Hiya! I’m here as Holly today. A few days ago, On Dragon Row was released, and it’s a box set of my three Dragon Row stories – The Book Dragon’s Lair, Mated to the Fire Dragon, and The Dragon’s Prisoner.
They can all be read as standalone stories, but characters from previous stories will appear.
We have dragon shifters finding their human mates either by pretending to be someone they’re not, trying to help out a sick man, or simply locking them up in their basement. Any way is good as long as you get what you want, right?? LOL
Anyway, now you can grab them all in one set, and if you want, you can read the first chapter of The Dragon’s Prisoner below!
On Dragon Row
Gemstones. Beautiful sparklies. Treasured jewels. Nothing’s more important than that, except finding your mate.
In this box set, you’ll meet three dragon shifters who all live on the same street, Dragon Row. They’re obsessed with pretty gemstones and precious metals, but being in the human realm also gives them an opportunity they never had in the dragon realm. They can find mates among the human population.
Contains the stories:
The Book Dragon’s Lair: Egil is running a bookstore on Dragon Row while Draken, his dragon mate, is away fighting a war on the other side of the veil. He is finally free, so when word reaches him that Draken is on his way home after having been injured, he considers running away. It isn’t Draken stepping over the threshold, though. Can Egil pretend the new dragon is his mate? And what will happen if Draken comes back?
Mated to the Fire Dragon: Zale wanted to see a dragon. He never expected a miracle. Zale is dying, but he wants to see a dragon before he goes. Albus is a white dragon with no status, but when Zale steps into his smithy, everything inside him catches fire. Albus can tell Zale is dying, and he could breathe fire into him, but then they’d be mated. He can’t force Zale to live his entire life with a white dragon, can he?
The Dragon’s Prisoner: Stealing from a dragon is bad, getting caught is worse. Kasper is a thief who wants to quit but is forced to do one last job. Saxon the Sinful owns a jewelry store, and one day a human has the audacity to try to steal from him. Being a dragon’s prisoner wasn’t part of Kasper’s plan, but now that he is, he’s not sure he wants to escape. But there is no future for a thief and a dragon, is there?
Buy links:
Paranormal gay romance: 109,030 words
Chapter 1 of The Dragon’s Prisoner
Saxon the Sinful snarled as the bell chimed over the entrance of The Dragon’s Treasure, his jewelry store. It was a stupid name, but he’d been advised to put the word Dragon somewhere on the sign, and being creative wasn’t his strong suit.
It was two minutes before closing time, and if humans had possessed any sense, they wouldn’t come to his store two minutes before closing time.
Reverend Goodwin stepped over the threshold and pulled the door closed behind himself with some force—it would’ve closed on its own if he’d only waited a moment.
“They walk around as if it’s normal.” The distaste dripping from his words had Saxon get up from his seat behind the counter and walk over to the window. He looked out over Dragon Row, expecting to see something interesting, but all he saw was Ryu the Ravenous and his mate, Egil, walking down the stairs of The Book Dragon’s Lair and heading in the direction of the market. He needed to do some shopping too, but feared he wouldn’t make it there in time today. The market people packed up for the day about now, too.
He swept his gaze over the cobblestoned lane in hopes of having missed something interesting, but nope, only Ryu and Egil. A dragon stretched its wings above the tower-like houses before the angular shape more or less disappeared into the darkening sky. Saxon was almost sure it was blue, which meant it most likely was Mort the Monstrous. He growled low. He had to have closed early today if he was already flying. Saxon wanted to fly too, but he preferred not to do it in the dark, which meant he didn’t get to stretch his wings often this time of year. January sucked. November through March, or at least February, always sucked in this fucking realm.
He was sick of Dragon Row. He was sick of having to work every day like a lowly human. Most of all, he was sick of all the idiots living in this pathetic excuse of a settlement. Had he been able to, he’d return to the dragon realm in a heartbeat.
“The rest of you have to make it clear it’s not acceptable.”
Saxon blinked and tried to focus on the conversation. Were they having a conversation or was the human leader talking to himself?
“What isn’t acceptable?”
“Having sodomites walking down the street as if they aren’t an abomination.”
Abomination? Saxon looked out of the window again. Last he’d heard, Albus the Abomination had moved to the ocean. Maybe Saxon should go to the ocean too. He’d never seen it, and he believed there was more than one ocean, so he wouldn’t have to be near Albus and his annoying mate.
The reverend turned and looked him straight in the eye. “At least you’re not one of them.”
Saxon was confused and kept his face blank. “I’m still here. I didn’t go with Albus the Abomination.”
