Lukos Heat

Heart of Fire #1

by Megan Derr

Najlah is on the hunt for the traitorous coward who attempted to assassinate the king and nearly killed Najlah's brother in the process. But the hunt has taken his team deep into the Shide, the treacherous, freezing mountains controlled by the mysterious Lukos, feral wolf shifters who do not tolerate trespassers.

When the Lukos come upon them, Najlah is reluctantly intrigued. The Lukos, especially the one called Barkus, are nothing like the soft humans he spends most of his time around. They thrive in the brutal cold the way he thrives in volcanic fire. For the first time, it feels like Najlah may have found someone who can equal the fierceness of dragons, and see them as more than demons.

But if he hopes to explore the bond forming with the Lukos, he must first survive the enemy—and the Shide.

Genres: Fantasy, Dragons, M M Romance, Shapeshifters, Paranormal, Romance, Magic

54 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 17, 2013

About the author

Megan is a long time resident of queer romance and keeps herself busy reading and writing it. She is often accused of fluff and nonsense. When she’s not involved in writing, she likes to cook, harass her wife and cats, or watch movies. She loves to hear from readers and can be found all over the internet.

meganderr.com
patreon.com/meganderr
meganderr.blogspot.com
facebook.com/meganaprilderr
meganaderr@gmail.com
@meganaderr

Reviews

[Natalie H · Rating 5 out of 5]

March 2023
Kindle edition

I'm still liking this one, might've read it a bit too many times now. Naj and Barkus' bond was sweet. A touch insta. The brotherly bickering was entertaining.

July 2018
Kindle edition

Although short my favourite from this author is Love Token, although this one might just steal. I liked the originality and how Naj can’t fully transform into a talking human. The pairing is rough, tough and sweet. I liked the brotherly fighting and the ways of communication. Curious as to what will happen next, if it’s a continuation of Naj or a suitor for one of the pack.

[Bluebelle-the-Inquisitive (Catherine) · Rating 4 out of 5]

His new brothers might not be dragons, but they fought as fiercely and with all the same love for home and family. Pack, den, different words for the same thing. Who were these stupid wolves to judge them lacking? — Najlah

Warnings: attempted murder

This is a book I bought on impulse just to give me something to finish. I'm trying to find my way out of a reading slump. I did not expect to enjoy it as much as I did. For a book that is only 65 pages long, Megan Derr has managed to do extremely well in lore and world-building. The world is incidentally revealed, the alliances, the animosity and the cultures for a novella that is the only way to write it but too many authors try to write exposition and lose flow. Her restrictions and types of dragons are fairly new to me and I appreciate that. It has a fairly limited cast in execution, with about half the story being just protagonists, narrator, dragon Najlah and the titular Lukos (shapeshifting wolf) Barkus. Najlah's brother Ajith is present as both a character and as a presence. But everyone who does appear is done so well, they suit their position. We are importantly introduced to Prince Tevra. Prince Tevra is key to the plot of book two of the series/duology Royal Fire, we already seeing the hints of where that is going.

Najlah has a tell, one that Barkus (and tbh everyone at court, except Tevra) knows. I really like Najlah, he has stranger in a strange land vibes, but beyond that he has this fantastic sense of humour, he's largely unable to directly communicate with the people of Restuel but he takes it in his stride and does what has to be done. His behaviour is perfectly reptilian too, his homeland Tahjil is so hot and Restuel so cold that his only real way of getting warm is to curl up in a fire. I appreciate his character design his eyes, scaled human form and mannerisms all are so well executed. Najlah and Barkus have a lovely dynamic that is also done well. Theirs is a slowish developing attraction. Barkus potentially risks something for Najlah. Barkus has a fantastic line towards the end of the book, it's not a spoiler (if it is a spoiler that these two end up in bed together then sue me). "Human shapes serve their purpose and help to keep the peace…" He bent and kissed Naj hard again, drawing back slowly. "A human form has its benefits, but I am no human." He presents as a human for large amounts of the time we see him, but he isn't traditionally attractive, which I think is a great choice. He has this underlying and undeniable rough charm that is appealing in what is essentially a warrior. It will be interesting to see how he goes with Terva, he acts as Najlah's translator but there is more than that coming. He was also amused during the translator role, not bothering to hide it.

