The Dragon's Familiar: A Dragon Shifter Romance (Falling For a Dragon Book 1)

CHAPTER ONE

Who knew a single drop of blood could change a whole world?

I sure didn’t, at least not on that cold, dreary night so long ago. All my thoughts were focused on getting home and stepping out of the high heels I wore to make myself look taller than my middling height. Also, they were great for an impromptu tap dance in the bathrooms. Well, when nobody was looking.

What are you thinking, Kate Dena?

I sighed. There was that inner voice again, scolding me for being silly. I looked back fondly on the days when as a kid that adult voice didn’t haunt my footsteps and scold me into being a, well, an adult.

Speaking of adulting, my thoughts had wandered far too long. I heard a loud familiar honk a block ahead of me. That was the bus parked at my stop, but not for long.

Panic overtook me and I raced forward. The rear brake lights flashed off and the bus pulled away from the curb, oblivious that one passenger still remained on the sidewalk. I stumbled along the broken walk and reached the stop as the bus pulled away from the light down the street. All was lost.

Now look what happened? You should have been faster!

I glared into the growing gloom. Seriously? How bad can walking home be?

Me and my big mouth.

It turned out walking home wasn’t bad. It was way worse than that. Still, that was in the future, and at the present time, I had only one choice.

Feet, get moving, I commanded myself, and I marched forward with my heels clopping on the sidewalk.

I’d forgotten how many blocks lay between my place of work and home, but I soon found out it was a heck of a lot. The bus trip usually took a little over a half hour, but an hour later found me still far from home and feeling the pain of my choice of footwear. I hurried past a dark opening to an alley but paused and backed up a few steps to stand in the mouth of the monster.

The narrow road could hardly be called paved. Maybe ‘patches of pavement with clots of dirt and trash’ would be more accurate. Rusted trash cans overflowed like an all-you-can-eat buffet, and not a single beam of light intruded on the horrible silence.

I bit my lip. My memory recalled this being a shorter route to home, but I’d be going along a few blocks with which I wasn’t too familiar. Still, that would shave off a lot of time, and my aching feet pleaded with me to find courage.

I took a deep breath and plunged into the darkness. Little did I know that my shortcut would turn out like every other shortcut. It would become the long way home.

My high heels clacked against the bits of pavement that still remained as I skirted stinking puddles and even worse trash heaps. The alley was hardly ten feet wide and brick walls loomed up on either side of me, creating a long tunnel effect. The light at the other end didn’t guarantee an end to my journey. That was another block down and a couple of turns.

I held my breath as I passed through the stench that lingered in the air. A proper description would have been some cross between rotten eggs and gym socks used for a month without washing. I had to pause at the intersection in the middle of the large block and breath in the air that swept through the other outlets.

Noises caught my attention. They came from halfway down the part of the intersecting alley to my left. I pressed my chest against the wall and scooted closer to the corner before I peeked around the brick wall.

Three shadows lurked in the alley. Their bulk and stiff manner of moving told me they were all men. Two of them stood over another who sat on the ground at their feet.

The shaky voice of the man on the ground floated over to me. P-please let me go!

One of the men who stood over the quivering fellow shook his head. Not until you hand over the wallet and the watch.

My blood ran cold as I realized what I was witnessing. It was a robbery, and the men weren’t asking politely for the money. One of them had a gun, the barrel of which he pointed at their cowering victim.

The meek man on the ground shrank away from the weapon. P-please! There’s no money in there!

One of the other men scoffed. That’s what they all say, isn’t it, Joe?

Joe scowled at his cohort. Shut the fuck up! What the fuck are you doing using my name?

The man with the gun shrank away from Joe. Sorry, man. I just wasn’t thinking.

So, what’s new? Joe snapped before he whipped his head back to their victim. Now fork it over!

Joe grabbed the man’s left arm and tried to pry a fancy glistening gold watch off the smaller man’s wrist. No!

I don’t know what I was thinking. Maybe I wasn’t. Either way, with my heart pounding in my ears, I frantically searched the ground. My eyes fell on the remains of a bicycle, no doubt scavenged by the local crew of hobos. I grabbed a pair of broken pedals and stepped out into the intersection.

My voice was a little shaky but came out loud and clear. Leave him alone!

