Wicked Dark Dragon (Dragon Heat)

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Prologue

old and hungry, Ivy Morales blinked away the tears clouding her vision. The icy metal slab under

her body amplified her discomfort and fear. The cuffs locking her wrists and ankles to the table were
bad enough, but the strap across her throat sent waves of panic through her chest. She swallowed
anxiously and tried to calm her racing heart.

A rustle of fabric accompanied by an unpleasant smell warned her what was coming. With a

whisper of movement, a strange woman garbed in voluminous black robes entered the room. From
what Ivy could tell, it was a prison hospital operating theater that had been converted into a place for
interrogation—or worse.

Almost instantly, her head began to throb. Somehow, some way, this woman and the men who had

kidnapped her had uncovered her secret. They knew things about her that no one, not even her parents,
had known. Now this nefarious woman dug around in Ivy’s mind and tried to mine all the information
she could.

But Ivy was stronger and proving to be more difficult than that creepy woman seemed to have

expected. She found a grim sort of satisfaction in thwarting their plans. So much of her control and
power had been taken away when she had been kidnapped. She enjoyed frustrating them and denying
them what they wanted—but it caused her a great deal of pain.

How much longer would this torment last? She tried to remember how many marks she had

scratched onto the walls of her prison cell with that sharp rock. With each new slash and every
passing day, the glimmer of hope within her grew dimmer and dimmer.

Like the wet, cold worm slithering along her neck, that awful thing—because Ivy was seriously

beginning to doubt the female presence was even human—psychically slipped into her ear and began
twisting up into Ivy’s brain. Hissing with pain, she gritted her teeth and clamped down hard on her
memories. She had learned to push all the energy she could muster into maintaining that impervious
membrane between her memories and that thing’s probing psychic finger.

Every now and then, she threw the Mind Miner a bone. Tonight, she let it see memories of her

childhood birthday parties. It wasn’t what that smelly hag wanted, but Ivy didn’t much care. She
wasn’t going to break. Not tonight.

Drifting deeper and deeper into a dreamlike state, Ivy embraced that side of her she had dutifully

kept hidden all these years. It was the side of her that remained as mysterious and unknown as the
names and fates of the birth parents who had abandoned her as a baby. She had been loved and
cherished by her adoptive parents, but she had always wondered where she had come from—and why
she was different.

So different that these evil people had taken her from her spring break getaway and locked her

away in this old Mexican prison to torture her. So different that sometimes she honestly believed she

wasn’t human at all.

Because you are not human, Ivy.
The unexpected sound of a proud male voice ricocheting around her mind almost shattered her

concentration. Her psychic tormentor pounced on that momentary weakness and tried to get inside the
thin spot in Ivy’s mental wall. A quiver of fear pierced her heart. She couldn’t fail. She had to be
strong.

You are not human, Ivy. You are one of us.
An invisible fist gripped Ivy’s core right behind her navel and dragged her into a mind space that

wasn’t her own. She tried to make sense of what was happening. The sensations gripping her body
were so strong and real she briefly entertained the idea that she might be hallucinating until she
realized that there were boundaries to the psychic space she occupied. She couldn’t manipulate this
new place as easily as her own thoughts and memories, which meant…

This strange place was someone else’s dream!
Her bare feet touched cold, hard cement. She blinked and tried to focus her fuzzy vision. A quick

glance left and right told her she was standing in a gym. It looked like some kind of training center for
fighters, probably mixed martial arts. Judging by the dimmed lights and silence, it was after hours and
closed.

But she could hear a shower running somewhere in the large space. Tiptoeing quietly through this

strange dream world, she followed the sound to the entrance of a locker room. She took a single step
forward and stopped. Even if it was only a dream, there were still rules about respecting another
person’s privacy.

“He’s searching for you.”
That raspy male voice startled her. She spun around and spotted a flash of movement on the

shadowy edges of the gym. Tall, lean, and tattooed, a man stepped forward, but his face remained
hidden by darkness. The more she studied him, the fuzzier he looked, almost as if he was out of focus.

It finally occurred to her that the mental strength required to project himself into this dream, a

dream that wasn’t hers or his but some third person’s, must have been great. But maybe there was too
much interference from the Mind Miner? It was like static on a television screen, distorting his image
and presence.

The shadowy man stalked toward her with long, purposeful strides. She backed up and hit the wall

behind her. As he drew closer, he made a point of showing her that he meant no harm. He wasn’t here
to hurt her. No, he seemed more intent on guiding her.

But toward what?
“Look at me.” He grasped her shoulders and hauled her closer. She stared up into his shadowy

face but couldn’t find his eyes. “Look into me.”

The grip on her shoulders tightened almost painfully. She stared into the fathomless darkness of his

face—and saw everything. A lifetime of dreams flooded her mind. How many nights had she awoken
shaking and in a cold sweat because of those wildly vivid dreams of winged creatures and bloodied
knights?

He turned her gently and pressed her forward through the doorway of the locker room, around a

bench, and into the alcove lined with showers. She didn’t want to intrude, but she couldn’t stop
walking. Her feet seemed to be controlled by him.

Ivy tried to avert her eyes when she realized there was a naked man standing under the shower

spray, but the shadow man cupped her face between his rough palms and lifted her head. She trained
her gaze on the showering man’s back. He had brawny shoulders and the widest back she had ever
seen. Tattoos swirled along his tanned skin. The symbols marking him looked ancient and powerful.

This man looked powerful.
Water sluiced along his muscular shoulders and biceps. He fit her vision of a brawler with his

huge size, but she sensed he was a skilled and refined fighter. The total opposite of every man that she
had ever dated, the beast lathering soap on his muscular arms awakened a clawing need within her.
She became intensely aware of his scent, a smell so strong and enticing that she breathed it deep into
her lungs and held it there.

“He’s been searching for you for ages.” The hands clasping her face dropped to her shoulders.

“Let him find you, Ivy. Let him save you.” Strong fingers squeezed her shoulders. “And then you can
save us.”

Unable to look away from the man who had enthralled her with his powerful presence and

intoxicating scent, Ivy swallowed hard. She didn’t understand it, but she felt as if this moment might
truly be the first step along the path to find the answers to the questions that had plagued her since
childhood.

“How?” she asked, her voice small and faint.
“Reveal yourself. He’ll do the rest.”
It sounded too easy, but she had to try. This might be her only chance at rescue. She had to grab

hold with both hands and fight. Closing her eyes, she concentrated on the showering man. See me.
Turn around, and see me.

When Ivy opened her eyes, she found startlingly green irises fixed on her. The shadowy male

presence that had guided her this far slowly faded and disappeared. Now she existed in this dream
space with only this green-eyed man.

My man.
The unbidden thought shocked her, but it felt strangely right. Something primal inside her flared

white-hot at the idea that she belonged to this great big hulk of a man. Judging by the smoldering and
intense expression on his handsome face, he felt the same. He tilted his head and stepped out from
under the shower spray. His gaze raked over her from head to toe and back up again. He seemed
confused by her presence but curious.

“Who’s there?” A gruff, deep voice echoed in the locker room. “I can feel you. I can smell you.

Step out and face me.”

He can’t see me. Why can’t he see me?
Ivy opened her mouth to answer him in the hopes that he might be able to hear her, but a painful

sensation twisted her stomach. Doubled over, she choked on the agonizingly sharp pain. She braced
herself on the wall and stumbled out of the locker room and back onto the main gym floor.

Except it wasn’t a gym anymore. Ivy found herself standing in a graveyard. Everywhere she looked

there were tombstones. Hugging herself and burning with pain, she took wobbly steps across the
damp grass. She didn’t understand this new place. Was the beast from the shower thinking of this
cemetery? Or was it the Mind Miner?

Surrounded by death, she lurched forward as a violent force ripped her out of the dream and right

back into her own mind. Her psychic tormenter struck out with one final mental blow before angrily
but weakly retreating fully from Ivy’s mind. The pain began to fade, and Ivy gulped air into her lungs.

Chapter One

ne night of sleep.

Ian Madoc silently bargained with the universe to give him one single night of uninterrupted sleep.

Sliding into bed, he flopped onto his back and draped his arm over his tired eyes. His head pounded,
and his joints ached. Mouth dry, he reached for the glass of water on the bedside table and drained it
in four long gulps. That should have been enough to tide him over until morning, but his parched
tongue demanded more.

What the hell is wrong with me?
Mad shoved out of bed and trudged into the bathroom. He filled the glass with cold water from the

tap and drank it straight down before refilling it and carrying it back to the bedside table. As he
crawled between the sheets, his stomach growled angrily. For dinner, he had eaten half a damned
cow! How in the world could he be hungry all ready?

Rolling onto his stomach, Mad tried to make sense of all the strange symptoms he’d been

experiencing. The hunger and thirst he could attribute to the heavy work schedule at the gym he owned
with his cousin Griffin. Business was booming, and he was spending more time training clients and
engaged in heavy physical labor. The head and muscle aches he chalked up to stress, but the spiked
increase in his libido? That one had him concerned. Lately, all he could think about was sex.

He had almost considered that he was about to go into heat, but he was two years too early for a

heat phase so it definitely wasn’t that. The uncontrollable urge to mate came upon dragon shifters like
himself  every  three  years  until  they  found  their  other  half.  Like  most  dragons  sworn  to  the
Brotherhood  of  the  Green  Hide,  Mad  had  chosen  to  remain  unmated  and  to  commit  his  life  to  the
cause of defending their kind against the murderous Knights. Only Stig Wyvern had broken that pact
so  far,  choosing  to  keep  his  mostly  human  mate  Cora.  Of  course,  with  Griff  locked  away  with  the
Naga shifter Avani Monroe during a shared mating phase, there might be another Brother adding his
name to that list.

Perhaps it had something to do with the bizarre and unsettling dreams he had been sharing with a

faceless female presence. Somehow, some way, this woman had managed to worm her way into his
mind  while  he  slept.  The  dreams  started  differently  every  night,  but  she  was  always  there.  He
couldn’t  see  her  face,  but  he  could  smell  her.  Some  mornings  he  woke  up  with  her  tempting  scent
clinging  to  his  nostrils,  teasing  him  with  something  that  was  always  just  out  of  reach.  Twenty-one
nights of dreams, and he was no closer to knowing her identity than when they had first started.

The gnawing hunger, the unquenchable thirst, the chill that followed him everywhere—they all

meant something, but what?

Burying his face in his pillow, Mad closed his eyes and tried to ignore his hollow stomach. The

moment his eyelids shuttered, he experienced the strongest tug toward sleep. He hadn’t known

exhaustion like this in years, not since the war with the Knights of St. George had been at one of its
peaks.

In recent months, the attacks from that human shadow group hell-bent on eradicating all dragons

had been in an upswing. Mad feared a full-blown war was inevitable. After a lull of nearly a century,
the Knights seemed to have regrouped and strengthened. The attack like the one that had nearly killed
Stig and his new mate Cora were meant to provoke a response—and that was exactly what they were
going to get if they continued to push. Unfortunately, any response by the Brotherhood would be one
that would lead to heavy casualties on both sides.

A lulling hum pulled him away from his troubled thoughts. Mad surrendered to the warm current

dragging him down into the deepest, murkiest waters of sleep. Like every night for the past three
weeks, he found himself walking the bustling streets of a Mexican seaside town. Mariachis played for
the tourists while young boys hawked small packs of gum. The scents and sounds of the busy mercado
were so vividly real. If he reached out and took one of the aguas frescas for sale, he would have
been able to taste the sweetness of the watermelon and feel the icy chill against his tongue.

The scene morphed, and darkness settled over him. The rich trill of trumpets faded and was

replaced by the thumping bass of a dance beat. Now he was in a nightclub, one of the big, glitzy
nightspots that catered to the moneyed college crowd that descended every spring.

But his vantage point was all wrong as he weaved through the thick, pulsing crowd. He was down

low and at risk of being crushed by all the bodies jamming the dance floor. Someone jostled him, and
he stumbled backward and only barely managed to catch his balance and avoid a nasty spill.

Looking up into the face of the red-haired man who had slammed into him, Mad realized he wasn’t

watching the revelry from above as he had every night before this. He was in the body of the dreamer
and sharing this bizarre sleep state with him. He was in her body, the nameless, faceless presence
who owned this world where he now trespassed.

And she was small. Judging by the height difference between her and the man who had nearly

knocked her over, the woman was barely an inch or two above five feet. Despite her tiny stature, she
didn’t take any shit from the man who had whacked her with his bigger body. When he slid closer in a
provocative manner, she put up both hands and shoved hard. Shaking her head, she sidestepped the
taller man’s grabby hands and continued her hazardous trek across the packed dance floor.

A desperate urge to protect this tiny woman blazed within him. It was a sensation he could no

longer  deny.  Since  the  first  dream  they  had  shared,  he  had  been  unable  to  shake  this  growing  need
within  him.  He  wanted  to  know  her.  He  wanted  to  see  her  smile  and  hear  her  laugh.  More  than
anything,  he  wanted  to  be  the  one  holding  her  hand  and  guiding  her  through  the  crowd,  using  his
bigger, stronger frame to shield her from all others.

Despite playing down his dreams to Griffin, Mad grudgingly acknowledged that this was no

simple case of psychic energy siphoning. This was so much more complicated and dangerous. A
word he never dared imagine he would ever claim floated in the back of his mind. While he wanted
to insist that it was impossible that this unknown woman was that word, he couldn’t deny the feeling
clenching his gut.

She entered a room at the rear of the club. A bathroom, he quickly realized, as women chatted and

primped at the sinks. She entered an empty stall and locked it. Worried this dream was about to get
awkward, he experienced a wave of relief when she leaned back against the stall door and closed her
eyes. Suddenly, he could hear her thoughts.

Leave. Leave and stay far away.
A cold sensation crept along his spine. His stomach pitched, and his chest tightened. He wanted to

get out of her body and out of the bathroom as quickly as possible, but he was anchored in her mind.
The other women in the bathroom weren’t as tightly moored. One by one, they drifted out of the
bathroom.

Confused, Mad tried to figure out if what he was experiencing was truly a dream or if it was a

memory. If it was a memory, if this was a snapshot of a real moment, had she really cleared an entire
room with a single thought? Was this woman more than human?

She exited the stall and crossed to the entrance. She locked it from the inside and then marched to

the closest mirror. He expected to finally catch a glimpse of her face but the mirror’s surface looked
smoky and smudged. Despite being totally alone in the bathroom, he sensed a dark, evil presence
lurking just out of sight. A cold, unsettling sensation crawled along his skin.

With shaking hands, she flipped the clasp on her small black purse and retrieved a tube of lipstick.

She dropped the lid into the sink and twisted the base. Using the flirty pink shade like a pencil, she
started to write on the mirror.

My name is Ivy Morales.
I have been missing for three weeks.
I am like you.
I need your help.
Save me.
As Mad read the message she scrawled on the mirror, he experienced a rough and painful shoving

sensation that squeezed the air out of his lungs. The mirror’s reflection began to clear, the murky
fogginess fading, and suddenly he saw himself standing behind a petite black-haired beauty in a shiny
purple dress. Their gazes locked in the mirror. Her striking eyes, one the color of coffee and the other
a vibrant shade of reptilian gold with crimson flecks, told the entire story.

She wasn’t human. She wasn’t dragon. She was both.
She held up her hand, lifting it just over her shoulder, and silently asked him to take it. He grasped

her smaller hand, her fingers thin and delicate, and marveled at the electric zing that arced along his
skin. Gripping his hand, she spun toward him and stepped in close. The air rushed from his lungs
when he peered down at her. His heart did a wild flip, and he swallowed hard.

Ivy. Her name ricocheted around in his mind. Something about this young woman with dark hair

and pouty lips was so familiar. The faintest tickle of a thought teased him but he couldn’t drag it forth.
Entranced by her oddly hued eyes, he held his breath when her fingertip traced the edge of his jaw
and his bottom lip. She was too short to reach any higher, even in her heels. He cupped her face in
one big hand, silently urging her to stay perfectly still so he could study her features. No answer came
to him.

In a club so packed with humans, he shouldn’t have been so incredibly aware of the scent of one

single half-dragon girl. There were too many perfumes, colognes, and all of that alcohol mixing with
the smell of sweat and pheromones to mask the familiar earthen smell of a dragon. Yet he had no
trouble at all picking out the notes of lavender and sandalwood clinging to her.

The urge to breathe in her unique scent gripped him. He leaned down and nuzzled her neck,

drawing in the smell of her and holding it in his lungs until every last cell was saturated. He watched
tiny bumps blossom on Ivy’s skin as he brushed the tip of his nose along the curve of her neck. She

gripped his shirt and rose on tiptoes to press against him, molding her nubile form to his hard chest.

Something inside him snapped. For weeks, he had been a mere spectator in these dreams. Now he

wanted to participate. Wrapping an arm around her waist, he hauled her right up off the floor and
deposited her on the edge of the sink. Ivy gasped at his display of strength. Her eyelids shuttered
briefly. When they parted again, both eyes had shifted to that golden color and her pupils were long
slits. He didn’t have to glance at his reflection to know that his were now the same red shade as the
scales of his inner beast.

She slid her hands along his arms and shoulders and clasped either side of his neck. He dipped

down and teased his nose against hers before brushing his lips to hers with the barest whisper of
contact. Mad tangled his fingers in those long, dark waves and tilted her head back. Her excited
breaths sent a quiver of anticipation through his chest. She trembled against him, and the feel of her
smaller body shaking like that did wild things to his heart.

Finally, he captured her soft, pouty lips. What began as a gentle, chaste kiss quickly morphed into

something far more dangerous. He traced the seam of her lips with the tip of his tongue, silently
seeking entrance, and then delved between them when she whimpered with uncertainty. The dream
was so damned real he could taste the sweetness of pineapple juice and the bite of tequila clinging to
her lips.

Wanting more of her, needing more of her, Mad cradled the back of her head and took the lead,

embracing that dominant side of himself, which had always enjoyed being in control. Sliding his hand
along her thigh, he slipped his fingers under her skirt and trailed them along her silky skin. Ivy made a
needful, excited noise that rippled through his chest and traveled straight to his cock. Showing some
boldness, she wrapped her legs around his waist and rocked against him.

The corners of his mouth lifted with a pleased smile that interrupted their wild kisses. She shyly

grinned up at him, the pink stain of her cheeks telling him that she wasn’t nearly as experienced as she
pretended to be. The allure of innocence had never been one that he had understood…until Ivy.

Overwhelmed by the primal call to mate that her scent and taste evoked, Mad surged against her,

making sure to let the hard ridge of his trapped erection rub right between the V of her thighs. She
gasped, and her shuddery breaths buffeted his jaw. More than anything in the world, he wanted to be
buried deep inside his sweet Ivy. He wanted to feel her nails clawing at his back and her slick, hot
sheath clenching his shaft as they came together.

His sweet Ivy?
The possessive thought gripped him and just wouldn’t let go. This young woman who had invaded

his dreams intrigued him. He wanted to know her. He needed to know everything about her. Where
had she come from? Where was she going? Was he going there with her? What made her laugh? What
made her cry? What did she want out of life?

Desperate to get those answers, Mad attempted to wrest control of the dream from Ivy by calling

forth  the  gifts  of  his  dragon,  but  awakening  his  inner  beast  had  a  bizarre  effect.  Everything  around
them  pulsed.  The  lights  dimmed  for  a  few  seconds  and  then  brightened  to  an  almost  blinding
whiteness. As  if  alive,  the  walls  throbbed,  the  peeling  paint  bubbling  and  dripping  with  a  strange
black fluid. The floor shifted beneath his feet, and he fell forward against Ivy. He curved a protective
hand  along  the  back  of  her  head,  shielding  her  from  the  mirror,  and  pulled  her  in  tight  against  his
chest.

“I see you, Welshman.” A slithery, hissing voice shattered their sensual moment. He glanced

around, searching for the origin, but he couldn’t find it. The room darkened and seemed to be growing
smaller and smaller.

“Look at me.” Ivy jerked on the front of his shirt. The panicked expression twisting her beautiful

face hit him in the gut. He started to reassure her that he would take care of her, but she stopped him
before he could form even one single word. Her fingertips were cold as ice when they touched his
lips. As the dream world she had created disintegrated, so did the brightness in her eyes and the color
in her cheeks. Pale with dark circles under her eyes and lips cracked with dehydration, she stared up
at him. “Save me?” she pleaded.

He clasped her thin wrist and swore a vow. “I will save you, Ivy.”
“Hurry. I can’t hold on much longer. She’s going to break me—and then I won’t be able to protect

you or the other dragons.” She tugged her wrist free and placed her palm against his chest. Her very
touch branded him, and he inhaled sharply as the blistering pain scorched his skin. Catching him by
surprise, she lifted her other hand and slapped him right across the face. Despite her small stature, she
walloped him as hard as Griff ever had. He didn’t think his seven-foot-tall cousin had ever knocked
his block off quite like Ivy. “Wake up!”

Bolting upright in bed, Madoc clutched his burning chest and sucked in a ragged breath. Sweat

sluiced down his skin, soaking his sheets and cooling his overheated body. He touched his stinging
face and winced. If he’d had any doubts about the veracity of the dream, the bruise forming on his
cheek and the pain over his heart convinced him it was real.

On legs as shaky as a newborn colt’s, he clambered out of bed but only managed two steps before

he dropped to his knees. Sapped of energy, he used the nearest piece of furniture to haul himself
upright. It finally occurred to him that his ravenous hunger and thirst and this relentless tiredness he
had been experiencing were because Ivy had been draining him to survive. Wherever she was being
held, she was being deprived of food and water and deliberately weakened.

And it enraged him.
Fueled by his anger, Mad left his bedroom and headed downstairs. He kept a hand on the wall to

maintain  his  balance  and  avoid  a  nasty  fall.  When  he  hit  the  living  room,  he  dropped  down  on  his
couch  and  reached  for  the  laptop  he  had  been  using  a  few  hours  earlier  to  research  dreams.  The
moment  the  screen  awakened,  he  typed  in  the  name  she  had  written  on  the  mirror  but  his  fingers
slowed as he hit the last few keys.

“Ivy.” His whisper sounded so harsh in the stillness of his home. Blood pounded in his head as he

suddenly realized who this mysterious dream girl was. “Her.”

Memories from years ago, during a time when the blood feud between dragons and Knights had

been fomented to a fever pitch, blitzed Mad. Ivy looked so familiar to him because she favored her
mother Phoebe, a female dragon from the ancient Niko Drakon’s tribe.

Impetuous. Wasn’t that how Niko had described his kin?
Phoebe had been young, as far as dragons go, not more than three hundred years old, and she had

had the audacity to fall head over heels in love with a Knight of St. George.

Mad rubbed the back of his neck. Ages ago, he and Griffin had been tasked with taking Phoebe and

her human lover into custody to protect them. Not surprisingly, Phoebe had seen it as kidnapping, and
she had plotted with the father of her unborn child to escape at the first chance. Niko had managed to
keep them under lock and key long enough for the baby to be born, but somehow her lover had
overpowered Niko.

The couple and their baby hadn’t made it far before those vicious, murdering bastards of the

Knights of St. George caught up with them. Phoebe had died protecting her child, but her lover—
Yves, Mad finally remembered—had fought to the bitter end. The Brotherhood had arrived too late to
save him. Madoc had held the dying man’s hand as he drew his last breath and had been the one to dig
the graves where they had buried the murdered couple.

And that precious little baby? She had quieted the moment Niko had taken her in his arms and

rocked  her  so  gently.  Her  tribe  mate  had  sworn  he  would  protect  her  and  he  had.  The  alchemist
dragon  had  cooked  up  one  of  his  concoctions  to  suppress  the  supernatural  side  of  her  until  she
reached  adulthood.  More  than  anything,  Niko  had  wanted  that  tiny  baby  girl  to  enjoy  a  normal
childhood and early life instead of the hell that she would have certainly known if Niko had kept her
at his estate.

Batting away the ugly memories, Mad finished typing in Ivy’s full name and searched for any

information on her. As he scanned the results, he touched the crook of his arm and thought of the blood
he had given Niko for that potion. Niko had explained that dragon blood from a male belonging to a
rival tribe would cancel out the Knight blood in the girl until she became of age and it would make
her impossible to track.

Mad hadn’t given a second thought to donating his blood. He had sworn his life to the

Brotherhood, and if Niko asked him to bleed for the cause, he would happily slice open his wrist.

It appeared the potion had worked. Clearly, Ivy had been able to grow up unbothered and off the

radar of the Knights of St. George. She had gone to college before the Knights had tracked her down
and taken her captive. There was no doubt in his mind that it had to be them holding her now. That
creepy fucking voice that had shattered the dream and called him Welshman had to belong to their
Seer. The Knights saw some potential use for Ivy, no doubt as a weapon against the dragons.

The real question? Why was she reaching out to him? Niko was her kin and her tribal leader. Her

bond with Niko should have been the strongest and the easiest to exploit. Family ties were always the
most powerful for dragons until they found their mates.

Mate.
He swallowed hard. While he wanted to immediately discount that possibility, Mad couldn’t

ignore the facts before him. It wasn’t at all uncommon for mates to find each other in dreams.
Considering the scarcity of their species these days, there were often long distances between tribal
compounds. With their sensitivity to psychic energy, dragon shifters had no trouble communicating on
that level.

But that blood he had given Niko… What if it had screwed up things in a way the alchemist had

never intended? What if Ivy was now tied to him because of the potion and not because they were true
mates? Was their bond real? Would it last? Or was this simply a side effect of Niko’s elixir?

No one really understood how dragon mates came to be. In the old days, they had been called star

mates or soul bonds. Even with all the science available to them now, no one could say with any
certainty how it worked or even why. It just did. There was a moment of recognition, a spark, and
there was no going back once that link was awakened.

Closing his eyes, he ran his fingers along his lips. God, he could still taste and feel her. The urge

to  save  Ivy,  to  bring  her  to  his  home,  nurse  her  back  to  health,  pamper  and  protect  her  forever
overwhelmed  him.  Heat  rolled  low  in  his  belly  as  he  remembered  those  soft  sighs  and  the  slight
whimpers  she  had  issued  as  he  had  claimed  her  mouth.  The  desire  to  find  her  and  mate  her  and

forever mark her as his was too strong to fight.

Embracing that overpowering sensation, he hoped it would aid his search for Ivy. Her ominous

warning  that  she  couldn’t  hold  on  much  longer  and  that  more  than  just  his  life  was  at  stake  spurred
him  onward.  He  discovered  a  social  media  blitz  from  a  young  woman  named  Eris  Jones  who
appeared to be Ivy’s best friend at college. He skimmed the flyer and collected the necessary details.
The  pair  had  been  vacationing  during  spring  break  at  a  popular  Mexican  resort  when  Ivy  had  gone
missing at a club, probably the same one she had shown him in his dreams.

The rest of his search turned up even more troubling news. Ivy’s parents had been killed in a house

fire nearly a year earlier. At first glance, it seemed like nothing more than a tragic accident, but Mad
had a bad feeling the Knights had been involved. He wasn’t fully aware of the details of the cloaking
magic Niko had worked on Ivy and her adoptive parents, Susie and Miguel Morales, but it was
possible that their deaths had allowed the Knights to break that magic and get to their daughter.

To my mate.
His chest tightened, and he reached up to rub his sternum in the hopes of easing the ache gripping

his heart. When he touched his chest, Mad hissed and yanked back his hand. He glanced down at his
bare skin and spotted the red, raw patches there. Remembering the way Ivy’s fingertips had burned
him just seconds before she had smacked him, he jumped off the couch and rushed into the closest
bathroom. He shielded his eyes from the bright glare of the light and waited for them to adjust before
he glanced at his reflection in the mirror.

Pride welled up inside him and caused him to grin. His brilliant sprite of a mate had scorched him

with the location of the place she was being held. His Spanish was rusty, but he still remembered the
word for prison and recognized the name of the Mexican state of Veracruz.

Armed with her location, Mad rushed upstairs and threw open the door of his closet. As he hastily

jammed his legs into a pair of jeans, he considered contacting Griffin. His cousin was locked away in
an underground lair with a female dragon belonging to a rather unique line of Naga shifters. Just days
into their synced heat phase, the pair was giving off a powerful scent that would make them easy
targets for the Knights to track. He couldn’t risk alerting Griffin and drawing his cousin out of that
lair. He was safe there with Avani.

He thought about calling Ignatius, the Brotherhood’s leader, or Niko for backup but he hesitated. If

Ivy was mistaken about her location or if the Knights holding her had managed to confuse or infiltrate
her thoughts, he could be leading the two men into a trap. Until he was absolutely certain she was
there, he had to exercise caution.

Throwing some clothes and supplies into an overnight bag, he rubbed his hand across the

throbbing marks on his chest. Whatever it took, he would find Ivy. No matter what the cost, he would
save his mate.

Chapter Two

lumped in the corner of a dank, dark cell, Ivy Morales ignored the pulsing ache in her empty belly

and hugged her knees tight to her chest. Naked and dirty, she tried to stay awake. She focused on the
pain caused by the hard stone floor beneath her and the chains locked around her ankles and wrists.
Stretching her neck, she grimaced at the unceasing squeeze of the tight collar biting into her throat.
The leather strap had been fitted with some sort of shocking mechanism. She had long since stopped
trying to remove the collar or attempt an escape or the use of her gift.

Gift? More like curse, she thought grumpily. All her life, Ivy had suspected she was different than

the other girls. It wasn’t simply the fact that she had been adopted shortly after birth either. Though
her parents had always been open and upfront about the way she had come into their lives, they had
never given her any reason to doubt their love for her. She might not have shared their genes or blood
but she was their daughter in all the ways that mattered.

But she had always been…strange. Quirky. That was the word people used to describe her most.

She had a hard time telling whether that was praise or censure. Probably the latter.

She had been seven the first time she had realized she could persuade other people to do things.

Thankfully she had been too afraid to try her little trick more than a handful of times. Even at that
young age, the guilt of getting exactly what she wanted had gotten to her. All those morning catechism
studies at the private Catholic school she had attended had given her a healthy dose of conscience.

Over time, her gift matured until finally she could see the shortest snippets of the future. The night

of her thirteenth birthday, Ivy had experienced her first vision. She had bumped into her bachelor
uncle and spotted him smiling down at a pretty blonde woman wearing a white wedding gown. It had
been the briefest glimpse of a possibility of a future, and it had intrigued her.

Four months later, she had walked into her math teacher’s classroom on the first day of school and

spotted that same blonde woman standing near a whiteboard. Curious about the possibilities of her
vision, Ivy had finagled a way to get her uncle to come with her to an open house that semester and
had introduced the pair. By Easter, they were engaged. The happy event had confirmed her suspicion
that her true gift was matchmaking. With one touch, she could see the perfect mate for any person.

Resting her head against the wall, she picked up one of the sharp-edged rocks littering the cell

floor and used it to scratch another line on her collection of tick marks. Every time she shared a
dream with him, she made a start at the top of the new mark. Tonight, she drew a straight line across
the bottom of the newest line to remind herself that she hadn’t made contact with him. It had been two
nights since she had given him her message, and she hadn’t been able to reach him again.

Running her fingers along the many groups of marks, she felt helpless and frightened. She had

planned to use them to keep track of her days in captivity but she couldn’t bring herself to count them
up anymore. The despair of her totally shit situation threatened to reduce her to tears, but she refused

to give that creepy woman shrouded in black the satisfaction of even one salty drop.

