Valentine (The Dragon Kings Book 3)

Contents

• Title Page
  
• Copyright
  
• Dedication
  
• Chapter 1
  
• Chapter 2
  
• Chapter 3
  
• Chapter 4
  
• Chapter 5
  
• Chapter 6
  
• Chapter 7
  
• Chapter 8
  
• Chapter 9
  
• Chapter 10
  
• Chapter 11
  
• Chapter 12
  
• Chapter 13
  
• Chapter 14
  
• Chapter 15
  
• Chapter 16
  
• Chapter 17
  
• Chapter 18
  
• Chapter 19
  
• Chapter 20
  
• Chapter 21
  
• Chapter 22
  
• Chapter 23
  
• Chapter 24
  
• Chapter 25
  
• Chapter 26
  
• Chapter 27
  
• Chapter 28
  
• Chapter 29
  
• Chapter 30
  
• Chapter 31
  
• Chapter 32
  
• About the Author
  
• From the Author
  

Copyright © 2016 by Kimberly Loth

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, distributed, stored in or introduced in any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical without express permission of the author, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages for review purposes.

This is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogues, in this book are of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead is completely coincidental.

Cover design by Rebecca Frank

Ebook design and typesetting by Write Dream Repeat Book Design LLC

For Matt

For being my second father

I
T DIDN’T MATTER how often she made this journey, Hazel didn’t like the flight home or, for that matter, waiting in crowded airports. Especially when she was flying standby. She felt so out of control. Today was even worse since she was going home to search for her brother. That was something she never thought she’d do. She always figured she’d have to fly to the mainland because Aspen had gotten into trouble. But Rowan? He never left the house.

Guilt pricked at her insides. Even after living in Hawaii for two years, she wondered if she’d made the right choice. Her family was super close, and no one understood why she went so far away. Not that she would expect them to understand. Maybe if she’d stayed home, Rowan would’ve never gone missing. But then she’d probably be married and stuck in Montana forever.

Though if she’d never left, she would’ve been able to help. Her parents waited a whole week to let her know he was missing in the wilds of Yellowstone. In the middle of a freezing cold January. The chances that he was still alive were slim to none. She took a couple of deep breaths, inhaling the smell of pizza from the restaurant across the hall, and approached the gate counter again. A new gate agent had replaced the one she talked to fifteen minutes ago. He was young. Cute too. Dirty blonde hair and wide eyes.

“Excuse me,” she said, and he looked up. Time to turn on the charm. She bit her lip and fiddled with the neckline of her shirt. “I really need to get on this flight.” She dipped her head so she could catch his eye and let him know she’d caught him staring at her breasts. The trick didn’t usually work. She’d been told her green eyes captivated most people, and they never bothered to look anywhere else, but she had more success with guys who took time to check out the rest of her slim figure. Match that with her jet black hair, and she earned the nickname Snow White in high school. But it didn’t fit anymore because she was too tan.

He blushed and looked down at his computer screen. “What’s your name?”

“Hazel Winters.” She almost reached over and touched the back of his hand but decided that might be going a bit far.

“I’m sorry, ma’am, but you’ll have to wait until we see if there are any seats left after the final boarding call. You’re number one on standby, but right now the flight is completely full.” He said all this without looking at her. Plus he called her ma’am. Dammit. She’d have try something else. She summoned a few tears and sniffed.

“You don’t understand. My brother is missing, and I need to get home to help find him. This is the last flight out that will get me a connecting flight home. Please.”

He looked up, and his face softened. She knew she’d gotten to him. He plucked a few tissues out from under the counter and handed them to her.

“I’ll see what I can do.”

“Thank you,” she said, bringing the tissues up to her nose and lowering her eyelashes. She turned and found a chair as close as possible to the counter and stared at the cute gate agent. Unfortunately, it was under the air conditioner, and within seconds she was freezing. In her rush, she’d forgotten her hoodie.

Every time he looked over at her, she dropped her gaze and played with her hair. Slowly, the seats around her emptied, and the line at the gate disappeared. The agent at the counter got on the loud speaker.

“This is final boarding call for Flight 342 to San Francisco.”

Hazel jumped up.

“Can I get a seat now?”

He looked at her apologetically. “There’s still one seat left, but it belongs to someone. If they don’t show up in the next three minutes, it’s all yours.”

Hazel sat down and kept a close eye on the clock. One minute ticked by, then two, then three. As soon as the clock ticked to eight twenty-two, Hazel was back at the counter.

The agent handed her a boarding pass and winked. “First class. Have a nice flight.”

“Thank you,” Hazel said with a grateful grin, and raced down the jetway.

