The Island Of Dragons: A Paranormal Shifter Romance Read online

  Melody immediately piped up, speaking rapidly in her soft, melodic voice. “But will Ellie be safe while she’s doing this? You’ve said yourself that you’re reasonably certain that Dalton is some sort of an enemy operative, so how do we know that he won’t try to harm Ellie in some way if and when the two of them are alone?”

  Touched by her concern, I cleared my throat and spoke for the first time during the meeting. “Well, if he wanted to hurt me for some reason, he probably could have just dunked my head under the water when he first found me in the ocean after I’d fallen from the ship. He could have not even approached me, actually, and just let me drown while he went through the portal to the island on his own.”

  Melody conceded that was true. “But who knows exactly why he did that or what his plans are now, though? I still think we need to take safeguards to ensure your safety.”

  “And we will.” Dark brows furrowed, Warren continued with his gaze scanning the faces of everyone at the long, polished table. “I’ll have Dalton’s guards begin to fall back... I’ll have them tell him I’ve begun to trust him more...but I won’t have them fall back far. I’ll have them just far enough away so that Ellie can talk to Dalton in private and get information, but they’ll be close enough by at all times so that Ellie can shout if she needs help and help will come running, or flying in dragon form, immediately. Trust me on this, Melody, Ellie’s safety is my utmost concern.”

  She nodded, seemingly satisfied. I myself fought an eye roll, grateful that she and Warren were both focused on my safety, but feeling as if they shouldn’t be where Dalton was concerned. I figured I had a much better chance of being injured by a massive stone monster rolling into the village than by a mild-mannered scientist who seemed obsessed with collecting island shells and rocks.

  A while later, after a group discussion about the golem’s latest moves and activities, and the plan to continue to simply “babysit” him for the time being, until I could get some info from Dalton, Warren changed gears. He brought up the subject of the other shifter groups on the island possibly helping to take out the golem, saying that they were all still reluctant to get involved.

  “Despite the fact that it seems as if the golem could become a problem to all of us here on the island at any time, if it ever decides to head to either of the other two villages on a whim. But as for right now, with it for some reason seeming hell-bent on heading to our village first, the leaders of the bears and the wolves just don’t seem to feel much urgency to help us with the problem. I think more than anything, Eric and Holden are worried for the safety of their shifters. And... well, being that bears and wolves are much smaller than dragons... I guess I get that. I’m concerned for the safety of my men even though we’re all enormous. And I guess I also get Eric and Holden thinking that we dragons are best suited to take out the golem anyway since we can at least attempt to bring him down from the air. So, as much as I wish things were different, we’re on our own in dealing with this thing.”

  Once again, Melody voiced the first concern. “But it seems like we’d have the best shot of bringing him down from the air if we had backup on the ground... like the bears and wolves attacking his feet to try to topple him. So, won’t the bears and wolves at least try to help us? Maybe if things get really bad, like if the golem gets within a certain number of feet or yards from our village or something?”

  With his arms folded across his chiseled chest, Warren gave his head an almost imperceptible shake. “It seems as if Eric and Holden have their minds made up, so I won’t ask them again. They know their help in dealing with this creature will always be most welcome, and I’ll leave it at that with them. If they ever decide to change their minds and help us, I’ll be eternally grateful. But if they don’t, then so be it. And, besides... if Ellie is soon able to get some info out of Dalton... like how the hell this golem came to be in the first place and what gives it its strength and power to move... maybe we won’t even have need for any allies anyway. We’ll be able to take out the golem fairly easily on our own.”

  I prayed that would be the case. Even just thinking about a possible swift, positive outcome, and one that I could help with, made me feel exhilarated. Which was a huge improvement over frustrated and powerless, which was how I’d felt in regards to the golem situation right up until Warren had come to my castle before the meeting.

  Warren soon adjourned the meeting after going over a few more topics, and he and I left the lodge together, hand-in-hand. As we neared his castle, I said something like I’d leave him there and continue on to my own castle alone, because I knew he needed to grab a shower and get some rest.

