Devoted to the Dragon (The Last Shifters #1)

15. Randi

Chapter 15

Randi

S omething tickles my leg, and I shift, consciousness returning slowly. My eyelids are heavy, and I keep them closed, refusing to get up. Everywhere is sore from how much I’ve been overdoing the flying and from the way Fennik took me last night.

Despite what he thinks, I wasn’t running. I wanted to return to my two mates even though I had things to finish before our trip. But the way he took control last night was something I didn’t know I needed, and I’m not sorry he did it.

I’ve never let anyone top me. Not like that. Sex is always something I control. But Fennik’s dominance made me melt. With him guiding me, I felt taken care of. Cherished. Not to mention Fennik in full daddy mode is seriously hot. His growly Dom voice could make me come all by itself.

Fennik’s big paw cups my boob possessively as he pulls me closer. His purr reverberates from deep in his chest, working those points of tension in my back like a massager. I’m never moving again.

After we made it to the couch in my office, Fennik held me while we talked. When his knot finally went down, he carted me off to bed, refusing to let me from his arms. I was too tired to protest being carried, and with Gunnar already asleep in my bed, it didn’t take convincing for me to crawl in beside him.Being sandwiched between them feels like paradise following days of no real sleep. When I’m with them, my head quiets and I feel as though I can finally breathe.

A soft brush of fur against my thigh makes me squirm again.

“Pup,” Fennik growls, and a pop sounds.

“Yeesh, I can’t help it. My tail does what it wants, and it wants Randi.”

I swallow my laugh, snickering into a pillow.

“Why are you laughing, baby girl?” Fennik asks, voice husky from sleep but full of amusement.

My heart races at the endearment he’s started calling me, and my belly swoops when his lips find the crook of my neck, that scratchy stubble lighting up my skin. “Because he clocked your bossy daddy energy week one.”

Fennik shifts around, a protest already spilling from his mouth in a growl, but Gunnar cuts him off. “Don’t worry, Silent Daddy Wolf. It’s good big dick energy,” he jokes.

I cackle at the name Silent Daddy Wolf because it’s a perfect description.

“I don’t know whether to be flattered or pissed,” Fennik grumbles.

“Whichever one leads to more spanking,” Gunnar volunteers.

“Is that so?” Fennik asks, joining my laughter.

Gunnar’s weight shifts over me. I hear the sounds of their kiss and Fennik telling him good morning before Gunnar settles beside me again.

Peeking out from under the pillow, I’m hit with smokey sage eyes on a scar-lined and sun-kissed face. The room smells like my mates. It’s burning sage mixed with the cool moss and dewy leaves of the forest, which combines with the frosted pine and sweet amber of Fennik. There’s a hint of citrus too, curling along the edges. I’ve never noticed it before, but it blends them together, creating an overwhelming sense of calm, like flying over the lake at dawn or walking through the woods on a warm afternoon.

“Good morning, gorgeous. Sorry my tail frisk woke you.” Gunnar traces my brow and down my nose. “You have the most beautiful eyes.” I snap at his finger, and he chuckles, rolling over onto his back. “And you get squirmy about squishy feelings, got it.”

My cheeks fill with heat, and my throat warms with another of his apt descriptions. I don’t know when it became so hard to be open about my feelings, but I’ve become so used to hiding them that it’s uncomfortable. I have to open up in order to get to know my newest mate, but I don’t exactly know how.

Fennik moves his hand from my boob—which seems to be its new permanent location—and squeezes my hip in silent encouragement. “Unfortunately, I have responsibilities, but you two don’t need to leave until tonight.”

Our plan is to have Fennik go to the Council ahead of us. By distancing his arrival from ours, we hope he’ll be able to brief us on the Alpha King’s plan when we arrive later. It took Brooks and Vandera to convince Fennik it was best for appearances, and I know he’s worried about splitting up, but it’s only for a few hours. Gunnar and I are going a day early too, just so we aren’t traveling on their expected timeline.

I turn in Fennik’s arms and cup his neck. “Be safe. Be smart.”

He leans closer, his lips almost brushing mine. “Trust us. Make the Moon Circle and follow the plan.”