Goodwin stared at him as if he’d lost his mind. “No, you helped to get rid of him. I appreciate that. We don’t need more of those people around here. It confuses the members of my congregation.”
Saxon hadn’t done anything. Or he might have told everyone Albus was a white dragon, but they’d have figured it out, anyway. The reverend hadn’t understood color mattered until Ryu the Ravenous, who was a black dragon—albeit scarred and ugly and without status—had moved here. Saxon had told him about the dragons on the Sapphire Mountains being black when he’d asked for an explanation. He’d also told him how white dragons had no status at all and should be killed as soon as they’d made it out of the egg, but how one had survived and was living among them right here on Dragon Row.
Mort the Monstrous had already told Goodwin not to give Albus a mate, so Saxon didn’t feel bad about it. He didn’t like how Ryu and Nithe the Nefarious, Saxon’s neighbor, had stuck up for Albus, though. There were too few dragons in this realm not to stick together. Excluding a white dragon was common sense, but Ryu and Nithe hadn’t agreed.
Saxon should try to make better friends with them, but he didn’t have the energy.
“I meant, at least you don’t keep a male companion. Do you want me to find you a mate? I know you didn’t find anyone you liked among those I presented you with when you arrived, but it’s been more than a decade. You have to be getting lonely, and we have some girls who have grown into fine young women who might catch your fancy. Good, godly women. We could use a dragon in church, someone who can show the residents of Dragon Row the right way.”
Saxon didn’t want to spend more time than he needed with humans. He never would’ve lived in the human realm if he’d had a choice. He’d planned on sharing his flame with Vida the Vicious. She was a dark blue dragon, a second cousin to Albus the Abomination. He hadn’t cared when he’d learned her bloodline was tainted by a white dragon—he hadn’t been pleased, but he wouldn’t punish Vida for Albus’ parents being too weak to do what they should’ve done when they realized what came out of the egg.
To say her tainted genetics hadn’t caused some worry would be to lie, but he figured if they had a white hatchling, they could drown it and try again. It would be a disappointment, but they could’ve gotten past it. Females were few and far between, more than two-thirds of all young hatched were male, and Vida had chosen him. Her bloodline might not have been as clean as she’d first let on, but he’d been considered one of the lucky ones, despite the contamination.
He snorted, which had the reverend widen his eyes. Smoke wafted around them, and Saxon took a calming breath. She hadn’t chosen him. He’d walked into her cave one day and had found her with Dren the Devious. Both naked, both in their human form, writhing on the mattress. The sounds of their lovemaking would forever be etched into his mind, as would the screams that followed.
Anger, hot like molten lava, had erupted in him, and he’d burned them both. Had changed into a dragon right there and unleashed his fire. He didn’t care about having disfigured Dren, but he’d scarred Vida beyond recognition.
The council had given him a choice, and it had cost him his entire fortune and part of his mother’s too to pay his debt. Then he had to go through the veil and never set foot in the dragon realm again or he would die. He’d ruined Vida the Vicious prospects, and her family wanted his head. He understood. He’d allowed his anger to rule, but the trollop deserved it. She’d cost him his treasure and his dignity.
He could build a new treasure, but his dignity? He’d been fooled, and everyone knew it.
Or Mort the Monstrous did, at least. No one else on Dragon Row had ever mentioned it. It didn’t mean they didn’t know, of course.
“What do you say?”
“About?” Saxon stared at Goodwin. What was he talking about?
“About mating a woman and coming to church.”
“I’ve had enough of females for a lifetime.”
Goodwin stared at him. “A young vibrant woman to warm your bed, you don’t want that?”
He might, but if he took someone to bed, it wouldn’t be one of the reverend’s people. He had little patience for stupidity, and anyone following Goodwin lacked intelligence.
“I’ll send a few over for you to have a look at.”
Saxon ignored him. “Did you want to buy something?” It was past closing time.
Goodwin shook his head.
* * * *
Kasper Cobalt leaned against the stone wall of one of the buildings along the cobblestoned road. Hunger was gnawing in his gut, and he was a little faint. He had to find a place to hole up for a day—rest, find something to eat, and preferably get clean.
This road looked creepy in the dark. The houses were towering, and they were all narrow but tall, almost as if they were leaning over the street. Maybe he was hungrier than he’d realized if his vision was playing tricks on him.
He was no stranger to hunger. Having grown up on the streets, the sharp clawing in his gut had been a trusted companion. But then he’d met Loretta. She’d ruled the alleys in Sudport. As ruthless as she was fickle. She’d called more people than Kasper knew friends, only to stab them in the back a few months later. Granted, he didn’t make friends easily, but he’d considered Loretta one. He’d never trusted her fully, no one could, but she’d taken him under her wing when he’d been a teen and had given him enough jobs to keep him out of the brothels. For that, he was grateful.
