Dragon Triumphing (Torch Lake Shifters Book 12) Read online

  Dragon Triumphing

  Torch Lake Shifters, Book 12

  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 © 2018 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

  Thank You For Reading!

  More Books by Sloane Meyers

  About the Author

  Chapter One

  Simon Fillmore felt like he was on top of the world, which was strange since his whole world was in the middle of a war. But despite the death and destruction occurring out on the battlefield, it was hard not to feel happy and hopeful in the middle of the Winking Wizard, his favorite bar.

  Friday night was always a busy time at the Winking Wizard, with the pub quickly filling up with shifters and wizards happy to be done with a week of work. But this Friday, everyone was especially happy. The Torch Lake High Council had just announced that a decisive battle had been won against the Dark Warriors, and morale in the city was high. Ever since the Torch Lake army had joined forces with several armies from nearby shifter and wizard clans, the war had been going well for Torch Lake. The Dark Warriors seemed unable to keep up with the allied armies, and most of Torch Lake believed that victory was at least on the horizon, if not imminent.

  For Simon, who had only recently joined the Torch Lake Clan after being rescued by its army, life was better than it had been in quite some time. Not only was he not being held captive by the Dark Warriors anymore, but he was also living the good life of a dragon shifter in a shifter-wizard town. He had a good job working directly with the Torch Lake High Council, a nice new house overlooking Torch Lake itself, and a whole group of dragon shifter friends. The only thing he didn’t have, which all his other dragon shifter friends had, was a woman. But Simon was confident that he could change that soon, and he was going to start out by talking to the hot new girl behind the bar.

  The Winking Wizard had, until recently, only had one official bartender. There were several waitresses and cooks, but only one guy ran the bar itself. Even Simon, who was relatively new to Torch Lake, knew that. But a few days ago, quite a stir had gone up when a curvy, dark-haired beauty had shown up behind the bar. Her name was Brittany, and she was always smiling—a big sort of smile, that reached all the way to her sparkling green eyes. Simon, like most of the men in the bar, had been smitten.

  The first few nights, Simon had watched from afar while other men stumbled over their words, trying to impress Brittany. He’d told himself to let them have their say. After a few nights, when she was tired of the boys, he’d go up and show her that he was a man. At least, that’s how he’d planned everything out in his head. He’d never expected Brittany to see him as anything other than a prized catch, but he was about to find out that not all wizards were so easily swayed just by knowing he was a dragon shifter.

  “Hey there,” Simon said to Brittany as he slid into a barstool that had just been vacated by a bear shifter. “Busy tonight, huh?”

  Brittany smiled at him as she filled two large mugs with Charmed Star Ale. The smoking purple beer was a favorite of all the ladies who came to the Winking Wizard. “Hey, big guy. Whatcha drinking tonight?”

  Simon felt a thrill of excitement go through him when she called him big guy. Surely, that was a promising sign. “I’ll have a Dragon’s Breath Lager.”

  Her grin widened as she slid the Charmed Star Ales down the bar to a pair of young wolf shifter women. “Uh-huh. You’re one of the dragon shifters, aren’t you? I thought you had to be either a dragon or a grizzly, judging from the size of your muscles and how tall you are.”

  Simon felt his chest puffing up even more with pride. Brittany had already noticed his muscles, and he’d only said a few words to her. This was going well. Emboldened by this, and by the two Dragon’s Breath Lagers he’d already finished, Simon decided to go ahead and make his move. After all, women liked it when men were bold and authoritative, didn’t they? Simon was going to show Brittany that he could be every bit the alpha male.

  Dropping his voice to a low, husky tone, Simon leaned over the counter to put his face only inches away from Brittany’s. She had just grabbed a fresh mug to begin pouring his Lager, but she paused and gave him an inquisitive look as he tilted toward her face.

  “You know I’m the only dragon shifter in town who’s still single, right?”

  She cocked an eyebrow at him, then went to fill the mug. “Is that so?”

  “It is. For the moment at least. But I’ve been looking to change that. I’ve been looking for the right girl, who’s a combination of witty, beautiful, and fun.” Simon winked at her, but Brittany only gave him a slight frown.

  “Well, I’m sure when you find that girl she’ll be a very lucky woman.”

  She set the Lager in front of him and turned to move on, but it was Simon’s turn to frown. It was obvious from Brittany’s demeanor that she had completely understood that Simon was hinting at making her his girl. But it was also obvious that she had shut him down. Simon had never been shut down by a woman before.

  And the fact that Brittany had just shut him down fascinated him. He took it as a challenge, and reached across the bar to grab Brittany’s hand as she tried to withdraw and head for the next customer.

  “You know you’ve made quite an impression on everyone in this bar. They all think you’re the most beautiful woman to ever grace Torch Lake with your presence.”

  Brittany snorted at him. “Oh really? Well I’ve been in Torch Lake since the town got started. Funny no one even noticed me until now. I think all these guys only notice me now because I’m behind a bar and they’re seeing me after having a few drinks.”

