The Hidden Realm Special Edition Omnibus

When I stepped out of my room, my nose twitched and chest expanded. My dragon was immediately on alert, but he didn’t seem concerned. Instead, he seemed intrigued with whatever we were sensing.
I couldn’t use all of my dragon senses without weakening the cloak I had around myself and risking someone noticing me. Normally that wasn’t a problem, but given I couldn’t speak verbally with my inner beast, I didn’t like not being able to tell what suddenly had him paying more attention to our surroundings.
With tenuous steps, I made my way right toward the bathroom. Just five feet from my door, my hands tightened into fists and I sucked in a breath that scorched through my lungs.
Yet, the fire rapidly consuming me wasn’t rancid. No, the scent was alluring—possibly the sweetest I’d ever been in the presence of. A mixture of lilacs and sugar.
My brows pinched together. Women weren’t allowed in the men’s dorms and vice versa. That was a rule that had been in bold and on nearly every page of the student contract I signed.
So, what the fuck was I smelling?
For a moment, I’d thought maybe it was my mate, but that couldn’t be right. Maybe this was the magic I’d been looking for. Nannio, my possibly insane or maybe genius grandmother, had convinced me that this was where I would find what we needed to fix the problems within Drago.
As long as this wasn’t a mate that I was certain I wouldn’t be attracted to, given the previously mentioned rules, I didn’t see the harm in investigating the scent that had my mouth salivating and the scales that were buried deep beneath my skin wanting to burst free.
I continued forward, following the sweet aroma. It was coming from the showers. Fuck. My stomach churned. I had doubted anyone was practicing magic in the bathroom, which only left my initial thought.
My mate.
A warmth expanded through me, but still, I battled with my thoughts. Something was wrong, and I was going to figure it out, because in my three decades of life, I’d never once…
My inner turmoil was disrupted by singing. A voice so serene that I stopped just outside the bathroom door and closed my eyes.
Thank fuck it was a woman’s voice, because I was two seconds from running back to Drago and dying right alongside the realm.
I had two uncles that I loved equally. That just wasn’t who I knew I was. Fate be damned.
I leaned against the wall and listened to her hum. The longer the soft melody flowed into me, the more I had to fight my dragon for control.
We can’t shift here, I reminded him.
The beast inside me wasn’t settling, but I was stronger than him most days. I shoved his presence back down and reopened my eyes. Steam was rolling out toward me when I pushed through the door.
The voice stopped, but my movements didn’t.
I reached for the curtain, but she peeked out from behind it before I could reveal her body.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Her eyes moved from my raised hand to my confused face.
There was no recognition from her that she knew what I was to her, but seeing her creamy skin, golden eyes, and dark, soapy hair, I knew.
This wolf shifter… She was mine.
“Are you mute?” she snapped. “Otherwise, answer the damn question before I give you a reason to be silent.”
Maybe she wasn’t my mate, because how could she not feel this pull? I could have been wrong, but the need to step closer, even with her just inches in front of me, felt so damn real.
My dragon pushed forward inside me again. I was ready to force him back down, but when the woman before me sucked in a sharp breath, I knew what was wrong.