  He made a soft grunt, his expression clearly not one of happiness. “Are you kidding me? Not a chance. You’re getting in the shower with me. I’ve been dreaming about this all day.”

  CHAPTER SIX

  When Warren said he wanted me to get in the shower with him, I had to restrain myself from shouting “Yes!” It had been far too long since we’d been able to shower together, or enjoy any kind of intimacy whatsoever.

  But instead of shouting my elation, I simply looked at him and smiled with butterflies rioting in my stomach. “A shower together sounds good to me.”

  In the dim, lavender light of early evening, he gave me a sexy half-grin and squeezed my hand, his touch intensifying my butterflies. “Well, good. Because a shower sounds amazing to me, Miss Eleanor Christine Elizabeth O’Brien, esquire.”

  He’d been calling me by my full name again every so often, gently teasing me, which I liked. Sometimes I began my texts to him by addressing him as Lieutenant General Chief Warren James Knight, which I got the feeling that he liked.

  As we made our way across the rocky, sandy terrain behind his castle, he began rubbing slow circles on the back of my hand with his thumb, making my pulse pound. I was going to enjoy this shower immensely.

  However, we never got to it. We never even got to the front door. The alarm sirens began blaring, making Warren cringe.

  “Son of a bitch.”

  He’d practically spat the words. I swore myself, feeling as if I actually might like to scream instead.

  With his dark eyes blazing with what I could only guess was frustration and fury, Warren took my face in both hands and pressed a lightning-fast kiss to my forehead. “Gotta go. Don’t wait up.”

  With that, he sprinted away from me, made some sort of a giant leap maybe twenty feet away, and then shifted in midair, a positively awe-inspiring sight. So dark gray that his hide was essentially black, he lifted himself higher and higher, enormous wings beating against the soft, deep mauve sky. I watched him speed away, heading toward the lake with several of his men at his heels, until he disappeared from view. It was only then that I recalled that the sirens were intended to alert folks to take cover, and there I was standing stock-still, right out in the open, while they still blared.

  I slept horribly that night, tossing and turning while having frustrating dreams of Warren running his large, long-fingered hands all over my bare skin.

  I got out of bed around dawn and looked out my bedroom window just in time to see him and some of his men returning to the village in dragon form. Their dark, scaly bodies glinted in the sun.

  I was tempted to quickly get dressed and dash over to Warren’s castle to meet him, but I ultimately decided against it. I knew he needed to get some sleep, and I was afraid I would just tempt him away from doing so. So, I went to bed myself once again, not waking until just after ten in the morning.

  Melody, who had some experience in ballet herself, had agreed to teach all my classes while I got to work on trying to get some information out of Dalton. I’d miss teaching, but I knew she’d do a great job as a sub, and I knew it was all for the cause. I couldn’t wait until the golem was destroyed, I was back in Warren’s arms again, and life could continue on as normal. And couldn’t wait was even putting it mildly. I was beyond ready to set things in motion and get normal life on the island back. Then and only then
could Warren and I possibly start heading toward a real future together. One that at some point might see the realization of some “baby dreams,” like Melissa had said. Ever since she’d brought up the subject, it had popped up in my mind a couple of times. Something just told me that Warren would make an excellent father and husband. And something also just told me that I could be happy on the island with him forever.

  To my surprise, when I stepped out the front door of my castle, intending to find Dalton, there was Melissa, along with Hugh and Sadie, all sitting in chairs beneath a palm in the middle of my sandy, rocky front yard. Hugh was wearing navy blue swim trunks and a t-shirt; Sadie was in a one-piece black suit with a ruffled skirt; and Melissa was in white cotton shorts and a bikini top so bright neon orange that it nearly hurt my eyes just to look at it.

  When I reached the group, she gave me a big, seemingly exaggerated smile. “About time you rolled out of bed. We’re all going swimming today. And by all, I do mean you included.”