Just some quotes I liked and their context.
• Uncoiling his sinuous body, Najlah flexed his claws and sought for stable footing in the snowy ground. His black scales glistened wetly where they were struck by moonlight and flickering flames. Spikes sprang up down the length of his spine to the tip of his tail, drops of poison gleaming at their ends. — This very early, like second page early. It's a description of Najlah as he sees himself. I just like the phrasing.
• "You are just as nasty in a fight as your appearance promised. I am curious how brutal your homeland must be that something as artfully crafted for killing as you exists." — I appreciate this as a compliment to a warrior class. Barkus knows how to flatter. (Barkus)
• "The wolf is impressive, I'll give you that. I can only imagine how much His Majesty will love you if you somehow manage to get the Lukos to cooperate more often and perhaps act like real citizens of the kingdom."
"I'm not interested in your stupid politics or in helping anyone make nice with anyone else. I want fire—you left that out of your mocking litany: Fire, fucking, fighting, feeding."
"I think the order is still wrong."
"Go eat a spotted lizard." — Okay, I laughed when I read this. It's actually a double call back and some sibling banter written in a way that is totally on point. (Ajith and Najlah)

I have already got Royal Fire and I look forward to reading it. The undercurrents between the three will flare. A question I really want to be answered is how Prince Terva will be able to speak to Najlah. I do recommend this if you like queer, paranormal novellas. It's one of the better ones I have read in a while.

"I admit my desire and curiosity for you mostly drove me to volunteer as liaison. I think they only permitted it because they think doing this will finally curb my reckless, impulsive behavior." — Barkus

A representative gif:

[♥ Rebecca ♥ · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a short fantasy novella about shapeshifters. I decided to try it because I loved Megan Derr’s The High King's Golden Tongue series. This features a dragon shifter and a wolf shifter. A group of royal shifters, some sort of royal military squad made up of various types of shifters, is sent to the mountains to meet up with the wolf shifters that live there, to ask them for help finding a fugitive who attempted to assassinate the king, and is hiding in the mountains. The dragon shifter is one of the royal shifters, and the wolf shifter seems to be the leader of this particular pack.

It’s interesting because the dragon shifter can’t shift to a completely human form. He can shift to a somewhat more humanoid form, but he still has scales, and claws, and sharp teeth, and he can’t speak in this form. The dragon and wolf shifter form some sort of telepathic bond so they can communicate. He also doesn’t seem to have wings in either form. So I suppose he’s not actually a dragon, but some sort of wyrm.

This is short, so their bond develops very quickly, but it’s okay because it is shown mostly through smelling, and nuzzling, and licking. Very animal like behavior, which was different and fun. The wolf and dragon shifters are some of the most feral in their world.

But I wasn’t that invested in the mystery of the assassination attempt on the king. I enjoyed the characters but I needed more romance and I was ready to move on this they’re together in the end, and skip book 2. But the very last page hinted at this becoming an MMM in book 2. 😅 So I’m gonna carry on!

[Rebs ✿ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think high fantasy was what I needed right now.

[Chris, the Dalek King · Rating 4 out of 5]

I do believe one of my favorite things about Megan Derr is her dragons. No matter what series they pop up in, or in what form she decides to mold them, they are always uniquely wonderful. This story is no exception.

Najlah has been sent to capture–-though I’m pretty sure Najlah took these orders to mean eat-–the man who betrayed his king and nearly killed Najlah’s brother doing so. But dragons crave heat-–need it to survive-–and the cold and icy mountains of the Shide are not hospitable at all to Najlah. Even after a band of wolf shifters called the Lukos-–and their leader Barkus-–agree to help them find the mage responsible for the King’s near death. Battered by a blizzard and a violent golem, Najlah could very well end up dead if Barkus does not do the unexpected and tie them both together as pack…and perhaps something more. But there is more at play than what Najlah has seen, and if he is not careful, it will not be the cold that takes him down, but a hidden hand seeking vengeance for something long thought settled.

