River Run Wolf Read online

  Table of Contents

  Copyright

  Free Book Offer

  Return to Bear Creek Series

  Foreword

  Chapter One – Sage

  Chapter Two – Patrick

  Chapter Three – Sage

  Chapter Four – Patrick

  Chapter Five – Sage

  Chapter Six – Patrick

  Chapter Seven – Sage

  Chapter Eight – Patrick

  Chapter Nine – Sage

  Chapter Ten – Patrick

  Chapter Eleven – Sage

  Chapter Twelve – Patrick

  Chapter Thirteen – Sage

  Chapter Fourteen – Patrick

  Chapter Fifteen – Sage

  Chapter Sixteen – Patrick

  Chapter Seventeen – Sage

  Chapter Eighteen – Patrick

  Epilogue

  Also By Harmony Raines

  Get In Touch

  River Run Wolf

  Return to Bear Creek

  (Book Twenty-One)

  ***

  All rights reserved. This book, or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner without the express written consent of the author or publisher.

  This is a work of fiction and is intended for mature audiences only. All characters within are eighteen years of age or older. Names, places, businesses, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, actual events or places is purely coincidental.

  © 2018 Harmony Raines

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  Return to Bear Creek Series So Far

  Daddy Bear

  Mountain Bear

  Honey Bear

  Forever Bear

  Storm Bear

  Silverback Dragon

  P.I. Bear

  Doctor Daddy Bear

  Bad Boy Bear

  Silverback Bear

  Ranger Bear

  Christmas Bear

  Hero Bear

  Undercover Eagle

  Single Daddy Dragon

  Secret Baby Bear

  Silverback Wolf

  Awakened Dragon

  Treasure Bear

  Silverback History Bear

  River Run Wolf

  Return to Bear Creek

  (Book Twenty-One)

  After startling revelations about her family history, Sage travels to the River Run Mountains to help restore an ancient water source to the River Wolf Lands. It’s the least she can do, since her ancestors were indirectly responsible for the devastation caused to the River Wolf Clan by a malicious dragon centuries ago.

  What she doesn’t expect is to find is her mate.

  Wolf shifter, Patrick, is happy that past mistakes are being put where they belong. In…well…the past. However, when Sage, a descendant of the Stone Claw Clan, arrives in River Wolf Lands past and present collide.

  Secrets long buried are unearthed and the descendants of the two clans, with the help of dragon shifter, Emilia, will do whatever it takes to find the truth.

  Can past mistakes really be forgiven, and old wounds healed? Find out in River Run Wolf.

  Chapter One – Sage

  Sage pressed her legs tighter around the scaly sides of the dragon and gripped hold of the spiny horn that ran along its back. Her knuckles turned white as beneath her, the massive creature bunched its muscles, cat-like, as it prepared to leap into the air. The power and the majesty of this incredible beast, born from flame and centuries-old, left Sage in awe.

  Like a coiled spring, the dragon released its pent-up power and launched itself into the air.

  The dragon. She had a name of course. Emilia Dumas. But despite being a bear shifter, Sage struggled to connect Emilia’s human form with that of the green dragon beneath her.

  Since finding out dragon shifters were real, Sage had been fascinated by them. Who wouldn’t be? So, when she was given the chance to travel to the River Run Mountains on the back of one, Sage didn’t have to think twice. Her answer was a resounding yes.

  A decision she would never regret. A moment in time she would never forget.

  Emilia rose higher, her wings beating slow but strong, lifting them into the air and taking them over the lower slopes of the mountain range that surrounded her home of Bear Creek. Then she changed the angle of her wings and each downward beat sent them surging forward at greater speed. They skimmed the tops of the trees, racing toward their destination while the wind whipped at Sage’s jet-black hair, tugging it loose from her ponytail.

  Their speed increased, and the joy of flight took over Sage. She wanted to shout out, tell the world she was here, riding a dragon. But the world was not ready to know dragon shifters existed. Dragons were safer if they remained the stuff of myth and legend—maybe people were safer, too.

  Suddenly, Thorn, who was sitting behind Sage, tightened his arms around her waist, keeping her from sliding off, as the dragon beneath them banked to the left and climbed toward the highest mountain peaks. Sage was in awe of their relationship, it was as if Thorn read Emilia’s mind. Was the mating bond that strong? Or had he simply grown used to reading Emilia’s body language?

  Sage longed to feel the same connection with another person. With her mate.

  She smiled to herself. She was young, she had plenty of time to find the person she was supposed to spend the rest of her life with. However, since her adoptive mom had met her mate, George, Sage’s need to find her own true mate had blossomed and bloomed inside her heart. Not that she would admit that to anyone, least of all her two brothers. But it was true, as Sage had watched George and Nana’s love bloom in front of her eyes, she’d become preoccupied with the thought of finding her own Prince Charming. Just as she had been when she was a girl.

  Are you saying you never grew up? her bear asked.

  Perhaps not. Perhaps we never do, Sage replied.

