Perchance to Dream: Dragon Sin #1 (Dragon Shifter Romance) E-Book

Mac Flynn

• Herausgeber: Crescent Moon Studios, Inc.
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Beschreibung

Romance finds a way to cross worlds, and for Caitlin that couldn't be more true when fate drops her younger self onto a heavenly body filled with magic. Her stay is short, but the memory of that strange adventure, and her handsome protector named Asher, remains with her when fate again comes calling for her, and the world of her dreams becomes the reality of her life.

Caitlin's guide among this new fantastical world is her old protector, Asher, who himself had never forgotten the brave young girl in his charge. He swears to return her to her home, but as she learns more about this new world and the man with whom she has a past, she begins to wonder if that's what she truly desires.

As luck would have it, Asher's mission to send her home takes a detour when his help is urgently needed elsewhere. Caitlin offers to go with him to see more of this new world, and together the pair learn about life, love, and how a little magic can bind together old friends, and new loves.

Leseprobe

Perchance to Dream

Dragon Sin, Book 1

Mac Flynn

Copyright © 2021 by M. Flynn

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Want to get an email when a new book is released? Sign up here to join the M. Flynn Newsletter, the online newsletter with a bite!

Wanting to find the rest of the series and check out some of my other books? Hop over to my website for a peek!

Contents

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

Continue the adventure

Other series by M. Flynn

1

I smelled the stench of fish. Fish and stale salt water.

My eight year-old self tried to make sense of what I smelled. The last thing I remembered was cowering beneath the covers of my bed. Another roar of thunder rattled the thin windows. I gave a yelp and tried to bury myself into the mattress.

The bedroom door opened and a sliver of light stretched across the floor and to my bed. I peeked out from beneath the covers and saw a dark figure standing in the doorway. Another flash of lightning lit up the sky outside my window and with a scream I ducked back under the sheets.

A laugh broke the tension and footsteps padded across the floor. Someone grabbed the sheet and lifted one corner to peek at me. “Kit Cat, what are you doing?”

My eyes widened. “Mom!” I lunged at her and wrapped my arms around her waist.

She was still laughing when she pulled me away and sat down beside me. “What’s wrong, Kit Cat?”

I wiped a few loose tears and sniffled. “The storm is scaring me.”

She tapped my nose with her finger. “You’re not going to let a few flashes of light keep you from having sweet dreams, are you?”

I hung my head and fidgeted with my fingers. “But it’s scary. . .”

My mom smiled and wrapped her warm arms around me. She lifted me up and put me at the head of the bed where she drew the blankets over my shoulders. “My silly little girl. You can be as afraid as you want, but-” She sat beside me and brushed her hands through my hair. “-what’s important is you don’t let it control you.”

“But how do I do that?” I asked her through the deep drowsiness that her hands instilled within me.

“That’s something you have to learn, my little Kit Cat,” she whispered.

I couldn’t keep my eyes open. The thunderous booms outside faded into the background as the world slipped away. The last I remember was my mother’s voice whispering from the darkness.

“Be brave, Caitlin. Nothing can stop the bold.”

Those words echoed in my mind as I drifted into sleep. I floated on a warm cloud of comfort left by my mother’s warm arms, but the sensation slowly faded away. I waited for the dreams to come to me, but this time I went to the dream, and the first thing I noticed were those horrible smells of the sea.

“Don’t swing that thing everywhere, Porky!” a young boy hissed. “You’ll catch the sheets on fire!”

My heart quickened. I didn’t recognize that voice. A rough canvas sheet rubbed against my cheek. I forced my eyes open and beheld a soft light that was blocked by a thick sheet. The stench came from the canvas. A rough surface lay beneath me. Puddles of stinky water soaked my pajamas.

The cold chill of the water frightened me more than anything. No dream I’d ever had had felt so real.

“I’m not trying to!” a sullen voice answered.

Thunder echoed across the sky hidden by the canvas. My first thought was to panic and scream.

Be brave, Caitlin.

