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  Soulbound to a Dragon

  Pantherians of Azra Book 1

  Kurtis Eckstein

  COPYRIGHT © 2019 – KURTIS M. ECKSTEIN

  In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the copying, scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the author is unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. Thank you for your support.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living, dead, or undead, business establishments, events, institutions, or locales is entirely coincidental. All characters depicted in sexual situations are 18 years or older.

  ASIN: B07MJ311TJ

  Cover Art Copyright © 2018 Kurtis Eckstein

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  Table of Contents

  Preface

  1. Banished

  2. Summoned

  3. Eliakim

  4. Boshra

  5. Magicite

  6. Secrets

  7. Risa

  8. Gift

  9. Repeal

  10. Dragon

  11. Proclamation

  12. Kidnapped

  13. Despair

  14. Hope

  15. Vanardis

  16. Harassed

  17. Dream

  18. Loyalty

  19. Charity

  20. Curse

  21. Territorial

  22. Rescue

  23. Bound

  24. Monster

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Preface

  Really, I felt like I hadn’t truly been living until now. And I wasn’t about to go back to a life of solitude just to keep this body breathing while my heart slowly withered away in loneliness. I needed to feel, to be alive, even if it did ultimately lead to an early death.

  I looked up at him with renewed determination, only to realize he wasn’t focused on me anymore, and his expression had changed drastically. He had a look in his eyes that I hadn’t seen before, and I hoped to never see it directed at me.

  Pure hatred.

  I turned around, almost expecting him to be looking at the elf, only to see that all three of them were facing the other way too, swords halfway drawn. I gazed further on, trying to understand what was happening, finally seeing it for myself.

  Chapter 1: Banished

  I knew this horrible day would come – I had been preparing for it for the last eighteen years of my life. It was the day my time was up, being within the elves’ protected kingdom. The day I would be forced to leave and fend for myself in a world I didn’t belong.

  Granted, I never really belonged here either.

  Who could accept the mistake that I was?

  As much as I hated the teasing that came from growing up with elf children, all of whom were much taller than me, I knew the real world would be worse. Much worse. The elves’ prejudice was significantly milder than the other races, which is why it had been possible for me to find sanctuary here as a newborn.

  Although, it wasn’t like they took me in out of kindness. It had cost my mother dearly, and the price was only enough to allow me entry. She was forced to leave, never to see me again.

  Even now, I had no idea what she had offered them that was worth eighteen years of my life, but I suspected I would never find out. No doubt she had managed to steal some priceless magical artifact, because otherwise I couldn’t imagine why they would tolerate feeding and protecting something so worthless. There was nothing beneficial in it for them. Raising me had been a pain for my adoptive mother, who looked old enough to be a grandmother by human terms. I resigned myself to calling her my godmother, though the elves knew her as Matron Aurora Akema of the Wind.

  And I was known as Riella Akema, her non-elf, half-breed charge.

  However, it was her wisdom and patience that allowed me to grow into who I was today. She wasn’t easy on me. If anything, she was hard to live with, but I knew she loved me…even though she had never actually said it.

  And if it wasn’t for her love, then I might have ended my own life long ago from all the psychological torturing I had to endure from everyone else. She was the only person who cared about me. Everyone else hated me. Most of the adult elves didn’t say anything to my face, but I saw how they looked at my ears and tail with disgust. When I was younger I tried hiding my cat-like features whenever I was in public, but there was only so much that could be done.

  Not to mention it didn’t matter. Being half human, an outsider might think I looked a lot like the elves, only shorter, but to them the difference was night and day. Even when I had my tail wrapped around my waist, as uncomfortable as it was, they still gave me the same looks. And even when my ears were out of sight, clipped down underneath my black hair, it was no different to them.

  I was an abomination, and nothing would hide that truth.

  My height itself was enough to make that clear. The shortest of the elves was a good half foot taller than my measly five feet, with the average elf being at least six feet tall. I was like an imp walking among them, and I had been all my life. My mother must have been short too, because the therian race my father was from were supposedly tall as well.

  They were the elderfel, a race of anthropoid felines that were somewhat humanoid in shape but were completely covered in fur. They were a lot larger and stronger than humans, and their faces were more feline than humanoid.

  They were also one of the most prejudiced races of all – I would be killed on sight if even a single elderfel came across me, which was a major source of the danger the outside world posed. The humans were also prejudiced against most other races, but especially pantherians like me. The fact that I could potentially pass as a human, as long as I hid my elderfel features, made half-breeds like me seem more dangerous to them. I had been told all my life that pantherians used to be hunted down, just like ancient witch hunts before magic became an accepted practice among humans.

  At least my strength made up for my other limitations. I was stronger than a human would be, even as strong as an elf, and I had trained with my peers in practicing combat.

