Chapter 1
Sammy
The crickets welcomed me home, a sound I hadn’t heard in many, many years. Crickets were native to Maine as well as Tennessee, but somehow, being in the mountains, standing in the muggy forest in the middle of October, it felt like home in a way Maine never had.
Tennessee nights cooled at some point in October, most years. But this year, summer had clung to the mountains. I didn’t mind. I’d always loved summer here, even though the river was the only real escape.
The humans had public pools, but we witches didn’t bother with that unnatural nonsense. The river flowed through us, energizing our magic. It was one of the things I looked forward to most about coming back.
After everything I’d been through the last few months back in Bluewater, coming home had been inevitable.
Stepping forward, I put my hand on a tree that marked a spot I’d been so familiar with once. It had been as much a part of me as my nose or hair. The magic in them thrived, even without a coven here for all these years to work the power, to cultivate it.
I’d never been the type to cry. But the magic here, though plentiful, was pained. It ached to be used. The desperate plea of the energy ate at my emotions, turning my breathing ragged. It was nearly in mourning; abandoned.
Some parts of the world had more magic than others. Bluewater was a great example. The Appalachian Mountains, the entirety of them, was another. They were one of the oldest mountain ranges in the world, worn down over the years so in some spots they were just large hills.
But the magic ran deep and ancient. And it hurt.
All because of fucking Leonard Mason. May his soul rot in Hell.
His old pack still roamed nearby. Nobody, no witch, would begrudge the pack their happiness. Just the twisted, black souls like Leonard. He’d been cast out years ago, but had his dark connections really been severed?
I walked forward and felt Livvie moving not too far from me.
She’d wanted to come and connect with her former home.
As we stepped over the gold, orange, and red fallen leaves, the magic whispered to us, waking, and sighing in relief.
The magic knew us. A silent call, the cognizant connection relieving the ache of not being used.
One day, I hoped, anyone left of our old coven might feel good coming back. This was their home, and the source of our magic was centered here. My place was now in Bluewater, but these old mountains would always be in my blood.
The moon shone down on me through the trees, illuminating the forest enough for me to easily walk amongst the leaves.
I froze as a flash of…something…ran through my mind. It was the same broken pieces I’d been seeing for months, but I couldn’t place it or piece them together no matter what I tried.
There was a man, an absolutely gorgeous man, in these woods. And then there was me, smiling. But it didn’t make sense. The happiness and sense of completion I felt in those dreams was unlike anything I’d ever experienced. And here was the man, straight out of my night visions.
“Who are you?” A rough voice pulled me from my musings. “Why are you here?”
I whirled, gathering magic in my fingertips, ready to blast whoever was on my clan’s ancient lands. Livvie wasn’t far to my right, close enough that she stood with her hands up defensively as well. A surge of pride jolted through me at her stance. She’d learned well and learned fast.
A massive man stood behind me. How he’d snuck up on me, I didn’t know, but he was a beast of a man, easily a foot taller than me.
And as soon as I saw him, the wind left my body, like falling from a horse and hitting the ground with a thud.
All of the pieces of the last few months, the splinters of visions, the fragments of thought, they all came together at once and formed to make an image of this man. This shifter. This dragon. I felt his inner dragon as surely as I felt the magic coursing through these mountains.
This man who stared at me like he’d just seen hope personified.
“Oh, no,” I muttered. “Of all the bullshit.”
At the same time, the man spoke. “Holy shit.”
“What is going on?” Livvie asked, looking between us and searching my eyes for the answer.
“I’m pretty sure we just found some magic in Grove Holler.” I stepped forward, studying the gorgeous face in front of me. “I think this man is my mate,” I muttered, dumbfounded at myself for even uttering the ludicrous words. Yet they were true, however unlikely.
His eyes sparkled at my words, but he stood frozen, staring down at me.
“No way,” Livvie gasped. “Just like that?”
Apparently so. Just like that. I’d been on this Earth far, far too long to think I’d ever find a mate. I should’ve known after Livvie and Wes, the only witch and dragon mated pair in existence; as far as anyone knew, fate would come for me next.
But as much as I was able to see the future, this had eluded me. The snippets of visions I’d been having slammed against my brain. Or maybe it hadn’t eluded me, maybe I’d been too blind to see it.
“Who are you?” the man asked gruffly. His voice touched every nerve in my body, it was strange hearing it for real, yet it was so familiar.
