Inception

by Laxmi Hariharan

  Hope had forgotten that the rest of the crowd was watching his progress across the sand, too, as if he was their own personal strip tease.

  A man called out, "Hope, my bet is on you. Take this outsider down."

  Jason.

  Hope recognized his voice.

  She didn't dare look away from the immortal who stood on the far end of the makeshift fighting ring.

  Her gaze caught with Aaron's and held. The air sizzled. Hope felt her throat go dry, her chest rising-falling with every breath she struggled to draw in.

  Her every muscle was strung so tight that if she didn't move, if she didn't do something, she was going to snap and give way to the clawing fire inside.

  They circled, closing the distance, until they were just a few feet from each other.

  Focusing all her attention on the dragon inside, she drew on its strength. When she spoke, she was proud her voice was firm. "Since you're too busy preening for the crowds, why don't I set the rules?"

  "You don't lack your share of admirers either." Tension underlaid his words. "Someone special?"

  "Who?" She blinked.

  "The shifter who called out to you, he wants to get into your pants."

  "Don’t be crude." Hope flicked the hair out of her eyes, even as pleasure thrummed through her insides.

  He was jealous.

  "Jason's a friend." She lifted her head. "A good friend. He's also a dragon shifter," she couldn't resist adding.

  Aaron's jaw set.

  Hope stifled a chuckle.

  "So, rules," he gritted out.

  Hope bent her knees and leaned forward, arms raised in a defensive move. "The only rule is that I won't shift. Okay?"

  Without waiting for Aaron to acknowledge her words, Hope charged toward him. The rational part of her brain, the one that had managed to throw off the sexual net he'd swung over her, pinged a warning.

  Too fast. She was going too fast.

  She should have waited and baited him. Instead, she'd been so frustrated with herself for being so affected by him that she'd simply thrown herself into the fight.

  The loss of control only made her furious with herself.

  She should have learned to control her emotions in a fight. Yet, there she was, anger pulsing through her, twining with the heat of desire that refused to abate. It made her a little mad. Pushed her to get the better of this male who'd thrust his way into her life. She couldn't resist this attraction to him, but she could still try to defeat him in an honest fight, right?

  Aaron didn't move, though. His body was immobile, every muscle locked.

  Hope was sure she was going to crash into him and throw him off his feet.

  Her muscles relaxed, bracing for impact. Her mind was already sure she’d won this fight, when he stepped aside. At the very last second.

  She brushed past him, so close that a hint of that deep, edgy eucalyptus scent of his teased her nostrils, and then she was flying past him. The sand rushed up to meet her.

  At the last moment, Hope turned her body enough to have her rolling, breaking her fall. She came to a halt on her back, spitting out the sand in her mouth.

  Without giving herself time to recover, she leapt back to her feet and turned. Breath coming in short gasps, sweat beaded her forehead.

  Inside, her dragon ruffled its wings. She wanted out, wanting to fly. To preen for him as he had earlier.

  She hissed a warning, gentling the beast, asking the animal part of her to calm down. Right then was not the time to play. She couldn't lose the fight.

  Knees bent, she circled, hands up in a fighter's stance.

  Their eyes met. Held. Desire flared, a hot uncontrollable feeling.

  Hope let it bleed through her veins, reveling in that feeling of wild, uncontrollable passion. The promise of as much flared in his eyes. It fooled the dragon part of her into being compliant.

  Only for a few seconds.

  It gave her just enough time to calm her breath and bend her knees, to find that core inside of her that steadied her. Allowing her to wait for him to come.

  Still, Aaron didn't break his gaze.

  He wasn't giving in to her. She was so not going to be the first to blink in this game.

  They circled each other once. Twice. The only sound on the beach was that of waves crashing on the shore.

  A fine hum of tension from Aaron reached out to her. He moved toward her, sliding with a lethal grace that tugged her to come to him.

  14

  Aaron

  The sweat ran down her body, glistening in the sun, reflecting the honey-brown of her skin.

  Aaron wanted to throw her down on the sand and lick her all over.

  The part of him attracted to this woman from the moment he'd met her pushed him on, telling him to just do that. Pushing aside his thoughts, he circled her, fists curled and held up in front.

  Aaron dared not take his eyes off her.

  The way she moved, every muscle wary, tension vibrating off her in a fine cadence, he was sure she was planning something. But what?

  The tension stretched between them, building and flowing, tugging at his senses, warning him that something was going to happen. Or maybe that was just his gut twisting, sending a pulse of such want through him that he felt light-headed for a second.

  This was a fight, he reminded himself, and she was a pawn in a strategic move aimed at forming an alliance with the dragons.

  The edginess inside him ratcheted up and continued to build, stretching his muscles until it felt like every fiber of his being was shivering.

  Every cell in his body was finely tuned to the woman facing him. The wind rushed over his skin as he circled, moving closer. When he was within a few feet of her, he darted toward her.

  She evaded him and slid aside, in a flash of honey-gold skin.

  He stumbled, trying to regain his balance, his hand grasping at the air where she'd just been.