Ivy hadn’t seen the woman she had dubbed the Mind Miner since her third night in captivity, but

she could feel the evil presence lurking somewhere in this abandoned prison. It hadn’t taken her very
long to figure out that the Mind Miner wasn’t interested in digging through the memories of her happy
childhood. No, she only wanted to get her eerie phantom fingers on the dreams about dragons and the
men with swords.

Since childhood, Ivy had been plagued with bizarre and troubling dreams of bloody battles during

ancient  times.  She  had  dreamed  of  historical  eras  with  such  incredible  attention  to  detail  and  such
vividness  that  they  felt real.  She  could  feel  the  wetness  of  the  muddy  battlegrounds  under  her  bare
feet.  She  could  smell  the  metallic  stink  of  blood  spilled  there.  She  could  hear  the  clink  of  heavy
swords slamming against the scaled hide of enormous fire-breathing and thunder-making dragons.

The many times she had awoken in tears, her parents had consoled her with assurances that the

nightmares were simply the side effect of an overactive imagination and too many dark books or
violent video games before bed—but Ivy had never believed it. Just as she never doubted her strange
ability to see tiny glimpses of the future and to be able to influence others’ actions, Ivy had always
believed those dreams of a bitter feud between the winged creatures and the armed warriors were
more than figments of a childish imagination.

No, they were memories. She was beginning to understand that they weren’t the memories of one

single person but many. Rubbing her forehead, she wondered if she would ever get the answers to all
of her questions. Who were these dragons? Who were those warriors? What did this woman in black
want with her?

Am I a dragon? Why is that nasty woman so interested in my dream connection with him?
Even though she was freezing, filthy, and exhausted, Ivy still experienced a wicked thrill of delight

whenever she thought of the great big beast of a man who came to her dream world. With tattoos
covering his brawny arms and wide chest, he looked so incredibly intimidating, but there was a
kindness about him. He had a mischievous smile that instantly set her at ease.

Though he didn’t look very old, maybe twenty-seven or twenty-eight, his startlingly green eyes told

a different story. He had seen a great deal of hardship and pain in his life, a life she suspected had
stretched across a century or more. It sounded almost too fantastic to even think a man could live so
long, but their shared dreams were equally as fantastic yet nonetheless real.

Yearning for the connection that brought her such peace during her imprisonment, Ivy closed her

eyes and leaned her head against the cool stone. She breathed deeply and slowly and focused all of
her thoughts on the handsome face that filled her dreams. If she could see him for even one minute, it
would make the next day of captivity bearable.

Exhaustion dragged her down into the murky darkness of her dream space. Suddenly, she was

flying. A swooping sensation rushed through her stomach and into her chest. She could feel the cool
but humid air blasting her bare skin. The scent of the sea filled her nose. The flap of heavy wings
echoed in her ears.

My wings, she realized. Just as she had brought that great big beast of a man into her dreams and

pulled him into her body, he seemed to have finally done the same to her. Did he know? Was he
aware of her presence? A rippling sensation in her chest confirmed that he did. She felt…surprised.
She realized that he was the one feeling some shock at having her experiencing his dream. Only…

This wasn’t a dream. The thought hit her with a resounding thud. He was awake—and she was

asleep. He was flying in his dragon form, and somehow she had drifted into his conscious. Something
about his shifted form made him vulnerable to her. Curious, she thought with interest.

With a slow turn, the dragon began a controlled but angled descent. Even in the darkness, she

could see the pale stone of the ancient prison looming ahead. Though his speed had slowed, he was
still coming in exceedingly fast. When he landed on a rampart, she felt the stones shudder beneath his
massive feet. A strange rumbling sensation rolled through her chest and out of her throat.

In the distance, she heard men shouting. Soon, bullets were whizzing by him and popping when

they hit the stone wall behind him. She felt his wide, heavy wings unfurling. They flicked in a warning
motion, but the armed men who came at him were undeterred. Stamping his foot, he smacked his
wings together and an unbelievably loud thunderclap tore the night.

The shockwave of the blast tossed her right out of him. Floating in a bizarre space between reality

and conscious, she hovered over him and then in front of him. Scarlet red and so very big, the dragon
snarled viciously and beat his wings together, sending smaller bursts of that painful energy into the
night. The thunderclaps rendered men unconscious. His attackers dropped to their knees and fell onto
their faces.

He was winning! He was going to rescue her!
But her joy was short lived.
An agonizing bolt of electricity screamed through her neck. Though still unconscious in this

dreamy haze, Ivy was fully aware that her captors were making use of the collar they had fitted
around her neck at the time of her kidnapping to zap her in the most horrific way. The dragon tossed
back his head, baring his vicious fangs, and roared with fury. He feels my pain.

Though she sensed the beast wanted to rip the men surrounding him limb from limb, he lowered his

wings and let his arms fall to his sides. He surrendered reluctantly but quietly, his huge chest heaving
and his talon-tipped fingers curling at his sides in tight fists. His strange red eyes closed, and she
could hear him speaking to her.

Go. Wake. I’m coming for you.
A jolt of white-hot heat pierced her belly and caused Ivy to gasp. With a startled cry, she woke as

directed. Though her neck burned, she felt the soothing heat inspired by the dragon—her dragon—
spreading into her chest. It warmed and settled her nerves. Eyes closed, she concentrated on that
familiar feeling. It was him. It was her Beast.

Grinning and feeling giddy despite her rather depressing circumstances, she kept her eyes tightly

shut and tried to locate him. She had long ago learned to trust her instincts, and they told her that she
belonged to this strange dragon-man hybrid. Somehow, someway, their paths were destined to cross.
He might have appeared to her in a dream, but he had come to her now in the flesh.

Body thrumming and heart racing, she finally located him. He was like a bright pulsing dot on a

radar screen, his very aura slamming against hers like a sonar ping. Fainter but just as nasty as ever
was the presence of the Mind Miner. Ivy opened her thoughts to the creepy woman who had tormented
her for more than twenty days and felt the most unexpected sensation—sheer delight. The old bat was
absolutely thrilled that Beast had arrived.

Ivy feared that she was being held captive to lure and trap Beast here, but he was far wiser and too

battle-hardened to do something so stupid. He wouldn’t walk into a trap without a plan to get them
both out. It was silly of her to put so much faith in a man she had never even met in real life, but he
was her only chance of surviving and escaping. She believed in him.

But, my God, the poor man was in a world of hurt at the moment. Her entire body ached and

tingled. She could feel the pressure of punches and kicks slamming into her back and belly, but her
Beast seemed to be consciously trying to sever the bond between them so she wouldn’t feel the full
brunt of the brutal assault. To protect me…

The fighting seemed to go on and on and on. When it finally stopped, she had tears running down

her face. Beast had been defeated, but she had a sneaking suspicion he had allowed the people
holding her captive to best him. Surely there had to be an easier way to gain access to her than letting
a group of armed men beat the shit out of him, but he appeared to like doing things the hard way.

A short time later, the heavy door at the end of the cell block clanged and banged as it opened.

Loud grunts and furious cursing, plus the sound of dragging feet, gave her all the clues she needed to
fill in the blanks. Considering how big Beast appeared in her dreams, in real life he would be one
hell of a monstrously sized man. It wouldn’t be easy to haul him anywhere, even with all the
manpower guarding the old prison.

When she got her first glimpse of Beast, her heart fluttered wildly. She couldn’t see his face

because his head hung low as he was dragged down the corridor, but that didn’t matter. He had made
such an impression on her in their shared dreams that she easily recreated his handsome face from
memory. While the strong edge to his jaw made him look dangerous, the seemingly perpetual lift to
the corners of his sexy mouth gave him an approachable, friendly air. He reminded her of the jocks
she saw around campus, all brawn and teasing smiles. There was a rugged appeal to him, especially
with those thick, muscular arms and a chest that made her want to cuddle in close and share his heat.

Seeing him now, all naked and sweaty from his valiant fight, did wild things to her body. A primal

burst of lust and need exploded within her. She caught his scent as the cell door was flung open. All
her life, she had been more aware of smells than the average person, and tonight was no different. She
had no trouble picking out the woodsy scent of him beneath the blood and sweat.

With a series of growls and a storm of cursing, the guards finally managed to toss Beast into the

cell. He hit the stone floor hard and didn’t move. Fear gripped her. Was he dead? Was he fatally
injured? He didn’t even move when a pair of shorts and a T-shirt were thrown at him.

Afraid the guards would zap her if she moved too close, she waited until the cell door had been

locked to scuttle toward Beast, but the damned chains hooked to the cuffs on her ankles and wrists
didn’t have enough slack to let her reach him. She jerked hard but didn’t have the strength to break
them. They were too tight on her wrists to even try to slip them either.

The rattling chains seemed to rouse Beast. He issued a gruff, rumbling noise that seemed to

emanate from deep within his chest. Planting both palms against the floor, he pushed up onto his hands
and slowly lifted his head. A normal man would have sported two black eyes and a broken nose after
the beating he had taken, but this man—her man—looked to be already healing. His cheek and jaw
were swollen and red, and blood dripped from his nose but he seemed to have escaped his brush with
violence without any broken bones.

Well. Maybe not.
When he started to crawl toward her, he grimaced and placed a guarding hand to his right side.

The shadows hid whatever damage he had sustained trying to reach her. A couple of broken ribs
wouldn’t have been out of the question. They didn’t seem to be slowing him down any as he crept
toward her like some kind of hungry carnivore.

She gulped as the dark-haired behemoth prowled ever closer. Keenly aware of her naked state and

his, she squeezed her thighs together and covered her breasts with her arms. His gaze narrowed at her
protective move but he didn’t try to stop her. Those green eyes of his had shifted to a frighteningly
crimson shade and his pupils were elongated and thin like a snake’s. Like a predator, he pinned her in
place with a menacing stare. She felt like a mouse tossed into a boa constrictor’s cage. This man
could save her—or snap her neck.

With the chains keeping her on a short leash, there was no escaping his advance. Beast halted only

inches from her. His intense body heat simultaneously shocked and soothed her. She wanted to
snuggle in close and soak up that radiant warmth. Maybe tuck her face into the curve of his throat and
breathe in the intoxicating scent of him, too.

As if sharing her thoughts, Beast lunged at her, the movement so stunningly fast that she squeaked

with surprise and fear. He buried his nose against the side of her neck and dragged it along her skin,
inhaling deeply with the slow slide. He made the strangest noise, almost like a purr, and rubbed his
nose against the side of hers. His chin rested on her shoulder and he leaned into her. “I found you.”

With trembling fingers, Ivy finally dared to touch his battered face. The brightest pop of light

illuminated her mind. For the briefest of moments, she saw the two of them frolicking on a beach,
splashing in waves and laughing as if carefree. When the vision faded, his palpable relief washed
over her.

When he breathed in deeply again, it finally occurred to her that he was using scent to identify her

instead of her looks. “Did my face look different in the dreams we shared?”

He nuzzled her cheek. “Faces can be faked with cloaking spells and potions. The Knights have

used them in the past.” He breathed in noisily, as if to convince himself she was real. “Scents are
impossible to replicate.”

Belly quivering with excitement, she boldly traced one of the heavy black tattoos arcing along the

side of his neck and dipping down his shoulder. “Is that what they’re called? The Knights, I mean.”

He reared back and frowned down at her. “Didn’t you know?”
She shook her head. Her lower lip trembled as the stress of her weeks in captivity finally hit hard.

“I don’t know anything. They just—they grabbed me in that club, jabbed some kind of drug into my
neck, and then I woke up tied to a metal slab in another room in this prison.”

Beast’s jaw clenched when she gestured to her neck while telling him about the sedative. Was he

remembering the way she had been shocked to make him stop fighting? When he reached out to touch
the collar, she grabbed his wrist, stopping him before he could touch it. “Don’t. They’ll shock me
again.”

His teeth ground together so loudly she expected him to spit out crumbled bits of them. He made

that rumbling noise again, and her eyes widened as she felt the strong waves of it shudder through her.
His mouth settled into an apologetic line. “I’m sorry. That’s my thunder.”

“Your what?”
Rising to a kneeling position, he sighed loudly. “Later.” He found the shorts nearby, stood slowly,

and dragged them onto his body. He winced as he bent down to grab the shirt and made a grunting
noise. Now that he had stepped into a shaft of light from the corridor outside their cell, she could see
the damage to his body.

“Oh my God! Your ribs!” She couldn’t believe he was able to breathe with all that terrible

bruising and the dimpled ridges where the bones were obviously broken. “We need to bind those or
something.”

“They’ll be healed by morning.” He ripped the T-shirt up both sides. “I’m too old to be badly hurt

by a beating. It would take one of the Knight’s swords to kill me, and there aren’t any here.”

Her head swam as he tossed around the details as if she should know them. “Knights? Swords?”
“Let’s get you dressed first.” Beast draped the shirt over her head. He gave the heavy metal links a

shake. “I could easily break these chains, but they’ll probably use this damn collar to shock you if I
do.” Lowering his voice, he asked, “Are there cameras here?”

“No. They have them in the halls though. The Mind Miner—”
“The who?” He tied the ends of the ripped shirt together on each side to form a loose sort of dress

on her.

“The woman in black who likes to dig through my head.” She gulped anxiously and tried to ignore

the pulsing, primal heat that blossomed in her center. Her breasts ached and her nipples buzzed. He
hadn’t even really touched her yet, and already she wanted to break her number-one rule and beg him
to do wicked, wicked things to her.

“We call her the Seer. Every generation of the first family produces one female gifted with the

sight.”

“What is the ‘first family’?”
Beast moved into the corner and sat back against the wall, using it to support his weary body. He

opened his arms and gestured to his lap. “Come here, little bit. You’re freezing, and I’m warm. The
dragon within me is snapping to be set free. Holding you will ease that torment and help me maintain
control.”

She hesitated. Crawl onto his lap? Let him hold her? She had this torn shirt for modesty but she

was completely bare underneath. Her gut told her he would do nothing to harm her or take advantage
of her. The man had taken a beating and let himself be taken captive and all he wanted to do was hold
her close. That wasn’t so bad. Was it?

“All right.” She moved closer and settled onto his lap. “What about your ribs?”
“I’ve had worse, sweetheart.” He wrapped those incredibly muscled arms around her and pulled

her in tight. “Let me warm you.”

Oh, he was getting her hot all right. “My name is Ivy,” she said, thinking of the way he had

addressed her with pet names. “In case you didn’t get my message.”

“I did. It came through loud and clear.” He brushed her tangled hair behind her ear and tilted her

chin up. “You’re very smart, Ivy, and very powerful.”

“I don’t know about that last part. I think I was lucky.”
“Luck may have played a part, but there’s a great deal of potential inside you.” He tapped her

chest. “There’s a reason the Knights are holding you here.”

“And you,” she said with a frown. “I had hoped you would bring reinforcements and bust me out of

this hellhole.”

“Give it some time.” He rested his head against the wall and tugged her in even closer. “They’ll

come soon.”

“Who? The other dragons?”
“The Brotherhood of the Green Hide,” he clarified. “We’re the ancient order tasked with

protecting the dragons from the Knights of St. George.”

“What? Like the story from Bible school?”
“Yes, just like that. Many, many years before that incident, there was a young woman and a dragon

who fell in love and made a baby together. Her family—”

“Killed her,” Ivy said quietly. A recurring dream flashed before her. “I’ve seen it. She was tied to

a pyre, and her father slit her throat.” She shuddered with revulsion as the gory image of the woman’s
last moments of life hit her. “It was night…and there were other dragons there. Two green ones, one
of them lashed to a tree, and a golden-colored one. There might have been another one, maybe in the
sky, but I wasn’t ever able to see him.”

“There was. He was called Reinhard the Barbarian then, but he uses Reynard now. The golden

dragon  was  Niko.  The  two  green  dragons  were  brothers,  Ignatius  and  Sixtus.  Ignatius  survived  but
bears the scars from that night. The death of Sixtus forced Ignatius to create the Brotherhood because
our  secret  was  out  and  there  was  no  way  the  humans  were  going  to  leave  us  alone.”  Beast  gently
grasped  her  chin  and  turned  her  head.  His  curious  gaze  locked  with  hers.  “How  long  have  you  had
these visions?”

“I’ve been dreaming about dragons and warriors—these Knights as you call them—since I was a

little girl. I was probably six the first time I dreamed of dragons.”

“And me? Did you ever see me before we started to share dreams?”
“Not like this,” she said and gestured to his human body. “I have a feeling you may have been one

of the dragons I’ve dreamed about though.”

“Why do you say that?”
“You feel familiar to me. I feel as if…as if I’ve known you my entire life.”
His expression pensive, Beast ran his thumb along her lower lip. “I don’t want there to be secrets

between us. I’m not sure what this bond we share really is, but if it is what I suspect it might be, we
absolutely must begin this journey with truth and only truth between us, Ivy.”

His ominous tone caused her stomach to clench nervously. “All right.”
“My name is Ian Madoc, but everyone calls me Mad.” His thumb moved along her upper lip,

lingering in the little bow there, before continuing its trek. “I won’t go into my entire history tonight,
but you should know that I’m much older than I look.”

Thinking of the clothing worn by the people in that dream that looked as if it belonged in the

Ancient Roman era, she asked, “Were you there that night the woman was killed with her dragon
lover?”

He shook his head. “That was many years before my time, Ivy. I was born in the Dark Ages, in

what we now call Wales, but we’ll get into all that later. It doesn’t matter at the moment.”

“It probably doesn’t, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t fascinated by the very existence of you.”
He laughed, the sound so wonderfully rich and uplifting that she felt hope for the first time in

weeks. “If you only knew how incredibly fascinating you are to all of us, but to me especially.”

“Me? Fascinating? Because of this thing I can do with dreams and seeing little glimpses of the

future?” She poked his sculpted chest. “You’re a freaking dragon. That’s a hell of a lot more amazing
than being able to get your mom to agree to let you go out on a sleepover or picking out the perfect
prom date for your best friend or setting up your uncle with the perfect future wife.”

His eyes narrowed. “Is that your real gift? Matchmaking?”
Ivy glanced around nervously. There weren’t cameras in here, but that awful woman was always

eavesdropping on her thoughts. “Yes. I’ve never been wrong. Not once.”

He exhaled roughly. “That’s why they want you. The Knights want to end the dragon race. They’ve

been very successful at culling entire lines within our species. There’s a woman—a very unique and

rare breed of dragon called a Naga—who is attempting to save her kind by mating with my cousin
right this very moment.”

Mating? She schooled her features to hide her discomfort with the term. It sounded so cold and so

very animalistic…but he was a dragon. Maybe it was different for his people. Perhaps mating was
their version of marriage? Not brave enough to ask him about that just yet, she wondered about his
cousin and this special dragon woman trying to save her kind. “Is it going to work?”

“I hope so,” he said sincerely. “Her line is too special to lose.” He coiled some of her hair around

his thick, scarred finger. “If you can identify the mates for every dragon, and if some of those mates
are defenseless humans, the Knights would only have to hunt them down and kill them to end us. It
would be—”

“Genocide,” she said in a horrified whisper. Ivy rubbed her temple. “When they first brought me

here, the Mind Miner—the Seer,” she said, remembering the word he had used, “was so interested in
the dragon dreams, but I thought maybe she wanted to use me as a dream radar or something like that.
You know, to locate more dragons.”

“That was probably why they snatched you in the first place. They had to have suspected you might

have a connection they could exploit.”

“But I couldn’t do it. You’re the only one I’m connected to,” she explained. “It’s not as easy as the

Seer seems to think it should be for me. It’s not like you guys are just running around flapping your
wings!”

He chuckled. “We’ve been very good at hiding and blending into the human world. We’re only

easy to track when we’re in heat.”

She blinked. “Wait. What do you mean by ‘in heat’?”
“We go through phases every three years. When we’re unmated, the urges are very strong during

the heat phase, but once we have a mate of our own, it’s more manageable. When we’re in heat, we
give off a scent that’s extremely noticeable.”

“Are you in heat now?”
“No. Why would you ask that?”
Her face grew hot. “Well, you smell really good to me. I thought maybe…”
He chuckled. “No, I’m not in heat right now. For what it’s worth, you smell very good to me, too.

It’s probably because—”

“We’re mates?” She asked the question breathlessly, her heartbeat sprinting as the realization hit

her. “That’s what this whole thing is about, isn’t it? You. Me. The dreams.”

He finally nodded. “Yes, but it may not be that simple for us.”
“Why not?” Her breath caught in her throat when he brushed his lips across her forehead. The

intimate touch branded her skin. She wished his mouth would glide even lower and finally meet hers.

He avoided that question and asked a different one instead. “When you came to me in our last

dream, you said you were like me. You had one human eye and one dragon eye. How long have you
known that you were part dragon?”

“I figured it out after they grabbed me and brought me here. Even when I was little, I suspected I

was different from other kids. I’ve always been more sensitive to things—sights, sounds, smells.
Then the dreams started and then the ability to see these quick snapshots of the future, and I really
began to wonder what the hell was wrong with me.”

“There’s nothing wrong with you.” Madoc gave the hair coiled around his finger a little tug. “Did

you ask your parents if they knew why you were different?”

“Are you kidding? Can you imagine what sort of misdiagnosis I might have gotten in this label-

happy world of ours? No thanks! I had enough baggage from being adopted and wondering why my
biological parents abandoned me—”

“They didn’t abandon you,” he stridently interjected. “They loved you so much. They fought for

you until the very end, Ivy.”

Touching his chest, she forced him to look at her. “What happened to my biological parents?”
“Not tonight, sweetheart,” he whispered, his voice suddenly tired. “It’s a tangled mess of a history

we share, and I’m not sure I have the strength to get through it. I need to rest so I can protect you until
we’re rescued.”

Hating that he was in so much pain and in this awful situation because she had lured him here, Ivy

rubbed the back of his neck and worked up the courage to kiss his cheek. “Sleep,” she urged. “They
won’t bother us tonight.”

“How can you be sure?”
“The Seer is sleeping now. Her presence is dormant and cold.” She let him pull her head down to

his chest and found such incredible comfort in having his strong arms curled around her body.

“Do they come during the day?”
“Sometimes they bring me food and water or an extra bucket to bathe.” Glad for the darkness of the

cell, she added, “There’s a metal toilet in the corner if you need it. There’s water in the faucet but I
wouldn’t drink it.”

“Good to know.” He grunted as he shifted his position. She started to climb off his lap but the

steely bands of his arms clamped down on her. “Don’t even think about it.”

“But you’re hurt,” she protested. “You don’t need my weight on top of you.”
“I know what I need.” He tucked her head into the curve of his neck. “Now close your eyes and get

some rest. We’re both going to need it.”

Relishing the strength and heat of him, Ivy feared he was right.

Chapter Three

Three Days Later

hocolate or vanilla ice cream?” Mad picked up one of the cement chunks they were using as a

makeshift chess piece and made a move on the hand-drawn grid she had put on the floor. With so
many hours to fill, they had been forced to get creative with their entertainment. There were only so
many games of tic-tac-toe and hangman scratched out with rocks against the floor two people could
take.

They had settled into a familiar routine during their short time in captivity together. A guard

banged on the door early in the morning to rouse them from sleep and shove food into the cell. With
few choices of entertainment, they talked a lot. Mad tried to keep fit by putting together a circuit of
exercises that he repeated three times a day. She sat in the corner and watched him, sometimes asking
him about the gym he owned with Griff. She seemed genuinely interested in his tales so he indulged
her endless questions.

There were hourly checks by the Knights throughout the day and another meal at sundown. Mostly,

they were left alone. He had wondered about that strange tactic at first, but now he had his suspicions.
During her nearly four weeks of imprisonment, Ivy’s captors had worn her down, mentally and
physically. He hadn’t managed to save her yet, but that didn’t stop her from looking at him as if he
were a damned hero. That was exactly what the Knights and the Seer wanted. They needed Ivy to trust
him and fall for him.

This was all a game to the Knights and their Seer. Just as they hoped to encourage Ivy’s gratitude

toward him by allowing him to infiltrate the prison after weeks of shared dreams, they provoked his
protective instincts by keeping her chained with that collar wrapped around her neck. He was forced
to behave himself, but he remained on edge and alert. His dragon recognized Ivy as his mate, and it
was getting harder and harder to keep the primal side of himself suppressed.

His gut churned at the idea of Ivy being manipulated into caring for him. There was no denying

their growing connection or his tender feelings toward her, but he wasn’t sure how much of her
interest in him was real and how much of it was forced by their dangerous situation. He wanted her to
like him and return his affection, but on her own terms.

Hoping to show her that she really could trust him to care for and protect her, Mad had gone out of

his way to do whatever nice thing he could for her. The guards had allowed her to keep the shirt, and
she had thanked him again and again for it. When possible, he tried to sneak her bits of his food, but
the guards had used the threat of that shock collar to dissuade him from trying that too many times. At
night, he shared his warmth with her, holding her close and making sure she felt protected.

Their first morning together in the cell, they had agreed to only speak of things that would be

useless to the Knights if overheard. Her childhood, his childhood, her college experiences and his,

their favorite things, their best friends—these were all safe topics they easily discussed. He could
feel the heat of her insatiable curiosity burning so brightly, but she didn’t dare ask the questions that
would give her the answers she so desperately wanted.

“Neither.” Ivy studied his new position with a gleeful gleam in her dark eyes. “I’m a chocolate

chip cookie dough girl.”

He made a face. “I’m a purist.”
“And a loser,” she said with a mischievous grin. Showing her skill at the game, she pushed one of

her bishop rocks into place and boxed his king into a corner with her king and another bishop.
“Checkmate.”

“What? Again?” He sat back and studied the board. How had he missed that? “Damn. You’ve

whipped my ass every match today.”

“I’m starting to think you like getting spanked by a girl.”
He smiled at her teasing remark. Even here in their awful predicament, she found a way to be silly

and make him laugh. “Sorry, sweetheart, that’s not really my thing. Now if the roles were reversed?”

“Well, I wouldn’t know anything about those sorts of games.” She avoided his heated gaze and

gathered up her remaining game pieces. Switching the topic to one that had nothing to do with sex, she
asked, “Aren’t you, like, a thousand years old or something? Shouldn’t you be better at chess?”

The way she seemed embarrassed to even say the word sex concerned him. Was she that

inexperienced? Last night, they had stumbled onto a discussion of their love lives. She had been
dating quite a bit and having fun while in college, but, reading between the lines, he had pieced
together that she hadn’t ever had a real lover. He sensed she was waiting for the right someone. The
beast inside him snarled and snapped at the very idea of being the right man for her, the first man for
her.

Not wanting to push her, he decided to let her direct the conversation wherever she wanted. “I am

better at chess than this. It’s hard to play well when someone is using their special gift to win.”

She rolled her eyes. “Oh please! I don’t need to push your thoughts or try to read you to beat you at

chess.”

“Whatever.” He wasn’t about to admit that he was so distracted by her arousing scent and that

amazing smile of hers that he couldn’t even focus on a proper chess strategy. “Would you like to play
again?”

She shook her head. “It will be dark soon. We’ll lose the light before we finish another match.”
He glanced at the window high above on the far wall. Three days in this cell with only that thin

slot as a peek to the outside world, and he was already feeling claustrophobic. Only the knowledge
that poor Ivy had been dealing with these cramped spaces for so much longer kept him from
complaining. If she could bear it, so would he.

“Do you think your friends will come soon?” She meticulously arranged the rocks against one side

of the wall. In the short time they had spent together, he had become accustomed to her quirks. She
liked things neat and tidy. Considering their current predicament, organizing rocks and keeping their
living space clean was the only control she was allowed to exert over her life.

“Yes.” He didn’t know what was taking his Brothers so long to find them. He had been very clear

in the message he had left Ignatius, giving their leader the coordinates of the prison and a full
rundown of the Knight situation. “They know we’re here, and they know our situation. There must be
something else keeping them.”

His stomach knotted with dread as he considered what that something might be. Had the Knights

gotten to Griff and Avani? Had they attempted to hurt Stig and Cora again? Or was it even worse than
that? Had he been lured here with Ivy as a way to weaken the Brotherhood?

The faraway sound of boots thudding against stone interrupted his troubled thoughts. Shoving to his

feet, Mad closed his eyes and listened. He was grateful for the way Ivy seemed to instinctively
understand that she needed to be still and quiet so he could use his heightened senses. He counted the
different footfalls. Seven Knights were headed right for their cell.

“Get up,” he urged. “Stay behind me.”
“Where else would I go?” She rattled her chains. Not for the first time, he considered just yanking

them out of the wall but that shock collar around her neck kept him from acting. He had seen the
evidence of healing burns on her skin from the evil device and refused to be the one to cause her any
more pain.

The door at the end of the hall burst open and the Knights flooded into the hallway outside their

cell. Mad pushed Ivy behind him but kept a grip on the fabric of the shirt she wore. Seven against two
—well, one really—weren’t very good odds but he’d gotten out of worse situations.

The head guard stepped forward and lobbed a key into the cell. “Remove the chains from her

cuffs.”

Mad spotted the Knight holding the controller for the collar wrapped around Ivy’s neck. He chose

to follow the order rather than risk harming her. He used the key to open the small padlock covering
the spot where the chains hooked onto the thick metal cuffs. The chains dropped to the floor with a
noisy clang. When she was free of her bonds, Ivy pressed against his side. The dragon within him
rejoiced at the way she sought his protection and reassurance. He curled his arm around her shoulders
and hauled her closer.

A new set of chains and cuffs were thrown into the cell. “Put those on him. Hook yourselves

together.”

Ivy knelt down and picked up the cuffs and chains. She eyed them for a few seconds before moving

toward him. Nervously, she glanced up at him. His stoic nod convinced her to wrap his wrists and
ankles in the heavy cuffs. Only the wrist cuffs had chains, so she stepped in front of him and attached
the chains to her bonds.

Bound together, Mad recognized how very limited his ability to protect her was now. He

suspected that was the plan. He couldn’t shift without hurting her, and if he tried to fight, she would
be caught in the crossfire. Whatever the Knights had planned for them tonight, they wanted to be sure
he couldn’t lash out and attack them.

After opening their cell, the head guard unsheathed a long and menacing cattle prod. “One wrong

move, dragon, and I’ll pop her hard enough to stop that fragile half-human heart. Understand?”

Mad gritted his teeth. His inner beast snarled and snapped to be set free. He shoved down the urge

to shift and protect his mate. “Yes.”

“The Seer has decided that you two have earned the right to a good meal and a hot shower. This is

a privilege I’m only too happy to yank.” He waved the cattle prod in a threatening gesture. “She leads
the way. You put your hands on her shoulders.”

Mad did as instructed. He ran his thumbs up and down her skin, massaging her taut muscles and

sending her silent encouragement to relax. Wondering if she might be able to hear him, he
concentrated very hard and projected a simple message into his thoughts. Do what they want. They

won’t hurt us. We’re valuable.

She looked back at him, their gazes meeting briefly, before she turned her attention back to the

cattle-prod-wielding Knight. Leaning back against him, she put two ominous words into his head. For
now.

He didn’t disagree with her but didn’t want to start down that path. At the moment, Ivy had

something the Knights wanted, and they needed Mad’s help to get it. He would do whatever it took to
thwart those plans—unless it put Ivy at risk. For the first time in centuries, he found himself conflicted
about his role in the Brotherhood. He had sworn that the cause—defending dragons and saving the
species from eradication by the Knights—was his number-one priority. But now?

Now this dark-haired sprite with a deep belly laugh and a wicked sense of humor made him want

to reevaluate that position. If he had to choose between Ivy and the Brotherhood tonight, he feared he
would make a decision that would seal his fate in a bad way. It was only a matter of time until the
Knights resorted to pain to make her talk or reveal whatever secrets she possessed. Could he stand
back and watch her suffer to protect all dragons? Or would he urge her to shame the devil and spill it
all to save herself?