  Returning her attention to the amazing flight, Sage concentrated on the thrill of their twilight journey. Emilia followed the peaks, cresting one, before heading toward the next. It was like a high-rise trail leading them to the River Run Mountains.

  Sage had checked out their route on the map before they left Bear Creek. Running her finger along the spine of the mountain ranges as they were marked out on paper was not the same as viewing them from the back of a dragon. Where was the thrill of the wind in your face, stinging your eyes, or the sense of danger as you put your trust in a creature who could burn you alive with one breath or chew you up whole?

  You did read too many fairy tales as a child, her bear told her wryly.

  She did. But Emilia was not that kind of dragon. At least not to her friends and Sage did count herself as a friend to the family of dragons living in Bear Creek. Perhaps because they were linked by events of the past.

  Sage’s ancestor, Chin Shan, had been responsible for putting Emilia and her brother, Magnus, under a spell. Ancient Slumber had seen the siblings sleep for hundreds of years. Awoken only when their mates passed them by.

  That sounds like a fairy tale, her bear scoffed.

  Better than a fairy tale. True love in real life.

  Sage returned her thoughts to the journey and the scene below before it was sucked away by the deepening night. The mountains surrounding Bear Creek were not joined to the River Run Mountains. There was a basin between them that contained towns and villages where keen eyes might see a dragon flying i
n this half-light. However, by the time they reached the basin, the dark of night would have swallowed them up completely, leaving the dragon hidden and the people below oblivious to the wonderful mythical creature above them.

  On and on they flew, the air cool against her face, but her bear shifter blood warded off the worst of the chill. Sage had never explored these high peaks, and this was the first glimpse of some of the most secret places on the mountain. Places where you could walk for days and not see or hear another solitary person.

  Or shifter, her bear added wistfully.

  Sage loved her job at the Chance Heights Activity Center, which belonged to her family. However, sometimes she longed for the peace and quiet of the mountains, to be surrounded by nothing but the rocks and trees. That’s why she liked the winter months, the cool crisp mornings where she stood on the grounds of the house and looked up to the peaks to see a dusting of snow like powdered sugar covering the high ground. During those months the center was closed and she could enjoy Bear Creek and all it had to offer.

  Her bear smiled inwardly at memories of Sage and her brothers, Marcus and Luke, rolling in the pristine snow on the mountain after a fresh snowfall. She loved the mountains and her home. But the excitement of going somewhere new, of meeting new people, filled her with anticipation. A thrill coursed through her, as if she were about to embark on an adventure.

  The miles disappeared beneath them, one wing beat at a time, as they closed in on their destination. Emilia never wavered, some innate sense told her where they were in the world and which direction she had to fly in to get to wherever it was she was going.

  Sage wished she had that kind of power. To feel big in the world. To know your place.

  Since the death of her parents, Sage had wavered, not knowing who she truly was. Not that she wasn’t eternally grateful to Nana for adopting her and her two brothers. But sometimes, she wished she could speak to her parents to ask them what they would do in a certain situation. To feel as if she belonged.

  Marcus, Sage, and Luke were the only remaining members of the Chance family line. But somewhere in the world lived other descendants of the Stone Claw Clan. The people for whom the founder of the Chance family, Chin Shan, had given up his memories. Memories of the people he loved so that they might return to their faraway home after being marooned in a shipwreck. They had come to live in the River Run Mountains, but a marauding dragon had made their life hell. This had led to a chain of events that had repercussions in the present day for each of the people on this journey.

  Maybe that was the real reason Sage had chosen to make this journey. The River Run Mountains held the secrets of her ancestors. The very village Sage was visiting sat in the lands of the River Wolf Clan, who were once sworn enemies of the Stone Claw Clan.

  A thrill of excitement bubbled up inside her like a big bubble ready to pop. This was the biggest adventure she’d been on since a school trip to Iceland to see the marvels of its geographical makeup. Ice flows and geysers, the memories would live with her forever. Which brought her to the second reason she was making this trip, excluding the dragon flight, of course. Sage had offered to help get the water flowing through the River Wolf Lands. In some small way she hoped that by helping the River Wolf Clan, she might make amends for the actions of Chin Shan.

  Emilia ducked down suddenly, and Sage had to hold on tight and put her focus on the flight, not the destination. The sound of wing beats surrounded them, and Sage looked around to see what they were.

  “Migratory birds,” Thorn called out into the night air. His voice, carried away by the cold wind, reached her as a hoarse whisper. “The dragons have this cute way of flying in formation with birds.”

  It didn’t sound as if Thorn truly thought it was cute, and Sage smothered a laugh as the massive dragon slowed her pace and flew with the birds, who were heading to warmer climates as fall finally took hold of the land and pitched a losing fight with winter.

  After several minutes, Emilia sighed, her dragon sides rising and falling before she broke off and headed back to their original route. She flew faster, picking up speed as they passed over the larger towns, always keeping high above any cloud cover, and never straying near planes.

  Then they passed over the lower slopes of the River Run Mountain range, so far below them that Sage could only tell by the lack of lights on the ground. They were leaving civilization behind, one wing beat at a time.