  I sputtered for a second, confused and irritated. “What? But, why? I have to find Dalton to—”

  “Swimming first.” After tucking a bookmark into a dog-eared paperback, Hugh slowly rose from his chair. “Swimming first, and that’s final. And I don’t want any arguments out of you.”

  I looked from him to Melissa back to him, sure I was frowning. “But I have to find Dalton. I have a little mission concerning him, remember? And I also hate swimming in the ocean, anyway. Remember that, too?”

  Melissa came over, put an arm around me, and spoke in a tone a big sister might take, one which she’d probably had a lot of practice using on Melody. “Yes. We remember all that. But this is killing two birds with one stone. See, you can’t just walk up to Dalton and start demanding answers. You’ve gotta act casual about it, or else he’ll catch on right away and won’t tell you jack. You’ve gotta act casual about it, like, ‘Oh, hey, I was just out for a swim with my friends, and now we might as well chat while I’m here.’ You catch my drift?”

  Something about the village that struck me as kind of funny sometimes was that occasionally, residents would use particular phrases that had been more commonly used in the eighties, such as catch my drift. Though maybe this shouldn’t have been surprising, considering how insular and isolated the island was, to say the least, and considering that since they’d all arrived in the eighties, everyone had been without TV and all other sources of pop culture, for the most part. Sometimes Warren would bring over new movies for people to watch using the village’s lone DVD player in the community center, and everyone liked watching the movies, though the current slang contained therein seemed a little slow to catch on.

  In response to Melissa, I told her that yes, I caught her drift, suppressing the tiniest little smile while I did so. “But what about the second ‘bird’? You said me joining you guys to swim would be ‘killing two birds with one stone.’”

  She nodded, beginning to walk me back over to my front door with her arm still around my shoulders. “Yes, I did. And the second ‘bird’ is that all motivations to act casual around Dalton aside, you just need to get comfortable with swimming in the ocean. Just, period. You do.”

  “But, why? Why do I have to? Don’t you know that my parents—”

  “Yes, I do. Melody told me all about that, and I was very sorry to hear that. But that’s not going to happen to you. You’re not going to drown in the ocean, and you need to become comfortable swimming in it.”

  “But even before what happened to my parents happened, I was kind of afraid of the ocean... hated the idea of swimming in it, actually. It’s just too deep, and too many strong currents, and too many strange sea creatures, and....” I trailed off, sighing. “I’ve only ever went swimming in pools before.”

  “Well... too bad.”

  We’d now reached my front door, and I shook myself free of Melissa’s arm and stood facing her, hands on hips. “You still haven’t answered my question. Why do I have to learn to swim in the ocean? Don’t I have enough problems lately with a giant golem, an absent boyfriend, and having to become a spy?”

  With a breeze rustling through the leaves of a tall hibiscus bush behind her, she put her hands on her hips, mirroring my pose. “Look. Hugh, Sadie, Melody, and I have been talking about you. We know that you and Warren have a pretty serious thing going, and we know you’re probably going to be on the island with us all forever, which we’re all happy about. But if you’re going to be on the island forever, you’re going to have to learn how to spend downtime when you’re not teaching, and swimming is a great way to spend downtime. For another thing, it’s just fun to swim in the ocean with everyone else. It’s one of our fun community things, one way we all spend time together and bond together. And for another thing, and maybe the most important thing, a person just shouldn’t live smack dab across from an ocean without ever taking a dip in it. That’s just... well, it’s just wrong. So, this is for your own good, Ellie. And in fact, us giving you forced ocean swimming lessons every day is a good pretense for you to run into Dalton every day. It’ll make all your meet-ups seem completely natural. He’s always down there on the beach, examining little bits of seaweed and things.”

  Knowing I wasn’t going to win this battle, I finally relented, turning and opening the front door. “Fine. I’ll get my suit on. But I’m only going in up to my ankles.”

  A few minutes later, Hugh, Sadie, Melissa, and I began making our way down to the beach. The day was warm, breezy, and gloriously sunny, as most days on the island were. We only got rain every so often, and storms were rarer still. As far as weather went, the island really was my own personal version of heaven. I knew that some people actually enjoyed snow and cold, but I definitely wasn’t one of them. I could easily do without it for the rest of my life.

