The Dragon Shifter’s Desire by Harmony Raines

Chapter Fifteen – Larisa

It was as if part of Ivan disappeared when he was talking to his dragon in his head. Larisa wasn’t the only one to notice this. Grandma Hannah seemed intrigued by him. When she caught herself staring, Hannah would put her hand to her cheek to hide the pink tinge that infused her skin. It was as if she were in the presence of a movie star she’d adored her whole life.

“Shall we get inside?” Karros put his hand on Larisa’s elbow and guided her toward the cabin. Ivan jerked awake and followed as soon as she took a step away from him.

Interesting. The connection between them seemed to affect him even when he was preoccupied.

“Ivan,” Grandma Hannah walked by his side as he followed Larisa. “Can I see the pendant?”

“I don’t have it,” Ivan answered.

“You don’t?” Grandma Hannah asked. “I thought you wanted me to take a look at it and tell you what I know.”

“I have it,” Larisa told her.

“Can I see it?” Grandma Hannah studied Larisa closely. “I’ll give it back.”

Larisa nodded. “First, can you tell me what you know about the other dragon shifter? The one you cast a spell on.”

“There’s not much to tell, but what I do know, I am happy to share with you.” She stopped walking, her eyes downturned.

“What is it?” Ivan asked.

“If you want more answers, there’s someone you should go speak to. After you have finished here, you should visit him.”

“Who?” Ivan asked and Larisa waited at the door leading to the cabin, she wanted to hear this information, too. “Who is this person? A fae or someone else?”

“Another dragon shifter?” Larisa asked.

“My dragon is suddenly very interested in what you have to say, Grandma Hannah. We have never met a dragon shifter from the dragon isle. He wants to know what they were like.” Ivan stared at the older woman intently.

“Have you ever met another dragon at all?” Grandma Hannah’s expression filled with sympathy.

“The only other dragons I’ve ever met lives in the world beyond.” Ivan must trust the fae wise woman to share this information with her. Dragons outside of Wishing Moon Bay were unheard of. In all her searching, Larisa had never found one, only rumors and myths.

“I see. I was worried you had lived your life without ever knowing your own kind,” Grandma Hannah said.

“We only met the other dragons a couple of months ago.”

“Maybe that’s a good thing. Valerie raised you without their influence.” She surveyed Ivan with a critical eye, as if he might be a poisoned fruit hanging from a tree.

“Is that the fae talking or your personal opinion?” Ivan asked.

“Perhaps a little of both.” She tucked her hand under his elbow. “Come on, let’s go inside. I’m still not comfortable having a dragon standing outside for any passerby to see.”

“Since when does anyone pass by your house?” Karros called.

“When people want a spell or a potion to cure an ailment, you’d be surprised how many of them are just passing by,” Hannah chortled.

They all went inside, and Hannah put the kettle on to boil while she opened various jars containing herb teas. Larisa would kill for a nice cup of strong coffee, but there didn’t seem to be a coffee pot in sight unless it was hidden in one of the cupboards. Larisa was worried the old woman might turn her into a frog or something unsavory if she asked for coffee instead of the scented tea.

Karros helped his grandma while Ivan and Larisa checked out all the potions and lotions on the shelves along one side of a large room filled with dried ingredients, most of which were unfamiliar to them.

“Are you sure you can trust her?” Larisa whispered as she leaned over and picked up a pot filled with dried leaves. They smelled wonderful but for all she knew, they might be deadly.

“I do.” Ivan nodded. “And we have to start trusting someone or we’re never going to get anywhere.”

“I think I’d warm to her more if it wasn’t so obvious that the fae really don’t like dragons.” She placed the pot of dried leaves back on the wooden table where she’d found them alongside a mortar and pestle.

“Karros and Elise like me. And so does Flora. We’ve gotten past the whole fae not liking dragon shifters issue and I think Grandma Hannah is very open-minded about a lot of things.” He picked up a small purse and opened it up. “If I’m not mistaken, this is shifter hair.”

“Yuck.” She screwed up her face.

“Yuck indeed. But fae don’t like shifters very much at all. Not just dragon shifters. Yet a shifter must have given this fur to Grandma Hannah.” He closed the purse and put it back where he’d found it.

Larisa pointed her finger at him. “Or she caught a shifter out in the woods and plucked the fur from its back.” Her eyes widened and she nodded. “You have lived a sheltered life in Wishing Moon Bay. It’s a good thing I’m here to warn you of how the world really works.”

Ivan laughed as he reached for her hand and pulled her close. “I know how the world works. I also know about shifters, and they don’t get caught easily.”

“Maybe she baited a trap with one of her potions. Or put a spell on them?” Larisa didn’t resist as he pulled her into his arms.

“I’m going to trust her.” He brushed his lips against hers. Ivan was good at casting his own spell where she was concerned. It would not take many more of his kisses and she would give him whatever he wanted.

“And this person who helped the dragon shifter?” She leaned on his chest and listened to the steady beat of his heart. “Do we trust them, too? She said she cast the spell a long time ago. If she thinks it was for your father, we’re talking over forty years ago.”

“I know,” he said quietly.

“She might have trusted him then, but people change.” Larisa tilted her head back and looked up at him. “Please, be on your guard.”

“I will. And I have you to remind me not to believe everyone I meet is a good person or isn’t after something for themselves.”

Larisa pulled away from him and went to the window overlooking the forest. “I wish I could believe in everyone like you do. I wish I wasn’t so mistrustful.”

“We’ve lived very different lives.” Ivan came up behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders. “In Wishing Moon Bay, we have always been safe. But our world is so small. You have traveled so far and seen so much. You’ve learned to be wary while I have a tendency toward naivety.”

She turned and faced him. “So I am going to be the one protecting you.”