  Behind her, Thorn relaxed, the tension was gone from his arms wrapped around Sage’s waist. A sense of anticipation threaded its way through Sage’s veins and her heartbeat quickened as she imagined how her ancestors were hounded and herded into the mountain to find a home among the cliff and crags. Here they eked out a meager living, before betraying the people of the River Wolf Clan.

  Nerves mingled with her excitement. What if the River Wolf Clan held a grudge over her ancestors? What if they didn’t like a member of the Stone Claw Clan being among them?

  She was about to find out. Emilia dipped her wings and they flew lower, heading down toward the ground. Below them, a large fire came into focus like a beacon guiding them home. Then the ground rushed toward them and Emilia pushed her large birdlike feet out before her and landed so smoothly, Sage barely felt a jolt as they landed on River Wolf Lands.

  And yet her stomach flipped over as if they’d dropped too far, too fast.

  What was wrong with her? She normally had nerves of steel, a match for either of her brothers. But something was off, something was not right. Sage gripped Emilia’s horn tighter, even though they had already landed and there was no danger of tumbling from a great height. From behind her, she heard Thorn call out a greeting and then someone laughed. But still, Sage sat in place, not daring to let go of Emilia for fear of falling, even though there was nowhere to fall to.

  “Sage.” Thorn’s voice came from a long way off. At least it seemed to, but in reality, he was standing no more than ten feet away from her. “Are you okay?”

  Sage nodded numbly and glanced at the old man by Thorn’s side. Oh, lord, she’d found her mate and he was a sixty-year-old man.

  Her bear nudged her mind and got her to backtrack. It doesn’t matter how old he is. We’ve found our mate!

  Only the man next to Thorn, who was staring at her, didn’t seem to know he was her mate. Great, he’s not a shifter either, Sage said with some disappointment. If he was, he would know.

  But her bear didn’t care. Right there before them was their mate, it didn’t matter what size or shape he was. And age was just a number.

  Perhaps her bear was right, but as she swung her leg behind her and slid down off Emilia’s scaly back, she couldn’t help feeling sad that fate had decided to give her a mate so mismatched in so many ways.

  Sage dreamed of having children of her own, but would her mate? And what if he died before his children were fully grown?

  “Sage, I’d like you to meet Lupe.” Thorn glanced at Sage but then his gaze was drawn to Emilia, who had just shifted back to her human form. Thorn immediately put a protective arm around his pregnant wife. Thorn and Emilia only had eyes for each other. That’s how it should be when you find your mate. But there was no connection, no spark between her and Lupe as he stretched out his hand and she took it.

  This can’t be right. When Nana had met George, despite not being a shifter herself, her mom had still felt that connection, that spark of knowledge that said he was hers.

  “Good to meet you, Sage. Thorn and Emilia have told us a lot about you. My wife, Hetty, can’t wait to meet you.” He smiled at her, but mixed in with that smile was concern.

  “Your wife.”

  He has a wife, she said to her bear.

  I heard, her bear replied unhappily. This was all kinds of mixed up.

  “Yes, Lupe is married to Hetty. I told you about them.” Thorn looked at her closely. “Do you feel all right?”

  “No, I don’t think she does,” Emilia said bluntly. “And neither does Patrick.”

/>   Everyone looked behind Sage, who had to turn around carefully on shaky legs. “Well, I never!” Lupe exclaimed.

  “Patrick.” Thorn strode forward, blocking Sage’s view. “You look as if you’ve seen a ghost. Or your mate.”

  Thorn stepped to the side and put his arm around the shoulders of a young man, maybe a couple of years older than Sage, but no more.

  Now, that is what I call a mate, Sage told her bear, who huffed loudly.

  He’s a wolf, her bear told her bluntly.

  I don’t care what he is, Sage mimicked her bear, who was not amused.

  “Hi.” Patrick recovered first, or maybe he was not having an internal debate with his other side. Maybe his wolf was happy to have a mate, any mate.

  Sage laughed inwardly. Hopefully, once we get to know Patrick, it won’t matter what he is. It’s who he is that matters. Who he is on the inside.

  Her bear knew she was right. But ever since they had a run-in with a crazy wolf from Wolf Valley, they had been wary of wolves. Except for Sol, her bear seemed to appease herself that not all wolves were bad.

  Sage smiled, her mouth wide, and there was nothing she could do to stop it. She must look like the Cheshire Cat. Luckily her mate was in such a daze, he didn’t seem to notice. “Hi, I’m Sage.”

  “Patrick.” He returned her smile and it was like the sun shone in the darkness and she wanted to bathe in his light and warmth.

  “Good to finally meet you, Patrick,” Sage said as if she’d been waiting forever to meet her mate. Which she had. Only her forever was not much more than twenty years, not exactly a lifetime.

  Patrick held out his hand, not to shake, but for her to hold as he said, “Shall we go to the house? My grandma will be livid if she is not introduced to you right away.”

  “He’s not wrong,” Lupe said. The old man, who was not her mate, pulled Sage into his arms and kissed her cheek. “Welcome to the family.”