“Drinking what?” he asks, ever innocent. God, he’s cute. Even after six months of being mated to him, I’m never tired of looking at him. I’m never tired of his questions, or his protectiveness, or the way he’s determined to save every stray animal that wanders our way. It’s like he wants to make sure every creature we find is safe and cared for and has a family, because he knows what it’s like to be alone.

I’m not sure how I got so lucky to get him, but I’ll take it and thank my lucky stars each day.

I move carefully to his side, keeping my steps slow and measured and my hands down. Our newest arrival at our farm is a horse, so skinny you can see every rib. It’s nervous around everyone so far, the whites of its eyes showing as I approach. It prances in the barn stall, eyeing me.

“You’d think he’d be more grateful after a few days of food,” I comment, moving to stand behind Murr and looping my arms around his waist. “This is the grumpiest horse I’ve ever seen.”

“He is scared and used to being hungry. He will calm down once he realizes we are friends,” Murr says, unbothered. He extends a hand towards the horse, palm up. “I brought you food, Pikachu.”

Oh lord. Rabbit’s naming conventions strike again.

Pikachu-the-horse flares his nostrils at Murr’s gentle words and paces in his stall. There are mounds of fresh grass (courtesy of Murr’s claws) and hay in a bucket for him, cool water, and a bag with cracked corn in it. We’re giving him small portions at first so he doesn’t make himself sick. Once we know he’s not diseased, we’ll move him in with the other farm animals. The books say to keep new animals quarantined for at least a week or two in order to determine if they’re healthy.

“No one will ride you,” my mate croons to the horse. “No one will eat you. You are safe. We have many friends here for you. Be calm.”

The horse snorts at him as if it doesn’t quite believe him, but it calms down a little.

“You are with friends,” Murr continues, keeping his hand out toward the horse. “We will look for your family and bring them here.”

“We will?” I whisper, surprised at this newest revelation. Murr usually flies off in the mornings to find something to eat and to find meat for our cats. Murr doesn’t hunt the herd, because he wants them to trust his presence.

“We will,” he says firmly. “If he has family, we want to find them. We want him to be safe with those he loves.”

My heart squeezes. He’s got such a soft spot for lost animals. “I guess we can go looking for horses today after breakfast.” I’m not sure how we’ll bring them back with us, but one thing at a time.

I’m filled with love for my dragon mate. Murr is the best person I’ve ever met, human or drakoni. The kindness in his heart is endless, from the smallest kitten to the largest, crankiest horse. He never judges them for snapping or hissing. He simply tries to understand the reasoning behind it and make their lives better.

He’s certainly made mine better. That day we ran into each other in the parking lot changed everything for me. I’d been so tired of other humans at that point, sick of everyone but my daughter. Meeting Murr had taught me that I wasn’t dead inside. That I could still fall in love despite losing faith in my fellow man.

Or maybe it’s because he was a dragon instead of just a man. Him having scales and wings put him in different territory. Teaching him English made us slow down and really think about what the other person was saying, was thinking.

Being with him has changed everything, and I’ve never been happier. I’m even thinking about babies. Maybe not right away, but…I know we’d be safe and protected and always have full bellies, because Murr would never let anything happen to us.

Watching him try to befriend the horse just confirms this for me. I love that he wants to protect everyone and everything he meets. It’s his kindness and generosity that brought us together. If he hadn’t been interested in meeting us that first day, we’d have never gotten where we are.

I’m lucky my dragon loves strays.

OceanofPDF.com

Hello there!

I finished book 10 in the Fireblood Dragons series a few years ago, and I’m honestly happy with how it wrapped up. There were no questions left in my head as to how things would continue. It would be a happier world for all, with new challenges, but I wasn’t interested in working in it.

I think because my other series continue on for so long (it’s a problem, I know) that it seemed very odd for me to have a FINISHED series. Every time I did a signing, I was asked if there were more Fireblood on the way.

And of course, it made me think…what would another book look like? I had an idea for a nice drakoni guy living by himself, unaware that everyone’s mental telepathy had been broken. He was lonely so he collected cats. I also had an idea that he’d run into a single mom who was scavenging and picked up a kitten, and he’d come running to protect it. That was as far as my idea went, and that’s not a book. That’s a set up! I mentioned this story concept at a luncheon and was told that CLEARLY I had been thinking about it quite a bit and so I needed to write it!

Maybe I was thinking about it a little bit. Just a little! But my schedule is very full lately and finding the time to write one random dragon book felt like a big ask. Around December of last year, I remember feeling like the online community was very bleak and I hated opening the internet every day. When I get like that, I know it’s time to write a serial, because seeing the commentary and the enjoyment people get out of the story as it’s posted piece by piece brings me a lot of happiness. So I decided to write about dragons, and SO many kittens, and a single mom and her smart daughter, and all the strays they pick up along the way. The whole goal of this story was feel-good vibes, and if you’re wondering where the plot went, well, we skipped it in favor of vibes. Just vibes!

There are no massive differences in what was posted online versus what’s here, except for a few typos and some continuity clean-up. I also have to give a big shout-out to my sensitivity readers that ensured Jonah was portrayed well. Thank you to Gracie at @graciesbooknook, Val Conners at @val_readsbooks, Emily Brim and Kat Paige for their notes and experience. Any mistakes are mine!

I hope you enjoyed Murr and Dakota’s story!

xoxo Ruby

OceanofPDF.com

WANT MORE?

The majority of my backlist is in Kindle Unlimited, including all of the initial Fireblood Dragons series. Feel free to check them out!

Fireblood Dragons Series (the original dragon shifter series)

SHIFT: Five Novellas (more shifters!)

Ice Planet Barbarians (a fated alien mates series you can glom onto)

Aspect and Anchor (portal-fantasy romantasy)

Enjoy!

OceanofPDF.com