She’d shown him how to pick locks, and he had an aptitude for melting into the shadows and moving through crowds unseen. A survival skill he’d learned as a kid, and it had served him as an adult. You couldn’t sneak into rich people’s houses and rescue jewelry from their safes if you were spotted.
Loretta saw a necklace or a ring at some event or other, gave him an address and a description, and then he got it for her. Sometimes she sold the piece, sometimes she demanded a finder’s fee. Kasper didn’t care. He got the thing, handed it over, and got paid.
It had been a good life.
Then Loretta had been shot during a business meeting—occupational hazard. Kasper hadn’t realized how dependent he’d been on her until then. Soon drug lords and brothel owners had been fighting to fill the spot Loretta had vacated.
Signing up to work for Duke Sharpe had been a mistake, but all he had to do was finish this last job, and then he’d be free. He would leave Sudport for good and build a life for himself somewhere else. He had no idea what he’d do, but he was getting too old for crawling around in the shadows stealing jewelry.
But before he could figure out what to do, he needed to steal a big piece from The Dragon’s Treasure, which was the stupidest name he’d ever heard, but Duke claimed it was a jewelry store. Kasper didn’t steal from stores. Sneaking into someone’s house and pocketing something was one thing, but stores took precautions.
It didn’t matter. He’d get this last job done, then he’d melt into the night and disappear for good.
The gnawing hunger wrapped around the ball of anxiety in his gut. This job was all wrong. Loretta had never sent him to another town, had never given weird instructions like Duke had this time—steal an expensive, recognizable piece and sell it to the pawnshop next door.
Why? It wasn’t Kasper’s job to ask why, but why?
The street was creepy, Duke’s instructions disturbing, and this wasn’t how Kasper worked. With a sigh, he looked at the house he was leaning against. It looked deserted. The closed sign had been nailed to the door, which made him believe it wasn’t a store that would open in the morning.
He walked around the building, his black backpack slung over one shoulder, and his black clothes helping to disguise him. He didn’t believe anyone was watching. The night was thick and while there were lights on in most houses, the bottom floors were dark.
There was a door at the back, the forged wall lamp next to it wasn’t lit, and Kasper reached into his pocket for his lock-picking set.
It was one of the easiest locks he’d ever come across, and he lingered outside for a moment. Was it too easy? Was it a trap? But no one knew he was here. He’d never told anyone he was going to Edge. He hadn’t heard of Edge until Duke had told him to go a couple of days ago.
It didn’t mean Duke hadn’t told anyone, of course.
He didn’t trust Duke. People had told him he was insane to trust Loretta, but he trusted her way more than he’d ever trusted Duke.
Pushing down the door handle, he waited for sounds of any kind. When he heard nothing, he opened the door and stepped inside. It was dark, the air cold, but he moved forward. Moonlight was spilling in through a window, showing a daybed in the first room he entered. There was an open doorway into the shop area, and it was filled with things. Kasper winced. He’d hoped it would be abandoned for real.
He located the stairs and tiptoed up the first flight. After a quick look around, he continued to the third floor. The air was stale, which gave him hope. Whoever owned the house had to have been away for some time.
He found a kitchen and hope soared, but quickly died again once he’d opened all the cupboards. There were plates, mugs, and cutlery, but nothing edible other than salt, pepper, and what he assumed was a bottle of some kind of oil. On the other hand, it meant no one was planning on coming here to cook.
Continuing up the last flight of stairs, he found a bedroom with a large mattress on the floor. Who in their right mind had a bed taking up half a room? It didn’t matter, he’d sleep on a mattress tonight. He found linens in the closet, along with pillows and a duvet, which he suspected he’d need because it was freaking cold in here.
He opened a door. Since there was no window, he closed the door behind him, and tried the light switch. A lamp flickered to life, and he found himself standing in a tiny bathroom with two doors. Whoever lived here was insane. No one wanted a walk-through bathroom.
At least the electricity was on. He’d lie low tomorrow, but maybe he’d dare cook something. If he could get hold of something to cook.
Pressing down the door handle of the second door, he pushed it open and walked into another dark room. No windows, and he slid his hand over the wall in hopes of finding a light switch. He did.
One second he was standing in the dark, the next in a fucking Roman bathhouse. Holy shit!
Someone had to maintain the pool, though. How often did you clean a pool? Unease slithered through him. Staying here might be a bad idea.
The water looked clean and inviting, and he moved forward. As he crouched on the side of the pool and dipped his hand under the surface, he shivered. It wasn’t heated.
He’d find a shower tomorrow.
Ofelia Grand 