Finn put out a hand and she passed the case over. She murmured, "Thank you."
"Considering that you're helping my clan more than you know, the least I can do is carry a bag."
She eyed the tall dragonman. "You don't have to comfort me. I know what I volunteered to do."
Finn raised a blond eyebrow. "You looked about ready to bolt or cry a few minutes ago. I think a little kindness wouldn't hurt."
He was right, not that she would admit to it. After all, she was supposed to be strong.
Holly motioned toward the gates. "How about we go so you can give me the spiel and then let me meet my dragonman?"
The dragonman's smile faded. "So you're giving orders to me now, aye?"
Even though Holly was human, she still sensed the dominance and strength in his voice. She could apologize and try to hide her true self, but that would be too tiring to keep up long term. Instead, she tilted her head. "I'm used to giving orders. In my experience, as soon as a woman goes into labor, her other half goes crazy. If I don't take charge, it could put the mother's life as well as the child's in danger. I'm sure you've read my file and should know what to expect."
The corner of Finn's mouth ticked up. "Aye, I have. But I like to test the waters with potential clan members."
"I'm not-"
Finn cut her off. "Give it time, lass. You may well become one in the long run."
Without another word, Finn started walking. Since he was at least eight inches taller than her, she had to half-jog to catch up to him. However, before she could reply, another tall, muscled dragonman approached. He still had the soft face of late adolescence and couldn't be more than twenty.
The younger dragon-shifter motioned a thumb behind him. "Archie and Cal are at it again. If you don't break it up, they might shift and start dropping each other's cattle for the second time this week."
Finn sighed. "I should assign them a full-time babysitter."
The younger man grinned. "You tried that, but my grandfather escaped, as you'll remember."
"That's because he's a sneaky bastard." Finn looked to Holly. "This is Jamie MacAllister. He'll take you to my mate, Arabella. She can help you get settled before you meet Fergus."
"Who's Fergus?" Holly asked, even though she had a feeling she knew.
Finn answered, "Fergus MacKenzie is my cousin, but he's also your assigned dragonman."
Of course she'd be given the cousin of the clan leader. After all, Holly was the first human sacrifice on Lochguard in over a decade. They'd want to keep tabs on her.
Holly didn't like it, but since she had yet to meet this Fergus, she wouldn't judge him beforehand. For all she knew, Fergus MacKenzie might be a shy, quiet copy of his cousin.
Maybe.
Not sure what else to do, Holly nodded. After giving a few more orders, Finn left to address the problem and Jamie smiled down at her. "There's never a dull moment here, lass. Welcome to Lochguard."
Holly wasn't sure if that was a warning or a welcome.
Fraser MacKenzie watched his twin brother from the kitchen. His brother, Fergus, was due to meet his human sacrifice in the next few hours and instead of celebrating his last hours of freedom, Fergus was doing paperwork.
Sometimes, Fraser wondered how they were related at all.
Taking aim, he lobbed an ice cube across the room. It bounced off his brother's cheek and Fraser shouted, "Goal."
Frowning, Fergus glanced over. "Don't you have a hole to dig? Or, maybe, some nails to pound?"
Fraser shrugged a shoulder and inched his fingers toward another ice cube. "I finished work early. After all, it's not every day your twin meets the possible mother of his child."
As Fraser picked up his second ice cube, his mother's voice boomed from behind him. "Put it down, Fraser Moore MacKenzie. I won't have you breaking something if you miss."
He looked at his mother and raised his brows. "I never miss."
Clicking her tongue, his mother, Lorna, moved toward the refrigerator. "Stop lying to me, lad. You missed a step and now have the scar near your eye to prove it."
Fraser resisted the urge to touch his scar. "That was because my sister distracted me." He placed a hand over his heart. "I was just looking out for the wee lass."
Lorna rolled her eyes. "Faye was sixteen at the time and you were too busy glaring at one of the males."
"He was trouble. Faye deserved better," Fraser replied.
Fergus looked up from his paperwork. "Where is Faye?"
Lorna waved a hand. "The same as every day. She leaves early in the morning and I don't see her again until evening."
Fraser sobered up. "I wish she'd let us help her. Does anyone know if she can fly again yet?"
His younger sister, Faye, had been shot out of the sky by an electrical blast nearly two months earlier while in dragon form and her wing had been severely damaged. While she was no longer in a wheelchair, the doctors weren't sure if Faye would ever fly again.
His mother turned toward him. "I trust Arabella to help her. Faye will come to us when she's ready."
Jumping on the chance to lighten the mood again, Fraser tossed the ice cube into the sink and added, "I'm more worried about Fergus right now anyway. Who spends their last few hours of freedom cooped up inside? Even if he doesn't want to go drinking, he could at least go for a flight."
Fergus lifted the papers in his hand. "For your information, this is all of the new procedures and suggestions from the Department of Dragon Affairs. Finn worked hard to make Lochguard one of the trial clans for these new rules, and I'm not about to fuck it up." Lorna clicked her tongue and Fergus added, "Sorry, Mum."
Lorna leaned against the kitchen counter. "I still applaud you for what you're doing, Fergus. After the last fifteen years of near-isolation, the clan desperately needs some new blood."
Fergus shrugged a shoulder. "It's not a guarantee. Besides, how could I pass up the chance to help our cousin?"
Fraser rolled his eyes. "Right, you're being all noble when I know for a fact you just want to, er," he looked to his mum and back to Fergus, "sleep with a human lass."