“Yes, Silent Daddy Wolf,” I tease.

He shakes his head and rubs his nose along mine. “Baby girl, was my spanking last night not enough to remind you who I am?”

“Hell yeah,” Gunnar cheers.

“I remember,” I say, smiling against his lips.

“Who am I?” he teases, nipping at my throat.

“Alpha,” I spill out on a moan.

Beside us, Gunnar sounds confused. “Shit. That wasn’t a joke ?”

Fennik turns to Gunnar, his voice full of that dominant sound that makes my nipples ache. “Our dragoness needed a little reminder last night of who she belongs to.”

“Dammit! I passed out and missed all the fun.” Gunnar groans, flopping back onto the bed.

With a grin, Fennik takes my lips. His kiss feels like his spanking last night—sharp and fast but so powerful it lights up my whole body. He whispers as he pulls away, “Let him in.” To Gunnar, he growls, “Behave, pup, and keep our dragoness safe.”

Fennik leaves us to finish getting ready, and I roll over, crawling up to rest my head on Gunnar’s chest. “It’s been a long time since I’ve allowed anyone to get close. You’ll have to be patient with me.”

“If you haven’t already noticed, I like edging,” he jokes, voice full of that easy way he has.

I rest my chin on his chest and tangle my fingers in his beard. It’s softer than I expected.

“I’m greedy, and I want it all, but I don’t mind waiting for you,” he says softly.

I lean in for a kiss. It’s coaxing, as he is, and playful. I savor it, learning the feel of him beneath me. His scent swells, and I force myself to pull back.

Sex I can do. Sex is easy. Intimacy is harder, but I’m going to try.

I rest on his chest again, tracing the shape of my dragon. “Did you know sage is used for calming and healing?”

Gunnar’s fingers comb through my hair. “I’ve seen people burn it to ward off evil.”

I hum. “That too. When I was a girl, I used to write wishes on sage leaves and sleep with them under my pillow before releasing them to the wind. Your scent reminds me of that time before the world was hard when wishes were possible.”

“What did you wish for? I try to picture you as a girl, but it breaks my brain.” He gives me a lopsided smile.

“I wished for lots of things. Handsome mates. A good scent. My dragon scales to be green.”

“You got the handsome mates part right,” he says, wiggling his eyebrows devilishly.

“True,” I laugh. I rub my thumb back and forth across my dragon’s tail and over his nipple. Even if I’m opening up, I’m still me, and I can’t help but rile him up a little. “The other wishes are still out on the wind.”

Gunnar makes a questioning sound.

“My true scent won’t come in until I awaken, and neither will my scale color. All dragons are neutral-scented and a pearly white until they awaken.”

Gunnar thinks that over, his hand tracing up and down my spine. “The first time I saw you, I thought you were surrounded by blue light. But that might have been the rut-hash.”

I swallow another smile, teasing the trail of golden hair below his belly button.

“You’re beautiful without the color, but now I can’t stop trying to guess,” he muses.

“And what do you think?” I ask.

“Naw. This requires serious thought. I can’t just throw it out there.”

I laugh at his explanation. He jostles us about, turning us so we’re snuggled with my back to his chest, his arms tight around me. We’re quiet for a moment. The shower water runs from the bathroom, and Gunnar’s breath is warm on my neck. I savor it, hoping it will last.

I take a deep breath and tell him another truth—the harder one that makes my throat tight. “My mother’s scales were the color of shallow water, green and sparkling. I wanted green scales and to be a great warrior like her. Looking back, I should have wished for peace, great wisdom, or anything else. To be a great warrior means there must be war.”

Gunnar’s hold on me tightens. “Then make a new wish.”

I mull that over and turn over my shoulder to look at him. “What did you wish for as a kid?”

“Same thing I wish for now.”

I lift my brow.

Gunnar takes a breath, and the calming sage of his eyes turns to mist. “I’m a wolf from the Outskirts. I wish for what all the lost wolves wish for.”

“And what is that?”

His jaw tics and he looks away. “A home.”

That hits close, resonating with an ache I feel down to my soul. I’ve been searching for a home to replace the one I lost for longer than most living things can fathom.

