Sadie's Shadow Read online

  Sadie’s Shadow

  Ladies of the Sky #1

  by

  Julia Mills

  Once You Take Flight,

  the World Will Never Look the Same Again.

  Copyright © 2017 Julia Mills

  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 author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or used in a fictional manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  NOTICE: This is an adult erotic paranormal romance with love scenes and mature situations. It is only intended for adult readers over the age of 18.

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  Edited by Lisa Miller, Angel Editing Services

  Proofread by Tammy Payne with Book Nook Nuts

  Cover Designed by Linda Boulanger with Tell Tale Book Covers

  Formatted by Charlene Bauer with Wickedly Bold Creations

  DEDICATION

  Dare to Dream! Find the Strength to Act! Never Look Back!

  Thank you, God.

  To my girls, Liz and Em, I Love You. Every day, every way, always.

  Gaelic as Spoken by Dragon Kin

  Sadie’s Shadow

  Banphrionsa beag……….Little princess

  Máthair……….Mother

  Athair……….Father

  Soith olc……….Evil bitch

  Mianach……….Mine

  Sianach deirfiúr……….Sister mine

  Deirfiúr……….Sister

  Mo dragoness……..My dragoness

  Mo banphrionsa………My princess

  Tá tú mianach……….You are mine

  Tá mé mise………I am yours

  Bbeo fada, grá maith agus ag eitilt ard……….Live long, love well and fly high

  Mo stór………My treasure

  Mo dragoness álainn……….My beautiful dragoness

  Grá mo chroí……….Love of my heart

  Le grá go deo, gráim thú……….With love fore, I love you.

  Mo bhanríon……….My queen

  Mo rí……….My king

  Beidh mé grá duít go geo……….I will always love you

  Is brae liom tú……….I love you

  Japanese as spoken by the Golden Dragons of Tokyo

  Sadie’s Shadow

  U~izādo……..Wizards

  Hai……….Yes

  Arigatōgozaimashita……….Thank you

  Masutādoragon………Master Dragon

  Dōhō………..Brethren

  Meiyo no shakkin……….Debt of Honor

  Sayōnara……….Goodbye

  Also by Julia Mills

  *****

  The Dragon Guard Series

  Her Dragon to Slay, Dragon Guard #1

  Her Dragon’s Fire, Dragon Guard #2

  Haunted by Her Dragon, Dragon Guard #3

  For the Love of Her Dragon, Dragon Guard #4

  Saved by Her Dragon, Dragon Guard #5

  Only for Her Dragon, Dragon Guard #6

  Fighting for Her Dragon, Dragon Guard #7

  Her Dragon’s Heart, Dragon Guard #8

  Her Dragon’s Soul, Dragon Guard #9

  The Fate of Her Dragon, Dragon Guard #10

  Her Dragon’s No Angel, Dragon Guard #11

  Her Dragon, His Demon, Dragon Guard #12

  Resurrecting Her Dragon, Dragon Guard #13

  The Scars of Her Dragon, Dragon Guard #14

  Her Mad Dragon, Dragon Guard #15

  Tears for Her Dragon, Dragon Guard #16

  Guarding Her Dragon, Dragon Guard #17

  Sassing Her Dragon, Dragon Guard #18 (Sassy Ever After Kindle World)

  Kiss of Her Dragon, Dragon Guard #19

  Claws, Class and a Whole Lotta Sass, Dragon Guard #20 (Sassy Ever After Kindle World)

  The Dragon with the Girl Tattoo, Dragon Guard #21 (Paranormal Dating Agency Kindle World)

  Her Love, Her Dragon: The Saga Begins, A Dragon Guard Prequel

  *****

  The ‘Not-Quite’ Love Story Series

  Vidalia: A ‘Not-Quite Vampire Love Story

  Phoebe” A ‘Not-Quite’ Phoenix Love Story

  Zoey: A ‘Not-Quite’ Zombie Love Story

  Jax: A ‘Not-Quite’ Puma Love Story

  Heidi: A ‘Not-Quite’ Hellhound Love Story (Magic & Mayhem Kindle World)

