love her mate.

  But Finn and Morian weren’t mated yet, not truly. Not in the ‘never going to care for anyone else ever again’ kind of way. And yet, it didn’t matter. To Morian it already felt like they were. Even if Finn never got over his fear of dragons, Morian couldn’t imagine her ever caring about anyone else the way she cared about Finn.

  “Yes, I love him,” she said simply.

  “Then let’s go show those pigheaded dragons they don’t get to tell you who you’re going to mate,” Zara said firmly.

  Morian hesitated. Personally she’d rather go alone. She might have tolerated her brothers’ help growing up, even loved them for it, but right now, she wanted to prove she could do this by herself. That she didn’t need help.

  Only one thing stopped her. If Finn made it to her second protection before she caught up to him, he was going to be petrified. She’d need to calm him down. And she didn’t want to be dealing with her brothers while she was doing that.

  “Okay, let’s go,” she agreed.

  And all three of them headed out towards the path.

  Morian just hoped they weren’t too late.

  Chapter 18

  Finn wasn’t sure how long he stood there, frozen half way through a step, torn between wanting to go forwards, and wanting to run away. The fear and the panic were so intense he wasn’t even sure if he took a single breath.

  It was pointless. Why was he even fighting this? He should just give up and turn around. He could leave a message for Mora, that would achieve the same aim.