Authors: Mallory Hart
CHAPTER 6
It couldn’t go on. He was sure about that.
Owen found himself in his truck, heading back to the same house that had been the beginning of his destruction. He watched the dust kick up. It was a hot day, and the heat did more to him lately since... it happened.
A love song started on the radio, and he slammed a hand down on the button to turn it off. He couldn’t think about the soft romantic songs that he felt should be excluded from now. He was a beast. Not a man, not an animal, but something else entirely.
Worse, he was a beast in love. The vivid memory of the scent of honeysuckle and strawberries hit him. It was Kiara’s scent, always hanging like dessert in the air. Just thinking of her brought the smell back. He felt a desire well up in him, and it was primitive. Raw. He cursed under his breath and his truck rolled up to the house.
There was the damn broken door that started it all, with a hole where the doorknob should be, pathetically sadly at him. Hardly something to curse a man over, but witches weren’t logical. They were crazy. But, he was determined, for himself, and for Kiara – for what they could be together.
It would be too dangerous to go on if he tried to get involved with her. How would he hold her in the night? His throat clenched painfully as he swung the driver’s door open and hit the gravel in his work boots. Going to work had proven challenging too, and he decided to introduce his current clients to a competitor to take over his current projects. A deep shame ripped through him at the hesitant faces of his customers. It was never like him to take any days off, but he had no choice. He was a danger to them too.
He wanted to support Kiara, to make sure her store was the best thing ever to hit this side of Prescott or the entire state of Arizona. His shoes crunched as he walked up. This time, it was easy to push the door with a mighty shove, anger spewing off him in droves.
Sunlight filtered in and there she was, standing there as though she’d been waiting for him. The wrinkles of her face gathered as he glared at her in the dim rays of light falling through the broken windows.
“
Witch
,” He spat out.
“Lowly beast,” She seemed to be smiling, and he hated her for it. “It’s a blessing, you know, the gift I gave you. It’s true that not everyone can handle it.”
“Turn me back.”
She raised a single bony finger and wagged it as if she was scolding a child. “Your woman has taken a sacred lot. I saw her myself, saw her heart after it. If you level that building of hers, I will take back the gift.”
His heart sank as he gnashed his teeth, staring at her with a white-hot hatred inside of his eyes and body. He felt the blood boiling and she merely raised her eyebrows with an unfazed look.
“You can control it,” she told him. Her eyes gave off an odd sparkle, and she smiled crookedly “If you try, if you are pure of heart, you can survive it. Or if not, it can kill you.” She cackled in evil laughter. He turned from her in disgust.
“But why?! And how, how did you do it?”
When he looked back at the spot she was standing, she was no longer there.
Never. He would never sacrifice all of the work that Kiara had poured into her market. He fought unsuccessfully to keep a tear from dripping down his face, as he climbed back into the truck. Grief engulfed him like the dirt cloud rising from behind his tires.
There was nothing left to do but try. But he’d be damned if he put Kiara in danger for it.
“I promise to come for you,” he whispered as he passed the sign for leaving Prescott. He would come back as a master over his new nature and show her the life she deserved.
CHAPTER 7
“Thank you, Ms. Kiara!” a young girl called as she waved goodbye and exited the shop.
Kiara smiled at the group of young girls who’d asked to host a bake sale just outside of her store. Their mother was wrangling the four girls into a minivan. They’d packed up the table of empty boxes of all their sold wares with grateful hearts.
The Harvest tried to give back to the community in any way possible, and Kiara was confident this was a reason for her massive success in Prescott.
Nowhere else could someone get these gorgeous organic blueberries or this freshly baked whole wheat bread so moist and fluffy, and with no preservatives to boot. Healthy eating and living had caught on as a trend for Prescott. The town was organizing marathons and walks for charities with The Harvest being a leading supporter for all of them.
A buzz in her back pocket yanked her out of her happy thoughts. It was her mom.