Mom. Wherever I was I needed to get out of here and back to my warm room. I swallowed my scream and wiggled to the end of the sheet where I peeked out. The dark clouds obscured the night sky, but a faint glow from an oil lamp illuminated four figures who huddled around the light. They sat on the long seats of a small boat while I lay concealed at the bow. Their ruddy, smooth faces told me they were all young men in their younger teens.

Two of the young boys were seated in the center seat and each held an oar that cut through the choppy waters. Our destination was obscured by a soft fog, though a few strikes of lightning danced across the sky some distance from where we rowed.

“It wasn’t easy taking this thing from my uncle. . .” the pudgiest of the four whined as he cast a harsh look at one of his companions who manned one of the two oars. “It would have been easier if Asher had helped me get under the fence.”

Asher turned out to be the smallest and youngest of the bunch. He had dirty-blond hair that fell to his shoulders in uneven cuts and his face was cleaner than those of his companion, though he wore the same rags as the others. He shrank beneath the unwanted attention. “I was busy.”

“Busy with what?” one of the boys, the tallest and handsomest of the bunch who manned the other oar, snapped at him. He had soft blond hair and striking blue eyes. “We waited an hour for you to come.”

“He’s been busy playing doctor,” the fourth lad, the palest of the bunch, spoke up. He had a head of shocking red hair that contrasted sharply with his white skin.

The blond-haired boy sat up and frowned at Asher. “Didn’t we tell you that it might give you a dragon’s paw? Or maybe some of its blood? You could use that to cure a hundred people!”

Asher nodded. “Yeah, but Doc needed help. A guy came in with a broken arm and I had to-”

“You’re too soft, Asher,” the pudgy fellow scolded him. “Doc’s always running you over.”

The tallest boy grinned and paused in his rowing long enough to poke his pudgy’s friend’s stomach. “It’d have to be a big carriage to run you over, Porky.”

Porky scooted out of reach and glared at his companion. “I told you not to do that, Leon!”

“Don’t be such a dead rat,” Leon returned as he rowed a little harder. “Maybe this magic will give you that fit body you always wanted.”

The thin, pale boy let out a shaky cough that rattled his whole thin frame. He covered his mouth and I saw specks of thick, yellowish spittle fly into his palm. After a few moments he managed to get a hold of himself long enough to look over his hand at Leon. “How long until we get there?”

“Not too long, Davy,” Leon promised.

Davy coughed a couple more times and dropped his hand to his side as though he’d lost the strength to keep it up. He turned to Asher. “You got any of that medicine from Doc?”

Asher scooted close to him and reached into his thin jacket. He drew out a thin vial with pale liquid. “Here it is.”

Davy took the vial and downed the whole contents. He wrinkled his nose as he handed the empty vial back to Asher. “That’s nasty. Can’t he make it taste sweeter?”

“He said it wouldn’t work so well if he did,” Asher told him as he pocketed the glass. A worried expression crossed his face as he studied Davy’s pale features. “You don’t look like the last stuff I gave you worked.”

Davy shook his head. “Not as good as it did before.”

“That’s what we’re here for, isn’t it?” Leon spoke up as he nodded at a dark outline on the black horizon. “To get Davy cured and get the rest of us what we want.”

“And I want to be in shape,” Porky added.

Leon grinned at Asher. “Maybe your wanting to fix people up will help Davy.”

“What about you, Leon?” Davy asked him. “What’d you want again?”

Leon shrugged. “Maybe some adventures. The ones that’ll get the attention of all the girls.”

One of my legs had fallen asleep under me. I shifted, and the movement didn’t go unnoticed.

“Holy shit!” Davy yelped as he leapt to the center of the boat and spun around to face my hiding spot. He pointed a quivering finger at me. “It moved!”

I dared not even breath as the boys stiffened. Asher and Leon had stopped rowing, and Asher eased himself onto his feet. He crawled across the narrow floor of the small boat and reached out a trembling hand. In one quick movement he threw off the canvas.

At the same moment a crack of lightning lit up the sky followed quickly by a clap of thunder. The boys gave off four high-pitched screams that would have made a concert soprano jealous. I took one look at their terrified faces and burst out into laughter.

