Dragon Returning (Torch Lake Shifters Book 1) Read online

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Dragon Returning

  Torch Lake Shifters, Book 1

  By Sloane Meyers

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Similarities to actual people or events are entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2017 by Sloane Meyers. All rights reserved.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Thank You For Reading!

  More Books by Sloane Meyers

  About the Author

  Chapter One

  “Mandy Evans, your day has finally come.”

  Mandy looked up from her tablet, a slight furrow creasing her brow. Had she heard that correctly? Had Commander Alex Hawkins really just called her out by name? A shudder of anticipation passed through her body.

  “Sir?” she asked, trying to keep her voice even.

  “You heard me. Your day has come. We’re sending you out to bring home a dragon.”

  All eyes in the giant command room were turned toward Mandy now. She could feel their glares burning into her skin. The high level commanders would be unhappy that a woman—a relatively young woman, at that—was being given such an important job. They thought only men were strong and steady enough for the physically and emotionally taxing job of convincing a dragon to come to Torch Lake. The other male soldiers agreed, of course. They would be staring at Mandy with barely concealed jealousy right now. She knew they would not easily forgive her for the crime of being awarded such a prestigious job. And the few other women in the room would be a mixed bag. Some would be jealous, yes. But Mandy hoped that at least a few of them would be looking at her with pride. After all, if one woman was given a chance to take on such a difficult task, that meant there was hope for the rest of them, too.

  Mandy didn’t allow herself to meet the gazes of anyone in the command room, though. She forced herself to stare directly at Commander Hawkins, and no one else. His opinion was the only one that mattered, after all. He looked back at her with a neutral expression, which was an improvement over the hostile look he usually gave her. Mandy realized with a start that he was expecting her to say something more. He’d just offered her a great honor, after all. She should be acknowledging that instead of staring at him in dumb disbelief.

  “Thank you, sir. I’m honored to be given this opportunity.”

  He waved his hand in the air as though dismissing her comments. He used this gesture quite often, and most of the time it was directed at a woman. Mandy felt herself bristle, but she forced herself to remain calm. She didn’t want him to change his mind and pull away the offer of the dragon job.

  “Don’t thank me. It wasn’t my idea, to be honest.”

  Mandy couldn’t stop the surprise from registering on her face. Commander Hawkins ran a tight ship, and he didn’t take kindly to other people telling him what to do. It was almost impossible for Mandy to believe that he was, indeed, being honest when he said it wasn’t his idea to give her the job. She found herself at a complete loss about what to say, and he seemed to enjoy her discomfort.

  “Oh, it’s true,” he said. “Like most of my fellow commanders in the Dragon Recovery Division, I’m of the opinion that men are better suited to the task of dragon recovery. But the High Council is getting restless, and they think they know better than us how to convince those damn dragons to come to Torch Lake. They’ve decided we need to try a new tactic…one that involves female persuasion, if you know what I mean. I suggested you for the job.”

  Mandy’s heart started to pound in her chest. She could feel anger rising. Surely, the High Council had not been so crass as to suggest that women should stoop to seduction to lure dragons to Torch Lake? Commander Hawkins laughed, enjoying the moment. Mandy knew in that moment that Commander Hawkins still did not believe in her. He thought she would fail. And he would take great pleasure in watching her fall. She finally stole a glance around the room, letting her eyes land on the few other women present in the room. Mandy wasn’t exactly ugly, but she was, by far, the plainest of the women in this room. The other females had perfect hourglass shapes and brilliant blonde hair, which hung around their shoulders in shiny waves. Their skin glowed under the artful application of makeup that was perfectly suited to their skin tones. Mandy’s boring brown hair was pulled into a boring bun, and she wasn’t wearing any makeup, unless Chapstick counted. Commander Hawkins had recommended her for this job because he knew that she would never be able to seduce a man. Especially not a man who was a dragon shifter and likely had his choice of beautiful women.

  Mandy felt small, but she raised her chin out as proudly as she could. “I’m not a sex object, Commander Hawkins.”

  Commander Hawkins rolled his eyes at her. “Well, that’s plain to see. Listen, Evans, no one is saying you actually have to sleep with the dragon. Just bat your eyes at him a couple times and get him to come back to Torch Lake. We can handle the rest from there.”

  “I didn’t go through a year of dragon recovery training to be told to go bat my eyelashes at a man. I’m a professional recovery agent, not some sort of cheap escort service!”

  She’d never raised her voice to Commander Hawkins before, and the way he turned to glare at her made her wish she hadn’t started now. His gaze felt like it was boring a hole right into her core.

  “Do not speak to me with such disrespect, Agent Evans! If the High Council gives you orders to flirt, then you will flirt. Unless you’d rather not take the job at all? I’m sure, if you’d like to look for a different line of work, there are plenty of women here who would be happy to step up and bring home a dragon by any means necessary.”