I loved Derr’s dragons in this book. It was quite interesting how even when shifted into their more humanoid form, they could no speak–-at least to non-dragons–-and that meant that Najlah and Barkus had to find a different way to communicate. At least until the magic took hold.

And for such a short story, it was also very well thought out. The lands, the politics, felt like they had real weight to them. And it was a rather fascinating world that Derr had constructed here. I can’t help but hope that she might set another story here so that I could learn even more about it. And I really liked that the secondary characters felt like they had their own stories outside of the one being told here. I would like to read the King’s and his consort’s story, or even Najlah’s brother’s. They were rather fascinating.

The whole intrigue plot did feel really sped up, but seeing as this is not a very long short story, I could see how that happened. If it was longer I would have liked to learn more about why the people did what they did, or even see how the ramifications of their actions played out. As it was…it felt a bit light. I could tell that there was definitely more there, I just don’t think the pacing or the length had time to do it justice.

There is quite a bit I would most definitely loved to read more of–-especially the relationships. I found Barkus and Najlah rather nice, if an odd couple at first glance. Dragon and werewolf–-I guess I can see it. They both can take a pounding and keep on licking, if you know what I mean. But also the relationships between Najlah and his brother, and with the various other shifters and humans were interesting. And I would love to know so much more about them all.

Overall this book entertained me and left me wanting more. Which is not a bad thing for a short story. And I really like that cover. And dragons. I really love dragons. I just pretty much liked it all, I guess.


This book was provided free in exchange for a fair and honest review for Love Bytes. Go there to check out other reviews, author interviews, and all those awesome giveaways. Click below.

[Nico · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favourite thing about this book is that I actually feel like I am inside the brain of a barely tamed apex predator. Our MC, Najlah, is a dragon: dangerous, arrogant, disdainful of humans and weakness, and a mind with very specific focuses (as he lays out - fire, fighting, fucking, food). He absolutely reads like a feral, calculating animal and I love how distinct the voice is. His "voice", I should mention, is mostly is the form of growls, grunts, hisses, rumbles, and body language. Again, very animalistic and yet very expressive.

I also love how the Lukos we meet, Barkos, is similar in his tendencies; action-oriented, dangerous, intelligent. He is slightly more human feeling than Najlah, but their dynamic is all wild strength and instinct and they work perfectly together despite the obvious differences between an Icy wolf shifter and a black firey dragon. The Bond made the dynamic even better, especially given it meant they could properly banter/communicate.

The world building that's done in such a short amount of time is absolutely incredible. There's no info-dumping, it's all integrated into the story and characters and I'm really, really impressed. The plot was interesting and didn't take on too much while still being very engaging and entertaining.

Overall I loved this. The sheer animalistic quality used to write Najlah' POV makes this memorable, but the excellent romance and the world are also so damn good and I'll definitely be rereading this.

July 5th Update: *mild spoilers for Book 2* Yeah, I 100% called it with the re-reading prediction. Devoured this again already. Still absolutely in love with how animalistic and feral Naj's characterization is and how well the romance and world-building is done. I'd pay good money for more of this series, though Tevra really isn't my favourite and I do prefer just Barkos/Naj. Nothing against poly, poly is great -I just don't really love Tevra's character as much. Anyway, I sense more re-reads of this beauty in my future.

[Julesmarie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this was just brilliantly done! Najlah was a spectacular character, and the descriptions of both of his forms, his homeland, dragon societal structure, all of it was spectacularly unique and wonderfully great fun.

My absolute favorite: Najlah's complete inability to speak any human language in either form, yet he was still able to communicate perfectly well. Very cleverly done!