My mirth subdued their fright, and Porky, hidden behind the others, dared peek around the others and glare at me. “Who the hell are you and what are you doing here, pipsqueak?”

Even a young child of eight had her pride. I stood up and put my hands on my hips as I scowled right back at him. “I’m Caitlin Athalea Miller and I am not a pipsqueak.”

“Then don’t look so small,” Leon teased as he leaned over the oar in his lap. His bemused eyes held a hint of curiosity, and more than a little suspicion. “But how’d you get on without us seeing you? I checked this whole boat before we set off.”

I shook my head. “I don’t know. I was in bed and then I was here.”

Asher knelt in front of me and gave me a soft smile. Despite the darkness, his beautiful blue eyes glistened in the weak light of the lamp and made a tiny butterfly flutter in my small chest. “Maybe you sleep-walked onto the boat?”

“I said I checked the boat before we pushed off,” Leon reminded him as he studied me with a sharp, suspicious look. “She shouldn’t be here.”

“Well, she’s here now,” Asher quipped as he drew off his patched coat and draped it over my shoulders. “And we should go back.”

Leon frowned. “Why?”

“What if it’s dangerous?” Asher pointed out as he nodded at some invisible place ahead of us.

Leon leaned over his oar and grinned at me. “You’re not afraid, are you, little girl?”

I shook my head. “No. Mom says that I need to be brave because nothing can stop the bold.”

Leon laughed before he gestured to me. “See? She’s fine with looking for the buried treasure.”

“But nobody else has found it after all these years,” Asher argued.

Leon reached into his ragged jacket and drew out a weathered piece of folded paper. “That’s because they didn’t have this map I found in those old crab traps. Without this they couldn’t have found a rock on Fortuna Island.”

“But it’s all rocks,” Porky spoke up.

Leon rolled his eyes as he tucked the paper back into his coat. “I know that. I’m just saying they couldn’t have found the right rock to look under.”

“And what if we get trapped under this rock?” Asher countered.

Leon frowned at him. “Are you getting cold feet now? I thought you wanted to be the greatest doctor in the world.”

“I do, but-”

“But nothing,” Leon snapped as he positioned his oar to continue rowing. “If we go back we’re leaving both of you on shore. So are you coming or going?”

For a moment Asher looked between my shivering little form and his three stern-faced friends. His shoulders fell and he nodded. “All right, but we need to be more careful now.”

Leon grinned. “What could happen to us on a deserted island?”

It turned out to be quite a lot, and not so deserted.

2

“Are you going to grab an oar or are we just going to float here forever?” Leon asked Asher as he jerked a thumb at the empty seat beside him.

“Porky can row,” Asher suggested as he moved the tarp to the furthest point on the bow. “I’ll sit here with Caitlin.”

Porky wrinkled his nose. “I don’t want to row. Besides, I’m holding the lantern.”

Asher shot him a hard look. “Do you want to babysit her?” Asher countered.

The face of the hefty young man scrunched up into a similar look as his nickname. “No way. Girls don’t like me.”

Leon snatched the lamp from Porky and shoved it into the pale hands of Davy. “Just sit down and help me row.”

Porky reluctantly obliged and we continued on our way, though with noticeably less speed and definitely more wheezing from one of the rowers. The choppy seas rocked the boat to and fro with a violence that failed to capsize, but threw my little against my companion’s side. Asher wrapped his arm around me and held me tight against the cruel waves. I looked up and he smiled at me. An unfamiliar heat warmed my cheeks and I looked down at my lap.

“Are you warm enough?” he whispered to me. I could only nod and fidget my fingers in my lap.

In a few minutes there came a shout from Davy who pointed at the seas ahead of us. “Look!”

We all looked and I glimpsed a terrifying sight etched by a sudden strike of lightning. A large island loomed ahead of us. Its craggy shores rose up from the choppy waters like dark sentinels that protected the shadow that rose up from the peak.

It was a castle of some great age. Its walls had been battered for centuries by the harsh winds and cold spray that now clawed at us. Crumbling towers speared the sky like blunt swords and the thick walls, quarried from the stone of the dark island, wore a weathered look that menaced all who saw them with a promise of dark secrets and even darker horrors.

