Ivy's Dragon: Dragons of Telera (Book 7) Read online

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One: From Trouble to Danger

  Chapter Two: From Trouble to Danger

  Chapter Three: The Tunnel, the Stranger, and the Trap

  Chapter Four: Flight Instead of Fight

  Chapter Five: Through the Prisoner’s Eyes

  Chapter Six: The Agreement

  Chapter Seven: A Rough Historical Sketch of Her Companions

  Chapter eight: Through Her Eyes

  Chapter Nine: A Possible Solution

  Chapter Ten: Worth Dying For

  Chapter Eleven: Worth Living For

  Guardians of Lunar Wasteland Complete 7 Book Collection

  Shifters of the Bulgarian Bloodline Complete 7 Book Collection

  Book 1: Captured by Kazak

  Book 2: Captured by Gerran

  Book 3: Captured by Kerric

  More by Lisa Daniels

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  Respective authors own all copyrights not held by the publisher.

  Table of Contents

  Ivy’s Dragon

  Chapter One: From Trouble to Danger

  Chapter Two: From Trouble to Danger

  Chapter Three: The Tunnel, the Stranger, and the Trap

  Chapter Four: Flight Instead of Fight

  Chapter Five: Through the Prisoner’s Eyes

  Chapter Six: The Agreement

  Chapter Seven: A Rough Historical Sketch of Her Companions

  Chapter eight: Through Her Eyes

  Chapter Nine: A Possible Solution

  Chapter Ten: Worth Dying For

  Chapter Eleven: Worth Living For

  FREE BONUS BOOK SECTION-STORY DESCRIPTIONS INCLUDED

  Guardians of Lunar Wasteland Complete 7 Book Collection

  Shifters of the Bulgarian Bloodline Complete 7 Book Collection

  Dragons Take a Princess Series

  Book 1: Captured by Kazak

  Book 2: Captured by Gerran

  Book 3: Captured by Kerric

  More by Lisa Daniels

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  Ivy’s Dragon

  Dragons of Telera

  Book 7

  By: Lisa Daniels

  Chapter 1

  From Trouble to Danger

  Ivy moved a little at the unexpected softness against her aching head. “Oh gods, what happened?” Pressing the heels of her hands into her eyes, the young woman tried to piece together the day before. Slowly she moved her legs, and found that they were pressed firmly together. Slowly moving her hands to the side, she peeked down at her body.

  As soon as she saw what was causing the tension, she burst out laughing, a reaction that she immediately regretted. “Damn blankets,” she muttered, rolling over and pushing her face into one of the incredibly fluffy pillows. Throwing her hand out to the side of the bed, she smacked a dresser. Immediately she pulled her hand to her mouth and began to press it against her mouth. “Damn dresser. What the hell?”

  Turning to glare at the furniture, she saw a glass of water and a couple of pills. Suddenly a handsome face appeared in her mind. “Oh, Ash, you are such a dear, sweet sucker.”

  Quickly raising herself up, Ivy snatched the pills from the dresser and shoved them into her mouth. She didn’t need water to swallow pills, but as soon as the pills had slid down her throat, Ivy realized that she was incredibly thirsty. The evening began to flash through her mind in hazy pieces as she downed the water. Slamming it onto the dresser with a satisfied grunt, she stretched as the pills began to work. Ivy never questioned how remarkably fast medicine worked for her, choosing to believe that it was because she deserved a kind of advantage in her miserable existence. Although at the moment, things were looking rather up. The sun was shining through the windows, which was unfortunate. If she had gotten a little less drunk the night before, she would have been long gone.

  Still, no reason to waste such a perfect opportunity. The smile on her face widened as Ivy looked at the fine clothing resting at the foot of her bed, and the small luggage that held a number of other very nice outfits that would be perfect for her line of work. Lots of dark colors for slipping through the night.

  Yes, things were finally beginning to look up.

  Ivy hopped out of the bed and began to throw her soft undergarments around her as she moved around the room. Looking at her naked form in the mirror, the young woman smiled. “Hello, beautiful. Would you like a few nice new bobbles for the road?”

  She placed her hands beside her face. “Why, aren’t you the sweetest? Of course. I will take the lot.”

  There was a knock at the door, but to her disappointment the person did not open it, opting instead to talk to her through the door. “Good morning, Ivy. I hope that you slept well.”

  She smiled, “Yes, I did. Thank you very much, Ash. You have a really dear heart.” Beaming at the door, hoping he would enter, Ivy waited for another response. When there was nothing else, she became curious. Moving to the door, she opened it a slit and saw that he was gone. The smile disappeared as she stared at the empty hallway. “Well, your loss then.”

  Ivy closed the door and started shoving stuff into her new bag. Basically anything that would fit was crammed into the pieces of luggage he had bought her the day before. Ivy couldn’t help but frown as she thought about his motives. It was obvious that he wasn’t after her body – he showed little more than a passing interest in her, despite everything he had bought her. Her expression clouded as she considered that he might be doing all of this for that medic who had been with her when they had met Ash.

