With Dragonia torn by civil war and the rebels winning the fight, it was only a matter of time before the dragon shifters focused on earth in their determination to take back what mankind had taken from them centuries before. The wizard Dylan Lightfoot was their only hope, the only one capable of conjuring the spell they needed to defeat the rebels, and it was Grania's duty to defend him at whatever cost.

She hadn't suspected what it would cost her, though, would never have believed she would find her soul mate to be a wizard, not one of her kind.

REVIEW

Dragon's Heart is a delightful tale. The banter between Grania and Dylan is sharp, to the point, and carries some cute perks with it. Often times it moved at a great pace, like a tennis match. I fell headlong in love with the sparks of the players, and the developments between them and the secondary characters. The intense battles are life-like, creating an entertaining read, hard to let go in this surreal drama. Marly Mathews is a dynamic author who sketches fantasy and romance brilliantly with a read I found utterly pleasurable. Cherokee, Reviewer for Coffee Time Romance

Reviewed by: Cherokee, Reviewer for Coffee Time Romance
www.coffeetimeromance.com

EXCERPT

Grania hit the nail right on the head, with her latest statement. He watched her catch his gaze and hold it. Nodding her head to him, she drew her sword from its scabbard. In the next second, she held her hand up and his mother, father and uncle were moved toward him so they stood flanking his sides.
"Be safe." Flames erupted in her green eyes. A wall of fire enshrouded them.
"Damn."
His mother's horrified face turned to meet his. "She's going to burn us alive!"
"Come now, mother. You should know better than that. Do you feel hot?"
"Strangely ... no."
"Dragon shifters have control over the elements. They can influence the temperature of their flame to either be scolding hot-or lukewarm, cool, or icy cold.
This flame is cool to the touch ... hence, the reason why it's blue."
"She does know her stuff, Dylan." His father beamed over at him. "We could have helped her-I've fought my fair share of dragon shifters in my day."
"You are out of practice, Timothy. Don't even think about walking through this flame barrier to assist that young girl. She was entrusted to protect our son, I highly doubt her king and queen would have given her such a responsibility if they didn't believe she could keep him safe."
"Even if father wanted to walk through the flame, he couldn't. It's been erected as a bloody shield. Bloody hell, she's got grit, I'll hand that to you." Pride welled in him.
"She'll hold her own. I'm certain she'll drive them away." Her mother gave him a confident smile.
"She said there was six or seven of them coming."
"No, Dylan, she didn't."
"Your mother is right ... she never said a thing about how many were coming."
"Oh, my aching head." Earlier that night, Denys had played with his head, and now Grania was doing it.
"I'm afraid, Dylan, that you don't have a snowball's chance in hell of ever getting away from young Grania."
He looked at his uncle sharply. "What do you mean, Uncle Jonas?"
"I meant exactly what I said. You must be her mate ... she probably unintentionally allowed you to hear her thoughts. I've heard about the wonders of these dragon shifters when it comes to love. Your own aunt once held a torch for one of them."
"That's true. Rachel was quite smitten with one of them once. She even offered her magical services to many of them when it came to enchanting their lands so the humans wouldn't notice when they shifted."
"Aunt Rachel. Of course. That's why I had such a bloody hard time working past her enchantments-family spells are bloody hard to impregnate. She had to have been the witch that Grania got to bless her cottage."
"Indeed. Our sister does know how to write them." His father nodded, beaming with pride.
The sounds of battle met their ears.
"Oh, dear. They're going to make such a mess of the hall. And after all of that restoration work we had done." His mother lamented.
"We'll repair it, mum." His heart pounded loudly. His hand tingled again. He should be helping her. He didn't like the thought of having a woman protect him-he was all for women having equal rights as men, but it made him feel unmanly to have such a beautiful and fragile looking woman caring for him. She had to learn that he could help her.
