The Dragon Guardian's Hoard

Gutting fish will never cover the cure her dying brother needs, so she steals a boat and sails into the fog that swallows ships whole.

The island beyond belongs to an immortal dragon guardian—massive, gold-eyed, with knife-thin pupils—who is six hundred years older than she is and orders her gone on sight.

She refuses, even when he gives her three days to prove she is worth keeping, and a storm drives them into a closeness that turns her desperation toward him instead of the cure.

When the deadline passes, he will not let her leave; he destroys anyone who tries to save her and plants himself between her and every threat.

The feral dockworker who never bowed to his demands now wants the place he offers, claimed as treasure by a solitary dragon who had never let anyone stay.