Smoke (Clan of Dragons Book 2) Read online

  SMOKE

  Book #2

  CLAN OF DRAGONS

  by

  Nancy Lee Badger

  Copyright © October 2016

  by Nancy Lee Badger

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by an information storage and retrieval system-except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review to be printed in a magazine, newspaper, or on the Web without permission in writing from the publisher.

  All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. AMZ

  Cover illustration copyright © 2016

  by Nancy Lee Badger

  All rights reserved.

  DEDICATION

  When a writer’s love for Scotland tangles with her imagination, a book about dragon-shifters is the result. I want to dedicate this book to my readers who have enjoyed my previous books with dragons filling the pages. They have asked for more. Sorry it has taken a few years, but the continuing saga in my Clan of Dragons series is finally here!

  THE STORY

  Nancy Lee Badger brings you another story filled with Scottish dragons and shape-shifters. She again fills her paranormal fantasy with romance and danger, and with characters you will remember. Some will tug at your heart. Others will make you wish for their demise. SMOKE is the second book in the series, Clan of Dragons.

  The green dragon tumbles off a craggy peak, and lands in a pile of snow. When someone walks on Wynn’s head, he jumps free, and accidentally slams a wolf against a tree. When the unconscious beast shifts into a naked female, explanations are in order. Wynn enjoys shifting into a wolf to run through the forest, but she is a stranger. When she wakens, he explains he and his two brothers mean her no harm. After she allows them to carry her injured body into a cave, his brother Evan’s mate, Vika, cares for her. Kera reveals she is hunting a human, who might be a pirate. Wary about the golden-haired shifter’s mission, Wynn fears for her safety, and his heart.

  While tracking the human who murdered her lover, Kera awakens in deep snow to dragons staring at her. One looks as if he wants to eat her, and the other smells like smoke. With an injured hip, and no energy to shift back into her wolf, she allows a pretty human to care for her. The dragons take up her search, but the pirates enter the cave. Kera leads the pregnant human into the underground river. Only by fighting for their lives do they escape. While assisting a human lad in the village, a man recognizes her, and abducts her. Wynn shows up in human form, and they fight against the man who is the cause of her nightmares. Her wolf pack wants her back, but the dragon has stolen her heart. Will she stay in Wynn’s bed, return to her pack, or possibly die while killing her lover’s murderer? Either way, her life will forever change.

  Table of Contents

  DEDICATION

  THE STORY

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  CHAPTER 17

  CHAPTER 18

  CHAPTER 19

  CHAPTER 20

  CHAPTER 21

  CHAPTER 22

  CHAPTER 23

  CHAPTER 24

  EPILOGUE

  Dear Reader;

  FREE EXCERPT

  SMOLDER-CHAPTER 1

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  AUTHOR NOTES

  Books by Nancy Lee Badger

  Author Bio

  Connect with

  CHAPTER 1

  Isle of Skye, Scotland

  Four nights before the full moon

  Snow whipped across the mountain like a frenzied ocean wave. Gone was the ethereal beauty of low clouds, tipped with silver. The beauty of nature was lost on Wynn. Hours ago, as night moved forward and wet flakes buffeted his head and horns, he’d tucked his scaly snout beneath his wing.

  When a gust of wind, harsh enough to wake him from a deep sleep slammed into his body, he lost his grip on his perch. He staggered sideways, and landed at the base of the Black Cuillin Hills. When his left wing bent, as he rolled into a pile of icy white snow, he groaned. To find his footing he dug his talons deep into the snow until they reached the frozen earth below. He shook his head until his scales rattled.

  “Did you fall asleep again, brother?”

  Wynn glared at his older brother as Dougal alighted nearby. Dougal’s red scales and black wings stood out in colorful contrast to the snow. Wynn’s green scales, currently hidden beneath a deep snowdrift, were less flashy.

  More tasteful, he thought.