“How’s Oliver?” She immediately asked.
“Your son is fine,” her mother replied. “I know I was supposed to babysit tonight, but Cecily is hosting a last minute book club and wine night at her place. I’m going to have to drop him off with you earlier at around 5 o’clock. Is that all right with you, sugar?”
“Yes, of course, mom,” Kiara told her. “The new manager I hired, Garrett, is working out great, and I trust him to start closing up in the evenings without me. I’ll be home by five to meet you.”
They chatted for a few more moments before she was pulled away by a delivery coming through. She signed the paper on the clipboard and went about her day, checking in with one of the register clerks to make sure the inventory stocking was going well.
Life was great. Her business was succeeding. Her baby was happy and healthy. A little frown crossed her face. But his father has no idea he even exists.
It’s already been a year since the fateful night, one of the best and worst of her life, she thought as she locked the door to close the store. Her thoughts often dragged her back to Owen with a bittersweet memory. After the horrific event she witnessed, and the subsequent throbbing, animalistic love-making they’d had, he’d completely vanished. She tried and tried to locate him, without any success. It was like he’d disappeared off the face of the earth.
A million scenarios had crossed her mind: he confronted the witch and was killed, he was kidnapped by the witch, or turned into his new form with no chance of reverting.
But a deeper truth remained in her heart as she knew the other situations were unlikely. She knew who he was, who he is. He left because he wanted to protect her... from him.
She began counting the cash register’s drawer for today’s deposit. Her mind flickered back to his smiling face in the diner the day of her return to Prescott. She lost count and swore, returning again to the first dollar.
Would he have stayed if he knew about Oliver? Her stomach clenched with guilt and longing. Her mother was supportive, and in truth, she couldn’t have survived as a newly single mother without her help. She’d told her the baby’s father was a one-night stand, and that he’d never contacted her afterward. Mimi didn’t seem to believe her, though. She loved to talk about how Oliver had Owen’s eyes.
A year.
Her hands went to arrange her braids upwards, out of her face, as she breathed a heavy sigh. Thoughts of Owen kept returning. She huffed. They seemed especially strong tonight.
There was a knock at her office door. She jumped with a start out of her revelry, and leaned backward against her chair.
“Garrett?” she called out. “What is it? Come in.” The door opened a crack, and all she could see was a tall man with dark hair standing in the door’s shadow. Garrett had a much shorter stature, and Kiara nervously reached for her cell phone until the man stepped closer and his face fell into the soft lighting.
Her jaw dropped and so did her phone, clattering loudly against the wooden floor beneath her.
“They told me you’d be in here.”
“Owen,” she breathed. This was a dream. It had to be.
But it really was him, looking even more handsome and rugged than ever, hovering in the entryway with a look of remorse. He was wearing a pair of old jeans and a white t-shirt that was slightly too small to conceal his bulging forearms.
Their eyes met, but he quickly averted her gaze by hanging his head against the door.
“Kiara,” he murmured. So quietly that she almost couldn’t hear it at all. But there was a deep grief buried within it. Tears sprung to her eyes. Tears that she never realized had been hiding for months since Owen had left.
“You left,” her voice cracked.
“I’m sorry,” his reply was immediate as he strode towards her with desperate steps, closing the space between them. He scooped her in his arms. “I’m so sorry.”
It felt incredible to be held by him, finally. The sob in her throat broke loose, and she cried the pain of a year’s loss in his arms.
“Why?” she asked between breaths.
“A year ago... I went to see the witch.”
Her eyes closed, trying to process what she’d already guessed.
“She told me that she wouldn’t turn me back unless... unless I leveled your store,” he said and her eyes sprung open with surprise. He’d refused. She understood now.
“I couldn’t do that. I couldn’t let all your hard work go to waste because of me.”
“She didn’t agree to change you back? What are we going to do, Owen?” She asked and glanced down at their embrace. He chuckled, dark and deep, a pleasant rumble she felt through the fabric of his soft flannel shirt.
