by Lauren Smith
Charlotte may not have been a hunter, but she’d been trained to protect herself. She pulled her head back and threw it forward, head-butting the man on the bridge of his nose. He let out a string of Portuguese curses and stumbled back, clutching his face. The man behind her smacked her on the back of the head hard enough that white dots burst before her eyes.
“Take her to the car,” the man rasped as he clutched his nose. He might have been a dragon shifter, but bone still beat cartilage in a fight.
She was dragged to a black SUV and shoved into the back seat. Three other men climbed in with her. She was almost certain these men were dragons. Damien’s voice fluttered up from her survival lessons. “Stay alive. Do whatever you have to do, but stay alive. Honor doesn’t matter. You breathing is what matters. We will find you.”
It was something she’d always remembered. Do whatever it takes. Grovel and beg if you have to. These men knew her brothers were in the Brotherhood and that she was mated to Rurik. It was obvious they wanted to use her for a trap. The man she’d head-butted sat beside her, and his gaze made her flesh crawl.
“You think you are brave?” he asked.
Charlotte studied his cruel smile and swirling gold eyes that had settled into twin black pools. He was definitely a dragon.
Her head ached, and her heart pounded like war drums. “I’m not brave,” she replied.
“Good. I don’t like my women to be brave. I prefer them screaming for mercy as I take what I want.” He gripped her throat, squeezing. “I will take you, and I will extinguish the light behind those pretty eyes. Do you want to know why?”
When she didn’t answer, he gave her a rough shake, choking her until she gasped and clawed at his hand.
“You are MacQueen’s sister, and that would be reason enough, but you are also Rurik Barinov’s mate. We have waited so long for him to show weakness. Now he finally has.” The man let go of her throat, and she sucked in sweet, precious air.
“Who are you?” she gasped.
“I am Luis Silva, head of the Silva family of Buenos Aires.”
Ahh… That explained the Portuguese at least.
“So what’s your plan?” she asked, all too aware that minutes ago she’d asked her friends the same thing under very different circumstances.
Luis laughed. “You say that like I am a Bond villain. Eh, whatever. You will die, and we will convince the Brotherhood that the Barinovs did it, then convince the Barinovs that your brothers killed you to kill Rurik. A sacrifice play.” Luis was smug. Charlotte was in no mood to point out that Damien would never do that. Sure, Damien had drugged her—and she was going to throttle him for that—but he would never really hurt her. Still, it didn’t matter what she knew, only what the Barinovs believed.
“You’re not doing it here?” she asked.
Luis shook his head. “No. No. There is someone who is dying to meet you first. He has waited even longer than I have to see the Barinovs fall. It is he who will choose when you die, though I have claimed the pleasure of killing you myself.”
A shiver shot down her spine. “Who are you taking me to?”
Luis’s smile grew malevolent. “Dimitri Drakor.”
The only surviving member of the other Russian Imperial house of dragon shifters. The one dragon who had come closer than anyone else to killing Rurik.
Oh God…
16
The course of true love never did run smooth. - William Shakespeare
Rurik’s face hurt like the devil. Jason’s one punch had left Rurik feeling agony he normally felt only in battle with another dragon. He spat, the bloody mess landing on the hotel carpet floor. Damien was staring at him, a contemplative look in his eyes, and Jason looked ready to go for round two with him.
“There’s really no way to sever the mating bond?” Damien asked, his tone dangerously quiet.
This time Rurik didn’t feel like trying to hide his answers. Nothing he would say would change whatever it was they intended to do with him.
“Only death can break the bond.” He looked Damien in the eyes. He saw only one option left open to him, even though it would shatter his heart. “Our intention, our hope, was to convince you there was another way between our peoples. But if you are so blind that you can’t see this, then I have another option.”
Damien frowned. “What’s that?”
“I will leave her alone. You take her home, and we are done here. You do nothing to my brothers or their mates in retaliation. They had no part in our mating and have caused you no harm, nor do they pose a threat to your kind. You know this. It’s the Drakors you have to fear.”