  She was already turning on him.

  He felt her slam into him from behind. Felt the beach rush up to meet him. Turning his head at the last moment, he avoided his nose hitting the ground.

  His chest rammed into the sandy ground, and the breath was knocked out of him.

  Her hands gripped the back of his head and kept his cheek plastered to the sand.

  Her thighs locked around his waist. She wrested his arms behind his back and locked them in place.

  His muscle strained as he tried to move, only to find that he was trapped. Sweat dripped down his forehead.

  She was strong, his dragoness. In human form, they were well matched. He could only imagine how much more powerful her dragon was.

  "Yield." Her breath snaked over his skin in a way that had his nerve endings crackling with awareness.

  "You're too confident, baby." His voice came out muffled against the sand. He'd used the endearment to rile her.

  "Don't call me baby."

  He chuckled at the thread of irritation in her voice.

  The next moment she leaned in, her breasts plastered against his back.

  He was instantly hard.

  He could feel her curves outlined against his skin, her nipples thrusting into his back with every breath she took.

  If he stayed in this position for too long, he was going to give away just how aroused he was.

  She was a strong warrior, and he owed it to her to fight back. Even as the thought ran through his mind, he pushed back against her hold.

  In a move he'd mastered many times in his fights with Zayn, he twisted his wrist and broke free.

  He heard her indrawn breath.

  The next moment, she was on her back, and he was leaning over her.

  15

  Hope

  Cobalt-blue eyes blazed at her. This close, she could make out the swirling black of his iris. The blue was startling against it.

  He grasped her arms and held them up over her head, shackling her wrists.

  Dense heat from him poured over her, and she gasped. She f
elt her dragon revel in his nearness.

  She felt the woman in her respond to the sheer animal magnetism of the male who held her down.

  He had his knees bent on either side of her waist, but no part of his body touched her. He'd kept his weight off her, knowing he was heavier than her human form.

  She'd thought she was stronger than him. She'd underestimated him.

  The rational part of her was angry she'd let him distract her, even as her dragon chuckled at the immortal's ability to get under her skin.

  Her muscles strained against his hold, she tried to yank herself free and found she couldn't move. She was at his mercy. A primitive part of her thrilled at his strength.

  The warrior in her raged at being brought down. She wasn't going to give in, not without a fight.

  She heard a growling noise and felt the vibrations shudder up her throat. Her dragon was turned on. The beast was enjoying this challenge. It was an excuse to get close to her immortal.

  Her immortal?

  Her dragon was laying claim to him. She was writhing against the psychic leash Hope had on her.

  His eyes dropped to her lips and slid down to where her chest rose and fell. She felt her nipples harden as heat sizzle through her veins. He was touching her with his gaze, marking her with his nearness.

  She felt surrounded by his scent. Felt his possessiveness sink into her skin. Marking her as his.

  Her dragon lashed out against the barrier and broke through. Gritting her teeth, she slammed down a secondary psychic shield over it, caging it.

  She hated herself for doing that, but she had no choice.

  His eyebrows furrowed. It was as if he'd sensed her dragon's struggle. But that had to be impossible. There was no link between them on the psychic plane.

  Not yet.

  She intended to keep it that way.

  Hope felt fear twist her insides. It was time to move.

  Raising her chin, she licked her lips. "Kiss me."

  He blinked. "What?" His eyes fixed on her lips, even as he stayed where he was.

  "You know you want to." Bending her knee, she brushed her thigh against the solid flesh of his inner thigh. She slid her leg up until she felt his hardness and rubbed against him.

  A nerve throbbed to life at his temple. "You’re playing with fire." A bead of sweat rolled down his forehead, down his nose, and plopped on her chin.

  "No, you're playing with a dragon, baby." Lips widening in a smirk, mirroring his earlier move, she twisted her wrists and pulled free.

  Scissoring her legs around his waist, she heaved him off her. Muscles groaning with the effort, adrenaline pumping in her blood, a growl was torn out of her as she flung him away.

  She felt his body crash down. The vibration of the impact shuddered through her. With a cry of triumph, she leaped to her feet. Face angled, she looked down at the fallen man.

  His eyes were open and fixed on her. The sheer pride on his face mirrored the exhilaration pumping through her.

  She'd been sure that his self-esteem would have been hurt at being defeated by a woman. Dominant male that he was, he would surely want to turn away from her after this. She'd underestimated him again.

  He held out an arm, not breaking the intensity of his gaze. The air between them was alive with unsaid emotions, and with something more that she didn't dare put a name to.

  As if in a dream, she reached out. Grasping his hand, she pulled him up.

  His touch sizzled straight to her womb.

  And that was as if a signal to the dragon inside of her. For it rammed against the secondary psychic shield she'd wrenched on it. Breaking through, her dragon reached out to Aaron on the psychic plane.

  16

  Aaron

  Blistering heat galloped up his nerves, only to crash against his psychic senses in an explosion of silver light.

