The Dragon King's Shaman

Happy Birthday

Erik

“Shit.” My vision caught on my reflection as I stepped out of the shower.

The foggy mirror in the bathroom confirmed what I’d suspected for a while. Happy Birthday to me. After so long, I’d forgotten the date. I lathered up my face and shaved. At least my stubble wasn’t grey.

I threw a towel around my hips and strode back into the small suite just as my phone rang with Gary’s ring tone.

“I’m listening.”

“Good morning, sir. I have some things to run by you and the report you requested.”

“Tell me.” I pulled on a top and some sweats.

The trousers came up short. Evidently, I’d gained some height with my new hair colour.

Gary gave me a run-down of the various businesses I own. I trusted him to keep everything running in my absence. Gary was a hybrid dragon-witch. A hybrid not in the employ of the hunter council was rare. I’d prevented him from falling into the wrong hands, and he’d worked for me for a long time. It could be difficult keeping so many plates in the air, but somehow, I’d managed it with his help.

I grunted my assent to his various requests. “The report.” I was impatient to get to the information I needed.

He held that information hostage till the end to keep my attention. He knew me well.

“You will not be happy.” I heard a smile in his voice. The bastard.

I’m not happy, period. I’d gotten a big problem that I needed solving, and he knew it.

“Avery Jones has a perfect background history. Born in London, public schooled, University of Leicester medical school. Perfect employment history with a string of hospitals, tax records, banking, car loans, even an application to re-home a cat.”

I cursed under my breath. “Forged.”

“Forged. But by the best.”

“No indication of who did this? Few could create flawless records like that without leaving a clue.” I stalked about the small room; my long legs ate up the space.

“There are exactly three people in the UK capable of it,” he replied.

“Let me guess, none of them can be bought.” I pinched the bridge of my nose.

“No, they all have their reputations to protect.”

“Fuck. What about Maurice? Maybe he knows someone who will tell us?” My jaw ached from clenching my teeth so hard.

“I can try, but sir, have you thought about just asking her?”

I let out a growl. “She’s not speaking to me.” I ground my teeth again.

“But…” He cleared his throat.

“Speak plainly, Gary; I expect nothing less.”

He sighed. “You mean you usually read my mind? If she’s already not speaking to you, how are you going to explain knowing about her background? She has an identity from a master forger. It stands to reason there are things she wants to keep secret. Maybe you shouldn’t know them, at least until she tells you? Are you worried she’s a threat?”

I snorted. As if a tiny, mostly human female would be a threat to me.

My dragon thrashed inside me.

Of course, she was a threat. The biggest threat I’d ever faced, but not to my business or my personal safety, just to my heart and soul. She was my mate. And she currently hates me.

“She isn’t a threat to me, but she’s running scared. No one here knows the full story, but I need to keep her safe whether or not she’s talking to me.” I rubbed at the tension in my neck.

“Did that go well last time?”

I dragged a hand down my face. No, it fucking didn’t.

“Sir, I will continue to dig, and I will reach out to Ignis’ guardian as he uses an excellent forger, but I urge you to talk to her, better yet, listen to her.”

He cut off the phone, and I sank down on the edge of the bed, gripping the bedding. What was I going to do?

I’d met my mate here just over a month ago. The joy and fierce happiness that tore through me when I saw her beautiful green eyes and flowing red hair floored me. I’d never seen anyone so stunning in all my life.

Unfortunately, my dragon frightened her and triggered something from her past. Everything went crazy before we could talk much. Circumstance forced us to fight off an attack from vampire-hybrids. I hid her away to protect her, but that backfired spectacularly. I can’t find it in me to be sorry I kept her safe, but she won’t even speak to me now, and I don’t know what to do.

I laid back on the bed and thought back to after the battle.

The biometric door scanner recognised my thumbprint and the heavy door to the safe room disengaged. I pulled it open. The sweet scent of jasmine met my nose. My beautiful mate was curled on the opposite cot to the one I left her on hours earlier. Her fiery hair covered her face. She laid still, but her mind buzzed, her heart beating out of her chest. I tasted her fear in the air.

Who moved her?

“Avery?” I crept closer.

She exploded up from the cot and propelled herself towards me. She brought up the open edge of a cuff, gouging at my eyes. Reflexivity, I caught her hand and closed it gently in mine, careful not to exert too much pressure on her delicate bones. The look in her eyes slayed me. Fear, terror, determination. She registered my face, and the fight went out of her. She snatched her hand back, scrambling back onto the cot, breathing heavily.

“Are you okay?”

I couldn’t get a handle on her partially cloaked mind. Just like when I first met her. I got emotions and snippets only.

“It’s not him.” Flashed through her mind with a wave of relief.

“Were you expecting someone else?” Possessiveness swept through me.

She glared up at me, and the fear in her gaze leeched into anger. She straightened her clothes and stiffened her shoulders.

“Take me back to the hospital. Now.”

She said those last words three weeks ago. She hadn’t spoken since. I played the encounter in my head over and over. I need to know what happened in her past to prevent it from happening again. My dragon was livid that we weren’t bonded. He wanted her safe and tucked away like the treasure she was.

