Finding the Wolf(The Dragon's Hoard #1) Read Online Free PDF

anyone.
    "Sorry, Miss," Leon spoke up, laughter in his voice. "I'm a one-dragon pretty."
    "Well," she sniffed. "I will simply have to find one for myself. Now get out of the water, Nyle. Toel sent me to talk to you." She walked out of the bathroom and changed into her regular, red colored dragon shape once she reached Nyle's main cave.
    "That was interesting," Leon said as he stood and pulled Nyle to his feet. "Was that your mother?"
    "She is the one who laid my egg and kept me warm until hatching," Nyle nodded. He retrieved drying cloths for them so their clothes wouldn't get soggy.
    "I thought all dragons were gold colored," Leon mused as he helped Nyle dry his gold-colored hair that mimicked the golden scales of his other form.
    "Dragons take their hide colors from the paternal line," Nyle explained. "It has been speculated that An'tatoel is my hatch-father, as he is gold, and the Eldest is hatch-father to the line."
    "So that's why Toel gave you a pretty when you were crying?"
    Nyle smiled. "Probably. But once dragons are self-sufficient, ties like mother and father mean nothing."
    Leon shook his head. "I doubt that. Otherwise why would Toel and Gail come check on you so often? I think they care a great deal."
    Nyle didn't reply. Whether his hatch-parents cared or not was a moot point. Dragons had their own research to pursue and taking care of little ones interfered. Nyle had learned and grown on his own regardless of whatever pretties Toel and Gail had given him when he was distressed.
    Nyle helped Leon put on his sapphire necklace but left the rest of the jewelry behind before going to speak with Gail.
    "There you are!" Gail said as they reappeared in the larger cavern. She was running her claws through Nyle's carefully organized pile of rubies. The younger dragon tried not to wince as everything was mussed up.
    Nyle didn't bother changing into dragon form. Hatch-mother was considered to be an odd dragon and wouldn't be insulted. She had spent a century nursing an egg, abandoning all her other projects just to see what it would be like. She also routinely forgot basic protocol and tended to chatter aimlessly, much to the distress of those she was speaking with.
    Nyle decided to head her off before she started rambling. "Toel sent you?" he asked.
    She snorted. "The old grump thinks you're being dangerous, making this wolf into part of your hoard. He thinks we'll be losing pretties to his thieving human side and picking up messes because of his canine side. And we'll be fighting off the werewolf when he loses control too."
    "Ah," Nyle breathed. Toel was only looking at the surface. He could easily be brought to see reason.
    "He," Toel added as he entered Nyle's cave, "is already seeing the consequences of the actions taken by young An'nanyle." Toel was looking at Nyle's human form, but the younger dragon did not miss the way Toel's eyes glanced at Nyle and Leon's clasped hands.
    "Thou must understand," Toel continued to Nyle. "A werewolf is as ageless as dragon kind. He shall be part of thy hoard as endlessly as the gem around his neck and thou must understand that having a human seeming animal is much different than caring for the pile of rubies Ana'gail has so thoughtlessly ruined for thee"
    "I do understand," Nyle answered strongly back to Toel, even as his hand nervously gripped Leon tighter. "I want Leon to stay with me. He is the showpiece of my hoard."
    Gail giggled. "Especially if he's naked all the time," she added. Nyle felt his human face go bright red. Did his hatch-mother have any tact? They were trying to convince Toel that Leon would be good for Nyle's hoard, not tell the elder dragon of the purely human interaction Nyle had with the werewolf. Although, Nyle mused, the handholding may have tipped Toel off, because the older dragon did not look startled at all.
    Toel ignored Gail's continued giggling with the ease of long practice. He nodded respectfully to Nyle, and Nyle bowed his head back.
    "Do not appear