“That’s why I left,” he told her. “The witch said something about how I could learn to control it.”
Her teary eyes grew wide. “D-did you?”
His nod was all the answer she needed as let out a happy sigh and squeezed him tightly against her.
Oliver
. She looked up at him again. “Owen, I have something to tell you.”
He gazed down at her with a melting smile and warm eyes. “You can curse me out for an hour if you want to. I deserve it.”
“No, no,” she said while shaking her head and took a deep breath before facing him. “Owen,” she looked deeply into his eyes and licked her lips in a sudden bout of nerves. “While you were gone, I… Owen, you’re a father.”
His eyebrows rocketed upward, and his gasp nearly shook her. He squeezed her twice as hard, this time, picking her up and spinning her with an exuberant cry of joy.
“Kiki! I can’t believe it!”
She pressed her hands against him forcefully. “But, Owen... I think... I think he might be like you. The other day, he was throwing a tantrum, and I swear I thought I saw his hand change into a large, hairy paw for a moment.”
“It’s okay,” he told her and she could see that he truly meant it. His eyes glowed with raw honesty. “I can raise him. I can teach him how to control it.”
Her lips were on his before she even knew what she was doing. A kiss that grieved a lost year and celebrated the return of a man whom she loved; the father of her child. The brave man who had accepted his curse and transformed it into strength.
They embraced for what felt like hours, soft kisses and touches in the middle of the store she’d worked so hard to build. A store he refused to have her give up. Her heart squeezed with overwhelming gratitude.
She had returned to Prescott with a business plan and gotten more than she could’ve ever hoped. Every dream that she’d had was now a reality. She’d found a lover, had a beautiful a son, and built the career of her dreams. Deep in her heart, she knew that this town had and always would be her forever home.
They were married a month later in a small ceremony that people talked about for years to come. Two childhood friends, reunited by chance, with a love forged from trials that their peers could never imagine.
It was only the beginning to a wonderful and happy life. Sometimes, she even found herself thanking that witch on a warm night. Those big dreams she’d brought back to Prescott looked tiny in comparison to the treasures she now had.
Prescott had given her love, and she’d given it right back.
*****
THE END
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Heart of the Dragon Prince
CHAPTER 1
Smoke rolled in great clouds out of Asher’s large red nostrils. He was trying to keep his temper in check with the large claws poking the scales of his breastplate, but it wasn’t working. With every poke and prod from the claws, the shorter Asher’s temper grew. His bright golden eyes stared disdainfully down at the purple iridescent dragon at his chest, and he prayed, for his sake, that he would be done soon.
For the past few weeks, every time he tried to shift back into his human form, Asher has been greeted by a great, roiling pain that would course through his entire body. After a month of it only getting worse, he finally decided to see a healer. The purple dragon finally pushed Asher’s bright red scales back into place and sat back on his haunches. In most places, the world had simply gotten too big for dragons. Humans populated nearly every area possible - except for the volcanoes. If a dragon shifter needed to be in another form, the expansive caverns in the volcanoes around the world were the only place to go.
Asher had chosen one of the many volcanoes in Hawaii. It had a convenient waterway underneath that he could use to go diving for his dinner and then come back up into the warmth without ever needing to shift into his human form. His healer, Yosef, had come all the way the original dragon’s keep in the Carpathian Mountains, where the king of the dragon shifters resided.
“Tell me Yosef,” Asher pleaded, looking down at the smaller dragon. “What’s wrong with me?”
A roll of smoke blew out of Yosef’s nostrils, and he shook his head sadly.
“It is what I have feared,” he said. “Your heart embers are burning out, Lord Asher. You only have a few months to live.”
