Chapter One
Aldain Kincaid sat on the couch sulking. He would never admit that is what he was doing, but that is exactly what someone would call it. His friends Cade and Becca were basking in their love for each other, while he was alone, with no one to call his own. He would never admit he was jealous of their relationship but he craved that kind of relationship for himself.
There were many dragon shifters that never found their soul mate. They either married someone other than their soul mate or chose to remain alone the rest of their very very long lives. He fell into the latter category, he wanted all or nothing. His friends noticed that he wasn’t really acting like himself. By having them watch him every day for the last several months they have been living with him was obviously affecting him. He was glad to have them there. His castle was more than big enough to accommodate them and give everyone their privacy. The only places shared were the Den where the books were kept and the room that housed the satellite television.
Aldain thought of asking them if they wanted their own private den closer to where their bedroom was but he doesn’t want them to think that they are not welcomed in his home and that their company is not enjoyable. He really does enjoy having them there; it was the days like today he was having a pity party for himself wishing that they would snuggle up somewhere else. He knew that today wasn’t a good day for him because his face seemed to be in a perpetual scowl. Becca looked questioningly at him but said nothing. She respected his privacy enough to think if he wanted her to know what was bothering him, he would tell her. He knew it would never dawn on her that he was anything but happy for them. He loved Becca and both she and Cade knew this, but they also knew he could never love her as he would a soul mate and his love for her was more like a family member. There was a time he was willing to try and make a different kind of relationship with Becca work, but that was when Cade was treating her so badly she would cry herself to sleep every night.
Thank God, those days were behind everyone and everything worked out for them. He just wanted what they had and it wasn’t until he was around them long enough that he realized he really was lonely.
He knew he had to get out; he was getting so miserable that he couldn’t even stand himself. He looked over at the couple across from him, snuggled up to each other watching some kind of re-run on television. He quickly stood up from the chair he was in, and while heading for the door yelled, “I am going out for a while. I may be late so don’t hold dinner for me; I will eat while I am gone.” Without waiting for a reply, he shifted into his dragon form and flew away.
Aldain flew for what seemed like hours, then his stomach started to grumble. He seemed to have lost track of time. He was surprised to find that he was starving, he was so deep in thought wondering if he would ever find his soul mate. He flew to an island he saw and decided to see if he could find anything on it dinner worthy. He didn’t see any people on it but he did see wild goats. His mouth watered as he dove down towards them. The goats saw him coming and took off running in all directions, bleating warnings to each other, but a dragon was much faster than a goat. Aldain caught his dinner in his mouth, full of foot long teeth, and landed on the beach as he ate the goat whole.
When a dragon shifter gets extremely hungry, his dragon takes over to the point he is more dragon than human and the only thing on his mind is filling his stomach. If there was a human who knew about dragon shifters and saw anything like that, it would scare them so badly that they wouldn’t care about the human half. They would probably never want to have anything to do with another dragon shifter as long as they lived.
Aldain felt full and his dragon got sleepy so he stayed on the beach basking in the sun and again was thinking of his lack of a soul mate. He fell asleep.
The sounds of bleating woke him up. The sky was dark and the goats, while still a distance from him, were closer to him than was probably wise for them. Then he saw the long lush grass that his very large body was close to and understood why they were taking their chances. He shook his head to help himself wake up for the long flight back home. When he started moving the goats again started to run in all directions bleating, but Aldain knew he could eat when he got home and wanted to get there before the sun came up. He didn’t want to worry his friends and he wanted to sleep in his own bed.
He spread his wings, ran along the beach and took flight. It was a beautiful thing to see, a dragon in flight; Aldain was beautiful in his dragon form. His red scales were shimmering in any kind of light. His eyes were emerald green in human form, but in dragon form his pupils slit sideways like a cat and turned yellow. He has a set of black, wickedly sharp looking horns bending back from his head going almost halfway down his back. He has a mouth full of foot long teeth. His tail even has three spikes on the end. You could tell just from looking at him that his body was made to be the perfect fighting machine. His human form was just as imposing as his dragon form. He has shoulder length black hair and bright green eyes. He stands six foot four inches tall, and has wide shoulders and muscular arms. His waist tapers down to reveal a six-pack stomach and long, muscular legs. With every movement, you saw the perfect muscles formations. His physical body also looks like the perfect fighting machine. In either form, he was beautiful to the point of perfection.
He finally made it home in the wee hours of the morning. Everything was quiet; he quietly snuck into the kitchen to raid the refrigerator. He heard a sound behind him that startled him. He quickly turned to find Becca behind him.