I also just adored Najlah and Barkus together, they complemented each other brilliantly.

Such a fun story, in a wonderfully unique world. I'd love to get to come back and read more set here!

Some Favorite Quotes:
It was nice not being feared.

"I think I preferred it when they thought us demons and we were allowed to eat them"

[M'rella · Rating 4 out of 5]

Too short. I was hoping for something epic of Kria proportions. Next time I will pay more attention to page count and reviews.

Interesting characters in this one: human shifters, which means their base form is wolf, and half-human shifters, base form is dragon. I am not entirely sure of the logistics of the sex in this one, as it intrudes too much on my comfort zone. It's not the book's problem tho, and my rating doesn't reflect my hard limits ;)

As I have mentioned, my only disappointment is that there is no book 2. Or 3. Or 4.

3.75 stars. Moar please? :D

[Maura · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm in the "meh" zone for this one. For sure there's some very interesting world building going on. The dragon race in particular is very well done and fascinating. But I think there was just so much time spent on explaining it all in relation to actual plot that I sort of lost interest. There isn't really much of a mystery here, so that was underwhelming. And the romance was kind of subpar...just meh. Although, I'm very intrigued at where this seems to be going with Prince Treva.

[Stephanie GooglyEyes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting take on a dragon shifter...I'm just curious as to how Naj didn't bit Brukus apart with his "nips" with his sharp dragon teeth. *Stares of in wonderment*

3.5*

[Ami · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Lukos Heat was previously published in the Anthology Dracones. Now, I didn't know whether the story had been revised or expanded, and I didn't read the anthology so this opinion is based on this edition only.

I would say this again, and again, and again, I ♥♥♥ Megan Derr's grumpy characters. I don't know how she does it but she always makes her grumpy characters so frickin' endearing. That was what I felt for Najlah, the hornless dragon in this story. He was so adorable. The way that he thought of the other species to be "below" him, the way he thoughts fire (and heat) as the best. He was so grumpy I just wanted to snuggle him.

As usual with Megan Derr's shorter story (or novella length) I felt that the background wasn't explored fully. I should get used to it by now but I still wished that it wasn't so. There were more to these lives of the dragons, and the wolf, and the animosity between the kingdoms that I felt was kept solely in the mind of the author and hadn't fully presented to readers. Which made it slightly less satisfying.

But I did love Najlah and his relationship with Barkus was interesting -- especially since Najlah couldn't exactly speak human (even when he was in his human form). So the whole 'bonding' with the pack was cute. I won't mind revisiting these characters.

[Dawn L · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read!

I was a little surprised with this one for all I'm a fantasy lover I really was taken aback by the feralness and non-human forms of the characters but it was in a good way. I really liked it as it was different. Usually non-human characters are humanised you see it in a lot of sci-fi stuff so it was an intriguing spin on things.

[k reads · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not-enough-there there

[Colorsun · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish the story was developed as well

I hate to give 3 stars for Megan is writting really well.I fell in love with the characters they were built so well. From inside out to the smallest detail. And I didnt mind at all that the book is licking the side of zoofilia. BUT the characters got all the love and only few of them at that. There is no storytelling, the plot seems interesting but its not developed. I had feeling like I was looking at 3D person on 2D film. Because of that the relationship building between the heros was not really happening. They were stranges one moment, inseparble the next one. There were also characters that were being developed and then dissapear for the whole book (and the other one as well). And if the flatnes of the plot was not enough the book ends without reason. Why write 2 80pages books? This could be one, there is nothing happening in the book one, no climax that would made it story upon itself.

[Relly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good

3.5 stars

I enjoyed this one. It’s a short story but it was entertaining

I loved the family set up here, both with the dragons and the wolves.
Najlah and Ajith had left their country for another where they were considered demons, yet they had made a home there. They had a new pack of shifters they worked with and considered family. I kind of felt like I had missed a bit with Ajith and Korla as their story was referred to as if we would know it already.