The news, though expected, rocked Asher to his very core. His family was next in line for the dragon’s throne. If he couldn’t take it when the king stepped down in a year’s time, then he would have to have an heir to take it. After hundreds of years of waiting, his dream to have the chance to rule their people was slipping out of his clawed fingertips.
“What should I do?” Asher asked, his mind racing.
Yosef slowly began to shift, shrinking from his twenty-five-foot figure to a much smaller five feet, five inches. The human that was standing in the purple dragon’s place was thin, balding, and needed glasses. After pulling on his clothes, he reached for his medical bag.
“The king had suspected your illness, sire, after I told him of your symptoms. You must attempt to produce an heir before you pass, as the laws of our kingdom decree. I have a potion for you, a tonic that will help your heart to be strong enough to shift back into your human form. The human doctors have certain medicines that will delay your death and give you time to find a woman.”
Yosef pulled out an ornate sapphire blue glass bottle with an ample cork and placed it on the small, rough-hewn wooden table. Beside it, he laid the scroll and a parcel of clothing.
“Time is of the essence my friend,” Yosef explained, popping the cork off of the bottle. We must get started right away.”
~
Claudia breathed in the crisp new smell of fresh ice as she stepped onto the rink. She loved the rush of excitement she felt every time she skated back onto the ice. It had been a long competition with a lot of training, but after all of her hard work, she had won her gold medal at the Olympics. For the next two months, she would be allowed to skate leisurely, just for fun. True, it may have been her life’s work to be on the ice, but it was also her favorite place to be in the entire world.
Her brilliant green eyes took in the smiles and gasps of the young children skating around her. Many of them recognized her from TV, and they all came skating over to say hello. One by one she patiently signed their skates, and when they were all done, she asked for space to stretch her legs. The children, all excited to see her do one of her many tricks, quickly left the ice rink to let Claudia do her thing. With no judges to please, Claudia raced, spun, jumped, and glided through the air, letting her freestyle take her wherever it wanted to go.
Applause went up in the air as she landed a double backward twist, and she bowed at her waist towards her audience. She smiled and waved at all the children, but the lone man in the bleachers is who caught her eye. The man, even from her distance, was very handsome. He had shoulder length dark hair, bright eyes, and a large, muscular build. Even through the dark blue fleece he was wearing, she could see that he was a man of immense strength.
And he wasn’t taking his eyes off of her.
A chill of excitement ran down her spine as she did another pirouette for the children. Out of breath, she skated slowly towards the rink entrance, her eyes still glued to the handsome stranger. It wasn’t until she felt the tugging of her coat that she tore her gaze away from him.
“Miss Claudia, will you take a picture with me? Please?” A little girl in a pink puffy jacket and matching tutu asked, holding her camera up. Patiently, Claudia agreed and posed with the children until they were all gone. Her heart sank when she finally looked back up to the spot and saw that the handsome stranger was nowhere to be found. Not in the mood to skate anymore, Claudia sat down on the bench, finally alone, and began removing her skates.
“Need some help with those?”
Looking up, Claudia smiled widely as she saw the handsome stranger hadn’t left after all. He took a seat beside her on the bench and held out his hands.
“I would love some,” she replied, placing her right foot in his hands. Even through her skate and thick socks, Claudia could feel the heat from his hands. He was surprisingly very warm, and she loved it. Nervously, she tucked a strand of her strawberry blonde hair behind her ear and tried to think of something to say.
“I’m Claudia, by the way. Claudia Taylor.”
The stranger pulled her skate off of her foot before he looked up at her and smiled.
“Hi, Claudia. I’m Asher.” He held out his hand to her, and Claudia quickly removed her mitten to shake it. His skin was warm and rough, and it made her tingle from head to toe. His eyes, a peculiar gold, seemed to see straight into her as he held her hand in his.
“Would you like to have dinner with me, Claudia?” Asher asked, slowly letting his hand slip from hers. She missed the warmth as soon as it was gone. There was something about it; it completed her somehow.
“I’d like that,” she whispered.