“Claim mate,” roared my dragon.

Inside my mind, his huge white wings unfurled, and he flapped them in agitation. The beast didn’t understand we’d made a mistake. Our mate wasn’t a dragon. A human descended from a dragon line, a shaman with a healing dragon spirit. She didn’t feel the same pull we did, and we’d hurt her. Shamans were rare and coveted.

He roared again at the idea of others taking her, hurting her. We shared that pain.

My phone rang again. It was Yiannis, the dragon elder. He rang to inform me of the death of another dragon shifter. One prominent in the human world. He would be flying to the UK to investigate. I threw my phone onto the bed. We couldn’t afford to lose any more of the dragon population. More problems.

I stood up; we wouldn't solve anything staying in this room.

I made my way downstairs through my brother-in-law’s packhouse. Now there’s a statement I never thought I’d make. A dragon in the middle of a wolf pack. But my half-sister Irina’s mate was the alpha. I was sceptical about him at first, but his actions showed him to be a good man.

When I got downstairs, there were wolves dotted about the main common room. I immediately clamped down on my gift of mind reading. Without guarding myself, a room full of unfiltered minds could sound like a crowded club if I wasn’t careful.

“Ho, ho, ho! Look what the dragon dragged in!” Alec said and cackled with laughter as I drew near the kitchen.

Alec was the third member of our hunter team. For the past twenty-six years, I’d worked for the hunter council, tasked with keeping supernaturals in check, upholding the elder council’s law and bringing rogue supernaturals who threatened to expose us to the humans to justice. It wasn’t my preferred employment, but I’d done it to keep my half-sister safe. When Alec arrived as a spotty preteen over a decade ago, I’d gained a pain in my arse for life and an annoying little brother.

Alec had stopped laughing, and a slow smile slid onto his face. Fuck. He was entirely too smart for his young years. He fumbled with his phone, typing furiously.

‘Happy Birthday To You’ blared out from his phone, reverberating around the packhouse main room. A few wolves jumped in surprise, and all heads turned in our direction.

Alec began dancing around, singing, “Happy Birthday to you, squashed tomatoes and stew, bread and butter in the gutter, Happy Birthday to you!”

I dragged a hand down my face. Great. Just great. All I wanted was some food. Now there’d be balloons and cake by this afternoon. Alec liked being extra.

“Whose birthday is it?” Quinn, my brother-in-law, asked as he arrived.

This was Quinn’s wolf pack, and it had recently become the royal pack as he was crowned Alpha King a few weeks ago on the same day he married my sister.

“Evidently, it’s mine,” I said, round a mouth full of pastry.

I’d snagged it off the breakfast spread. I needed food to deal with Alec’s antics. The flaky, buttery taste exploded on my tongue. The wolves knew how to cater.

“You didn’t know when it was?” Quinn asked, frowning.

“I didn’t know for sure.” I grabbed a brioche and inhaled that too.

“Your hair is grey! Did you dye it?” Quinn asked.

Alec cackled. “A dragon’s hair turns grey at 200 years old. You old codger.” Alec gave me a shit-eating grin.

Quinn whistled long and low. “Shit!”

“He’s taller too. Look at those short-weekends he’s got on!” Alec pointed at my sweats that didn’t reach my ankles.

“He was already tall enough!” Quinn shook his head.

“Show us your dragon eyes,” Alec urged, bouncing on his toes like a kid at Christmas.

I hadn't considered that. Dragon's eyes remained amber until we turned 200. I called my beast forward, and the room sharpened into minute detail. Flecks of dust danced in the air, and the pores on Alec’s skin came into close focus.

“Whoa! Nice.” Alec grinned.

“What colour are they?” I asked.

I didn’t consider that this morning after the calls interrupted me.

“This crazy bright green like peridot.”

I grinned; Alec knew I’d like the gemstone reference.

“Erik, I need to talk to you. Can you come up to my office after breakfast?” Quinn thought.

I raised a brow at him.

“It’s a surprise for Irina.”

He’d grown used to my ability as a dragon to read his mind, and he could both project his thoughts and conceal them. Thank the dragon gods! I never wanted to hear some of his thoughts about my sister ever again.

It turned out Quinn’s request was straightforward. Quinn wanted the diamond I’d offered him to make a ring for Irina. They were already married, but I’d gained enough of a disturbing mental image to tell me why she didn’t have an engagement ring. Irina wouldn’t care, but Quinn’s business persona in the human world meant there were some expectations, including a big ring.

Quinn agreed to look out for my mate while I was away collecting his gem. I owned mines all over the world. However, my gemstone stash was in a special place. I might have excellent control over my savage dragon beast, but he compelled me to maintain the horde of treasure that we’d retrieved over the years.

My dragon wanted to take our mate to show her our collection, but she wouldn’t even see me when I went to tell her I’d be away. It seemed unlikely we’d be sharing our treasure anytime soon. Maybe while I was away, I could think of a way to get my mate to trust me again.

Happy fucking birthday to me.