  Lola: A ‘Not-Quite’ Witchy Love Story (Magic & Mayhem Kindle World)

  Sammie Jo: A ‘Not-Quite’ Shifting Witchy Love Story (Magic & Mayhem Kindle World)

  *****

  Kings of the Blood

  VIKTOR: Heart of Her King ~ Kings of the Blood ~ Book 1

  ROMAN: Fury of Her King ~ Kings of the Blood ~ Book2

  ACHILLES: Soul of Her King ~ Kings of the Blood ~ Book 3

  *****

  CAUGHT: A Vampire Blood Courtesan Romance

  *****

  MARROK: A Wolf’s Hunger

  *****

  Out of the Ashes: Guardians of the Zodiac ~ Book 1 ~ Pisces

  Scorched Ember: Guardians of the Zodiac ~ Book 2 ~ Taurus

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  PHRYNE’S FLIGHT

  ALSO BY JULIA MILLS

  ABOUT JULIA

  Chapter One

  “Let me out of here!” His deep baritone echoed off the stone of the cave and roared through the forest, making the hairs on the back of the princess’s neck stand on end and her stomach do flip-flops. “This will not stand. My brethren will find me. You will pay!” This was the third straight day he’d been issuing threats. Sadie almost wished he was still unconscious.

  Almost…

  “Our guest still issuing threats?” Phryne asked, sitting down beside the dragoness and dropping a pack full of supplies. “You really do need to decide what you’re going to do with him.” The Pegasus shifter poked Sadie’s campfire with a stick, making sparks fly and fill the air between them before floating toward the Heavens.

  Wish I could float away with them…

  “The others are beginning to ask where you keep running off to. I’m not going to be able to keep them from coming to look for you for much longer; especially Gwendolyn. You know how she gets.”

  Blowing out a long-suffering sigh, Sadie could only nod and watch the flames eat away at the timber she had chopped earlier that day. Gwendolyn’s persistence was legendary—it went past stubborn to obstinate—and irritated every single person in their small clan to near distraction. However, no one complained because it had saved them all more times than anyone could remember. Some said it was because she was a Thunderbird who had been raised without her parents or any kin of her kind, forced to deal with the oddities of her powers without proper guidance, but Sadie refused to accept that excuse. They had all been stolen from their families, packs, and clans by hunters, left to die on a snowy mountain, only alive by the grace of the Heavens and the loving hand of the Guardian. In some ways, they were stronger for it.

  “Yes, I am aware.”

  “Have you checked his wounds today?” Phryne asked. “After all, you did put an arrow in his hindquarters.” She made air quotes before bursting out laughing, making Sadie regret a
ll the interactions with the humans her clan had experienced over the last twenty years. It had taken the others nearly a decade after the death of the Guardian to convince the princess that they needed to interact with humans, other supernatural beings, and the world at large, but on days like this one, she still doubted her decision.

  “First of all, I was shooting at a deer. The buck was in my sights and I thought I was completely alone in the forest. I had scented, tested the surroundings with my preternatural senses, and even touched the mind of the animal. I would’ve bet money that I was alone with my prey. The arrow was already flying through the air and that…that man appeared out of thin air.”

  She still could not explain where he had come from. There was something about him that felt strange. Just being near him made both Sadie and her dragon uneasy, on edge, irritable, but they still craved his deep woody musk and his low rumbling voice, even when he was yelling and screaming.

  “So, you still haven’t answered my question.” Phryne’s voice held the hint of the chuckle she was trying to hide, dancing on Sadie’s nerves like a jackhammer on concrete.

