Sighing, Liam ducked a low hanging apple branch and went deep into the woods to follow the eager dog. Cold, saturated sprigs of bushes smacked him vindictively as he cut a path to where Hades was. His jacket and jeans were stained with rain water. He squinted, trying to find the dog. The dark, gloomy sky didn’t affect his vision. As one of the rare few dragon shifters left on Earth, Liam was gifted with excellent sight. He blinked then caught the orange-brown movement darting under a willow tree. The retriever was restless. He kept barking and whining. Liam caught up with him. He reached for Hades and ruffled the fur behind his ear. “What’s the matter, boy?”
The smell hit him before his dog gave away the source of his discontent.
Blood.
Liam’s sense of smell was as sharp as his sight. He hissed, following the scent. Rocks and gravel crunched underneath his soles as he took measured steps onto the slope. He saw a dark figure washed out on the side of the stream; the lower half of its torso submerged in the water. Hades shot past him and braked in front of it abruptly. He wagged his tail and barked once.
“What did you find, boy?”
“Woof!”
Great. Just the last thing he needed. A corpse. The main river must have been flooded from the rain and dragged this unwanted problem right onto his property. He would need to call the authorities and the prospect of the police, coroners, and the press trampling around in his private sanctuary darkened his mood. He liked his privacy. His quiet and orderly life. His Zen. He had enough of living under the spotlight when he still ran his company. Being the youngest self-made billionaire had made the media hunger for him and scrutinize his every move. If a reporter got a whiff that he had found a dead body on his property, the vulture-like paparazzi, gossip tabloids, and TV pundits would make a circus out of it.
Liam half-heartedly trudged to Hades’ discovery. He surveyed the ground, looking for any sign that someone had purposely trespassed on his land and dumped a dead body near his house. But there were no signs of tracks. Of course, the rain could have easily erased them. He studied closer. From the look of it, the corpse seemed to have been dragged by the flood.
Liam narrowed his eyes, studying the body through the mud that covered it all over. It appeared to be female, wearing what was once a white blouse and a dark skirt. Seemed to be young as well, she couldn’t be older than thirty. Twigs and leaves were tangled in her hair. She sprawled with her arms caught in a jumble of cattail bog plants. A bullet wound was visible in her right temple. Judging from her condition, she had been killed recently. No sign of decomposition at all.
Great. A murder victim.
He took his cell phone out and was about to dial 9-1-1 when he caught a faint sigh. A breath. A dying breath even. Liam was perplexed. No way. How could she even be alive with such trauma?
Hurriedly, Liam pocketed his phone away. He plunged into the waist-high water to check the pulse on her neck. Her body was cold but the pulse was there. Barely. He had to call the ambulance so she could receive medical aide. He cleared her face from clumps of muck-covered hair. His heart sank. If a human soul was tethered to its body like a balloon, the string anchoring this woman to the physical vessel was about to disconnect permanently. He wasn’t trained in the medical field, but even he could see this woman didn’t have much time left. By the time the paramedics came for her, she probably would be dead already.
Unless he did something about it.
His grandfather once said a dragon shifter was also granted the ability to give life. The rite of blood magic. In the old days, blood magic was used by dragons who claimed a human mate to prolong their life. Dragons lived twice as long as the human lifespan. Once a dragon mated, they were bound forever. Blood magic was used so a bonded pair could enjoy life until its very end.
But Liam had never had the chance to initiate blood magic. He had claimed a mate a few years ago: Natalie Bairn, also a dragoness from the House of Bairn. Thinking that they were both dragon, he felt no need to initiate the ritual of blood magic. He married his own kind; a vow of bond should have been good enough. But it turned out the bond was a joke. The marriage didn’t last. Natalie cheated on him with his best friend. Liam got divorced at the same time he decided to withdraw from the world.
If he initiated the blood magic, he could save this woman’s life.
Problem was, she wasn’t his mate. How he was going to tell her the truth when she woke up from her injuries, good as new? Human didn’t believe that dragons existed, and his kin had never been inclined to prove the thousand-year- old myth was true. If he healed this woman, he would have to tell her their secret.
But if he didn’t help her, she’d die.
Liam wasn’t sure he could live with that on his conscience if he had the chance to save a life and he chose not to.
Help her now, everything else can be explained later.
Liam made a split-second decision.
She must live.
He slipped his arms underneath her and lifted her out of the water. Hades barked, circling him as he put the woman on the muddy ground. It appeared the gun shot on her temple was made from a small caliber. He checked carefully and found out it didn’t have an exit wound. The bullet was still lodged in her brain. If the blood rite was successful, the magic would repair any damage. And any strange objects lodged into the body like the bullet would be automatically expelled. Scratch that. Bullets. He found she had also been shot in the chest and stomach. Heavens have mercy.
How could she still be alive?
Hades settled in, watching his every move. Liam summoned his power, partially shifting. His right fingers turned into sharp talons. With a flick of his wrist, he cut open his left palm.
Chanting the rite, he bled into her mouth.
Chapter Two
Eva woke up with a start.
Her first instinct was to grope her head and her stomach, looking for the bullet holes that had almost robbed her of her life.
She found nothing.
She couldn’t figure out why she thought she had been shot, because there were no signs of any wounds at all. She was completely unscathed. A frisson of terror shot through her when she found herself as naked as the day she was born. She pulled herself into a sitting position and shoved the comforter down, examining her body.
Nothing. No pain. No holes. No bandage.
Other than a mild headache and a slight chill, she was completely fine.
Why was she naked?
And why did she think she had been in an accident?
No, not accident.
Something worse.
She felt as if she had recently been in a life-or-death situation and the horrible part was that she didn’t make it.