The men whipped their heads up and their eyes flashed with anger and a little fear. That’s when I lobbed my ‘grenades’ at them. In my usual style, one struck the wall close to the head of the gun-wielding assailant and clattered to the ground. The second throw, however, struck its mark. Sort of.

I had aimed for their heads, but my second throw was too short and struck the weaponless man in the groin. His eyes slightly crossed, and he stumbled to the side until his shoulder hit the brick wall. The man’s companion was understanding as he burst into laughter.

The man I had so wronged glared up at his companion before he wrenched the gun from the other man’s hand. He lifted his shaking hand and pointed the barrel at me, his eyes ablaze with fury. I’m gonna kill you, you stupid bitch!

Panic overtook me and I ducked behind the wall. Surely, he didn’t mean it. That’s when a bullet struck the corner and chipped off a piece of brick.

I ran.

My feet pounded against the broken pavement and my arms pumped at my sides. That’s when I heard another shot, but there was no whiz past my face. This one was quick, taken at point-blank range.

You didn’t have to do that, Joe!

I’m not gonna have any witnesses!

My blood ran cold as a realization struck me. They’d murdered their victim. Now I was next.

Footsteps echoed behind me as the men gave chase. I reached the mouth of the alley and ducked around the corner as another shot struck the bricks close beside me.

I didn’t take heed of where I went, only that I needed to get out of the line of sight as quickly as possible. Another alley presented itself across the street and, according to strict city codes, was slightly misaligned from the one from which I’d just escaped.

I raced across the street and into the alley. A shout came from one of my attackers. Just let it go, Joe!

Not this one! Joe shouted.

I reached the mouth of the alley and found it to be wider and cleaner than the others. Just my luck that there would be no trash to dive into. There was, however, an apartment building along one side, and a rusted fire escape offered my frantic mind a plan.

I scrambled over a short pile of boxes and managed to grab the bottom rung of the ladder. The ladder was so rusted that it didn’t fall down as designed, but that was good for me. With the adrenaline pumping in my veins, I managed to pull myself up and I scurried to the bottom platform.

There I waited.

I held my breath as the shadows of the men stretched into the alley. Joe still held the gun, and his eyes were full of white-hot fury as he inched forward. Where the hell did the bitch go?

His companion grabbed Joe’s arm and gave it a tug. I don’t know, Joe, but we’d better scram. The cops could be here any time now.

Joe shrugged off his friend’s hand. You think anyone’s gonna call them around here?

They stopped beneath my hiding spot. The gun glistened in the weak light from the lamppost outside the alley. Instinct told me to flee, but there was only one place to go, and that was up.

I eased my head back, but even that slight bit of movement made the rusty grates beneath me squeak. The men whipped their heads back and their searching eyes soon found me. Joe lifted the gun, and that was my cue to run.

I raced up the stairs as another bullet whizzed past me. The clamor beneath me warned me that they were climbing the ladder. I had reached the last platform when one of my heels caught in the grates. A weak cry escaped me as I looked down, and there, two floors below me, stood Joe with the barrel pointed at my head. A horrible grin stretched his face as he squeezed the trigger.

I flung myself against the wall and my foot slipped out of my shoe just as the shot rang out. The bullet struck the upper part of my arm and went straight through. A horrible white-hot pain penetrated my body, and blood began to flow freely. I wrapped my hand around the part of my arm above the bleeding as the men continued their chase.

Instinct screamed at me to continue running, and so I did up the last flight of stairs and onto the flat roof of fine gravel and trash. An ancient wooden door in the center of the roof led inside. I raced over to it and tried the knob. Locked.

I pounded my fists against the wood as tears streamed down my face. Let me in! Somebody let me in!

The gravel crunched behind me. I spun around to face the pair as they climbed onto the roof, the gun at the ready for the final shot. Heart pounding, I whipped my head to and fro.

There! A nearby roof! With gasping breath, I dashed across the roof and made it to the short wall that surrounded the area, but I didn’t slow down. Desperation forced me to leap onto the low wall and I used my momentum to propel myself across the gap.

Unfortunately, the cut proved to be a chasm. I fell short of the other roof but managed to grab the edge of its low wall. My momentum meant I slammed into the brick wall and had the breath knocked out of me. The agony in my arm increased two-fold as I hung there, unable to pull myself up.