  “He is healed,” she ground out through gritted teeth. “I told you that yesterday when you asked and the day before that and the day before. You know as well as I do that he is also a dragon and can heal himself very quickly. Probably one of the Enforcers the Guardian told about all those years ago. Their story was sad and their fate unknown. That’s the only explanation I can think of for his condition when we found him.”

  Holding up her hand as her sister-of-her-heart, sporting a sly grin and a twinkle in her eye, opened her mouth to speak, the Leader of the Ladies of the Sky clan, as they had named themselves almost a century ago, continued, “My arrow was a small wound compared to his emaciated, skeletal appearance, the dirt, blood, and gore caked in his long hair and beard, and the cuts on his hands and feet.”

  Her smile fading, the winged-horse shifter bit her bottom lip before adding, “And those oozing wounds and scars. They had to have been from silver. Nothing else could harm the flesh of any shifter, especially one with magic as strong as his, in such a way.”

  “I know and I still cannot fathom the glyphs on his back. They had to have been carved into his skin and silver repeatedly added to the open cuts to make them permanent with such definition.” She played with the thin braids that hung over her shoulder as she thought. “I need to see some of Laurel’s books. She has all the old writings from the chapels in France. If anyone took note of something like we are seeing, it was the monks.” Sadie opened the pack, looking for something to eat, and pulled out a ham sandwich. Focusing on what her sister was saying while trying to drown out the bellowing of the male dragon presently locked in their empty dry storage cavern, the dragoness unwrapped what was to be her dinner and took a bite.

  “Good luck with that. She’s as bad as you are about sharing her treasures. I guess it is true that gargoyles are like dragons when it comes to what they value most,” Phryne said.

  It was an old joke amongst their small clan, one that always ended with Laurel telling the Legend of the Gargouille, explaining how the first gargoyle sprang from the remains of a fallen dragon in seventh century France. But then that was how things had been for the seven of them since they had found themselves lost and alone in the care of the Guardian; a rag-tag group of female shifters with no family, no clan…no home. The girls had learned early that life is what you make it. They were fighters, each and every one of them, sisters-of-the heart that would defend their adopted family to death and beyond.

  “Let me out of here now! I demand it!” their patient roared again. Sadie rolled her eyes and focused on her food, thinking about the past and how happy they had been for over a century keeping to the outskirts of society, protecting what was theirs, avoiding conflict…avoiding others.

  One of her first memories of the Guardian and what would soon become her Destiny swirled through her mind, demanding her attention, blocking out even the screams of the man she feared could and would change her life forever…

  “But where are my parents?”

  The Guardian’s naturally husky voice and calming nature filled the room as Sadie watched her cover one of the other girls with a thick woolen coverlet. “They are fighting the Great Evil, little one.”

  “Who was that lady, the one who left us in the cold?”

  “She is a hunter, banphrionsa beag. Just one of many that your máthair, athair, and kin are fighting to destroy.” The Guardian’s tone took on a sharp tone as she added, “All of you were stolen in the night by that soith olc. She sought to exploit you, use you as bait to defeat your parents, but we, the Guardians of the Realm, were too close. In the end, Eve and her horrible father and brother were forced to leave you, scurrying into the darkness like rats off a sinking ship.”

  Sadie had never heard the Guardian use such language. The fury in the Elder Caretaker’s voice fueled the young dragoness’ own rage. Picking up the knife the cook used to clean vegetables, Sadie stood by the fire, staring at the blade, imagining the blood of her enemies dripping from the cold steel, creating a morose mosaic across the ice and snow.

  “I can see your thoughts, little princess. Feel your need to fight, to defend what you love, but your battle is not today.”

  “But when?” Sadie pleaded. “Why can I not fight for those I love?”

  Sitting down in her huge, oak rocking chair, the Guardian patted her lap and after the young dragoness was comfortably seated, began to slowly rock back and forth. “Because mo ghrá, it is not your time. You still have much to learn and need time to grow. Your Destiny has been written in the stars. Fate and the Universe have grand plans for you.”

