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    Dylan (Dragon Hearts 4)
    Dylan (Dragon Hearts 4)
    Dylan (Dragon Hearts 4)
    Ebook173 pages2 hours

    Dylan (Dragon Hearts 4)

    By Carole Mortimer

    4.5/5

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    About this ebook

    DYLAN is the 4th book in USA Today Bestselling and Amazon #1 Bestselling Indie Author, Carole Mortimer’s, paranormal series, DRAGON HEARTS.

    Author’s Note: Beware of very sexy alpha dragon shifters on the hunt for their fates mates!

    Waking up in a curtained cubicle in a human hospital wasn’t the worst experience Dylan had ever had in his centuries-long existence, but it was certainly not something he would ever have expected to happen. As a dragon shifter, human ailments didn’t bother him, and if he was ever injured then transforming into his dragon would heal him. Besides, he and his brothers had always avoided human hospitals because the doctors there had a habit of carrying out tests and asking for X-rays that would clearly tell them the Pendragon brothers weren’t human.

    Opening his eyes to find his fated mate bending over him, his human fated mate, was even more of a shock. Yes, three of his brothers had found their fated mates in the past year, and they had all been human, but Dylan had never thought it would happen to him too.

    Holly Barnes wasn’t only human, the name tag attached to her white coat said she was also a doctor. And the singular most beautiful woman Dylan had ever seen, with her glossy auburn hair, dark green eyes, and voluptuous body.

    A & E doctor, Holly Wilson, didn’t know what to make of her newest patient. Apart from the fact he was the most gorgeous and sexy man she had ever set eyes on. He was also extremely tall, over six and a half feet of dark and dangerous bad boy, if her assessment was correct. But she hadn’t been able to find any visible injuries on him when she examined that ripped and toned body, no head injury or anything else to explain why he had been unconscious when he was brought in to A&E. He looked perfectly normal to her, almost as if he was sleeping, rather than injured.

    Having him suddenly raise his eyelids and look at her with glittering blue eyes, that didn’t appear fevered or pained, but gazed up at her as if she was Christmas, birthdays, and every other holiday celebration combined, was more than a little unnerving. Even more so was having his fingers curl like steel bands about her wrist and have him call her his fated mate.

    Holly had enough problems in her life right now without some crazy man telling her she now belonged to him. Even if he did look like a Greek or Roman god and made her knees go weak.

    Until Dylan knew what had happened to put him in the human hospital in the first place, he knows he shouldn’t even think about claiming Holly as his mate.

    Staying away from his fated mate altogether proves impossible, but is Dylan putting Holly’s life in danger by continuing to seek her out at every opportunity?

    More books by Carole Mortimer:

    Dragon Hearts:
    NATHANIEL (Dragon Hearts 1)
    DERYK (Dragon Hearts 2)
    BRYN (Dragon Hearts 3)
    DYLAN (Dragon Hearts 4)
    GRIGOR (Dragon Hearts 5) Coming Soon
    More books to come in this series

    Regency Sinners Series:
    Wicked Torment (Regency Sinners 1)
    Wicked Surrender (Regency Sinners 2)
    Wicked Scandal (Regency Sinners 3)
    Wicked Deception (Regency Sinners 4)
    Wicked Captive (Regency Sinners 5)
    More books to come in this series

    Regency Unlaced Series:
    Books 1-9: Series is now complete

    Contemporary Knight Security Series – spin-off to Alpha Series:
    Books 0.5–6: Series is now complete

    Contemporary Alpha Series:
    Books 1-8: Series is now complete.

    Carole Mortimer has written over 230 books, in paranormal romance, contemporary romantic suspense, and Regency. She became an indie author in 2014. In May 2017 she received a Career Achievement Award from Romantic Times. She is the Recipient of the 2015 Romance Writers of America’s Lifetime Achievement Award. An Entertainment Weekly Top 10 Romance Author—ever. 2014 Romantic Times Pioneer of Romance. She was also recognized by Queen Elizabeth II in 2012, for

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCarole Mortimer
    Release dateMar 16, 2018
    ISBN9781910597613
    Dylan (Dragon Hearts 4)
    Author

    Carole Mortimer

    Carole Mortimer was born in England, the youngest of three children. She began writing in 1978, and has now written over one hundred and seventy books for Harlequin Mills and Boon®. Carole has six sons, Matthew, Joshua, Timothy, Michael, David and Peter. She says, ‘I’m happily married to Peter senior; we’re best friends as well as lovers, which is probably the best recipe for a successful relationship. We live in a lovely part of England.’

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      Book preview

      Dylan (Dragon Hearts 4) - Carole Mortimer

      Dragon Hearts 4

      DYLAN

      By

      Carole Mortimer

      USA Today Bestselling Author

      COPYRIGHT

      Copyright © 2018 Carole Mortimer

      Cover Design Copyright © Glass Slipper Designs

      Editor: Linda Ingmanson

      Formatter: Matthew Mortimer

      ISBN: 978-1-910597-61-3

      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 actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

      All Rights Reserved.