  Ivy shook her head, her light brown hair swaying with the movement. “She’s way too old. There’s no guy that would prefer her to me. That woman doesn’t even bother to take care of herself like I do. If she did, she wouldn’t look so old. I mean, I doubt she’s any older than I am.” Clearly upset by the idea, but unwilling to admit that she felt jealous of a medic, Ivy violently closed up the largest piece of luggage. She had tried to get a few bigger pieces, but Ash had declined, saying that it didn’t make sense for someone as fair and dainty to be burdened by luggage that was too big. Ivy had found herself blushing at his sweet words. Men said that kind of stuff to her all the time, but when Ash said it, she knew that he meant it. He was about as capable of having ulterior motives as Ivy was of walking past a full coin purse and leaving it. Ash was so incredibly sweet that she almost wished he was interested in her. He would be able to buy her stuff, shower her with things, and she would show him just how much pleasure he could find in the night. Last night it looked like he might have been willing.

  This morning, it was like all of that was completely gone. With a frown, Ivy yanked a bag onto her back and lifted the other two. They were much heavier than they should be, but she had tried to hide the items by putting clothing on the outside. The bags stuck out at slightly odd angles because of how she had packed the clothes. Usually, Ivy preferred to keep things neat because it made it easier to run, but for the moment, messy fit the persona she needed to get out with all of the things she had shoved in her bag.

  Opening the door, the young woman hummed a little to drown out the disappointment that Ash was nowhere to be seen. Well, if he doesn’t want me, then I don’t need
him.

  She made her way down the stairs and headed toward the door. Her head was turned, looking one more time to make sure that Ash wasn’t anywhere to see her off. Probably for the best.

  Making her way to the stairs, Ivy began to think about what she would do next. With as much stuff as she had, it would be necessary to get it to the next town as quickly as possible so that she didn’t attract attention, particularly from other thieves. Ordinarily Melzi would have been her first choice, but given the plague was currently killing even royalty, it wasn’t the lively city it used to be. Only people like the medic she had met yesterday would dare risk going into that city. Nor was Ivy interested in heading toward Yuezhi. The people there were just too strict, too rigid for her liking. Their intolerance stretched beyond just humanoids. As a thief, Ivy knew that if she were to get caught, it would be much harder on her in Yuezhi than anywhere else in the Seven Kingdoms.

  The idea of going to Sukhothai was appealing, but it would take several days to get there, and Ivy wasn’t exactly up to lugging everything she had for that long. As she descended the stairs, Ivy wished that she could have found Ash. She felt certain she could have convinced him to get her a ride to the metropolis. Then again, it was just as likely that he would take some of her luggage and find out she had taken stuff.

  No, it was best just to go take care of this somewhere close by on her own. It wasn’t the first time. Her thoughts were torn when she reached the bottom of the stairs and bumped into a pretty young woman with blonde hair.

  “Oh, I’m so sorry!” the woman immediately began to apologize. “I should have been more attentive to my surroundings. Are you alright?”

  Ivy quickly judged that a friendlier approach would work given the young woman’s appearance. Her beautiful dress covered a willowy figure. Deciding that the young woman was likely someone important, or at least someone with money, Ivy gave her a small curtsy. “It’s quite alright. I am just as much at fault as you. I hope you have a very pleasant day.”

  The young woman smiled. “Thank you very much. I hope you do as well.”

  As she turned, Ivy’s hand slipped into the small bag the woman carried. She pulled out the first thing that her hand touched: a small ring. Though she couldn’t look at it right away, the ring felt heavy, and Ivy had to hide her smile as she slipped the ring onto her finger.

  Ivy was just passing by the clerk’s stand when a very soothing voice caught her ear. Unable to simply continue with her trajectory, the thief stopped and looked around for the source of the voice. The source did not disappoint her expectations. The speaker looked like he was royalty, or at least very wealthy. He was talking to one of the staff, the one whom Ash had chatted with the night before in a language she didn’t know. Though Ivy couldn’t say what species the member of the wait staff was, it was clear he was not a human. Since he was clearly employed, though, he was not of much interest to Ivy. The pair seemed to be enjoying themselves as the man with the soothing voice began to laugh. His greyish-blue eyes sparkled, making her think of the ocean on a cloudless day. He was absolutely majestic-looking, and for a moment Ivy considered changing her plans. There was no doubt that a man like that could keep her happily comfortable for the rest of her life - or at least a couple of days. Anything was better than having to lug everything over several miles. Or maybe she would be able to add a couple of lightweight things to her load - he looked like he would never notice them missing.

  Shifter.

  The word flitted through her head as if through some kind of hardwiring. When she was young, that kind of innate knowledge had bothered Ivy, but as she got older, the thief realized just how valuable it was to be able to look at someone and know when they weren’t human. The purer their blood, the easier it was to tell what they were, although usually she had to have met a person of the same type to know. All creatures radiated their own type of aura, even people, although humanoids had much larger, thicker auras than humans.

