Page 1 of Red and Her Dragons (Dirty Paranormal Fairytale Haremlan 4)

PROLOGUE: EMILY

Emily shot upright in bed, startled by the sudden silence and the dark. The house around her was unnaturally quiet. It was the sort of quiet that shocked her system. The sort of quiet that let her know Rowan, her fiancé, wasn’t around.

His disappearing act had been happening a lot recently. She never knew where he took off too. Only that he wasn’t where he should have been. Not that she really minded. Her engagement was an arrangement since before she was born. One that she hated.

Emily pulled herself from the bed and went to the kitchen to get a drink of water. On the way, she thought about how often he left in the middle of the night. It was almost every night now. And the only issue she had was not knowing when he was going to return.

The last beating he gave her for trying to leave was still evident in the form of bruises that covered her body in convenient to areas that wouldn’t show outside her clothes. She hated living with the wolves. Most of all, she hated living with him in his small cabin.

Once she downed the small glass of water, she leaned against the counter and stared into the darkness that covered the little cabin while her thoughts took over.

If she could prove Rowan’s infidelity and disloyalty to the agreement of her betrothal, she would be free and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do to stop her. She knew she should stay where she was until she knew for sure, but she was tired of waiting on her chance to leave.

His disappearing act was turning out to be almost nightly. And she refused to stick around and watch her life roll by under Rowan’s control. She would rather die than do any such thing.

Emily nodded to herself, convinced this time was the last, and moved to her room to pull on some clothes. She dressed as dark as she could, which was a pair of jeans, a black tank top, and a pair of boots.

She pulled her long red hair back into a low ponytail and slipped on a leather jacket before stepping out of the cabin and into the shadows. Though she didn’t have a clue as to where he went off to at night, she figured if she searched long enough, she would find him.

It wasn’t long until she found him deep in the woods. And though she had suspected he wasn’t going to be alone, she never thought she would find him with his father, Bryson, the Alpha of the wolf pack. Even more surprising, there were four humans standing with them.

She carefully inched closer to get an idea of what they were talking about, shoving the large dose of disappointment that he wasn’t with another woman as far down as she could push it. She really would have rather found him sleeping with someone than stumble upon a secret meeting, but at least she might learn why he was sneaking out so often.

Keeping herself to the shadows, and as quietly as she could, she settled next to a tree, close enough to hear most of what the group was saying, even though they were talking in hushed tones as to not let their voices carry through the night.

“You promised us he would be found by now,” one of the humans said. He sounded as though he was accustomed to getting his way. He stood in front of the group of humans, pointing a finger at Bryson and Rowan.

Bryson sighed. “And we are searching for him.”

“Not to mention the traps are expensive,” Rowan added.

“We’re tired of waiting on you,” the same human said. “We’re ready to take matters into our own hands if Kai isn’t handed over soon.”

“We had an agreement,” Bryson spat back, taking a step closer to the human in charge. The three men standing behind their leader stepped closer, hands going to their sides. Likely firearms.

“One that will be forfeited if you don’t hold up your end of the bargain,” the human said.

Emily rolled everything over in her mind. The humans were hunting for someone named Kai. They hired the wolves to find this person, and the wolves were proving unsuccessful. Though she had no clue what they had offered the wolves to get them to work with humans, she suspected it was something Bryson desperately needed. The only thing she could figure was control. He thrived on it. What he could gain control over that he didn’t already have was beyond her at the time. However, the hunt of this person was where Rowan went at night. That much was for certain.

Regardless, she realized the traps that had been causing unnecessary harm to the neighboring shifter colonies were because of the wolves, and that was enough to make her disgusted. But when the human mentioned Kai and that brought on a whole new level of urgency.

Though Emily didn’t know the guy personally, she knew Marcus did. Kai was one of his friends.

The meeting sounded like it was close to being over, which prompted Emily to turn around and sneak off into the shadows. She needed to get to Marcus soon and warn him about Kai. If he didn’t already know. Either way, this was her last shot at freedom.

As she moved, her foot rolled on a rock, sending her plummeting to the ground. She grabbed a branch to stop her fall but the thing broke off. The whole thing put off too much noise, alerting the group to her presence.

“Who’s there?” Bryson called out.

Rowan shifted into his wolf, judging by the sound of the growl.

Emily didn’t want to risk getting caught. She had no choice. She tried to run, but it was a wasted effort. Rowan tackled Emily to the ground. Bryson slowly stepped forward and put pressure on the ankle she rolled. Emily groaned, burying her face into the moist earth.

“You know the rules, witch,” Bryson spat.

“As do you,” Emily retorted.

Rowan shifted back to his human form and looked to his father for direction, like the obedient dog he was.

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