When the Shift Hits the Fan

By H. Elizabeth Dunn

Half witch / half vampire, Valerie Hannigan was still trying to wrap her head around the fact that she was matednever mind that she was mated to a beautiful blond-haired, blue eyed dragon-shifting man who actually loved her.

There was nothing she would have wanted more than to focus on him alone, but her aunts were fighting to save a dying dragons life, an Enclave dealing with a bitchy dragons insults and overtures toward her mate, and one dragon who posed more than a passing threat now as he had five hundred years ago. She and Trey had more things to focus on than just each other.

However, with Treys fertility cycle coming to a close and her fathers pressure to fly to Los Angeles for a visit, there were even more challenges and threats ahead.

Nobody would ever say that her life was boring.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: May 3, 2018
• ISBN: 9781984523020

H. Elizabeth Dunn

H. Elizabeth Dunn was born and raised in California, but military service gave her a world view and many, many years in the Midwest. Now, back in SoCal, she spends her time writing, driving for Uber and trying to figure out how to get her stuff back from Ohio.

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Copyright © 2018 by H. Elizabeth Dunn.

Library of Congress Control Number:               2018904767

ISBN:                  Hardcover                     978-1-9845-2300-6

                            Softcover                       978-1-9845-2301-3

                            eBook                            978-1-9845-2302-0

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted

in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,

without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the

product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance

to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 04/18/2018

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CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

Chapter One             Threat Or Turn-On

Chapter Two             Do I Need To Extend My Sympathies?

Chapter Three          Witch. Remember?

Chapter Four            Vampire. Remember?

Chapter Five             Bullet Dodged

Chapter Six               Mild Horror And Disbelief

Chapter Seven          I Felt Fear

Chapter Eight           Damn Binding!

Chapter Nine            Feeling Overwhelmed?

Chapter Ten              Tretanau Was Mine

Chapter Eleven        I Fear The Twins.

Chapter Twelve        Are You Really That Bored?

Chapter Thirteen     My Mind Was Fried.

Chapter Fourteen    I Would Rain Down Hell …

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I loves me my comma splices. Really, I do. And, if it weren’t for Kathy, Darien, and Vincent my manuscripts would be an unholy mess when they hit the publishing company. These wonderful folks do the hard and detailed work that I simply can’t. I cannot say, ‘thank you’ enough.

Red Robin Burgers and Brews (Lindsey and Adolpho), Islands Fine Burgers and Drinks (Bella Terra and Seal Beach), and Chipotle (the entire crew at Beach and Stark); I do some of my best work in environments like these. The hustle and bustle, the chaos and noise of a restaurant, and let us not forget, some really good food helps me to focus. I have camped out in these places and worked on my stories for hours on end. To illustrate this point I will tell you a story.

I drive for Uber, when the Army doesn’t have me on orders. So, I tend to lunch at any of the above eateries almost daily. One day in particular, I walked into the Red Robin in Garden Grove, just down the street from Disneyland, and went straight to the restroom. Now, I always seat myself in the bar, and always see the same bartender (that would be Bill). Today, I don’t see him. I don’t see anybody in there, but when I walk into the bar after my pit stop I see my iced tea, salad and Yukon chips waiting for me at my table.

I order nearly the same thing at these establishments based on their menu and see the same staff time after time. They are kind and funny and patient. And, it is because they let me camp out at a table for a couple of hours daily that I can get the work done on these stories that I do.

CHAPTER ONE

Threat or Turn-On

I sat amid the gory remains of my enemy. Limbs and entrails were scattered about, and blood spattered the walls. Nothing about her was recognizable. I laughed at her demise and reveled in the violence necessary to rend her lifeless.

What are you thinking, Valerie? he asked. He being my dragon-shifting mate of an entire month, Trey.

I shook off the pleasant visuals of my daydream and felt my claws retract and my eyes return to normal. Oops.

Me? I asked innocently. Nothing. Just practicing.

I am half witch, half vampire and, according to Trey, all pain in his ass. But that is why he loves me. I am a challenge. I can also make his eyes roll into the back of his head. We could give the Kama Sutra a run for creativity.

