Mara slipped it into her purse and then hugged Serena, instantly feeling like she could trust the other woman.

  Serena put her hands on Mara’s shoulders as they separated and then looked straight into Mara’s eyes. “You got this, girl. Be brave. And remember that what happens to you may affect far more than you, so be careful.”

  Mara nodded, still feeling dazed, as Jack and Troy came up beside her, talking avidly about directions to the “castle” hours away where they might find her potential protector.

  It was time to find out if an angry barbarian dragon might be willing to make a deal.

  3

  Konar awoke to total darkness, as thick as fog, as cold as winter.

  He couldn’t remember anything, and a sharp pain filled his head as he slowly crawled out from the inner courtyard of his castle, or at least that’s where he thought it was based on the unmistakable scent of the stone all around him blessed by countless bloody battles.

  They’d transported him here with his castle, and then everything had gone dark. He remembered that much, as rage came surging through him. But how long had he been gone?

  He expected sunlight to burn his eyes as he moved out into the wilderness, but the thick, tall forest all around the castle, almost hiding it from view, seemed to extend the darkness endlessly.

  In fact, the forest felt oddly dark.

  He crawled forward, feeling his dragon form emerge, causing him to grow and grow, breaking through trees and brush. He kept in his mid-form, because at full size, his dragon was likely to break something more than a few trees, and crawled forward, winding his long body around trees in an effort to keep from making more destruction than was necessary.

  All the while, he tried to recall more of who or what he was, but he felt only darkness and a pounding, throbbing, dull headache when he tried to remember more.

  He was a dragon. He’d started war in the fae realm. He remembered that much.

  Then that witch, the oracle, had sentenced him and the others, without so much as hearing their side…

  His teeth clenched, fangs metallic against his tongue, and he let out a low snarl, prowling forward in the dark.

  But though he moved in circles around the castle, his claws plunging through the fertile forest soil in the near darkness, and pursued every possible direction, he couldn’t seem to find a way out. Perhaps this was some kind of enchantment.

  He snarled, whipping as he heard the sound of a twig snapping in the distance, then the crunching of soil.

  Someone was walking in his forest.

  Narrowing his eyes, he crept closer, barely able to make out something moving far away in the dark.

  A bright light shone, and Konar brought up a clawed dragon hand to cover his eyes as two tall human men strode forward.

  No, not men, he thought, scenting the air around them.

  Dragons.

  But they didn’t have the ferocity of the dragons of his people. In their bearing was something domestic, tamed… even gentle. Like they’d been bred with puppies over centuries to be tamer.

  What would their dragon forms even look like?

  The tall, well-dressed pretty boys stopped in front of him, both wearing odd clothes that made little sense to him, looking neither fae nor like anything from his world.

  They stopped, and the taller one with blond hair folded strong arms as they addressed him. They were both well-muscled, so at least they kept their fighter physiques, even if they’d lost their killer instinct and all sense of a warrior’s edge.

  He scented stress on them despite their placid expressions.

  Why would dragons be here now? Had they freed him?

  Then he remembered with bitter betrayal that the dragons in this world all sided with the oracle.

  They had helped to imprison him.

  He took a heavy step forward in rage, ignoring the weak light pointing his way, and let out a low, feral snarl, feeling his rage build inside him.

  He didn’t know how long it had been, but they might have taken years from him…

  “We came to free you, dependent on an offer.”

  Bitterness lashed through him again, making him feel caught in a storm of knives.

  So they thought to make a deal with him now? He should kill all of them for their audacity.

  “How long has it been?” he croaked out in a voice unused to speaking, deep and gravelly even for his dragon form.

  “One hundred years,” the shorter dragon said.

  Konar roared, unable to stop himself, letting his rage fill the forest, making the trees shake and the ground vibrate. Then he got down in their faces, putting his huge dragon head up to them with a sneer. “You’ll wish you never freed me by the time I’m done with you.”

  Jack pulled a small gun-shaped weapon out of his jacket that seemed to be loaded with a blue serum. “Remember this?” he asked. “They used these to suppress you before, and I know I can do it again.”

  Konar pulled back with a hiss. “Still here only to threaten. That’s all you humans know how to do.”

  “That’s not what we’re here to do, though.” The blond dragon stepped in front of his partner, pushing the gun gently down, as Konar scowled at him. “We’re actually here to ask for your help.”

  Fire built in his chest, and he could feel his stone heart heating, building his powers despite his amnesia.

  He was born for one thing. To fight and conquer. He’d start right now.

  “Whoa, big guy,” the smaller dragon said, stepping back and holding up the gun. “It doesn’t need to be like this. Look, we weren’t the ones who imprisoned you, but maybe we can talk about how this could help both of us. You don’t want to go back in the dark, do you?”

  Konar let out a snarl. “I won’t be going back in the dark because I’m going to snap your tiny necks, take that gun, fly over to your oracle, and stab it in her neck until she dies.” He grinned, flashing dragon fangs larger than any of them would possess. “Then I’ll conquer your world and take it hostage.”

  He expected the smaller dragons to cower, but they simply glared up at him angrily.

  “Look,” the shorter one said. “I can hit you with this gun, but our world is in danger. We need your strength, and you could do great good—”

  “You lock me up for a century, and you expect me to help you?” He narrowed his eyes meanly. “Clearly, dragons here have been bred past the ability to retain reason.” He sneered. “If your world is doomed, then I can’t wait to watch it burn. There is nothing in the world that would make me help you. Nothing at all that would make me even think about… about…”

  He trailed off as an odd scent caught his nose, instantly distracting his dragon form and making all of his scales stand on edge.

