Resisting the Cougar (Cascade Shifters #2) (24 page)

Tears pricked her eyes and she closed them to prevent herself from breaking down.
Pull yourself together, Hall.
Crying was the last thing she wanted to do right now. She couldn’t give the man any reason to dismiss her as a candidate.

“Ms. Hall?”

Mel opened her eyes and gave a weak smile. “I’m sorry, sir. I’m just relieved that my brother will live.”

“Yes, yes, the exchange. But we have a lot to cover before we get to the contract specifics, so if you’re quite composed, I’ll carry on.” Mel sat up straight in her chair and nodded. The man continued. “Right. You are healthy, genetically compatible, fertile, unattached, and not a virgin, which are the five requirements needed to qualify. Sacrificing yourself means that you will go to live with Clan Stonefire for a period of six months, and be assigned a temporary male. You will consent to his sexual attentions, and if you become pregnant, you understand that your stay will be extended until after the child is born. If you have any questions, any at all, now is the time to ask them.”

She had heard the basics before, but now that she’d passed all of the tests, panic squeezed her heart. As much as she wanted to save her brother—and she would save him—being assigned to have sex with an unknown male dragon-shifter was more than a little scary. Especially since many human women died in the process of birthing half dragon-shifter babies.

If the death-by-baby aspect wasn’t bad enough, she was putting her life on hold to do this. Mel was one thesis away from earning her PhD in Social Anthropology. If she became pregnant and survived the delivery, she wasn’t sure she could just give up the child and walk away. Most of the women sacrifices who lived past the delivery did abandon their children, but no matter how different the dragon-shifters were from humans, Mel wouldn’t be one of them. Family meant everything to her.

And if she didn’t give up her child, she would have to give up her dreams in order to spend the rest of her life with Clan Stonefire.

She took a deep breath and remembered her brother Oliver, pale and thin in his sickbed, and her worry dissipated to a manageable level. Even if she became a mother before she’d planned, she would do it three times over to give Oliver a chance to see past his fifteenth birthday.

Still, she wasn’t about to pass up this opportunity to ask some questions. The dragon-shifters were extremely private, rarely sharing anything that happened on their land with the public. “I understand consenting to sexual activity, as my main purpose is to help repopulate the dragon-shifters, but what guarantees are in place to ensure I’m not abused or neglected?”

The man leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers in front of him. “I understand your concern, but the UK Department of Dragon Affairs conducts routine inspections and interviews. Childbearing-related mortality aside, over the last ten years, only one sacrifice has ever reported harsh treatment out of hundreds.”

With colossal effort, she managed not to think about her fifty-fifty chance of surviving childbirth. “And what about my friends and family? Can I communicate with them?”

“Communication is forbidden for the first six weeks. After that, it is entirely up to your assigned male as to whether you can communicate or not. From experience, the women who made the greatest effort to conceive were awarded the most privileges.”

Right. So if she became a sex goddess, she could talk with her family. How she was going to accomplish that since her previous boyfriends had told her she was “good enough” but never fantastic, she had no idea. But she would cross that bridge when she came to it. “And lastly, when will my brother receive his treatment and when will I leave for the dragons’ compound?”

“Once our legal representative has gone through the contract with you and it’s been signed and witnessed, a copy will be sent to Clan Stonefire. They should approve it within a matter of days and deliver the vial of dragon’s blood to your brother’s physician. Normally, you’d be expected to arrive within a week. However, in the case of dying relatives, you’re given two weeks to set your affairs in order and to be assured that your brother is recovering. Our office will notify you of the particulars within the next five days.”

The man picked up a pen and signed something inside the manila folder on his desk. He picked up a piece of paper and held it out to her. “Since you’ve had a rational conversation without breaking down or bursting into tears, I think you’re mentally sound enough to be sacrificed. If you have no further questions, you can proceed to the legal department.”

Even at this late stage of the application process, she now understood how some candidates might be scared off. Hearing about no communication with the outside world as well as how giving birth to a half-dragon baby might kill you was a lot to take in. But Melanie wasn’t doing this for herself. Oliver had had a shitty last few years fighting off cancer only to beat it and end up with a drug-resistant infection that was slowly killing him.

Her funny, clever brother deserved a chance to live and enjoy life.

She reached out and took the paper. She said, “Thank you. I’m still interested. Please tell me where the legal department is located, and I’ll go there straightaway.”

He gave her the directions. Mel thanked the man before leaving his office and making the necessary turns. As she approached the last turn, she glanced down at the paper in her hands. Toward the bottom of the sheet, the man had checked “approved” and signed his name. Seeing it in black and white made her stomach flip.

In less than two weeks, she would go to live with the dragon-shifters and be expected to have sex with one of their males.