Anyway, my vampire half had been recessed for the most part, though I’d found that my previous boyfriend had suppressed my vampire nature. It was a douchy thing to do, but it had protected me from my father for many years. Now my vampire nature was a nicely integrated part of me, and I didn’t need protecting from my father any longer. Well, at least I didn’t think I did.

It still felt odd. I no longer had to concentrate for my vampire tendencies to rise; they were just there. Granted, for a while, the hunger for blood and violence was disturbing. Vampire Chick had wanted to eat my friends, and though the thought of eating Trey had merit, slaughtering people I liked did not.

Now I could vamp out with the best of them and was less likely to kill accidentally. If I killed, it would be on purpose, and it would be a perfectly beautiful blonde bombshell dragon shifter named Tiamat.

I didn’t like her.

None of me liked her.

The thought of rending her completely unrecognizable just felt right. Like lemonade on a warm summer’s day, right.

Valerie! my mate growled, and my vampire bits retreated, for now.

I smiled sweetly and batted my eyelashes. I was not going to kill the only other creature my mate had attempted to mate with.

That was hundreds of years ago, he was very young and had no idea how truly unpleasant she was as a person. He’d only ever experienced her in dragon form, which was as incredibly breathtaking as was her physical form. But when she opened her mouth, she was an all-consuming hag. Besides, she nearly killed him. I hadn’t even come close to killing him. Yes, I tried. Once. Trey claims it was twice, but he’s wrong. Just ask me.

So much had happened in the previous month it made my head spin just to try and summarize it, but that’s a whole ’nother story.

Tiamat said she didn’t kill him because he needed to mature before she would allow him to mate her.

Well, now Trey had matured nicely, and the heifer had chosen him to mate her. He declined and left with me. His intent had been obvious and her surprise wicked fun to see.

However, I hoped to never see her again, but then she showed up at the front door of the Enclave with a half-dead, very young dragon. Nicanor had been left for dead by Marquette, his father, and the reason my wonderful mate had been separated from his magic, his dragon, and his realm for five hundred years.

Mila, the Enclave’s doctor, and my aunts had been working to save his life ever since.

The whole dragon mating thing made my head spin. It was complicated, confusing, and leaned me toward a generalized dislike of dragons.

Except mine. He was beautiful and kind.

I stared into his baby-blue eyes and watched him smolder. Literally.

Trey’s dragon still reacted to my vampire nature, but I couldn’t tell if he saw her as a threat or a turn-on. With his dragon, it could be interchangeable.

We were in the commons of the Enclave. Trey’s the alpha and the leader of the massive complex built into and out of a huge mesa in the Nevada desert. It houses 250 were-creatures and shifters of one variety or another, and magic keeps it hidden from human eyes and relatively safe from supernatural threats. I worked hard to keep it that way. I’d only seen canine and feline types, but I’d heard there were others.

Of course, now there were my four aunts, my vampire ex-boyfriend, and two other dragons in the mix.

Poor guy. I often felt badly for him. Then I’d make his eyes roll back into his head, and I didn’t feel all that bad anymore.

I haven’t even come close to making any plans to kill her, I whispered. Don’t worry. Besides, I’ll make it look like an accident. Like a chipper shredding accident. Note to self: buy chipper shredder.

Valerie! he growled low in his throat. I found it sexy as hell, but he was truly becoming irritated.

Kidding, I said lightly and smiled innocently. I was totally not kidding.

You were thinking about it, he whispered. Having lunch in the commons meant our meals were very public and so were our conversations.

How often do you think about killing Marc? I asked as I propped my elbow onto the table and plopped my chin onto the palm of my hand.

Every minute of every day. Not like that was a surprise. Trey often asked me for permission to kill my ex-boyfriend, but until I was certain he needed to die, the answer was no.

Exactly, I said, sitting back up and smiling just enough to irritate him some more.

We ate quietly for a few minutes, both of us glancing around the commons and at each other. Sometimes I found it amazing that he loved me. He was a … mostly pure fire dragon. Gorgeous in his dragon skin and as a man. Six and a half feet of blonde hair, blue eyes, and rugged good looks. Behind his irises, flames would glimmer or flare depending upon the dragon’s mood. Right now, I could see the beginnings of an inferno building.