"No one around here has stirred a mate-claim frenzy and I'm not about to look in the other clans. I'm needed here," Fergus replied. "A human sacrifice is my only other chance."
"And what if she's not your true mate, brother? Then what?" Fraser asked.
"I'll still try to win her over. If she gives me a child, I want to try to convince the human to stay."
Lorna spoke up. "Her father's ill, Fergus. Let's see how things go before you start planning the human's future." Lorna looked to Fraser. "Let's just hope she has spirit. I can handle anything but fear."
Fraser answered, "If Finn picked her out, then we should trust that he chose a good one."
"You're right, son," Lorna answered. She waved toward the living room. "Now, go get that ice cube."
"Fergus is closer. He could just toss it over."
Fergus looked back at his stack of papers. "Get it yourself."
With a sigh, Fraser moved toward the living room. "You were always a lazy sod."
Fergus looked up. "Takes one to know one. But at least this lazy sod is about to get his own cottage."
Lorna's voice drifted into the living room. "It's about time. One down, two more to go."
Fraser scooped up the ice cube and faced his mother. "Don't worry, Mum. You'll always have me. If I'm lucky, I won't have a mate until I'm fifty."
Fergus chimed in. "She'll kick you out on your arse before then."
"I'm feeling the love, brother."
Fergus looked up with a grin. "Someone has to love you, you unlovable bastard."
Tossing the ice cube into the sink, Fraser dried his hands. "You know you'll miss me, Fergus. I give it a week and then you'll be begging for my company."
"We'll see, Fraser. If I'm lucky, I'll be spending a week in my sacrifice's bed."
The thought of not seeing his twin every day did something strange to his heart. Brushing past it, Fraser headed toward the door. "As much as I'd love to stay and watch you read boring protocol, I'm going to watch some paint dry instead."
Fergus raised an auburn eyebrow. "What happened to spending time with your brother?"
"I never said anything about spending time with you. I wanted to show you a good time. The offer's still open if you're interested."
Shaking his head, Fergus answered, "Your good times always result in us waking up in strange places and not remembering the night before. I think I'll stay here."
Fraser shrugged. "Your loss." He looked to his mum. "I'll be home for dinner, don't worry."
Lorna answered. "You'd better be. Finn wants us to have a quiet dinner with Holly and help ease her into her new life here."
"Quiet is a bit of a stretch."
Lorna picked up an apple and tossed it at his head. Once he caught it, she answered, "Just get your arse home on time."
Fraser winked. "I'll try my best, but you know how the lasses love me."
Not wanting to hear his mother's lecture about settling down for the hundredth time, Fraser ducked out the front door.
While the human wouldn't be over to their house until dinnertime, she was due to arrive on Lochguard at any moment. He had known that Fergus wouldn't want to go out, but asking gave Fraser the perfect cover and no one would suspect what he was about to do.
It was time to spy on his brother's future female and make sure she was worthy of a MacKenzie.
----------- The Dragon's Dilemma is a full-length book and is available on Amazon / Amazon UK / Amazon CA / Amazon AU / Amazon DE.
Reclaiming the Wolf.
(Cascade Shifters #1).
Female wolf-shifter clan leaders are rare, but Kaya Alexie thrives on the challenge and can handle anything the men of her pack throw her way. However, when the male cougar-shifter who broke her heart ten years ago shows up on her doorstep with a dead wolf-shifter in tow, her whole world goes off-kilter. She's determined to ignore him, but when a virus threatens to decimate her clan, she has no choice but to work with her ex and his brother to survive.
Sylas Murray is sent by his brother to ask for the wolves' help in solving the mystery of a recent wolf-shifter attack. There are a few problems, however. Not only is he a cougar-shifter among a pack of wolves, the clan leader is also his ex-girlfriend. To say they had a bad break-up would be putting it mildly-Sy's actions nearly destroyed the truce his clan had with the wolf-shifters. But as a virus threatens the GreyFire wolves, Sy and Kaya must put aside their past to find a cure.
As they work together and race against the clock, Sy starts to wonder why he let Kaya go in the first place. Despite their past, will he be able to reclaim the wolf that captured his heart and start over?
----------- Reclaiming the Wolf is available on Amazon (click here for Amazon UK / Amazon AU / Amazon CA / Amazon DE).
Books by Jessie Donovan.
Asylums for Magical Threats.
Blaze of Secrets (AMT #1).
Frozen Desires (AMT #2) Shadow of Temptation (AMT #3).
Flare of Promise (AMT #4).
Cascade Shifters.
Convincing the Cougar (CS #0.5) Reclaiming the Wolf (CS #1) Cougar's First Christmas (CS #2).
Resisting the Cougar (CS #3) Lochguard Highland Dragons.
The Dragon's Dilemma (LHD #1).
The Dragon Guardian (LHD #2) The Dragon's Heart / Lorna MacKenzie (LHD #3, June 23, 2016) Faye and Grant (LHD #4 / Early 2017).
Stonefire Dragons.
Sacrificed to the Dragon (SD #1).
Seducing the Dragon (SD #2) Revealing the Dragons (SD #3).
Healed by the Dragon (SD #4) Reawakening the Dragon (SD #5) Loved by the Dragon (SD #6) Surrendering to the Dragon (SD #7).
Cured by the Dragon / Sid and Gregor (SD #8, October 2016).