A slight tug on the chains tore him away from that uncomfortable quandary. Ivy followed the lead

Knight down the hallway. Boxed in by the rest of their escort team, Mad kept close to her. He had
seen quite a bit of the prison on the night he had been taken captive. Now, he mentally sketched in the
details he had missed that first time.

The historic fortress had been renovated and retrofitted by the Knights for their nefarious

purposes. From what he could tell, they were only using one wing of the building. At present, there
were no other prisoners inside the complex, but he had no doubt the cells had been occupied recently.
The stink of despair and death clung to the very stones of the place.

They were led into a space that resembled the locker room at the gym he owned with Griff. The

white tiled walls were lined with shower heads on one side of the room and toilet stalls on the other.
A long bench sat in front of a row of lockers. Someone had dragged a table into the locker room and
placed it near the bench. The delicious scents wafting from the covered dishes sitting on that table
tempted him.

Ivy’s stomach growled noisily. The rumbling emptiness of it made him feel lower than mud.

Thinking of how hungry she must be, he decided he wouldn’t ask her to refuse the food offered to
them. It was very obviously a bribe but she needed the nourishment. As tiny as she was, she couldn’t
stand to lose even one more pound.

“We’re not hungry.” Ivy turned away from the food, but he spotted the tightness around her mouth

that told him she was absolutely ravenous. “You can take it away.”

“No.” Mad overrode her with a gentle hand to her shoulder. “We’ll take it.”
She frowned at him. “But—”
He silenced her by placing his fingertip to her lips. He didn’t think he could muster the focus to

send her another message so he hoped she could read his face. “We’ll eat.”

She didn’t argue with him but she tugged his hand away from her face. He had a distinct feeling

that he would be hearing an earful about that mistake once they were alone in their cell again.

Taking her hand, he led her over to the bench and sat. Because their arms were joined together

with long chains, Mad pulled her down onto his lap. He picked up a spoon and took a taste of each of
the dishes. When he was assured there were no traces of chemicals, poisons, or potions, he allowed

Ivy to dig into the meal. She took her time eating, chewing each bite deliberately and picking the
highest-calorie foods on the table.

Impressed with her strategy, he kissed her temple. Since being thrown in her cell, he had fought the

overwhelming need to touch and nuzzle her, but right now he couldn’t help himself. She responded so
sweetly to his tender kiss and pressed closer. He hoped she found his body heat comforting and
reassuring.

After their meal, they were handed travel-sized toiletries and towels and pointed in the direction

of the showers and sinks. “She can remove the collar for now.” The head guard waved the cattle
prod. “Don’t do anything stupid. Water. Electricity. It’s not a good combination.”

Mad glared at the Knight and steered Ivy toward the nearest sink. He carefully removed the collar

and tossed it aside. She rose on tiptoes to see her reflection in the mirror. He gently tilted her head to
the side to examine the burn marks on her neck and the raw line the collar had rubbed on her skin. She
hissed when he prodded the area. He shot her an apologetic look. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay. Is it bad?”
“It will heal.”
“With scars?”
“They’ll be faint.” Overwhelmed by the need to reassure her, he kissed the top of her head. Their

gazes clashed in the mirror’s reflection, his a bit wide-eyed at the realization of how intimate he was
behaving toward her and Ivy’s bright with wonder at the sudden shift in their relationship. Back in the
relative safety of their cell, he had been able to maintain control, but out here, with Ivy at constant
risk, his inner beast was too dominant. His dragon wanted to mate her and be done with it.

Clearing his throat, he said, “We’ll get a pretty necklace to cover them, if they bother you.”

Realizing he had just offered to buy her jewelry, he headed off a heavy discussion by picking up one
of the boxed toothbrushes encased in plastic and ripping open the packaging. He thrust the new tube of
toothpaste at her, too. “Here.”

“Thanks.”
Ivy looked so damned happy for the chance to properly brush her teeth. She had been making do

with a tube of toothpaste, a cup of water, and her finger every morning and night. With full bellies and
clean mouths, they were directed to the showers. When it became clear the Knights intended to watch,
she grew frightened and embarrassed. Disgusted with those lecherous assholes, he touched her cheek
and commanded her attention. “Look at me.”

She stared up at him with such anxiety. “Mad, please…”
“I’ll shield you. After a hot shower, you’ll feel better. If they see anything, it doesn’t matter.”
“Why not?”
He lowered his face until his lips ghosted along the shell of her ear. “Because I’m going to kill

them for everything they’ve done to hurt you. Whatever they see tonight, they take to the grave.”

She went rigid as his harshly whispered words registered. When she pulled back to peer up at him,

her eyes had gone completely reptilian in appearance. The golden irises were now flecked with ruby,
and her pupils were elongated and thin. His vow to seek vengeance on those who had harmed her had
awoken the dragon’s bloodlust within her. Her scent shifted slightly, and he drew it deep into his
lungs. He muscled down the primal need to mate that her changing scent provoked.

Gathering her courage, she stepped back and peeled out of the shirt he had given her. She covered

her small breasts with one arm and placed her hand down to shield her sex. Turning her back on him,

she moved under the closest shower head and twisted the knob. Hot water soaked her hair and spilled
down her back.

Entranced by the sight of Ivy’s body, he raked his needful gaze along her naked skin. He had

always been fond of bigger women. Zaftig was the term Griff always used for the women he chased,
but that definitely wasn’t a word that could describe Ivy. Built like a ballerina, she seemed so fragile.
His mind took a natural detour, and he wondered what it would be like to have her in his bed. If she
ever invited him between the sheets, he would have to be gentle and easy with her. She was much too
precious to harm with carelessness.

God, how he wanted her. Shedding his clothes, Mad tried to regain control over the hormones

raging through his body but failed miserably. He used his bigger frame to block the Knights’ view of
Ivy’s wet, soapy skin. With their arms chained together, they had to work in unison to get clean.
Although she was cooperative, he didn’t miss the way she kept her eyes fixed forward on the tile and
refused to look at him.

She gasped when he swiped his lathered palm down her back. There was no way she could reach

that patch of skin herself, not with the heavy chains weighing down her arms, so he did the
gentlemanly thing and helped her. As his hand glided along the curve of her spine, he suddenly wished
they were far away from here. A hotel, his house, her dorm room—anywhere but this awful hellhole.
The first time he touched her so intimately should have been something special and sweet, not this
sordid and forced spectacle for the amusement of their guards.

Forget about the guards. Take what you want.
Mad glanced over his shoulder as the raspy voice of the Seer invaded his mind. Ivy must have

sensed the evil presence of the Knights’ secret weapon because she shivered. He rolled his neck and
tried to block the psychic’s mental attack but he wasn’t nearly as adept as Ivy.

Grabbing the small bottle of shampoo that had been left for them, he squeezed a dollop into his

hand and worked it into her hair. He stepped closer to her, but mindful of the erection her scent and
alluring beauty had inspired, he made sure it wasn’t too close. Ivy relaxed as he massaged her scalp
and spread the coconut-scented foam through her hair. He helped her rinse and then stepped back
when she pivoted toward him.

The cuffs spun around her wrists as she twirled under the chains, using the slack to allow her to

face him. He stiffened when she wrapped her arms around his waist. With shaky fingers that betrayed
her uncertainty and nervousness, she dragged the bar of soap up and down his back. How much
courage had it taken for someone who was so obviously inexperienced with men to touch him like
this? He could smell her anxiety, but she soldiered on and kept her soapy hands on his skin. Her cheek
was pressed to his chest—and the throbbing head of his hard cock nudged the soft flesh of her belly.

She wants you.
Go. Away. He hated that this evil crone was trying to manipulate him. Even more, he despised the

way his weak body responded. Why couldn’t he control himself? What was so different about
tonight?

Breathe in deeply, Welshman. Her scent has sweetened. She’s in heat—for you.
He tried to hold his breath but it was impossible. He had to breathe, and the Seer was right. Ivy

was hot for him. She was excited, aroused, and nervous. The delicious scent of her drove his inner
beast fucking crazy.

Take her. Mate her. Claim her.

“No!”
Ivy jumped, dropping the soap and jerking her hands back. The chains attached to her wrists

slapped his arms. “I’m sorry.”

He grasped the fingers of her right hand. “I didn’t mean you. I meant her.”
Ivy’s eyes darkened with concern. “Is she talking to you? I can feel her, but she’s not bothering

me.”

“She’s bothering me.” He backed Ivy up until she stood under the showerhead and watched the hot

water rush over her pink skin. He prayed it would dilute the enticing and alluring scent of her.
Looking down at his dark-haired sprite, he lost himself in her curious gaze. Her lips were reddened,
and when her pink tongue swiped the upper one, he swooped down to capture it. At the last possible
second, he stopped himself. Ivy’s shuddery breath skated across his cheek. Eyes closed, he tensed his
jaw. “I’m sorry.”

“What’s wrong with you? You feel different to me. You feel…dangerous.”
“I am.” And he didn’t know why. Unless…
His gaze darted to the dinner they had eaten. No, he had tasted the food and it was safe. He glanced

at the soap and toiletries but those all smelled right. How else might he have been drugged? He hadn’t
put anything else in his mouth except for—

“The toothpaste,” he announced with a growl. “They put lust root in the fucking toothpaste.”
“Lust what?”
“It’s an old plant that can’t be found in the wild anymore. Ignatius ordered every last plant

searched out and destroyed after the Knights captured Reinhard and forced it on him.” The viciously
cruel memories of what his friend had suffered still soured his stomach. “It’s the reason he changed
his name. After his rampage, he disappeared for many years, and when he came back, he was an
entirely different person.”

Ivy swallowed. “Rampage?”
The wavering fear in her voice cut him like a razor to the heart. “I won’t harm you, Ivy. I will kill

myself before I force myself on you.”

Her eyes widened at his vow. “Mad! Don’t say something like that.”
“I mean it.” He stretched his neck again. “Don’t worry about it. I’m stronger than the lust root.

There wasn’t nearly enough in one tiny dose to make me lose my mind.” He might not lose his mind
but his control on his body was slipping. His steely erection pulsed in time with his heartbeat.
Visions of burying his face between Ivy’s thighs to taste her sweet nectar tormented him. The very
thought of sinking into her tight, virgin pussy was enough to make him growl.

But he wouldn’t do that. He wouldn’t take from her something she had so preciously guarded. “I’ll

be in pain for the rest of the night but I’ll survive.”

“Oh, Mad.” She caressed his jaw. “What about me? Why aren’t I feeling it as strongly?”
“You’re not a full-blooded dragon. Your body chemistry doesn’t react the same as mine.”
“Oh.”
You can’t win this battle, Welshman. Take the girl. Mark her as your own.
Shrugging off the Seer’s annoying voice, Mad said, “We’ll be fine. There’s nothing they can do to

me that will make me hurt you. The Seer can’t—”

The sentence died in his throat. Clutching his head, he cried out as a horrific stabbing pain lanced

his brain. Ivy cupped his neck and gazed up at him with worry. Her lips moved, but he couldn’t hear

anything but an eardrum-piercing screech. Logically, he knew the torments weren’t real but that didn’t
make the pain any easier to bear.

Swaying on his feet, he slammed against the wall. He managed to stay upright but Ivy fell hard on

the tile. Wincing, she scrambled to stand and put her hands on his chest. “Mad? Mad!”

He couldn’t answer her. His brain was boiling, and his blood pressure was rising dangerously

high. His heart thumped painfully in his chest. An invisible but inhumanly strong hand squeezed the air
right of out his lungs. Seized with panic, he realized the Seer was using her abilities to hurt him
without ever laying a finger on him.

Shit! I’m dying. He gripped Ivy’s arm. The look in her terrified eyes punched him in the gut. He

had failed her. He had come here to protect and save her and failed miserably. With the last bit of
strength, he urged her to fight.

Just hold on, sweetheart. Hold on.

Chapter Four

eave him alone!” Ivy shouted the words as four Knights rushed them and pried open Mad’s mouth.

She tried to fight them off, but one of them grabbed her wrists and held her back, forcing her to watch
as another poured a vial of the purple liquid onto his tongue. Mad choked and coughed, but the Seer’s
hold over his body was too great. He swallowed down most of what he had been given, more of that
lust root no doubt.

Just as quickly as they had dosed Mad with the vile concoction, they turned on her and pried her

jaw wide open. The cold and bitter liquid spilled onto her tongue. She tried not to swallow, but one
of the men smacked her across the face, the force of his strike making her gulp with shock.

Their duties done, the Knights retreated and left them alone. She fell forward against her Beast.

“Mad? Mad!”

Pale and covered in slick, cold sweat, he slumped forward and slid all the way down the wall.

The heavy ink scrolling along his shoulders and arms and covering his chest looked so very dark
against his graying skin. The blood was draining from his face and leaving his lips thin and sickly
purple. Only one part of him remained a healthy, lively color.

Ivy gulped at the sight of his extraordinarily thick and long erection. She had always expected a

man his size would be well-endowed, but she was still taken aback. Despite her shock, she didn’t
shrink away in virgin fright. To her sheer distress, the feral whisper of the dragon within urged her to
stroke his hot flesh and ease the ache he must be feeling.

“What do you want?” she called out to the Seer while she caressed Mad’s handsome face. The

thought of him succumbing to the Seer’s torture filled her with such an aching, throbbing emptiness.
Her feelings for the dragon were so very complicated, but she couldn’t deny what her heart said was
right. And he was it. He was the one she had been waiting for all her life. Just as she had always
suspected she was something more than human, she had always believed that there was someone
special out there for her. “Please don’t die, Beast.”

He doesn’t have to die. Save him. Ease his madness and pain.
No. Ivy refused to play into the Knights’ hand.
You’re being so stubborn. I’ve seen your dreams. I’ve listened to your thoughts. You want him.

See the way he burns for you? Take him.

The Seer spoke the truth. Even before she had met Mad in the flesh, she had been fascinated by the

mysterious  man  who  visited  her  dreams.  After  their  erotic  interlude  in  the  club  dreamscape,  she
couldn’t  shake  her  desire  for  him.  The  way  he  insisted  on  holding  her  while  she  slept  didn’t  help
matters  any.  He  curled  that  big,  strong  body  of  his  around  her.  The  soothing  heat  of  him  and  the
security of his powerful arms cradling her close were enough to make a girl swoon.

Mad made her want things she had never before desired. He made her want to know all the secrets

her  friends  had  uncovered  years  earlier.  The  sultry,  sensual  side  she  had  never  felt  comfortable
indulging  suddenly  demanded  to  be  unleashed.  It  was  as  if  something  dormant  had  been  awakened
within  her.  Maybe  it  had.  Perhaps  her  connection  to  this  great  beast  of  a  dragon  had  touched  off
something supernatural and feral in her. The potion she had been forced to swallow wasn’t helping.

That second dose of lust root will make him ravenous, girl. If the potion doesn’t kill him, I will.

My Knights were promised a show. They’ve never witnessed the mating rituals of the dragons.
Give them a taste tonight—and I’ll let your Beast see another sunrise.

Ivy glanced back at the guards standing in a semicircle around them. Eyes shining lecherously, they

stared on with obvious excitement. Painfully aware of her nakedness, she gulped anxiously and bit her
lower lip to keep it from wobbling pitifully. Crouching closer to Mad, she tried to hide as much of
her body as possible from the guards watching them. She thought of the warning her mother had given
her about getting into sticky situations. She had read enough chilling news stories about young women
outnumbered by men to know how this would end if she didn’t do as ordered. Recalling Mad’s
description of his friend going on a rampage when overdosed with the root, she feared what might
happen if she didn’t take the pressure off, so to speak.

A trickle of blood leaked from Mad’s nose. Green fluid the color of antifreeze dripped from his

ears. His laborious breaths scared her. This wonderfully fantastic mythical man-beast hybrid was so
very strong, but she didn’t know how much more of this he could take. The Seer might be bluffing—
but Ivy couldn’t take that chance, not with the man who made her body thrum and her blood sing. Not
with my mate.

Making up her mind to do whatever the Seer wanted in order to save Mad, she picked up one of

the towels from the stack that had been left for them and gently wiped away the blood and fluid
trickling along his skin. Leaning over him, she peered into his glazed eyes and prayed he would let
her inside…

Second by second, their physical surroundings collapsed like dominoes. An image from Mad’s

memories—the  locker  room  of  the  gym  he  owned  with  his  cousin—appeared  before  her.  She
replicated  the  details  with  his  help,  creating  a  familiar  environment  that  would  set  him  at  ease  and
block  out  the  Knights  and  chains.  Using  her  ability  to  connect  to  Mad  while  they  were  both  asleep
was one thing, but this was totally new territory. She hoped she wouldn’t fail.

In this strange wake-dream world she had crafted, Mad roused with a sharp inhale and bolted

upright. He snatched her close and rolled to his knees, shoving her behind him in one move. His head
whipped side to side as he searched for their guards, but they weren’t visible to him. He whirled
back on her, grasping her upper arms and hauling her upright. “Ivy? What’s going on?”

She put both hands on his broad chest and petted him. His once cold and clammy skin was blazing

hot now. Even in this dream world, he smelled more delicious, the woodsy scent of him curling
around her and making the very tips of her toes tingle. “Calm down, Mad. This is our place. It’s our
world. We’re safe here.”

“No, we’re not. They gave me more of the lust potion.” He sniffed her mouth and grimaced. “Shit.

Not you, too!” He tried to shove her away from him. “You have to get away from me. I could hurt
you.”

“You won’t hurt me, and I’m not going anywhere. We’re staying here, in my world. I’m going to

help you.”

He clasped her face in his big, rough palms. “What have you done?”

Running her fingers along his, she gripped them and dragged them away from her cheeks. “I’m

saving your life. She’ll kill you if we don’t—”

“Don’t what, Ivy?” His eyes widened as the penny dropped. “No.” His emphatic rejection

surprised her. “I’m not doing that to you. Not like this. Not here.”

“It’s just sex, Mad.” She said it carelessly but her stomach pitched with fear and embarrassment.
“It’s not just anything, Ivy. Not when it comes to you,” he said tenderly. “We aren’t doing this.”
“Yes, we are.” If the Seer could control Mad’s body, why couldn’t she? “I’m sorry.” She pushed

hard against his chest and shoved him against the wall. “It’s the only way to save you.”

“Ivy.” His gaze turned frantic when he realized he couldn’t move his legs or arms. He was locked

in tight and stuck in that standing position. “Don’t even think about it!”

Blocking out the men who were watching and the Seer who was threatening to kill him, Ivy

committed herself completely to the fantasy. “It’s just you and me, Mad.” She peppered playful kisses
all over his sculpted chest. “A girl and her dragon.”

“This is a dangerous game, Ivy.” He breathed heavily. His voice had taken on a deeper, huskier

tone.

“Yes, it is. It’s life or death.” She rose on tiptoes but was far too short to reach his lips. “Kiss me,

Mad. Kiss me the way you did in our dream.”

The furious set to his mouth relaxed. He capitulated faster than she had expected. Clearly the

potion was working. With a low and needful groan, he lowered his face and nuzzled their noses
together. His lips finally made contact with hers. A flutter of something wild and wicked rocked her
core. Closing her eyes, she surrendered to his seeking kiss, the first they had shared in the real,
physical world.

A burst of fiery passion blistered between them. Sliding her hands along his strong arms, she

rejoiced in his commanding kiss. Even bound with chains and her mind, he proved to be as
dominating as ever. She might be the one with the freedom to move, but he was the one with all the
control.

When he backed off the kiss, she issued a whimper of protest, but he wasn’t about to give in to her.

He nipped at her lower lip, tugging her sensitive flesh between his teeth and biting down gently. “Let
me move, Ivy.”

She found the strength to refuse him. “No.”
“Ivy.” His mouth brushed hers but didn’t linger. “I can give you pleasure.”
“That’s why I can’t let you free.”
He frowned down at her. “Don’t you want me to make you feel good?”
“Oh, you have no idea.” A delicious ripple burned through her core and settled between her thighs.

If she let him loose, he would break her concentration and shatter the dream. Once fully awake, there
was no telling what Mad would do in his drugged state.

Running her hand down his abdomen, she inched closer and closer to the rigid shaft that she had

been sneaking peeks at during their shower. His breath hitched when her fingertips sifted through the
thatch of curls guarding his cock. She hadn’t ever been this close to a naked man but she wasn’t naïve
or totally innocent. She didn’t know exactly what she was doing, but she was going to fake the hell out
of some confidence.

“Tell me it’s okay to touch you, Mad.” She was willing to do whatever was necessary to save him,

but she wasn’t going to cross that line.

He growled, the sound so low and rumbling it made her clitoris pulse. “Touch my cock, Ivy. Make

me come.”

His command made her throb in all the right places. Breasts aching and pussy clenching with

desire, she clasped his erection and stroked from the wide base to the blunt tip. His searing flesh
branded her skin, and his girth was so great her fingers didn’t even come close to touching. Could she
even take him when the time came?

“Tighter,” Mad urged and captured her mouth with a possessive kiss. “Both hands, Ivy.”
She melted against his solid body and did as instructed. He thrust against her palms and grew more

insistent with his kisses. His mint-flavored tongue traced the seam of her lips before flicking inside
and touching her tongue.

An arc of pure and unadulterated lust raced through her chest and settled in her belly. She noticed

he smelled different again, now muskier and spicier. She rubbed the tip of her nose against his skin
and inhaled his scent. Drugged by the aphrodisiac, Ivy grew hotter and more aroused. Her feminine
center pulsed almost painfully and she squeezed her thighs together to lessen the ache. A slick
wetness seeped from her core and stained her thighs.

His seed. Take his seed.
The need to taste him overwhelmed her. Though she had never performed oral sex, she knew the

mechanics and basics of the act from reading racy novels and satisfying her curiosity with a glossy
skin flick or two. Slowly, she knelt at Mad’s feet and gazed up at him with utter adoration. She licked
her lips to wet them and then dotted quick kisses along his shaft.

“Ivy, you really shouldn’t.” The warning edge to his voice did little to dissuade her. When she

circled her tongue around the head of his cock, he groaned and fisted his hands at his sides. “My seed
isn’t safe.”

His words gave her pause. “You’re sick?”
“It will change you.” His voice had dropped half an octave and grown rougher. “There’s no going

back once we go down this road.”

Taste him.
“I’m not turning back now.” She wrapped her lips around the thick ruddy crown. The taste and feel

of him in her mouth, the velvety heat over hard steel, was unlike anything she had expected. There
was no way she could do any of those wickedly arousing tricks she had seen in the online clips she’d
giggled over with her best friend Eris, but she had a feeling Mad didn’t really care. His cock was
gliding in and out of the willing mouth of his woman.

She experimented with different techniques, taking him with long, slow down strokes or bobbing

fast and shallow and holding just the tip of him between her lips. Judging by the sounds he made, Mad
enjoyed all of it. Some of her girlfriends had complained about giving head, likening it to a
transaction that was simply part of maintaining a relationship, but she found it rather exhilarating. It
made her feel powerful to see Mad quivering and trembling before her.

Humming enthusiastically around his cock, Ivy sucked him harder and faster. She remembered all

the pointers she had picked up from friends telling their naughty tales and used them to make Mad lose
control. His hips pumped subtly and his fingers flexed at his sides. His staccato breaths deepened and
grew forceful. “Ivy.”

Emboldened by his groan, she added her hands to the mix. That was all it took to shove him over

the edge. He pulled back but she followed his movement and captured his cock. He tried to hold back

but biology won the battle. The first splash of semen hit her tongue, and a surprised whimper escaped
her throat. The sweet taste of him set off a craving she couldn’t control. She took him deeper and
swallowed down the delicious essence that spilled onto her tongue.

Revitalized by the swap of sexual energy, she licked him clean, refusing to waste even one drop of

Mad’s seed. The wild thing inside her wanted all of him. Dropping back against the wall, he tried to
regain his breathing. She kissed his upper thighs and the spot just beneath his navel. It was a sweet
and tender moment that was abruptly and rudely ruined.

The jeering Knights shattered her dreamscape, hurtling them both back into their cold, stark reality.

The world she had created crumbled. Now they were bound in chains and providing a spectacle for
the men who held them captive. Shame swept through her. Had she really just done that in front of a
crowd?

Enraged by the humiliation she had suffered, Mad stunned her by gripping the chains in his massive

hands and tearing them apart. Metal links clattered to the floor. In the blink of an eye, he shoved her
into the nearest corner and launched himself at the closest Knight. Without the shock collar around her
throat, the Knights couldn’t hurt her from afar anymore, and he was taking advantage of it.

Ivy watched with shocked horror and the strangest sensation of pride as Mad attacked the men who

were tormenting them. He made quick work of snapping the necks of three of them, breaking their
bones as if they were as brittle as dried sticks, and knocked another three halfway across the room
with brutally hard punches. They didn’t move when they hit the ground. She couldn’t tell if they were
dead or simply knocked out cold. She ought to have been horrified at the brutality he displayed but
she wasn’t. His vicious behavior and his desire to protect her inspired only the greatest affection.

The leader of the Knights, the one with the cattle prod, tried to pop Mad but her Beast snatched it

away and turned the weapon on him. The Knight jerked and gasped as the painful jolt of electricity
ripped through him. Mad smacked the man across the side of the head with the tool and dropped him.

Her brief hope that they might finally escape was dashed by a rush of shouting and armed men

running into the locker room. Mad used his body to totally shield her. A standoff began and she feared
this might truly be her last night on earth. She peeked around Mad and saw a dozen Knights blocking
the exit and flanking an older man.

“You’ve made your point, dragon.” The spokesman of the group growled. “Take your mate back to

the cell and put the chains back on her cuffs. You may have started the process with her, but you
should remember that there are other ways, much more painful ways, to get what we need out of you.”

The Knight’s threat struck her cold. Remembering the way Mad had said his seed would change

her, Ivy wondered what that meant exactly. She considered the strong emotions coursing through her
at the moment. Was this the start of that change? She thought of all the ways the Knights might extract
Mad’s essence. Would they really do something so gruesome?

Yes. Without a doubt.
Desperate to keep him safe, she touched his arm and leaned forward to kiss his back. It was a

silent plea for him to do whatever they asked. As long as they were together, there was a chance they
could get out of here alive. As long as he was with her, she could face anything.

Mad pivoted toward her and scooped her up without warning. He tossed her over his shoulder,

clamping his arm along her upper thighs, and strode out of the locker room as if he had won her in a
prize fight. With the Knights surrounding them, he carried her back to their cell and carefully lowered
her to the ground. She glanced around their space and noticed some new additions. There was a chair

in one corner and a pallet against the opposite wall. A stack of clean scrub uniforms, the type worn by
nurses and doctors, sat atop the chair. There were toothbrushes and toiletries in a small box near the
sink.

The cell door slammed shut behind them. Tired of feeling exposed and vulnerable, Ivy scurried to

the stack of clothing and found the smallest pants and top. Mad tugged them from her hands. “Let me.”

She held still, lifting her arms and legs when necessary as he dressed her. When he was finished,

he swept her up again and carried her to the pallet where he gently placed her. Mad picked up the free
end of the chains attached to the wall. “I’m sorry, Ivy. I have to chain you.”

She thrust out her wrists and allowed him to do what was necessary. “It’s okay.”
“It’s not.” He didn’t bother with the clothes that had been left for him. Sliding down next to her on

the pallet, he pressed on her shoulder until she was flat on her back before throwing one of his
powerful legs over her thighs to pin her in place. His rough fingertips grazed her cheek. There was
only the barest sliver of moonlight spilling into their cell but it was enough to allow her to see that his
eyes were still totally dragon. “How do you feel?”

“Fine,” she lied.
His eyes narrowed to slits. “Don’t, Ivy. You’re hurting, aren’t you? Your skin is burning. You’re

feeling hot all over.”

She didn’t deny it. “Why are you asking all these strange questions?”
“I told you that taking my seed would change you.” He brushed her damp hair from her eyes.

“When my friend Stig finally gave in to his love for a mortal woman, their lovemaking awakened a
side of her that she never knew existed. Cora has extremely diluted dragon blood, but all it took was a
few days of mating and she will never be the same again.”

Ivy swallowed hard. “What about you? How do you feel?”
“I’m burning up for you.” He touched his scorching hot forehead to hers. “I can smell you and all I

can think about is tasting you.” His thunder rumbled out of his throat. “I won’t hurt you.”

She frowned at him. “I know you won’t hurt me.”
“I won’t take advantage of you either.”
“Like I did you?”
With a sharp intake of breath, Mad lowered his face until their noses were almost touching. “You

didn’t take advantage of me. I wanted it. I needed it.”

Hearing the guilt in his voice made her feel bad. “Honestly, Mad, I wanted to…”
“Put your mouth on me?” He filled in the words she couldn’t bring herself to say yet.
“Yes.”
He ran his thumb along her lower lip. “Did you enjoy it?”
“Yes.” Nervously, she asked, “Did you?”
“Hell yes!” He seemed surprised she would even ask the question. “I nearly came the moment your

tongue touched my cock.”

Her face flamed at the frank description. Still, she had to know. “So I was okay at it?”
He seemed to sense that she needed reassurance. She didn’t have the courage to ask what she

really wanted to know. Had he been comparing her to the hundreds of beautiful, skilled women he had
shared his bed with during his many years of life? Was he thinking of how very lacking she was in
any useful bedroom knowledge? Was he having second thoughts about all the patience required with a
virgin mate?

“You were perfect.” He must have been able to feel her uncertainty. He kissed her deeply,

branding her lips with his own. His hand settled on her lower belly and rubbed slowly side to side.
That enticing scent still clung to him.

“You smell so good, Mad.”
“It’s mating pheromones. You’re driving me crazy.” He nestled his nose in the curve of her throat.

“I can smell how aroused you are.”

She shivered as his gruff voice rumbled through her. His hand slipped under her top and caressed

her bare skin. When he cupped her breast, she nearly passed out. “Madoc.”

His hand went still. “Should I stop?”
“I…” She didn’t know what to say.
“Let me give you some pleasure, Ivy. You’ve been through hell the last few weeks. Let me make

you feel better, even if only for a few minutes.”

“Will it help you?”
“It will, but don’t say yes for me. Say yes because it’s your choice.” His hand slid along the V

between her thighs, and he cupped her through the stiff fabric of her pants. “Say yes because you want
to know what it feels like to have my tongue here.”

Dizzy and shivering inside, she asked breathlessly, “What if they see us?”
“They won’t.” Mad had angled his body so that she was totally blocked if one of their guards

decided to peek in on them. “I don’t think they’re coming back here to bother us tonight.”

“Because you killed those men?”
He shook his head. “Because they poured enough lust root down our throats to make us burn with

desire until morning, and because they want us to seal the deal, Ivy.”

She licked her lips. “We’re not going to, right?”
“No.” His tender kiss stole her breath. “You deserve better than a rough fuck on a thin pallet in a

prison cell.” Palming her breast, he brushed his thumb across her stiff nipple. “There won’t be any
home runs tonight.” He lightly pinched her nipple, causing Ivy’s hips to rock off the pallet. “But I plan
to get to third base.”

Head pounding and on the verge of panting, Ivy closed her eyes and focused on the wicked

sensations Mad’s masterful hands evoked. His fingers moved over her breasts and stomach, setting
her skin on fire and making her clit ceaselessly ache. He pushed up the fabric of her scrub top and
lowered his mouth to her nipple. When he suckled a pink bud, she gasped and arched her back. His
tongue fluttered over the buzzing peak before he teasingly nipped at her inflamed flesh. “Oh God.”

