Read Mate Test Online

Authors: Amber Kell

Tags: #Fantasy, #m/m romance

Mate Test

BOOK: Mate Test
4.5Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Mate Test

Dragon Men Series

Book II

Amber Kell

Published by Silver Publishing

Publisher of Erotic Romance

About The e-Book You Have Purchased:

Your non-refundable purchase of this e-book allows you to only ONE

LEGAL copy for your own personal reading on your own personal

computer or device.
You do not have resell or distribution rights

without the prior written permission of both the publisher and the

copyright owner of this book.
This book cannot be copied in any

format, sold, or otherwise transferred from your computer to another

through upload to a file sharing peer to peer program, for free or for a

fee, or as a prize in any contest. Such action is illegal and in violation

of the South African Copyright Law. Distribution of this e-book, in

whole or in part, online, offline, in print or in any way or any other

method currently known or yet to be invented, is forbidden. If you do

not want this book anymore, you must delete it from your computer.

WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this

copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including

infringement without monetary gain, is investigated and is punishable

by imprisonment and a fine."

Cover Artist: Reese Dante

Editor: Devin Govaere

Mate Test © 2011 Amber Kell

ISBN # 9781920501440

Attention Readers:
This book uses US English.

All rights reserved.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED:
This literary work may not be

reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including

electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without

express written permission. All characters and events in this book are

fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly

coincidental. The Licensed Art Material is being used for illustrative

purposes only; any person depicted in the Licensed Art Material, is a

model.

PUBLISHER:

https://spsilverpublishing.com

Note from the Publisher

Dear Reader,

Thank you for your purchase of this title. The authors and

staff of Silver Publishing hope you enjoy this read and that

we will have a long and happy association together.

Please remember that the only money authors make from

writing comes from the sales of their books. If you like

their work, spread the word and tell others about the books,

but please refrain from sharing this book in any form.

Authors depend on sales and sales only to support their

families.

If you see "free shares" offered or cut-rate sales on pirate

sites of this title, you can report the offending entry to

[email protected]

Thank you for not pirating our titles.

Lodewyk Deysel

Publisher

Silver Publishing

https://spsilverpublishing.com

Dedication

This is for everyone who longs to find their true

love.

Mate Test

Amber Kell

Chapter One

High Duke Torrance Zelan took another drink of his

hot, bitter coffee and thought moodily over his trip to the

dragon world. Some days there wasn't enough caffeine in

the universe to help wake a man up. After visiting his

cousin Joriah for his mating ceremony earlier, he now had

to meet with the king of the southern provinces to discuss

mining rights. The high king, his uncle, wanted access to

the rare minerals only found in this area of the galaxy,

many of which were necessary components for warp drive

processors. As he was already semi-familiar with the planet

and had a personal connection with dragons, his uncle

thought he would make the perfect representative.

Tor was withholding his opinion until he met the

southern king. Larien would've loved this trip. Dear, sweet,

gentle Larien, with his hard body and sweet voice, was a

man who dreamed of seeing dragons fly.

"You would've loved this, baby," Tor whispered.

Swallowing the lump in his throat, Tor held back

his tears. In times like these he wished he'd followed his

lover into the afterlife instead of lingering on. Losing

Larien had hit him like a fist to the stomach.

Only his family kept his feet firmly grounded from

1

Mate Test

Amber Kell

leaving this plane for the next. He couldn't leave his little

girl and two boys. Although his broken heart remained

tattered and bruised, he loved them.

Tor sighed. Pressing his face into his hands, he

discreetly wiped away the moisture he felt leak from his

eyes despite his best efforts. The cold glass of the window

cooled his heated skin as he released another sigh. Even

though he couldn't see the star field outside the window, he

knew it was still there.

Dragon-bonded as a child, Tor's vision relied solely

on what the dragon allowed him to see. Subsequently, his

ability to see flashed in and out like a poor intergalactic

transmission. Sometimes it was excruciatingly clear, but

normally, it was complete blackness only broken by the

brilliant sparkle of stars. When Baroy flew through the

cosmos at night, Tor saw everything the creature saw. With

his eyes always locked with the dragon's in space, he was

blind to the everyday world around him. Some days he

wished he'd never touched the baby dragon when he was a

young boy.

"Did you say something, my lord?"

"Nothing important, Pietro. I was thinking of how

Larien would've loved visiting the dragons."

The elderly man grunted in agreement. "Mr. Jall

2

Mate Test

Amber Kell

always dreamed of dragons. He would've loved coming on

this trip."

Speechless from the tears clogging his throat, the

duke nodded.

Pietro made a soft disapproving sound. "He also

would've wanted you to move on with your life."