      DEDICATIONS

      My Wonderful Family

      Chapter 1

      Dylan’s return to consciousness was immediate. One second, he was in a world of darkness, the next, completely alert to the fact he was lying flat on his back on what felt to him to be a very uncomfortable surface.

      But he didn’t open his eyelids as quickly. Instead, he continued to act as if he was still out of it as he used his dragon senses to ascertain exactly where he was, and hopefully why.

      Because one thing he knew, as immediately as he had returned to that consciousness of self, was that beneath some sort of light covering, he was in his human form and completely naked.

      Dylan concentrated on that sense of touch.

      The material beneath him wasn’t the silk sheets he was used to, but some sort of rough cotton. The blanket draped over him didn’t have the soft comfort of his duvet either, but felt scratchy against his bare skin.

      Hearing next.

      Noise. Lots of it. Metal clanging on metal. The whoosh of curtains being drawn. People walking, the floor beneath them causing a slight squeak with every step. The sound of human heartbeats. And voices. Lots of voices. All of them human too. Some softly murmuring. Others loud and demanding. One even shouting out abuse at the top of his lungs.

      Next came smell.

      The seductive aroma of honeysuckle and ripe peaches.

      Beneath that a mixture of more perfumes that all coalesced into an amalgam of odors that irritated Dylan’s nostrils.

      Human bodies.

      Disinfectant of some kind.

      Lastly, blood.

      Along with the blood came a sense of pain. Varying degrees of it.

      Not the pain and blood of one human, but of many.

      Danger, his dragon warned.

      Yes, but of what kind, and from whom or what?

      More to the point, where could Dylan possibly be for there to be so many humans this close to him? Not that he avoided humans particularly, but he did prefer them in twos or threes rather than the dozen or so heartbeats he could detect now.

      The uncertainty of his surroundings made him glad of his earlier caution. If he had transformed back into his dragon form when he woke, as his defenses had all cried out for him to do, then that pain and blood might have been enough to send his dragon into a frenzy of violence.

      Dylan frowned in concentration as he tried to recall his last conscious thought. He remembered that he and Garrett had just completed a job for Pendragon Security, the company owned by all the Pendragon brothers. Dylan had decided to go for one last lone flight above the English capital before joining Garrett and returning to the family castle in the mountains of North Wales.

      It had been a clear evening, the stars visible around him, his own dragon presence cloaked so as not to alarm the humans swarming like ants on the busy and brightly lit streets below. The next moment had come a darkness so complete, the last thing Dylan remembered was his dragon free-falling from the sky.

      Something that had never happened to him in all his sixteen-hundred-years’ existence.

      Nor did he recall any of his seven brothers, also dragon shifters, ever having mentioned this having happened to them.

      He had no recollection of being hit by anything. No memory of pain. Just that sudden and complete blackness and then falling.

      He could only assume, as he wasn’t in any pain, that his dragon had healed any injuries he might have suffered when he hit the ground, before he had shifted back to his human form and resumed wearing his clothes. Which, curiously, he no longer seemed to be wearing. He could heal in human form too, of course, but his dragon could do it much quicker.

      He—

      That seductive aroma of honeysuckle and ripe peaches was coming closer. So near, it saturated Dylan’s senses, dulling, muting everything else, until he felt almost drugged or drunk from the euphoria of that insidious smell.

      My God, he had never smelled anything so delicious in his life before.

      Mouthwateringly so.

      Cock rousing.

      Hell, his cock wasn’t just aroused, it was rock hard and throbbing.

      Want.

      Need.

      Claim.

      Dylan curled his fingers into the stiffness of the cotton sheet beneath him to stop his talons from piercing the ends of his fingers, as his inner dragon clawed and clamored to be set free.

      He lay rigid on the bed now, teeth bared in a grimace, his eyes remaining closed as he desperately fought his body’s instinct to shift into his dragon.

      What the hell was happening to him?

      More to the point, what was that intoxicating aroma?

      He heard a curtain being drawn back, a couple of squeaky footsteps, the curtain being drawn again, followed by several more of those noisy footsteps approaching where he lay.

      Can you tell me where you’re in pain, Mr. Pendragon?

      Mine, his dragon purred in satisfaction.

      Dylan’s eyelids flew wide open at the first sound of the female’s voice. Nor did he need his dragon’s endorsement to know that the woman exuding that delicious perfume, and now standing beside where Dylan quickly realized he was lying on a bed inside a curtained cubicle, was his fated mate.

      He took in everything about her with his first intense glance.

      Rich auburn hair lay straight and gleaming to just below her narrow shoulders. She had dark green eyes, the color of a flawless emerald. Creamy smooth cheeks, small nose, and full and kissable lips above a slightly pointed and determined chin.

      He couldn’t see her body as it was covered by a knee-length white coat, but she looked to be slightly voluptuous. Perfect.

      The name tag on the lapel of that white coat read Dr. Holly Wilson.

      His fated mate was a doctor.