A shiver I couldn’t explain ran down my spine and I found myself sinking into the large coat of my protector. The stormy skies above us crackled with electricity, and lightning pierced the sky followed quickly by its thunderous sibling. The brief light illuminated the tense faces around me as the cold wind cut through their thin, ragged clothing. The boys rowed the boat to a small opening in the rocks where the remains of a dock sat. The bits of sharp upright posts were more a danger than a safe port.

Leon directed the boat close to one of the dagger-like posts and wrapped the rope around the rotting wood. He leapt out and into the waist-deep water, jostling the boat. Asher clasped me tighter to himself as Leon pulled the boat up to the rocky short and beached the rear of the vessel on the rough shore. Heedless of the water that made his pants cling to his legs, he grinned from ear to ear.

“Come on, all! The treasure’s just a short walk now!” He turned away and sprang up the path like a goat.

“Wait for us, Leon!” Porky cried out as he rolled over the side and stumbled after their leader.

“Can’t you go a little slower?” Davy whined as he, too, clambered over the side and after the pair.

Asher longingly watched his friends scurry up the path, but he continued to sit beside me. “We can go, too,” I assured him.

He looked down and searched my face. “You’re sure you want to go?” I smiled and nodded.

Asher grasped one of my hands in his and helped me to my feet. “Come on,” he whispered as he led me to the rear and lifted me over the side.

The rocks were rough on my bare feet, but I tried not to show my discomfort as Asher climbed out after me. He took my hand and we followed his companions up a path that had once been covered in gravel, but was now packed sand and stone.

The rocky shores proved a tall order for my short legs, and only a few feet from the boat I stumbled. The fall wouldn’t have been so bad, but the hard stop on the sharp rocks would have proven painful to my barely covered knees.

Asher’s strong arms caught me and righted me. I clung to his shirt like a drowning sailor and I couldn’t stop my body from trembling. Tears sprang into my eyes as Asher knelt down so we were face-to-face and smiled at me.

“There’s no need to worry. You’re in my care, and I won’t let anything happen to you. Now-” He wiped away my tears with his thumb and his gentle eyes. “Let’s get those away, alright?”

“Are you going to babysit her at the boat or are you coming?” Leon shouted his their position fifty feet up the path.

“We’re coming!” Asher called back before he returned his attention to me. “Hold tight.”

I didn’t have time to ask why before he swung me into his arms and pressed me close against his warm chest. He trudged up the steep incline, but a bitterly cold wind from the sea bid us farewell. As close as I was to Asher, I couldn’t miss that his body shivered like a leaf against the wind.

“Don’t you want your coat?” I asked him.

He smiled and shook his head. “I’ll be fine. I’ve been through worse.”

My curious nature piped up. “What kind of worse?”

His smile faltered a little. “Snow on a cold winter’s day, or the blazing heat during the summer when there’s no shade.”

“Why didn’t you get into the shade?” I wondered.

“I was being taken to market to be sold,” he told me.

I blinked at him. “Sold? But you aren’t a toy.”

He turned his face away and his expression saddened. “Some people thought so. . .”

“Come on!” Porky yelled ahead of us between his wheezes. “We’re. . .we’re almost. . .almost there!”

‘There’ was the imposing castle. At a closer view, the walls showed their wear with pock marks and chink that had rotted away. Some of the stones themselves had cracked under the strain of their duty. The entrance was an arch of the same stone, and some of those rocks had collapsed. They created a pile that partially blocked the gate, but from my vantage point in Asher’s arms I could see the barren dirt that occupied the courtyard.

We rejoined Asher’s friends at the pile of boulders, and Leon led the way over the rocks. Asher, however, hesitated. “Guys?” They paused halfway over the top and looked back. He nodded at the courtyard. “There’s no weeds.”

Davy looked over the courtyard before he returned his attention to Asher and shrugged. “So what?”

Asher looked to our left and right where the weeds pressed against the walls like invaders. “There’s weeds out here. Why aren’t there any in there?”

“Maybe the ground is bad,” Leon suggested as he continued the climb. “Come on. Are we going to let some stupid dirt stop us when we’re so close?”

