Dragon's Clutch (Sanmere Shifters Book 3) Read online

  Dragon’s Clutch

  Sanmere Shifters

  Lola Gabriel

  Dragon’s Clutch: Sanmere Shifters

  Text Copyright © 2020 by Lola Gabriel

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  First printing, 2020

  Publisher

  Secret Woods Books

  [email protected]

  www.SecretWoodsBooks.com

  Contents

  Secret Woods Books

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Epilogue

  Other Books You Will Love

  Thank You

  About the Author

  Secret Woods Books

  Receive a FREE paranormal romance eBook by visiting our website and signing up for our mailing list:

  SecretWoodsBooks.com

  By signing up for our mailing list, you’ll receive a FREE paranormal romance eBook. The newsletter will also provide information on upcoming books and special offers.

  1

  Callin McKenzie looked up from the script he was going over when there was a knock on his front door. He knew it had to be a member of the dragon pack he was a part of; they all lived in a large apartment block in LA and if it wasn’t someone who lived in the building, the doorman would have called up to tell Callin someone was here to see him.

  He debated ignoring the door. It was likely Valerie, the pack alpha and his co-star in the movie he was due to start shooting tomorrow. Callin didn’t really like Valerie and it was bad enough that they were going to be spending up to fourteen hours a day together filming without her turning up at his apartment too.

  Sighing, he got up and headed for the door. Although the idea of entertaining Valerie wasn’t how he had wanted his Sunday afternoon to go down, he was a professional and if Valerie wanted to go over a part of the script with him, he would do it. He knew that as an A-list Hollywood actor, he was in a position most people would kill for and he wasn’t about to let his personal feelings for Valerie affect his career.

  He already knew his career could only last another ten years, maybe fifteen at the absolute most, and he had no intention of wrecking it before that. Callin was twenty-seven and he would stop aging at twenty-nine. He would have to drop out of the limelight at around forty or so as he couldn’t risk the scandal that would arise when people noticed that he didn’t age. He couldn’t risk anyone finding out that he was a dragon. Valerie had only allowed him to explore the idea of being an actor when he had promised to get her in the door with the directors on his last movie and he hoped she understood the same thing as him. Ten years and it was all over.

  He feared she didn’t get it yet, but he hoped in time she would, or that she would get bored of acting like she got bored of most things, and move on of her own accord, because if she didn’t, he knew she would refuse to listen to reason when the pack tried to tell her why she had to step away from the fame.

  Callin pulled the door open, his face set in a fake smile that widened into a real smile when he saw it wasn’t Valerie, but Lucian standing on his doorstep. Lucian was the pack beta and he was genuinely pleased to see him. Lucian was Callin’s best friend, but he was so much more than that; he was practically his father.

  When Callin had been barely more than a baby, almost two years old, his parents had been killed by a hunter. Lucian had turned up, too late to save his parents, who were shot with bullets made of Ure, a rare metal that could kill any shifter, but in time to save him. Lucian had managed to take the hunter down, and he had raised Callin like his own son, although he had never made any secret of the fact of who Callin really was and who his parents had been. Despite the tragedy of his early life, Callin had had a happy childhood and he would always love Lucian like a father as well as the best friend he had become as Callin got older.

  Callin stood back from the door and gestured to Lucian to come in.

  “How’s it going?” Lucian asked, nodding to the script in Callin’s hand as Callin closed the door and they made their way back to the living room.

  “Good. I’m just going back over the scenes we’ll be shooting tomorrow,” Callin said.

  “Is now a bad time, then?” Lucian asked.

  Callin shook his head.

  “No. I’ve got it all down, to be honest. I’m just passing the time, really. Do you want a beer?” he said.

  “Sure,” Lucian said, sitting down on the large, black leather couch.

  Callin closed the script and put it on the low, glass coffee table and then walked across to the kitchen area of his open-plan living space. He pulled open the fridge and grabbed two bottles of beer. He opened them and came back to the couch, handing a bottle to Lucian before sitting down in a large armchair that matched his couch. Lucian raised his bottle in Callin’s direction.

  “Break a leg,” he grinned.

  “Cheers,” Callin said.

  They both drank from their bottles.

  “So, you and Valerie starring together in the romance movie of the decade, huh?” Lucian said.

  “Yeah,” Callin winced. “I really didn’t think that part through when I convinced the director to hire her. I should have waited for the next movie—one that wasn’t romantic in the least. I just hope she’s professional enough to know that when the cameras stop rolling, the chemistry between us goes away.”

  “I’m sure she is,” Lucian replied. “She might not have hit the big time like you have but she’s been acting long enough to know the ropes.”

  Callin nodded. Of course Lucian was right. Lucian grinned at Callin.

