Free Shades Of Dragon (A BBW Dragon-Shifter Paranormal Romance) by Catherine Vale

trouble.
          “Tell me about your family.”
          Ciara looked up from her haunch, blinking in confusion. “What?”
          “Tell me about your family. About your father, about the villagers. What are they like?” he asked, softening his tone a little. He knew that the question was likely to raise some tears, but he figured talking about her people would distract them from their feelings for one another.
          “Oh. Well, my father’s name is Arthur,” she said, smiling a little as she toyed with the hem of her ripped dress. “He’s a big, strong, blustering man with a tender heart of gold, who loves his people and does his best to care for them. My mother died in childbirth, so he raised me on his own. He’s a kind, loving soul and well, because of him I’ve never felt bereft of love. I’m lucky.” She chuckled a little.
          Tegan smiled at that. “It sounds like you have a wonderful father.”
          “I do.” Tears welled up at the corners of Ciara’s eyes, and she blinked them away. “I… I don’t know what I’ll do without him.” The profound grief in her voice and her eyes made Tegan’s heart ache for her.
          “I promise you that I’ll do everything I can to get your father back,” he repled quickly, wanting to comfort her. “Everything that’s within my power.”
          “Will you really?” she whispered. “You’ll go chase down the men who took my father, and bring him back to me?”
          “If I can, yes.” He nodded. “If I can do something to prevent you from losing him, I’ll do it.”
          “Thank you, Tegan…thank you so much.” She sniffled, then wiped at her nose, which had turned a little pink at the tip. For some reason Tegan found the slight blotchiness to be beautiful. “I know that you told me your mother abandoned you when you were a child, but what about the rest of your family? Did you not have a father?”
          Tegan sighed a little, turning his head so he could gaze into the dying embers of the fire. “I’m a bastard child,” he said quietly. “Born of an affair between two dragon shifters of separate clans. By the time my mother was pregnant with me, my father was already gone, so I never knew him. I’ve heard rumors throughout the years. They say that he is a member of the Blackfire Clan, and that it’s likely he doesn’t even know that I exist.”
    “What? Wouldn’t your mother have told him about you?”
    “Not if her clan instructed her not to. I really don’t know.”
    “But if you think you know the clan your father belongs to, why haven’t you gone to see him? To let him know of your existence? To give him a chance to know you?”
    Tegan sighed again, running his fingers through his hair. It was clear that he was twisted up inside when it came to matters involving his father, and for a moment, Ciara felt as though she may have pushed too far, and regretted asking. But he reached out and took her hand into his own, squeezing her fingers gently. “Grey was like a father to me. I felt it would dishonor him if I were to seek out my birth father. I was – I am – happy with the second chance that I was given.”
    “I understand,” Ciara replied, her voice barely above a whisper. “And your mother?”
    “She couldn’t keep me because of the laws of the clan, and so I haven’t seen her since I was just a boy.”
          Ciara’s eyes were wide, blazing with anger. “Your entire clan rejected you, just because you were born out of wedlock?” she asked, gaping at him. “That’s… that’s horrible.”
          “They probably wouldn’t have rejected me if my father had been a member of their clan, but since he was in a different clan…” Tegan stopped and swallowed against the sudden lump in his throat. “It isn’t so bad,” he added, a little hoarsely. “At least not anymore. You learn to move past these things.”
          “That doesn’t