  There were three dojos in the elven village where I had grown up, and all but one had refused to train me. And that was only because the master owed my godmother a favor. She had also taught me magic herself, since getting a professional to train me in that area was a lost cause.

  Most humans couldn’t use magic, and basically zero elderfel were capable, which meant my mother must have been a mage. Otherwise, it shouldn’t have been possible for me to learn. But thankfully, it was possible, and I was grateful for any tool that would allow me to survive in the outside world past the age of eighteen.

  Because, unlike the magic-rare humans and the magicless elderfel, I could use my own type of magic quite well.

  I sat down on a rock about five miles away from the only home I had ever known. I wasn’t technically out of elven territory yet, but I didn’t think anyone would care if I took a small break. Their magically protected realm ended only about ten feet away, where the forest stopped and a meadow began.

  Since I had spent most of my life training in the art of fighting, and since elderfels had a natural high level of endurance, I wasn’t even winded from the five-mile trek out of the forest. However, in a way, my heart was fatigued already. My chest felt grieved and frightened.

  Part of me was glad to leave the elves behind. I was tired of their looks of disdain, and tired of the way everyone treated me. But at the same time, I knew it would be worse in the outside world. And that made me afrai
d, because I wasn’t allowed to return. I was banished from their lands now that their obligation had been met. Forever.

  I sighed heavily as I stared at my small black boots. They weren’t very feminine, but then again, no one had viewed me as anything other than a beast all my life. At least the rest of my clothing was a little more feminine. I wore a small pair of black leather shorts held tight to my waist just below my tail by a black leather belt, as well as a thin black half-jacket that was sleeveless. My almost nonexistent chest was covered in a small garment that was dark purple, leaving my toned stomach completely exposed. My legs were mostly exposed too, sacrificing protection in an attempt to stay cool in the summer heat. Even though it was only a couple of hours past the sun having risen, and even under the shade of the trees, it was extremely hot and humid.

  The only weapon I had with me was a special sword crafted by an elf named Ortius. He had a unique talent for making magical weapons, and also happened to owe my godmother a few favors. This was one of the reasons I knew she loved me despite how hard she was on me – she had used up a lot of her long-established goodwill trying to prepare me for this day.

  I pulled the midnight blade briefly out of its sheath, mesmerized again by its beauty. Unlike a normal sword, the black metal was shaped like a flat spike that was about a foot and a half long. While I could certainly handle a normal sized blade, regular swords were almost as big as I was – not the best weapon for traveling when cursed with such short legs. The blade had red accents along it that were remnants of the magic used to prevent it from dulling or breaking. Other than that, it was a fairly normal sword with an extremely plain black sheath – nothing fancy.

  It did have one unique ability – to cut through anything physical when magic was infused into it. In that sense, I supposed someone might consider it a magical artifact, but I had only managed to successfully activate it once. Plus, it wasn’t very useful in battle due to the amount of concentration it required to keep it active.

  It wasn’t an accident that I was dressed in dark colors. Bright colors were a great way to draw unwanted attention, not to mention it made a person more visible in the dark. If it wasn’t so hot, I would have covered up my pale skin more, but there was only so much heat I could tolerate. I chose the purple top simply because it went well with my bright amethyst eyes. At least, I thought it did. I didn’t know a lot about fashion, but I always thought it was beautiful when elven women in the village would wear colors that matched their eyes.

  I couldn’t help but be mesmerized by their beauty sometimes, even though they always looked at me with disgust in exchange. They were all perfect – too perfect even. I had no problem admitting I was jealous. I’d never be perceived as beautiful like them, so how could I not be envious? Even my godmother was beautiful, despite her aged appearance.

  I sighed heavily, trying to push aside my vexing thoughts to focus on my surroundings.

  The tall green grass at the edge of the forest and the green vegetation made me feel content, but the humid temperature was almost suffocating. It seemed warmer than usual for this early in the morning. It made me wish I was capable of using ice magic, but unfortunately I only had an affinity for an obscure dark spell referred to broadly as binding magic.

  I was able to create blue ethereal chains that could immobilize a target, but that was it. Nothing offensive. Supposedly, this type of magic could also allow me to enslave another creature permanently to do my bidding, but it was forbidden by the elves. My godmother wouldn’t even tell me how to do it, and it was a miracle she had even mentioned it to me.

  Still, that information alone wasn’t very helpful because finding someone who did know how to perform binding spells would be next to impossible. A lot of what people knew about magic was experimental in nature, which meant only someone who could do what I could would know – and that person might be very dangerous.

  I sighed again as I readjusted the pack on my shoulders. It would probably be heavy to a human, but my inhuman elderfel strength made it manageable. It was mostly full of dry food, along with a small knife, flint, and something else my godmother had placed in there. She had told me it was a gift, but that I wasn’t allowed to look at it until after I had left elven territory. Whatever her gift was, that was where most of the weight came from.