He chuckled softly and moved to her other breast. His fingers rolled her abandoned, wet nipple

very gently, keeping her right on the edge of something incredible and new. She pressed her knees
together in the hopes of quelling the ache between her thighs but Mad had other ideas.

He bent down and bit one of the drawstrings keeping her pants snug to her hips, pulling it free and

loosening the waistband. He sneaked his hand underneath and cupped her bare sex. Now she really
couldn’t breathe. Trying not to pass out, she surrendered to his silent, gentle urging to open her legs.
He trailed his fingertips up and down her slit while peering down at her face. She didn’t know how
well he could see in the dark, but she had a feeling he could read her like an open book.

Capturing her mouth in a sensual kiss, Mad took control in the way she had come to expect. He

finally parted the delicate petals of her sex and encountered the slippery wetness already coating her
overheated flesh. Groaning at the evidence of her excitement, he swirled his fingertip around her

clitoris. Ivy clutched at his arm and side, holding on for dear life as he plundered her mouth and
rubbed that pink little pearl hidden within her folds. Her toes curled against the pallet.

The prison, their captors, the danger and threat of the Knights—they all faded away to nothing.

Right now, in this moment, it was just the two of them. And they were like any other new couple
discovering the erotic delights of a fledgling relationship.

Tearing away from his mouth, Ivy tipped her head back. “Mad!”
“Let go, Ivy.” His fingertips circled faster now, the pressure perfect and the speed working into a

frenzied state. He latched on to the exposed curve of her throat, sucking hard and raking his teeth over
her sensitive skin. “Come, sweetheart. Come now.”

A wobbling flutter exploded deep in her belly. Spasms of ecstasy caused her body to jerk as she

was gripped by vibrant waves of bliss. Mad swallowed her cries of passion with incredible kisses
that left her dizzy and panting. His strumming fingertips slowed until they stopped moving altogether.
He placed his hand against her throbbing pussy, covering her aching sex while his tongue danced
erotically with hers.

Eventually, he removed his hand. Making sure she could see him, he brought his fingers to his lips

and licked away her slick nectar. Ivy felt and heard the thunderous rumble that her taste coaxed from
his throat. It was yet another reminder that he was more beast than man.

Pushing up onto his knees, he grabbed her pants in one hand and yanked them down her legs. He

used his other hand to lift her backside. He tossed aside the pants and dropped down to his stomach.
With the slightest effort, he dragged her into the position he wanted and shoved her legs wide open.
He palmed her ticklish flesh and nipped at her inner thighs.

Staring up at the ceiling, she tried to breathe, but her mouth had gone dry and her lungs refused to

fill. Mad licked a long trail up her inner thigh, punctuating the movement with nibbling bites that made
her gasp. When he placed a noisy kiss right on top of the swollen nub nestled between her folds, Ivy
cried out and reached down to touch him. Mad caught her hand and interlaced their fingers.

As he held tight, he dipped his tongue into her core. Never in her wildest dreams did she think it

would feel like this. His skilled tongue swiped between her folds and swirled around her clitoris. He
coaxed that little bud to come out and play, suckling it gently until it was swollen and throbbing. He
fluttered along the extremely sensitive kernel until she was panting and moaning.

Her orgasm came quickly. Biting her lower lip, she shut her eyes and tried to ignore that coiled

wire of bliss winding tighter and tighter in her lower core. She wanted so badly to make that exquisite
sensation last forever but the way Mad licked at her was just too much. Her hips bucked off the pallet.
“Mad!”

He groaned happily and continued his sensual assault. His tongue drew small, firm circles, pushing

her right through her powerful climax. Instead of stopping, he changed tactics and let his attention
slide lower. He invaded her virgin channel, probing and tasting her in the wickedest way. It finally
occurred to her that the nectar seeping from her core probably had the same soothing effect his seed
had had on her.

His tongue eventually worked its way right back to her clitoris. She thrashed side to side as he

feasted on her delicate flesh. He cupped her backside and lifted her right where he wanted her, using
his wide shoulders to force her thighs apart so he had unimpeded access. Unable to speak or make
any intelligible sounds, she threaded her fingers through his dark hair and scratched at his scalp.
While he gave her unimaginable pleasure, she understood this was his way of soothing the desperate,

aching need making him crazy with lust.

She came and came and came until she sobbed and gasped. He finally eased off his torturous flicks

and tongued her gently, almost reverently. He suckled her clit one last time before dragging his face
across her lower belly, painting her with her own wetness. He crawled over her, sliding one hand
under her nape and clasping her hip with the other.

When he kissed her, she found the experience so intensely erotic. Loving the mouth that had just

given her such incredible ecstasy, she danced her tongue against his and found the courage to reach
between their bodies to stroke his hard cock. The heavy weight of it filled her hand and burned her
skin. In the back of her mind, a naughty little voice urged her to lift her hips and wiggle just a bit to
get him right where she wanted him most.

As if sharing her thoughts, he wrapped his fingers atop hers and dragged the head of his cock

between her ruddy slit. She inhaled a panicked breath, wondering if this was the moment, but he
quickly disabused her of that notion. Instead of penetrating her, he rubbed between her folds. The
wild feeling drove her mad with desire. She rocked her hips and responded to his slow but forceful
thrusts that came so very close but never penetrated her.

Growling her name, he climaxed hard and spilled his seed along her belly. The droplets scorched

her skin. As if marking his territory, Mad rubbed his essence across her stomach. It should have
bothered her, maybe even disgusted her to be claimed like a piece of property, but she found it wildly
intoxicating. Something inside her delighted in the way he showed his dominance and possessiveness
toward her.

Cradling her close, Mad tucked her head into the protected alcove between his arm and chest.

Sleepy, she let her eyelids drift together but didn’t succumb to the lull just yet. He brushed his lips
along her temple. “Thank you.”

She snuggled in closer and smiled with sated happiness. “After that? I think I should be the one

thanking you.”

“Are you all right? Was it too much?”
“I’m all right.” Stroking his chest, she replayed their bizarre evening and finally fit all the pieces

together. “They want me to become a dragon like you. That’s why they’re trying to force us to mate.”

Mad threaded his fingers through her hair. “It doesn’t make sense, does it?” He sounded so unsure.

“You would think they would want to keep you totally human so you could serve their cause and their
side. They must believe you’ll be more useful to them as a dragon than as a human Knight.”

“Because I’ll have a deeper connection with your kind,” she guessed. “Think about the way I can

get into your mind. I can make you see things, Mad. I can make you do anything I want. If I get
stronger, if I get better, I might be able to do the same thing to any other dragon I can reach
psychically. You told me that you can pick out the auras of your fellow Brothers like radar pings. If
the same thing happens to me—”

“Jesus.” He dropped a kiss to the top of her head. “We can’t let that happen, Ivy. What we did

tonight? We can’t cross this line again while we’re in captivity.”

“And when we’re free?”
He laughed softly. “When you’re ready? You’ll be lucky if I let you out of bed after a week.”

Chapter Five

Nine Days Later

o what was it like being a dragon kid?” Ivy playfully pushed her foot against his while she slowly

ate the cold tortilla that had been given to her by their guards. “Did you know you were a dragon?”

“I grew up in a tightly knit tribe, so there were no secrets between my parents and me.”
“Your father was the leader?”
He shook his head. “My grandfather was alive then. He was the leader of our family and our clan.

My uncle—Griff’s father—eventually became the leader. Now that title rests with Griff.”

“Were the different dragon tribes connected to each other back then? Like, did you have secret

meetings and get-togethers?”

“Not exactly.” He touched his bare toes to hers and enjoyed the electric jolt that traveled through

him. Though they hadn’t played with fire since the night they had been drugged, he could still taste the
sweetness of her soft, pink cunt under his tongue. Every time he looked at her, he fought the urge to
shove her down, rip off her pants, and bury his face between her thighs for another taste.

Shaking off that tempting thought, he said, “Our numbers were much higher then and we had a lot of

squabbling between tribes and even within our families.” He shrugged. “It was the Dark Ages, you
know? People weren’t warm and fuzzy or cooperative like they are today. We were all fighting to
survive.”

She blinked and seemed to be trying to wrap her head around it all. “I can’t even imagine all the

things you’ve seen.”

The slightest bit of envy tinged her disbelieving tone. Fully aware that she found herself lacking,

he rubbed his foot against hers. “It’s not a competition, Ivy. The things I’ve seen and the things I’ve
done? They’ve all led to this moment.” He held her interested gaze. “To us.”

“Us.” She repeated the word with trepidation. “What happens when we get out of here? Do we…I

mean…are we going to date? Do you just, like, throw me over your shoulder Viking style and steal
me away to your lair?”

He snorted. “One, I’m not a Viking and I don’t have a lair. I’ve got a house near Houston. As to the

first part of your question? That’s up to you.”

“To me? But you told me about mates and the way this whole thing works.”
“There aren’t any hard and fast rules here. My friend Stig and his mate Cora? They were friends

for years, but it wasn’t until they were sharing a house during his last heat phase that the magic
happened, so to speak. I’m not due for another two years. We have plenty of time to feel out this thing
between us.” Smiling at her, he said, “When we’re away from here and you’ve healed up, we’ll go
away to some place quiet. I’ll let you dig around in my memories all you want.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”
She took another bite and winced. She rubbed at the bruises on her left wrist. They had removed

the chains from her wrists and ankles four days earlier, but her skin was still raw and blotched with
red and purple patches. She was making the most of her ability to move freely about the cell. Right
now, she had chosen a spot on the floor that had been warmed by the slivers of sunlight that had been
streaming through the high, thin window covered by bars.

The setting sun washed her pale skin in yellow and pink light. Every once in a while, she would

close her eyes and turn her face toward the window, almost as if hoping to soak up the life-giving sun.
He silently vowed that he was taking her to the beach when she was safe and healthy again so she
could sunbathe to her heart’s content.

“So what did you do when you were a kid? Obviously, you weren’t playing T-ball or soccer on

Saturday mornings.”

“Childhood was different then,” he said, pushing beans around his plate with a spoon. He wanted

to share the plate of hot food sent into the cell for him, but any time he had tried to feed her something
other than the bread and water allotted for her, the Seer found ways to torment her and cause her great
pain. It hadn’t taken him long to catch on to the game these assholes were playing—or to make his
plans for revenge. “We worked alongside our parents. There wasn’t any of this coddling that happens
now. Life was hard. Even as dragons, we were susceptible to the diseases that killed and crippled the
young.”

“Really?” She seemed genuinely surprised by that. “But you’re so strong.”
“Once we’re adults, yes,” he agreed. “Before we hit maturity and develop the ability to shift,

we’re basically human. Going through the first heat phase is the real sign of adulthood. It awakens the
full power of our inner beast.”

“How old were you the first time you went into heat?”
“I was seventeen or eighteen.”
“Was it scary?”
“It was terrifying,” he admitted. “It’s an all-consuming pain and discomfort that you cannot even

imagine. It’s so much worse than the small doses of lust root they gave us the other night.”

She swallowed her bite and licked her lips. “I assume I won’t have to imagine it much longer.”
He didn’t meet her questioning gaze. “No, probably not. You’re getting to the right age for a full

mating heat.”

Her lips parted but her reply never came. Instead, her gaze snapped to the door. Forehead

furrowed, she pushed the last of her small meal into her mouth and chewed fast. “She’s awake.
They’ll be coming soon.” Her eyes closed briefly and she shuddered. “They’re going to take me from
the cell.”

“Like fucking hell,” he snarled. Anger surged through him. He was sick and fucking tired of the

way that awful crone hurt Ivy. The Seer and her flunkies had been hauling Ivy from the cell all hours
of the day and night to pry into her mind and mine her for information. Anytime he tried to intervene,
they caused her such incredible pain with that damned collar. As weak as she was from the lack of
food and the Seer’s constant mental torture, he didn’t dare risk their ire by attempting to intervene.
No, he paced the cell like a caged lion while Ivy was out of his sight and desperately tried to think of
a way to get them out of this mess.

When Ivy returned from the Seer’s torture chamber, she always smelled of death. It had terrified

him that first time he had caught the gut-churning scent, but he had calmed when he’d realized it
wasn’t coming from within Ivy. No, that stench belonged to the Seer.

He had hoped that being near Ivy would allow her to siphon more energy from him, but the lack of

food was keeping her very weak. The Knights were trying to break her control over her mind, but she
had an iron will that filled him with such pride. Though she seemed to be strengthened by his
presence, he was worried, very worried.

Where the hell are you, Griff?
He finished shoveling his meal into his mouth, cast aside the plate, and swept Ivy into his arms.

She had gotten used to his near-constant touch and seemed to crave his body heat. It was a damned
good thing because he held her every chance he got.

Being cooped up in close quarters was doing crazy things to him. She wasn’t in any shape to play

amorous games with him, but his body—and his inner beast—didn’t seem to care. Every time he
caught her scent, lust flared within him. His heart raced, his palms grew sweaty, and his mouth
watered for another taste of her.

Cradling her close, he sat down on the small pallet. It was far from comfortable, but it was better

than the cold stone floor. Her stomach growled pitifully. Guilt gnawed at him. Not for the first time,
he wondered if he had made a big mistake coming to her before making sure his messages had
reached Griff or Ignatius.

He glanced at the wall and noticed the tick marks he had been making next to hers. While she had

been  counting  the  days  since  she  had  been  taken,  he  was  keeping  track  of  his  brothers.  They  were
close enough now he could feel them. What had kept them from zeroing in on him? Ignatius was the
oldest  and  most  powerful  of  them  all  and  had  always  shared  a  special  link  with  the  brothers.  Niko
was  tied  to  Ivy  through  blood  and  kinship  and  ought  to  have  felt  her  presence  easily,  but  both  men
hadn’t located them yet.

A few nights earlier, Griffin had arrived south of the border. The familiar pulse deep in his chest

had been impossible to miss. No doubt the moment his cousin’s heat phase had ended, he had taken
off in search of him. Despite being mired in this awful mess with Ivy, he couldn’t help but wonder if
Griff had been successful in his bid to impregnate the beautiful half-Indian shifter who had ensnared
him that afternoon at their gym.

Find us, Griff. His cousin was close. Though the Knights had probably deployed some sort of

spell to dampen the beacon-like pulse of his dragon imprint, Griff would home in on them. He was
one hell of a tracker and the type of man who never gave up, not even when the odds were against
him. His cousin would see the situation as a dare—and he never backed down from one of those.

Mad’s sensitive ears perked to the sound of footsteps. Even before the guards opened the door at

the end of the hallway, he knew trouble was coming. Big trouble. The kind that was probably going to
end with him in a lot of pain and at least one of the guards dead or dying.

Rising to his feet, Mad carefully tucked Ivy behind him and boxed her into the corner of the cell.

He shifted his weight from foot to foot and clenched his fists, readying his meaty hands for whatever
hell he might need to unleash. To protect her, he would need to shift to his dragon form. She probably
thought she knew what to expect after seeing such winged creatures in her dreams, but it would be a
shock to see it in the flesh. He prayed she would hold it together.

“Mad?” Ivy placed a trembling hand to his lower back. “Be careful. There are more of them

tonight. I can feel them.”

Her scared voice made his gut clench. Every fiber of his being screamed for him to shift, fight, and

steal her away from here, but he knew the odds of making it out in good enough shape to fly away
with her were very low. It was the reason he had allowed himself to be taken captive and thrown in
this cell with her instead of waiting to make sure the Brotherhood had received his message.

There had been a dozen guards that night he had stormed the prison. It would have been futile to

attempt to break her out on his own, but he hadn’t been able to walk away from her to wait for
backup. His fear that she wouldn’t survive another night alone had forced his hand and gotten them
into this mess.

“Stay back, little bit.” He reached behind himself and gave her hip a gentle pat. “Whatever

happens, do not get involved.”

“But—”
He glanced over his shoulder and pinned her in place with a look. “No.”
She nodded meekly. “All right.”
Never wanting her to be afraid of him, he ran his palm along her arm. “I don’t mean to be curt with

you. Never fear me, Ivy.”

She reached for his hand, but their fingers never touched. The door at the end of the hall opened

with a noisy bang, and she jumped. He pushed her back and squared his shoulders. Stretching his
neck, he embraced that primal power within him and initiated the shift.

Before the first scale appeared on his human skin, one of the Knights stepped into view and

rapidly fired four tranquilizer darts. Without his dragon hide to protect him, Mad couldn’t simply
shrug off the sharp, long needles. They stabbed deep into his muscles and spilled their poison into his
blood.

It wasn’t the first time he had been subjected to their tranquilizers, but this was a new recipe. As

he yanked them from his body, the drugs were already taking effect. He blinked rapidly and
swallowed hard as his stomach churned and his throat tightened. Swaying on his feet, he tried to fight
the darkness threatening to engulf him but he couldn’t. With Ivy’s shriek of terror ringing in his ears,
Mad fell forward, bouncing hard when he hit the ground, and passed out cold.

Almost immediately, he was thrown into a swirling, hazy vat that threatened to drown him. It was a

dream  world  he  couldn’t  control.  Maybe  it  wasn’t  a  dream  at  all.  Falling  and  falling,  his  stomach
swooping  and  his  heart  racing,  Mad  realized  he  had  entered  that  strange  mind  space  he  typically
shared  with  Ivy.  With  her  incredible  gift  and  innate  power,  she  constructed  such  beautifully  vivid
dreams. Without her there to guide him, he was totally lost and completely at the mercy of this wild
and violent psychic space.

A burst of energy rocked him. While his physical body remained under the control of the sedatives

and paralyzing agents, his dream body—and his dragon—were finally set free. He rolled his
shoulders and embraced the painful spasms of the shift. His wings exploded from his back, the
cartilage snapping and the heavy membranes stretched between them catching some lift.

His descent slowed, and he arced to the left while scanning the foggy, inky skyline. As if someone

twisted a dimmer switch, the darkness surrounding him began to brighten. He flipped onto his back
and watched with awe as a half-moon suddenly appeared. Thousands of brilliant, twinkling stars
began to dot the night sky. He flapped his wings and shifted his weight until he was mostly upright.
Buildings and rooftops came into view. In his long life, he had visited many cities but none of them
looked like the one he was quickly approaching. Where the hell am I?

Eyes narrowing, he recognized famous pieces of architecture from all around the world. It

occurred to him that this was one of Ivy’s constructed worlds and not simply a snapshot from a
memory. Flying between buildings, he swept down the empty streets in search of her. Where are you?

Almost instantly, Ivy’s sweet voice pinged his thoughts. Go to the library. Wait for me. Don’t try

to leave.

Used to being the one giving orders, he nonetheless did as her ghostly voice bade. He found the

library rather easily and somehow managed to fit his massive dragon form through the ornately carved
wooden door. He stepped into a bibliophile’s dream world with stacks that stretched as far as the eye
could see on four different floors. There were ladders, staircases, reading nooks, and comfy chairs.
Unable to help himself, he breathed in the scent of paper, ink, and leather and marveled at Ivy’s
ability to make everything so real.

The doors unexpectedly locked behind him. Whirling on them, he grasped the handles but not even

his superhuman strength would make them budge. The windows began to disappear, and a sensation
of claustrophobia gripped him. Outside the library, a wild storm kicked up, the wind and rain
battering the masonry with such force that he worried the make-believe walls might fall in on him. Ivy
had locked him inside this building she had created for a reason. To protect me.

It hit him quite suddenly that the drugs they had pumped into his body were meant to weaken the

mental walls he had erected to keep sensitive information safe. Under the influence of the poisons
circulating through his system, he would be vulnerable to mining by that horrid Seer. With Ivy’s deep
connection to him, she was the perfect conduit for exploring his mind and getting to his secrets. He
knew the locations of all the Brotherhood safe houses, the communes where their people lived, and
the unique dragon breeds who were at the greatest risk of extinction.

And Ivy must have known that. It was the reason she had immediately connected with him as soon

as he had gone unconscious. By sheer force, his future mate had tossed him into their shared dream
space and then brought him here to this well-guarded spot.

But what were they doing to her while he was hiding in here? His chest ached. It felt as if a painful

vise squeezed the air from his lungs. Judging by the storm raging outside, the Seer was assailing Ivy
with her full might. Were they hurting her badly? Was she crying out for him, begging for him to save
her?

The minutes ticked by like hours. Stuck in this altered reality, he couldn’t be sure if the clock on

the far wall was correct. How long did five minutes in a dream world last in real life? One hour?
Five?

The worry ate at him, gnawing at his gut and leaving him on the verge of a panic attack. She might

have put him away in this library to contain him and his secrets, but the connection they shared
couldn’t be totally stopped. Her fear and anxiety spilled over him.

“Ivy.” Her name echoed in the cavernous library. “Let me help you.”
She didn’t answer him immediately, but when she did, he could tell she was weakening. “Soon.”
One word spoken with such pain coloring her voice. He flexed his wings and let loose a deep

rumble of irritation. How much longer until the sedatives wore off and he had complete control of his
physical body again? That had to be why she was dragging this out and taking so long to let him free.

“Mad.”
He spun around the moment the proximity of her voice registered. She slumped against a bookshelf

and held on to the wooden edge with a white-knuckled grip. “Ivy!”

With one long leap, he crossed the distance between them and gathered her up in his arms. She

weighed a fraction of what she did in real life, her dream presence so faint that she hardly existed at
all in this world she had created for them. Careful of his talons, he swept his scaled fingertips down
her face. “Let me wake, Ivy. It’s time.”

She exhaled a shuddery breath and finally nodded. “Be careful. She’s stronger tonight and very

angry.”

“Don’t worry about me. I’m older and more powerful than her. My body is quickly metabolizing

the drugs.” He pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead in silent gratitude for the way she had sacrificed
her own comfort and safety to protect him. If he had his way, this would be the very last time she was
ever put in this position. “Wake me, Ivy. Wake me now.”

Her feather-light body disintegrated right before his eyes. She faded to nothingness and

disappeared from the library. A quiver of panic slashed at his chest, but he calmed himself with the
knowledge that she was incredibly skilled at navigating the journey between reality and this dream
world. Rising tall, he focused on the sensation of waking and regaining consciousness. The moment
the Seer felt him stir, she would pounce on him and try to pry into his most secret thoughts. He had to
be ready for her.

Layer by layer, the heavy sleepiness was drawn back and Mad surfaced from the dream like a

deep-sea diver making a slow ascent. With a ragged inhale, he came out of his drugged sleep. Groggy
and disoriented, he blinked rapidly and breathed hard. Painfully bright lights blinded him, and he
flinched, shutting his eyes tightly. He tried to move but couldn’t. Heavy manacles bound him to a cold
metal slab, probably the same one Ivy had described during her first day in captivity.

A second after he felt the chains and cuffs holding him in place, he became aware of Ivy’s smaller

body on top of his. No longer stuck in that dream world, he was fully human—and totally naked.
There was nothing between his hot slick body and hers. The Knights had stripped them both and tied
them together on top of this slab, forcing their bodies into intimate contact. He had an extremely bad
feeling about what that sicko Seer and her crew of Knight minions were trying to accomplish.

“Ivy?” His whisper sounded unbelievably loud in the quiet furnace of a room. When she didn’t

stir, he pressed his cheek against hers and nuzzled her gently. “Wake up, little bit.”

“Beast…”
The nickname inspired a smile, but it quickly vanished when he scented her blood. Lifting his

head, he spotted the thin streams of it running from her nose and ears. Guilt slashed at him, and fear
for her health left him cold. “Oh, sugar…”

“They’re coming.”
His stomach clenched as he imagined the worst. “The Knights?”
“Your brothers.” She inhaled a shaky breath. “The dragons.”
His senses dulled by the drugs the Knights had shot into him, Mad couldn’t lock onto the invisible

signals of his kind. Even so, he didn’t doubt Ivy. She was so incredibly special and so very talented.
If she said his brothers were coming, they were coming.

He nuzzled her again and found comfort in the way she pressed against his chest, her bare breasts

warm against his skin. “Just hang on, Ivy. We’ll be safe soon.”

Within seconds his brothers were close enough that not even the drugs still coursing through his

system could block them out. He counted the pings on his mental radar—one, two, three, four—and
hastily identified them. Niko, Griff, Ignatius, and Stig had come to their rescue. Finally, he thought

with a great deal of frustration. What in the hell had kept them away for so long?

That was a question that would have to wait. Right now, he was more worried about Ivy’s injuries

than monitoring the movement of his friends through the prison. Ivy flinched and gasped a few times.
He realized she was watching or feeling the battle happening in the abandoned prison.

Griffin’s familiar pulse appeared in the hallway. One good kick was all it took for his cousin to

send the cell door flying into the room. Mad lifted his head and was just barely able to make out the
sight of Griff crouching down and turning to the side to fit through the doorway. One look at the table,
and his cousin stopped dead in his tracks. Mad could only imagine what their precarious position
looked like.

Stig followed hot on Griffin’s heels. Even in his dragon form, there was no masking his shock.

Realizing both men had a perfect view of his mate’s naked curves, he snarled angrily and shouted,
“Quit staring and unlatch me. She’s hurt, and she needs help. Now!”

Griff hurried toward them and gripped the chains binding Mad’s wrists in his fearsome hands.

With two hard jerks, he shattered the links. Mad immediately wrapped his arms around Ivy’s smaller,
fragile body and sat up, cradling her tight to his chest. “Sweetheart?” He pushed the damp strands of
her hair from her face and ran his thumb through the slick blood dripping from her nose. “Ivy?”

But she wouldn’t rouse.
Griff made quick work of breaking the manacles around his ankles while Stig searched the

adjoining cells for intel. His cousin placed a vicious-looking hand on his bare shoulder and gave it a
squeeze, the very tips of those black talons scratching his skin. In his dragon form, Griff couldn’t
speak very well because their throat anatomy was totally changed. He didn’t have to say any words to
convey his message. Mad read it loud and clear.

“Is she alive?” Niko, fully human now, raced into the cell, his bronzed and heavily tattooed skin

splattered with blood from the kills he had made. Ignatius came into the room behind him but
remained in his shifted form. Blood dripping down his scaled chest and from the fangs protruding
from his mouth.

“Yes,” Mad finally answered. “Barely, but we have to get her out of here. She’s starving and

dehydrated.” He showed the blood trickling out of her ears. “And then there’s this.”

Niko placed a hand on the back of her head and closed his eyes. With one touch, he could assess a

patient. “She’ll heal. It’s not fatal. It’s common in those gifted with the sight.”

The mention of her gift made him think of that horrid old cow who had tormented Ivy for weeks.

“What about the Seer?”

Niko shook his head. “She escaped when we arrived. We’ll find her. We’ll finish this.” The

ancient Greek tapped his arm and showed a great deal of concern. “Can you walk?”

“I’m fine.” What he didn’t want to admit was that he was overwhelmed by the urge to punch every

male in the room for even looking at Ivy. If one of his brothers attempted to carry her, he would
probably shift and lose total control. “I’ve got her.”

“Yes, I see that.” Niko sounded suspiciously relieved. He hesitated a moment before asking, “Is

she your mate?”

Mad carefully placed her on the table so he could shift without harming her. Whatever doubts he

had harbored about the blood magic between them making their bond false had fled within moments
of meeting her. Even now, his heart raced and a comforting warmth spread through his body, the heat
of it making his toes tingle. “Yes.”

“So you’ve claimed her then?” In their world, only an act of completed intercourse could seal the

mate bond.

He frowned at the alchemist. “Are you serious? Have you seen this shithole we’ve been stuck in

for the last two weeks? She’s been here longer than that. When it’s time for me to take her as my mate,
it will be done properly—and on her terms.”

Stretching his aching neck, Mad embraced that primal part of him and unleashed his dragon. Wings

folded, he bent down, scooped Ivy up and held her close. Surrounded by his brothers, he left the
prison and leaped into the dark night, taking flight and heading for the nearby airfield where Niko had
a private jet waiting for them.

Something about his short conversation with Ivy’s tribe mate and elder unsettled him. Suddenly he

feared that his brothers hadn’t simply been delayed in finding them. The idea that Niko and Ignatius’s
desires might mirror those of the Knights sent a chill down his spine. Even as he ran Ivy out of that
prison, he feared she was now in far more danger than he had ever imagined.

Chapter Six

vy’s eyes fluttered open. Her vision came into focus but she blinked with confusion as she stared at

a coffered ceiling. After weeks of waking up to the dirty, cracked ceiling of her prison cell, the
gleaming and beautifully carved wooden panels above her were something of a shock. Am I
hallucinating?

A ridiculously loud snore ripped through the stillness. A slow smile curved her mouth. It was a

sound she had come to appreciate, and one that instantly set her at ease. Very carefully, she rolled
onto her side and discovered the relaxed and ever so handsome face of her Beast. Content to simply
stare at the hard angle of his jaw, she breathed in the clean scent of him and tried to make sense of her
jumbled thoughts.

Flashes of memories teased her. After Mad had been tranquilized, she had desperately tried to

protect him and the secrets he carried. The Seer had been surprisingly powerful that night, or perhaps
she had simply been too weak to fight her. That evil hag had been so intent on forcing her to connect
with Mad, but Ivy had done everything possible to keep him contained behind a wall the Mind Miner
couldn’t penetrate.

And it had pissed off the Knight’s psychic weapon so badly. Ivy didn’t think she had ever

experienced pain like that. The unceasing mental assault felt like thousands of red-hot needles were
piercing her brain, jamming in deep and wiggling around until she just wanted to die. Even so, she
had soldiered on, certain Mad would have done the same thing for her if the roles had been reversed.

Despite being locked away in that dreamscape she had created for him, Ivy had been able to feel

Mad’s guilt and worry. With all the drugs pumping through his system, he could have died from an
overdose or been seriously injured, but she was his only concern. Me.

“Yes. You.” His gruff voice surprised her. When his dark eyelashes finally parted, his green eyes

were damned near sparkling with mischief. “Your thoughts are loud this morning.”

Her belly swooped at the sight of his playful grin. “Wait. You can hear me?”
“It started when we were flying away from the prison.” Mad placed his big hand against her cheek

and ran his thumb along her skin, the very touch of him making her tingle in all the right places. “I’m
told it happens when mates share a powerful psychic connection. I suppose the trauma of that night
had something to do with awakening it.”

“I’m not sure I’m liking this new development. What about privacy?”
He laughed. “Are you afraid I’ll hear you calling me names when I do something to annoy you?”
“Maybe.” Thinking of her privacy, Ivy suddenly realized she was wearing a man’s T-shirt and

baggy boxer briefs. “Um…Mad?”

As if reading her mind—and maybe he was—he hastily explained. “I took you into the shower

with me when we arrived here. I made sure no one else saw you. I wouldn’t allow that.” There was

no mistaking the possessive edge in his voice. “You needed to have all that dirt and blood washed off
of you. I wanted you to be comfortable while you rested.”

“Oh. Well. Thank you.” After sharing a prison cell for twelve days, she figured there weren’t many

secrets left between them. She swallowed as her stomach wobbled with a primal frisson of
excitement at the idea of Mad’s soapy hands running all over her naked flesh. If only she had been
awake to enjoy the experience! Instead, she had been passed out for her rescue and missed meeting
the other dragons and—

“Wait.” She seized on what he had said a few seconds earlier. “Flying? We flew out of the prison?

I missed something that amazing?”

“You’re out of that prison now. You’re safe with me. Amazing is just beginning for us.” Mad

threaded his fingers through her hair and dipped his head. His soft lips brushed against hers. Drawing
back, he rubbed the tips of their noses together. “We’re going to do a lot of flying together.”