“I’m aware of the Drakors, and I know you and your brothers have kept on good terms with humans over the centuries.” Damien watched him intently. “What did you mean when you said you’d leave my sister alone?”
“I won’t try to keep her. I will stay here in Moscow. You can take her home without fear that I will come after her. It will hurt her to be apart from me, but it’s better that she suffer missing me than watching us fight.”
Damien and Jason held another whispered conference. Before they could finish, the hotel room door rattled as someone pounded on it. Damien opened the door, letting the one they called Nicholas inside.
“Damien,” he panted. “Tamara just called. Charlotte’s been abducted. They were leaving Moscow when a car hit them. She and Meg were knocked out, and when they woke up, Charlotte was gone. There’s no trace of who or what hit them or where they went.”
Panic hit Rurik like a train, but he remained frozen to the chair. His mind worked frantically, absorbing what he’d just heard.
Damien turned to Rurik, his tone now icy. “Was this your brothers’ work?”
Rurik glared at Damien. “That’s not our way, and you’re a fool to think it. We wouldn’t put Charlotte’s life in danger, nor would we harm your hunters unless they attacked first.”
Jason scoffed, but Damien raised a finger. “I believe him. At least the first part. Ramming the car could have killed her, and that would have killed Rurik. It’s too risky a play.”
Rurik tried to think clearly, but knowing that someone had taken his mate was choking him. He’d never felt so powerless before. There was only one person he knew who would dare to get at him by harming his mate. A growl escaped his lips.
“But I know who took her.” He glared at them. “And when I find him, I’m going to tear him to pieces.” He jerked his bound hands. “Release me. Now.” Even though his dragon was gone, he was still fueled by his desire to destroy all those who threatened his mate.
“That’s not going to happen,” Damien said. “You can tell us where she is, or I will make you tell us.”
Rurik was silent for a long moment, studying Charlotte’s big, bad brother, the man who could snap his fingers and raise hell for dragons everywhere, especially with the new weapon they possessed. He raised a brow in challenge, his tone deadly calm. “Listen to me, hunter. Dimitri Drakor has taken Charlotte to get to me. And they know she’s your sister, so they intend to use her against you as well. This is not the time to cling to past grudges. We can join forces, like Charlotte wanted, or we can stay here and bicker until they kill her.”
Jason turned away from him, but he could still hear him say to his brother, “I don’t trust him.”
Damien, however, was more thoughtful. He closed his eyes a moment, fingers pressed at the bridge of his nose. “The Barinovs wouldn’t risk Charlotte’s life crashing into her that way. A Russian warned us when we arrived about the Barinovs torturing Charlotte, but that never happened. He also said the Barinovs were a threat to everyone. He wanted us to take the Barinovs out.”
He opened his eyes and raised his head, meeting Rurik’s eyes. “We’re being played.”
Rurik’s heart skipped a beat.
“Jason, uncuff him.”
“You can’t believe—”
Damien looked to his brother. “Did I stutter?”
Jason’s lip cu
rled, but he reluctantly obeyed. Soon Rurik was rubbing his sore wrists.
“What do you need from us?” asked Damien.
“Aside from a bottle of aspirin?” Rurik said. “A phone.”
Damien nodded to the one called Nicholas, who tossed him his phone.
“Thank you,” Rurik said. Calling Grigori’s cell, Rurik knew he would have to speak English and on speakerphone so his new potential allies would understand and trust him.
“Rurik, is it done? Did you acquire that third vial?” Grigori spoke in Russian, but Rurik answered in clear English.
“Grigori, we have a problem. I ran into Charlotte’s brothers, and while we were having a polite and civil conversation, Charlotte was kidnapped.”
There was a short pause. “Drakor.”
“That is my guess as well,” Rurik said. “We don’t have much time. He’s not a fool. He won’t make the mistake of waiting to kill her in front of us like he tried to do with Madelyn. He will kill her immediately because he knows it will kill me.”
