Alpha King by RK Munin

Cathleen, a bear shifter, possess the valuable and rare SoulCipher gift which means she can heal emotional wounds. Stolen from her family and community years earlier, she spends her days healing people with the money to pay her captors. Worn out from the way they over used her gift, she lives in a constant state of fatigue. Separated from her Sleuth, she gets weaker every day from lack of contact with other bear shifters. She’s afraid if she doesn’t escape soon, she’ll never be able to escape.

When she’s presented with a young dragon hatchling, traumatized and fearful, Cathleen’s instinct to shelter and protect rear up. The hatchling is too young to verbalize, but the men who hold her want to know information, that means Cathleen needs to figure out how to talk to the little dragon shifter. But more than that, she needs to get them both to safety because once the men have the information they want, there’s nothing keeping the child safe.

Rescue comes in the form of the Burnt King, Alpha of all the dragons. Cathleen thinks they’re both saved but soon she comes to realize she might have just traded one captivity for another.