Shades Of Dragon (A BBW Dragon-Shifter Paranormal Romance) by Catherine Vale

something else that was holding them up. Idling next to the caravan on either side of the road were two enormous dragons – one green, one yellow – very likely meant to act as guards, and be on watch for any attackers.
          “Tegan!” she shouted over the wind, trying to get him to hear her, but there was no need – he was already banking for one of the hills so they could land. He deposited her gently at the base of a hillock, then landed next to her and stretched out his enormous wings before shifting back into human form.
          “I’m guessing those are the slave traders,” Tegan said. “And that the dragons who with them are shifters from the Firewalker Clan.”
          “Yes, that’s what I’m thinking too,” Ciara agreed. She looked off into the distance, squinting her eyes so she could see the caravan – they were much harder to spot from the ground, a simple blip on the horizon. Adrenaline pumped through her now, hot and fast, and she was eager to get moving. “So what do we do now? Swoop in and rescue them? Breathe fire and rain brimstone down on them so that we can kill the kidnappers and rescue everyone else?”
          Tegan sighed. “We can’t just dive bomb them and hurl fireballs,” he told her. “Nearly all of the ones who are there aside from the slaves are going to be shifters. We’re outmatched.”
          Ciara felt her heart start to slide into the bottom of her shoes, and she gritted her teeth, fighting to stay positive. “But what are we going to do if we can’t rescue them? We need to bring back at least some of them in order to provide your clan with proof. And I need to get my father back.”
          “Yes, but that isn’t going to happen when we’re just one human girl, and one shifter. We stand no chance against them right now. They may as well be an army.” Tegan pursed his lips. “We’re going to need reinforcements.”
          “And just where are we going to get those?” Ciara demanded, propping her hands up on her hips. “It’s not like we can go to your clan for help.”
          “No, definitely not,” he agreed. “But there is another option, though it’s slim.”
          “Oh really?” Hope began to rise in her chest again. “And who’s that?”
          Tegan’s face tightened, and he looked away before answering. “The Blackfire Clan. My father’s clan.”

Chapter Nine
     
     
    Tegan was having a hard time dealing with the swirl of emotions in his heart, as he flew north east toward the Blackfire Clan, who, from what he’d managed to gather over the years, were located in the heart of the Black Forest. Trepidation, hope and fear were the predominant emotions, along with shame and anger coming in along the edges, to make for a rather overwhelming cocktail of mental conflict.
          He’d always thought that someday, after Grey had passed on, he would try and visit his father to confront him – to ask the bastard why he’d abandoned him, and why - if he knew Tegan existed - he hadn’t stuck around with his mother to raise him, and provide him with the life he should have had, and the love of a family. That was why he’d tracked down the location of the clan –and a name. Dageus Blackfire . Tegan thought back to how shocked and angry he had been when he discovered that the man most likely to be his birth father, was also the clan leader.
          Oh, how it angered him to know that his father was the Alpha of another clan, and that if he’d claimed Tegan as his son, he would have lived a very different life. In fact, Tegan would have been next in line to inherit clan leadership. But instead here he was, raised by the one man in the world who’d shown enough kindness to take him in, and shunned by the clan leader who was supposed to protect him as a member of his own. The truth was that if it weren’t for the fact that he had promised Ciara that he would do everything in his power to help