She took a deep breath and pushed back the sense of panic. While she didn’t know how her assigned dragonman would treat her, there was one thing she had to look forward to—the men were rumored to be fit and muscled. For once in her life, Melanie would get to sleep with a strong, hot man. She only hoped he wouldn’t be a complete bastard.

~~~

Tristan MacLeod knocked on the cottage door of Stonefire’s clan leader. When he heard a muffled, “Come in,” he twisted the knob and entered.

Bram Moore-Llewellyn, Stonefire’s clan leader and Tristan’s friend of nearly thirty years, sat behind the old, sturdy oak desk that had been used by leaders of the clan for over a hundred years. It was beat up with more than a few scratches from young dragon-shifters trying out their talons. Tristan thought it looked like shit, but dragons were big on tradition and Stonefire’s clan leader was no exception.

Bram motioned for Tristan to come in and sit in one of the wooden chairs in front of his desk. Shutting the door, Tristan complied.

While he had a feeling he knew what this meeting was about, he asked, “You wanted to see me?”

Bram put aside the papers he’d been reading and looked up at him. “It’s time, Tristan.”

Fuck.
“Can’t one of the volunteer males have another turn? Putting me together with a human is a bad idea, Bram, and you know it.”

Bram leaned back in his chair and shook his head. “No. I can’t risk the gene pool getting too small. Neither you nor your sister has had any young, and since you’re the elder, you’re first in line. I hate to be a hardass, but if you refuse to pair with the latest human sacrifice, I’ll have to kick you out of the clan.”

“Right, and put me at the mercy of the dragon hunters. I don’t really have a choice, do I?”

“No. But since I’m more than just your leader, and I’m also your friend, I waited until a decent candidate came along before I chose you.” Bram shuffled through a stack of papers, found what he was looking for, and held it out to Tristan. “Read her mini-summary.”

As much as he didn’t want to do it, Tristan took the paper and read the one paragraph summary:

Melanie Hall is a twenty-five year old female. Her reason for volunteering as a sacrifice is to heal her brother from a life-threatening disease. Currently, she is a PhD candidate in Social Anthropology at the University of Manchester. Her main interest is the history of human-dragon relations. Her psychological interview showed her to be a strong-willed, determined, and loyal individual who places family above all else. The Dragon Affairs office recommends pairing her with a likewise strong male to avoid unintended manipulation.

He looked up. “So rather than give me a female who will just let me fuck her and walk away, you’re giving me one that will probably fight me every step of the way? Are you sure you’re my friend?”

Bram smiled. “She’ll be good for you. A weaker willed human who would let you fuck her and walk away would prevent you from overcoming your prejudice against humans.”

Tristan narrowed his eyes. “Don’t bring my dead mother into this.”

Bram’s smile faded. “It’s my job to help you, and by extension, strengthen our clan. You can’t keep hiding yourself away by spending all of your time training the young dragons. It’s been ten years, Tristan. You need to let it go and focus on what you can do in the here and now, which is to help our clan—and all dragon-shifters, for that matter—from going extinct.”

“It’s not my bloody fault our numbers are so low. The humans hunted us for thousands of years. The only reason any of the human governments created protections for us over the last two decades is because of the deal we made when we exposed the secret of our blood, to end the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s. To this day, they only value us for the healing properties of our blood and are willing to throw women our way, even if it means possibly killing them in childbirth, to get it.”

“I don’t care about any of that. Let them value us for our blood. In the meanwhile, the dragon-shifters need to repopulate so that one day we don’t need to rely on this barter system to survive.” Bram pierced him with his blue-eyed alpha stare. “Now, read the damn contract and sign it. Our healers are waiting for you to shift so they can draw the necessary amount of blood to complete our end of the agreement.”

Tristan could refuse and walk away. Despite the shitty odds, he would probably do just that if it were only him. But he couldn’t abandon his sister Arabella; especially as he was the only family she had left.

And damn Bram, he knew that.

Tristan held out his hand. “Give me the bloody contract. But if you think this is going to magically cure my hatred of humans, you’re in for a surprise.”

His friend handed over the papers. “We’ll see, Tristan. We’ll see.”

———————

Sacrificed to the Dragon: Complete Collection
is now available on all major online retailers.

Blaze of Secrets

(Asylums for Magical Threats #1)

Kiarra Melini overhears the dangerous secrets of her blood and decides that if
Feiru
elemental magic is to survive, she needs to die. However, before she can finish the deed, a strange yet determined man shows up in her cell, throws her over his shoulder, and carries her right out of the prison for elemental magic users.

Jaxton Ward is ordered by his superiors to train the stubborn elemental fire user he rescued. There's only one problem—she claims her magic is gone and he has no idea how to train a woman who spent the last fifteen years inside a prison cell. He's determined to keep his relationship professional, but as the danger amps up and they're forced to go on the run, he starts to fall for the newly confident woman who ignites his temper like no other.

Kiarra's final secret is the key to them staying alive, but can they outrun the prison enforcers long enough for her to embrace her unique magical talents and finally learn to love again?

———————

Blaze of Secrets
is available on all major online retailers.

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 now available on all major online retailers.

Books by Jessie Donovan

Asylums for Magical Threats

Blaze of Secrets
(AMT #1)