He chuckled. “I think you are.”

“We should go drink our tea.” She reached for his hand and pulled him out of the room. “Then we should leave before she makes you turn into a dragon so she can pickle your scales.”

“I could give her some of my dragon’s toenail clippings,” Ivan suggested.

“Urgh, that is gross.” She cast him an appalled look over her shoulder. “I might have to rethink having children if that’s the level of humor I have to look forward to.”

“I was raised alongside five other boys. You might have to break me from the toilet humor.”

“Oh, that is first on the list of changes I intend to make,” she assured him.

“Ah, there you are. Come sit down and drink your tea. There’s cake, too. Honey cake since Karros’s mate is here. Then we can talk.” Grandma Hannah handed them each a cup of tea.

They carried their tea and the cake through to a living room that seemed to have too much furniture. However, it was a cozy room, with a large fireplace, which was thankfully cold, since the room quickly warmed up with so many people in it.

“This cake is heavenly,” Zara proclaimed after one bite.

“I’ve been improving the recipe and this one I’m very proud of since the honey is from a beehive I keep in the wildwoods. I positioned it next to a stand of xsilia shrubs. The flowers smell so sweet, and the flavor has carried through to the honey cake, don’t you think?” Grandma Hannah was so proud of her cake. She obviously cared for her grandson and his mate very much and wouldn’t be willing to risk losing them over Ivan.

“Can we talk now?” Ivan perched on the edge of his seat as he ate.

“Yes.” Grandma Hannah leaned back in her chair which was next to the fire. On cold winter nights, she must sit there and read or knit. Larisa scanned the room, there was no sign of a TV or computer or any other technology. Surely, she must have a phone, or else how would she communicate with her family?

“The person you want us to meet. Who is he and where do we find him?” Ivan asked.

“The person you need to see is a fae, he was the one who asked me for the spell, he was helping the dragon. If anyone can tell you for certain if this dragon was your father, it would be him.”

“What if the dragon he helped was the one who owns the pendant?” Ivan asked.

“Hmm,” Grandma Hannah rubbed her chin before turning to look out into the forest. “You have an interesting point. But it seems whichever dragon it was, that is where you will find the answers you seek.”

“So, you can’t help us at all?” Ivan asked.

“We should move on today if there’s nothing you can help us with,” Larisa stated bluntly.

“I was hoping to use the pendant for a location spell. I might not be able to tell you if the dragon shifter it belongs to is the same one who I spelled, but I will be able to tell you where he is now.” She tilted her head to one side as she challenged Larisa with her eyes. “If you want to know. Of course, if you have somewhere else more pressing to be...”

“What does this spell do?” Larisa suddenly felt stupid for being so rude to Grandma Hannah. But there was something about the woman that just rubbed her the wrong way. She just couldn’t figure out why since everyone else seemed to love her. Perhaps she was just suspicious by nature. That same suspicion had helped her stay out of trouble during her travels.

“The location spell should be able to tell us where the owner of the pendant is. It can get a little tricky if the owner is not in this realm, which is why when Elise came to me last night for the concealment spell for Ivan, I didn’t give her the ingredients for the location spell. Elise is more than capable of casting the spell under normal circumstances. But the spell I’m going to use is a little more...potent.” She glanced at Larisa. “If you are willing to give me the pendant.”

Larisa nodded and stuck her hand in her pocket. “Here. As long as I can have it back.”

“Of course. I have no use for it.” Grandma Hannah held it in her hand as if it burned her skin and she got up from her chair and went to the room with all the ingredients and dropped it into a shallow bowl. “Dragon treasure.” She shuddered.

“Do you know a lot about dragon treasure?” Ivan asked when Hannah came back into the room.

“Not much.” She looked down at her teacup. “Only what I have heard over the years and what I’ve read in books or manuscripts that I’ve come across. Dragons are secretive beasts and the fae are the last race they would share those secrets with.”

“I have a piece of treasure that I believe belonged to my father.” Ivan stood up but then sat back down again with confusion on his face. “I don’t sense it.”

“It’s gone?” Karros jumped up and ran back out of the cabin with Zara right behind him.

Ivan, however, didn’t move. He simply sat with his head in his hands. “Why don’t I sense it?”

“Because of the spell,” Hannah replied.

“The spell?” Larisa was instantly on the defensive.

“Yes. It disguises you. The dragon part of you,” she added.

“But I can still sense Larisa as my mate. I can still use my...shifter senses.” He nodded. “You disguised my dragon but I’m still a shifter.”

“Yes.” Hannah wagged her finger at him. “I should have explained more. I’m sorry.”

“So what else didn’t you tell him?” Larisa asked as Zara and Karros came back into the room carrying Ivan’s pack.

Hannah stared at Larisa for a moment then she said, “If you shift into your dragon, the spell will break. And you’re right, you are still a shifter with all your shifter senses. However, the part of you that is attached to your treasuries is subdued. It’s that part of you the spell reacts with.”

“Thanks.” Ivan reached into his pack and pulled out a tiara. “It doesn’t feel the same. It doesn’t feel as if it’s part of me.”

“You look relieved,” Hannah remarked.

“In a way I am. When it first came to me, it was as if it controlled me. If anyone touched it or even looked at it for too long, it felt as if I wanted to tear them limb from limb. The dragons I met helped me with that. They helped me control the urges. But now.” He sighed. “It’s nice not to have to control those urges.”

“That same urge will be the thing that draws the other dragon out from wherever he is hiding.” Hannah glanced in the direction of the pendant. “You must be ready, Ivan.”

“Ready for what?” Larisa asked quietly.

“Whatever comes your way.” She shook her head. “I wish I could see what that was.” She glanced at Larisa. “I am on your side.”

Larisa nodded. She wanted to believe in Hannah.