Ivy understood he wasn’t just talking about flying of the winged variety, and she blushed. She

would never be able to explain the intense feelings she felt toward this man, but she trusted they were
right and simply meant to be. But there were so many questions that needed answers.

“So ask them,” Mad prompted. “We’re out of that prison and away from the Seer. We can be open

with each other now.”

She frowned and playfully thumped his bare shoulder. “Okay. No more listening in on my thoughts.

I’ve had just about enough of that to last a lifetime.”

“I’m not doing it on purpose.” He pushed up on his elbow and rested his head on his palm. The

white sheet that had been covering most of his body slipped down to his waist and revealed a
tantalizing swath of tattooed skin and his unbelievably toned muscles. “What do you want to know,
Ivy?”

“What happened after I passed out in that prison cell?”
“The rescue squad arrived.” He trailed his finger along the shell of her ear. “Ignatius, Stig, Niko,

and Griff stormed the prison, killed the Knights there, and extricated us.”

“And the Seer?”
“She escaped, probably with some of the Knights. We’ll find her eventually.”
Ivy narrowed her eyes. “Why do I get the feeling you mean I’ll find her eventually.”
To his credit, Mad didn’t lie to her. “It’s likely that you’ll be the one who helps us track her down,

but I won’t allow them to ask that of you until you’re healthy. It’s only been four days—”

Her eyes widened. “Four days! I’ve been asleep here for four days?”
“You needed to heal and to rest. Niko had you hooked up to IVs to treat your dehydration and

malnutrition. Since you’re like us, he was able to give you one of his concoctions to speed up the
healing process. There was something else to make sure you didn’t dream.”

“Really? There are drugs that do that?”
“Knowing Niko? It was probably some sort of old-school potion he cooked up in that lab of his.

You’ll have to ask him later. I’m sure he’d be happy to explain it to you.” Mad played with her hair,
the action so familiar and comforting. “He’s so thrilled to have you back in his life. You’re a very
close relation to him so he feels a strong kinship toward you.”

“Hold on.” Ivy clasped his thick wrist. “Back up a bit. Back in his life?” The corners of his mouth

tightened, and she dropped his wrist. Sitting up, she poked his sculpted chest. “That feeling I had that
we knew each other isn’t just because of the dreams, is it, Mad?”

He sat up and shoved a pillow behind his back, cushioning it from the ornate wooden headboard.

“I wanted to tell you, but I couldn’t risk it back at the prison.”

“We aren’t in the prison anymore. You said you wanted only the truth between us so let’s hear it.

When did we meet before this whole captivity and shared dreams thing?”

“When you were a baby,” he answered and reached for her hand, interlacing their fingers. “I was

there when your mother and father were killed.”

Ivy felt like the world was tilting and she might have even fallen off the bed if Mad’s steely arms

hadn’t wrapped around her. “Did the dragons kill them?”

“No.” There was no faking his aghast expression. She relaxed a bit, knowing that he was being

truthful. Mad dragged her onto his lap and held her there. “Did you know they were dead?”

“Mom and Dad said my biological parents were killed in a car accident shortly after I was born.

They didn’t know anything about my birth parents. When I turned eighteen, we tried to track them
down, but the adoption agency had closed and the records had been destroyed accidentally.”

“There never were any records, Ivy. Whatever was necessary to make the adoption legal was

manufactured by Niko and Ignatius. After it was all safely done, they destroyed the evidence to
protect you.”

She let that sink in for a moment before asking, “Did you know my parents—my biological parents

—very well?”

“No,” he said. “To be honest, I was their jailer for a short period of time.”
She didn’t know what to say to that revelation. Finally, she managed one word. “Why?”
“Your mother was a dragon. Do you remember the golden dragon you described from your

dream?” When she nodded, he continued. “That was Niko. He’s the closest blood kin you have left.
Your mother was a direct descendant of his sister.”

“And my father? He was human?”
“Yes, but he was also a Knight.”
Her chest grew painfully tight. Suddenly, everything made sense. “So you’re telling me my parents

were a Romeo and Juliet situation?”

“Basically,” he agreed.
Desperate for information, she touched his jaw. “Tell me about them.”
His gaze softened with sympathy. Could he feel the gaping, empty hole within her that the mystery

of her biological parents had left behind? “Your mother’s name was Phoebe Drakon. Your father was
Yves Cole. He was descended straight from the brother of the woman you saw murdered.”

“Caius?” She remembered the name.
“Yes.” His thumb glided along her lower lip. “Your birth name was Ivy Cole.”
“So I’m part of that first family you talked about the night you were thrown into my cell?”
“Yes.”
“And that means the Seer—”
“Is probably your aunt or grandmother,” he confirmed. “They’re just as secretive about their

degrees of relation, births, and deaths as we are. Either way, she is your family.”

“But she was so cruel to me,” Ivy said with a shiver.
“She hates you.” He didn’t mince words. “Your parents broke every rule in the book.”
“How did they meet? Was my father young like me? Was my mother older like you?”
“Your mother was older than your father. She was nearly three hundred years old when they met.

He was close to your age, maybe a year or two older. From what I was told, it was true love that
brought them together.”

“Does that happen very often? I mean, humans and dragons?”
“It’s not common, but yes. It was only forbidden for Brothers of the Green Hide to take human

lovers. Until recently,” he amended before caressing her back and continuing the tale. “Your father
had been sent on an illegal raid of a dragon compound. Every dragon but your mother was killed, and
she wounded your father badly but didn’t finish him off. Perhaps she recognized him as hers.
Whatever the reason, she broke the rules, our covenants, and hid him away while he healed. They fell
in love and carried on their secret affair for nearly seven years before you were conceived.”

Seven years? How difficult was it to hide an illicit affair like that? To know that the man you

loved so very much was trying to kill your kind every time he was away from you?

“As you can imagine,” he continued, “the news didn’t go over well. Ignatius, our leader, told us to

leave them alone. After losing his brother over a star-crossed love affair, he wasn’t going to get
involved in breaking those two up or hurting the baby—you. When we got word that the Knights had
tracked them down, we captured them first and brought them here to Niko’s estate for safekeeping.”

She glanced around the sumptuously decorated space. If this was just one bedroom in the house,

she could only imagine the size of the estate. “Was I born here?”

“Yes.”
“In a cell?” she asked with dread.
“No, you were born in a room down the hall. Niko secured the space with technology and layers of

magic. He’s extremely adept at that sort of thing.”

“What happened after I was born?”
“Your parents managed to overpower Niko while he was alone here at the estate and they escaped.

The Knights caught up with them. They slaughtered your mother and captured your father.” He spared
her the brutal details, and she was grateful for it. “We arrived too late to save him, but he made us
swear we would protect you.”

“You were there when he died.”
“I held his hand as he took his last breath.”
Ivy understood then that her connection to Mad had started almost from the very moment of her

birth. “You said he made us swear we would protect you, but he made you swear, didn’t he?”

Mad’s gaze drifted away from hers. He seemed to be recalling the memory and studying it. “Yes. I

swore I would protect you.”

“I don’t pretend to know the first thing about dragons, Knights, magic, or supernatural forces, but

what if that vow was more than just a simple vow?”

His arm drew her in a little closer. “It’s possible.”
“But if you promised to protect me, why was I sent away to live with humans?”
“Ignatius and Niko were adamant that you have a normal childhood. We faked your death and let

the Knights believe they had killed the entire family. Ignatius found a suitable family—Susie and
Miguel Morales—to raise you as a typical human child, and Niko treated you with his elixir to
suppress your supernatural gifts.”

“An elixir? What is he, some sort of wizard?”
Mad snorted with amusement. “I dare you to call him that when you meet him. No,” he said with a

laugh. “He’s what we call an alchemist. He’s a highly skilled scientist. Like Reynard, he has more

degrees than you can count. Lately, he’s been focusing on biochemistry and genetics. God only knows
what he’s cooking up in that lab of his.”

“But what did he cook up for me, Mad? What did he give me when I was a baby?” She had a bad

feeling it was something dark and dangerous.

“You’ll have to ask him about all of the ingredients.” Mad hesitated before finally admitting, “My

blood was in it.”

Speechless, Ivy just gawked at Madoc. “Are you serious?”
“I wouldn’t joke about something like that.”
“I drank your blood?”
“It was the only way, Ivy.”
“It’s disgusting! It’s unsanitary. It’s dangerous!”
“This world of mine is a dangerous place. I was told the elixir he fed you was the only way to

save you, Ivy. It was the one chance the Brotherhood had of giving you a happy and carefree
childhood.” Hope glinted in his eyes. “Were you happy?”

Even though she was totally grossed out by the thought of having drunk his blood, she refused to lie

to him. “Yes, Mad. I was so happy. My parents loved me so much. They were amazing, and they made
sure I woke up every morning knowing how much they absolutely cherished me. Sure, I had weird
dreams and the strange visions and the ability to see things, but overall my life is—was—really
normal. Boring even,” she added, thinking of all the things he had told her.

“I’m glad,” he said, visibly relaxing. “That’s all we ever wanted for you. We knew that sooner or

later your destiny would catch up with you, but I’m pleased you were safe and happy.”

Thinking of the way her life had so drastically changed, Ivy asked, “What about now? Am I safe

now?”

Mad used his brute strength to shift her on his lap. Her knees fell on either side of his thighs, and

she was grateful for the sheet adding an extra barrier between their bodies. Even wearing clothes, she
was insanely aware of the rigid heat of him trapped between her parted thighs. She wasn’t sure how
much longer she could control the fierce urges racing through her.

With one hand on her upper back and the other ensnared in her hair, he fixed her with an intense

stare. “No one will ever harm you again.” The tips of his ears went a bit red as he confessed, “My
rescue of you didn’t quite go as planned, but I swear it will be the last time I let you down.”

“You didn’t let me down. I can’t believe you would even think that, Mad. You came for me. You

protected me as best you could even though it meant putting your own life at risk. You got me out of
there.” She cupped his handsome face in both hands. “I’m only alive because of you.”

“And my secrets are still safe because of you,” he said softly. With a little pressure to the back of

her head, he coaxed her mouth toward his but didn’t claim her lips yet. “I want to kiss you again.”

“But?” Her heartbeat fluttered as fast as a hummingbird’s.
“But you’ve been through so much, and I’m sure this is all very confusing to you, Ivy. I don’t want

you to feel rushed into anything. We have a long time to sort things out between us.”

Warmed by his concern for her, Ivy chose to take control. She captured his mouth, pressing their

lips together briefly before daringly flicking the very tip of her tongue against his hot flesh. Mad let
loose a hungry, needful groan when he granted her access. The rumbling waves of it vibrated through
her chest and rippled right down to her toes.

Emboldened by his response, Ivy slid her arms along his broad shoulders and tilted her head so

she could deepen the kiss. Mad groaned again, the sound rougher and huskier as her tongue danced
with his. As if unable to hold back, he tightened his fingers around her hair and took control. She
shuddered with excitement and arousal as his tongue did such naughty things. Silently, she conceded
that no man had ever kissed her like this…and no man ever would again.

“Damn straight,” he growled in between kisses.
It was a remark that probably should have annoyed her because it assumed that she was going to

choose him as her mate and go along with all that meant in the dragon world, but damned if she didn’t
find the thought of belonging to him rather exhilarating. Teasing him, she whispered, “I’m not quite
convinced yet.”

His green eyes glinted with amusement. “Is that right? Well, let’s see what we can do about that.”
She gasped when he displayed a shocking amount of speed and strength by flipping their positions.

He jerked away the sheet twisted around his trim hips. Listening to an instinct as old as time, she
wrapped her legs around his waist and inhaled a shaky breath when she realized just how good and
how right it felt to have him sliding down on top of her. Was this the moment when everything would
change?

With his hands planted on either side of her head, Mad plundered her mouth with that fantastically

skilled tongue of his. He nibbled her lower lip and sucked hard on her swollen flesh before delving
back inside and branding her with his heat. She gripped his shoulders and tried to remember to
breathe. Of course, every lungful of air that she inhaled contained that deliciously enticing scent of
him. She was nearly delirious with desire now.

Mad’s big, scarred hand glided along her rib cage and settled on her hip. Unable to help herself,

she rocked against him, pressing the wet, feminine center of her body against the rock-hard length of
him trapped behind a precariously thin barrier of cotton. He growled and surged against her, rubbing
their bodies together in a way that sparked an electric jolt.

His hand sneaked under the borrowed shirt and swept along her bare stomach. When his fingertips

brushed her breast, butterflies swarmed in her belly. Her ragged breaths competed with his. For a
long moment, they simply stared at each other. They were hovering on the precipice—and she wasn’t
sure if she was ready to make that leap.

Very slowly, he dragged his hand out from under her shirt. He caressed her face. “I’m sorry, Ivy. I

didn’t mean to push you.”

Smiling up at him, she touched his hand. “I’m pretty sure I was the one who tossed gasoline onto

the fire.”

He started to reply but glanced over his shoulder at the door. With an annoyed grunt, he climbed

off of her and tugged the sheet up to her shoulders. “We’re about to have visitors.”

A second later, someone knocked loudly. He climbed off the bed but didn’t hurry to answer the

door. Bending down, he planted a lingering kiss on her mouth. “We’ll table this discussion for now.”

“All right.” Hugging the sheet to her chest, she sat up and enjoyed the view of the boxer briefs

perfectly outlining Mad’s taut backside as he crossed the room. Humming with need, Ivy suspected
she wouldn’t be a card-carrying member of the V Club much longer.

Chapter Seven

ad couldn’t decide if he was happy or pissed at the interruption. After being in close quarters

with  Ivy  and  fighting  off  that  delicious  and  arousing  scent  of  her,  the  urge  to  seduce  and  show  her
pleasure  was  strong.  On  the  other  hand,  he  acknowledged  that  she  had  been  through  so  much  in  the
last month. She needed time to fully recover and get back to living her life before she made any big
decisions about their future. The instant lust of an awakening mate bond was playing havoc with their
hormones.  They  needed  to  take  a  breather  and  get  some  perspective  before  they  made  any  rash
decisions that impacted her future.

He jerked open the door. Griff, Niko, and Ignatius stood in the hallway bearing breakfast trays and

shopping bags. He waved them inside. “Stig left?”

“You know how Stig is about Cora.” Ignatius brushed by him. “The moment he was assured you

two were safe, he ran back to her.”

Mad didn’t blame the old Viking for wanting to get back to his beautiful mate. After spending so

many days with Ivy, Mad couldn’t imagine being separated from her. Thankfully the university she
attended was less than two hours from his home, but his stomach twisted painfully at the idea of being
even that far away from her.

Griff’s massive hand squeezed his shoulder. “You’re looking better this morning.” His cousin’s

gaze skipped to the bed, and he grinned. “And so is she.”

He shot Griff a warning look. His cousin had always had a way with women, but he wasn’t in any

mood to watch Griff flirt with Ivy this morning. “She’s strong. She’ll recover.”

“You should feed her more.” Griff studied her as she spoke with Niko, who had presented her with

a tray laden with high-calorie foods. “She’s a tiny little thing.”

“I like her just as she is.” Shifting the topic away from Ivy, he asked, “Are you going home to

Avani today?”

“If you don’t need me,” he said, pretending to be nonchalant about it but clearly champing at the bit

to get back to his sultry new mate.

“She needs you more than I do.” He decided not to ask if the couple had been successful in their

attempt to make a baby. It was probably too soon to know one way or the other. If their first try hadn’t
been successful, it was likely to be a sore topic, especially considering how much Griff obviously
loved her. After hearing Stig tell the story of Avani saving and protecting a wounded Griffin, it was
clear she loved his cousin just as much.

“Then I’ll be leaving soon,” Griff decided. “I’ll, uh, make sure to check in on your house.”
Mad’s lips settled into an annoyed line. From the description of the battle that had taken place at

his home, he supposed he was lucky there were still walls standing. The gas explosion his brothers
had faked to cover up the skirmish was going to be a pain in the ass to deal with once he returned.

Griffin wanted to change the subject. He turned his attention to Niko and Ivy. “There’s quite a

resemblance between them.”

“They’re blood relations. It’s only natural.”
“She’s remarkably calm about all this. Most people would be in hysterics after what she’s

experienced.”

“She’s a survivor,” he remarked proudly.
“She’ll make a good mate, especially for someone in our line of work.”
“We’re not there yet,” Mad said carefully. “She needs time.”
“Not too much,” Ignatius interjected as he came to stand next to them. “The longer you two avoid

sealing the deal, the more the risk increases. To her, to you, and to all of us.”

Mad frowned. “How’s that? We got her away from the Seer and the Knights—”
“And her mind is still an open book,” Ignatius replied. “They know her identity now. She’ll never

be safe as long as she’s on their radar. They’ll come after her until they capture or kill her. Until she’s
one of us, completely one of us, she’s vulnerable. She must be made wholly dragon—and soon.”

Pivoting to face their one-eyed leader, Mad lowered his voice so Ivy wouldn’t overhear as she

continued her discussion with Niko. “She’s not ready. She’s twenty-one years old. She’s got the rest
of her life ahead of her. We’ve already flirted with danger, but I’m not going to mate her and start a
process that can’t be stopped. You saw what happened to Cora when the dragon blood was awakened
within her.”

“This is her destiny,” Ignatius argued matter-of-factly. “This was always her path, Madoc.”
“She chooses her path, Ignatius. She isn’t a pawn to be pushed around your chessboard.”
“She’s alive because of us. She owes her life to the Brotherhood. If she’s useful in the fight, she

must be persuaded to do her duty.” Ignatius stepped into him. That one eye of his had taken on the
onyx shade, a warning that the ancient dragon was hovering just beneath the surface. It was a sign that
their leader was under an immense amount of stress and unable to control the beast within him.
“When the time comes, you must do yours.”

After delivering his parting shot, Ignatius left the room, nothing but tension in his wake. Mad had a

mind to go after their leader and ask him what the hell he meant by that, but Griff’s calming hand on
his shoulder quelled the urge.

Griff shook his head. “He’s been on edge since the night we were attacked in your home and we

discovered you missing. The entire weight of our future rests on his shoulders. It’s a terrible burden
to bear.”

“I sympathize with his position, but I won’t allow him to threaten my mate in that way.”
“She’s not your mate until you claim her and bind her to you forever.” Before he could lay out the

same issues he had presented to Ignatius, Griff raised his hand. “I know. It’s not ideal—but this isn’t a
game, Madoc. She’s in danger. You’re in danger. We’re all in danger as long as that gifted mind of
hers is transmitting everything she learns every time she touches one of us.”

“She has to be the one to make that decision.”
“Mad—”
“It’s a risk, I agree, but she’s incredibly strong, Griffin. Think of how long she lasted in that prison

without breaking. We’ll get her healthy again, and then we’ll train her. We’ll ask Reynard to teach her
all his mind magic tricks. She’s already very good, a natural even, and with Reynard’s help, she’ll be
great.”

Griff stared at him for a long moment. “You’re a good man, Mad.”
He sensed his cousin wanted to say more. Griff ended the conversation by making his way to the

bed and introducing himself to Ivy. Her eyes widened as she tilted her head back to take in all of
Griffin. Considering she called him Beast, he could only imagine what name she would give to his
cousin. The man outweighed Mad by fifty pounds and stood half a foot taller than him, easily hitting
seven feet. Of all the dragons in the world, Griffin was only outmatched in size by Reynard.

“I would like to stay and get to know you better, but my mate is waiting for me. When you’re

feeling better, Avani and I would like to have you over for a weekend. And Mad,” he added glancing
back at him, “there aren’t many in our tribe, but they’ll all welcome you when it’s time.”

Her brow furrowed. “What time?”
“When you’ve properly sealed your bond as mates,” Griff explained.
“Oh.” She pushed scrambled eggs around her plate with the tip of her fork. “I see.”
He must have seen the blush creeping along Ivy’s cheeks because Griff turned to Niko. “Loan me a

car for the trip home.”

Niko eyed him over the rim of his teacup. “What’s wrong with your wings?”
“Don’t be a jackass. It’s a long flight back to Houston, and it’s daylight. I’d have to wait until dark

to return to Avani. Let me have the Aston Martin.”

The Greek dragon took a slow sip of his hot tea. “Try again, James Bond. You can borrow one of

the SUVs, but if you break it, you buy it.”

Griff rolled his eyes. “Yes, Father.” He smiled at Ivy. “If you have any trouble keeping my cousin

in line, call me. I know a few tricks that you’ll find useful.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Do.” Griff whacked him on the back as he strode toward the door. “Don’t be a stranger.”
“We’ll get back to Houston as soon as possible.”
Griff looked back toward the bed. “Take your time, Mad. You’ve earned the right to a vacation. So

has she.”

It was a tempting thought. He remembered his silent promise to take her to a beach so she could

worship the sun. Maybe…

“Griffin,” Niko called out before he exited the bedroom, “I hope you receive happy news when

you return to Avani. We all do, especially Ignatius. A new dragon child—the first offspring of our
Brotherhood—would be a blessing deserving of celebration.”

Griffin’s expression displayed his deep love for the woman who had brazenly propositioned him

only a few weeks earlier. “Thank you, Niko. If it’s good news, I won’t be able to contain myself.
You’ll know before sunset, I’m sure.”

Alone with Niko and Ivy, Mad slid back onto the bed and picked up the tray of food that had been

brought to him. He was pleased to see that Ivy had eaten almost half of the dishes brought to her.
Though the restorative and nutritional fluids Niko had pumped into her via IVs had done their part,
she needed to take in real food.

“Ivy told me that you explained the situation with her biological parents and all that happened

before and shortly after their deaths.” Niko ran his finger along the rim of his cup. “Ignatius and I
looked into the house fire that claimed your adoptive parents, but we never found evidence that
pointed to anything other than a tragic accident.”

She relaxed with apparent relief. “After I was taken in Mexico and Mad found me, I started to

wonder if maybe the Knights hadn’t had something to do with their deaths.”

“It was something I feared as well,” Niko confessed. “We always knew there was a risk they

would realize you hadn’t been killed that day or that one of the Knights might stumble upon you by
accident. When you were adopted by Susie and Miguel, I wove a very intricate and powerful
protective spell around the three of you. After their deaths, I worried the magic would disintegrate but
it appeared to hold so we chose to hang back and give you space.”

“Because you didn’t want to draw unwanted attention to me,” Ivy rightly guessed.
Niko playfully touched the tip of his nose, using the charades gesture to confirm her suspicion. “Do

you have any idea how they might have tracked you down?”

She had just taken a bite of toast smothered with blueberry preserves so she answered by

motioning toward her head with the tip of her fork. After a sip of orange juice, she explained, “The
dreams changed when I started the fall semester.”

“How?” Niko leaned back in his chair and rested his ankle atop his knee. As always, he was

barefoot. He swore his formative years on Greek beaches had spoiled him for shoes of any kind.
Whenever he could avoid them, he did.

“Until then, the dreams were always about death, carnage, and battles.” She stabbed a grape and a

mandarin orange segment. “Lots of battles,” she added. “Toward the end of the first week of classes, I
started to dream about a beautiful young woman and a very handsome man who were in love. They
were wearing the types of clothes I would expect in a movie about ancient Rome.”

“Drusilla and Sixtus,” Mad interjected even though Niko didn’t need the confirmation. “She saw

the night of their deaths.”

Niko seemed truly interested now. “Really?”
Ivy didn’t seem to want to go into the awful details. Instead, she said, “They weren’t the only

couple I dreamed about either. There have been many others.”

“From the past?”
She nodded. “And the present, I think. There was a woman a few years older than me who baked

cupcakes and this blond guy with old-school Viking runes on his arms. They felt…newer.”

Mad met Niko’s gaze. “Stig and Cora.”
“Yes.”
Ivy glanced between them. “Wait. Isn’t he one of the dragons who rescued us?”
“He was. Cora is his new mate, and she owned a bakery. If we had been able to speak more

openly back at the prison, I would have figured out you were talking about my friends when you
described the couples from your dreams.”

Niko set aside his teacup. “Why do you think you began to dream of couples? Why do you think

everything changed last fall?”

She tore her last slice of toast into pieces. “I started to feel different after Mom and Dad died. I

felt more…aware.”

“Of?”
“Smells, tastes, sounds,” she said. “I told Mad that I had always suspected I was different—”
“Because of the dreams and your ability to push people’s thoughts?” Niko interrupted.
“Yes. I had always been sensitive to my surroundings, but this was totally different. Three weeks

after Mom and Dad died, I woke up drenched in sweat. My heart was racing. I couldn’t catch my
breath. I could hear bats flapping around and squeaking like they were in my bedroom, but the closest

bat colony was all the way across campus at Kyle Field.”

“It was a full moon?”
“Um…yes.” She seemed surprised. “Why? Is that important?”
“You were born under a full moon. Female dragons have reproductive cycles that match the moon

phase of their births. It’s the reason why I treated you from full moon to full moon to suppress the
supernatural side of you so you could live among the mortal human world without incident.”

“What you’ve described is the way we all started to feel as teenagers.” Mad hoped to set her at

ease. He could only imagine how confusing all of this was for her. To go from living a mostly typical
life to finding out she was the forbidden offspring of a dragon female and a Knight? It couldn’t be
easy for her. “It’s the first shift toward embracing the beast within us.”

Her winged brows arched. “So now I have a beast inside me?”
Thinking of her nickname for him, he bit back the flirtatious reply that burned the tip of his tongue.

His mouth slanted with amusement. “Basically.”

She issued a noisy humph and took a drink of juice. Niko picked that exact moment to ask an

outrageously personal question. “Do you menstruate regularly?”

Ivy choked and sputtered the brightly colored liquid into a napkin. “Did you really just ask me

that?”

Niko shrugged. “It’s a biological function. There’s nothing to be embarrassed about, and this is

something you would discuss with a doctor.”

“You’re not a doctor.”
“Actually—”
“You’re not my doctor,” she cut in snappily. “That’s my personal business.”
“So I’ll jot that down as a no,” Niko replied.
“You’re impossible.”
“I’m family. Get used to it.”
“Wow.” She said sarcastically. “Way to make me feel welcome.”
Mad’s first instinct was to jump to her defense, but he held back and waited to see if the two could

mend things on their own. Looking guilty, Niko sat forward. “I’m sorry, Ivy. I didn’t mean to upset
you. I can be difficult sometimes. I simply wanted to gather as much information as possible so I can
help you.”

“Do you always interrogate the newbies in your family then?”
“Only the ones I like,” he said with a smile.
Her angered expression relaxed. Picking at the sheet draped across her lap, she admitted, “I’ve

had problems. Mom took me to a specialist, but they couldn’t find anything physically wrong with
me.”

Mad felt the waves of shame radiating from her and reached for her hand. She let him entwine their

fingers and cast a grateful look his way. He couldn’t begin to understand how difficult it would be for
her to seek help for a problem that was beyond her control and that modern medicine couldn’t fix.
“It’s normal, Ivy.”

“For a dragon girl?”
“Even a half-dragon girl,” he replied with a squeeze of her fingers.
“You’ll only be fertile twice every three years.” Niko leaned back again and got comfortable. “It’s

one of the reasons we have such low birth rates. It’s also why your doctors couldn’t find anything

wrong with you. There is nothing wrong with you.”

“Except that I’m having night sweats and dirty dreams all the time,” she interjected. “That’s not

normal.”

“It is when you’re a dragon approaching her first heat phase,” Niko insisted. “It’s probably how

they  were  able  to  find  you.  When  your  dreams  became  more  pronounced  and  when  you  started
subconsciously  seeking  your  mate,  the  Seer  was  able  to  lock  on  to  your  signal,  for  lack  of  a  better
description.  She  traced  you.  The  Knights  tailed  you.  Once  you  decided  to  go  to  Mexico  for  spring
break, it was all over.”

“But they didn’t get what they wanted,” she said with a proud smile.
“No, they didn’t,” Niko agreed. “You’ve proven to be incredibly adept at psychic warfare. You

outmaneuvered a Seer, who has decades of practice, with little more than instinct to carry you through
the crucible. That’s quite impressive, Ivy.”

“Not really,” she downplayed her skill. “The Seer is growing weak. She’s dying. I think that’s why

they were doing everything they could to level the playing field by denying me food and water.”

“That’s interesting.”
“Why?”
“Because Griff’s mate said the same thing about her dream encounter with the woman, but Avani’s

interaction with the Seer was many years ago,” Niko clarified. “Whatever illness is affecting her must
be taking its sweet time in ending her life.”

“It’s probably cancer,” Mad guessed. At Niko’s curious look, he motioned toward his nose. “Her

scent was familiar to me. We have a client at our gym who has been fighting the disease off and on for
years. He’s in the final stages of it now. When I last visited him, the smell was very unique and one I
wouldn’t forget.”

“If the Seer is dying—and we have every reason to believe she is—that’s a huge blow to the

Knights. Her brother—your father—was the last of the first family. He chose to dilute the blood by
mating with a dragon. It’s as if—”

“The story of Drusilla and Sixtus repeated itself,” Ivy murmured nervously.
It was the first time Mad had framed her circumstance that way and it sent a shot of panic through

him. The story hadn’t ended very well the first time. The hybrid child Drusilla had carried had died
with her the night her own father had slit her throat. Ivy had survived the attack that killed her parents,
but she was on the Knight’s radar now.

Niko began to gather up the dirty dishes and placed them on the tray. “The Knights let you live.

They could have easily killed you during the first few weeks of your captivity, but they waited. They
had a reason for that.”

“Me.” Mad drained the last of his juice and handed his tray to Niko. “They wanted me there

because we’re so intimately connected. I think they were hoping to use that connection to get their
grubby paws on all the information stored up here.” He tapped his temple.

“Well, thankfully, they didn’t get it.” Niko smiled at them as he swept away the trays. “Why don’t

you two get dressed and come down to the library. There’s so much I want to show Ivy about our
shared history.”

“About my biological parents?” she asked hopefully.
“Yes.” The Greek made it all the way to the door before he paused. “Ivy, while you were

recuperating, Mad mentioned that you have great skill as a matchmaker. Is that true?”

“It is.”
“And are you ever wrong?”
She shook her head. “Never.”
Leaning back against the pillows, Mad curled his hands behind his head and grinned. “Are you

getting jealous now that half the Brotherhood is paired off? Maybe you want Ivy to find you a
girlfriend?”

Niko chortled and pushed the door open with his foot. “I think I’d have better luck asking Beard to

send me a puppy from his next litter if I want a companion.”

Laughing, Mad watched Niko leave. Ivy poked his side, the ticklish gesture making him shiver

slightly. “Who is Beard?”

“Reynard,” he said. “He was born Reinhard and belonged to one of the barbarian tribes of the

north. He’s always had a fondness for big, scary dogs.” Mad turned onto his side and walked his
fingers up the sloping plane of her belly. “Do you like dogs?”

“Yes. I had a Great Dane when I was younger. She had hip problems, and we had to let her go

when I started my senior year of high school.”

Even all these years later, he heard the sadness in her voice. “I have a huge yard and a tall fence. I

happen to like dogs, too.”

Her eyes sparked with interest. She placed her fingers atop his. “Is that your way of hinting that

you plan to keep me as your mate?”

“That’s my way of telling you that I like dogs and have a big yard,” Mad answered. “The decision

to mate or not to mate is yours, Ivy. It has to be yours.”

“Why?” She sounded genuinely confused.
“Because you have the most to lose,” he replied matter-of-factly. “You’re the one who will have

to make sacrifices if you choose me.”

She didn’t ask what those sacrifices might be. Maybe she had already been thinking about them.