First class. Miracles did exist. Or it was her flirting skills. He could’ve just as easily upgraded someone else and put her back in coach.

She didn’t bother to look at her seat assignment until she stepped onto the plane. Three C. She’d never sat so far up, especially on a flight from Hawaii to the mainland.

She put her suitcase in the overhead compartment, collapsed into the aisle seat, buckled her seatbelt, closed her eyes, and let out a breath of relief. She made it. She rubbed her hands along the edge of her seat, feeling the soft leather. This was way nicer than the scratchy seats back in coach.

She’d been so nervous about making the flight she hadn’t worried about the gazillion other things. Like how she’d have to repeat this entire semester and that her brother was out there somewhere in the frozen woods. Alone. In sub-zero temperatures.

“Hello,” a soft voice said to her.

Oh great, she was next to a stranger who wanted to
talk
. She had to spend the next six hours sitting next to him, so she didn’t want to be rude. She took another deep breath, opened her eyes, and smiled.

“Hi,” she said, and her breath caught in her throat. She was sitting next to the most beautiful man she’d ever laid eyes on. That was saying a lot since she spent nearly every Saturday and Sunday out on the water with some gorgeous surfer boys.

Deep brown eyes and eyelashes that went on for miles. He had shaggy dark hair and bronze skin. A chiseled jaw and completely kissable lips. Hazel almost laughed. She shouldn’t be thinking about kissing anyone right now. In any other circumstance, she’d be turning on the charm. She forced herself to look away from his face. He wore a short sleeved red polo shirt that revealed toned arms. He had on flip-flops and khaki shorts. Probably a rich boy visiting Hawaii on his way home to Cali. He’d be a nice distraction on the plane. Though, he had a book on his lap. He might not want to talk to her.

“Are you scared of flying?” he asked with a nod toward her hands gripping the armrests. She hadn’t even noticed. These were just as rough as the ones back in coach though.

She tried to relax her hands. It didn’t work. “A little. I’ll be fine once we’re up in the air. Something like ninety percent of all plane crashes happen during takeoff and landing. Bad things don’t happen once the plane is in the air.” The sky always held Hazel’s fears. She’d been flying since she was a child but had never been comfortable with it. Aspen used to tease her and tell her all the different ways a plane could crash.

Which is why she always sat next to Rowan when they flew. He would rattle on about his stupid video games. She never had any idea what he was talking about, but it distracted her from the idea that they might crash. Her heart tightened. He might not ever be able to help her with that again.

“I guess that makes sense. I’ve never been on a plane before.”

Hazel snorted. “Really. You live in Hawaii, and you’ve never been on a plane? That’s hard to believe. Surely you’ve flown to one of the other islands.”

He didn’t reply and looked out the window. Had she offended him? Before she could stop herself, she forged on. She couldn’t help it. Beautiful boys were her weakness.

“What’s your name?”

His eyes met hers again, and her insides buzzed.

“Val.”

“Why are you heading to the mainland?” The plane pushed away from the gate, and she clenched the armrests tighter, the plastic digging into her palms. She had to take deep breaths and inhale the stale airplane air, but she wanted to continue this conversation.

“I’m going to see my father. I haven’t seen him since I was a young child. What about you? Why are you flying north?”

“My brother has gone missing. I’m going to look for him.”

“That’s awful. What happened?” Val placed his hand on top of hers. She wanted to shake it off, but she didn’t want to let go of the armrest.

“They think a dragon got him.”

Val’s eyebrows raised. “You mean the one in Yellowstone?”

“That’s what they’re saying, but I don’t think so. Rowan doesn’t go outside. It’s more likely a friend played a trick on him, and he’s on a train to Canada or something.” At least that is what she hoped. She’d been trying to come up with every possibility so she didn’t have to think about him being dead. She kept her gaze locked on the seat in front of her as the plane taxied out to the runway. This was the worst part of flying.

A balding man brushed past her, and a flight attendant intercepted him.

“Sir, the fasten seatbelt sign is on. You need to take your seat.” Her voice was clipped and irritated. The kind that mothers use when they’ve told a child something for the thousandth time.

“I was supposed to be bumped up to first class.” He held up his ticket, but the flight attendant didn’t even look at it.

“As you can see, this is a completely full flight. I’m afraid there weren’t any seats to bump you up to.”

The man pointed at Hazel. “She got on the plane late. Are you sure she paid for a first class ticket?”

“Sir, we can work this out after the plane takes off. I really need you to take your seat.”

“No. I paid for an upgrade, and I want it. I was told I had to sit back in coach until they figured out which seat was empty. That seat was empty until two minutes ago.”

Hazel’s shoulders dropped. She knew this was too good to be true.