I liked how the communication issue was dealt with. I could see issues but this way the lines were open and it was fun watching the pack get to know Najlah. Najlah was a fun character, he had his ways and judged everyone else by them. I also enjoyed that he was so oblivious to how the people of the palace through about him. He and Barkus were well matched.

Looking forward to see how things progress with Prince Tevra.

[Teeny · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was okay....? I didn't hate it but it didn't swept me off my feet. It had all the markings of Megan Derr's more complex stories but given the length and where the story ended, for now -although the #2 book is apparently to be published in 2022-, it kind of failed to deliver, with the intrigue and mystery missing.

We were kinda dropped in the middle of the story and trying to keep up while attempting to solve a puzzle we didn't exactly have all the pieces to.

Megan's take on dragon shifters is very interesting and there was quite a bit of info to absorb, although little outside of what Najlah provided for Tajhil, but I can't say I'll be racing to grab the second book when it is released.

[Justyna Małgorzata · Rating 4 out of 5]

A tasty short story, with some hot sex scenes. I positively adore Megan Derr's dragon shifter in all their forms. This romance has some wild animal feeling to it and the concept of a dragon in a wolf pack is something new and delightful. I was a bit disappointed the tale ended so quickly, right when it was suggested that Naj is interested in scarred prince Tevra... I really do love a spicy love triangle sometimes

[Emilye · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heart Warms Like Fire

HeartFire1

An interesting premise for a story - shapeshifting dragons who communicate telepathically; shapeshifting wolves who avoid most humans, and humans who can interact with them. There are other shifters, but the story focuses on dragon and wolf.

The humans have magic and hierachical power; but it is the dragon/human nexus that is the core of the conflict in the story. It is a dragon/wolfbond that underpins the action.

Interesting.

[MaelleMaud · Rating 3 out of 5]

Najlah & Barkus
I really enjoyed it and it should be 4 stars for the fluidity of the writing and the originality of the setting. The characters were truly alive and different, it was a pleasure to meet them and it gave me a need for more shiftters story. Of course it’s a short story and there is much in it so it’s a bit rushed but good anyway!
🐉🐾✨❤️✨🐾🐉

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

MM romance and adventure. Dragon shifter takes a wolf shifter as a lover. They find that they are both compatible in temperament and sexually. A bit too many secondary characters for me to keep track of in such a short story.
Typos: "as finally dressed" should be "finely," "who's blood" should be "whose."

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very enjoyable! Loved the heat between the dragon and the wolf. Despite the fact that this is a short story not only is the world well setup, but the action/mystery is well worked out and very intriguing. Politics and passion intertwine well with the fun shifters and sexy times. Great!

[Dawn Lacroix · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lukos Heat

Loved Lukos Heat. The characters were rough and edgy and you could sense what they were going through. Cool plot. Could be a two parter to continue the journey. Thanks Megan

[Vintage · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun

Big fan of this author and the worlds that she creates. This book is clear just the beginning of a longer story, but it introduced the characters and the world which are pretty intriguing.

[Jandee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome story!

Najlah is fierce and pointy. 😆 He's adorable. I love him so much! I love how he calls it kit watching instead of babysitting. Barkus is so cool. He's a badass. I love how much he loves Naj. I just want to read more about them. I enjoyed reading this so much!

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading through TBR today and found many of Ms. Derr's books I had not read. I am so glad I read this today. I thought it was a wonderful book, I enjoyed the world building and even though they are short stories, they don't read like that. Love the characters. Recommend reading.

[Omega696 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lukos and Barkos... I seriously had problem with those names. Anyway, an ok story but I've read a lot of better ones by this author.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I definitely wish this was longer, maybe there will be a sequel.

[Amy K. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sexy, intersperse romance with lots of spiciness, some violence, and a touch of intrigue. A short, enjoyable escape!

[Jeremy Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very interesting and enjoyable read

[Soraya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting non-human POV.