Running her fingers through his dark hair, she lightly scratched at his scalp. Unable to help himself, he
leaned into her teasing touch. “Mad?”

“Yes?”
“I have a bad feeling this isn’t over yet.”
His heart stuttered in his chest. “A vision sort of feeling?”
“No. Here.” She dragged his hand down to her lower belly. “It feels…wrong. Something isn’t

right. When Niko and Griff shook my hand, I didn’t see anything. I didn’t even feel anything about
them. Shouldn’t I have seen Griff’s new mate?”

“It’s probably the drugs Niko gave you to safeguard your sleep. Maybe it’s dulled your senses.

They’ll come back.”

“I hope so. It feels wrong to be so blind.”
“To be so human?” he teased. “Listen, the Seer is still out there. You’re protected here at Niko’s

home. He has years and years of spells and magic binding this place. You’re part of his family and
that means you have the right of protection here. My blood is your blood because of the potion so I’m
also safe here, but that won’t stop the Seer from trying to find or hurt you. This feeling,” he said,
rubbing his hand over her stomach, “could be whatever bad juju is able to infiltrate the wards.”

Her mouth curved in a smile that dazzled him. “Juju?”
He shrugged. “Would you prefer magumbo?”

Chapter Eight

tterly amazed by the wealth of information Niko had presented her, Ivy swung side to side in a

cushy chair in his library and read the history of her mother’s tribe. It was fascinating stuff, and it
helped her feel more connected to the biological parent she would never know.

“Have you found anything interesting?” Mad wandered into the library with dinner on two trays. “I

thought you would want to eat in here so you wouldn’t have to leave your research.”

She smiled up at him and set aside the journal she had been skimming. “Thank you, and yes, I’ve

discovered some really interesting stuff.”

“Like?” He slid a tray in front of her and moved to the opposite side of the table.
So glad that she was no longer on starvation rations at the prison, she eyed the delicious dinner

before her with anticipation. “My mother was a matchmaker, too. She wasn’t very good at it.
Apparently, she only hit the jackpot once every five or six couples, but it seems that I had a great-
great-aunt who was renowned for her ability to match couples.”

“Melina? I’ve heard of her.” He cut into his steak and pointed to hers. “Eat while it’s hot. All of

this can wait. You need to rebuild your strength so you can get out of here.”

He brought up a subject she had been considering all day. “How do I go back to my old life? I’m

not the same person I was when I left for spring break.”

Mad reached across the table and clasped her hand. “It won’t be easy, but we’ll give you a cover

story. Reynard has ties to the university you attend, and Ignatius has people on his payroll who can
alter records. We’ll tell everyone you were kidnapped and held for ransom. You’ll take the rest of the
semester and the summer off to heal and recover. When you go back in the fall, we’ll have everything
figured out.”

“You mean this mate thing, right?”
“Yes.” He sliced another slab of steak. “Did you read those letters that Niko found after your

parents escaped our custody?”

Her gaze skipped to the two thick envelopes secured with blue ribbon. “No. I’m not ready for that

yet. I need some time to get my head right.”

“I understand.”
She believed he actually did. In all his dealings with her, Mad had always put her well-being and

her needs first. He seemed determined to make sure everything was done on her schedule. She could
ask him to wait one hundred years to finish their mating, and he would agree to it with a smile.

Not that she wanted to wait much longer, she silently conceded while eating her dinner. Setting

aside the supernatural connection they shared, he was absolutely everything she had ever wanted in a
partner. Things were moving fast, faster than she had ever considered they might move, but the rules
were different in this new world of hers.

“Tomorrow you need to call your friend Eris and let her know that you’re safe.” He eyed her in a

way that made her suspect he could still hear her thoughts. At the very least, he was able to feel
everything she did.

“What do I tell her?”
“We’ll go over the story before you make the call. Ignatius will have a script. He’ll arrange

everything so that this transition is as smooth as possible for you.”

“Eris is going to freak out,” she said. “I can only imagine how worried she’s been for me. We’ve

been friends since we were kids. I’m sure she feels guilty for dragging me down to Mexico on spring
break in the first place. She was the one who found that flyer.”

“That wasn’t a coincidence. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Knights had set up a travel agency and

arrange an entire Spring Break program just to make their lure more legit. They’re very sneaky at that
sort of thing.”

“To be fair, so is your side,” she replied, thinking of the way Ignatius and Niko were going to

change records and fake newspaper stories and more to get the heat off of her.

“Our side,” Niko corrected as he strolled into the library with a bottle of wine and two glasses. “I

thought you two might like something nicer than water tonight. You’ve both earned it.”

“That’s really nice of you.” She smiled at her tribal elder, as she had learned he was called. She

sat back as he placed a glass in front of her and another in front of Mad and uncorked the wine. “The
label is so pretty.”

Niko grinned at her. “This one is from the vineyards our family owns in France. If you’d like, I’ll

take you there over the summer.” He expertly poured the richly colored liquid into her glass. “Phoebe
loved it there.”

“My mom loved Paris,” she murmured, thinking of Susie Morales, the one woman who had always

been there for her and the only mother she had ever known. Getting to know her biological mother
through these journals and notes left her feeling so confused. “My dad proposed to her there. She said
it’s the most romantic place in the entire world.”

“I can’t argue with that.” Niko slid the glass out of her reach. “Let it breathe before you enjoy that

first taste.” He poured some wine into Mad’s glass. “We’ve been in touch with your aunt and uncle
throughout this entire process.”

“You have?”
“We had associates pose as federales investigating your disappearance. In a few days, once

you’re healed and we’ve had time to put safety protocols in place, we’ll contact them and let them
know you’ve been recovered. We’ll fly you back to Mexico on one of my planes and then have you
flown back on one that belongs to Ignatius to maintain the ruse. Your family can meet you at the
airport in Houston.”

“Just like that?” She shook her head. “I’m not sure if I can lie to them so easily.”
“You’ll have to learn. Our world is one filled with secrets.” Niko set aside the bottle of wine and

picked up one of the very old journals he had placed near her. He thumbed through it and seemed to
have a thought. “Let me go to the second floor. I’m sure there are some daguerreotypes in the stacks
up there.” He motioned toward the wine. “Drink. Enjoy. Relax.”

Giving in to Niko’s urging, Ivy took a small sip of the wine. It was better than any she had ever

tasted. Her parents had always allowed her to enjoy a half glass during Sunday dinners so her
experienced palate detected the hints of lavender and pear. She had a little more to quench her thirst.

As she put down the glass and picked up her fork, she caught Mad watching her intently. “What?”

His eyes flashed with the briefest crimson burst. His expression reminded her of that night in the

prison shower. He was hungry but not for food. For me. He dropped his gaze and began shoveling
down his dinner again. “Nothing.”

She didn’t buy it but didn’t push. Dragging close one of the journals, she read while finishing her

meal. Every time she turned a page, she sipped her wine. The more she drank, the more she craved
the sweet taste of it. By the time she finished her dinner, the warm buzz of the alcohol had settled into
the pit of her stomach and spread through her chest.

But it didn’t stop there. The warming sensation traveled down to her core and along her thighs.

Her cheeks turned red and the tips of her ears burned. Shifting in her seat, Ivy wondered if someone
had accidentally turned on the heat. She licked her lips and glanced around. Her anxious gaze clashed
with Mad’s lustful one. His nostrils flared, and he leaned forward to get a better sniff of her.

He rose from his chair but stopped halfway. For a moment, she thought he might lunge across the

table at her. With a barely audible growl, he sloshed more wine into his glass and strode to one of the
windows clear across the library. His back to her, he stared out at the beautifully landscaped gardens
now illuminated by the dusky orange light of a setting sun. Already the faint outline of a full moon
haunted the distance. She could see that strange tree of Niko’s, the one with the glittering golden
apples.

It took every ounce of her willpower to remain seated. Every cell in her body screamed for Mad.

Breasts aching and panties feeling unbelievably tight, she squirmed and squeezed her thighs together.
Something Niko had said earlier about the full moon holding sway over her life echoed in her mind.
Was this it? Had her first heat phase finally come upon her?

Oh God.
She had to get away from Mad as quickly as possible. He had sworn to give her space and let her

choose the right time, but the tension in his body told her his control might snap at any moment. She
refused to put him in that position.

Standing, she turned toward the door and spotted Ignatius striding into the room. There was

something about his unreadable face and that cold, unfeeling eye that left her uneasy. He hadn’t
spoken to her once and seemed intent on keeping his distance. Was he afraid she would see something
if she touched him?

He must have seen the distrust etched into her face because he exhaled with resignation and spun

back to lock the door behind him. The snick of the lock engaging caught Mad’s attention, and he
whirled around from his position at the window. “What are you doing, Ignatius?”

The leader of the Brotherhood answered the demand with the truth. “What you should have done

while you were in captivity, Madoc. We gave you ample time to do this on your own terms, but you
failed.”

With a burst of speed so great it caused her hair to flutter, Mad raced toward her. He grasped her

by the waist, hoisted her up, and swept her behind him. As he had so many times before, he shielded
her with his body. “It was the food, wasn’t it? You drugged us.”

“It was the wine,” Ignatius corrected.
“How could you? We have laws against this. After what happened to Reynard—”
“It had to be done.” Ignatius actually sounded sorry for the betrayal. “We’re running out of time.

She must become one of us. You started the process at the prison when the Knights drugged you. Their

concoction wasn’t powerful enough to force her into a mating heat, but Niko’s is. Now that you are
both going into heat, you must finish it.”

“Finish it?” Mad repeated in disbelief. “It’s not a game, Ignatius. This is her life.”
“If you don’t bind her to you forever and make her one of us, we can’t protect her. The Seer will

never stop trying to break into her mind. She has put us all at risk.”

“This is madness.” Mad slashed his hand through the air. “I snapped the necks of the Knights who

tried to force us together. I won’t hesitate to do the same tonight.”

“You won’t get the chance.” Before Ignatius had spoken the final word, Niko fired a volley of

tranquilizing darts from his position on the second floor of the library. She had all but forgotten he
had gone up there to fetch those boxes of daguerreotypes. Did they even exist? Or had it simply been a
ruse?

With a choked groan, her mate fell to his knees and slammed forward onto the ground. She rushed

to his aid but it was no use. The half a dozen darts buried in his skin had forced him into a deep sleep.
With her hand on his back, she turned her terrified gaze on Ignatius. The ancient dragon showed his
palms. “I won’t hurt you, Ivy. We only want what’s best for you.”

“Best for me?” she scoffed. “Don’t bullshit me.” Holding out her hand, she said, “Touch me. Let

me see how much of a liar you are.”

To her surprise, he didn’t hesitate and crossed the distance between them in three quick strides.

Grasping her by the shoulders, he hauled her to her feet and peered down at her. She stared up into his
harsh, scarred face and locked onto that single devastatingly dangerous eye.

And she saw everything this frightening dragon had endured and survived to bring him to this

moment. He had seen so much pain and sadness. His hardships were ceaseless. Yet he carried on and
he pushed forward, always putting the survival of the species ahead of his own needs and wants. He
had denied himself even the tiniest taste of happiness. He was so cold and numb inside.

Now he saw her as the key to saving everything he had worked so hard to protect. She witnessed

an endless line of smiling couples and giggling, chubby-cheeked babies, all of them possible because
of her matchmaking gift. Rushing through a blur of passing time, she dropped into a backyard in
summertime. She had a feeling it was many years later, maybe even as much as thirty or forty.

There were children everywhere. It was a child’s party, she realized. My child’s.
Mad chased three young boys, the oldest ten or so and the youngest four, through the backyard.

They were so obviously his sons—our sons—with their dark hair and green eyes and stocky builds.
He swept the boys up his arms, all three at once, and laughed as the youngest squealed. After kissing
them and mussing their hair, he left them with a group of other children who were running wild.

When Mad approached her, he kissed her lovingly and ran his hand over the high curve of her

pregnant belly. A baby kicked at his hand, and Ivy knew without a shadow of a doubt that it was a
girl. The math was easy enough to do. Mad had explained that heat came upon a dragon every three
years. Obviously they had hit a fertile stretch. Would there be more after their daughter?

The beautifully peaceful moment fled with a bolt of lightning and a thunderclap. Mud and cold

water squished between her toes as she walked barefoot through a graveyard under the dark of night.
One glance at her feet and she understood that she had been changed. Swirls of crimson and gold
scales marked her skin.

A gnawing hunger left her empty. Agonizing pain accompanied every step. Heavy chains weighed

down her thin limbs. Her tattered clothes flapped in the violent breeze. Once again, she was a

prisoner. A strange pulsing at her navel drew her attention. She reached down and encountered a
slimy, thick umbilical cord running from her own stomach to—oh God.

The Seer, still garbed in black and gray, had attached herself like a parasite. She siphoned energy

and visions and used them to wage their vengeful genocide against the dragons. The evidence of their
success stretched all around her. Everywhere she looked there were white gravestones. The
monuments were etched with the symbols of each dragon tribe. An arctic chill cooled her blood as
she read the names carved into each slab of gleaming marble. Ignatius, Reynard, Niko, Griffin, Avani,
Stig, Cora—and there at the very end of the row was Ian Madoc’s resting place.

She fell to her knees, the murky water sloshing around her spindly legs, and clutched onto the

gravestone of her mate. The marble cut her fingertips like glass and she left bloody streaks.
Heartbroken and bereft, she sobbed and wailed for the loss of the only man she would ever love.
Guilt shattered her soul. This was all her fault.

The steely kiss of a sword blade touched the back of her neck. Eyes closed, she didn’t have to

glance back to know one of the Knights was preparing to end her life…

With a violent jerk, she was ripped free from the vision and dropped right back into the real

world. She searched Ignatius’s hard face as the full weight of responsibility settled on her slight
shoulders. Fairly or unfairly, the future of the dragons had been placed in her trembling hands.

Ignatius clasped her face in both scarred, callused hands and implored her to do the right thing.

“Save us, Ivy.”

Chapter Nine

ith the fury of a thousand suns burning through his veins, Mad surged out of his drugged sleep.

Groggy and confused, he shook his head and waited for the dizziness to pass. He blinked rapidly and
gazed up at the all too familiar ceiling. A quick glance to the left assured him he was inside a room he
hadn’t seen for more than twenty years. It was the same luxurious, windowless, and completely
barricaded room where Ivy had been born.

Infuriated by the betrayal of his Brothers, Mad leaped to his feet but tottered precariously. He

hadn’t even realized he had shifted to dragon form until his wing smacked a chair and knocked it
over. Shaking his head, he leaned against the nearest wall and waited for the dizziness to pass.

As the sickening head-spinning sensation faded, he became acutely aware of the intense heat that

had gripped him. The next time he saw that rat fucking bastard Niko, he was going to break his damn
nose for slipping them these awful dragon roofies. While Mad had a thousand years of experience
with natural heat phases, this chemically induced one threatened to break him.

A shuddery, nervous inhale caught his attention. His gaze snapped to the massive bed where Ivy

stared at him. The lights had been dimmed, casting a warm but shadowed glow on her. She wore only
one of his shirts and had her knees pulled in tight to her chest, her arms wrapped around them. She
smelled so good. The heady scent of her punched him in the gut and set off that primitive side of his
brain that could only think as a beast. Mate. Claim. Fuck. Mark. That’s all he wanted to do and in
that exact order.

Gulping, she shifted and betrayed her obvious discomfort. As hot and aroused as he was at this

moment, he could only imagine how terrible this was for her, especially since it was her first time in
heat…and with a man. Even from this distance, he could see the slick wetness coating the tops of her
thighs. If he stripped away her clothing, he would find her nipples hard and her pussy swollen and
ready for mounting.

He growled with need but suppressed the urge to take her. She deserved so much better than this.

She had trusted him to keep her safe and he had all but delivered her into the hands of dragons who
wanted to use her as a weapon just like the Knights.

“Mad?” She held out a trembling hand. “Come here. They told me you’ll turn back to a man when

we touch.”

He shook his head and deliberately moved across the room. He glanced at the bricked-over

windows  and  seriously  considered  tearing  down  the  entire  wall  if  necessary.  He  had  to  get  out  of
here  before  Ivy’s  delicious  and  enticing  scent  completely  broke  his  will.  With  his  strength  and  the
power  of  his  thunderous  clapping  wings,  he  could  demolish  even  that  heavy  masonry  but  he  feared
harm might come to his mate if the wall crumbled.

Not easily swayed by his rejection, Ivy embraced her inner temptress. She rose from the bed and

walked toward him. She stopped when there was still a dozen or more feet between them. Apparently
her bravery had its bounds. He eyed her warily. What game was she playing?

She grasped the bottom of the shirt and slowly dragged it up and over her head. She dropped it to

the floor beside her feet and simply stared at him. He tried to keep his gaze locked on her beautiful
face but it was impossible. The beast within him demanded he take a long, hard look at her bare
breasts and the rest of her womanly charms. His heartbeat raced and a searing jolt rocked his core as
he imagined suckling her pebbled nipples and sliding between her thighs.

“Mad, I’m on fire. Touch me.” Her pleading tone cut right through his scaled armor. “Help me.”
“No.” With his anatomy shifted in dragon form, the word came out harshly. She didn’t flinch. Ever

his brave little bit, she stepped forward and reached for him. He jumped back and gained air with a
quick flap of his wings. Vaulting over a table, he knocked over two chairs and made it to the opposite
side of the room.

Undaunted, Ivy switched tactics. She crawled onto the bed, holding his gaze the entire time, and

slid into a sitting position. Legs splayed wide open, she bared all of her feminine secrets to him. She
might have been a virgin, but she proved that she was well-versed in all the passionate ways a couple
might play.

“I ache here, Mad.” Her fingertips drifted along the small swells of her breasts to ride the slope of

her belly before gliding between her thighs. “And here.” She brushed her fingers up and down the
petals of her sex before gently parting them and revealing her slick, dewy center. “Make me feel good
again.”

Unable to speak the way he wanted, he reached out to her mind. Stop this, Ivy. You’re pushing me

to the breaking point.

“I know.” She dipped one of her fingers inside her channel. “I want you inside me, Mad. I need

you here.”

Holding on to the strands of control with a white-knuckled grip, he shook his head. You don’t

know what you’re saying. It’s just the heat talking.

Ivy stopped fingering herself and frowned at him. “Don’t do that”
Do what?
“Don’t minimize what we share. After everything we’ve been through, it’s obvious that we’re

special. You and me? We were meant to be.” She held out her hand again. “Take me, Mad. Make love
to me. Make me scream again.”

The last thread of his control snapped. Hearing his mate beg him for pleasure was too much for

even a dragon of his age to bear. He leaped next to the bed and fell forward against Ivy, pinning her in
place atop the mattress with his massive and still-scaled body. Showing not even an ounce of fear,
she wrapped her lithe legs around his waist. He was too wide and too large in his dragon form for her
to lock her ankles at the small of his back so she tucked them up under the folds of his wings. The
touch of his mate spurred the quick but painful shifting process.

Eyes shining with wonder, she took in the transformation with parted lips and a smile of

amazement. Soon she would know the truth of it for herself. After he claimed her and made her his
mate, she would begin the gradual transition to a shapeshifter. The prospect of teaching her how to fly
filled him with happiness. She would absolutely love it.

What are you thinking? This isn’t right. You promised her she could choose the moment. Don’t

let the drugs turn you into a liar.

Touching his forehead to hers, he closed his eyes and welcomed the painful stab of guilt twisting

in his chest. It cooled his raging lust. “We can’t do this, Ivy.”

“Why not?” Now that he was in his human form, she managed to slide her legs around his trim

waist and hook her ankles along his upper thighs. “I want you. You want me. Isn’t this what two
people who feel this way are supposed to do?”

“We only feel this way because we were betrayed and drugged. My friends, my Brothers, are no

better than the Knights who stole you and held you in that godforsaken prison. They want to turn you
into a weapon.”

“Because I can pinpoint the location of every Knight,” she said quietly. “While you were sleeping,

it occurred to me that if the Knights could use me to track down dragons and mates, then the
Brotherhood could use me to track down every last Knight.”

Gazing down at her, he swore, “I won’t let them use you like that. This gift of yours is special and

pure. It shouldn’t be used to hurt others, not even our enemies.”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it, Mad.” Her thighs tightened around his waist. “Right

now, we have more interesting things to consider.”

Though his cock throbbed painfully, he refused to find satisfaction buried in the silken heat of her.

“There are other ways to get through this drug-induced mating phase without actually having sex.
We’ve done it before.”

“Don’t you want me?” She sounded so hurt by his suggestion that they stick to heavy petting or oral

sex to make it through the night.

“God, Ivy,” he said with a brutally rough exhale, “I want you so badly. I’ve wanted you since the

first time you came to me in a dream.”

“But?”
“You’re so young. You’re so kind and sweet. You have your entire life ahead of you. If I can find a

way to keep you safe from the Knights and my Brothers, you could go on living as a human for twenty
or thirty years. You could—”

Ivy silenced him with a soulful kiss. Her soft, pliable lips moved against his with such passion.

She clasped the back of his neck and held him right where she wanted him. Her tongue thrust between
his lips and tangled with his own. At the first vibration of his thunder, she pulled back with a smile
and caressed his jaw. “I don’t want to wait for twenty or thirty years.”

“It’s the blink of an eye for people like us.”
“But there’s so much I want us to do together,” she countered. “If it’s only going to be the blink of

an eye, I don’t want to miss out on any of it. Anyway,” she said, dragging her thumb across his chin,
“in thirty years or so, we’re going to be parents.”

His belly flip-flopped. Mouth suddenly dry, he asked, “What?”
Her sensual mouth curved with exhilaration. He could actually feel the waves of happiness

emanating from her and washing over him. “After Niko hit you with those darts, I touched Ignatius and
I saw everything. I saw the two possibilities of our future. In one, I become a pawn of the Knights,
and they kill all of us.”

“And in the other?”
“We have at least four children. Three boys,” she said with a smile, “and a daughter.”
Joy unlike any he had ever known blossomed inside him. He might not have her gift of sight, but he

had no problem imagining their four children with dark hair, light eyes, and gap-toothed mischievous

grins. “It sounds as if we’re going to be very busy.”

“Doesn’t it sound wonderful? You and me and our family?” Holding his face in her hands, she

asked, “Am I your mate, Mad?”

“Yes.” He couldn’t deny it. He didn’t want to deny it. “Do you believe that I am yours?”
“Yes. Without a doubt,” she added. “The second our minds connected and you let me into your

dreams, I knew we were something special.”

Mad nuzzled her neck and flicked his tongue over the spot where her pulse beat so wildly. “I

wanted you to come to me of your own choice and when you were ready. I didn’t want it to be like
this, not with the drugs forcing you.”

“The drugs are only amplifying what we already feel for each other. They’re pushing my body and

yours into a synched heat phase. That’s it. This,” she said, placing her hand over his heart, “is real.”

He covered her small hand with his and claimed her with a kiss that held all his hope for their

future together. “After we mate, I’ll never walk away from you, Ivy. You have to be sure that you
really want me. Because after this,” he said, flicking his tongue against hers, “it’s you and me forever,
little bit.”

She smiled at his teasing nickname. Brushing her hand along his jaw, she rocked her wet, feminine

core against the rigid edge of his shaft. “Make me yours, Beast.”

With an excited growl, he kissed her long, hard, and deep. The erotic tangle of their mouths set him

ablaze. He accepted every counterpoint Ivy had made as truth. While he hated the way his Brothers
and the Knights were manipulating them, Mad refused to deny his mate what she wanted and needed.
Whatever the circumstances that had forced them together, he believed Ivy was the missing piece that
would complete his life—and he was going to bind her to him now and never let her go.

She bucked against him and glided her hands along his arms and shoulders, electrifying his skin

with her soft touch. He captured her hands and dragged them high overhead. Fingers intertwined, he
watched her reptilian pupils dilate as she reacted to his dominant move. Her breath hitched, and she
licked her lips. He bent down and tugged her plump lower lip between his teeth.

Using just enough pressure to get her attention, he gave her a little nip that made her hips rise off

the bed. Ivy’s confused expression convinced him she had no idea about all the wonderfully erotic
delights to be found in his bed. Just thinking of all the discoveries they would make together inspired
a white-hot arc of excitement that zipped from his chest to his toes.

Nuzzling her, he licked along the side of her neck before sucking on that sensitive spot right where

it curved into her shoulder. She clawed at his shoulders and erupted in goose bumps. He chuckled and
dotted kisses along her cheek, then took her mouth. She whimpered when his tongue stabbed against
hers. The kittenish sound ignited something primal within him. Balls aching and cock throbbing, he
wondered if he would ever get enough of his sweet Ivy.

Releasing her hands, he started kissing a meandering path down her lush body. He spent some time

teasing her breasts, flicking at her pebbled nipples and teething the flushed peaks. She arched into him
and silently encouraged his trek. He grazed his lips and teeth along her belly and licked at her navel.

The unbelievably enticing scent of her invaded his nose and settled in his lungs. Intoxicated, he

surrendered to the primitive call to take her as his mate. He wanted to hear her screaming his name
and feel her smaller, softer body writhing beneath his. This might not have started in the most
romantic way, but he was determined that their first time together should be a memory to cherish.

Remembering the honeyed taste of her, he slid down on his belly and parted her thighs. Her bare

sex, the lips swollen and slick, beckoned him closer. He peppered ticklish kisses up and down the
seam of her pussy before running his tongue between her folds. The pink petals opened for him and
granted him easy access to that stiff little nub tucked away there. He swirled his tongue around her
clitoris and smiled at the mewling cries he elicited.

“Mad.” Her sigh of pleasure traveled right down to his pulsing dick. Soon, he planned to bury

himself in her tight, wet heat but first…

“Oh!” She swiveled her hips and tried to escape his oral onslaught but he held fast to her hips and

kept her right where he wanted her. Her attempts to evade his fluttering tongue only inflamed the
predatory instincts now riding just below the surface. The more she squirmed and cried out, the more
intensely he attacked that little bud. His inner beast wouldn’t be happy until his mate was sobbing and
shuddering with pleasure.

Her thighs tightened and squeezed at his arms. Knowing she was close, he increased the pressure

and speed of his flicks. The sweet nectar flowing from her core set off a craving that he would never
satisfy. Spurred on by her deepening breaths, he gave Ivy exactly what she needed.

“Mad!” And there it was, the sweetest sound of all.
Ivy’s hips shot off the bed, and she pressed herself against his tormenting mouth. He gripped her

waist and lapped at her pussy until she cried out again, this time the pitch higher and almost panicked.
Her clit throbbed against his tongue, and he went wild between her thighs. She brought out the beast
in him and made him want to do wicked, dirty things.

Finally, he granted her a reprieve. She dropped down hard to the mattress and he wiped his slick

mouth and chin on her inner thigh and belly. Climbing over her, Mad gazed down into her beautiful
eyes. Seeing the red flecks of his dragon mixed with the golden coloring of her mother’s tribe
reminded him of the vision she had seen.

His hand curved against her stomach, and he thought of the children she would one day bear him.

The other future, the dark one filled with death and sadness, would never come to pass. He would
make sure of that. But the good one? The one where they were happy and made a family together?
That was the version he intended to make a reality.

“Mad, I need you.” Her small hand wrapped around his shaft. She pulled the blunt tip of his cock

between her folds and circled her clitoris. He groaned like a damned bear and almost came when she
pressed him against her virgin entrance. He pulled back, refusing to breech her just yet.

“Wait, Ivy.” Cupping her face with one hand, he bent down and kissed her. “Let me prepare you.”
Peering up at him with trust, she waited for him to guide her through this experience. He brushed

his fingertips up and down her pussy while kissing her. When he slid his middle finger into her, she
moaned against his mouth. A rumbling purr escaped his throat. Very gently, he penetrated her deeper
and let her response dictate his speed and depth.

Soon, she begged him for more. Feeling a great deal of responsibility for her care and her

pleasure, he added a second finger. Aware of his size and the possibility of harming her, he took his
time with her. Using his hands and mouth, he stroked her nubile body and kept her hovering on the
edge of another climax.

When he moved between her thighs, he spotted a flash of panic race across her face. He went

instantly still. No matter how badly he burned for her, he wouldn’t take something so precious unless
she was truly ready. “Ivy, we can stop.”

“I know.” She slid her hands under his arms and up his back to grip his shoulders. “But I’m

ready.”

“You’re sure?”
She nodded. “I want you.”
Quivering inside as if he were the virgin, he aligned their bodies. The fat head of his cock nudged

her slit. Her timid but excited smile made his heart do a funny flip in his chest. She shifted just a little,
and he surged forward, claiming her forever as his mate. Her gasp of pain and surprise tore at his
conscience and made his heart ache. Not daring to move and barely able to breathe, he gazed down at
her with concern. “Ivy?”

“I didn’t… I thought…” Shaking her head, she locked her legs around his waist and pressed her

heels into his backside. “Don’t stop, Mad. I want to feel all of you.”

He was stronger and held fast to his still position. “I’m hurting you.”
“Not anymore,” she said. “Please, Ian, I need to feel you.”
Hearing his given name fall from those pouty lips broke his control. He plundered her mouth,

stabbing his tongue against hers while thrusting forward and sheathing as much of his cock in her as
possible. He was much too big, and she was much too inexperienced to take all of him. That would
come in time.

He eased back and pushed forward again, gathering her slick wetness on his blazing hot shaft. The

tight squeeze of her virgin pussy threatened to embarrass him. He had to clamp down on the clamoring
urge to climax that already assailed him. His balls were heavy and throbbing, and a wicked shudder
fluttered through him.

“Oh, Mad.” She sighed against his cheek. “You feel so good.”
Yes! His eyes shut briefly. The mating heat allowed her to enjoy their first coupling without the

intense discomfort that often accompanied that initial experience. He had never been more thankful
for this pain-in-the-ass biological function that terrorized their species.

Curling his fingers in her gorgeous, silky hair, Mad nipped at her mouth and sucked on the tip of

her tongue. She shivered beneath his erotic assault. Lust sparkled in her beautiful eyes. A warm
tendril of something very powerful encircled his heart. As he imprinted her scent and prepared to
bind her to him as his mate, he finally understood that the bond they shared was so much deeper than
he had been willing to admit.

Brushing his thumb along her cheek, he whispered, “I love you, Ivy.”
A wave of joy inundated him. He felt her intense reaction to his declaration. Before she even

spoke, he knew that she returned his affection. “Oh, Mad, I love you, too.”

Grinning and whispering sweetly to one another, they rocked atop the bed. Their coupling was

unhurried and tender. He thrust into her at a deliberate but easy pace, letting her acclimate to the
newness of it. She relaxed into his touch and soon urged him on with her shaky breaths and clutching
fingers. He slipped his hand down to the spot where their bodies were joined and strummed her
clitoris. Her sheath clenched around his cock, and he knew it wouldn’t be much longer.

When she finally exploded with ecstasy, she howled his name. Head thrown back, she bared her

neck to him. He latched on to the curve of her throat and bit down gently, marking her with his teeth
while the spasms of pleasure tore through her lithe body. He chased his own release, thrusting and
plunging into her wet heat until he came. Jerking hard against her, he flooded her with his seed and
growled with sheer joy.

Not wanting to crush her, he propped up his body weight with his elbows. He flicked his tongue

Chapter Ten

ot quite everything is all right,” Ivy said and then shot him an apologetic look when she realized

she had answered his unspoken words. “Now you’re the one with loud thoughts.”

He snorted with amusement. “We’ll have to figure out a way to block that. It’s going to get

annoying.”