  Simon chewed his lower lip for a moment. This was not going well. Simon himself didn’t know how long anyone had been in Torch Lake, really, since he himself had only arrived recently. But he did have to agree with the other guys that Brittany was the most beautiful woman in town, and that belief had nothing to do with how many drinks he’d had. Frustrated, he decided to cut directly to the chase. He wasn’t going to dance around what he wanted. He’d ask Brittany directly. She might be able to pull away from him when he only hinted at liking her. But surely, no one could refuse a direct invitation from a dragon for a date.

  Could they?

  “When’s your next night off work? I’d like to take you out to dinner.” Simon leaned back in his chair with an easy confidence. He had no doubt that Brittany would say yes to his invitation.

  “Nope. Not happening.”

  Simon sat up straight, stunned by Brittany’s words. Before he could even respond, though, Brittany had taken off to serve a new group of giggling wizards that had just shown up.

  Simon stared after her, feeling a hint of annoyance now. Who did she think she was, turning him down so flippantly? He was a good catch, and most of the girls in here would have been falling all over themselves to accept an invitation to dinner.

  But Brittany, he was realizing, wasn’t like most girls. And that made her all the more attractive. Simon was determined to win her over. In one long, smooth movement, he drank down the rest of his beer so tha
t he could order another one. Setting the empty mug down on the bar top with a loud thump, he waved Brittany over again. She raised an eyebrow at his empty glass.

  “Thirsty tonight, eh?”

  “Very. I’ll have another, please.”

  Brittany grabbed his mug and went to refill it. When she came back to set it down, Simon grabbed her hand.

  “Just give me a chance, Brittany. I promise you, dinner with a dragon will be worth your time.”

  Brittany only snorted. “You dragons are all alike, you know that? You think the world revolves around you, and that no one could ever possibly tell you no. So full of pride.”

  She shook her head in disgust, and Simon felt himself getting a little annoyed. Who did this girl think she was? Sure, she was beautiful, but she was still just an ordinary wizard. He was a dragon. Simon stood, drawing himself up to his full height.

  “We dragons are all alike. Noble, fierce, and brave. But if you’d rather not spend your time with one of us, that’s your loss.”

  Simon grabbed his beer and turned to walk away from the bar, his back stiff and proud. He headed toward the table on the other side of the Winking Wizard where the other dragon shifters usually sat, and he plopped down next to them with a scowl on his face.

  “What’s wrong with you?” asked Jasper, one of the other dragon shifters.

  Simon shrugged. “Just annoyed that the girl behind the bar seems to think dragons are all full of themselves. I can’t help it if we really are the best at everything.”

  Jasper laughed. “Don’t let her get to you, man. There’s always someone picking on you when you’re a dragon. Sometimes they’re just jealous, and sometimes they do have a point. We can be prideful creatures.”

  Simon grunted. “Speak for yourself. I don’t think I’m that bad.”

  Jasper only laughed again, and then the conversation at the table turned to other things. But Simon couldn’t focus on the conversation. All he could think about was Brittany. Somehow, she had managed to get under his skin. He had too much pride to beg her for a date. But he wanted to find a way to show her that she was wrong about him. He wasn’t just an obnoxious dragon shifter, completely full of himself. He was a mighty warrior, a caring citizen, and a hard worker. Brittany didn’t know what she was missing out on.

  Simon finished his lager and set the empty mug down, then decided to leave the bar. He’d had enough to drink, and a walk in the fresh air might do him good.

  Little did he know that his walk was going to turn into a life-or-death situation: one that would show Brittany that he was much more than just another stuck-up dragon.

  Chapter Two

  Brittany set down the last Charmed Star Ale for the giggling group of wizards, and then turned to make her way through the kitchen toward the back exit.

  “I’m gonna take a five minute break, Joe,” she called to the other bartender. He nodded in her direction, not the least bit fazed by being left alone at a busy bar on a Friday night. He was used to running this whole show by himself. In fact, it had taken him a few days to get used to actually allowing Brittany to help serve customers. The first night Brittany had worked here, he’d jumped ahead of her when she went to take someone’s drink order, and hadn’t even seemed to realize he was doing it. Gradually, he’d gotten better at sharing the workload, but he still seemed to prefer to do it all himself when possible.

  Soon enough he’d be back to doing it all himself. No one but Joe and Brittany knew, but Joe had given Brittany this job because he planned to open a second location of the Winking Wizard. The first one had done so well that he wanted to expand the business, but this meant training a bartender to work at the second location. Joe had chosen Brittany as his trainee, and she could hardly wait until she got to take over at her own location. After years of bartending, Brittany was finally going to be a “boss,” not just another bartender. She was grateful to Joe for the opportunity, especially because it had come in the middle of a war. Not too many people were expanding their businesses or hiring new employees right now. Things were going well enough for the Torch Lake army, but that didn’t mean victory was as certain as some seemed to think. If the last Great Dark War had taught Brittany anything, it was that evil often grew stronger just when you thought you’d beaten it. A war wasn’t over until it was over, and most of the business owners in Torch Lake understood that.