  Mandy’s stomach turned at the phrase “any means necessary.” The High Council of Torch Lake was known for following strict protocols and moral guidelines. Telling Mandy that they wanted her to bring a dragon home no matter the method seemed out of character for them. After the Great Dark Magic War, which had ended three years ago, most High Councils shied away from doing anything that could be even remotely viewed as coercion. No one wanted to be accused of going down a dark path toward dark magic. Forcing other wizards or shifters to do things against their will was seen as dangerously close to dark magic methods.

  Mandy chanced a glance at the other women in the room. They had been watching her, but quickly looked away when she turned toward them. She bit back a
sigh. Commander Hawkins hadn’t been exaggerating when he’d warned her that there were plenty of women willing to flirt or sell their bodies if it meant the chance to bring a dragon back to Torch Lake. And damn it, she wasn’t going to lose her chance to seek out a dragon to them. If the High Council was asking her to do this, they must have their reasons, and she trusted them. She didn’t like the prospect of trying to woo a man, but if that’s what it took to prove that she could run with the big boys, then so be it.

  “I’ll take the job,” Mandy said, her voice firm and steady.

  There was a small flicker of hatred in Commander Hawkins’ eyes, and Mandy knew that he had been hoping she would decline the job. But he said nothing else to Mandy directly. Instead, he set his lips in a tight line and gave her one curt nod. Then he turned to his secretary, who always attended these meetings to take notes for him.

  “When this meeting is over, be sure to send an email to Jordan over in Recovery Logistics and tell him to start putting together a supply bag for Mandy.”

  Mandy felt her heart leap, and, despite Commander Hawkins’ shitty attitude, she could feel excitement building in her chest. He could complain and glare at her all he wanted. It didn’t matter. The High Council had spoken, and she, Mandy Evans, was actually going to be given the chance to bring a dragon home.

  She sure as hell wasn’t going to squander that chance.

  Chapter Two

  Less than a week later, Mandy arrived in Chicago, where her dragon target lived. Before she’d left Torch Lake, Mandy had read and reread every detail in Russell Porter’s file. She mentally reviewed these details as she made the five minute walk from the subway station to the bar where, according to his file, he liked to spend his evenings.

  Russell Porter went by the short form of his name, Russ, and was known to grow belligerent when someone tried to call him Russell. He stood a good head and shoulders taller than the average male, an unsurprising fact since he was a dragon shifter. All of the dragon shifters Mandy had ever seen—and there were quite a few of them on the High Council—were inhumanly tall. Russ was, according to his file, no exception. Mandy could also expect him to be unusually muscular. The only thing normal about his appearance seemed to be his dark brown hair that matched his dark brown eyes. Mandy chewed her lip as she walked, calling up a mental image of the blurry headshot that had been attached to his file.

  He was handsome. Too handsome. He was never going to be interested in a Plain Jane like herself. Especially a Plain Jane with zero flirting skills. In fact, Mandy had mentioned this fact to her equipment specialist in Recovery Logistics, only to be greeted with laughter. She felt her cheeks turning red at the memory. After the equipment specialist had given her all of the standard stuff for a tame dragon recovery job—a secure mobile phone for making emergency calls, a suitcase of cash for bribing reluctant dragons, and a special invisibility cover for her magic ring, Mandy had asked, as nicely as she could, how the hell she was supposed to seduce Russ.

  “Isn’t there anything else?” she’d asked.

  “Anything else?” the equipment specialist repeated. “What else do you want? We’ve given you all the standard equipment, and you know you’re allowed to dip into the cash to make reasonable purchases of items you think will help you bring the dragon back to Torch Lake.”

  “Right, I know that. But…I was told I’m supposed to use my, uh, female powers of persuasion on this dragon. Shouldn’t there be some sort of training on how to do that? Or, at least, some sort of special outfits or perfume…”

  He looked at her like she was crazy, but then must have decided she was telling a joke. “Ha, good one. Seducing a dragon? Haven’t heard that one before.”

  “No, that’s what I was told to do. I’m serious.”

  He winked at her. “Sure you are.”

  And that had been it. Now, as Mandy walked toward the bar where she hoped she would find Russ, she wondered for the umpteenth time why no one had bothered to inform the equipment specialist of her orders to seduce the dragon. Perhaps they’d thought he wouldn’t understand, anyway. He was used to doling out cash, electronics, and, occasionally, weapons. Not exactly the stuff of seduction. So Mandy had taken things into her own hands, and used some of the money she’d been given to go shopping for a sexy outfit.