“Maybe,” she replied, “but I find it reassuring right now.” Ivy cast a nervous glance her mate’s

way. When his rough fingertips stroked her skin, she nearly gave in to the tugging pull of sexual lust
that saturated ever cell in her body. Her core still hummed with erotic energy, and the mating heat
brought on by the dose of lust root they had been given clouded her thoughts with visions of their
naked, sweaty limbs tangled up in bed.

Her first time making love had been so much more wondrous than she had ever dared hope. With

Mad there had been no awkward fumbling or uncertainty. He had been so sure and confident and
shown her such incredible pleasure. Though she was a bit sore, she found herself already wanting to
have him again. Although, maybe this time she could be on top…

Mad wrapped his strong arms around her waist and hauled her back against his chest. Enveloping

her from behind, he pressed a noisy kiss to her cheek. Laughter deepened his voice. “You can be on
top anytime you like.”

Blushing, she swatted his arm. “Stop listening to my thoughts!”
He nipped at her neck and made her shiver. “But they’re so interesting”
“Mad…”
His rumbling growl of need vibrated through her neck. Obviously warring with the desire that had

taken hold of him, he forcibly dragged his mouth away from her skin. He pressed her onto her back
and brushed her bangs out of her eyes. His irises remained a stunning shade of crimson that reminded
her how otherworldly this man she loved truly was. “Tell me why you said ‘not quite’”

It took her a moment to understand what he meant. “You thought that everything was right in the

world, but we’re locked up in this room like prisoners again. We were betrayed by your friends and
my family. We’ve got the Knights on our asses, and I have a bad feeling the Seer and her minions
aren’t going to leave us alone.”

He placed his hand over her breast, his fingertips brushing over the spot where her heart beat the

hardest. “Can you feel her?”

Ivy nodded solemnly. “I can’t tell if she’s close or not, but she’s thinking about me. It’s a

sickening, churning sensation right here.” She dragged his hand down to her navel. He splayed his
fingers across her skin and rubbed gently. “We need to get away from here, Mad.”

His jaw tensed, and she could feel the bitter taste of betrayal that made him grimace so strongly.

“We’ll have to leave the estate. Niko and Ignatius will keep us safe, but I can’t trust them anymore.”

Stroking his jaw and hoping to soothe him, she asked, “Where will we go?”
“My first instinct is to run to Griff, but he has Avani to protect now. We can’t drag this mess to his

doorstep.” Shaking his head, he exhaled a ragged breath. “We’ll go to Reynard. He’ll help keep us
safe while we’re in our mating heat. That lust root has kicked us into the shit now. We’ve got eight
more nights of this and that means we’re extremely vulnerable to tracking.”

An intense sensation of guilt invaded her chest and squeezed her heart. Touching Mad’s cheek, she

glanced questioningly at him. He pressed his forehead to her throat and sighed so sadly. “I’m sorry,
Ivy. I thought I was saving you by bringing you here. Now we’re prisoners again. Even worse?
You’re right back in the same cell where your life began.”

“Mad,” she whispered gently, “it’s all right. We didn’t know this would happen.”
Lifting his head, he locked eyes with hers. “If I can only give you one thing in the world, Ivy, it

will be freedom. It might not be tonight or tomorrow, but someday, I swear, I’ll free you from all of
this.”

Gulping down the ball of emotion that clogged her throat, she kissed him long and hard, threading

her fingers through his short hair and lightly scratching at his scalp. Pulling back, she gazed at his
handsome face. “Free us, Mad. You and me. Together.”

His eyes glittered, and a devastatingly sweet smile curved his mouth. “Together, Ivy. Always.”
A vicious punch of psychic energy knocked the air right out of Ivy’s lungs and shattered their sweet

moment. Crying out in pain, she clutched at Mad. He grunted, the sound harsh, and braced a hand to
his stomach. Clearly, he was experiencing everything she did. His panicked expression matched the
tone of his voice as he pushed to his knees and touched her face. “Ivy?”

“It’s her.” She ground out the words through a clenched jaw. “She’s found us.”
Closing her eyes, she focused on the creepy, dark aura invading her mind. No longer weakened by

lack of food, water, and sleep, she easily slapped up a mental wall to block the Mind Miner. A soft
voice insisted that it wasn’t simply good food and sleep that made it easier for her to protect her
mind. Mad had been correct when he’d told her that his seed would change her. Already, she felt
different and stronger.

Sweeping her mind clear of the intrusion, she pinpointed the Seer’s aura. Got you. Recalling her

worst moments of fear and pain, she mentally balled up those feelings and flung them at the evil
woman. Almost instantly, the Seer recoiled and stopped trying to hurt Ivy.

“We have to get out of here.” Mad jerked her into a sitting position and placed his big hand along

her cheek. “Can you walk?”

“Yes.” She rubbed her temple and grimaced. “Mad, she’s close. Really close.”
“Don’t let go of me. If you do, I’ll change.” He dragged her hand to his shoulder and leaned over

the side of the bed to grab her scattered clothing.

“Change? Why?”
“It’s the mating heat.” He tugged her dress over her head, yanking the loose cotton into place, and

reached for her undies. As he tugged them up her calves, he explained, “It does strange things to us.”

Dazed by the Seer’s mental attack, she blinked and tried to focus. Mad didn’t bother with her

shoes or a bra. Her fuzzy brain started to pulse as she felt strange new energy signals drawing closer
and closer. Gripping her mate’s brawny arm, she hurriedly said, “Mad, she’s not alone. There are
more of them. Lots of them.”

Crouching down in front of her, he gazed into her eyes. “How many, Ivy?”

She swallowed hard and closed her eyes. “Fifteen? No. Maybe twenty.”
He cursed softly and grabbed her hand. “Come on. We have to find Niko and Ignatius. We’ll be

safe on the estate. You’re part of Niko’s tribe. They can’t attack us here.” He tried the previously
locked and magically sealed door. It opened easily now that they had finally sealed their mate bond.

His explanation sounded awfully flimsy to her as she trailed him into the unnervingly quiet and

still hallway. Where were Niko and Ignatius? A troubling thought struck her. What if the Seer had
turned her mental assault on the elder dragons and put them out of commission?

“She did.” Easily reading her thoughts, he glanced at her with worry. “I can feel them. They’re

totally unconscious.” He slowed his pace so she wouldn’t stumble after him as he dragged her
downstairs. “I need you to find and wake them.”

“What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to make sure the Knights don’t break the rules.”
“What rules?”
Naked as the day he’d been born, Mad hustled her across the opulent foyer and toward the library.

“We don’t attack each other in our homes, our places of worship, or on human battlefields. Those are
the lines we never cross.”

“Are you sure about that?” Ivy clutched at his forearm as they passed a window and a terrifying

sight caught her attention. “Look!”

Mad stiffened with shock as an SUV hurtled through the tall iron gate guarding the estate. More

vehicles rushed after it. Their wheels tore up the grass and left ugly, muddy trenches.

Swearing loudly, Mad spun toward her and put both hands on her shoulders. “Listen to me. Go find

Niko and Ignatius. Wake them up. Get the Seer out of their heads. I know you can do it. You’re
amazing and so strong, but stay close to Niko. He’ll protect you.” He leaned down and captured her
mouth in a passionate kiss. “Don’t do anything heroic, Ivy. Be smart. Be safe.”

“What about you?” She rested her hands on his chest and wished he wasn’t about to face off with

those Knights.

“Don’t worry about me. I’ve got this.” He squeezed her hand before stepping back three quick

paces and shifting right in front of her eyes. When he had undergone the transformation after the
mating drugs took hold, it had been gentler and easier. This was horrendous to behold. She could hear
his bones snapping, and her brain couldn’t quite believe what her eyes were seeing. He flapped his
wings and stamped his clawed foot before throwing back his head and unleashing one truly hellacious
roar. He turned toward the window, raced forward, and slammed through it, leaping into the fray
amid an explosion of glass shards.

Shaken free from her stupor, she did as she had been told. She scampered out of the library and

flung  open  the  door.  She  quickly  scanned  both  floors  of  the  room  but  didn’t  see  Niko  or  Ignatius
anywhere. Closing her eyes, she tried to slow the frantic beat of her heart so she could concentrate.
Finally,  she  found  the  familiar  dragon  energy  pulses  hidden  away  upstairs.  Their  energies  were
covered by the nasty, dark aura of the Seer. Hearing Mad’s confident voice telling her that she was
strong  and  amazing,  Ivy  psychically  smacked  the  Seer  and  knocked  her  vile  magic  away  from  the
elder dragons. No longer weakened by the Knight’s psychic weapon, the two dragons began to rouse
and fight back.

Ivy opened her eyes and froze when she heard a noise like a plane coming in for a crash landing. It

grew louder and louder and the front of the house began to shake. She gripped the edge of the closest

reading chair but was tossed to the floor when something incredibly heavy hit the ground with enough
speed and force to shatter the windows lining the front of the house and move the furniture across the
room.

With trembling fingers, she dragged herself into a kneeling position and then to her feet. She

carefully picked her way across the disheveled library, gingerly stepping to avoid glass shards, and
peeked through one of the blown-out windows. A frighteningly huge and vibrantly orange dragon, one
so big it made even her Beast look small, roared with fury. He slammed his wings together and
created a crack of thunder and lightning sparks. Mad came to stand beside this newcomer who held a
gleaming silver sword in one hand, his black talons curled tightly around the weapon. Together, they
created a cacophony of rumbling and roaring that made her ears ache.

She counted the Knights squaring off with them on the front lawn of Niko’s mansion. Eighteen

against two were terrible odds, even if the duo was of the winged variety. A window shattered on the
second floor of the sprawling mansion. Niko and Ignatius jumped out of it and transformed midfall. It
was the most extraordinary thing she had ever seen. Niko in all his golden splendor swooped down
toward her. He used his wide wingspan to shield her from the Knights’ oncoming attacks. She heard
him hiss and then he spit a mouthful of steaming hot and skin-boiling acid at one of the men who
rushed them. She cringed at the awful sound the wounded man and averted her eyes.

Ignatius had joined Mad and the other dragon—Reynard, she realized—and billowed smoke from

his snout. He unleashed a blazing inferno that scorched their vehicles and caught two Knights in the
process. The battle erupted with violent chaos, and she was glad for Niko’s body between hers and
the danger. She understood that Mad couldn’t help her now. If she touched him, he might turn back to
human—and that would mean certain death under the current battle conditions.

A chill raced along her spine and a disgusting, creepy feeling curled around her neck. Recognizing

the signature of the Seer, Ivy glanced around Niko’s wing and spotted that vicious, hooded hag near
one of the vehicles. She stood just out harm’s way and seemed to be focused on Mad. Ivy saw her
mate stumble twice and then fall to his knees.

“Oh no you don’t!” Infuriated that this witch wouldn’t leave them alone, Ivy shoved away from

Niko. He tried to grasp her and draw her back to safety but one of the Knights fired a crossbow at
him. An arrow ripped through part of his wing, and he let loose an eardrum-piercing shriek.

Clapping her hands over her ears, Ivy locked on to the Seer and mentally erected a wall between

Madoc and the woman shrouded in black and gray. She could feel the Seer’s anger when her plan
worked. Not easily beaten, the Seer changed her attack and focused on Reynard instead. The brilliant
orange beast tottered on his feet and then spun toward Mad who had just managed to rise from his
fallen position.

With a swat of his wing, Reynard tossed Mad across the yard and right into a pile of Knights.

Ignatius spit fire at Reynard, shoving his possessed comrade back, and leaped to Mad’s aid. For some
reason, the fire sent Reynard into a panic. He slapped his wings together, the thunderous waves
knocking her off her feet, and directed a bolt of lightning at Ignatius that the green-hided dragon barely
escaped.

Ivy tried to break through to Reynard, to shield him as she had done Mad, but it was too hard. She

wasn’t strong enough and her connection to the other dragons wasn’t as powerful as the one she
shared with Mad. It occurred to her that there was truly only one way to stop the Seer.

Her determined gaze landed on the sword Reynard had dropped. Making a split-second decision,

Ivy raced across the yard and picked up the weapon. The second her fingers contacted the cold metal
of the ornately carved hilt, she had a vision of Griffin and a breathtakingly beautiful Indian woman. It
had to be Avani, his new mate. Smiling with such happiness and radiating love, Griffin curved his
hand against Avani’s high, round belly in a protective gesture. He received two very strong kicks and
laughed. Ivy heard the heartbeats of two healthy babies—a boy and a girl. They filled her with the
courage she needed to see this through.

Certain that she was fighting for the future of the dragons, she lifted the sword high and rushed the

Seer, who had been left alone and exposed on the edge of the battlefield. Before being taken captive
and treated so inhumanely in that prison, Ivy never could have believed she would take a life. Now
she didn’t even hesitate. She stabbed the sharp blade deep into the Seer’s chest.

The psychic exhaled a cloud of putrid dust that made Ivy gag. She reeled back, jerking the sword

free from the woman’s body. The rough movement caused the layers of material to fall away from the
Seer’s face—and Ivy screamed.

The woman was nothing more than a rotting husk. She had been dead for years it seemed. Black

bile spilled from the stab wound and poured onto the ground. Ivy scuttled backward in a desperate
attempt to escape the outrageous stench. The Seer collapsed forward and began to melt into a puddle
of stinky, sticky goo.

As the psychic expired so too did her hold over Reynard. But there was something else…
Ivy felt the snap of magic breaking like a rubber band popped against the back of her neck. An

invisible shield dissolved in the far distance, and Ivy gasped when her gaze zeroed in on the man who
had been hiding behind it. There was something ever so familiar about him…and the necklace he
wore.

And then she remembered where she had seen him. He was the man from her dream. He was the

brother of the human woman who had fallen in love with and conceived the child of Ignatius’s
younger brother. It was her ancestor Caius.

She blinked rapidly and tried to make sense of it. He was human. He was mortal. He died like all

Knights died. Mad had told her the story in their prison cell. Caius lived a long and bloody life and
had been buried. There had been proof of his death.

Unless…
Ivy’s gaze shot to Ignatius who stood stock still and seemed utterly dumbfounded by the sight of his

oldest enemy. With a flick of his hand, Caius conjured a thick misty fog that totally obscured him.
Ignatius jumped into action, hurtling his dragon body in the direction of his blood enemy, but he was
too late. Caius had disappeared, leaving behind his Knights and sealing their fates.

Mad swept her up in his great big dragon arms and crushed her against his hard, hot body. He

started to shift as he held her so she clung to his neck in the hopes he wouldn’t drop her. When he was
human again, he crashed their mouths together. She surrendered to his demanding and almost
punishing kiss. He pulled back with a loud inhale. “Don’t you ever do anything like that again! You
could have been killed.”

She smiled at his overprotective outburst and caressed his jaw. “You’re really sexy when you’re

outraged.”

“Ivy,” he said with a warning growl, “I’m not joking. If you ever throw yourself into an attack like

that again, I’ll toss you across my knee and wallop your backside.”

She snorted at his empty threat. “I’d like to see you try.”

Chapter Eleven

ow is he still alive?” Reynard’s bellowing voice shattered the early-morning stillness of the

mansion. Mad winced as his tired head pounded. He hesitated before entering the library where the
three eldest dragons snarled at one another. After the battle had been won, Reynard had forced Mad
to take Ivy underground to Niko’s lair where she would be safe. Wanting to protect his mate, he had
been only too happy to escape cleanup and guard duty for the night.

“Ah! Mad!” Niko greeted him with a nervous smile. “How is Ivy?”
Still bitterly angry with Niko and Ignatius, he scowled at the long-haired dragon. “She’s fine.

She’s packing our things so we can leave.”

“Is that a good idea?” Niko glanced at their leader. “Perhaps—”
“No.” This time it was Reynard who cut in with a slash of his hand. Though he had been there the

night the giant barbarian had earned those gnarly burns on the right side of his face, the sight of them
still sent pangs of regret through Mad. Under the control of the viciously strong lust root concoction,
Reynard—Reinhard then—had been impossible to subdue. It had taken a blast of Ignatius’s fire to the
face to finally put him down. The burns had healed but the scars were a constant reminder of the
horror of that infamous week. Seeing Ignatius spit fire at his friend last night had unsettled all of them.

Moving in front of Mad like a shield, Reynard growled, “You can’t expect them to stay here with

people who betrayed them. They will come under my protection for the duration of their mating
phase. If I need backup, I will call on Griffin and his new mate.”

“No, you can’t bring them into this.” Mad shook his head and emphatically refused to include his

cousin. “Ivy told me that when she picked up the sword you had dropped she saw Griffin and Avani.
They’re pregnant, and it’s twins. We can’t put them at risk or ask Griffin to put the Brotherhood
before his family.”

“Twins?” Ignatius actually smiled. “That’s magnificent.”
“Yes, it is.” Mad glanced at Reynard. “I assumed that that was the sword Avani was rumored to

have taken after her family was slaughtered.”

Reynard nodded. “They called me and asked me to come get it as a peace offering to end the blood

feud between your two tribes. I was bringing the sword here so it could be destroyed.” The barbarian
behemoth’s jaw hardened. “And a damned good thing I decided to get rid of it last night! We might
have lost Mad and Ivy both.”

“But we didn’t,” Ignatius replied calmly. “Yes, things could have—should have—been done

differently last night, but there’s no changing the past. We made the best decision we could with the
options available to us. Now Mad has claimed Ivy and she will start the transition process to a full-
fledged dragon. The Seer is dead, and we killed another eighteen Knights.” With a pragmatic shrug,
he said, “All things considered, it was a good night.”

Reynard chortled. “A good night? You broke your promise to me.” He jabbed his thick, meaty

finger at Ignatius. “When you rescued me from that hell and from my shame, you swore that no other
dragon would ever be used in that manner. You sent Niko to search out and destroy every last one of
those godforsaken plants. You said it was done.”

“I lied,” Niko interjected. “I kept six of the plants in my private garden. I feared their extinction.

One never knows when a root so powerfully potent might be useful. The antiheat drug I created that’s
allowed our men to serve as humans during times of great and terrible wars? It’s made from an
extract of that root that I synthesized.”

“This wasn’t Niko’s decision.” Ignatius stepped forward to bear the full brunt of the

responsibility. “I am our leader, and I am the one who ordered him to slip the drug into the wine. If
anyone should pay the price for breaking his word and a covenant of our Brotherhood, it is me.”

“I don’t want anything like that.” Mad waved his hands. “I just want to get Ivy out of here. She

needs space and time to decompress. She’s been through hell. She needs to heal, emotionally and
physically.”

“You can come to my home.” Reynard squeezed Mad’s shoulder in a friendly way. “I’ll make sure

you’re both taken care of and protected. While your mating phase is underway, I’ll work with these
two to get Ivy’s cover story firmly in place. We’ll make her transition back to her normal life as
smooth as possible.”

“Normal life?” Mad shook his head. “Is it even possible for her to go back to college? To go back

to her friends and family? The Knights broke our most sacred law last night. They attacked us at a
home where Ivy had the right of sanctuary.”

Ignatius sighed and leaned back against the nearest table. He crossed his arms. “The war has gone

through many shifts over the years. These new Knights don’t hold to the old ways. We may have to
adjust our tactics to match them head-on and finish this.”

“And Caius?” Reynard once again asked the question they were all wondering. “Did you see what

he was wearing?”

Mad hadn’t noticed anything unusual but the cold look on Ignatius’s face convinced him the elder

dragon had.

“It was the engagement necklace Sixtus gave Drusilla. He must have found a way to use it as a

talisman to unnaturally lengthen his life.”

“As he did with the Seer?” Reynard said with a curl of his lip. “That thing was inhuman. Avani

said the woman felt as if she were dying all those years ago. She must have succumbed to whatever
human disease ravaged her body, but Caius found a way to keep her alive.”

“Until Ivy was old enough to inherit the gift,” Mad guessed. “That’s what all this was. He wanted

Ivy to come fully into her power, but she couldn’t do that until she went into heat. He needed her mate
for that. He needed me to complete her so that he could steal her power and push it into that thing he
had been keeping alive. If we had mated in the prison—”

“They would have slaughtered you,” Niko said. “Now that Ivy’s dragon has been awakened, the

Knights will put a target and a price on her head. She’s the last of Caius’s line and the biggest threat
to them.”

“Unless he finds a way to breed another child,” Reynard said. “If he’s managed to cheat death this

long, he might still be able to father a daughter.”

Mad shuddered at the thought. “God help us.”

“I doubt that’s a possibility.” Niko strode to one of the bookshelves and plucked a stack of titles.

“Whatever magic or potion he’s using to elongate his life must have terrible effects on him.”

Ignatius rubbed his jaw. “Do you think he got his hands on one of your apples?”
“No. I count them every morning. The exact same number of golden apples has remained on that

tree since it has been in the care of my family. Never has one been plucked from its branches—and
never will any be.”

He had seen the mysterious tree in Niko’s courtyard many times, but he had never dared to touch it.

The strange golden apples were rumored to grant the one who ate them wondrous powers, but there
was always a price for such gifts.

“Mad?” Ivy stood in the doorway of the library but didn’t enter. She glanced around the room and

seemed afraid to intrude. He held out his hand and wiggled his fingers. Smiling, she joined him and
melted against him. He slid his arms around her waist and kept her tight to his side, right where she
belonged.

“Well, you are a tiny little thing.” Reynard grinned down at her. She had to tilt her head back to

take in all of the old barbarian. He had nearly half a foot on Griffin, and that was saying something.
“But you’re very pretty and very brave.”

She regarded Reynard carefully. “Um…thanks.”
He laughed and extended his humongous hand. “You’re the perfect mate for our Mad. Welcome to

our crazy family, Ivy.”

She smiled at Reynard and clasped his hand. Her eyes widened, and Mad felt the spark of magic

course through her body. She had seen something, and Reynard knew it. He tilted his head and studied
her. “What is it, little rabbit? What did you see?”

“Happiness,” she said with a smile. “Justice.”
Reynard’s eyes narrowed. “That’s it?”
She shrugged. “More or less.”
Mad recognized her prevaricating tone. He’d put his money on more. “Reynard has offered us his

home. We’re leaving as soon as you’re ready.”

“I’m ready now.”
“Take whichever car you’d like,” Niko offered. “We’ll handle the arrangements with Ivy’s uncle

and her friend. When it’s time, we’ll contact Reynard and put the plan in motion to build her cover
story.”

Nodding, Mad bid the men farewell and led Ivy to the garage. They had only one suitcase of

clothing and toiletries between them. He tucked the small piece of luggage into the trunk of a sleek
classic muscle car and opened the passenger door. He swooped in and planted a lingering kiss right
on Ivy’s sweet mouth. When he slid behind the wheel, she reached for his hand and interlaced their
fingers.

The rising sun splashed radiant orange light over their car. He rolled down the windows and let

the cool, crisp air wash over their skin. After everything they had survived in the last few weeks, it
was good to feel so alive again. It was good to do something so normal and easy.

“What happens after our mating heat is finished?”
“I don’t know,” he admitted. The future was filled with uncertainty and danger, but there would be

joy, too. “Do you?”

She shook her head. “I don’t think it works that way for us. I can see our future only when I touch

others.”

His curiosity got the better of him. “What did you see back there with Reynard?”
“Let’s just say that Niko and Ignatius are both going to need that underground lair come nightfall.”
He cast a quick glance at her. “You’re sure?”
“Yes, Reynard is going to dose them both with the drug they used on us. He’s going to teach them a

lesson about messing with nature.”

“That’s all we need,” he grumbled. “Three dragons in the Brotherhood all in heat at the same

time.”

“They hurt us. They betrayed our trust. They’re getting what they deserve.”
His mouth slanted in a grin. “The dragon in me finds this vengeful side to you rather sexy.”
“And the human in you?”
“The human in me loves every single bit of you.” He lifted her hand and kissed the back of it.

Angling the car down a stretch of highway, he finally relaxed. He didn’t know where their journey
was going to lead them, but as long as they were together, nothing else mattered.

Chapter One

tig Wyvern dried the last of his dishes and placed them in the cabinet. His gaze moved to the bay

window across the kitchen. The setting sun splashed the sky with brilliant streaks of orange and fiery
pink. His stomach tightened at the sight. With the darkness came the forced change, and tonight it
would be beyond his control. This night and those of the following eight days he would spend at the
complete mercy of his inner beast.

Already his skin tingled, his nerves set alight with a prickling heat. Even though he’d just ingested

a pile of rare steaks for dinner, his stomach growled with emptiness. There wasn’t enough water to
slake his thirst. And his libido raged. He wanted nothing more than to find a willing woman to sink
into again and again.

But he couldn’t do that. He mustn’t do that. When in heat, Stig’s scent changed, grew more potent,

and made it easier for the Knights to find him. So he would retreat to the cavernous lair beneath his
home and lock himself in irons for the duration of the night.

He did a final check of the kitchen and headed upstairs to make sure the house was sealed tight.

He’d barely reached the top of the stairs when he heard the frantic knock at his front door. It
momentarily stunned him. No one ever knocked on his door. His closest neighbor was five miles
away—and he liked it that way.

He wanted to ignore the pounding, pretend he’d never heard it, and go about his business, but he

just couldn’t. If someone was there, it had to be serious. Maybe a car wreck on one of the nearby
roads or an accident in the woods surrounding his home. Local teenagers had a habit of staging wild
parties out there. Underage kids and drinking was a nasty mix.

As he hurried downstairs, Stig couldn’t help but wonder if the person on the other side was safer

braving the elements of the night than facing him so close to the sunset. When in heat, his inner beast
was difficult to control. The primal drive and desires that would soon overtake him put all humans at
risk. He unlatched and unlocked the various dead bolts on the door and quickly drew it open.

Stig’s gruff greeting died on his lips the second he spied the petite black-haired beauty standing on

his doorstep. Her scent, sweet and spicy, wafted up to meet him. His body zinged with recognition.
“Cora?”

“Hey, Stig.” Cora Cardenas greeted him with a sad smile. Her puffy and red-rimmed eyes betrayed

her. She’d been crying. An uneasy feeling twisted Stig’s gut at the sight of the luggage surrounding
her. He stuck his head out the door and saw her compact car caked in grime from the long drive.
There were more boxes and suitcases visible through the windows.

Shit. Of all the times for his dead friend’s sister to show up on his doorstep, it had to be tonight,

the one night when he feared he wouldn’t be able to withstand his already-brewing attraction to her.

“Cora, look, this isn’t a good time for me. I—”

“You promised!” she interrupted with a sob. “When Hector died, you promised I could come to

you.”

Guilt gripped him. “I know and I meant it. It’s just that things are complicated right now.” He

nervously eyed the skyline. “There’s a hotel in town. It’s a forty-minute drive. You shouldn’t have a
problem getting a room.”

“Stig,” she said pleadingly.
Cora’s begging tore at his heart. Stig fought the urge to gather her in his arms and offer the security

of his home—and his bed. Only the knowledge that she was forbidden and that his secret world could
put her in grave danger stopped him from grabbing and dragging her across his threshold.

“Cora, you need to go.” His muscles twitched and jaw ached. The change was coming soon. Too

soon for his liking. “Cora, please—”

“The key!” she practically screamed at him as she dug in the front pocket of her jeans. “I still have

the key!”

Stig’s gaze moved to her now-upturned palm. The key he’d given her a little more than a year ago

rested there. He was haunted by his words. As long as you have the key to my home, you’ll always
have a place to stay.

“Please.” Tears dripped down her cheeks. Fear radiated from her shaking frame. She was scared.

Of what, he didn’t know but it worried him.

Stig swallowed hard and stepped aside. “All right.”
Her shoulders sagged with relief. As she brushed past him, her suitcase wheels bumping over the

threshold, Stig caught a whiff of her scent again. It curled around him, the sweet-scented tendrils
squeezing his chest and filling him with need. His cock stiffened and pressed painfully against his
zipper. The urge to stroke her olive skin was overwhelming but he somehow managed to master it.

Stig had to get away from her. His questions could wait until the morning and the safety of the sun.
“I’m sorry I was so short with you just now. I have a horrible headache. I…I need to lie down.”

Stig gestured around him. “The guest bedroom is the first room on the left at the top of the stairs. The
bathroom is the room on the right. Make yourself at home. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Oh.” Cora was clearly confused by his abruptness. “All right.”
Stig nodded and headed out of the living room. He paused in the doorway and glanced over his

shoulder. “Cora?”

“Yes?”
“There’s a door in the kitchen. It leads down to the cellar. I’d appreciate it if you’d leave it alone.

I’m having an issue with infestation.”

Cora’s eyes widened. “Infestation?”
He shrugged. “The house is so close to the woods. It was bound to happen sooner or later.” He

held her gaze. “You’ll keep out?”

Cora nodded dutifully. “Of course.”
“Thank you.” A painful quiver of blazing heat pierced his abdomen. He needed to get downstairs

—fast.

“I’ll go ahead and get the rest of my things.” She started toward the front door. “Go get some

sleep. I’ll be fine tonight. We can talk in the morning.”

Stig sensed the shift in her emotions. She’d arrived distraught and afraid and now seemed calmed.

That the simple act of stepping into his home gave her such a sense of security tugged at his heart.

Suddenly, he remembered why he’d made that offer to her at Hector’s funeral. Even then he’d been
drawn to her, had wanted to gather her close to his chest and caress her silky black hair.

But those feelings were wrong then and were still wrong now. There was an unspoken code among

friends. As Hector’s baby sister, Cora was off-limits.

“Good night, Cora.”
“Night, Stig.”
He didn’t linger but took advantage of her short trip outside to rush into the kitchen. He made sure

to lock the basement door behind him before running down the stairs. His bones ached and his
muscles burned as his inner beast struggled for freedom.

Slowly his eyes adjusted to the darkness. His night vision allowed him to move swiftly and safely

down the corridor. With each descending footstep, the temperature dropped and the musty dankness
grew stronger. The stairs ended on a wet slab of stone blocked by a heavy steel door. He punched in
the code and yanked open the door that led into a stunningly beautiful cavern.

Decades earlier, he’d discovered the secluded cave during a solo spelunking trip. Building a

house over what he intended as his subterranean lair only made sense. The layers of rock and dirt
filtered his enhanced scent, cloaking him from those who would do him harm. It provided a secure
place for him to hide out during these episodes of uncontrollable animalistic lust and blood thirst that
plagued him every three years. Until he found a mate, a proper nonhuman mate, Stig wouldn’t be able
to shake his mating heat.

He ducked beneath a tricky little stalactite he hadn’t had the heart to rip down while outfitting the

cavern for his needs. There was no time to dally tonight. Stig quickly undressed. He walked over to
the far wall and grabbed the titanium chains. They rattled in his trembling hands as he secured them
around his ankles and wrists. The time-activated lock beeped and began the countdown to sunrise and
safety.

Secure in his bonds, Stig relaxed his shoulders and welcomed the change. Scaly green patches

transformed his tanned skin. The bones of his face elongated into a kind of snout. His short nails
lengthened and sharpened into acid-green talons. Stig groaned in pain as his back snapped and
realigned itself into a curved shape. With a rending of skin and a scream from his throat, pterodactyl-
like wings sprouted from his back, the black reptilian membrane wet and stretched thin between the
joints.

And just like that, his inner dragon was free. The primal urges of his beast suppressed Stig’s

humanity. For now, he could only think with the primitive parts of his brain. Hunt. Food. Sex. Sleep.
Those were his strongest desires.

He jerked at his bonds, desperate for freedom and yearning for a taste of the young woman whose

tantalizing smell still teased him despite the depths he’d descended. His mouth watered and his
erection twitched at the vision of parting her thighs and lapping at her honeyed sex. He could just
imagine the sensation of tight, wet heat that would envelope his cock if he thrust deep inside her.

