The Billionaire Dragon Shifter's Mate
By Zoe Chant
Copyright Zoe Chant 2015
All Rights Reserved
The sun was setting, lighting up the fluffy summer clouds in pink and purple and gold. It reflected in brilliant orange on the river as it flowed down the center of the valley.
Cara Linley sat for a while watching the beautiful, romantic vista. It was gorgeous, but it was yet another thing she was seeing alone. There was a little town down in the valley, buildings clustered closely together around the river, but it was just another place Cara wasn’t from and wasn’t going to stay.
When she’d taken off running from her safe, boring, lonely life back in Iowa, Cara hadn’t pictured this. Changing everything hadn’t made her any less alone.
Cara shook her head and ran her hands through her dark hair, which fell in waves around her shoulders. Chin up. Tomorrow was another day, another chance for adventure instead of just driving somewhere.
She turned around and boosted herself up onto the railing she’d been leaning against, so that she was facing the parking area for this scenic overlook. It was empty other than her car, and led onto an unremarkable stretch of two-lane road.
The other side of the road was a steep slope. The road was thickly surrounded by trees everywhere but at this little patch of gravel with its view of the valley. She pulled out her phone and took a selfie—her road trip had given her plenty of practice at that. There was no one else around to take pictures of her at all the weird, beautiful, interesting places she’d seen in the last few weeks.
She stayed perched on the railing as she looked down at her phone to check the results. Getting a good angle on the beautiful sunset behind her meant her chin looked every bit as soft and rounded as it really was. At least she’d caught herself with a natural-looking smile that made her hazel eyes sparkle, and her cheeks were flushed pink. That was probably from sunburn, but it looked good in the picture.
She was flashing some cleavage, too, her scoop-necked red T-shirt having drifted down to show off a little more of her curves than she usually displayed. She didn’t bother to tug it up. Who cared? Cara was alone with the scenic overlook.
At that exact moment, a fast, low blur—some kind of animal—darted out of the trees and ran straight toward her. It was barking loudly.
A dog, it’s just a dog, Cara thought.
She flinched back at the same time she realized what was happening. Her phone flew out of her hand as she overbalanced. She hit the ground with a thump that knocked the breath out of her.
Then she started to slide.
Oh no, she thought.
She tried to grab at the grass and caught sight of the precipice she was headed for.
No, no this is not the kind of adventure I wanted.
***
The first Gus knew of the trespasser on Dragomir land was his brother Ilie’s voice in his head.
Gus? Mouse scared a woman. She’s stuck.
Gus knew that Ilie was referring to his dog, a half-grown wolfhound-mastiff cross whom Ilie had named when he was a much smaller puppy. Still, for a moment Gus pictured a woman standing on a chair, shrieking for fear of a mouse and unable to get down.
Then he considered that this meant there was a woman close enough to Mouse to be scared by him. She must be a stranger, an out-of-towner, or Ilie would know her name.
And if she’d been frightened by a dog, she was going to lose her mind at the sight of a full-grown dragon. Even the residents of Gray’s Hollow tended to stay away from Ilie, and most of them had known him since he was a kid, shifting into a stubby-winged dragonet. Gus had to get to her before Ilie felt driven to help her himself.
Gus jumped to his feet and ran for the door.
Ilie? Where is she?
Ilie didn’t bother with words. He gave Gus the picture of the spot: the scenic turnout off the county road, up above town. It was only a mile away from the big house. Gus could cover it fast enough on foot not to be worth going any other way. He ran full out over the familiar forested slopes.
Is she okay? Is she hurt?
Not badly, I don’t think, Ilie replied. But like I said, she’s stuck.
Ilie once again gave up on simple words as he showed Gus where.
Gus ran faster, telling himself again that it wouldn’t do any good to take wing. He had to be human when he got there, after all, and the lady would probably appreciate it if he was still wearing clothes.
***
“Okay,” Cara said, twisting to try to see the back of her own elbow. “Okay. That could have gone worse.”
Her hands were dusty, fingers stained green from digging at the grass. She had scraped her elbow and jarred herself badly enough to feel the shock pass through every bone from her heels to her skull.
On the other hand, she’d literally landed on her feet, on a flat grassy place too wide to call a ledge. She was maybe fifteen feet down from where she’d been standing. She didn’t know how she was going to get back up to the road, and she had even less idea where her phone had landed, but she hadn’t broken any bones or gotten concussed.
This was basically a win.
She looked up at the sound of enthusiastic barking and saw the dog who’d startled her in the first place. He was standing with his front paws on the edge, floppy ears cocked forward.
“No!” Cara yelped, waving her arms. “Get back! Don’t—”
The dog jumped. Cara instinctively opened her arms, darting over to catch him. She got knocked on her butt when she succeeded, while the dog bounced out of her arms and stood beside her, barking cheerfully and waving his curly tail.
He looked like a puppy, but his head was higher than hers when she was sitting down, and his paws looked practically as big as her hands. He had gray, curly fur and wore a black leather collar adorned with shiny silver plates. The one at the front was engraved: MOUSE.
“Cute,” Cara said, standing up again.
She immediately crouched to pet Mouse. He danced around her so happily that she couldn’t resist smiling, even if her predicament was all his fault.
“Nice to meet you, Mouse. I’m Cara.”
“I’m Gus.”
For a second it seemed like Mouse had actually spoken. He was looking up at her with his friendly brown eyes, and his mouth was open in a panting doggy grin.
Cara looked around and spotted the man who’d spoken. He was standing a few yards away, where this flat place vanished into the steep slope.
Gus was gorgeous. He was tall and leanly built but solid, wearing jeans and a perfectly fitted soft charcoal shirt. He had short-clipped dark hair going slightly gray at the temples. He was smiling warmly, making lines around his eyes.
She couldn’t see what color those eyes were, but for just a second they caught a reflection from the setting sun and seemed to blaze the same fiery orange she’d seen reflected on the river.
Cara felt that fire reflected somewhere lower down than her own eyes—she wanted him, with a sudden visceral heat that took her totally by surprise.
Adrenaline, she told herself.
That thought was immediately followed up immediately by a less encouraging one.
Oh God, he’s gorgeous and I’m wearing road-trip clothes covered in dirt.
***
Gus couldn’t take his eyes off her.
He had run up just in time to see the woman catch Mouse, obviously not realizing that he was made of puppy-springs and wouldn’t be hurt by that leap. Mouse had knocked her flat, but she’d come up smiling at the ridiculous dog.
Gus’s dragon, which usually stayed curled up in the dark inside him, had roared at the sight of that smile.