Dragon In The Mist — Nancy Lee Badger

This is Nancy Lee Badger's award-winning novella (awarded 1st place in its category of the 2012 Silken Sands Self-Published STARS Contest hosted by the Gulf Coast Chapter of RWA.

The story: Nessía has lived beneath the murky water of Loch Ness since ancient times. Loneliness manifests into earthquakes. A Faerie queen pleads for her to cease the tremors and rewards Nessía with a human form. To stay human, she must find love. When the man she believes she loves casts her aside, Nessía responds to the betrayal by cursing the men of the MacDonald clan with the inability to keep a woman's love. Only an act of true selflessness will break the curse. After centuries pass, Nessía again searches for love. When Rory Hawthorn, an American scientist, arrives under the pretext of researching earthquakes but in reality to research his MacDonald heritage and the curse, she believes she has found the perfect mate. Amid stolen kisses, an earthquake, and a steamy night of passion, Nessía returns to the murky depths of the loch. When Rory meets the green, scaly Loch Ness Monster, and assumes Nessía is in danger, he vows to kill it in order to save the woman he loves.