Tor smiled through his tears, "Very subtle, Pietro."

He took a sip from his coffee cup and waved the servant

away. "You may retire for the night. Thank you."

He could feel Pietro glaring at him as if the other

man could force Tor to see with the sheer power of his

stare. Larien always said Pietro's frigid gray eyes must be

chipped from polar glaciers in order to achieve their chill.

One of the benefits of being mostly blind was that he could

ignore icy stares.

"Remember what I said, Master. Mr. Jall lived for

your smile. Don't disappoint his memory by forgetting how

to."

With that parting shot, Tor heard the door close

softly.

"You are sad this evening."

Baroy's voice echoed through Tor's head in a soft

whisper like a stray word carried on a breeze. The soft

buzzing of the space dragon's voice was both comforting

3

Mate Test

Amber Kell

and abrasive. Tor's life had changed forever when he'd

bonded with a baby space dragon at the tender age of five.

As far as he knew, he was the youngest being, human or

not, to survive a matching with the rare breed.

"I am missing my mate,"
he mentally sent back to

the dragon.

"You are missing your lover
," the dragon corrected.

"
You have yet to meet your mate."

"That doesn't make it less painful."

"No, it doesn't."

A burst of bitter laughter ripped through him.

"If it hurts this much to lose a lover, I don't want a

mate."

"It isn't a matter of want. It is a matter of fate. You

will meet your mate soon. I have foreseen it."

Chills shivered up and down Tor's spine.

The dragon was never wrong. The creature was

even more accurate than Tor's daughter, Alexandra, who

was a born seer.

"I don't want a mate,"
he repeated. Tor wondered if

saying it enough times would make the nebulous mate

vanish from his future.

His heart still cried for Larien. Tor wasn't ready to

risk it again.

4

Mate Test

Amber Kell

"All things happen in their own time."

Great. Just what he needed, more sage sayings from

a cryptic dragon. Tor felt Baroy leave his mind.

"I'm surrounded by beings with great parting lines."

Sighing, Tor took another drink of coffee. In times like

these he could almost feel Larien, as if his lover were still

beside him. He whispered to the empty room, "I will never

forget you, my love."

He didn't care what the court thought a 'natural'

mourning period was. In his heart, two years were

simultaneously a blink in the cosmos and a crawling

eternity of sorrow.

* * * *

The landing was uneventful. The spaceport had the

same stagnant air and echo of other spaceports.

A tall body brushed against Tor's right.

A smooth voice spoke. "My lord." Tor's hand was

gently lifted and wrapped around a huge, muscular arm.

The small scar beneath Tor's fingers and his voice

gave the man away. "Greetings, Crillon," he said to the cat

shifter. Crillon was one of the twin cats he'd rescued from

the streets. The knife wound on Crillon's left arm always

5

Mate Test

Amber Kell

identified him to Tor. As a courtesy to his blindness,

Crillon always wore short sleeves so that Tor would know

who was escorting him.

Tor felt as if all eyes were staring at him. Leather

brushed up against his arm as the guard leaned closer. "You

did not sleep well?"

"I rarely sleep well these days."

Crillon patted his hand. "It'll get better with time,

Your Grace."

"That's what everyone tells me."

Crillon cleared his throat, and Tor heard him shift

his feet. "Pietro has gone ahead with the house staff to

prepare your room."

"Thank you, Crillon. Sounds like you have

everything ready as usual. What's my schedule?"

If anyone knew about his day, it would be Crillon.

Besides Pietro, the man was the closest thing to a walking

calendar.

"Nothing planned this afternoon, Your Grace. I

know how space travel tires you, so we'll go straight to

your room with a quick tour of the castle on the way.

Tomorrow you'll have breakfast with the king and the other

delegates, then everyone will be given a tour of the mines."

"What do we know about the others?" It was always

6

Mate Test

Amber Kell

best to get a handle on the competition. His people were

good about seeking any weaknesses that would give Tor

the edge.

The weapons decorating the cat's body clinked

softly together with each step, a sound Tor always

associated with friendship and safety. "I have downloaded

their files so you can listen to them tonight while you rest."

"Thank you, Crillon, you're always so efficient."

"Let me know if there is anything else I can do for

BOOK: Mate Test
4.5Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Other books

Darius & Twig by Walter Dean Myers
Poppy Day by Amanda Prowse
Siren by John Everson
Shana Galen by Prideand Petticoats
Harry Houdini Mysteries by Daniel Stashower
To Snatch a Thief by Cotton, Hazel
The Man Who Killed Boys by Clifford L. Linedecker
Sure as Hell by Julie Kenner
I Sacrifice Myself by Christina Worrell
Tales of the Hidden World by Simon R. Green