I turn back and wrap my arms around where he’s holding me. “Tell me?”

He takes his time before he begins. “My omega mother died giving birth to my sister, and my fathers died shortly after. One of the village elders took us in. When I was ten and my sister, Izzy, was only seven, the village we lived in was raided by a pack of feral wolves, and many turned.

“We fled to the forest as the village burned, but they found us. My sister didn’t make it through the night. They sent those of us who survived to the Outskirts after that. It’s been a different kind of war, but I get wanting to wish for peace.”

I snuggle back against him, running my fingers along his forearm as I try to find the words. The pain of Gunnar’s story feels familiar, though it happened a world apart from my own. I wish he didn’t share this kind of pain. I wish it on no one.

There are no words for this, but I give him some anyway. “I’m sorry for your loss, for your family and village.” I take a deep breath and force out the words. “The way I lost my family was similar. We were raided by crusaders aided by another shifter species. None of my people survived. Except me. It was long ago now, but that doesn’t seem to matter. The pain is still fresh.”

“It sucks big time.” He squeezes me tighter, his warm breath on my neck. “I’m sorry that happened to you. Losing my family was hard. I can’t imagine how difficult it is to lose all your kind like that. The world is a fucked place.” He chuckles against my neck, his beard tickling the soft skin. “You know what’s messed up?”

“What?”

“Sometimes I’m glad Izzy didn’t get a chance to see what the world became.”

“I don’t think that’s messed up. Sometimes death is mercy.”

“Maybe. It makes me feel like shit though.” Gunnar sighs, and it’s a heartbreaking sound.

We hold each other for a long time after that, both of us lost in memories. But when I’m in his arms, it hurts less than it normally does.

Too soon, Fennik kisses us both goodbye on his way out. We stop lazing after that, time catching up with us.

The curious pup returns while we get dressed and eat breakfast. He asks me question after question about my past. Those questions always lead to more. Most of it is light and easy. A few of them are hard. Each one makes it easier to keep going.

Before I’m ready, the SUV is loaded for our trip and it’s time.

“You’re sure I can’t go with you to set the Moon Circle? I promise I won’t touch anything,” Gunnar says with a pouty lip.

My dragon snarls.

I wince. “Yeah. That’s a firm no from my dragon on entering my nest.” I soften the blow with a kiss that stops when we’re both breathless. “I’ll meet you at the edge of the last foothills before the Outskirts of the North Pass.”

He gives me an amused smile as he climbs into the SUV loaded for our trip. “Okay, dragoness, but you’ll have to let me meet her at some point. She’s the one I need to impress, and I feel like if I get some face time, it’s hard not to love me, you know?”

“She rolled her eyes at you,” I say, giving him my best unimpressed look. It’s a lie. The little wolf is charming and easy to like, even for my dragon. I lean in and kiss his cheek. “Be careful.”

“I thought I was the one guarding you?” he says with a grin.

I shrug and turn away from him, unable to stomach more than this playful goodbye.

I place the heart stone next in the circle between the moonstone for fertility and the orange-red carnelian for courage. The last stone in the Moon Circle is the aventurine. It sits directly opposite the first and is meant to bring balance. With the last crystal placed, I close my eyes and clear my mind, invoking the magic of the moon and calling on its clarity.

The Moon Circle is meant as a blessing for mating. It combines an awakening spell with the power of crystals to boost our natural magic in hopes that it will help awaken bonds and enhance their strength. I say the old words, infusing them with my intentions and my hopes that they manifest themselves fully while the stones charge under the moon.Each day, the power of the circle will grow stronger until the start of a Thunder on the full moon. I don’t know if it will work. Actually, I’m terrified it won’t work.

At least my dragon sends her power too. I appreciate that she doesn’t give voice to her doubts now.She wants to protect those I believe are my mates. And for that, I can’t fault her.

I release the energy and stand on a sigh. It is done, come what may .

Vandera bursts into the nest library, sucking wind. She pants her way to me as she pulls her grimoire from her bag. “Are you already done? Because I have an idea.”

“It is set,” I say. “Why?”

