Page 81 of Mating Her Dragon

The turquoise waters of the Aegean Sea lapped gently against cliffs of pristine white stone. A warm, salt-kissed breeze rustled the emerald canopy of ancient olive groves, carrying the sweet scent of wild thyme and blooming jasmine. Overhead, the sky was a flawless canvas of deep blue, broken only by the elegant, sweeping silhouettes of three magnificent creatures soaring through the thermal drafts, their iridescent scales catching the midday sun like scattered diamonds.

It was an island that did not exist on any human map. For centuries, a powerful, shimmering barrier of primordial light had kept this sanctuary hidden from the world– a magical bubble woven by one of the very first Dragon Queens to guide her sisters to safety.

History recorded a tragedy. The scrolls claimed the female Dragons had all been slaughtered when the Hunters poisoned the sacred waters.

But history was wrong.

They had run. They had hidden. And deep within this forgotten paradise, the female Dragons hadn't just survived– they had thrived, sheltered from the wars of Evil raging beyond their Sanctuary.

On a high balcony overlooking the white cliffs, the woman froze, a silver harvesting knife slipping from her fingers and clattering against the stone.

It wasn't a sudden spike of physical danger. It was a phantom pull, a strange, localized disturbance rippling deep within the bedrock of her soul that she hadn't felt in hundreds of years.

The warm Aegean breeze seemed to die.

Inside her mind, the constant, powerful hum of the ancient Dragon Queen with whom she shared her soul vanished into absolute, chilling stillness. The massive, golden-scaled Matriarch who usually dominated her thoughts went entirely quiet.

"Did you feel that?" She whispered aloud into the quiet air.

"Yes," the Dragon Queen answered in her head, her mental voice stripped of its usual regal weight, replaced by a rare, unsettling confusion.

Neither of them knew what it meant. Her heart skipped a frantic beat against her ribs as the pristine, perfect control she had maintained over her Magic for centuries suddenly fractured. A wild flare of raw, elemental heat surged down her arms, making her palms glow with a sudden, vehement spark.

Then came the impossible part. It was a subterranean echo traveling across oceans and Realms, a soul-to-soul vibration humming on a forbidden frequency.

Another Dragon Queen was out there.

Dracina went utterly still.

The strange pulse came again, ancient Magic vibrating through Tegan's soul with a resonance so familiar it hurt. Dracina gasped. “No...”

Tegan's heart slammed against her ribs. “What?”

For several endless seconds, Dracina said nothing. Then, in a voice Tegan had never heard from the ancient Queen with whom she shared her soul in all their centuries together, she whispered one word. “Kara.”

Tegan froze. Dracina's twin. Drakara was alive.

A rush of emotion unlike anything Tegan had ever felt from the ancient Queen flooded their shared soul– joy, disbelief, longing, and an ache so old it felt carved into the fabric of Time itself.

The quiet of the balcony fractured as heavy, frantic footsteps echoed up the winding stone staircase.

Tegan turned just as another Dragoness burst through the arched doorway. It was Suzanne, her dark hair a wild mess, her breathing ragged as if she had sprinted across the entire length of the island. Her pale skin was entirely bloodless, her wide eyes flashing with a rare, naked panic that Tegan had never seen on her face in all their centuries together in the sanctuary.

"Tegan," Suzanne gasped, her hands gripping the stone doorframe to steady herself. "You need to come to the eastern ridge. Right now."

She didn't move. Her own internal Magic was still vibrating from the phantom pulse she had felt only moments before. "What is it, Suzanne? What happened?"

Suzanne swallowed hard, her voice trembling as she delivered the unthinkable news. "The barrier moved."

Tegan’s entire body went rigid. The silver harvesting knife lay forgotten at her feet. Inside her mind, her Dragon Queen, Dracina, let out a low, warning rumble that shook her core.

“That's impossible,” Tegan said, her voice dropping into a flat, defensive register. “Dracina wove the Queen's Shroud with primordial Light. It has stood absolute and unwavering for three hundred years. It has never moved.”

Suzanne looked out over the glittering, blue horizon, her jaw tightening. "It did today."

Before Tegan could even process Suzanne's terrifying words, a massive psychic shockwave detonated in the absolute depths of her soul.

It wasn't a ripple from the shifting barrier. It was a sudden, violent strike passing straight through a connection Tegan hadn't known existed. The unknown bond struck with the raw shock of an electric current, sending a wave of blinding agony through her entire system. Tegan gasped, the breath completely torn from her lungs as her knees buckled under the sheer force of the impact, sending her crashing hard onto the stone balcony floor.