Asher pursed his lips before he looked down at me. “Are you okay coming with us?”

I swept my eyes over the area with its deep shadows and chilled wind, and shrank closer to him. “I don’t want to be left here. . .”

He smiled. “I won’t leave you. Let’s go together.”

He took the small hill step-by-step, each foot carefully placed to prevent his needing his arms that held me. By the time we reached the top his friends stood in the center of the courtyard. Leon held the map in his hands and, with the use of Porky’s lantern, was studying the worn paper.

“It should be somewhere in the keep,” Leon mused as he examined the part of the courtyard at his back. He nodded at a rotten wooden door that hung limply on the top hinge twenty feet on the left from the main archway. “There. That should get us there.”

At that moment a sharp, cold breeze blew across the courtyard. The wind flitted around the small group as Asher and I reached the bottom of the rock pile. We were only brushed, but the chill sank into my bones and made me shiver again.

“This really isn’t a good idea,” Asher insisted.

Porky glared at him. “Then stay here. Nobody’s making you come.”

Asher pursed his lips, but said nothing more. He followed the others as Leon led them over to the door. Leon pushed one palm against the wood. The door crumbled beneath his light touch and shattered into dust once it hit the ground.

He scuttled back to avoid the dirty fog and crashed into his friends. They held him up and he sheepishly looked over his shoulder at them. “Kind of dusty, isn’t it?”

Davy’s face was paler than before when he nodded. “Yeah, and a little spooky.”

Leon’s eyebrows crashed down and he spun around to face us. “Are you all getting cold feet? We’re this close to getting what we always dreamed of and you guys are letting some dust and wind scare you.”

Porky nodded at him. “You’re shaking, too.”

Leon hid his unsteady hands behind his back and frowned. “It’s just cold here, that’s all. Let’s get inside.”

Leon marched forward and the rest of us followed, but there were dark shadows of doubt that lingered on the faces of the others. The door led into a narrow hall that was without adornments beyond the simple candlestick holders that hung from the bare stone walls. Doorways filled with darkness lined both sides of the dark passage. A few loose leaves dotted the floor, but otherwise the hall was without cobwebs or other adornments of neglect besides dust.

Davy shivered and wrapped his arms around himself. “I think it’s colder in here.”

“Where are we going?” Porky wondered as he held tight to our single light source. Even my young self noticed that he spoke in a voice hardly above a whisper.

Leon paused and squinted at the map. “There’s supposed to be something-” He froze and his eyes widened. “There!”

Leon leapt forward and grasped one of the candlestick holders. He thrust downward and the candlestick followed like a lever. There was a click from behind the wall and part of the stones swung inward to reveal a hidden passage between two of the doorways.

A wide grin stretched across Leon’s face and his eyes twinkled with glee as he looked at each of his friends. “Well? What did I tell you?”

Porky leaned toward the hidden passage and held the lantern high above his head. He revealed a short, narrow hall that dropped out of view down a stairway. “This looks like it goes down into some sort of basement.”

“That’s just as good a place to hide the wishing vase as the attic,” Leon pointed out as he snatched the lantern and headed into the passage. “Now come on!”

The others looked at each other before they headed one-by-one into the darkness. Leon was fast, almost too fast, and the darkness crept up behind us, threatening to pounce. We reached the top of the stairs and saw Leon vanish around the corner of a landing.

“Wait up!” Davy yelped, and Porky and he clattered down the stairs like a pair of frightened ducks.

“They’re silly,” I spoke up.

“They’re just a little scared,” Asher mused as he readjusted my weight and strode after them.

I looked around at the growing darkness and shrank closer against him. “So am I. . .”

“We’ll be out of here soon,” he promised as we reached the landing and watched his friends disappear around another corner. “We just need to get that vase and then we can leave.”

“Is it a pretty vase?” I asked my new companions.

He shook his head. “I don’t think so, but it’s supposed to grant wishes.”

My eyes widened. “Maybe it can take me home?”

Asher laughed and readjusted his hold on me. “No, big wishes. Besides, I’ll take you home after we’re done.”

“There it is!” came a shout from Davy.