Burning up with lust, Stig shuddered and pressed back against the cool stone. He didn’t dare look

at the blinking hours and seconds on the locks. Thankful for the strength of his chains, he closed his
eyes and tried unsuccessfully to subjugate his dragon’s needs.

This was going to be one very long night indeed.

* * *

Cora dragged the last of her suitcases into the guest bedroom. It was small and sparsely furnished.
She’d expected nothing less from Stig. He wasn’t the warm and cozy type. Actually, Cora was
pleasantly surprised not to find a military-style rack complete with itchy wool blanket and paper-thin
sheets. The full-sized bed offered a comfy pillow-top mattress and nice fluffy white comforter. Pale
blue walls added a soothing effect she desperately needed.

Her tummy clenched at the thought of having to tell Stig about the mess she’d created. Heat flooded

her  cheeks.  She  could  imagine  the  disapproving  expression  he’d  wear.  She’d  often  seen  a  similar
look  on  Hector’s  face.  Neither  man  had  been  programmed  to  take  risks  or  take  the  plunge  into  the
unknown  in  pursuit  of  a  dream.  Cora,  on  the  other  hand,  thrived  on  uncertainty.  She  liked  taking
chances. Sometimes they turned out fine and sometimes…well…they didn’t.

Hunger pangs twisted her belly. When had she last eaten? Oh right. That gross drive-through

burger joint about five hours ago.

Cora left her room and carefully tiptoed past the door she assumed led to Stig’s room. The last

thing she wanted to do was disturb him. For a second there, she’d thought he was really going to
refuse her entrance to his house. Her gut told her there was something more than a headache causing
his weird behavior.

Her first instinct? That he had a lover in the house. The very thought of another woman, naked and

sated  in  Stig’s  bed,  had  soured  her  stomach.  From  the  first  time  she’d  spied  Stig  Wyvern  six  years
earlier,  she’d  been  smitten  with  her  older  brother’s  friend.  A  college  freshman,  she’d  been  smart
enough to realize a war-hardened marine like Stig wouldn’t be interested in her. It hadn’t been easy to
ignore her raging crush but she’d done it. The last thing she’d wanted to do was embarrass herself or
him or Hector. Even though she’d managed to suppress her strong feelings toward Stig, there was no
denying  the  spark  of  jealousy  that  had  burned  her  at  the  thought  of  him  with  another  woman  in  his
secluded cabin. Realizing her first instinct was wrong had been quite a relief.

So what the hell was his problem? Clearly he wasn’t comfortable with her in the house. Hopefully

it really was a headache and not something else. If Stig put her out, she’d be on the streets by the end
of the week. The cash in her wallet was running low and there was no one else she trusted to keep her
safe.

Down in the kitchen, Cora took a few moments to investigate the cabinets and fridge contents. The

pantry shelves were well stocked and her mind raced with possibilities for the morning. Her
grandmother had always preached that the way to a man’s heart was through his stomach. If there was
one thing Stig had always loved, it was Cora’s baking and cooking skills. Considering she
desperately needed his help, she’d bake, sauté, fricassee, braise, and roast every recipe in her mental
cookbook.

But for tonight a sandwich would suffice. Cora made quick work of assembling her dinner,

grabbed a chilled can of fizzy soda from the fridge, and sat at the sturdy wooden table. Her fingertips
brushed over the smooth-grained tabletop. She marveled at the exquisite craftsmanship.

Stig’s skill as a woodworker was well known. When he’d retired from the Marine Corps, he’d

turned his hobby into a thriving business. Cora had seen the adjacent workshop as she’d pulled into
the gravel driveway. From what she understood, almost all of his business came from online orders.
It seemed client interaction was low on his list of priorities.

Apparently Stig was quite content with his loner status. That was something she’d never

understood about him. He’d enjoyed spending a day or two with them in San Antonio whenever

Hector invited him down but he always seemed so restless and uneasy, as if he couldn’t wait to
escape. He thrived on the solitude of his woodsy fortress. The city seemed to sap him of his vitality.

Cora mused on his oddness as she cleaned up her dishes and swept away the crumbs on the

counter and table. There was something about Stig that wasn’t quite right. She used to think it was the
effect of all those tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, maybe some post-traumatic stress disorder, but the
more she was around him, the less she thought that was the answer.

Clearly he had some lingering issues from his time at war. Hector had been the same way. The

nightmares of those days in the violence-fueled desert had driven her brother toward the alcohol and
drugs that had eventually led to his demise. Stig, on the other hand, seemed able to master the horrors
of war in a way Hector simply never could.

Cora often thought she glimpsed the tiniest bit of guilt reflected in Stig’s eyes whenever they spoke

of her brother. No matter how many times she assured Stig he hadn’t failed Hector, she could tell he
didn’t believe it. Stig had taken Hector’s car accident incredibly hard. As far as Cora could tell,
Hector had been Stig’s only real friend, so the loss must have been as unbearable for him as it had
been for her.

But they had each other to lean on for support.
There had been a time in those initial weeks following Hector’s death when Cora had thought

maybe, just maybe, Stig felt more for her than friendship, that they weren’t only united in grief but in
other, more intimate ways. She’d quickly realized her hopes in that area would never come to
fruition. Perhaps it was the age difference or the sibling connection but Stig never gave her any
indication that he was interested in anything beyond friendship.

And it killed her.
There was no denying her intense attraction to him. Who wouldn’t have the hots for such a

deliciously sexy former marine? With that square jaw and that heart-melting grin, Stig set her on fire
every time he was near. The thought of being embraced by those thick, muscular arms or having those
broad shoulders rippling as he thrust into her welcoming body was almost too much. Her knees
weakened at the mere thought of Stig kissing her neck or nibbling her lower lip.

As much as it embarrassed her, Cora still nurtured a secret hope that Stig would one day see her

not just as his best friend’s sister but as the sexually confident young woman she’d become. Maybe
this would be the visit that changed things between them? She’d never been around Stig on his home
turf. Whether or not that improved her odds of success, she couldn’t say, but it was worth a try.

Cora flicked off the light and started to leave the kitchen. The strangest noise, a mix between a

growl and a moan, stopped her dead in her tracks. She turned back to the kitchen and fixed her gaze
on the basement door. The sound had most definitely come from beneath the house.

What kind of animal made a noise like that? Not a raccoon or skunk, owl, or bat. Were there

coyotes and wolves in the woods? Yes, probably, but how would they get into the basement? Maybe
there was outside access to the cellar? A door or vent of some kind?

Her chest constricted with nervousness. She slowly crossed the kitchen and pressed her ear to the

door. There was nothing to be heard but her shaky breaths. Whatever she’d heard was quiet now.

A moment later another lonesome howl penetrated the door. Cora’s breath caught in her throat. The

fine hairs along her nape stood on edge. So close to the basement entrance, she heard the sound more
clearly, a mix of an elephant’s trumpet and a lion’s roar. No, that definitely didn’t belong to any
animal she’d ever heard of. What the hell was that?

Cora backed away and left the kitchen in a hurry. Despite the growing distance from the possible

threat, she couldn’t shake the eerie sensation. When Stig woke in the morning, she’d ask him to go
down there and check it out. Maybe whatever had gotten in there was hurt and needed help.

Or maybe it wanted to break free and eat her face.
Shuddering at that frightening thought, Cora rushed into her room, located her toiletry bag, and

skittered across the hall into the bathroom to wash her face and brush her teeth. Back in her room, she
locked the door, slipped into her pajamas, switched off the lights, and slid under the covers.

Wrapped in the warmth of the comforter, Cora felt her fear melt and exhaustion take hold. The last

four days had been incredibly long. Sleep, she needed lots of sleep.

Cloaked in the welcoming arms of Morpheus, Cora experienced the most vivid dreams of her life.

She was asleep and yet so incredibly aware. Her synapses fired rapidly and amplified every
sensation. Touch, smell, taste—they were so very strong.

In her dreams, Cora became aware of a male presence. His scent, a potent mixture of cedar and

earth and sweat, teased her nose. Like an aphrodisiac, the smell provoked an aroused state. Her
nipples tightened into hard peaks pressing against the simple cotton of her camisole. Her sex pulsed
as desire blossomed in her belly and spread its warm tendrils of electric current through her lower
half.

There was no stopping the downward movement of her hands. They outlined her curves, taking

time to tweak her nipples beneath the thin fabric before sliding even lower. Her fingers slipped
beneath the elastic waistband of her pajama bottoms and panties and slowly drew them free.

Undressed from the waist down, Cora sat up against her pillows and opened her thighs. Cool air

met the blazing hot skin of her most intimate region. Wet and slick, the tender folds of her pussy
yielded to the gentle parting of her fingers. Her throbbing clit begged for attention. With the tip of her
forefinger, Cora stimulated the swollen nub in lazy circles.

Big and burly, the man loomed naked in the doorway and bathed in shadows. The sight should

have terrified Cora but she found it oddly thrilling. There was something so sexy about a little
exhibitionism. Moonlight spilled through the window and splashed across his lower half. His
magnificent cock, so thick and erect, betrayed his obvious interest. Although she couldn’t see his eyes
through the darkness, she could feel his heated gaze locked on her. It swept along her body, leaving a
prickly sensation of awareness.

Cora watched in fascination as the naked man fisted his meaty hand over his stiff length. Wanting

to give him quite a naughty show, she licked her upper lip and moaned loudly. She arched into the
tantalizing touch of her circling finger. The fingers of her other hand found their way between her lips
and into her mouth. She ran her tongue over the skin, slicking it with her saliva, and then slipped them
inside her tight, hot channel.

A gasp sounded from the doorway. So he liked that, did he?
She moaned and swiveled her hips. Her finger thrusts felt so good, the slick cream of her cunt

coating her digits. Little sparks of pleasure flickered through her lower belly. Cora’s toes curled
against the sheets. Her wrist moved faster as she strummed her clit with more fervor. Mouth agape,
Cora pursued her climax.

Still standing in the doorway, her mystery dream lover breathed hard and loud. His forearm

rippled as he stroked his cock. Their competing pants echoed in the stillness of the room. Cora wasn’t
sure who would come first. It was almost a race to the precipice of ecstasy.

In the end, she cried out a few seconds before the shadow man. Her pussy contracted and clenched

around her fingers as she rode out the waves of her orgasm. He grunted as if in pain and spilled his
cum in ropy bursts.

Separated from her partner in exhibition, Cora was suddenly gripped by the desire to touch his

sweat-slicked skin, to taste the salty cream now dripping from the blunt head of his cock. She wanted
to be held close and caressed like some soft creature. She wanted to feel his soothing breaths against
her forehead and hear the reassuring beat of his heart as she slept against his chest.

But none of those desires were to materialize.
As quickly as her dream lover had appeared, he vanished. In the next instant, Cora woke and shot

up off her pillow. Trembling and sweating, she sucked in a sharp breath. She wiped a shaky hand
down her face. Her thighs clenched with the last tremors of her fading orgasm.

Cora’s cheeks flamed with embarrassment. She’d just had a wet dream in the room next to Stig’s.

As a former marine, he was bound to be keenly aware of his surroundings. Had she cried out in her
sleep? Oh God. Had he heard her?

Groaning in humiliation, Cora flopped back against her pillow and buried her face in the crook of

her arm. How the hell was she going to face him at the breakfast table in the morning?

Chapter One

wash in adrenaline, Griffin Cadogan eyed his opponent across the sparring cage. He danced from

foot to foot as he waited for Mad to make his move. The springy mat was cool beneath his bare soles.
Though they’d been at this for nearly half an hour, it wasn’t the physical exertion making him so hot.
No, tonight his mating phase would begin. Already his body was beginning to show the subtle signs as
his forced shifting approached.

Like a raging bull, Mad charged him. Griff stepped into the oncoming assault but twisted his upper

body just enough to escape the brunt of his cousin’s impact. Griff kneed him right in the stomach and
slammed his elbow into the other man’s back. But it wasn’t enough to slow Mad down, and he
wrapped his arms around Griffin’s waist. They fell to the mat with so much force they bounced.

Limbs entangled, they grappled and slapped. Anyone who caught a glimpse of them fighting would

have assumed they were engaged in a death match. In fighting without gloves or protective head gear,
they were breaking the rules of the mixed-martial-arts training facility they owned, but since they had
the place to themselves for the afternoon no one would be the wiser.

Griff tried to get Mad in a headlock, but the other man twisted and arched his back to avoid being

pinned in a bad position. Griff’s inner beast struggled to be set free. The primal urge to destroy
threatened to overwhelm him, but he wasn’t worried about hurting Madoc. They’d been fighting this
way for centuries. If anyone had the strength and skill to beat his ass when he was on the verge of
going into heat and unleashing his dragon, it was Mad.

But today his cousin seemed off his game. Quite out of character, Mad let Griff get the upper hand.

It was only a fractional slip, but it was enough for Griff to wrap his legs around Mad’s waist and
clamp his arm around the other man’s neck. Though Mad kicked and smacked, he couldn’t break free.
With a frustrated howl, Mad slapped Griff’s forearm three times and tapped out.

Griff let go immediately and rolled Mad onto his back. “You okay, man?”
Mad shot him the finger and dragged a long, shuddery breath into his lungs.
Laughing, Griff plopped down on his backside and stretched out his aching legs. “I’ll take that as a

yes.” Leaning back on his hands, he studied his cousin. There was no mistaking the tiredness in him,
and it wasn’t just from this fight. “Are you still having those dreams?”

Mad threw an arm over his eyes and breathed slow and deep. “Yes.”
For the last three weeks, Mad had been experiencing vivid dreams. At first, they had been fairly

innocuous. He’d dreamed of beautiful beaches, tequila-fueled nights, and even a wild foam party in a
warehouse-style nightclub. They’d both assumed Mad was tapping into the dream energy of a
neighbor. It wasn’t uncommon for their dragonkind to trespass into dreams.

But then the dreams had taken a darker, worrying turn.
“What did you dream last night?”

Mad didn’t answer straight away. Finally, he said, “I was in a cage or a cell.”
“Like a prison?”
“Maybe,” he said uncertainly. “It was definitely underground. I could feel the dampness on my skin

and smelled its musty wetness. And I was hungry, Griff. So damn hungry. I woke up, stumbled
downstairs, and tore through all of the food in my refrigerator. I ate so much I got sick,” he admitted
softly. “But I couldn’t shake that gnawing hunger clawing at my stomach.”

Concern rippled through him. “Have you talked to Ignatius?”
“I did.”
“And?”
“And he told me sometimes we have to slay the beast.”
Griff rolled his eyes at their leader’s cryptic reply. “What the hell does that mean?”
“I don’t know,” Mad said, his voice filled with resignation. “Maybe he means I’m literally

supposed to go out and hunt down whoever is filling my head with all these crazy images.”

Griff grumbled softly. “I don’t think that’s such a good idea. You could be walking into a trap. It

wouldn’t be the first time the Knights used a seer or someone with empathic abilities to screw with a
dragon’s head.”

“It doesn’t feel malicious.” He rubbed his chest. “It feels desperate.” Mad let his arm fall back to

the mat. He met Griff’s gaze. “I can’t go on like this. I may not have a choice.”

Griff could see what these dreams were doing to Mad, and he agreed that they had to be stopped.

Who would be powerful enough to project dreams as a call for help? The possibilities worried him,
especially if Mad struck out on his own. “Will you at least wait until I’ve finished this mating phase?
I’ll come with you.”

“Sure.”
He opened his mouth to ask him where they would start their search but the wild vibration of an

approaching dragon gripped his gut. Every dragon of his acquaintance had a specific feeling, but this
one he didn’t recognize. The vibrations filled him with a bright, trembling sensation of excitement.
The alien sensation was unsettling.

Griff pushed off the mat and rose to his full height. Mad was a little slower getting off the floor.

They climbed out of the ring and crossed the gym to the main entrance. The vibrations in Griff’s
stomach pushed into his chest. A pulsing heat burned him. He rubbed the spot just over his heart and
glanced at Mad. His cousin didn’t seem to be the least bit affected.

The double doors burst open and a woman appeared. Her scent hit him like a ton of bricks.

Swaying on his feet, Griff backed up a step and tried to clear his hazy mind. Alluringly sweet and
spicy, the smell invaded his lungs. His inner beast snapped with lust and need. This woman, whoever
she was, had ignited his desire.

Griff let his hungry gaze roam her petite frame. He’d never seen a skirt look so good. The hip-

hugging  fabric  outlined  her  body  in  all  the  right  ways. A  fitted  blouse  with  the  top  buttons  popped
open  displayed  her  curves.  She  wore  her  jet-black  hair  coiled  at  the  back  of  her  head.  Emeralds
dangled  from  her  earlobes.  The  glimmering  green  jewels  accentuated  her  silky  brown  skin.  His
fingertips buzzed as he wondered what it would be like to stroke her face.

She turned her dark eyes on him. Something about her was so familiar. When she waved her hand

up and down, he spotted the white handkerchief. What in the hell?

“Griffin Cadogan?”

Her gentle voice spilled over him like sunshine. “Yes?”
“I’d like to request we put our family’s little blood feud aside for the duration of my visit.”
Blood feud? The shock of her identity smacked him right in the face. “Avani Monroe?”
Her lips curved in a teasing smile. “They told me you were the smart one.”
Trying to ignore the needful pull tugging at him, Griff narrowed his eyes. “You’re either very

brave or very stupid to come into our gym.”

“I assure you I’m neither stupid nor brave.” She took a hesitant step closer. “No, it’s desperation

that brought me to my enemy’s door.”

Her somber tone struck a chord with him. Against his better judgment, he asked, “What do you

want?”

Her sexy, sinful grin knocked the air right out of his lungs. “You.”

* * *

Feeling anything but confident, Avani ignored the nervousness wobbling in her lower belly and tried
to maintain the cool, controlled façade that had served her so well in business. Her gaze skipped to
Ian Madoc. Griffin’s cousin stared at her with amusement and interest. She glanced back to the man
she desperately needed to help her.

Surprise spread across Griffin’s face. She spotted the briefest flare of crimson in his pale blue

irises as that beastly Welsh Red tried to surface. Like her, he was only hours away from going into
heat. She figured that was the reason the two cousins had been knocking the crap out of one another.
She preferred the more enlightened methods of fasting and meditation to ease her transition, but
apparently these two dragons still clung to the older, more barbaric customs.

She examined Griffin more closely. His size made her nervous. She’d heard he was a big man, but

she hadn’t been expecting this. Nearly seven feet tall, he sported the broadest shoulders she’d ever
seen and muscular arms emblazoned with heavy tattoos. She didn’t recognize any of the symbols or
markings, but they were probably significant to his old tribe or his Welsh homeland.

Griffin lifted one huge hand and crooked a finger. His deep, rumbling voice made her heart race.

“Come with me.”

Gulping down the anxiety clogging her throat, Avani followed him across the gym to an office. She

glanced over her shoulder and found Madoc making his way to an arched doorway on the other side
of the gym. The realization she would have a few moments of privacy to plead her case with Griffin
bolstered her courage.

He entered the office and kept one hand on the door for her. Fearful that inhaling his scent would

make her brain fuzzy, she held her breath as she passed him. Soothing heat radiated from him in
strong, penetrating waves. Her breasts ached and her core pulsed with need. Attraction and lust
weren’t emotions she allowed herself to experience very often. Right now, she didn’t have a choice.
Griffin’s nearness had inflamed her.

The door shut with a soft click. Hands trembling, she gripped the handkerchief tighter. Coming into

a closed space with him had been a terrible idea. His delicious scent curled around her. She eyed him
warily as he walked to the desk and leaned back against it. Even in that slight sitting position, he
towered over her. Refusing to sit or give him the upper hand, she lifted her chin.

“You realize that I’m about to go into heat. The risk you’ve taken—”
“It’s acceptable to me,” she interrupted. “In fact, our synced heat cycles are exactly why I need

you.”

His jaw visibly clenched. “If you’re suggesting what I think you’re suggesting, you are out of your

damned mind. I’m not in the market for a mate and certainly not one whose great-aunt stabbed my
great-uncle to death.” He pointed to the door. “You should leave. Now.”

“No.” She stood her ground. “And, for the record, my father’s family tells a slightly different

version of that altercation that started off our feud.”

He snorted. “I’m sure they do. Now why are you here?”
“You’re a member of the Brotherhood of the Green Hide. You’re charged with protecting our

species from extinction. You know what the Knights of St. George did to my mother’s family?”

His harsh expression softened. “Yes.”
“Then you also know that after the massacre last fall, I’m the last of my mother’s line.” Her eyes

prickled with bitter tears as the memories of the vicious and brutal battle flooded her mind. “My
mother’s family had invited us home for reconciliation. It was supposed to be a beautiful family
reunion, but those bastards…”

She couldn’t finish the thought. Swallowing hard, she touched her chest. “I’m the last of the Naga.

I’ve been combing the family trees of my people looking for someone, anyone, with the right genes,
but the Knights have snuffed us out.”

Griffin exhaled slowly. “The Knights are frighteningly efficient when it comes to targeting specific

bloodlines. Your mother’s line was one of the most fragile and unique of our kind.”

“Centuries of arranged marriages and a closed society didn’t help.” She thought of the horror her

mother and father had caused with their scandalous love affair and elopement. Her Indian mother had
chosen to marry a Western man from a little-known branch of a British dragon tribe. Both sets of
parents had decried the match and ostracized the pair. Avani had grown up as an outcast, never quite
belonging in the dragon commune that had accepted her parents as members.

“I don’t know why you think I can help you. My people are lightning makers and thunder

clappers.”

“Not all of them,” she said. “Your archivist, Reynard, helped me identify dragons with suitable

bloodlines. Your great-grandmother was a water serpent. Like me, she was the last of her kind, but
she came from a pure and uninterrupted bloodline.”

He let loose an annoyed grunt. “So what?”
Gathering her courage, she said, “It means that our baby would have a high chance of inheriting my

Naga gifts.”

Taken aback, Griffin stared at her. “Are you insane? Did you really just propose that we have a

child? In case you’ve forgotten, our families are involved in a blood feud.”

Irritated, she snapped back at him. “No, I haven’t forgotten. If you’re not going to help me, you may

as well go ahead and finish me off right here. Satisfy your family’s honor, Griffin. Who knows?
Maybe the Knights will send you a thank-you card and a nice flower arrangement for tying up a loose
end.”

He growled angrily and shot to his feet. “Comparing me to a Knight isn’t a very persuasive tactic,

Avani.”

She rubbed her face and sighed. “Look, I’m sorry. I’m on edge and I’m desperate.”
“Why are you in such a rush to have children? You’re only, what, thirty? You haven’t even hit your

first centenary!”

“When you’re the last member of a nearly extinct race of dragon, you can stand there and lecture

me on biological clocks!”

He studied her intently. “Do you have any idea what you’re asking? I’ve gone nearly one thousand

years without taking a mate or fathering a child. There’s a reason for that. My work is very dangerous.
My loyalty to the Brotherhood comes first.”

She understood his hesitancy and embraced it. She’d been relieved when she’d researched him

and realized how unlikely he was to want a role as an active parent. “I’m not looking for a husband or
even a partner in parenting. Don’t worry. I don’t want your money, either. My jewelry business is
quite successful. I can handle motherhood on my own.”

“Is that so?” An expression she couldn’t place filtered across his face. “It seems as if you have this

all planned out. I suppose all you want from me is a sperm donation.”

She winced at how cold it sounded. “It wouldn’t be like that. You’re in heat. I’m in heat. I’m sure

our time together will be pleasurable.”

“And when the phase ends?”
“You leave. I’ll contact you if we’re successful.”
“And that’s that?” He didn’t sound happy.
“Well, I mean, what more do you want?”
He made a disgusted noise. “What the hell kind of man do you think I am? You think I would make

a child and then walk away from him or her?”

His fury stunned her. Stammering, she said, “I thought—”
“No,” he interjected roughly. “You didn’t think. You assumed you could waltz in here smelling

like heaven, then ensnare me and convince me to do whatever you wanted. Well, I’ve got news for
you, Avani. I’m not the kind of man who can be led around by his dick.”

His crass remark made her flinch. “You’re wrong, Griffin. I didn’t come here hoping to ensnare

you with my mating scent.” Embarrassment burned her neck and cheeks. “Do you think it was easy for
me to come in here and beg a stranger to sleep with me? And not just any stranger, Griffin! You’re my
enemy.”

“I am not your enemy.” He spoke the words with such passion it set her back on her feet. “What

happened centuries ago is of little consequence to me. No dragon is my enemy.” Looking pained, he
rubbed the back of his neck. “You’re asking me to do the impossible.”

“No,” she replied insistently. “I’m asking you to uphold the oath you took when you joined the

Brotherhood. I’m asking you to save my family line. I need you, Griffin. You’re the only one who can
help me.”

His intense stare unnerved her. Her breath hitched in her throat when he took a step toward her.

Instinct took hold. For every one of his steps forward, she scurried back two. Her back hit the door
and stalled her flight.

He planted both hands against the door, pinning her smaller body between his and the wooden

plank at her back. Her shuddery breaths buffeted his naked chest. His tanned skin tempted her like no
other. She fisted her hands at her sides and closed her eyes. When his face lowered, she turned her
head.

“Don’t,” he warned gently. Nuzzling her cheek with his nose, he coaxed her to face him. Their

breaths mingled as he gazed into her eyes. His mouth brushed hers with such softness. The spark of
contact arced between them, setting her skin alight.

With a low groan, Griffin finally captured her lips. He was easy at first, his lips pliable and soft

against hers. Taking control, he deepened the kiss. His tongue swiped hers. She whimpered as he
plundered her mouth. Her hands flew to his chest. The searing heat of his skin set her afire.

Whether it was the mating scent or their natural chemistry, Avani couldn’t say. In that moment, she

didn’t really care. She’d never felt anything like this. Her whole body pulsed and ached. She didn’t
fight him when he grasped the backs of her thighs and lifted her off the floor. The fabric of her skirt
bunched and pulled taut when she wrapped her legs around his waist. She gasped at the sensation of
his rock-hard cock pressing against her. Only a few pieces of thin cloth separated their overheated
bodies.

A guttural sound emanated from his throat. He tore his mouth away from hers. Forehead to

forehead, they panted and shuddered. Finally, Griffin spoke: “We do this my way.”

She licked her lips and stared into the eyes of the man who had awoken such need within her.

“What way is that?”

“I’ll help you save your line, but I will not bond with you. I don’t want or need a mate.”
His words shouldn’t have hurt her. She hadn’t come here looking for a mate, after all. Still, they

struck a raw nerve. She’d always been the unwanted one. It wouldn’t be any different now. It’s only
sex, she reminded herself.

“I won’t bite you,” she promised. At the confused look on his face, she explained, “Among the

Naga, a bite and exchange of venom is required to seal a true mate bond.”

“You have fangs?” He tilted his head for a better look at her mouth. “I didn’t feel them.”
She shook her head. “I only have them in my serpent form.”
“I see.” His fingertip trailed her jaw. “If this works, I’m not walking away from my child. There is

no way in hell I’m playing the role of absentee father.”

His assertion troubled her. She wasn’t kidding earlier. She didn’t want the interference of another

parent in her life. Single motherhood appealed to her for a few very personal reasons. “But I don’t
want—”

He silenced her with a kiss. Leaving her breathless, he said, “This isn’t up for debate, Avani.

These are my terms. Take them or leave them. Now—do we have a deal?”

Overwhelmed by his commanding heat and strength, Avani was powerless to say no. She found

unexpected reassurance in his penetrating, unwavering gaze. His offer wasn’t the most palatable, but
there was plenty of time to convince him to give her exactly what she wanted. “All right. We have a
deal.”

But as Griffin carefully lowered her to the ground, Avani couldn’t shake the feeling that her well-

laid plans were about to be shot to hell by this ridiculously sexy beast of a man.

About the Author

While browsing bookstore shelves as a teenager, Lo discovered the erotic writings of Anaïs Nin and
A. N. Roquelaure. Certain her mother would not approve, Lo smuggled the books home and
squirreled them away in the most likely of places: under her bed. Late at night, she delved into the
sensual worlds both writers created.

As a coed studying biochemistry and genetics at Texas A&M University, Lo dabbled in creating

naughty tales to entertain her friends. Study for a midterm or pen a deliciously dirty story to delight
her small band of fans? Not surprisingly, Lo is now on an extended sabbatical from college.

Luckily, Lo stumbled onto the world of erotic romance publishers. She realized there were other

readers and writers who loved and craved breathtaking romance with the spiciest of love scenes. She
took a chance and submitted her first novella. The rest is history.

Lo lives in Texas with her husband, daughter, and big blubbering Great Dane with mommy issues.
Learn more at:
LolitaLopez.com
Twitter: @lowriter
Facebook.com/AuthorLolitaLopez

Looking for more great digital reads? We’ve got you covered!

Now Available from Forever Yours

The last thing dragon shifter Stig Wyvern needs is his dead friend’s kid sister showing up on his
doorstep, especially since he’s just minutes away from entering a mating phase. Sharing his isolated
house with the young woman he’s desperately lusted after for quite some time is a recipe for disaster.

But Cora Cardenas has nowhere else to go. She’s in deep trouble with some really nasty people

and Stig is the only one who can protect her. That he’s deliciously sexy and makes her tingle with the
simplest of smiles is an added bonus.

Cora quickly realizes Stig is hiding something from her. To make matters worse, she’s plagued

with breathtakingly naughty dreams starring a shadowed lover who bears a startling resemblance to
her host. And what the hell is going on in the basement at night?

Stig needs to get Cora out of his house but his inner beast has other ideas. He’s found his mate and

she’s not going anywhere.

* * *

Griffin Cadogan is surprised when Avani Monroe, the sworn enemy of his dragon family, walks into
his gym. With his mating phase approaching, the dragon shifter wonders why she risks coming into
enemy territory. Yet the dark-eyed temptress shocks him even more with an outrageous demand: She
wants him to help her have a baby.

After her mother’s dragon line was annihilated by the Knights, Avani vows to continue her unique

dragon breed—and the registries indicate that Griffin is the best candidate. Determined to mate,
Avani plans to use her seductive beauty and powerful scent to entice Griffin. The big, strong Welsh
man will make for a fitting partner…if he doesn’t kill her first.

When they spar over the terms of her proposal, Griffin and Avani can’t deny the intense, primal

attraction they feel for each other. But as they become closer to creating a child, the lovers can hear

danger encircle them as loud as the clapping of wings. The dragon slayers are coming…and they’re
gunning for Griffin, Avani, and the entire dragon race.

* * *

One hot kiss from a smoldering dragon and all her thoughts go up in flames…

Lianne McGowan is a scientist on a mission. As brilliant as she is beautiful, she believes the key

to the Earth’s future is a new energy source. To find it, she’ll delve deep into the fiery heart of an
imposing mountain—and take on an even more imposing man: the sinfully seductive Nic Vladik.

Shape-shifting dragon Nic has sworn to guard the secret to his brethren’s insatiable power. He

must stop Lianne’s search, yet the moment he feels the soft silk of her skin, his soul is set on fire.
Unable to resist, Nic and Lianne submit to desire and experience an exquisite passion unlike either
has ever known. But their pleasure is short-lived. Lianne has made a discovery that endangers herself,
Nic, and all dragonkind. With his world at stake, will Nic save his clan—or the woman he loves?

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used
fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

Cover design by Christine Foltzer

All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part
of this book without the permission of the publisher constitute unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you
would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting
the publisher at permissions@hbgusa.com. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

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First Edition: March 2015

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ISBN: 978-1-4555-8541-0

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