Her Dragon: An Urban Fantasy Romance (Silver Shifter Book 2) Read online

  Silver Shifter Book Two

  Her Dragon

  Alexa B. James & Katherine Bogle

  Silver Shifter 2

  Silver Shifter 2: Her Dragon

  Copyright © 2019 Alexa B. James & Katherine Bogle

  First Edition

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the express written permission of the publisher, except in cases of a reviewer quoting brief passages in a review.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are used factiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, and events are entirely coincidental. Use of any copyrighted, trademarked, or brand names in this work of fiction does not imply endorsement of that brand.

  Published in the United States by Speak Now.

  ISBN-13: 978-1-945780-70-7

  Cover Design by Katzilla Designs

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  1. Ariana

  2. Ariana

  3. Ariana

  4. Max

  5. Ariana

  6. Ariana

  7. Cash

  8. Ariana

  9. Ariana

  10. Ariana

  11. Ariana

  12. Jett

  13. Ariana

  14. Ariana

  15. Ariana

  16. Ariana

  17. Ariana

  18. Ariana

  Chapter One

  About Katherine Bogle

  About Alexa B. James

  1

  Ariana

  I woke slowly with a warm glow filling my whole body, though I was so exhausted I didn’t think I could move a single muscle. Not even my eyelids. A sense of contentment settled in my belly and radiated outward. Despite my inclination to avoid movement, my curiosity took over and lifted my lids for me. I found myself lying on my back in a strange bed.

  What the hell? The last thing I remembered, I’d been riding in a car on the way to bear territory. And then…

  Shit. Vampires had attacked.

  Before I could freak out, my wolf clued me in on my surroundings. She was happy. I wasn’t in a silver cage. I was safe and surrounded by my mates. Maximus lay on one side of me, his hand resting protectively on my waist. His eyes were closed and his dark hair fell across his forehead. Owen lay on my other side, his big hand gently enfolding mine. His blue eyes were fixed on me, and his long blond hair spilled across the pillow beside him. Cash paced beside the bed while Jett leaned against the wall, frowning at his phone as he tapped at the screen. Apparently, whatever had happened was worthy of his presence but not his attention.

  I opened my mouth to speak, but my throat felt like it had been incinerated by a blow torch. Grinding my teeth against the pain, I forced the words out. “What happened?”

  Cash jumped about two feet in the air, which would have made me laugh if not for the pulsing pain in my throat. “Get her some water,” he said, rushing to the bed.

  Water. Fuck yes. I felt like I could drink a five-gallon bucket of ice water, and it still wouldn’t quench my thirst.

  Owen and Maximus both reached for the glass of water on the bedside table. They both snatched it up at once, then paused to glare at each other over the rim of the cup they held clutched over my parched mouth.

  Jett snorted with laughter.

  “Oh, for fuck’s sake,” I rasped, grabbing the glass out of their hands and chugging the water in four glorious swallows. At least half of it splashed onto my chin and neck, but that felt just as good as the stuff sliding down my throat. It only kindled the raging thirst burning inside me. If anything, it had only gotten worse now that I’d had a few drops.

  Owen jumped off the bed and slipped through the door without a word. My wolf whined with annoyance. My human side was so parched I thought I’d shrivel up like a piece of Ariana jerky if I didn’t get some water in the next ten seconds. As if hearing my thought, Owen appeared with another tall glass of water.

  I wanted to thank him, but I didn’t know if I had the energy to say two things, and my greedy side won. “I’m going to need more.”

  “Take it easy,” Cash said, sinking onto the bed beside me. His black hair fell in tight curls around his handsome face. “You can have as much as you need, but drink it slowly. It won’t help if you get sick and have to start all over.”

  Owen held the glass to my lips, and this time, I managed to swallow all the water instead of spilling half of it. My body yearned for more fluids, more coldness.

  “It takes a lot out of you to breathe fire,” Cash said. “You probably just overdid it your first time. If I’d known…”

  Suddenly, a memory flashed in my mind. Falling. Shifting. Spewing flames.

  Holy fucking shit. I was the blowtorch that had incinerated my throat.

  “What?” I whispered, my throat feeling clearer despite my continued craving.

  “If I’d known you could shift into a dragon, I would have trained you a little,” Cash said. “I thought—we all thought—you were a wolf.”

  I’d thought I was a wolf. If I were more, shouldn’t I have known all my life? I’d known I was a wolf for as long as I’d known I was human. Hell, I’d known I was a wolf during the years of fighting, when I’d almost forgotten I was human.

  How was I just now finding out about this?

  “Ariana?” Owen prompted.

  I realized they were all waiting for an answer, but I couldn’t give them what they wanted. I didn’t know how it had happened, either.

  “I didn’t know,” I said at last. “It’s never happened before.”

  “That’ll do it, then,” Cash said. “You need to know how to make fire so it won’t burn you up and deplete you. Most of us start small and work our way up to bigger things.”

  “Like humans,” I whispered, horrified at the memories swirling through me. People running across a rooftop, fleeing in terror. Holy shit, I’d eaten someone whole.

