A hundred years ago, werewolf Alpha Montgomery took a risk driven by desperation—he borrowed money from the ancient dragon Warwick Ehecatl, putting up the pack lands as collateral. Now the debt is due, and dragons don’t forget—or forgive. Warwick demands Montgomery’s son, Avery, and three businesses as compensation. As an Omega, Avery knows he is basically useless to his pack, so he might as well agree. He soon has second thoughts, though. Warwick is fearsome, and he’s free to do as he likes with Avery.
Warwick knows his race’s reputation, and he even admits some of it is deserved. But he’d rather cut off his tail than let his innocent mate’s light go out. It won’t be easy, but buried deep, there’s something between them worth safeguarding.
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| Average! |
R *A Reader Obsessed* - 4 Hearts
I haven’t read or listened to a lot of the Dreamspun Desires and Beyond series, mainly because I like a bit of grit and a lot more smex than what they can typically offer, but I will say that so far, this has been my favorite! Who can resist ABO dynamics plus a dragon shifter?? Not me, apparently!
Werewolf Avery is an omega, and because he’s an omega, he’s been coddled and fussed over his entire life. Some may flourish under such attention, but Avery resents that many think he’s weak and incapable, and since he’s been given very few responsibilities, he’s basically bored with his mundane life. When his father fails to make good on a business deal with a powerful dragon, Avery suddenly finds himself the consolation prize. A bit indignant and disgruntled, his tune soon changes, as his wolf recognizes Warwick as his mate.
Warwick is definitely at the top of the shifter food chain - powerful, secretive, a loner by choice - he’s a powerful dragon with endless resources and special abilities. When Warwick goes to collect his payment from the alpha werewolf, the last thing he expected was for his dragon to demand the alpha’s son. For the first time ever, someone has piqued his interest and is now the top priority.
What ensues is a really wonderful romance between these two, despite the fact that it takes place over a short 3 days. However, everyone knows this is totally acceptable in the paranormal shifter world involving mates, so it’s completely plausible to go from strangers to love in a blink of an eye!
As a warning, this has infuriating fathers being infuriating and no ABO heat cycles or KNOTTING. Darn! There is however, a surprising and pleasing amount of heat regarding Avery and Warwick’s “wedding night”, and it was all so sweet in how they work things out to best suit them and their future as a couple.
Again, Harlequinesque type romance typically does not appeal strongly to my usual tastes, but this one was a standout in my opinion. Thus, if you like these sorts of tropes, especially that of dragons and their mysterious lore, this was an unexpected enjoyable treat!
Sara - 4.5 Hearts
Oh this was freaking fracking adorable! This book has just a few of the things I love in my shifter romances.
- Dragons.
- Omega’s
- Fated/True Mates.
The book opens up with a power prologue set 100 years in the past as Alpha Theodore Montgomery of the Sunset Creek Pack comes to an ancient dragon to ask for a loan. This dragon aka Warwick, is of the classic dragon persuasion who loves shiny things and has an amazing hoard which makes him stinking rich! So when Alpha Montgomery comes asking for one hell of a large sum of money, Warwick wants collateral.
Fast forward 100 years to the present, we get young Omega Avery Montgomery, son of Alpha Montgomery preparing for his birthday party and officially becoming a man. This party will be one the young pup will always remember when a tall dark and devastatingly handsome stranger crashes it and demands payment from his father. Yup, Warwick our filthy rich dragon has come for money and guess what, Alpha Montgomery decided to not save a dime over the last century and can’t pay. Tsk tsk tsk dude, you don’t stiff a loan shark and you definitely don’t stiff a dragon when he covets wealth.
But this party becomes a once in a lifetime chance for two souls to meet and with one look both Warwick and Avery recognize one another as mates. Warwick makes a deal with the Alpha--who can’t pay--that instead of the money, or taking everything Alpha Montgomery owns as he said he would when the contract was signed, he decides he wants Avery as a mate and three businesses from the Alpha. Say what? Yup, that’s what he wants and while Avery’s dad may be an Alpha, he’s spineless and agrees to trade his son.
He was in this position thanks to his father’s carelessness— and that was the nicest way he could put it. On the other hand, watching his father trade him off to pay his debt was disturbing. It hurt, plain and simple. He didn’t deserve this— no one did.Avery’s dad is an ass, plain and simple. He tells his son he either agrees to become Warwick’s mate or be kicked out of his pack. I mean, WTF dad? It’s a terrible situation to be in, though arranged marriages seem to be the norm with these werewolves. It hurt to watch Avery be treated like nothing more than a possession to his family which brings us to the dragon business. Warwick is a powerful and very old dragon who loves his hoard above all. He is also a possessive man when he realizes Avery is his mate and though he adores his hoard, Avery to Warwick is not a possession. So yeah. There is that.
Now I have to say that while Avery knows instantly that Warwick is his mate and Warwick knows Avery is his, the story doesn’t play on the fated mate trope and that bugged me. I loved fated/true mates to no end. You are already suspending reality when you read a shifter romance and getting fated mates allows you to forgive anything that would normally case a Scooby Doo head tilt because you know the deal. They can’t help themselves when it comes to how they feel, how fast they fall and how bad they want to fuck. But these two, while showing signs of the trope they never speak of it to anyone. It sucked that Avery was traded for a debt owed but at the same time, dude you found your true mate and isn’t that kinda cool? Huh? Anyway, that bugged me because there are things that happen that some might find insta-esque but really falls under the fated/true mate deal. Okay. Rant over.
I truly enjoyed the book, grumble aside. Avery is ridiculously adorable in his wolf form and his reaction to seeing Warwick as a dragon the first time was more than I could have asked for. These two complement each other in the best ways and the twist on the mating rituals was fun and hell sexy. The mating itself got all sorts of hot and I have one line highlighted with the note, “Yes Daddy Dragon” because it was totally appropriate.
[…] as a child he’d often dreamed about a white knight in shining armor rescuing him from the drudgery of his life. No one needed to know that in those fantasies, he saw himself living in a castle like the proverbial prince in a fairy tale. Instead of a white knight riding to his rescue, he got the dragon willing to take him flying.
Dragon’s Hoard is a fun and fluffy romance that plays on the classic dragon and his hoard lore with a twist. This romance read like a sorta fairytale with the hopeless romantic Omega who is sheltered and basically locked away in the Pack House tower until his knight in scaly dragon form comes to his rescue. Avery needed to be rescued by Warwick from the life his detached parents had planned for him and in true Pretty Woman fashion, Avery rescues Warwick right back.
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