  While Melissa and Sadie joked about something a short distance away, Hugh sidled up to me and spoke in a low voice. “This whole thing was my idea, and not just so that it seems natural when you run into Dalton. You need to face your fears and get past them, Ellie. It’s the key to life. It’s the key to a happy life. Even if you only do it once, and never swim again, you need to be able to say, ‘I did it; I swam in the ocean, and I was strong, and I didn’t drown. I did it, and I lived.’”

  For some bizarre reason, Hugh’s words made tears prickle behind my eyelids, and I hastily wiped my eyes, annoyed.

  “If you recall, Hugh, I did just swim in the ocean, fairly recently. I fell off a cruise ship.”

  “Exactly. You fell into the ocean. It wasn’t your choice. This time, you’ve gotta take the plunge yourself, intentionally. No pun intended.”

  “But I’m not that strong of a swimmer. I can swim laps in a pool just fine, but—”

  “Look, Ellie... Sadie and I don’t have any kids of our own, so just zip your trap and let me try to be some kind of a dad, here. This is for your own good, and it’ll make you into a better person. It’ll help you grow. Just trust me about this, kid. And if you say another word, I’ll march you back up to your castle and put you inside for the day. I’ll ground you.”

  Hugh gave me a stern look with his bushy salt-and-pepper brows drawn closely together, and even though I could tell his sternness was an act, I just didn’t feel like arguing anymore. I’d go in the ocean up to my knees, splash around a bit, and hope that would make him, Sadie, and Melissa happy.

  I may not have been too sure about swimming in it, but I couldn’t deny that the ocean was absolutely breathtaking in its beauty. A perfectly clear turquoise blue, it sparkled in the sun like it had diamonds floating on its surface.

  Still in my shorts and tank top over my bathing suit, I stepped into the warm water up to my ankles and began winding my hair up into a topknot, though not because I planned on getting into the water up to my neck. I just wanted to get some sun on my shoulders.

  Just then, little Davy came hopping down the beach in bright green swim trunks, with a few other village kids and his heavily pregnant mother trailing behind
him.

  He came to a stop near me, waving. “Um, Miss O’Brien, I have to tell you something.”

  I smiled, securing my hair with a rubber band I’d pulled off my wrist. “What is it?”

  “Um, I just wanted to tell you that Chief Knight told me he thinks your long blonde hair is gross.”

  Though I knew he had to be joking, my jaw dropped seemingly of its own accord, but before I could say anything, Davy continued.

  “But, actually, he told me your hair is super pretty. But, actually, he didn’t tell me anything about it. Gotcha, Miss O’Brien! Made you freak out! Bye!”

  He tore off down the beach, shrieking, and his mom, Joanna, gave me an apologetic look as she passed by with a few of the other village kids.

  “Sorry about whatever he just said to you, Ellie. I’m sure it was some kind of a ‘gotcha', which I’ve told him to cool it on.”

  I smiled, sinking my toes into the warm, wet sand as the water lapped at my ankles. “I didn’t mind at all.”

  I really didn’t. Like Melissa, I found Davy endearing, and also like Melissa, I was having thoughts that I might like to have my own little firecracker like Davy someday. Maybe a little firecracker with Warren’s dark gray eyes. Which might be possible someday IF we ever get to make love again, I thought.

  Once Joanna and the kids had passed, Melissa hollered at me to strip down to my suit and get in the water. She was already maybe a hundred feet out in the waves, floating on her back near a giant rock that jutted above the water a couple of feet. Rectangular in shape, and with a mostly flat surface like a diving board, everyone in the village called this tiny island of sorts the diving rock, because it was perfect for doing just that. The water on all sides around it was at least ten feet deep, and two of the sides of it were slanted and craggy, making it easy for people to climb up on the “diving board” and dive off one of the two sides that weren’t slanted.