  “Not humans,” Maximus croaked beside me. “Vampires.”

  Right. I’d swallowed a vampire. There was literally a bloodsucker inside me. I held a hand to my stomach as it churned. Gross.

  I turned to look at Maximus. He looked more tired than I felt. Then I remembered why I’d done it, why I’d shifted—why I’d killed those vamps. For him, my mate, who had been tortured and chained in silver. A rush of protective anger washed through me. Someone had fucked with the wrong girl’s mate. He deserved to be swallowed whole like the worm he was.

  “Are you okay?” I asked, stroking Maximus’s chestnut hair away from his forehead.

  “Fine,” he growled, turning his face away. A muscle in his sculpted jaw jumped, though, belying the pain he was in.

  “Why haven’t you healed?” I asked.

  “Silver poisoning,” he said, still facing away from me. “I was cut with a silver blade. It slows down healing.”

  Awww, he didn’t want me to see him in a weakened state. It was kind of cute, especially since I was feeling better by the second. But I didn’t want to embarrass him in front of the other guys, so I didn’t push.

  “How about that water now?” I asked, turning to Cash.

  “I’ll get a gallon,” he said with a grin, sliding off the bed and loping out of the room.

  “Maybe it’s your Silver Shifter gift,” Jett said from where he still leaned on the wall, seemingly unconcerned with my awakening. I knew
he was my mate—my wolf didn’t make mistakes—and I knew that Jett knew it, too. But he’d refused to be bonded to me through a blood exchange.

  Owen, Maximus, and I turned to stare at him.

  “What do you mean?” Owen asked.

  Jett shrugged and started tapping on his phone screen again. “Maybe her Silver Shifter gift is to shift into something besides a wolf.”

  I fought my irritation that he was talking about me like I wasn’t there. But that was the least of my concerns right now. “Wouldn’t I have known about it before?” I asked. “Even if I didn’t know it, haven’t I always been the Silver Shifter?”

  “Maybe it happened when you took them as mates,” Jett said.

  We remained silent as his words sank in. All I could think about was how he said I took them as mates. My wolf growled at being denied her fourth mate, but I couldn’t imagine Jett ever letting me get close enough to kiss him, let alone do a blood exchange. I couldn’t pretend the rejection didn’t sting. Not that I was any more anxious to get cuddly than he was. The others might challenge me at times, but Jett had been just plain dickish since the moment we met. My wolf, however, made no such distinctions. She found the sight of his hardened muscles, velvety brown skin, and sculpted features just as yummy as all the others’.

  A minute later, Cash returned carrying a gallon jug of water as promised. “What did I miss?” he asked, his eyes moving from one of us to the next.

  “Jett has an interesting theory,” Owen said. “What if Ari gained powers from taking a mate?”

  Jett snorted. “Try three. She took three mates.”

  “So maybe I have three powers,” I said, ignoring Jett’s pointed reminder that I’d gone against the rules of werewolf mating. I chose to believe that’s what he was doing, not that he was rubbing it in that he was the lone hold-out.

  “Can you shift into anything else?” Owen asked, his blue eyes hopeful. “Like a bear?”

  “I could try,” I said, though in truth, just talking was exhausting. “Let me have another drink first.” I reached for the water in Cash’s hand, my fingers trembling.

  Owen supported the jug while I gulped down water until I could hear it sloshing in my stomach with every swallow. I was too tired to be embarrassed. God, I was tired.

  I closed my eyes for a second and tried to feel another presence inside me. My wolf was strong—maybe stronger than my human side. She was happy to be surrounded by her mates, despite Jett’s refusal to bond with me officially. My dragon, well, she was happily sleeping. Ariana the human was supremely jealous of her.

  No matter how I strained, I couldn’t feel anything else inside me. At last, I opened my eyes, my body just about melting with the effort I’d put in.

  “There’s nothing else,” I said. “No other animals. Just my wolf, my dragon, and me.”

  “That must be a fun party,” Jett said, smirking.

  “No bear?” Owen asked, looking slightly wounded.

  I shook my head, letting my eyes fall closed again.

  “I thought that maybe, since you’d taken me as a mate, too…”

  “I’m sorry,” I whispered. Now that my thirst was sated for the moment at least, I wanted nothing more than to sleep for a week straight.

  “That’s enough excitement for the day,” Maximus said. “You’re going to wear her out if you keep pushing her.”

  “She took three mates,” Jett said. “Shouldn’t she expect to get worn out?”

  “Get out,” Maximus growled, pushing halfway up off the bed, his jaw clenched and his eyes flashing.

  “I was already on my way,” Jett said as he swaggered out of the room. I swear he had a little extra bounce in his step and a lot of laughter in his voice. The bastard.

  “All of you,” Maximus said, glaring at Cash and Owen. “We both need rest, and Ariana doesn’t need you hovering over her while she sleeps.”

  “You’re right,” Cash said. “I’ll join the wolves who are patrolling the pack’s land. I can keep a lookout from the air.”