“But he hasn’t already?”
“No…” It was true, he’d have known instantly if Charlotte died, and though it might take hours or days for him to pass on, that part would be inevitable.
“But why not?”
Damien cut in. “I believe he’s going to arrange things to make it look like you did it.”
“Who is this?” Grigori asked.
“Damien MacQueen of the Brotherhood.”
“Why would Drakor fake Charlotte’s death as if we killed her?”
Damien exchanged glances with Rurik. “I think he expects us to exterminate your family in retaliation.”
“Which you would do without question,” Grigori said, a sting in his voice.
“If it’s any consolation, I’d bet money he’d have men in position to take us out afterward,” said Jason, edging closer to the phone. “It’s what I’d do.”
Grigori began cursing, and Rurik heard Madelyn’s sleepy voice in the background as she asked what was going on. “What do you propose, MacQueen?” he said at last.
“If…” Damien paused. “If we work together, we need a few agreements in place for what happens after Charlotte is rescued.” He met Rurik’s stare, then looked down, as if slightly ashamed. “Look. There’s a lot we could argue about right now, I know. Tons of blame to throw at each other. Centuries of bad blood. But that has to wait for another day. Rurik and Charlotte both said that they wanted to be a first step toward us working together, and I believe that. So here’s what I propose. We work together, rescue Charlotte, and part in peace. Then, when you’re ready, we talk, on neutral ground.”
Grigori said nothing for a moment, and when he did speak, his tone had softened. “You’re different from your ancestors. You have a dragon’s wisdom in you. Agreed.”
Jason rolled his eyes. “Great, now that the hug fest is out of the way, would someone explain to me how we find Charlotte?”
“That is up to my brother,” said Grigori. “He’s the only one who could tell us where she is.”
“What? How?” Jason asked.
Rurik stared at the brothers. “The bond between us is already strong. I could sense her wherever she was…until you injected me with that serum.”
“MacQueen drugged you?” Grigori’s shout made the phone’s speakers whine.
“This was before we came to an understanding,” Damien said diplomatically. “Let’s stay focused on the objective here.” Rurik couldn’t help but snort at this oversimplification. But for Charlotte’s sake, he let it go.
Grigori’s voice lost some of its vigor. “Until the drug wears off in Rurik’s system, we won’t know where she is.”
No one moved. Even Damien felt frozen.
“So what do we do?” Jason asked.
Grigori spoke up again. “MacQueen. I need you to listen to me. Drakor will rain fire down on this city. He has nothing left to lose, and once he learns he’ll be fighting you as well as us, he won’t care about casualties, and the first person to die will be your sister. We know his lairs and his allies better than you. If there is any chance to save her, it lies in trusting us.”
There was a tense silence as Damien glanced at the faces of his team, then looked to Rurik and the phone he held.
“What’s your plan?”
“Follow my brother to the roof of the hotel. Mikhail and I will pick you up. Five minutes.” Grigori hung up, and Rurik gave the cell phone back to Nicholas. He slapped Damien on the shoulder, a serious expression shared between them.
“Don’t take it personally, but we’re in charge now, hunter boy.” Rurik grabbed his leather motorcycle jacket, slinging it on as he strode to the door. “You guys coming?”
The others collected their gear and followed Rurik to the elevators. They had no time to waste, not when Charlotte’s life hung in the balance.
17
Dragons and legends…It would have been difficult for any man not to want to fight beside a dragon.―Patricia Briggs, Dragon Blood
“You are Rurik’s mate,” the Russian dragon mused as he leaned in and inhaled Charlotte’s scent. She tensed, closing her eyes as he drew close enough to kiss her. He didn’t, but the invasion of her personal space was unsettling.
When he finally leaned away from her, she opened her eyes again. Luis, the man she’d head-butted, leaned against the closed door, watching her with black eyes. He’d brought her to an expensive high-rise structure in Moscow, newly built and mostly empty. She almost fainted at the height when she realized they were more than forty stories up in an empty corner office. She sat in a metal chair, but she wasn’t restrained. Why bother? She had no way to escape, except jumping.