How does the rest of your day look? Trey asked with a forced nonchalance that was borne out of his dragon’s need to mate. Frequently.

Male dragons are only fertile for two weeks twice during the year. Trey went into his fertility cycle a bit earlier than he’d expected, and it was holding a little longer, though it was starting to ease. Don’t get me wrong, Trey is an amazing lover, but six or seven sessions per day was getting a bit rough on my girl parts no matter how fast I healed.

I stood and smiled. Usually, I’d screw with him and make up reasons he couldn’t just carry me off, strip me naked, and do amazing things to my body.

Trey hesitated. The confusion on his face was just as good as what I normally see when I make him wait.

Once he figured it out, my wonderful dragon-shifting mate had me thrown over his shoulder and was tearing through the commons at a ridiculous pace.

Any faster and the friction would set us both on fire.

Of course, he was a fire dragon, and I favored fire magic, so it probably wouldn’t be an issue.

He and I had burnt many a mattress, sheet sets, carpets, furniture, and even melted a metal chair before his dragon was released and my vampire nature had finally integrated.

Now we were whole and our furniture more permanent.

My body had barely bounced once after he tossed me on the bed before he was removing my clothing and caressing my bare skin.

Trey was already naked; his dragon had burnt away his clothing. The formerly extensive wardrobe of sweatpants and T-shirts he owned was dwindling rapidly.

Trey touched me gently, playing with my curves and studying every plane with a careful eye.

He did that sometimes. I couldn’t figure out whether he was looking for something specific or committing every detail to memory.

Sex with a nine-hundred-year-old dragon shifter is a religious experience. I often evoke the divine while he is working me into multiple orgasms. He may have attempted to mate with a female dragon once, but in the hundreds of years he’d been on this plane, he’d been practicing.

And practice had made me pass out from sheer pleasure on more than one occasion. This was one of those occasions, and I was intentionally keeping my schedule fairly clear just for this reason.

There were times that the dragon’s need to mate overrode the man’s desire to let me finish one project or another before stripping me. Thus far, we had gotten down and dirty in nearly every nook and cranny of the Enclave.

Unfortunately, the Enclave is filled with all manner of two-natured types with incredibly well-honed senses of smell.

The betting culture was rife with where will they do it next wagers, along with whether or not Trey would kill Marc, when, and in what manner, as well as whether I would go after Tiamat and how that would pan out. I knew this because Andy and Quinn kept me updated. The two were-tiger brothers were good men, good friends, and together created some of the best microbrew beers I’d ever tasted.

You’d think that the Enclave would be deserted most of the time, being an hour and a half north of Las Vegas, but betting on friends and family is much more fun, apparently.

My four aunts, who ranged in age from forty-five to nearly sixty, had been here for a month. I suppose since Maggie may still be in some jeopardy from the Los Angeles vampire counsel, it was just safer for everybody to stay put.

I had no problem with all of them staying forever. I loved them. So did many of the Enclave residents.

Literally.

My aunts were not nuns.

They were wild Irish witches who lived with abandon, loved often, and terrorized Las Vegas at least once per week.

Except Maggie. She was still weak. Too weak to go into Vegas and keep up with Molly, Angeline, and Bridget but not too weak to be spending a lot of one-on-one-time with her former guard, Tinkerman.

My consciousness finally began to rise. I could feel Trey’s warmth surrounding me, and his dragon, though content, was keeping a wary eye on me.

Trey’s arms tightened around me, pulling my body even closer to his no matter how impossible that seemed.

I just made some soft contented noises because words took too much energy to form. I was rapidly becoming very used to the contentment I felt with Trey.

How does your evening look? Trey asked from a quiet, half-awake place.

Busy, I told him on a sigh. Very busy.

I could feel the frown form and the internal argument with his dragon begin. The horny beast within him wanted to get busy in ways that were different from what I was alluding to, and it made me smile.

My wonderful mate needs my attentions, I said, smiling even more broadly. So I’ll be tied up after dinner.

Tied up is sounding very good, he said with a dark seductiveness filled with hope and desire. I was getting the impression that he and his dragon had been on their best behavior over the last few weeks, and now I was going to find out what kind of kinky little perv one or both of them were. I was truly looking forward to this. And I’m not sure I really want to wait until after dinner.