  “Would it be the worst thing in the world if the chemistry didn’t go away, though?” he said. Callin’s head shot up and he frowned at Lucian, who hurried on. “I mean, have you seen Valerie? She’s smoking hot, Cal. You could do a lot worse, you know.”

  “Objectively, I know she’s hot. I have eyes,” Callin laughed. “But I’m just not into her. When I look at her, I feel nothing. Well, maybe a mild annoyance sometimes. But there’s no chemistry between us, and she certainly doesn’t make my dragon side wake up.”

  “But you’re an actor. You could fake that part, right?” Lucian said.

  “Well, yeah, but why would I want to?” Callin asked, becoming suspicious of where exactly this conversation was headed. Lucian already knew he wasn’t into Valerie. There had to be an ulterior motive here.

  “Valerie has made no secret of the fact that she plans on having you as her mate. Why not embrace it?” Lucian asked.

  “How long have you got?” Callin grinned. Lucian didn’t return the grin and Callin sighed. “Look, aside from the fact that I feel nothing for Valerie, I’m not going to get with someone who is only using me anyway. We both know she’s not really into me.”

  “No, we don’t,” Lucian said. “We’re working on an assumption. Maybe she just can’t resist your natural charm.”

  “Now I know you’re messing with me,” Callin snorted. r />
  Maybe Valerie was attracted to him, but whether she was or she wasn’t, Callin knew that any attraction she might feel for him wasn’t why she wanted to get with him. She wanted to get with him to ensure that she kept her power. Callin’s father had been the pack alpha, and when he was killed, Callin had been the rightful heir. The highest-ranking members of the pack had held a meeting, and they had decided that putting that fate on the shoulders of a child was a bad move.

  The pack had voted for Valerie to act as an interim pack leader until Callin was twenty-one, at which point he would take over. Valerie, by all accounts, had graciously accepted the role, saying it would be an honor, but when Callin turned twenty-one, Valerie hadn’t been ready to give up her place as pack alpha. Callin had been relieved. He was happy and he didn’t want the responsibility of the safety of every pack member to fall to him, or to have to make decisions that affected all of their lives day in and day out. So, when Valerie had said she didn’t think Callin was ready to take over the pack, he had whole-heartedly agreed with her. And over the last six years, whenever the topic had come up again, Valerie had shot it down.

  Valerie had become the oldest member of the pack when Callin’s father was killed. She was well over two hundred years old and she was powerful. Callin doubted that any member of the pack would be able to take her on in a fight, and Valerie knew it too. She had never come out and said that if Callin wanted to take up his rightful place as the pack alpha, he would have to fight her for it, but it was implied, and as time went on, most of the pack had just accepted that Valerie would continue to be the alpha. Lucian had been the one pack member who hadn’t accepted this.

  He had raised Callin to be leader, and he was forever reminding Callin that the alpha position was his birthright. Callin wished his birthright could just be to have a peaceful life. That would suit him right down to the ground.

  “What makes you so sure I’m messing with you?” Lucian said. “You’re quite a catch, you know.”

  “You have to be messing with me to believe the ice queen has feelings,” Callin smirked.

  “Okay, fair point,” Lucian laughed. His laughter faded and he looked at Callin, his expression serious. “So maybe she just wants to use you to keep control of the pack. She has to know that there’s a chance that one day, you could step up and demand your rightful place in the pack.”

  “But we both know I can’t beat Valerie in a fight. And the pack would take her side because they fear her,” Callin said. “So, what does it matter?”

  “We don’t know for sure that the pack would follow Valerie. They do it now because there is no real alternative. But if you gave them an alternative, one they could really get behind, I think a lot of them would stand up to her. But that’s not the point I’m making. I’m not saying for a second you should challenge Valerie to a fight. I’m saying you should get with her. Make her your mate, marry her.”

  “I…” Callin started, but Lucian held up his hand and Callin trailed off.

  “Just hear me out, okay? If our theory is correct, then Valerie thinks by making you her mate, she gets to retain her power. After all, you’re not going to challenge your mate to a leadership contest because we all know that the loser in such a contest is forced to leave the pack. If they even survive the fight. So she makes you her mate and keeps herself safely in charge.”

  “I get all of that,” Callin said, unable to stop himself from interrupting this time. “But what I don’t get is why you think it would be a good idea for me to play along with this.”

  “Because I genuinely believe that if you do, then you’ll get back the alpha role which is rightfully yours without having to fight Valerie for it. Once you two are mated together, then all you have to do is keep acting the role of the doting mate, and slowly start to infiltrate the leadership of the pack. If you shower Valerie with affection and work your way in slowly, she won’t even notice what you’re doing until it’s too late. Over a few years, you’ll be able to work yourself into a position where the pack is following you, not Valerie, and then you divorce her. You won’t have to fight her in that scenario. The challenge will be enough to have the pack stand up on your side and Valerie will be sent away by the whole pack,” Lucian explained.

