IZZY
I hated fainting.It made me feel weak, like some delicate damsel in distress, which I wasn’t. I’d fainted twice in the past. Once when I’d been a child and I’d learned my foster mother, Beatrice Moonie had died. Then again, after my first shift at the bar. I’d been out of work for a while and hadn’t eaten much in days, then I’d worked myself to the bone that night, fainting at the end of my shift.
And now…
Well, to be fair, it had been a difficult few days. I’d arrived in a strange new world, with magic and dragons and demons and angels. I’d been beaten and bullied by an insane princess, while stretching myself to my limits trying to understand and learn magic.
In the last two days, my room had been incinerated, I’d had my first threesome, I’d brought an angel back from the brink of death, had a rather stunning quickie with that angel, then fallen out with the two guys I’d had the threesome with, because of that quickie with the angel. Then… as if that hadn’t been enough of a roller-coaster of emotions, Saldrea — the aforementioned insane princess — had found me, roughed me up, and ripped away some binding magic, which I’d had all my life, forcibly changing my form. At which point a dragon I’d thought wanted to kill me, helped me escape and I’d gone into hiding. And to top it all off, it turned out I was atrueprincess, and my real name was Isolde.
So yeah, I may have been a teensy-weensy bit overwhelmed and had good reason for blacking out.
“Izzy?” Myel sounded worried. His voice drifted to me. It wasn’t the first time he’d said my name, but this one sounded closer. I became aware of lying in someone’s arms. Given the sense of ease and comfort filling me, I guessed it was Myel’s. The two of us had been magically bonded, our souls linked and our bodies craving each other — yes, sexually — practicallyallthe time. The upside was, when I was close to him, I got the best high, serene and relaxed.
Someone else was holding my hand, and from that connection came an influx of warmth, like summer’s heat with a hint of humidity and the faint smell of rain after a storm. That would be Vyns. He too was connected to me, but in spirit. I had no clue how that link worked. It was still relatively new. Yet the soothing warmth he sent me helped me recover.
I sighed heavily as I came to.
Time to face the music.
I blinked my eyes open. I was indeed in Myel’s arms, looking up at his beautiful pale face. Vyns knelt next to us.
Three others stood nearby.
Rook was tall, dark, and sexy, with eyes like smoldering embers and flame-red hair. The two of us had a complicated relationship, if you could even call it that. We had sex, andas an incubus he’d rocked my world more than once, but he was also the reason I’d been brought to this strange world. I’d thought we’d mostly reconciled that betrayal of his, and weremaybefriends? I didn’t know anymore, he’d been distant when we’d last spoke, and even now, he stood farthest away, arms crossed over his chest, looking a little worried, but mostly confused and put out.
Then there was the dragon — I still didn’t know his name — who’d served princess Saldrea right up until a few minutes ago. I had no clue if I could even trust him but hehadhelped me get away from the princess and her goons, taking attacks meant for me. Then, he’d bowed before me offering me his allegiance. If that didn’t deserve awhat-the-fuck, I didn’t know what did.
He’d also been naked, having shifted into a dragon and back, but now he was covered with a bed sheet. And when I say covered, I mean it was wrapped around his waist, revealing his thick torso, beefy chest, and heavy arms, all of which were covered ina lotof scars. Nobody in this world had it easy it seemed, not even dragons. Waves of silvery hair framed a hard-featured face with eyes of glowing gold under a strong brow and the perfect scruff of a beard on a square jaw.
He wasn’t quite as handsome as he could be, though, not with that nasty, weeping wound marring the left side of his face, which looked painful as hell. If I had to guess, that would be Saldrea’s handy work.
The sheet around the dragon’s waist was from the bed belonging to the last man in the room, because this was his room. He was new, older. Myel had brought us to him. He’d been the one to tell me my name.
Isolde.
Fucking hell.
Isolde? Really? Could you get more archaic and out of date? I mean, sure I was glad I wasn’t an Isabella, I’d never been fond of that name, but still…
“Hey,” I said weakly, attempting a smile for everyone.
Myel smiled softly, relief flooding his features. “Hey.” Myel was all my teen goth-girl fantasies made manifest. He had thick black hair falling over his face, sable eyes filled with soulful angst, and a tall, lean body covered in scars, because this world treated shifters like shit.
I sat up slowly, my head still spinning, brain a little fuzzy. Though whatever Vyns was doing with his spirit was quickly dispelling that fog.
Ah… Vyns, my literal angel: beautiful, built, blond and blue perfection, like a Hemsworth, but with stunning white and gold wings!
“So…” I drew out the word. “Someone want to explain…everything?”
Several people began talking at once, Myel and the dragon and the old man.
Yeah, that wasn’t going to work for me.
“Stop!” I yelled. The effort made my head throb, and I had to close my eyes and take a few deep breaths to get back to a non-pained state.
First thing’s first.
I pointed at the dragon. “What’s your name?” I couldn’t keep referring to him asthe dragon.
