Page 1 of Driven By Dragonblood
Chapter 1
Primrose
The scent of rain lay heavy on the wind, sighing through the trees over my head. Laughter rang out from the children on the playground across the grass from where I slumped on the hard ground, knees pulled to my chest.
Picnic tables sat between me and the laughing youngsters, families with loved ones packing up what was left of their lunches they had enjoyed in the fresh air now threatened by an incoming storm.
Two people lay on a blanket a few feet from me, cuddling each other as though they didn’t have a care in the world about what went on around them. Let the winds blow, the downpour soak them. They lived in a bubble of perfection where nothing could touch them.
Sighing, I tore my gaze off the lovers.
Two photographers hurried a couple in wedding attire back toward a waiting limo, their smiles almost as bright as the warm winter sun that had been taken over by clouds a few minutes earlier.
Sweetness from nearby flowers wafted past my nose, andI breathed them in deeply as I’d been doing since flying southward enough that the snow-covered Tetons were nothing but a distant memory. I’d hunted for my fated mates by air in dragon form for days on end, anticipation of a sense of connection that would lead me toward my alpha and beta, but no such feelings had swept through me while in flight. And I’d stretched my wings wide and soared over the entire state of Arizona.
Defeat had sent me permanently to the ground a couple of weeks earlier, and I’d taken on my human form, hoping that mingling with people more closely would allow me to find the connection I yearned for. But so far, I’d been unlucky, which caused my heart to wilt in my chest. At least I wouldn’t run out of funds anytime soon, thus being forced to return to the mountains.
On the day I had turned eighteen, my human grandmother had added me to her bank account, one richly donated to by my grandpapa, who had recently found out I existed. A debit card allowed for motels and hotels, much less accommodating and comfortable than the cavern I’d grown up in, even if the amenities of my childhood home were severely outdated.
And the noise…
Engines, radios, humans chattering—vastly different than the solitude of Grand Teton and the quiet wildlife interested only in surviving.
Thunder rumbled, and I lifted my face skyward, hugging myself a little tighter. Darker clouds lay on the horizon, promising cleansing rain to the arid land and sustenance to the thirsty plants struggling to survive the dry winter.
But the people enjoying the unseasonably warm afternoon in the park didn’t seem to care about the danger on the horizon.
My loneliness sharpened while watching parents andchildren as well as lovers being affectionate with one another.
Soft touches.
Kind words.
Secretive smiles.
Sweet kisses like those shared by the couple on my left.
I wanted those same interactions but had no experience or knowledge of how to go about finding such things.
For the first time in my twenty-two years, I began to question how my grandmother had raised me. She’d kept us cooped up in the mountains, far from civilization and others who might seek to harm us. I’d been sheltered, hidden away, and now, tears stung my eyes over all I had missed out on.
Even though fated mates awaited those with dragonblood in their veins, I could have experienced a fuller life, such as school with my peers and perhaps even a tender young love or a first crush, even if it wouldn’t have lasted for my lifetime.
At least I would have been better equipped to deal with the humans now surrounding me, those without inner voices my dragonblood gift would have allowed me to communicate with.
The ache in my chest hurt almost as much as it had on the morning I’d buried my grandmother beneath stone and dirt. Returning to our cavern home alone that afternoon had been brutal, but I felt an absence of connection now more than I did that day, among people who had purpose and a reason for living. They had others they looked to for either nurturing or partnership, while I was a single star in my life’s sky, attempting to prohibit darkness from overshadowing my heart and mind.
A tear slid down my cheek as the first pattering of rain hit the leaves above me, and my next inhalation caused a shudder to wrack through my huddled body.
The people around me, lovers included, scrambled to gather their belongings, rushing toward the safety of their vehicles while I sat alone, the heavens opening up faster than I’d expected. I couldn’t be bothered to move from where I sat, chest cracked wide, throat swelling shut, and eyes releasing the sorrow inside me.
Within a matter of minutes, I was once more alone, without a trace of humanity left behind except for a bit of trash beneath one of the abandoned picnic tables.
No more laughter.
No more smiles.
No more gentle caresses or chaste press of lips for me to envy.