Some of the blood from my arm dripped off my sleeve and fell to the ground some seventy feet below me. My life fluid dropped into a puddle, and a soft ripple disturbed the water. The wind suddenly picked up beneath my feet and the gusts distorted the colors in the water, creating a strange picture that didn’t match the gap.

A chuckle came from behind me. I twisted my head around and found Joe leering at me with his companion just behind him. There was no mercy in his eyes.

The wind tugged at my feet as I felt my fingers slip, and I slowly slid closer to my doom. The puddle seemed to stretch across the whole width of the alley as the strange colors swirled about creating a new picture that reflected a completely different place.

Joe lifted the barrel of the gun and grinned. Like shooting fish in a barrel.

One doom for another. The ground would have more mercy than the man with the gun. I opened my hands and fell to my death. Only it wasn’t death that awaited me. It was just the beginning of my journey.

CHAPTER TWO

I shut my eyes and my body tensed as I prepared for the feel of cold water and hard earth. What I felt, however, was only a whoosh of chilly air and then a touch of a soft wind against my cheeks. I opened my eyes and found myself in a thick mist. The white stuff flew past me in blobs like cream, and I realized it wasn’t mist but clouds, and I was falling through them.

A few openings appeared in the clouds, and I glimpsed thousands of sparkling lights below me. They dotted the landscape of houses large and small, dwarfed by ancient temples, stone ruins, and a castle atop a black stone that towered above all else on its craggy rock that overlooked a large but crowded bay.

This had to be a dream. Or heaven. Either way, I was a thousand feet above those twinkling lights, and falling fast.

What really caught my attention, and my hope, was a small fleet of some half dozen wooden ships with large billowing sails. They weren’t in the bay, however, but high in the air. Still, they were lower than where I was falling and a couple hundred yards away.

I twisted around and looked up. The cloud bank from where I had emerged had a gaping vortex that slowly closed, shutting off my view of the puddle through which I’d dropped.

A bitter wind stampeded past me, and I tumbled head over heels. I managed to right myself, but my mind could imagine the horrible end that awaited me at the end of this cold journey.

Movement from the ships caught my attention, and I glimpsed a throng of people on the deck of the largest vessel. One of the figures leapt onto the side wall of the ship and my eyes widened as a pair of birds’ wings burst out of their back. They flapped hard and took off from the vessel. Hope was kindled within me as they made a straight shot toward my diving position. As they neared, I could make out a black plate of armor on their chest and chain-mail leggings and sleeves.

The man, or whatever he was, flew just slightly above me and extended his hand toward me. As the old saying goes, any salvation in a snowstorm, so I twisted around and stretched out my own hand.

Our fingers entwined with each other, and I felt a strange warm spark flow through my entire body. A brilliant white light radiated out of our connection and flowed over me like a tidal wave of sea foam that twined around each other to create illuminated strands.

The next moment huge white wings burst out of my back, ripping the rear of my shirt and coat to shreds. The sensation was a mixture of pain and pleasure, like eating your favorite ice cream too quickly. My newborn wings enveloped the startled man in a flurry of loose feathers, and he jerked back, breaking our connection. I was left to fall on my own.

I tried to reconnect with him, and in doing so the wind tucked under my wings, slowing my descent as I glided across the uneven rooftops of that metropolis. I could now see small gardens and trees scattered among the mismatched houses and businesses. People hurried along the shadowed streets with lamp in hand to light their way along the dark paths.

I found myself gliding toward a canopy of trees situated near a large church-like building that resembled a miniature cathedral. A small, enclosed courtyard surrounded by a high stone wall held a large tree that stretched up nearly as high as the gabled roof.

As I neared the ground, I noticed more feathers flying loose behind me. I looked over my shoulder and my heart stopped.

The wings were breaking apart.

The loss accelerated, and my altitude took a nosedive along with me. I crashed headfirst into the thick branches of that majestic tree, and my theories about this being a dream or heaven were dashed to pieces along with my body. I tumbled through the branches as the last of my feathers fell away around me. The final landing onto smoothed cobblestones some twelve feet below the last of the branches knocked the air out of me.

I lay there on my back, my bruised body bemoaning my fate. The worst pain came from the gunshot wound in my arm.