  The only time he thought his coloring was a disadvantage was during a hunt. Dougal’s black wings, and their other brother’s purple scales and leathery brown wings, proved harder for game to spot. When hunting in the nearby forest, Wynn used stealth instead of speed. Dougal seemed to care less that Wynn’s stomach growled for good reason. Game was scarce, so close to their mountain caves, but who wanted to leave? Not when a miracle lived among them.

  Dougal laughed at him. His brother used to be so full of himself, with a temper to match. That he jested at Wynn’s fall, and abrupt landing in the deep powdery snow, was unusual.

  Sweeping aside the white flakes covering him from nose to tail, Wynn turned his back on his brother, and listened. Something had woken him from a deep, satisfying sleep. Had he heard a woman scream? Or, was a wolf hunting game close to their lairs? When another scream, this one from a woman in the throes of pleasure, drifted up from their younger brother’s cave, Wynn cursed beneath his breath. Smoke drifted out of his snout, but the incessant wind blew it in his eyes.

  “Those two lovebirds kept me up late again, so I might have fallen asleep. They be the reason I awoke so abruptly, as well.” Wynn growled at a low flying cloud, not daring to upset Dougal.

  Dougal laughed, and a shower of sparks shot from his nose, and singed Wynn’s white wing. The one he hadn’t fallen on. Now, they both hurt. He pushed up out of the snow and tucked both wings tight to his back.

  “I beg your pardon, Wynn, but our brother and his mate be in love. Aye, ‘tis sickening, but a babe grows in her womb, a bairn that could be the savior of our dragon clan.”

  Wynn knew their clan’s future was in peril. Their homeland, on the southern tip of Scotland’s Isle of Skye, lacked dragons other than their small clan. Evan had formed a bond to a human female from the nearby village of Morbhan, and they all hoped that she carried the dragon-shifter’s offspring to term.

  With last year’s loss of Dougal’s mate Cliona, before Evan met Vika MacKinnon, they had lost hope of carrying on. Once Vika decided to follow Evan home, Dougal seemed a tad happier. Once Dougal sensed her condition, and shared it with all of them, he smiled a little more often. The pretty red-haired lass had agreed to dwell in their favorite cave until the birth. Unfortunately, the couple coupled every night.

  And morning.

  “Moans and groans not due to the killing and devouring of me dinner will not be tolerated much longer.”

  “Wynn, why can you not accept that little Vika be the hope for a future for our clan? Our little brother has proved himself. The first time he tried to shift into another form was a success. He has long been jealous of your wo
lf-shifter persona, and of me red stag. That he chose to be a horse was brilliant. Gaining the woman’s trust, and helping her win a wager with that loathsome brute, Toal MacMorgan, was just the ticket.”

  “He was lucky she took to his human form as well, or his mission would have died a slow death.”

  “He nearly died, as did the lass. We also helped keep some foul-smelling pirates away. We never did find the men from the ship anchored in the bay. We must keep our eyes peeled and our noses ready.”

  “No worries, Dougal. Vika talked at length about how this kind of weather makes humans seek shelter. Only a fool would walk about in snow this deep.”

  “Which be why Evan suggested Vika stay here with us for the winter.”

  “It made sense. We be the greatest hunters,” Evan said. He strode toward them in his human form, with a thick sealskin cloak covering his flesh. The scent of sex, and pleasured female, clung to their youngest brother.

  When Dougal hung his head, and closed his eyes, Wynn kept his maw shut. Evan sensed Dougal’s sudden sorrow, and crouched beneath their older brother’s wing. He seemed to be thinking about Dougal’s words, and that Dougal had accepted a human into their home.

  To Wynn, their older brother’s recent transformation was a gift, and he wanted him to continue to act happy. It must be difficult since Dougal had lost his mate and their unborn offspring. Human hunters had killed her, and Dougal wanted to either die, or kill the humans. That he now accepted little Vika was nothing short of a miracle.