I ran my hand across his chest and took a moment to admire his form. He was divinely sculpted, and I enjoyed his body endlessly.

See anything you like? he asked with a pleased timber to his voice.

I lifted the sheet, that had fallen beautifully around his waist as he propped himself up onto his forearm and took a not-so-discrete look at what lay underneath.

This was an impressive sight. Trey was at the end of his fertility cycle, but his dragon was ready to do the deed at any moment, and his equipment was first rate.

As I dropped the sheet and looked into his face, I smiled at the twinkle in his eyes.

You do make an impressive pup tent, I told him honestly. But you are just as impressive from the waist up.

Glad you like it, he admitted as he kissed me lightly and smiled.

With that, I felt something uncertain trickle over our mating bond, and I wondered just a little about the insecurities we had dealt with a month ago.

My hand drifted to the strong line of his jaw and across his cheek.

Trey saw and felt my seriousness, and his worry became clear.

I am so happy you didn’t kill me, I told him quietly. I have a personal game I play. It is one in which I attempt to illicit the most confused look on his face that I can manage. This one was good, but I wasn’t playing. I never would have had the opportunity to know what being loved by you felt like.

I stretched and kissed him softly.

Well, I’m trying to love you through dinner, he began with a burn in his eyes and hope pouring from his dragon. And well into the night.

I shook my head and smiled at my perpetually horny mate.

No. I laughed. That is sex. Really fabulous sex. I mean, spectacular, raw, primal, and yet so tender and delicate sex. I rambled on for a very long time on the wonders of my mate’s prowess in bed and on other furniture. Seriously, he had so many positive points in that arena. Including the point currently tenting the sheet.

However, I know you. Love. Me. I clarified. With all of the craziness I brought with me. With how I have invaded your life. You still seem to enjoy me even with my clothes on.

Of course, I do, he said, still slightly confused.

Yes, I know, I whispered. And when your dragon settles down and our sex life relaxes into something less than three times a day, I will still love you.

Wow, it’s only three times a day? he asked jokingly. I’m slowing down already.

I laughed as he hugged me playfully. Trey was such a wonderful creature. He was perfect for me, and I was cherishing every moment with him. Including convincing him that my few plans between now and dinner couldn’t be done at another time, and I would just bear the consequences of a horny dragon having gone without his mate for five hours.

I headed to my Witch World Workshop, where I met my aunts. They had been working with Tiamat and Mila to save Nicanor, or as I called him, Nicky. I kind of hoped that would annoy him when he was well enough for me to annoy. He did try to kill me.

I had been down to see him several times and thought that the external damage had healed well, but inside, something wasn’t responding. He wasn’t getting any better, but he wasn’t getting worse. At least not yet.

His mother was a sylph, Bridget began. It’s the only explanation I can come up with. He’s not pure dragon. The ethereal air quality must be sylph, and they are delicate creatures.

Nicky had the dark hair of his father, but pale perfect skin and eyes of the lightest blue. He was truly ethereal. Those must have been from his mother. A sylph?

They haven’t been seen in nearly a century, Maggie chimed in. This dragon couldn’t be nearly that old.

Where did they go? I asked.

There have been theories that they were extinguished as a race or moved en masse to another realm, Bridget answered.

There are many different realms that exist. Most take a whole lot of work to get to. Some overlap with this reality, and some butt right up against it. I have only concerned myself with that which could get into my face.

How could and why would that have happened? Angeline asked.

Beautiful, magical creatures, Bridget began solemnly. Often are targeted. And the weaker they are, the more abused they can become.

But Nicky is part dragon, Molly interjected. Shouldn’t that help?

Apparently, it isn’t enough to buoy him, Bridget told her. I could see the sadness in her over the whole thing. It was something that was hitting her hard. She was holding herself together pretty well, but it was tearing at her. There is still a part of him that is delicate, fragile even, and after what happened … Her voice trailed as her eyes brimmed. She swallowed hard and dashed away the tears. Whatever strength he used to shelter that fragility has been deeply wounded, if not destroyed.

And I had beaten the crap out