  Joe understood, too. But he’d told Brittany that, in his opinion, opening a new pub was never a bad business move.

  “Look,” he’d said when he hired her. “If the war goes badly for us, people are gonna want to drink their sorrows away. And if the war goes well, they’re going to want to come out for celebratory drinks. Either way, the Winking Wizard’s gonna do well.”

  This made sense to Brittany, and she’d signed on as Joe’s apprentice. She’d been working at a pretentious downtown bar before, and she was happy to get away from that. She hadn’t quite expected to be hit on as much as she had been at the Winking Wizard, but at least the guys who hit on her here were more her type. The guys at the downtown bars who hit on her had all been stuffy corporate types who thought their money made them irresistible to women.

  Kind of like dragon shifters always think being a dragon makes them irresistible to women.

  Brittany let out a long, exasperated sigh as she made her way out the Winking Wizard’s back door. She hadn’t actually dealt that much with dragon shifters. The whole group of them seemed to prefer the Winking Wizard to any of the downtown bars, so this was the first time she’d dealt with them in person. But she’d heard plenty about them. Women who got tipsy at bars often talked your ear off, and just about every woman in the city had wanted to tell Brittany the bartender about having a crush on this dragon or that dragon. It was enough to make Brittany hurl.

  “Just because they’re dragons,” she said aloud to the empty dark space behind the Winking Wizard. “Honestly, there are plenty of other shifters and wizards around. What makes the dragons so special?”

  Brittany had never understood the infatuation. Yes, the dragons were objectively the most handsome men around, and they did all have high positions working for the government. But at the end of the day, they were still just the same as any other shifter, as far as she could tell. And the way they always seemed overly full of themselves drove her crazy. If there was one thing Brittany couldn’t stand, it was someone who was too full of themselves and needed to be taken down a few notches.

  Brittany breathed in deeply, enjoying the feeling of fresh air in her lungs. Inside, the bar was stuffy, and full of the normal Friday night smells of wood, sweat, and beer. But out here, the night air smelled like rain. There were several clouds rolling in from the west, and Brittany bet that it was going to rain within the hour. That was good for business. Everyone who was coming to the bar tonight was already out, and they weren’t going to want to leave in a rainstorm. A lot of beers would be sold before closing time.

  Brittany took another deep breath and sighed. She should go back in, but she wanted just another minute or two of peace before facing the crowds again. Joe was handling things just fine, she was sure. He probably hadn’t even noticed she was still gone.

  Brittany wondered if Simon had noticed she was gone. She’d purposefully not looked in the direction of the dragon table all night. She’d seen him walk over there in a foul mood after she rejected him, and she wasn’t interested in making eye contact with him again. She supposed he was right in one sense. As the last single dragon, he was without a doubt the most eligible bachelor in town. She should have been flattered that he wanted to take her out, but Brittany prided herself in not following after the crowd—and swooning over a dragon shifter was definitely following after the crowd.

  Brittany was about to turn and go back inside when a strange movement caught her eye in the trees behind the Winking Wizard. A dozen yards from the back door of the winking wizard, the open space around the building gave way to dense forest. Now, on the edge of that forest, a
small, rounded black shape appeared to be slowly scooting out of the trees and toward the bar.

  Is that a person? Brittany felt a chill of fear. It could not possibly be a person, could it? She had to go look, and yet she was afraid to. What if it was a person, and they were badly injured? If someone was moving that slowly along the ground, something wasn’t right.

  Taking a deep breath to steady her nerves, Brittany inched across the empty space toward the black blob. As she moved toward it, she could hear whimpers coming from beneath the black blanket. Her heart froze at the sound. This was definitely a human, and, if her ears could be trusted, it sounded like a human child. Brittany had no idea how a child had ended up here in this state, but she knew she had to help. Rushing forward, she bent down to pull back the black blanket. That’s when she realized it wasn’t a blanket at all, but a bag. Her stomach turned. This child had been put in a bag and dumped out here, it appeared. Who would do such a thing?

  Brittany pulled back the bag and got her first glimpse of the poor kid’s face. Even in the cloudy darkness, she could tell that things did not look good. Dark splotches of blood covered the child’s face, and his hair was tangled and matted with blood as well. It looked like deep gashes had been cut in his face, and his breath was coming in short, rasping gasps.

  “Help…me,” he pleaded.

  Brittany patted his back and tried to sound reassuring. “Shh. It’s ok. We’re going to get you some help. I’m going to go get someone from inside to help me and we’ll carry you to a car and get you to a hospital, okay?”

  The child reacted in terror to this suggestion. “No! Please don’t leave me alone! They’ll find me. They’re coming back for me!”

  “Who’s coming back for you? What are you talking about?”

  “The bad men. They left me in the woods tied to a tree but I got away. But when they come back and realize I’m gone they’re going to come after me. Don’t leave me!”