“The Moon Circle spell. There are two versions.” She moves to the bookshelves, eyes combing as she skirts her finger along the spines. “I noticed the other day when I was putting away the books. The spell I copied into my Shadow Book… the one I changed for the version we use at Frenzy? It’s the version everywhere. Like, all the grimoires have it.”

“It should be,” I say, confused about where this is going. “It is one of the first spells dragons copy into their Shadow Books when we reach maturity and are gifted our own.”

She grabs my grandmother’s Shadow Book and sets it on the table. I’m still confused about where this is going, but she’s too excited to stop now.

Vandera flips to the front pages and points at the Moon Circle spell. It takes me a moment, as it always does, to get past the sight of those runes made by my grandma’s hand. I run my fingers over the ink, almost tasting the residual essence of her magic.

Grandmother Ava was a healer, a witch more than a warrior. When I was young, I got impatient with her herb lessons, always wanting to cut them short for flight practice outside. I wish she were here now.

“Look,” Vandera says, snapping my attention back to her. She points at a smaller circle in the corner of the page, her jingling charms emphasizing her excitement. “There is another version. And see? It’s got the rune for Thunder.”

My confusion fizzles out, as does my hope.

She gives me a self-satisfied smile. “One is a Moon Circle, and the other is the Thunder. Maybe we need to do the Thunder Circle?”

I shake my head, sad to disappoint her. “They do the same thing.”

Vandera’s face falls as she studies the spell on the page, bending to inspect it. “Why is this one the Thunder? It’s got additions that aren’t in the original. It’s like a second layer to the spell.”

I point at the runes at the top of the page and the symbol beside them, denoting the purpose. “It isn’t. It’s like a note. This means ‘use for the Blue Moon Thunder.’”

She gives me a dubious look. “Uhh, Di, that’s my point.”

“It’s really not. I know you know magical runes, but this isn’t written in the formal language. It’s a note made by my grandmother. This is a reference to the Blue Moon Thunder, and it must be how she tweaked the circle for the event.”

She throws her hands up. “What the heck is a Blue Moon Thunder? How many Thunders did your kinky-ass dragons have?”

I smile at her put-out expression. “It was a Thunder that happened every Blue Moon lunar cycle. Regular Moon Circles were used to call the Thunder each month between the hordes and the packs. But all shifters—not just wolves and dragons—hosted a Blue Moon Thunder for the special Blue Moon that happens every few years. This note tells us this is the circle my grandmother used for the gathering.”

Vandera looks at her book and back at my grandmother's, running her palm above the pages, eyes closed. The pages rustle, and she shivers. “I think this could work. The spell is about balance between four points.”

“Maybe, but it would need to be for a Blue Moon, and besides, it was used when all shifters came together. It harnessed our joint power.”

She taps the book, her clever mind trying to puzzle out the magic. “Are there other shifters besides wolves and dragons left? No, right?”

My dragon’s hiss leaps from my mouth. “The serpents remain.”

Vandera’s eyes widen. “Right. Your sister and the end of the original shifter world. So, they’re out.” She paces. “Krakens? Maybe adding their magic could boost ours?”

“One survived the Shifter Wars, but he lost… everything.” I think of Bjorn, who battled the knight crusaders with me long ago, and hope that the broken kraken met his end or found a new beginning. “When we decided to rebuild, he refused. He believed he needed to live in exile for failing to protect his family. I haven’t seen him in many centuries.”

Vandera blows out a long huff. “Well, that’s sad. Shit.” She loses her wind and closes the book. “I thought I had something.”

I pull her into a hug. “It was a good idea. Thank you for trying.”

“I know you have to go.” She hugs me tighter. “If the Council tries anything, torch them and ask questions later.”

“Got any gut feelings about it?” I ask before I can stop myself. I can do light spells and crystal work, but Vandera’s ability to tap into magic is more powerful than any I’ve seen since I was a girl.

“Yes,” she mumbles into my hair, the sound pathetic.

“You want to share them?” I ask with a laugh.

She squeezes. “You need to go. And I think it’s going to end badly.”

My dragon chuffs in agreement.