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Category: Romance/Fantasy
Description: Can a battered dragon warrior overcome past mistakes? After an attack by dark wraiths, exiled guardian Allauria Grace, treks up a mountain in the middle of a snowstorm to locate her dragon. Once there, she finds a reluctant Callum McDrakken. In fact, he wants nothing to do with her and refused to let her in his haven. They battle through memories of a tangled past and a devastating injury that left Callum unable to transform into his dragon form. With the looming threat of wraiths and the possibility of Allauria becoming one herself, they wonder if there is still a chance for this dragon to have his mate. Contains M/F sex with steamy against-the-wall shower scene. Add in a fiery shape-shifting dragon warrior for fun.
eBook Publisher: Lyrical Press, Inc., 2010 2010
eBookwise Release Date: April 2010

11 Reader Ratings:

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Available eBook Formats: OEBFF Format (IMP) [86 KB]
Words: 17023
Reading time: 48-68 min.

Pointing energy higher up the mountain, she sent her magic through heavy clouds, needing to locate the dragon warrior on sentry above his mountain--his self-proclaimed exile from their home castle. A haven where she wasn't welcomed, but couldn't stay away from. After five long painful years, she needed to see this dragon.

When she failed to locate him or reach his mind, Lauri pulled the gifts back inside to preserve what she could. Stepping into a clearing, Lauri scooped up snow and placed it on her tongue. Eyes closed a brief moment as icy coldness slid down, setting off a surge of brain freeze, before it mingled with other pains. She pressed another scoop against the wounds in her side to numb them. A hiss escaped her lips, filled with an icy sensation of the impromptu cold pack.

She noticed the snow-covered ground changed from a shining white reflecting the moonlight to a deep shadow. A silent scream escaped her when an enormous dark figure swooped down from the clouds. The figure wasn't a wraith, but a powerful dragon. For now, she would be safe. A dragon wouldn't kill a mortal on the spot no matter what past sins she may carry he wouldn't strike.

One large foreclaw with white talons nearly the length of a forearm stretched. Frozen toes left the ground. When the dragon plucked her up, she became weightless. Tucked up against a powerful chest filled with soft scales, she moaned with utter pleasure when warmth melted the chilly inner ice. Though she knew this was a warrior, Lauri didn't know if this was the dragon she sought. Closing tired eyes, she rested against a smooth scale.

For now, this one sweet moment, flying through the air, clutched against a warm body, she was safe, back where she belonged in a powerful, but tender foreclaw.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't throw yer worthless ass back out in the snow, Allauria Grace?"

Popping up to a sitting position far too fast for a maltreated body at the sound of an accent ripped from the Scottish Highlands, Lauri whimpered in agony She let go of control at the full body spasm to ward off a chill, and almost slid toward a convulsion. Short, fast breaths trickled. She tried to control the agonizing flashes. She lay back against the sofa's arm, wrapping an arm tight around her waist.

Within a short while, the pain subsided to a dull insistent throb. It irritated more than anything else did. She managed to meet dangerous hazel eyes. They were eyes she knew. Only instead of seeing this gaze filled with care, love or even protection, intense anger at this unexpected arrival flooded them. This intense emotion caused there to be more gold than green swirled within the mixed irises.

Still, they were the eyes of the one she sought, Callum McDrakken. Bound through aged bloodlines by rituals, the dragon was protector, warrior to her guardian position. Only through mistakes, they tore away that position. While she left the castle in distress, bereft, grieving, she heard Callum's roar.

It was the last time she heard his voice.

"Well? Ye better give me one blasted good reason, lass. I have no patience when it comes to dealing with you." His Scottish burr reared up, more pronounced with anger.

She scrambled, reached for the first reason to pop in her poor brain, which still thumped to the beat of massive kettledrums. "There was an attack by wraiths on the castle."

Arms crossed over his powerful chest as he stared, biceps flexed, ticked with a spurt of unconscious movement in his body. "That is the best you got?"

"The most important."

His eyes narrowed. His chiseled jawline clenched on one side, under the ear she wanted to nuzzle, kiss. "Ye need to figure a better one. I know what happened."

"How?"

"Liam called earlier. I do have access to a satellite phone. He told me about the attack, as is proper of the castle's chief dragon warrior. There isn't any danger. They succeeded in pushing them back."

She dropped her gaze down in relief. "Good, everyone is safe."

"No thanks to ye."

"Me? How could I bring about an attack?"

"I'm sure ye did something while you were away to draw the wraiths' attentions. If they found you, they would trace ye back to the castle. Ye always managed to get them around you somehow. Why would this time be any different?"

"I haven't done anything to garner attention for the last five years. I've kept to myself since the banishment, only going to school. After school, I went to work to earn money. I live a basic boring lifestyle, keeping only to myself. That's all, Callum. I swear."

"The sworn oath of a liar, a betrayer of her kind," he said with a snort.

"Callum, please--"