  My curiosity was tugging at me to discover what she had hidden in the small leather pouch she had stuffed in my pack, but I also wasn’t ready to take the last few steps out of the forest and into a world of peril. It felt dangerous out in the meadow a few trees away, but I wasn’t sure if that was my elderfel instincts or just my fear of the unknown. After all, I had never so much as ventured a mile beyond the village in my entire life, and here I was five miles away about to step out of a protected land.

  Unexpectedly, the sound of a twig snapping came from behind, prompting me to dash to my feet with a hasty spin, my blade already yanked free of its sheath.

  A familiar voice greeted me. “Calm down Riella. It’s just me.”

  “Regulus?” I wondered in surprise. “What are you doing here?”

  The tall elf cautiously stepped out from the brush so I could see him. He was wearing his guard uniform, indicating he was currently on duty. The dark green clothing with gold accents were standard in our village…well, their village. I wasn’t considered a member anymore, not that anyone really considered me one in the first place. Regulus had always been ‘polite’ to me, but that was about as far as it went. Which is why I felt unsure of why he was here now.

  His bright green eyes grinned, looking especially appealing when contrasted against his tan skin. He was definitely one of the more handsome elves, but I had learned at a young age to be skeptical of those who pretended to be nice to me – it never ended well. And really, Regulus wasn’t nice, just not mean. He was one of the few elves who didn’t look at me with disgust whenever I was around.

  Regulus ran his fingers through his white hair as he responded. “Well, I came to see you off, of course. I’m glad I caught you before you left the forest. I wanted to tell you something before you go…” His voice trailed off.

  I was shocked he had anything to say to me – we had barely spoken at all since I first met him fifteen years ago. Despite his height, we were the same age, and I had been forced to be around him a lot since we attended both the same educational center and dojo. Elven villages were often extremely large, requiring multiples of both types of facilities to handle all the children. There were four educational centers roughly three miles apart from each other. And the entire village was easily ten miles deep into the trees. Yet it was just one of many such elvish communities, with massive cities lying further in the forest.

  I sheathed my sword as I waited for him to continue. He seemed…nervous, but I couldn’t imagine why.

  “And?” I finally prompted, raising a thin eyebrow with my arms crossed.

  He sighed. “And, I just wanted to say that I think you’re really pretty, in your own way, and if I was in to bestiality I would have totally considered spending more time with you while you were here.”

  I just gawked at him, rage slowly bubbling up inside of me as I tried to determine if he was giving me a compliment, which I couldn’t even imagine, or insulting me. He seemed to notice, quickly trying to clarify. “I just mean, if you were an elf you’d be pretty – you have a pretty face…I…” He became more flustered the more pissed my expression grew.

  I have a pretty face? Thanks idiot. Not only was it a lie, but that sounded like something I’d heard someone say to an elf who was a little overweight – you have a pretty face… If the girl hadn’t been such a jerk to me, then I would have defended her from the insult. Granted, that was almost ten years ago and she was thin and beautiful now, with fair skin and silver eyes. And even more hateful. She was definitely one elf I was glad I would never see again.

  Finally, seeming exasperated, he finished. “That’s all I wanted to say. Please put away your sword.”

  I l
ooked down to see I had instinctively drawn it out halfway again. I quickly shoved it back in and turned on my heels, not wanting him to see my anger begin to transition to tears.

  Why did they all have to be so hateful? Even this guy, who I kind of admired, was a jerk. And the worst part was, I knew he wasn’t trying to be. In his own way, he was trying to send me off on a positive note. Instead, I was both pissed and depressed.

  Bestiality? Thanks, you idiot. Real helpful. If it weren’t for these stupid ears and tail, I would pass as a normal human. Not that it mattered much to an elf – he might have mentioned bestiality even if I was fully human. But that fact still didn’t make me feel much better.

  Without a word, I began walking to escape the edge of the forest, and hopefully the tears that threatened to escape my eyes.

  “Wait!” Regulus called out, taking a few steps after me.

  I stopped. “What?” I snapped, not looking back. But he didn’t respond. He just stood where he was, unsure of what to say. What could he say? Probably nothing nice, even if that was his goal.

  Finally, I sighed and took another step forward. He shocked me by blurting out what was on his mind. “Can I kiss you? …Before you go?”

  I froze, my heart suddenly racing.

  Kiss him? Why? There had to be a catch. I didn’t even know how to kiss…not to mention I would never see him again. I quickly wiped my purple eyes and then turned my head to stare at him. His posture was reserved, but I could see in his expression that he was hopeful I’d say yes. But why? I’d never see him again, and I knew he would never considering having any kind of relationship with me. He definitely would never leave the forest with me. Still…

  “Don’t you have a girlfriend?” I wondered, knowing he did. She was beautiful like him, with slightly darker skin and vivid icy-blue eyes.

  He scoffed in annoyance. “I wasn’t asking you to date me – just for a kiss before you leave forever.”