For the first time in my life, I was having a hard time forming words. How was this happening?
I didn’t have an answer for that, but my fight or flight instincts had kicked in, and flight was the clear winner. “Livvie,” I said sharply as I held out my hand. “We need to leave.”
But the man rushed forward, invading my space as he stared down into my eyes. Why wasn’t I poofing out? He was distracting me in ways I’d never been distracted before. I barely breathed as I waited to hear what he might say.
His eyes were so very green. Like grass in a painting where the artist had gone too vivid, too dark. And they were the same eyes, the exact same ones from my visions and dreams.
I had to be mistaken. This was all a weird coincidence and not at all a mating bond.
Okay, yeah. I’d never been one to lie to myself, and I wasn’t starting now. I couldn’t deny this. He was my mate. Somehow, some way. “I need you to back off,” I said in a level tone. Just because he was fate’s perfect match for me didn’t mean he could crowd me like this.
“I’m not going anywhere until you explain yourself and why you’re in my pack’s territory.” He scooted a little closer until the heat from his body pressed against mine.
His use of the word pack didn’t slip past me. Maybe I’d misjudged what sort of creature he changed into. Was he a wolf? Dragons used the word clan, not pack. Pack was for fleabags. I opened my senses as much as I could. No. He was definitely a dragon.
“You obviously know what I am,” I said in a reasonable tone. “It would be best if you let me go.”
His green-eyed gaze intensified, and he crossed his arms. “What sort of witch are you?” Those gorgeous green eyes narrowed. “A dark witch? Or do you belong to some other clan?”
So, he knew what a clan was… still, his choice of words was odd. “That’s none of your business now, is it?” I crossed my arms, mimicking his posture, and considered lunging for Livvie and trying to poof out, even though this guy majorly unnerved me.
He cocked his head, and reading his expression was terribly easy, even though he hadn’t really changed his facial features all that much.
He clearly thought it was his business and that I was being silly.
Great. I sighed and put my hands on my hips.
“This used to be my forest. Given we’re the only ones of our kind here now, at the moment, it’s still mine, and Livvie’s.
” I nodded my head toward my little apprentice.
“It belonged to our coven, and it’s been without a witch for a very long time.
” I glanced at Livvie. “It was time for us to come home. For a visit.”
The man stepped back a half-foot, almost like he jolted. His gaze finally left me and shifted to Livvie, but as soon as it was off of me, a sick feeling spread in my stomach. Damn it. I was being a total idiot and I needed to snap out of it. Now!
As if he read my thoughts, his gaze snapped back to me. “My name is Blaze.”
Blaze. Ha! I snorted before I could stop myself. What a silly name for a dragon.
Blaze glowered but didn’t say anything about my laughter. “I believe I know why you’re both here. Leonard?”
Just hearing his name made me tense up and resume my defensive posture.
Blaze held up his hands. “Calm down. I think you should come and meet my alpha.”
I shook my head, ready to deny him and get TF out of here.
“Come on, please.” Blaze’s eyebrows curved. “Speak to him once before you go.”
I glanced at Livvie. She was about twelve weeks pregnant. I hadn’t really wanted to bring her here to Grove Holler to begin with, but she’d talked me into it. She gave me one short nod. “If what everyone has told me about fated mates is correct, we should be safe with him.”
That much was true.
“I promise, you are in no danger.” Blaze’s words sank into me, and I felt the veracity in them down to my bones.
With a sigh, I rolled my eyes. “Fine. We’ll speak to your alpha.”
Blaze nodded once, his gaze lingering on my face. “This way.”
Livvie hurried forward and grabbed my hand. We walked a few feet behind Blaze. I wanted to give myself room to poof out if I wanted to. It’d been really difficult to even think about doing it with him standing close.
“You okay?” Livvie asked quietly.
“Fine.” I spoke in a clipped, somber tone, and it was a complete lie. My magic was dancing around inside me like it was at a rave, and my nerves were beyond shot. My chest tightened like I was about to have an anxiety attack.
I’d thought a witch and a dragon mating was just a Bluewater thing.
I’d been practicing serious magic in Bluewater for a couple of decades.
I’d done something to the area and made it so the dragons found their fated mates, both dragon and human mates.
There were more fated matchups in that clan than in all the clans I’d ever known.