Page 17 of Protector Dragon's Shattered Mate

“Recite spells?”

“Apparently, I have magic in my blood. Somewhere in my ancestry there’s a witch or wizard. For all I know, it could be my parents.”

“And you didn’t know?”

“I didn’t have a clue.”

“Have you ever done any magic?” he asked.

“No. Not intentionally anyway. And I wasn’t even aware of it.” She froze. “Wait. Idid. When I ran away from the compound, they were chasing me. They were willing to torture the people who didn’t see what they wanted. So now I got to that big chain link fence with razor wire. I willed myself to be able to make it over the top, and I did.”

“That’s amazing. You made it out. You did that for yourself.” He wanted to tell her that he was proud of her, but they didn’t know each other well enough for that kind of declaration, and it might have sounded condescending, although he could never mean it that way. He was actually very impressed with what she had managed to do.

But he was also having trouble containing his fury. “Did you saytorture?”

“Yes. When I didn’t do what they wanted, they had punishments.”

“What did they do to you?” He tried to keep his voice in check. He could feel his claws, emerging from his hands. Scales rippled down his arms as his body prepared to fight. But the enemy was a half a world away.

Her answer would determine how he handled these vermin.

“One electrocuted me and threw me down into a basement. When one of the leaders heard that they had shocked me, she was pretty mad. She brought me back upstairs and gave mesome soup. So, they didn’t actually care about me, but they wanted me to be useful, and I suppose if they had damaged my magic, then I wouldn’t be useful anymore.”

She wiped her eyes. “I just couldn’t go along with it.” Her voice shook with emotion. “I let them use me for days before I caught on. There’s no telling what kind of dark magic they used my spells for.”

He could not keep his hands to herself; he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, burying one of his hands in her hair. “You did nothing wrong.They’rethe monsters. I’m so glad you survived.” He kissed the top of her head. “I’m so glad you got away from them.” He wanted to ask if she could feel the tug that meant they were mates, but he didn’t dare. It wasn’t the right time.

“So, you made it out of Siberia?” he asked.

“Yes. I snuck into the cargo hold on an airplane and flew to Moscow, then Tokyo and then from Tokyo to San Francisco. I was born in the United States, and I lived in North Dakota for years, before we moved to Europe. So, I thought I knew what to expect, but I did not know what San Francisco would be like. There were so many people everywhere and I didn’t know what to do. I haven’t spent much time around humans at all.”

Sofia must have an iron will to have made it through all of that and still be in one piece. “Did you walk here from San Francisco?”

“Yes. I saw the bear on the California flag, and it came to me in a flash that I could just shift and stay shifted. My plan is to go to the Northwest Territories in Canada and stay there. I made my way through Nevada and then ended up in Colorado and I started traveling at night only, to avoid being seen. I thought I was in the Midwest and then I ended up in Texas. By the time I got to Kellan’s ranch, I just couldn’t keep going anymore.”

Now that he’d heard the full story he was even more in awe of her perseverance. “You can stay here as long as you like. Now that you’re shifted and you can speak, Kellan would welcome you into his home.”

“But what about his human wife?”

“She has spent time around all kinds of supernatural people. She hosted vampires here plenty of times. Now that you can communicate, it will be fine.”

“I still don’t want to impose.”

“I promise. You won’t be imposing. The reason you’re still here to begin with is because Kellan and a few of the other shifters that live here have made it their life’s mission to collect stray shifters, from all over the world. So even though the four of them live here, they have extended family everywhere. They don’t consider proximity to make the clan, just relationships.”

“Clan is not such a positive word for me,” she said.

“I can understand that too. “

“Your clan is difficult?”

“Yes. Difficult is a good word; they’re certainly not evil. But they are very old-fashioned and backward in their thinking,” he said. “If you’re not comfortable with Kellan’s ranch then you’re more than welcome to stay with me.” Maybe that was forward of him, but he had to make the offer.

“Thank you.” She leaned over and rested her head on his shoulder. “I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but did I hear you mention a group with shifters who stayed in their animal forms all the time?”

His heart sank. Did she want to leave so soon? He wanted to protest, but it wasn’t his place. He swallowed and forced his voice to be steady. “Yes. But you have a place here for as long as you want. Nora only brought Rhett and his motorcycle club up because she thought it might work for you. Not to get rid of you.” He had to make that clear.

“I know.” She put her small hand over his. Other than the kiss, that was the first time she’d voluntarily touched him. “I don’t know what I want to do yet. But for weeks, my only goal has been to get to Canada so that I could stay in my bear form.”

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