  Ash had not been the first shifter she had encountered, but he was the first of a certain type. And she had never met a creature with as large an aura as his. Her mind had automatically processed the information so that it would be able to identify more of his type going forward.

  Looking at the man in front of her, he was definitely similar to Ash, but his aura was massive, almost as if he was centuries old. There had only been a few people that she had seen, and never up close, who had auras that were as heavy as that of the handsome man she was watching. For a brief moment, Ivy was tempted to go up to him - then the woman whom Ivy had encountered at the bottom of the stairs stepped up beside him. The smile on his face said everything Ivy needed to know about the man. With a slight sneer, she turned to leave.

  “Good morning, madam. You appear to be doing much better today.”

  Ivy turned and looked at the clerk. She gave him a beaming smile. “I certainly am, thank you. I hope that my companion has taken care of the bill for last night. I’m in a terrible hurry this morning, and he promised.”

  “There is no need for you to worry. It is all taken care of, so you-”

  A booming voice caused everyone to stop what they were doing and turn to look at the man Ivy had seen before.

  “Someone stole your ring. What filthy hu-” Ivy watched just long enough to see the woman from the bottom of the stairs clap a hand over his mouth.

  Well, shit, Ivy thought as she realized it was her time to go. Her feet began to move before the young woman had turned around. Her bag smacked into someone and the contents fell out all over the floor. Dropping to the floor, Ivy began feverishly shoving things back in her bag. Her mind was reeling as she realized that nearly everything that she had wanted to keep hidden had managed to stay covered.

  She noticed the person she had bumped into getting down to help her. “No need. I can take care of this.”

  “Oh, I am fairly certain you can’t.”

  Her hand bumped into the man helping her, causing Ivy to look up. She was looking into the hypnotic eyes of Ash, and he was only a few inches from her. From such a small distance, she could smell the light floral scent on him, and for a moment, her heart skipped.

  “Oh, Ash. Thank you, but it’s-”

  “If at any point you want me to save you, just give a small nod of your head.” This statement was punctuated by a wink. Ash had no sooner finished with his proposition when things started to go sour for Ivy.

  “Excuse me.” The words were like a clap of thunder, and instinctively, Ivy began standing in order to run.

  Ash began laughing. “What has she done this time?”

  The majestic-looking man grabbed the back of Ivy’s dress, causing it to tear as he lifted her from her feet. The ease by which he lifted her seemed impossible. Feeling like she was going to choke, Ivy turned her fearful eyes to the man she had been admiring not more than two minutes ago. His greyish-blue eyes looked like a tempest in the middle of the ocean. Flinching, the thief did not feel that she could pull her hand away as he reached out and pulled her hand up. His hands weren’t nearly as large as Ash’s, but there was a power in them as he pressed in on her finger. It felt as if there was enough pressure to break her entire hand.

  The look on his face was terrifying, but Ivy found she could not look away. “Do you know this wretch?” The man turned his face to Ash.

  “Yes, unfortunately I do, and I can assure you-”

  “Is that one of the candlesticks from the room?” Every head turned to look at the clerk except for the man who was holding Ivy - he turned to look directly at her again. Ash folded his arms and gave Ivy a quick sideways glance. Her head moved up and down twice.

  Ash laughed again. “Yes, and it looks like she nearly taught you a very valuable lesson. My sweet little cousin here enjoys seeing how far she can get things from their owners before they notice.”

  “She’s a thief!” The clerk looked agitated, as if he were going to call for the guard.

  “What? Oh, only in the strictest sense of
the word,” Ash beamed. As badly as Ivy wanted to interrupt him, she was dangling a few centimeters from the floor and her hand felt like it was going to pop under the pressure of the stranger’s grip. Ash continued on like everything was perfectly fine. “Ivy here takes, but she always plans to return things to their rightful owners. It is really a way of testing to see how observant and astute people are. She does not mean any harm by it.”

  “But she seemed to be rushing out of the door.” The clerk was glaring at Ivy, who was watching Ash.

  “We planned this. Do you really think that such a little thing could carry all of this very far? She certainly couldn’t sell any of this stuff here, not with how well the people of this town know the markings. Clearly, she was counting on someone noticing. Weren’t you talking to her, and didn’t she seem like she was trying to tell you something with those beautiful eyes?”

  Ivy turned to the clerk and gave a small smile. “I’m very sorry if this embarrasses you, but it also teaches you to be more careful.”

  Ash laughed again, “There! You see?” His smile was warm and friendly.

  The clerk looked between them for a minute, then nodded. “I suppose we have gotten a little too lax in our security. It seems strange to thank you, but gratitude appears to be in order.”

  “Not at all, Trevor,” Ash said and stretched out a hand. The clerk appeared to be hypnotized as he stretched out a hand in response. They shook as Ash continued in his convivial voice, “It is a service that my cousin likes to offer to those who need it. Just make sure to be more aware so that you can avoid any actual thefts in the future.” He was positively beaming.