  Dougal had told Wynn that he didn’t blame Vika. Their death hadn’t been her fault, but he continued to blame himself. Cliona had changed into her favorite form, a red deer, but had underestimated the hunting prowess of the humans. Wynn had observed first-hand how well Vika and her brother, Orin, hunted. They had killed dozens of deer, rabbits, pine martins, and a huge tusked boar in order to win a three-day hunt. All that carnage due to a silly wager with a human who had threatened Vika?

  “Why the frown, Wynn?” Evan chuckled, and crouched closer to Dougal’s warmer scales.

  Dragons were hot-blooded creatures, with thick scales and healthy appetites. The snow would delay today’s food gathering excursion, which only made Wynn anxious.

  “I was just thinking about all the meat Vika and her brother had piled in that cart, months ago. They won the wager, and the memory of that bounty they shared with the villagers has me stomach rumbling,” he lied.

  No use bringing up sore subjects such as Toal MacMorgan. He had wanted Vika for nefarious purposes, and Wynn wanted to eat him. Evan wanted to tear the man limb from limb, but Vika had calmed him down. Fortunately for the human, he had disappeared. Toal and the pirates might wreak havoc, if they encountered Vika or her brother again, but Wynn and Dougal had assured the humans that they would watch over them.

  Speaking of Vika. “Where be the lovely lass?”

  Evan chuckled again. “She be fast asleep. I, ahh…wore her out.”

  Dougal growled, then folded his wing over his back, which left Evan’s human body exposed to the snow and wind.

  “Dougal, don’t be jealous. Vika be a lovely person, a mighty hunter, and she thinks all dragons be beautiful,” Evan said.

  “Aye. Who be we to argue with such a smart individual? It be our duty to keep her warm, fed, and healthy.” Wynn turned to Evan. “How does she fare? Any physical problems?”

  “She be perfect.” Evan blushed, another sight Wynn could not get used to.

  Dougal roared with laughter.

  “Dougal, you surprise me,” Evan said. “What be this newfound lighter side of you? You no longer complain, and I have witnessed impromptu acts of kindness. I do not recognize the gruff, angry dragon from a few months earlier.”

  “Can’t a dragon be happy? Your woman be expecting your progeny. Three months have passed since you and she…you know.”

  Evan’s cheeks turned deep red.

  “Brothers, we do not know how long this mixed pregnancy shall last,” Wynn said.

  Evan took a deep breath, the worry with regards to his mate and unborn babe creasing his brow. “Vika explained to me that women in her village take about nine months from conception to delivery. She had a feeling that our first…coupling…was a success.”

  “I assume that did not keep you from trying many, many times? She be a bonny lass, for a human.”

  “None of your business, Dougal.”

  “I believe ‘tis true. Adding dragon to the mix changes everything. It has been so long since a dragon has been born in our clan, how can we predict this outcome?”

  “I be the youngest, born two hundred and twenty-two years ago. Do you two remember me birth?” Evan asked.

  “Nay. We were still young ones, and spent most of our days exploring the hills and caves.” Wynn said.

  “Then this be new to us all. I will keep Vika happy, and await the outcome.”

  “Aye, you seem to know how to make her happy, if the noises we heard this morning be any indication,” Dougal added.

  “Quiet, both of you. She has experienced no pain, though her appetite has grown and ‘tis most unusual. She wants any meat we bring her barely cooked. I fear the babe’s influence be strong. She sleeps often, but the weather might be to blame. I appreciate the meat and the firewood you two bring us. I do not wish her to get cold or sick, and the human healer at the tavern gave her several medicines.”

  “A healer? Medicines?”

  “When humans become ill, they ingest certain concoctions made of herbs and other plants, to make them better. She worries for the babe, too, but until she gives birth, we must have faith that all goes well.”

  Wynn was worried. “Birthing babes be a foreign concept to us. Evan, yours was the last birth of our kind in our clan, and that was over two hundred years ago. Will she lay an egg as our mother did?”

