Dragon’s Chosen Mate
Storm Dragons (Book 3)
A Winterspell Academy Novel
Riley Storm
Dragon’s Chosen Mate
Copyright© 2020 Riley Storm
All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic means, without written permission from the author. The sole exception is for the use of brief quotations in a book review. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real.
All sexual activities depicted occur between consenting characters 18 years or older who are not blood-related.
Edited by Annie Jenkinson, Just Copyeditors
Cover Designs by Kasmit Covers
Table of Contents
Dragon’s Chosen Mate
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Other Books by Riley Storm
About the Author
Chapter One
Christine
“SO WHEN YOU PASS, ARE you going to go back to Elk Pines and celebrate?”
Christine frowned, unhappy at the distraction as she prepared to enter the Testing Room. “Why are you so insistent that I pair up with Julian?” she asked, exasperated. “And do you really think now is the right time?”
The woman on her right shrugged. “He likes you. He’s cute. You like him.”
“I never said I liked him,” Christine said sharply, turning her hawk-nosed gaze on her friend, long ponytail swishing behind her, like a horse’s tail, indicating she was agitated.
“You never said you didn’t like him,” Jessie pointed out calmly.
Christine glared, but she was distracted as the double doors in front of her shuddered with a loud metal clang and began to swing open. “Now is not the time for this.”
“Now is the perfect time for this,” Jessie argued. “You’re going to ace the test. We both know that. What you need is to keep your mind calm, not get all stressed out like you usually do before your Tests.”
“If I pass this, my next will be to graduate and become a Master,” Christine growled, lowering her voice as the doors yawned wide, darkness beyond beckoning her. “So, it’s kind of a big deal. Now stop trying to distract me and wish me luck.”
“Luck,” Jessie said, wrapping her in a big hug before stepping back. “I’ll be right here, waiting for you when you’re done. We’ll fly to Elk Pines right away, get you to Julian.”
Christine sighed, pushing her friend off her shoulder and off her mind. Julian was just a boy from the nearby town that Jessie kept trying to set her up with, despite Christine’s claims she wasn’t interested. Regardless, he would be of no help to her in the Testing Room. She would need all her mind, and all her magic, to pass whatever had been assembled for her.
Gripping her staff tightly, she walked forward, inhaling deeply, and exhaling slowly as she headed toward the circle of light, the only thing she could see in the darkness. The Test could start at any time once the doors were closed.
A red dart of energy spat at her from the darkness off to her right, but Christine was ready. The magical energy spattered and died on a green barrier three feet from her face. She didn’t bother retaliating. Whoever had cast the spell would be long gone.
Green and blue balls of energy zipped in at her, but they too shattered against her shield. Christine was well prepared. In her twenty-first year of study at Winterspell, it would take more than that to faze her.
Something scuffed the floor behind her. Christine spun, but she had only halfway completed her turn when something hard slammed into her pivot leg, taking it out from under her and dropping her to the floor.
Immediately billowing flame shot toward her face from somewhere in the darkness. But Christine’s shield was already back in place. She grinned to herself, peeling a thin rod of wood perhaps ten inches long and half an inch wide out of a groove on the staff.
Her attacker had made a mistake. The flames were bright, and they showed Christine much. Including the location of the caster.
Green light shot forth from the tip of her wand, like a ribbon. It whipped through the air and wrapped up her intended target like she was in a spider’s web, immobilizing the witch, and stopping the flames.
Christine started to smile to herself at the first victory, but it died halfway in place as the floor shook so hard she was spilled to her rear.
“What the heck is that?” she asked. This was new to her. In her seven and a half years as an Apprentice, she’d never experienced anything like that in the Testing Room.
The floor shook again. Maintaining her shield, Christine walked toward what she thought was the source of the rumbling and shaking. As she moved, nobody attacked her, and light appeared. She was walking down a tunnel.
The walls and floor shook, nearly spilling her to the ground yet again, but Christine steadied herself and pushed on, wondering what the Masters had dreamed up for her this year.
“Well that’s terrifying,” she whispered as the tunnel spit her out...into a replica of Winterspell’s exterior. Christine found herself on a balcony high up on one building, looking out at the walls.
An army of nightmarish creatures was assaulting the walls, led by a massive troll nearly fifteen feet high. The giant creature held a metal club, and as she watched, he swung it down, crashing hard against the thick stone walls of Winterspell.
This was her test then, she realized. Not against other witches. No, she was to save Winterspell. Magical constructs of witches rushed to and fro, battling against the creatures, but they weren’t doing well. They were disorganized, and lacking any heavy hitters.
“Very well,” she said, summoning her courage and stepping off the edge of the balcony.
Christine plummeted to the ground
