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Chapter 1
Ren
If someone had toldme a week ago that soon I’d be shopping for camping gear with the four hottest guys in existence, I’d have called up the loony bin to collect them. But there I was, in a little shop in a town I’d never heard of until two days ago, doing my best not to melt as one of those gorgeous guys helped me into a down-filled jacket. His fingers skimmed my chest, sending a pleasant shiver over myskin.
It wasn’t just Aaron’s touch that had me on the verge of puddle-dom. The late June sun was shining brightly through the shop’s windows, and the still air between the racks of outdoor clothes, backpacks, and other gear was thick with warmth. I squirmed inside thejacket.
“Are you sure I need to bethissuitedup?”
Aaron smiled at me with a mischievous glint in his bright blue eyes. Between those baby-blues and his golden-blond hair, he could have passed for a Disney prince. Although I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen a Disney hero quite that buff. I’d definitely never seen one who could make me tingle between my legs with just aglance.
“You said you’re not sure how far into the mountains we’ll need to go,” he said, with the faint rasp that gave a little flavor to his even voice. “It’ll be a lot colder at the higheraltitudes.”
“And we wouldn’t want our Princess of Flames getting frozen,” Marco drawled, leaning against a rack with his usual crooked grin. It fit the rakish playboy vibe he already had going on with his spiky black hair, the little scar through his arched eyebrow, and his refusal to take any situation completely seriously. His indigo gaze swept over my body, sending a fresh wave of heat through me. His grin widened. “As sad as I am to see you covered up, ofcourse.”
I glowered at him as I shrugged the jacket off. “I’m sure you’ll survive without a view of my cleavage for a fewdays.”
Marco chuckled. “I do have the rest of my life to appreciate it afterthat.”
Oh, yeah. That was the detail I’d have found hardest to swallow beforemylife turned upside down about a week ago. The four guys doing their shopping with me were all shifters—and not any old shifters, but the alphas of their respective kin-groups. Marco could turn into a sleek black jaguar. He ruled over the feline kin. As leader of the avian shifters, Aaron’s animal side was an impressive goldeneagle.
And me? I’d discovered I was a dragon shifter. One of only two left in the world, if my mother was still alive. If she wasn’t, then I was the very last. And my job was to unite shifter kind by taking all four alphas as my mates. No pressure oranything.
There were worse things than being expected to hook up with four completely smokin’ guys, don’t get me wrong. But for a girl who’d never gotten past second base in the first twenty-one years of her life—and who’d had no idea shifters even existed—all that attention could feel a littleoverwhelming.
I slung the jacket over my arm. “It fits and it’s comfortable. And I want to get going. I’ll take thisone.”
It had been seven years since my mother had passed through Sunridge, Wyoming and left her message for me with an enchantment on the town monument, but I didn’t want to wait a second longer than I had to before I found out what had happened to herafter.
Nate ambled over, a couple of rolled sleeping bags tucked under his brawny arms. His bear side came through in his tall, well-built body and his chestnut brown hair. But his expression when he looked at me was all gentle warmth. He might be a grizzly when we were under attack, but with me he was a total teddybear.
“Do you figure we’ll be up there over at least one night, Ren?” he said. His rich baritone voice never failed to warm me uptoo.
“I’m... not really sure,” I admitted. We’d ended up here in Sunridge after following a trail of clues my mother had left me. When I’d touched the obelisk in the town square, I’d gotten a vision of her telling me there was something I needed to find up one particular mountain. Some kind of power she’d gone to retrieve seven yearsago.
She’d never come back. I’d spent all those years with no idea where she’d gone or what had become of her. Really, getting some answers about that mattered more to me than any special powers. I could transform into a dragon—a big, fast, fire-breathing dragon. Wasn’t thatenough?
The thought sent an anxious tremor up my arm. Before I’d quite realized what I was doing, my hand had snatched a metal karabiner out of a basket and tucked it into my sleeve. Damned pickpocket instincts. They always kicked in when I was nervous. I pulled it out and set it back in the basket with a flush of embarrassment, but thankfully none of the guys commented on myslip.
“It’ll be better for us to bring more supplies than we need than not enough,” Aaron said to Nate. He was the most practical of my guys, which I appreciated a heck of a lot when I had so much still to learn about shifter abilities—and limitations. “Sleeping bags will be a lot more comfortable than just the blankets we’ve got in the SUV.” He turned, looking toward the fourth member of my alpha squad. “Didn’t you say there’s a tent in the trunk,West?”
The wolf shifter nodded where he was lurking near the shop’s front door. The sunlight streaming in caught on the silver strands mixed with his light auburn hair. Like his animal, he was all lean muscle, on display now with his arms crossed over his firmchest.
West was frowning, but that didn’t mean much. He frowned at pretty much everything, especially if it had anything to do with me. He’d made it very clear that he wasn’t on board with this whole “destined to mate with the dragon shifter” idea just yet. I guessed I couldn’t exactly blame him, considering the chaos that shifter tradition had apparently thrown the kin-groups into when my mother had disappeared from the community with me sixteen yearsago.
I wouldn’t have minded him remembering thatI’dhad nothing to do with the decision to leave before he turned his gruffness on me,though.
“I’m not sure the tent we have is big enough for the five of us, but with the trouble we’ve had getting here, we’ll probably want a couple of us on watch at any given time anyway,” West said. “There’s nothing to carry it with, though. We’ll need to grab some packs. I’m assuming we’re not going to be able to drive right up to this dragon shifter treasure.” His dark green eyes slid to me with that lastsentence.
“I don’t know,” I said. “This trek wasn’tmyidea. Believe me, I wish my mother had given us more detailed instructionstoo.”
“We’re all following you in this, Sparks,” he muttered. “Keep that inmind.”
“I think it’s a safe assumption that we’ll have to go part of the way on foot,” Aaron broke in, calmly. His practical side made him a good peacemaker too. “And we’ll want to pick up food for the trip, since we can’t be sure of thehunting.”
“I saw a decent-sized grocery store on our way into town,” Natesaid.
“Perfect.” I carried my jacket over to the counter. “I hope you all have good credit.” Especially since I didn’t even own a credit card. I’d only just gotten off the streets a couple monthsago.