  “There’s just one thing that you’re missing there,” Callin said when Lucian finished explaining his plan to him.

  “What’s that?” Lucian frowned.

  “I don’t want to be the pack alpha,” Callin said. He hurried on before Lucian could tell him again what an honor it was, how it was his father’s legacy for him, how he should be proud to lead the pack. He knew all of that, but it didn’t change how he felt. “I love my life, Lucian. I like being carefree and the thought of the whole pack’s fate resting on my shoulders is too much.”

  “That’s only because you’ve never done it,” Lucian said.

  “It’s not. It’s because I’ve watched from afar for long enough to know it’s not for me. The whole pack hates Valerie. They do as she says because they fear her, but none of them like her and she has to fight them at every step of the way. That’s no life,” Callin said.

  “They don’t hate her personally. They hate what she’s done. How she’s taken advantage of a position she was given temporarily. And how she’s taken away the rights of the true heir. It would be different for you, Callin. The pack would follow you willingly,” Lucian said. “Remember the way it used to be? No one resisted Valerie and made her life difficult until after you turned twenty-one and should have been given the alpha role.”

  “Maybe they would follow me willingly, and maybe they wouldn’t. We can’t know for sure either way,” Callin shrugged. “But even if it all goes as smoothly as you seem to think it will, it’s still a lot of responsibility that I just don’t want. Valerie relishes the role, and whether you like her or not, you have to admit she’s done a good job of keeping our identities under wraps, of having us fit in seamlessly here, and of keeping the pack safe from hunters. I don’t want to have to do that—I’m afraid I wouldn’t be any good at it, and if one of the pack was killed on my watch, I could never forgive myself.”

  “I’m not denying she’s done a good job. But it was only ever meant to be temporary and the time for you to take your rightful place has long passed. That’s all I’m saying,” Lucian said.

  “And all I’m saying is I don’t want my rightful place. Why take someone who is good at the job away from it, someone who wants to do it, and replace them with someone who has no idea what he’s doing, and doesn’t want it?” Callin objected.

  “Let me ask you something, Callin, and I want an honest answer,” Lucian said.

  Callin nodded for him to go on.

  “Do you really think Valerie is the right person to lead this pack?” Lucian asked.

  Callin nodded.

  “Yes. I really do. I know it sounds selfish that I don’t want to step up, but it’s not about me. It’s about the pack. If I believed I could genuinely do a better job as pack alpha than Valerie could, I would step up, no problem. But I don’t think that. I think she’s perfect for the role,” Callin said.

  Lucian took a long drink and then he smiled warmly at Callin over the top of his bottle.

  “What?” Callin asked.

  The smile made him suspicious. He had expected Lucian to fight him on the point.

  “What you’ve just said gives me hope, Callin. Because you might not be ready to take over as alpha right now, and I will respect that. But the fact that you are making the decision to let Valerie lead while you stand back because you believe she’s the right person for the job, well, that tells me you are a true alpha. You are putting the pack’s needs before your own, and that’s what a good alpha does,” Lucian said.

  Callin wasn’t at all sure that was true, but he smiled and accepted Lucian’s words. If it got him off his back and stopped him from trying to convince Callin to marry Valerie, then it was good enough for him. He knew they would have another variation of this co
nversation again at some point in the future, but for now at least, it was over.

  2

  Brianne Ellison knew she should say no when her best friend, Mandy, lifted the wine bottle and raised a questioning eyebrow. Instead, Brianne nodded her head and let Mandy refill both of their glasses. She picked up the glass and sipped the wine, enjoying the cool, refreshing liquid on her tongue. She swallowed and made an ah sound.

  “I really shouldn’t be drinking this,” Brianne said with a chastising smile at Mandy and then she took another sip of the wine.

  “Oh, shut up,” Mandy laughed. “You’ll be fine. It’s only your second glass. It’s not like we’re out clubbing and doing tequila shots, is it?”

  “True,” Brianne smiled. She twisted her face out of the smile and grimaced. “God the thought of working with Valerie all day is bad enough, but working with her all day with a hangover is more than I could face.”

  “She can’t be that bad,” Mandy said with a soft laugh.

  “Oh, trust me, she can be that bad,” Brianne said. “On the last movie she was in, she only had a tiny part, but she swanned around that set like some sort of star, bitching and moaning and berating me. You should have heard the commotion she caused because she decided her latte was made with skim milk one day. It wasn’t, but of course she had to be right. She threw the whole fucking thing over me, and it was still pretty hot. Imagine what she’s going to be like now that she’s actually starring in a movie. She’s going to be the biggest diva the world has ever seen. And who gets to run around after her all day and boost her fragile little ego? Oh yeah, that’s right. Me. I get to do it. Yay me.”