  It was so profound, it simply broke through his natural psychic blocks, sinking into that part of him he'd kept protected for so long. The part that he'd not even shared with Zayn, his twin.

  He stood, heart stripped bare. In that second, he realized this woman, this proud warrior, was his mate.

  Aaron felt the sand under his feet and the brush of the sea breeze over his skin.

  His mind cleared.

  He was still mourning his twin. He wasn't ready to move on. He wasn't ready for what he felt for her.

  Wasn't ready to admit he needed Hope so much, for doing so felt like he was being disloyal to his own twin.

  When Zayn had been alive, Aaron had never felt the need to have another in his life. For so long they had defined themselves against each other; together they'd been whole.

  He'd found his mate while Zayn… Zayn was dead. His twin would never find his mate. He'd never live to know what it felt like to find the other missing part of his soul.

  He wasn’t ready to let go of the grief he carried inside for Zayn. Wasn’t ready to let Hope fill that wound.

  Dropping her hand, he took a step back.

  Without another word, unable to express what was going through his mind, he turned to leave.

  Hope ran up to him and gripped his upper arm. Heat from her fingertips bled into his skin, the touch sizzling straight to that part of him that was still very turned on by her nearness.

  He knew he couldn't dare risk showing her how much he desired her. Not when he wasn't sure about his feelings for her.

  "You won." He looked at a point over her shoulder. "I won't fight you anymore."

  He wanted her, yet he didn't know if he was strong enough to face up to the feelings she evoked in him. For once he accepted her, there was no turning back, not for him.

  He glanced to where Hope's hand still gripped his arm. "Your choice, dragon shifter. Do you want to partner together in this search for the Elysians?"

  Her hand dropped away. Face stripped of all emotion, she gave a curt nod. "Partners. Just until we rescue Mira."

  Aaron knew that the moment she could, Hope would break their tenuous alliance… as would he.

  17

  Hope

  The chemistry between them had been racing since the two of them first met, but what had taken place last night was something else.

  Her dragon had leapt for him on the psychic plane, had brushed up against the blue flame of his spirit.

  She'd sensed the instinctive surge of energy from him rushing to meet her, almost as if he'd felt her dragon stir within and call out to him. Had he sensed her dragon on the psychic plane?

  But that should be impossible, for only a mate could sense her dragon on that intimate a level. He couldn't be her mate. There was no way she could consider that.

  Not when she was duty bound to mate with Jason.

  Her eyebrows furrowed as her mind raced through the events from last evening. In the early morning light, she waited at the pier.

  Hope loved this time of the morning when the pink in the distance was a pale blush that bled out into the purple of the skies. It was not night, not morning, just that in between time when the promise of a new day hung heavy in the air. Breathing in deep, she filled her lungs with the crisp morning air.

  When the hair at the nape of her neck prickled, she wasn't even surprised. Her body had an internal warning system so sensitized to the presence of this man that she could sense him approach her.

  She didn't need to see him to imagine that lethal predatory gait of his as he stalked through the darkness toward her.

  As a dragon shifter, she'd always thought she was strong, the most dangerous of all species. But she'd met one particular immortal, warrior male, and she knew she was wrong.

  For Aaron carried a sense of danger around him, one that drew her to him, that made her want to breathe in his scent. She wanted to drown in those blue eyes that promised he'd fight her fears, that he'd be there for her when she needed a sanctuary; and that scared her.

  As he came up to stand beside her, the scent of eucalyptus and pine on crisp morning air teased her senses. Heat f
rom his body poured over her… stark in its contrast to the morning air. Goosebumps shimmered across her skin, and she rubbed her forearms.

  "You're cold?" Surprise tinged his voice.

  She looked up at him from below her lashes. "I may be a dragon shifter with fire running through my veins, but I am human too."

  "From where I am, you are one-hundred-percent warm, sensuous, human female." That rich voice of his poured over her skin like honey.

  A wicked light glinted in his eyes. He was teasing her.

  The truth was that the fire-breathing part of her that was her heart blazed strong enough that her temperature ran high. Hope had been to colder climates and found that, even surrounded by snow, she didn't need much insulation against the elements.

  But this immortal was more dangerous than treacherous weather. She needed to shield herself against him.

  Wrenching herself away from his side, she turned and marched toward the cruiser anchored on the pier.

  Stepping onto the boat, she began preparing for their departure.

  Of course, he didn't wait for an invitation. He jumped in after her. He'd taken her for granted.

  She decided to let it pass… this time.

  Casting off, she walked into the cockpit. Eyes focused in front, she started the engine and pulled away from the pier.

  The warmth at her side warned her he’d slid his body into the narrow space next to her at the helm.

  She half-expected him to insist that he be the one to steer.

  He stood next to her, arms folded over his chest.

  He'd surprised her again. She didn't like it, not one bit.

  "How far is it to Seychelles?" She sensed his gaze caressing her features.

  They weren't even touching, yet the low timber of his voice seduced her. She found herself leaning into him and made herself pull back.

  Sliding her feet just enough to put a few inches between them, she gestured west. "It's a day and night journey by boat that way."