Page 1 of The Dragon's Stone Hearted Mate
Prologue
Rho
Camp Air
In this moment I am made of stone. I am as solid as any boulder you have ever met and probably a fair bit heavier. With each passing year my insides carry more weight. Even after the building I once guarded was demolished the workmen could not move me. They could not destroy me no matter what demolition equipment was brought in. I am the son of the ground brought to life by wind and water spirits, solidified, making this form of mine one to bear all changes.
I was carved from the heart of a planet older than those ones the creatures who constantly move around me come from. The planet no longer exists but whatever magic this strange place called the Other World possesses brought me here with the dirt under my feet. This isn’t the first spot molded together with pieces of broken worlds. This isn’t the first big bang or big squeeze or whatever the hidden creators might call it. This is only the first one I remember. This place absorbs broken worlds into its realm. This truly is the place the dead come. Even dead worlds dwell here for the rest of what might be eternity.
My name is Rho. Short for Rhodonite the stone I am made from. In this form, I wait for my mate. I have curved horns, a long tail, that would be fluffy if I was not made of stone, and look to be carved from my namesake because I am. Once upon a time, I had a softer form. One where my hooves turned to feet and some of my features mimicked the creatures scurrying around me currently. That was when my dragon was around. How longago was that? I’m not sure. That’s why I’m asking you. Whoever you are? Are you even real or am I still talking to myself? Someone is close by. I can see them out of the corner of my eye. Probably someone who can’t hear me. Your sort can never hear me. There is definitely someone there.
“Hello, little rabbit, do you hear me?” I call out but the rabbit hops away to nibble grass in another spot.
It doesn’t matter. I wouldn’t have a great lot to say even if the creatures scurrying around me could make out my words. There is much I don’t remember about my home world and exactly how I came to be here, but I know one thing. I will be forever stone until my dragon finds me again and when he does, I will rip asunder anyone who tries to keep us apart.
Come home soon, dragon of mine, before we’re all just the sands of time.
Chapter One
Mori
Mori’s Momentos, Nightshade Bear Territory
Thunder rumbled in the distance, and I muted the phone, waiting for it to pass before speaking, not wanting my best friend to take the storm as an omen for the fate of my trip home. Othoni hated storms. It was some deep ingrained phobia of his that always sent him scrambling for cover. Sure, he could hide under his mate now, but I’d save him the trouble, if I could.
“Are you actually, okay?” Ni asked, his words over the line nearly drowned out by the tail end of the thunder.
“I’m fine, Ni,” I said into the phone while my twin brother, Preston, made funny faces at me. “Really. I haven’t been kidnapped by anyone yet. No fainting. No postcards. No nothing. Seriously. I don’t think it’s going to happen while I’m here.”
Ni hadn’t been thrilled when I decided enough was enough and it was time for me to take a trip home to see my family and reunite with my twin. I’d waited on the Postcard Men to contact me for almost a year now ever since Dern told me about them. Part of me felt let down that they hadn’t reached out. Another part was relieved that maybe Dern and Ormund were just crazy dead men and maybe – just maybe – the Postcard Men didn’t exist, and I could go on and live my life. I could start my paranormal investigation company and run my little oddity shop in peace.
“Promise me you’ll be careful,” Ni warned. “Don’t make me drag a toddler through the Other World to save you and make Teddy kick their asses because I will!”
“Uh… I don’t think they’re going to kill me. I mean Dern was their hitman. So, I don’t think they do their own killing anyway,” I teased, trying to put his mind at ease.
Preston stuck his tongue out at me again and I turned my back to him to keep from laughing. He found Ni and Teddy’s mother henning more than a bit annoying. His bear was ready for life to return to normal. Only normal was different for me now. Some things like spirits showing up never changed but every atom inside of meknewsomething was coming. Something was going to change soon. Only I wasn’t sure what that would be.
“How is my goddaughter?” I asked about Ni and Teddy’s daughter Zinnia, changing the subject and praying the storm held off until I managed to get Ni off the phone.
“Getting bigger every day and she misses you,” Ni said.
“I miss her too. I’ll be back in a few weeks, probably.”
“Why probably?” Ni asked, concern reemerging in his tone.
“Because I don’t make promises anymore. Not with so much hanging over my head,” I sighed.
“Dern said you’d need Teddy and me,” Ni reminded me for the millionth time since I first mentioned my trip home.
“And I will. Preston knows to call you as soon as I faint – if it happens, that is,” I said and stopped myself from reminding him that I invited his family along, but he chose to stay in the Appalachian Wolf Pack Territory. His daughter was a bit young for a journey. I got that but I couldn’t make everyone happy. Besides, they were probably secretly thrilled to have some time on their own.
“I know, I know,” Ni sighed. “Mori, I just don’t want you to get hurt. We don’t know anything about these men besides theytold Dern to kill bad guys. They sent him and Ormund to do mercenary work. I want to help you. If people need help, I want to help. I want to see the world before I have to go home and lead my jaguars. I just don’t want you to ---”
“Look, I could walk outside right now and get struck by lightning. Seriously, it’s about to storm like a bitch right now. No one is ever really safe,” I said, letting news of the storm slip off my tongue as my last defense against his good-natured worries.
“I’m glad I’m here,” Ni said.
“Me too. You’d be under the counter, and I don’t think Teddy could fit under there with you,” I said, almost laughing at the mental image of Teddy nearly squishing his mate while trying to ‘protect’ him from the storm. “Look, I’m going to go, okay? I’m fine. Really. I’m going to have lunch and go through some stuff that came in the mail. We’re waiting out the storm before we go back to the house because it’s coming down in buckets.”