A resounding crash shook the floor. Screams of agony met their ears. Glancing over at his mother, his stomach fell at the look of fear on her face.
"What if she loses?" Her change in mood was swift-for being so confident only moments before, she now faltered in her faith.
His heart stood still. He didn't know why-but he couldn't allow that to happen.
Maybe it was the fact that she was meant to be his-"Father, if you can't go through a wall of fire-you can go around it, correct?"
"Son, I don't know what you're concocting in your head-but stop. If you try to interfere you run the risk of ruining it completely. She's in a fighting zone right now- she could hurt you without meaning to."
"She won't hurt me. She'll never hurt me. I'm under her skin ... and in her heart."
"Now you are talking plain nonsense, Dylan. You can't fall in love with a woman in only a matter of hours. Think rationally. You need to settle down with a nice little witch, and have nice little magical witches and wizards."
"Mother ... just knock it off."
She gasped. "Dylan, if you carry on with her-I will, I will have to ...."
"What? Disown me?"
Heartbreak glistened in her brown eyes. She turned away from him. "Do what you have to do. You always have."
He nodded. Looking up at the ceiling, he slowly drew in his breath. "Here goes absolutely nothing." Releasing his magic, he levitated himself up into the air and made himself intangible so he could float straight through the ceiling. He'd come back down right in the middle of the fray. "I'm a scholar not a fighter-I guess I'll just have to learn a few new tricks."
"Good luck!" They all said in unison. The hairs on the back of his neck prickled.
He drew his wand. He hadn't used his wand to channel his magic for years-he had to use it now in order to amplify his powers. In order to do the sort of damage he intended to mete out, his firepower had to be on equal playing ground of the dragon shifters.
He heard her voice in his head just before he phased through the ceiling. She'd been wounded. Yet, she still fought on. He admired her courage-he'd never met such a brave woman. She was going to protect him no matter what. In that instant, he found an entirely new kind of respect for her ... and her people.
As soon as he transported himself through the ceiling and turned himself solid again, he had the attention of the evil dragon shifters. He felt Grania's surprise- concern-and rage all at the same time.
"No! Dylan!" She raced to put herself in front of him. He moved too swiftly for her-she was injured-he wasn't.
"Hi, Grania! How's it going?" He tried to sound cheerful. At the sound of his cheekiness, she frowned. Evidently, she thought he'd just committed an unthinkable act.
"My, my, it is quite hot in here, isn't it?" he joked.
"We have him. Take him, and retreat before we, too, feel the sting of her sword."
Silently, he assessed the situation. He saw three dragon shifters. Which meant she'd likely taken out half of their force. Admiration welled inside of him again. He definitely was being protected by one bad-assed dragon shifter-bad-assed, but oh, so, good. He was certainly glad she was on his side.
Her sword dripped red blood. Dragon shifter blood. No bodies remained, since they had disintegrated in their death fire.
"Say hello to Mr. Wand, boys and girl." Waves of his magic channeled through his body and then in a rush, exploded out through the tip of his wand. He hit two of them. Shrieks rent the air. He looked over at Grania. Her eyes widened to the size of emerald colored golf balls. She stepped backward. He could feel her fear-and revulsion.
His attack spell whirled around the two male dragon shifters. Their skin started turning to leather. They were transforming from the inside out. Their dragon skin ripped through their human flesh.
"What are you doing?" she demanded, fear still glittering in her eyes.
"Killing them-to save you." At his words they blew up. He threw a shield charm around both her and him.
Tears glistened in her eyes. She continued backing away from him. "You truly are the destroyer of my kind. Mistress Kendra, return to your master and tell him that his end is near. Tell him, his journey is coming to an end. A most gruesome end."
Kendra directed her attention to Grania. "Lady Grania, you can't allow the wizard to live. He will obliterate our kind. Dragon slayers make him look like .... "
She raised her hand. "Silence. I will not listen to what you have to say. Your side has already killed too many of my friends-tell Lord Draco that his end is near.