      How much of a coincidence was that, when Dylan had long been the healer for his dragon shifter family? The two of them would be able to work together—

      Mr. Pendragon? Holly prompted again as the patient in cubicle six, rather than answering her question, continued to look at her with the most intense blue eyes she had ever seen in her life. So deep a sapphire blue, they almost seemed to glow as brightly as the jewel they resembled. She had seen his eyes when she checked his pupils earlier, of course, but the patient had been unconscious when she did so, not looking at her as if he wanted to eat her.

      She took a cautious step back from the intensity of that fierce and unearthly glowing gaze.

      A step, she noted with a slight warming of her cheeks, that allowed her to look down the length of what she knew was a tall, hard, muscular body. That single glance revealed a lengthy and thick erection that tented the blanket she and the nurse had draped over him earlier after undressing him to look for injuries. A blanket that wasn’t long enough to cover the bottom of his legs or his feet dangling over the end of the bed.

      Unfortunately, all Holly’s previous examination had revealed was that this man had no visible injuries to indicate why he was unconscious. Not a single bruise to mar that perfectly toned, over six and a half foot body.

      So perfect, Holly’d had to speak sharply several times to the nurse assisting her as they were undressing him, before the other woman acknowledged her instructions.

      Inwardly, Holly had echoed the fascination as they cut away and removed every item of his clothing. The name on his driver’s license said he was Dylan Pendragon. Age thirty-five. Home address in North Wales. He was also the most breathtakingly handsome man Holly had ever set eyes on.

      He had thick black, overlong hair. An olive complexion. A face that looked as if it had been carved from a single piece of smooth marble, with high cheekbones, an aristocratic nose, sculpted lips, and a strong, square jaw indicative of an arrogant nature.

      An arrogance possibly explained by the price he would have paid for his discreet designer-label clothes and the expensive gold watch on his wrist of a make Holly had heard of but never seen before. She wasn’t in the habit of being around people who could afford to wear fifty-thousand-pound gold wristwatches.

      She knew Dylan Pendragon had been unconscious when someone stumbled across him in the hospital grounds. His clothing and that watch said he wouldn’t normally have been brought into the Accident & Emergency department of a busy and understaffed public hospital. No doubt he usually attended a private clinic when in need of medical attention.

      They had also removed a wallet from the inside pocket of his leather jacket containing his credit cards, several business cards for a company called Pendragon Security, and ten twenty-pound notes. There had also been some small change in his jeans’ pocket. All of it was now logged and safely sealed in the envelope on the bedside cabinet.

      Holly. He finally spoke, that intense gaze not wavering from her face for so much as a second.

      His deep, husky voice sent a shiver of awareness down the length of Holly’s spine. Dr. Wilson, she corrected in a brisk and professional tone. I’ve carried out a physical examination and could find no injury that would have caused you to become unconscious, she continued in that same businesslike voice. We’ve also taken some blood work for analysis, but now that you’re awake, perhaps you could— Holly took a hasty step back as Dylan Pendragon surged up into a sitting position before swinging his long legs over the side of the bed. Thank God he took the blanket with him. It was one thing to imagine his erection, another thing entirely to be able to see his cock in the thick and heavily aroused flesh. Mr. Pendragon—

      Where’s the blood you took? he demanded harshly as he rose to his feet, again taking the blanket with him, this time to wrap it securely about the flat tautness of his waist.

      You shouldn’t be standing— She broke off as he took a firm grip of her arms. Mr. Pendragon—

      Where the fuck is the blood you took from me? Tell me! Those intense eyes glared into hers as he gave her a slight shake to emphasize the demand.

      She gave a dazed shake of her head. It’s probably still at the nurses’ station waiting to go to the lab. We’re a little short-staffed tonight. She grimaced. We’re a little short-staffed every night— Where are you going? she demanded as he released her to step forward and make an opening in the curtains surrounding his bed.

      He turned to give her a single narrow-eyed glance. To retrieve the blood you took from me, of course.

      Of course?

      What the hell did that mean?

      Holly frowned. I assure you, your blood wasn’t blue but as red as my own.

      He eyed her suspiciously. Why the hell would my blood be blue?

      Her sarcastic humor was obviously lost on this man. I was attempting to make a joke.

      There’s nothing in the least funny about my blood going to a lab for analysis, he snapped before stepping out into the corridor.

      Holly hurried to stand in the gap he’d made in the curtains and watched as he strode down the hallway toward the nurses’ station. His arrogant bearing was that of a king or a warrior rather than a naked man wearing only a hospital blanket about his hips. Well, king or otherwise, Sister Petit was on duty tonight, a martinet if ever there was one, and Dylan Pendragon was about to receive a severe setdown from the older woman.

      To Holly’s amazement, after a brief conversation, most of it on Dylan Pendragon’s side, Sister Petit meekly handed over the four vials of blood Holly had taken from him earlier.

      What the hell—

      Holly stepped back into the cubicle as her rebellious patient turned and marched back down the hallway with the same determination he had left with only seconds ago.

      Where are my clothes? he demanded.

      Holly recovered from the daze of witnessing Pamela Petit’s meek acquiescence. "You were unconscious until a

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