Dragon Knight-Commander (A Cullen Rutherford Shapeshifter Romance)

Chapter 1

Cat of Inger Land

I was coming in and out of consciousness on top of a speeding horse. I hoped Skyhold wasn't far because my hip ached every time the horse's hooves hit the ground. I clung to his gold metal breast plate which curved in and out and wondered if that was for aesthetics or if the man's torso was actually formed from undulating hard muscle. I shifted back into the brown fur and found a position that eased my torn thigh.

I studied him. I drank in the man who was being nice to me, who had ordered an army to be nice to me. Jeez, things were looking up. He spoke of food and rest. He was so large that at first I'd feared he was another demon - that his army of brown henchmen were about to start round four, but he was just a large man, a man clothed in bear skin that was soft and warm. Besides, he had a face of an angel, not a demon. I gazed up at his neck and head. His focus was on the road as he pushed his horse on. He had a square jaw, in a wide masculine face and arms like boulders that moved with the horse. The word 'hunk' sprang to mind, then I gave into the exhaustion washing through my body and slept dreamlessly on a galloping horse in the middle of who knows where with the hunky bear man.

A horn woke me. The horse slowed down and came to an abrupt halt.

The large man continued to shout orders. 'The men are on the way. There will be an early feast after wash down.' He raised and deepened his voice. 'This brave girl is under my protection. I will speak of her later.' He gently descended from the horse still carrying me in his arms. He said to someone next to him, 'Put down a pallet in my study. She will take my bed. Send for Adan to tend her wounds. He must bring draught for a fever. I trust him and Lindy to help. Have Rylen and Charter take the first watch. None apart from those four and myself are permitted to go near my chamber. Is that clear?'

I felt safe for the first time since I'd arrived in this godforsaken place. The bear man had come through for me. All those things - a bed, people to watch me, to tend my wounds: they all sounded really lovely. I gave into the blackness.

I opened my eyes and looked around. I lay on a double bed under a sheet and blanket. The room was circular and bare. Part of the ceiling had fallen in. It was the bright harsh light of a snow blizzard that woke me. The unpainted walls, the snow falling into my bedroom, it all pointed to the fact that I was still in this situation. I bolted upright in the bed and felt my back. It was smooth. So did that happen? Had I dreamt up the torture? A slither of the old hope emerged. Had I imagined a man using my back as a whipping post? Was I still dreaming? Then I unfurled my fingers: a glowing blue triangle shone from my palm.

I heard a door open below and a grey-haired lady dressed in a medieval costume came up the ladder to the bedroom.

Her mouth fell open. 'My lady. Thank goodness. You've been out cold for five days. Let me send for a bath.' She rushed off.

I heard someone enter and leave the room downstairs. I peered down and saw a small bath full of steaming water. I climbed down the ladder and eased myself in and washed off a week of blood, dirt and demon remains. 

The medieval lady returned and took me outside onto the battlements where two large men stood guard at the entrance to my room. Keeping me in or keeping others out? She led me through the castle, past dozens of busy people, into a cavernous hall and down a corridor to a giant wooden door. I heard raised voices from inside. She nodded encouragement as I rapped on it.

'Enter,' a woman said.

As soon as I set foot in the room, I saw the evil man who'd barked questions at me while his men slashed my back open for seven days. They'd called him the Chancellor. My heart raced and I broke out in a sweat. I kept a hand on the doorknob as my glance skittered around the rest of the room. Two women I'd never seen before, Maxwell and at the end of the central table my hunky bear man.