1
Present day
Liam sat on the bench at the harbor and stared at the water. The waves were the same, the view of the ocean was the same, and the boats were the same. Everything was the same, and that was the problem. He was ready for something different, something better, something new.
It wasn’t that he didn’t like minding the harbor.
He did.
When old Willie died ten years ago, he had left the care of the island to him. Liam wasn’t exactly sure why the old man trusted him.
That wasn’t true.
He knew exactly why.
Liam had been like a son to Willie.
He’d been there for him when Willie’s daughter went away.
He’d been there for him when he’d gotten sick and when his health started to fail.
He’d been there for him every day, every storm, every sunny afternoon.
Liam had been there.
And now he was alone.
That was the trouble with secrets, really: they isolated you. Even if Liam wanted to date someone, how could he? How could he find someone who would understand his need for secrecy? Really, it wasn’t even his need. It was the dragons. It was their need.
Dragon Isle was a quiet place. It was away from the outside world and for the dragon shifters who lived there, it was a haven. It was their safe space where nothing else mattered.
Liam didn’t know what it was like to be a shifter. He was human through-and-through, but he understood the dragons. He’d been taking care of them, quietly guarding them and their island, for years. He’d been watching over the creatures for over a decade and he had learned.
He knew their quirks, and what made them tick. He knew what made them happy. He knew what dragons were afraid of and he understood why, for a dragon, fear was an unimaginable danger.
The dragons had to be calm, controlled. They had to be constantly aware of their surroundings, constantly on alert, and constantly ready for a fight.
Fear was not an option.
If a dragon shifter became scared, shifting was impossible. It was one of those weird quirks Liam had never fully understood. They’d had visitors from Honeypot and Wolfe City and plenty of other shifter cities, but none of them had struggled to shift while scared. That seemed to be a dragon thing.
He shook his head. Liam felt sorry for his friends, and he was tired. They had struggled for years to create this perfect safe haven for themselves, and still, the problems kept coming. They had fought renegade dragons, poachers, and even themselves. He was ready for a break, and he knew they were, too.
He was tired.
So very, very tired.
Liam stood and went to the houseboat he lived on. Cadence had been his home for years. Willie had left the docks, the boat, and everything else he owned to Liam. Willie hadn’t been in contact with his daughter for years before his death, but Liam kept everything Willie had left. If she ever came back, he would be ready for her.
He would take care of her.
He would protect her, just as Willie had protected him.
Liam climbed onto the boat and went inside. He locked the door and sat on his bed. Mischief, his little black kitten, hopped onto the blanket next to him.
“Come here, buddy,” Liam picked up the kitten and plopped him down in his lap. Mischief had been a recent gift from his sister, Janae, and her mate, Emerson. The two of them were worried about him, he knew. Even though Liam had hired someone to help him manage the docks and the boat transfers to Dragon Isle, he still did the majority of the work. Kelsey was fantastic, but she was still young. She was still new to the world of shifters, and the less she knew, the better off she would be.
No one needed this burden.
That’s what it had become to Liam: a burden.
He hated that he had begun his life in Nellenston with such hope, with such big dreams, but now he felt so alone. He visited his sister and her family often. He had two nephews and two nieces now. Those kids made his heart happy. Janae was an incredible mom and Emerson, despite being a huge dragon, was a very gentle father.
And Liam wanted that.
He wanted it for himself.
He wanted to find someone who could make him feel like the world wasn’t so dark, like the planet wasn’t so very big. He wanted to feel like he had someone. Anyone.
He just didn’t want to be so sad.
Liam closed his eyes, and he wished for something different.
***
Cadence stood on the docks and looked out over the water.
So this was it.
Nellenston Harbor: gateway to Dragon Isle.
She hadn’t been here since she was a kid. She could barely even remember it. She blinked several times, feeling like she ought to recognize something: anything. She didn’t. She pushed her dark hair back over her shoulder and shook her head as she tried to search for memories.
She hated this not-knowing.
She hated this ever-present section of emptiness when it came to her own personal history.
Her mother should have explained things to her, should have told her the truth. Mom should have brought her back sooner so she could be around the people who could help her discover who she was and what she was capable of.
Now the only thing she had was Willie.
He had to be able to help her.
She remembered him, at least a little. He was an incredible man: funny, smart, interesting. She remembered playing basketball with him in the yard. She remembered swimming at the pool.
What she didn’t remember was the harbor, and that felt wrong.
Shouldn’t she have remembered the place where her mother’s journal said he spent most of his time?
Shouldn’t she have remembered him guarding such a huge secret?
Shouldn’t she have remembered anything at all about this place?
It’s like her memories were split into two time periods: before and after the divorce. Her memories from before were scattered and random. She remembered things like having a sleepover with her friends. She remembered eating blueberry pie at Thanksgiving. She remembered shopping for a backpack before school.
She remembered Willie.
She remembered the way he had picked her up and tossed her into the air like she didn’t weight a damn thing. He was an older dad. His hair had been graying long before she was 10, but that never seemed to matter. Despite the fact that both he and her mom were in their late 40s when she was born, they were still active. They still played with her. They still gave her a good, solid childhood.
And then the divorce came.
Rain began to fall, but Cadence barely noticed as she looked out over the water. She needed this. She needed to be here, to find out what had really happened all those years ago between Willie and Mom. She needed to know the truth about who she was, about where she came from.
She shook her head, closed her eyes, and lifted her face, and Cadence let the water rush over her.