  Pushing her long pewter braids off her shoulder, Sadie looked up at the Guardian and asked, “But am I not needed now? Can I not help Máthair and Athair?” Looking at the other females sleeping quietly in their little beds, she continued, “Can I not help their families? I may be small but I am powerful. Athair said I was born as ferocious as a lioness and as cunning as the eagle. I am Dragon.”

  Smiling sweetly, the Guardian took the kitchen knife from where her little fingers still clung to the wooden handle and placed it back on the table. “Yes, banphrionsa beag, you have more strength in your little finger than most warriors possess in their entire bodies, but you have just seen your fifth year and there are things you need to know. Things your parents need to teach you so that not only will you be a great warrior but also a great leader.”

  She’d heard it all before. Promises that her parents would be back, that she would be trained to fight, that life would go back to what she had known before the attacks. But Sadie knew something was wrong. The war had gone on for too long. The letters from her parents and the other girls’ mothers and fathers had stopped coming. It was time Sadie learned to be the leader she had been born to be. Time for her to take control of her future. The Guardian may think of her as a little girl, but the Elder Caretaker could not be more wrong.

  Named Scathach Sorcha Ashford after her father and his father before him, the little princess was soon called Sadie because of her spunk and insatiable curiosity. Never far from her parents and always among the people of their clan, she had known nearly from birth that she would one day lead the Ashford Dragons. Her athair was loved among his people, revered as a fair, just, and loving Head Elder, and Sadie wanted nothing more than to follow in his footsteps in every way.

  She longed to look into his ruddy features and deep blue eyes, to hear the soft, beautiful song her máthair sang as she gently rocked her daughter to sleep. Sadie needed to know…

  “Hello, Earth to Sadie. Are you listening to me?”

  Phryne’s voice abruptly pulled the dragoness from her memories and had her taking a deep breath as her sister went on without waiting for an answer. “That old wooden door and rusted lock aren’t going to hold him for long. His dragon is healing both itself and the man at an amazing rate.” Phryne poked at the fire again. “Have
you thought about what you’re going to do when he breaks free?”

  “It won’t come to that.”

  “Because…” Phryne let her unasked question hang in the air, giving Sadie a wide-eyed look and a shrug.

  Standing and shaking her head, the dragoness sighed. “Because I’m going to use another tranquilizer dart. We are going to carry him to the lair of the Blue Thunder Dragons, place his unconscious body outside their clinic, and leave.”

  “First of all, you’ve been tranquilizing him? I know how strongly you feel about staying away from the dragons. I get it. You don’t want to lead a clan or Heavens forbid, the whole damn species, but don’t you think he can scent you? Can find his way back whenever he wants?”

  “No.”

  “No? That’s all I get?”

  Looking at the fire, she remembered the male’s long eye lashes as they curled on his high cheekbones, the feel of his rough skin under her fingertips, and the electricity that had skittered up her arm, making her imagine laying her lips to his. It was all so disconcerting, so foreign…so frightening. Speaking without looking at Phryne, she said, “I have also used my magic to mask my scent, just as I will do for both of us when we deliver him to his clan.” She speared the Pegasus shifter with a look that she hoped would end their conversation and added, “Now, get ready so we can return him to his own and get back to our lives.”

  Getting up, she’d made it exactly three steps toward the cave when Phryne asked, “Are you sure that’s what you want to do?”

  Ignoring her sister’s question, the dragoness called forth her magic, making herself undetectable, then entered the cavern. Once outside the cave where their supplies were stored, she used her preternatural speed to throw open the door, blow the dart at his neck, and slam the door shut before the male knew what was happening.

  Counting to ten, Sadie let out the breath she’d been holding when she heard the telltale sound of his body crashing to the stone floor. Opening the door once again, she stood staring. Her dragon pushed against the confines of her mind, reaching for the man and his dragon, grumbling low in her throat and swishing her mighty tail.