Dragon's Heart

A Total-E-Bound Publication

www.total-e-bound.com

Dragon’s Heart

ISBN # 978-1-78184-496-0

©Copyright Stephani Hecht 2013

Cover Art by Posh Gosh ©Copyright September 2013

Edited by Stacey Birkel

Total-E-Bound Publishing

This is a work of fiction. All characters, places and events are from the author’s imagination and should not be confused with fact. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, events or places is purely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form, whether by printing, photocopying, scanning or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher, Total-E-Bound Publishing.

Applications should be addressed in the first instance, in writing, to Total-E-Bound Publishing. Unauthorised or restricted acts in relation to this publication may result in civil proceedings and/or criminal prosecution.

The author and illustrator have asserted their respective rights under the Copyright Designs and Patents Acts 1988 (as amended) to be identified as the author of this book and illustrator of the artwork.

Published in 2013 by Total-E-Bound Publishing, Think Tank, Ruston Way, Lincoln, LN6 7FL, United Kingdom.

Warning:

This book contains sexually explicit content which is only suitable for mature readers. This story has a
heat rating
of
Total-e-burning
and a
sexometer
of
2.

This story contains 58 pages, additionally there is also a
free excerpt
at the end of the book containing 7 pages.

Dragon’s Soul

DRAGON’S HEART

Stephani Hecht

Book two in the Dragon’s Soul series

Sometimes you have to face your horrible past or else you will never have a bright, happy future.

Lester has always been only half good enough—half a sorcerer, half a dragon, but all a bastard, he was shunned and unwanted as a child. So the first thing he does when he can is move away to the human world and never look back. But the supernatural world is coming to him. The war between the dragons and the sorcerers is at its climax and both sides want Lester on their side.

Dragon shifter Mick grew up watching his best friend Lester being abused and shunned. Now that he’s back, Mick is more determined than ever to protect him. As the two find themselves falling in love, will they be able to overcome all their obstacles, or will war win over love?

Dedication

To Mom—thank you for everything you have done. I love you.

Trademarks Acknowledgement

The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:

Fruity Pebbles: Post Foods LLC

Prada: Prada SA

Hummer: General Motors Corporation

Bactine: Bayer, Inc.

Chapter One

Lester Bucan had been counting on just another mundane day at the ER. He should have known better. First, things were never mundane in the ER and they were never, ever mundane when one was half sorcerer and half dragon.

Things had started out simply enough. He’d gone to work, acting like the normal human he’d been pretending to be for over a decade. Everything was easy-peasy. Things were busy at work, but since he’d been a nurse for over five years, he could handle it. He was keeping up and then some.

Then he had to go into exam room six and that was when everything had gone into the shitter. When the life that he’d worked so hard for a decade to build came crumbling down over his ears.

There, sitting in the exam room in all his five-foot six-inch glory, was Mick. He hadn’t changed much over the years. He still had his black hair styled in a faux hawk and he still wore all black with spikes. He even sported high, heavy boots that probably weighed more than he did. Numerous piercings marred his face, from his eyebrows down to his pouty bottom lip. Damned if he still didn’t look as cute as ever, too.

It made Lester think of a time when he’d had a crush on Mick. When he’d dared to think that something could happen between them. That had been when he was young and stupid, before he’d learnt the cruel reality of life—that highborn dragons didn’t mix with bastards like Lester and they sure as hell didn’t mix with half-breeds. So he’d never admitted to Mick his true feelings and he never would. It was just better that way.

Lester quickly closed the door behind him and demanded, “What in the hell are you doing here?”

“I have a nasty cough?” Mick then gave the fakest-sounding hack that Lester had ever heard in his life.

“Nice try, but dragons don’t get sick. So what is the real reason why you’re here?”

“Brian sent me—well, us, actually.”

“What in God’s name would my half-brother want from me now of all times? He had little use for me before.”

Mick frowned, the gesture making him look all the younger. “He was always nice to you. It was his mother who had a problem with you. She really hated your guts.”

“It’s probably because I was a living reminder that her husband had cheated on her,” Lester drawled.

“Probably.”

“You still haven’t told me why you’re here,” Lester reminded Mick.

As much as Lester would have loved to sit there all day and stare at Mick—and he would have really liked to have done that since Mick was a wet dream come true—Lester was busy. He needed to get the young dragon on his way so he could get back to work.

“Oh, right, about that… You need to come with me, and by that I mean, right this minute,” Mick announced matter-of-factly.

Lester gaped at him. He knew Mick was a few screws short of a toolbox, but this was a new low even for him. “I can’t just up and leave. I’m in the middle of my shift.”

“Well, you see, this is where you have to stop pretending to be a human and come back to our world.”