  “All I remember be that our mother hid in a cave for days, alone and in great pain,” Dougal said. “I do not feel Vika be the kind of creature that wishes to be alone.”

  “You speak the truth. She and I have discussed this, and she understands she might birth a dragon.”

  “The bairn will be a dragon!” Dougal roared.

  “Aye, ‘tis me wish as well, brother, but for her sake, I hope it comes out in human form. ‘Twill be easier for her human body. She wishes only for me help during the birthing, though she first thought to head to Morbhan. Mistress MacKinnon be a healer and midwife, who helps bring bairns into the world.”

  “She does not wish to go to her?” Wynn asked. He assumed she would be more comfortable with her own kind.

  “What do you think would happen if the bairn came out as an egg, or in dragon form? They would kill it, probably kill her, and there would go our hope for the future of our clan,” Dougal said.

  When Dougal roared, the rage Wynn recognized as Dougal’s normal state had returned. Snow tumbled off Wynn’s back, and Evan headed toward the cave with a quick, cowardly pace.

  Maybe I should follow him, and give Dougal space to vent.

  However, Wynn felt Dougal calm. His head had drooped, and the cinders he’d shot from his nose turned to sizzles on top of the snow. “Dougal, did you have to worry the lad? Vika could die at anytime. I believe he has feelings for the lass. You do remember feelings?”

  Wynn never saw the tail coming.

  When he awoke, he sensed Dougal had buried him beneath several feet of snow. He felt his brother lumber away, but Wynn waited. He saw no sense in freeing himself while an irate dragon was about.

  As he waited, something sniffed along the drift above him, as if it tracked something along the pile of snow beneath which he lay buried. It wasn’t Dougal’s massive body, and Evan had returned to his mate. The pain had lessoned behind his right horn and ear where Dougal’s tail had connected in a strong, bone-cracking slam, but he dare not move. Under the snow, he could smell nothing, but he sensed the presence of something otherworldly.

  A sixth sense kept him alive in certain situations,
usually when he had shifted into his favorite form. He loved shifting into a wolf, and running through the forest. It was sometimes easier to chase down a rabbit in that form, his favorite meal. He had followed several different packs of wolves north of here, but he never got too close. Males of the species could act territorial, and Wynn assumed they would not accept an outsider.

  During a recent sojourn, he had detected wolf scent on the wind. His dragon’s snout was an impressive hunting device, and it warned him that another predator trespassed too close to his family.

  Above Wynn, the sniffing turned to a deep growl. He would not allow a predator in their midst, not with Vika nearby. He shoved aside the pain rattling his brain, mustered all his strength, and pushed up through the snow. A very pretty she-wolf tumbled off his back, and slammed into a tree.

  “Oops.”

  CHAPTER 2

  Kera of the North saw stars. At least I remember me name. When her eyes finally focused, she stared down the open fang-filled maw of a huge dragon. Her first instinct was to keep still, but the snow under her bare arse was cold.

  Her bare arse? Dear Goddess!

  She closed her eyes, and covered her breasts with her left arm. She used her other to shovel snow to cover her other private parts, which was silly. A dragon didn’t care if she was naked. To the large green-scaled beast, she was simply a food source.

  I must have lost consciousness.

  It had only happened once before, and she’d woken up human. She should shift back into wolf form, but she was weak and achy. The energy needed to shift had disappeared, replaced with pain that rattled her brain. She was naked, cold, and at the creature’s mercy. Her eyes snapped open.

  When the dragon rose out of the snow, lifted his entire green-scaled body free, and spread his huge white wings, she tensed. As she shivered, the dragon closed in, once again. When the beast’s long snout moved within inches of her face, and blew its hot breath across her damp hair, she squeaked. Too riddled with pain to move any farther, she waited for its long white fangs to devour her. Instead, a huge split tongue reached out and licked her cheek.