  At least, she hoped it was a sexy outfit. Her normal uniform of jeans and a button-down plaid shirt was about as far away from sexy as you could get, so she’d allowed the saleslady at the department store to give her advice on what to buy. Mandy had let the women talk her into the slinky, black spaghetti strap dress she was wearing right now, as well as a new purse—a chic cross-body clutch in which it had been nearly impossible to stuff both her wallet and her standard-issue emergency phone. She’d refused to give in to the pressure to buy a pair of sky-high heels, and had compromised on a pair of overly glitzy flats that made her feel somewhat like a clown. The saleslady had assured her that these flats were all the rage in Chicago this summer, but Mandy was beginning to have her doubts about that. She’d been in the windy city for two days and couldn’t remember seeing the ridiculous glitter shoes on anyone else.

  But, she figured, what did she know about fashion? About as much as she knew about makeup, which is why she’d also allowed the nice lady at the makeup counter this afternoon to add enough makeup to, in Mandy’s opinion, fully complete the clown effect her shoes had started.

  Mandy sighed as she turned onto the street where the bar was supposedly located. At least, if nothing else, she knew she was good at acting confident. And that was the most important thing in attracting a man, right? Acting confident? Well, perhaps that and showing a little boob, depending on the man. Mandy sighed again. She hoped Russ was the kind of man who would be good with confidence. She’d rather not stoop to flaunting her cleavage. In fact, the very thought of doing so filled her with anger. The High Council always had their reasons, sure, but she just couldn’t believe they would demean their female employees this way.

  “All’s fair in love, war, and dragon recovery, I suppose,” Mandy whispered under her breath. Then she looked around the street in confusion. Had she taken a wrong turn somewhere? She didn’t see anything that looked like a bar. She was in a residential area, surrounded by brownstones. She didn’t see any other people around, although she could hear loud voices on the main street a few blocks away. Perhaps she’d read the address wrong.

  Mandy squinted down at her phone, navigating to her email so she could double check the address. She looked at her GPS and confirmed that she had entered the right street name and number, but she only saw houses up ahead. Her frown deepening, she started walking further down the street. The street numbers were rising, and she should be getting close, but there was no bar in sight. She wished she could use her magic powers to find the place. A simple locating spell would have instantly shown her where the bar was. But she was under strict orders not to use magic unless she found herself facing a life or death emergency. After the war, the rules about unauthorized use of magic had been tightened even further. Mandy gritted her teeth and kept peering at the street numbers in the fading evening light.

  And then, she saw it. Just past a large row of privacy hedges, which seemed ridiculously out of place in this city neighborhood, a small neon beer sign graced the door of what must have been a house at some time in the past. The front of the building looked like all the other buildings on the street, except for that small beer sign. As Mandy walked up to the door, she saw that there was a small wooden sign just above the beer sign that said “The Token Tap.” The sign wasn’t even lit well enough by the neon beer sign to be legible from the street, and Mandy rolled her eyes.

  “This place needs some help with their marketing efforts,” she said aloud. Then, after taking a deep breath and adjusting her dress, she pushed the door open.

  The place was empty, except for the bartender, and Mandy felt her heart drop. She’d chosen to come in on a Tuesday night in hopes that things would be q
uiet, but she hadn’t wanted them this quiet. According to Russ’s profile, he came in almost every night. Leave it to her to come on the one night he decided to stay home.

  Mandy briefly considered turning around and walking right back out the door, but the bartender had already spotted her.

  “Howdy,” he said, looking away from the television and raising an eyebrow as he looked her up and down. Mandy knew with one hundred percent certainty in that moment that the glitter shoes and clown makeup had been a horrible choice. This was the type of bar where her normal jeans and button-down plaid would have been a much better choice. But she was already here, and already dressed in her clown getup. She’d have to make the best of it. Maybe it was a good thing, after all, that Russ wasn’t here tonight. She could try to get some intel from the bartender, and come back another night wearing normal clothes. She pasted a brave smile on her face and strode confidently toward the bar top.

  “Evening,” Mandy said as she hopped onto an uneven bar stool. She let her eyes quickly take in the three beer options on draft. They were all local brews, and she decided to try out the IPA. “I’ll take the Goose IPA.”

  The bartender nodded and moved to fill a mug for her. While he worked, Mandy took a closer look at the place. The dim lighting made the room appear smoky, even though smoking was only allowed outside. The bar had about seven barstools, and only one rickety wooden table in the corner. The rest of the small space was filled by a pool table and a giant juke box. This was definitely Mandy’s kind of place. It made her strangely happy to know that Russ also liked unassuming dive bars. At least if she had to flirt, she would be flirting with a guy who had good taste in drinking holes.

  “Five bucks. Cash only,” the bartender said, setting the beer down in front of Mandy with a thud.

  Mandy reached into her clutch to awkwardly dig out her wallet and some cash. “Slow night, huh?”