“Says who?”

“Says everybody.”

“What in the hell is going on?”

“Duncan came home.”

That piece of news did shock Lester. Last he’d heard, his half-brother was MIA, had been for the past five years. Duncan hadn’t even shown up for his mother’s funeral.

Leaning against the wall for support, Lester asked, “When?”

“A couple of months ago, but it gets even better. He has a mate who’s a sorcerer—the son of the very sorcerer who had been holding Duncan captive for all those years by capturing his Dragon’s Eye.”

Suddenly it all made sense. If the sorcerer had indeed held Duncan’s Dragon’s Eye, then he would have, in essence, held Duncan’s free will. Duncan would have been at his mercy and powerless to leave. He would have been the sorcerer’s slave. It was a fate that all dragons lived in fear of.

Then something else that Mick had said hit Lester like a smack to the face. “Did you say that Duncan is mated to a sorcerer?”

“Yeah, it blew me away, too, but Trent actually is a decent guy once you get to know him.”

“I wonder how Nicholas and Brian took that,” Lester said.

Mick shrugged like it was no big deal, even though Lester knew that it had to have been. “It took a little getting used to, but they’re adjusting. Actually, it’s been a bit of an adjustment for all of us. It’s not easy coming down in the morning for your Fruity Pebbles
and seeing a frigging sorcerer sitting there. Not when we’ve been at war with them for so many centuries. There’s been more than a few times when I’ve almost pissed my pants until I remind myself that he’s on our side.”

“You still haven’t told me what this has to do with me,” Lester pointed out.

He’d forgotten how chatty Mick could be at times. Put a damn nickel in the guy and he could go on forever. Usually Lester found the trait endearing, but at the moment, he wanted to get Mick, and whatever other dragons he’d brought with him, out of Dodge. That way Lester could go back to leading his boring, peaceful life.

“Well, now that Trent defected, the sorcerers are going crazy. They’re afraid others are going to go to our side and you, buddy, are number one on their hit list.”

“Me?” Lester pointed at his own chest. “I don’t have any magical abilities at all. Plus, I can’t shift into a dragon. I may as well be a human for all the skills I have.”

“You can’t use your magic because nobody ever taught you. Or at least that’s what Trent thinks. He says once you come back with us, he’ll work with you on that.”

Lester could feel his anger and frustration growing with each passing second. Just when he had finally got his own life, his old one had to come back and bite him in the rump. It simply wasn’t fair.

“And what if I don’t want to go back?”

Mick gave him an
are-you-kidding-me
look. “It’s either us or the sorcerers and we want you alive. They want you dead.”

“But why do they want me at all?”

“Because they know that Trent will be able to train you to use your powers.” Mick paused and cocked his head to the side. “You’re really having a hard time keeping up with everything going on here.”

“You’ll have to excuse me—it’s been ten years since I’ve been in this world. It’s going to take me some time to catch up,” Lester snapped.

Mick froze, his eyes growing wide as he sniffed the air. Lester’s heart began to pound and his stomach dropped when Mick let out a rather colourful curse—“Motherfucking whore! They’re here now.”

Since all Lester smelt were the usual ER stenches, he asked, “Who?”

“A group of sorcerers. If I had to guess I’d say six, which makes us outnumbered two to one. Which isn’t that bad of odds.”

Lester looked at Mick as if he’d gone crazy. “How are we supposed to beat them when we’re outnumbered like that?”

“I have two more dragons in the waiting room, so I’m not counting you. Don’t worry.”

Ouch!
That kind of hurt. But then again Mick had a point. Lester had never been taught to fight or use magic. He was the forgotten child. The one nobody wanted. The one who was always shoved to the side and ignored. And now he was going to have to go back to that environment.
Yippee
!

Mick jumped down from the examining table and grabbed Lester by the arm. “We need to get out of here—now.”

“I can’t just walk out. I’m in the middle of a shift. What do I tell my co-workers?” Lester protested.

“Tell them that you just hurled or something. I don’t care. Just do something to get the hell out of here without calling too much attention to us.”

They walked out of the exam room to see three sorcerers walking down the hallway in their direction. They were all huge, muscular and dressed in head-to-toe black. So much for not calling attention.

“Shit!” Mick said.

He jerked Lester into the opposite direction. Lester’s heart stuttered when he saw Tristan and Brody, two dragon shifters, coming from that way. Like the sorcerers, they were built, but that was where the similarities ended. Tristan had short blond hair and wore jeans and a long jacket to hide his weapons. Brody wore a similar coat, but he had dark hair and piercing blue eyes that seemed to stare straight into your soul. All in all they didn’t look much friendlier than the sorcerers, but Lester still found himself running in their direction.