"That is all." She hurled a flaming fireball at her.
Kendra disappeared.
"We should probably go back to your cottage now. I guess it's my home for the time being." He walked toward her. Unsettling stillness draped through the hall.
He touched her face, gently tilting her head to meet his gaze. "You withdraw from me," he said softly.
"Why shouldn't I? You put us in this situation. You created this-this hall of death. I knew those men you killed. I grew up with them." She was crying. "I wasn't going to kill them-unless they tried to kill you. I wasn't going to hurt them." Her voice cracked with emotion. Coolness exuded from her. In a heartbeat, she turned frosty toward him.
Raising her hand, she showed him her palm. "The dragon mark has disappeared.
What you have done tonight might have resulted in the impossible."
"I don't understand."
"I should thank you. You have released me from a heavy burden. You have broken our bond. You are free."
"No." He held fast to her. He wouldn't let her go. He clung to her as if his very life depended on it, and perhaps, it did.
"I am your protector. Beyond that, I am nothing. You should breathe a sigh of relief; you won't have to worry about me ravishing you now. I will leave you alone- always alone. That little witch you had your eye on-why don't you go and knock her up?"
"Don't."
"I'm not doing anything." He pulled her to him. She released her grip on her sword. It clattered to the ground. His lips found hers. Flames shot between them ... but for some reason he did not feel as if he burned. He dropped his wand, embracing her fully. "No." Her word seeped through his psyche. Without saying a word, he allowed her to push him away. "This is not meant to be. Without the Mating Fire-you will survive, and so will I."
"We should return to your cottage."
"I'm wondering if you even need to stay with me. You seem to be fully capable of handling yourself. When I saved you earlier from Denys, I'm thinking I saved Denys from an unspeakable fate-not the other way around. You are no coward-and you are no pacifist. You can fight your own battles, you don't need me molly coddling you and protecting you from an enemy that can't hurt you. You, Dylan Lightfoot are a warrior, like no other I've ever met. An impressively talented one at that."
"You suddenly think so little of me. I did what I thought had to be done."
"You killed them in a most brutal and unspeakable fashion! If you are capable of doing that-you are capable of doing that to me."
"No. They were evil dragon shifters."
"Were they? They were my friends."
"You say that in the past tense-those friends had turned into your enemies. You admitted yourself that Draco's side had already killed ten thousand of you. I was keeping them from killing you."
"They wouldn't have killed me. I am Draco's heir. They know if they killed me-he would turn his wrath toward them. You don't understand anything! The reason my king and queen assigned me as your protector was because they knew-they knew that my father wouldn't kill me! Even he would not stoop so low. Dragon shifters do not hurt their children. We are sacred to them. To kill one of your own blood is to seal your own damnation."
"How can you be so certain of that? I'm not willing to believe that. Not at all.
Those dragon shifter assassins have their own free will-maybe the fancy to kill you would have struck them. What then?"
"I have nothing more to say, to you, Dylan. I am tired." Fatigue lined her
features. She looked so worn out. His thoughts traveled to her wound. She had been stabbed in the chest. She fell forward. He caught her.
"Your wound-it seems severe."
"I'll live." She coughed. The hacking sound scared the living daylights out of him.
"I'm taking you home."
"As long as I'm with you, Dylan-I'll never be home. You and I are bad for each other."
"I beg to differ-I think you and I are meant to be. I'm never going to let you go. Not for as long as we both live."
"Waxing poetic, does not become you." Pain lanced her features.
He smiled. Pulling her up so that she was cradled in his arms, he glanced over at his family. Obviously, being wounded had destroyed Grania's wall of fire around his family, freeing them to come into what was now a Hall of Death. His mother looked appalled, his father looked shocked, and his uncle looked amused.
"We shall see you soon!" With that, he sent her sword and his wand ahead to the cottage and transported them. "Home is where the dragon's heart is."