Luis’s gaze raked down her body. “She reeks of Barinov.”
Dimitri Drakor didn’t seem nearly as brutish as she’d expected. He was nothing like Luis, who’d so casually talked about using her and leaving her ravaged body for Rurik to find. Instead, Drakor stared at with her with open curiosity, as though she were a strangely shaped puzzle piece that wasn’t fitting where he expected.
“He has claimed you.” Drakor brushed her hair back from her neck, his fingers tracing the outline of the still healing bite mark Rurik had left on her.
“That’s just a love bite,” she said, forcing herself to calm down. They weren’t going to kill her, at least not yet.
Drakor smirked. “Just a love bite? I think not. You experienced the dar bogov, didn’t you?” Charlotte looked puzzled, not knowing what he meant. The Russian dragon struggled for words. “I believe in English it means ‘gift of the gods.’ You could see through his eyes, and he through yours.” He reached up and curled his fingers around her throat but did not squeeze.
“Did you know he loved another before you? My son killed her in front of him, before Rurik murdered him. But he never claimed her.”
Charlotte swallowed. The suffering he must have endured being so close to her for so long, yet holding himself back.
Drakor growled softly, his eyes glowing a reddish gold as he captured her attention again.
“I’d counseled my son to wait, to let Rurik mate her first, but he was young and impulsive. He got what he deserved, I suppose. But now I will have my wish. When I kill you, Rurik will die. It might take hours, maybe days, but it will happen. And then his brothers, lost in grief over his death, will be easy targets.” His fingers pressed a little harder into her throat, but his touch was still loose enough that she could breathe. It didn’t stop the panic inside her, however.
“Then why haven’t you killed me yet?”
“I have my reasons,” Drakor said. “Nothing you need concern yourself about. But then there is this…” He crooked a finger in the air. Luis stepped forward, holding up a set of three vials. Charlotte recognized them with dread. They were early samples taken from her lab. A stronger version of the drug she’d created, a version that she didn’t trust herself to use because she feared it might cause long-lasting damage.
“
Yes,” Drakor said, still watching her face. “Luis recovered these from the hunters and thought they might prove useful. Do you care to enlighten us as to what they are? My instincts tell me that you know. In fact, I feel as though your entire presence here in Russia revolves around them.”
Charlotte tried to remember the training she’d had from her brothers, tried to think her way through this. Stay alive. That was her biggest concern. Because staying alive kept Rurik alive too.
“It’s a drug I created. It has the power to make a shifter’s dragon go dormant.”
Luis looked like he wanted to throw the vials on the floor and smash them beneath his boots.
“Why would you make such a thing?” Drakor asked, then raised a finger before she could answer. “Ah. Yes. Of course. Control. Your brothers have plenty of weapons to kill us with, yes, but the Brotherhood has never been able to control us.”
Charlotte’s mouth dropped at the mention of her brothers.
“Oh yes. I know who you are,” Drakor replied. “I found great joy in turning the Brotherhood against the Barinovs. If they aren’t already killing each other, they soon will be. Your death will be made to appear like the other side was responsible. Blood calls out for blood, and when it is over, I will finish off whoever is still alive. But your drug intrigues me, so we will chat a little longer.”
Shit… Charlotte’s heart skipped a few heartbeats, the rush of terror hitting her anew.
Drakor finally let go of her throat. “How does it work?” When she didn’t answer, his hand erupted in fire. He held the flame painfully close to her face.
“Don’t make me ask again,” Drakor warned.
“It’s an enzyme-reaction-based structure. The enzymes lock onto cells with dragon DNA and paralyze them.”
This was, in fact, complete gibberish. The serum had originally been developed by John Dee five hundred years ago, and there was as much magic involved with it as there was science. She could spend years trying to unlock its secrets and trying to explain them in scientific terms. She’d been fortunate that her ability to replicate it hadn’t required any magic of her own.