Above us, outlined against the brilliant sky, dragons crowded every available perching space on the Rim. And the sun made a gold of every one of them.?―Anne McCaffrey,?Nerilka's StoryThe sound of the door chime at Rurik's apartment made Charlotte tense. Madelyn and Piper both giggled at her, but Charlotte wasn't laughing. After she'd almost died the day before, everything had become a chaotic blur. She'd been staying at Rurik's apartment while her brothers and Rurik's had seen to handling the cleanup of the dragon battle. She hadn't been sure if they would agree to come when she and Rurik had invited them over today."It's going to be fine," Madelyn said. "They fought together against Drakor and the Silvas.""And your brother saved my ass," Piper added. "That counts for something."Charlotte bit her lip, studying her future sisters-in-law. Behind them in the kitchen, Grigori and Mikhail were teasing Rurik about being mated, just as he'd predicted. He'd put up with it long enou
SnowSnow was falling. Charlotte could feel it on her skin before she opened her eyes. She was there in that realm between, feeling Rurik's beating heart. The warm glow was so close, but as she sat up and blinked, she saw the flames flicker and sputter, threatening to go out.She surged to her feet and pushed through the thick snowfall as the storm became fiercer, wind whipping at her. She had to reach his heart this time, or else the wall of shadows creeping in at the edges of her vision would overtake her.Charlotte braced her arms in front of her face, shielding it from the icy wind. Shapes moved ahead of her, but they weren't shadows. These shapes weredragons. Hundreds of them, lined on either side of her path to the dwindling glow of Rurik's heart. Their massive, long-snouted heads bowed, their frills fanning up as they watched her pass by beneath them like giant statues."Another comes to the doorstep. Come, brother. Come home. There is so much for us to show you. So much you
Like a fruit suffused with its own mystery and sweetness, she was filled with her vast death, which was so new she could not understand that it had happened.Rainer Maria RilkeRurik had fought a thousand battles, but nothing compared to the one inside him the moment he saw Charlotte pull Drakor over the edge of that building. Every nightmare he'd ever had as a boy of having a mate and losing her came true in that instant. The terror, pure and violent, froze him in place, but not for long. His dragon, buried deep beneath the serum, suddenly stirred."No!" His roar shook the already unstable building around them. He didn't have time to think. He rushed toward the ledge, just as Damien and his team stormed the room. It only took a moment for the hunter to recognize his intentions."Rurik, no!"Rurik leaped from the window, his rage and love blurring together in a swell of emotions that drowned out everything else. His dragon exploded out of him as he hurtled down toward his mate.
Charlotte woke with a gasp. Rurik's voice still lingered inside her, a whisper, more in her heart than her head. Had she dreamed it? Her lungs burned and her throat was in agony. For a moment she didn't remember where she was, until she saw Luis Silva crouched over her. His hands were no longer wrapped around her throat. Now they were balled into fists at his thighs.The memories of what had happened before she'd passed out came roaring back. But he seemed to have lost interest in her, which was perhaps the only thing that had saved her life. Luis was staring at something over her head. Clutching her throat, she rolled over and looked out through the tall windows and saw three winged shapes headed straight for them. Their wings flapped in a strange but familiar way, something between a gliding bird and the pulsing frenzy of a bat. Dragons.Luis growled, eyes fixed on this imminent threat. Charlotte realized this would be her only chance. She scrambled to her feet and lunged at Luis
The brave men did not kill dragons. The brave men rode them.Game of ThronesRurik stared at the floor number digits, which kept changing in the elevator as he and Damien's team rode it to the top floor, when suddenly his head seemed to clear of the fog that had separated him from Charlotte.Flashes of what she was seeing came through the bond to him. Drakor's face, the serum in his hand as he talked. Red-gold eyes burning into Charlotte's. Another man standing close behind Drakorone Rurik recognized with dread. Rurik felt her heart pounding and her terror spiking. He leaned against the side of the elevator, gasping as her strong emotions swamped him.Charlotte, where are you?"Uhguys, the dragon's face just turned green. I think he's going to puke," Jason said, cautiously inching away from Rurik. Meg and the other hunters stepped back. Damien gripped Rurik by the shoulder. "What's the matter?""I know I know where she is!" Rurik's head exploded with new images. An office build
Dragons and legendsIt would have been difficult for any man not to want to fight beside a dragon.―Patricia Briggs,?Dragon Blood"You are Rurik's mate," the Russian dragon mused as he leaned in and inhaled Charlotte's scent. She tensed, closing her eyes as he drew close enough to kiss her. He didn't, but the invasion of her personal space was unsettling.When he finally leaned away from her, she opened her eyes again. Luis, the man she'd head-butted, leaned against the closed door, watching her with black eyes. He'd brought her to an expensive high-rise structure in Moscow, newly built and mostly empty. She almost fainted at the height when she realized they were more than forty stories up in an empty corner office. She sat in a metal chair, but she wasn't restrained. Why bother? She had no way to escape, except jumping.Luis's gaze raked down her body. "She reeks of Barinov." Dimitri Drakor didn't seem nearly as brutish as she'd expected. He was nothing like Luis, who'd so cas