Page 1 of Claimed By the Dragon

Chapter One

Grace Butler resisted looking at the door. Again.

The words from a few days ago echoed through her head:Stonefire will protect you. If you’re my mate, they can’t take you away.

Dr. Trahern Lewis might’ve offered to mate her to keep her and the twins safe, but she didn’t think he really meant it. Emotions had been high after her difficult birth, she’d been worried about her babies, and he’d probably just felt sorry for her.

And right now, waiting for a man who’ll never show is a cold reminder about why you can never, ever trust anyone. It’s just you and the boys now.

Maybe there would be another way for her to stay with Clan Stonefire. Since her children had a dragon-shifter father, they also carried the gene to shift into a dragon, meaning she either had to give them up or live with a dragon clan permanently.

And she refused to give up her twins. They were hers to love and protect. And if she had to do it alone and be a stranger among the dragon-shifters, she would.

The Scottish accent of Dr. Gregor Innes—he was one of the dragon doctors on Stonefire—garnered her attention. “Maybe I should go check on Trahern. He often loses track of time, aye?”

In other words, Dr. Innes was trying to say this was normal. She shouldn’t worry.

And yet, Grace hadn’t survived on her own since she was sixteen years old by letting her guard down and relying on wishes and hope.

After all, the one time she’d done that, about ten months ago, had ended up putting her in a fucked-up prison where they’d wanted to happily experiment on her sons as if they were lab rats.

Gripping the bedsheet with her fingers, she replied, “Don’t try to placate me, Dr. Innes. He obviously doesn’t want this, and I’d rather not force someone into it. I don’t want my life to become any more hellish than it has been for the last six months.”

“Lass…”

The door opened, preventing Dr. Innes from replying. Grace spotted Dr. Innes’ mate and fellow doctor, Dr. Cassidy “Sid” Jackson, who everyone called Dr. Sid.

Dr. Sid met her mate’s eyes and shook her head.

Just as she’d thought—Trahern had run.

Grace cleared her throat. “Let’s forget this ever happened. I need to talk to the Department of Dragon Affairs. If Stonefire doesn’t want me, then maybe one of the other UK clans will. It doesn’t matter, as long as they keep my sons safe.”

Dr. Sid moved to stand next to her bed inside the surgery. “You’re welcome to stay on Stonefire, Grace. There are a lot of human females here to help you adjust. Lochguard has some too, but not as many.”

Lochguard was the Scottish dragon clan, up in the Highlands. She’d learned about all the UK dragon clans during her recovery, after the birth of her sons a few days ago.

Dr. Innes spoke up. “You don’t have to decide now, lass. You haven’t even been discharged yet. And most of the human females on Stonefire are determined to visit you, now that you’ve mostly recovered. You should ask them your questions, aye? I know you have no reason to trust us yet, but I hope with time, you’ll give us a chance.”

Her first reaction was to say she didn’t want any visitors. She just needed somewhere to take her babies and do her best to love and protect them.

Friends had never been easy for her, at least not after her mother had married that arsehole who’d ended up killing her and then himself.

No. Don’t think about him.Instead, she focused on the only two people she loved in the world, her boys—Eli and Eddie. From the moment she’d held them in her arms, she’d snapped out of her bleak, soul-crushing depression and found her purpose.

And for their sakes, she would have to learn a lot, and quickly.

Just thinking about them sent a rush of longing through her. “When can I see my babies again?”

Dr. Sid answered, “Soon. We’re just running a few last-minute tests.”

Since Grace had been drugged and half-starved while pregnant during her imprisonment, the Stonefire doctors had been overly thorough with both her and the boys. Especially since they didn’t know if her twins would suffer any aftereffects.

Not for the first time, she wished she could kill the bastard who’d set her on this path. Not that she knew where he was.

Which was part of the problem—he could show up at any time. After all, she knew he’d get a second payment as soon as the dragon hunters had her babies in their hands.

At least they weren’t born inside that hellhole. Focus on the good for now.Pushing her anger aside, she replied, “You’d tell me if something was wrong with them, wouldn’t you?”