Chapter 1

~ ~ All Hallows Eve ~ ~

~ ~ Dani ~ ~

Shaken awake I was greeted with an amused pair of brown eyes and the smell of sweet cherry. “The sex dream again?” asked my best friend, Michelle, shifting her cherry lollipop to the left side of her inside cheek.

The girl had a serious addiction to lollipops.

Ugh. I covered my face with my hands. “What? Was I yelling out?” My muffled voice warmed my hands. But I already knew the answer as my entire body flushed with frustration and the heat between my legs made me want to slip my hand inside my leggings and ease the ache myself.

“Is moaning the same as yelling?” She demonstrated loudly, as I cringed and she burst into a fit of giggles.

Could this be any more embarrassing?

The dreams had started three nights ago, the day I turned eighteen. I shifted my hands, resting them on my chest, blowing out a breath.

Michelle kicked off her shoes. “Shove over.” There wasn’t much room for one, never mind two, but I shifted anyway. “Today’s the day eh?” She sighed.

Unfortunately, yes.

All Hallows Eve. The one day in the calendar where girls like me and Michelle would meet our fate. Given over to those who lived mostly in the shadows. Or ‘The Chosen Ones’ as the Elders would preach—like it was a good thing.

A day to be celebrated. The happiest day of our lives, they’d said.

Then why did I feel more like the cliché sacrificial virgin?

And tell that to poor Hazel.

My mind replayed the previous year’s infamous night. We had snuck out, excited to see what all the fuss was about.

Bile rose up my throat, and a twist of sharp pain followed.

“Quit it!” huffed out Michelle, adding. “I know exactly where your mind is at.”

The image of Hazel’s lifeless eyes as she dropped like a sack of potatoes filled my thoughts. Not one Elder went to her help. They let that monster stand over her, teeth barred and an evil glint in his eye. He’d taken pleasure in ending her life.

I shivered. That could be one of us tonight.

“The Elders said it was rare to be rejected. There must have been something wrong with her.”

Something wrong with Hazel?

I understood why Michelle needed to tell herself that. I kept tight-lipped, but my heart hammered inside my chest. Hazel had looked perfect to me. Unlike me, who was always being told I was a freak.

Why?

Because I had an extra toe on each foot and a two-inch Vestigial tail, which everyone had seen thanks to our communal showers.

Then, as I hit my teenage years, I grew and didn’t stop till I towered over every other girl here and most of the Elders too. I was freakishly tall... or so they all kept telling me. Six feet, three inches at my last measurement.

I tried to ignore their snide comments and to overcompensate; I rebelled against everything I could. Dyed my hair in so many different shades and Michelle pierced my nose, which hurt like you wouldn’t believe, but I wore my little jewelled stud with pride, like a badge of honour. And then on my sixteenth birthday and, much to the Elders’ revolt, I escaped to the nearest town and used the small amount of money I’d been gifted by my family and got myself a tattoo.

I ran my hand over my covered left thigh. Underneath my painted Dragon hid, wrapping itself from mid-thigh to hip bone. I thought it was a thing of beauty. The Elders, not so much. It got me grounded for an entire month and kitchen chores for two.

“Enough of that. So, tell me all about the kinky stuff?”

Ah, yes, the dream... and when I finished telling her, she asked. “Why a dragon?”

Why indeed?

But it wasn’t the first time I’d dreamt of dragons. I’d had them my whole life, but in those, they’d been my guardians, protectors. Nothing sexual about those.

My cheeks heated.

“So, you got any clues what type of mate you’ll get?” Michelle popped out her cherry lollipop. “I think mine’s a wolf.” Michelle had turned eighteen a little over a week ago and said her mate had been talking to her through her dreams. Nothing sexual though, or not that she’d told me.

And me? Not a clue. I still clung to the slither of hope that it was a mistake and nobody would come to claim me.

“What time is it?” I asked, pushing myself up to sit my back against the wooden headboard now pressing into my skin, uncomfortably so. At least I wouldn’t have to sleep in this damn horrible bed ever again. I’d not been able to lie outstretched since around the age of twelve.

“Don’t worry, we’ve got stacks of time before we have to head to the ruins.”

It would never be enough.