  “Feel better soon,” Owen said, leaning over to kiss my forehead. Our eyes met, and the warmth and concern in his gaze made my heart glow with warmth. I hadn’t spent much time with Owen yet, but I knew he was as committed to me as Maximus.

  “I will,” I whispered.

  When the other two had left, Maximus rolled toward me and wrapped his arms around me. “Thank you,” he whispered, nuzzling my ear.

  “I should be thanking you,” I said. “You got us some peace and quiet.”

  “You saved my life,” Maximus said, his voice serious.

  “You would have done the same for me.”

  “I would have,” he said, inhaling my scent. “I would die for you, Ari.”

  I slid my arms around him, reveling in the strength of his embrace even when he was injured. I rested my head against his firm chest and closed my eyes. Despite his flaws, I knew in that moment that there was no one on earth who understood me better—who would protect me and anticipate my every need better than Maximus, my stubborn, prickly, beloved wolf mate.

  2

  Ariana

  I awoke the next day to a cold breeze sweeping over my bare shoulders. I shivered and slowly opened my eyes, blinking into the sun streaming through the window beside the bed. Navy blue curtains fluttered in the breeze, flapping against the headboard. I sighed and turned over, reaching out for the man I’d fallen asleep beside.

  I froze when no warmth met my hand. “Maximus?”

  My heartbeat sped up as I pushed onto my elbows. My wolf mate was nowhere to be seen, and from the cold spot next to me, he’d been gone for some time. I glared at the door. He was supposed to be resting.

  I flicked off the comforter and slid out of the bed, shuffling around the room in search of clean clothes. What I found were a lot of Maximus’s clothes and none of mine. Well, shit. I needed a shower and some of my own clothes, but not before I found out what was going on and why my injured mate was out of bed.

  Once I pulled on one of Maximus’s gray t-shirts, I ran my fingers through my unruly silver waves and sauntered into the hallway.

  Voices drifted up from the first floor, and my wolf whined, desperate to be with her mates. I shushed her and crept down the hall, straining to make out the words drifting up from the first floor. We’d be with our mates soon enough.

  “Jett just got back to me,” Cash said.

  Why were they being so quiet? Had they heard me get up?

  “About the vampires?” Owen asked. I heard him shift on the sofa.

  “Yeah,” Cash said gruffly. “He found out who Ari killed.”

  Silence fell in the living room below. I paused at the top of the stairs, my heart racing as I waited for his next words.

  “Ariana?” Maximus’s voice drifted up the steps.

  I bristled. Damn. I’d been caught. Of course I couldn’t hide my presence from my alpha. He could sense any wolf in his pack when they drew near, and he’d be especially attuned to his mate.

  “Would you come down here, please?”

  “Coming.” I trudged down the steps to find three of my mates in varying states of anxiety. Maximus sat on the long sofa closest to me, one foot propped up on the coffee table and his arm over the back of the couch. Cash paced at the far edge of the room while Owen sat on the edge of the loveseat with his elbows resting on his knees and his hands clasped together.

  “What’s going on?” I asked.

  Cash stopped pacing and exchanged a quick look with the others. My nostrils flared as I realized they might have intended to keep me out of this.

  “Tell me who I killed,” I demanded, crossing my arms over my chest and staring them down.

  Cash sighed, and after getting a nod from Maximus, looked at me. “You killed the next Vampire King of New York.”

  I froze. What? Out of all the vampires that could have come after me, all those in service to my former master, I never expected it to be someone else altogether. Could this have noth
ing to do with the warlock who had kept be imprisoned for most of my life?

  “You’re sure?” I sounded weak even to myself.

  Maximus took my hand and pulled me forward until I rounded the couch to sit beside him. Once I had, he pulled me against him and rubbed my shoulder absently. I leaned into his touch as I absorbed Cash’s words. What would the vampire royalty want with me? I wasn’t a vampire, and aside from my Silver Shifter duties, I wasn’t any different from any other shifter in New York.

  “Jett is sure,” Cash said, his mouth set in a grim line.

  “What aren’t you saying?” I asked. My pulse pounded harder until it rang in my ears. I didn’t like the look on his face. Where was my smirking mate? Anything that could make Cocky Cash that concerned could not be good.

  Cash sighed and ran a hand through his dark hair. “The vampires are out for blood. They want revenge. Even the Lamia Queen is enraged.”

  My eyebrows furrowed. “The who?”

  Cash’s lips twitched into a small smile. “You know. The Lamia Queen? The ruler of all vampires. Wicked bitch of the east?”

  My eyes widened, and I shook my head. This was so not good. I’d eaten the future king. Did that mean I’d eaten her husband or her rival? She should be thanking me if it was the latter. If it was the former… I shivered. I was so fucked.

  “We’ll protect you,” Maximus assured me as he pulled me closer.

  I sighed. I wasn’t worried about that. I could take care of myself, especially with this new dragon lurking inside of me. She might be asleep now, but I had a feeling that after she awakened again, she’d unfurl her wings and douse the world in fire.