  He moved forward, nudging his nose between the other dragons, and noticed there was a figure standing about ten feet behind them.

  It was a woman. A human woman…

  A woman that struck him straight to his stone-cold heart.

  He’d never felt so drawn to another being before.

  Like power was emanating from her. Power he needed…

  It had to be that. It couldn’t be her lush curves, poorly hidden beneath some kind of tight black pants and a blue shirt that dipped to show soft cleavage.

  His dragon growled softly in approval at her gorgeous face, shaped with softness and with glittering green eyes at the center.

  So beautiful she almost didn’t seem real.

  He forced the thoughts away because he was a warrior. She could help him conquer this world, perhaps, that was all.

  Anything they did on the side would simply be an extra benefit.

  And he would have her in his bed, that was certain.

  “I think he likes you,” the shorter dragon with black hair said, turning back to the woman who was still staring up at Konar, terrified.

  Not that she needed to be. He would never hurt a woman nor force one. Women were to be protected, unless they preferred or were equipped for battle, and then they could be fought alongside.

  But this one… he just wanted to scoop her up in his talons and carry her into his castle and never let her go.

  Curses, the blasted thoughts must be rising from some defective crack in his stone heart. He frowned, promising himself he would look into it. A warrior’s stone heart was critical in a fight.

  “Jack… I think we should leave. I don’t think he likes anybody,” the woman murmured.

  “Nonsense,” Jack said. “He’s just a bit angry, and who wouldn’t be?” Jack looked up at Konar, who was glaring at him, nonplussed by his show of empathy.

  They never would have freed him if they didn’t want something from him.

  To be fair, they never should have freed him because now he would definitely take their world away.

  Even if he hadn’t intended to originally.

  “You should have never freed me,” he said. “Now I’m going to kill both of you and—”

  “Please don’t kill my friends,” a small voice squeaked, and Konar looked down to see the tiny woman was actually trying to speak to him.

  She had guts. He had to give her that.

  Damn, he liked her even more now.

  He moved forward to crowd her back against the nearest tree, so close she’d see that his fangs were the size of her head. He put one of his large black dragon eyes next to hers and felt her shudder back against the bark behind her, her hands clutching wildly for something to hold on to.

  The taller, blond dragon moved forward, rolling up his sleeves. “You piece of shit, don’t touch her—”

  But the woman put up a delicate hand, keeping the blond man back. Even her fingers were gorgeously curved and soft. He longed to take his human form and suck on each one of them while fingering her until she was—

  Damn, the cursed thoughts were back again.

  “Tell me why I shouldn’t kill them and take over your world,” he snarled, still face to face with the woman, letting his dragon breath blow her hair back. “Give me one good reason.”

  “They only came here to help me,” she squeaked out, shaking beneath him. “I’m in trouble. They just wanted to help.”

  As if conquering the world meant nothing, his brain suddenly shifted. “What do you mean? You’re in danger?”

  Suddenly, that felt more important than anything, including his revenge. He narrowed his eyes. Was it because she truly brought unique power to him that no one else could, and if she died, that power would be gone?

  She put up her wrist, shaking, and as he looked at the mark, he felt darkness well in him. Chaos emanated from it, reminding him of his time in the fae realm.

  Making him think of…

  He blinked, moving back slightly to give her room to breathe, then looked at her dragon friends before turning back to her. “Actually, I insist she stays with me. I recognize this as something very ancient.”

  Which meant she must be highly valuable.

  Konar grinned. “I’ve changed my mind. I’ll help, with some conditions.”

  But to his shock, even as the dragons sagged with relief, the little woman looked up at him stubbornly, pouted her little lower lip, and said, “No thank you.”

  4

  Mara still couldn’t believe she was face to face with a dragon. His hot breath, smelling of smoke and embers, blew her hair back every time he breathed. His shining white fangs could surely bite off her head as easily as she could bite a pea pod in half. She shuddered in response to the anger in his eyes when she had dared to tell him no.

  “No?” His dragon lips curled in a snarl, and that deep, rumbling voice moved through her, rattling her bones with the presence of a primordial, unstoppable monster.

  “Yeah,” she stuttered. “N-no.” She shook her head. She gathered all her courage and stared up at him. “I heard what you said. You’re not a good person. Maybe you have a right to be mad, but I don’t trust the way you just looked at me… like that… and said you would help.” She shook her head. “I don’t trust you.”

  She winced, half expecting him to burn her to death with all the dragon fire that this huge, scaled dark monster could release. His body was huge and covered with black smoke that wound around it, obscuring smoky black scales laced with gray and white.

  His scales were matte rather than shiny like Jack’s, and it only made him look more ominous.

  She closed her eyes, leaning back, and then felt wind blow around her, loud enough to drown out the sounds of the forest. She heard crunching and felt the presence in front of her step back.

  She opened her eyes, no longer feeling dragon breath on her cheek, and her jaw fell faster than a girl dropped off a dragon at what she saw.

  Standing in front of her was a huge, half-naked man, wearing nothing but leather and fur armbands on his huge biceps and rugged leather and fur that barely covered the area between his legs. Legs that were long, powerful, and more muscled than she’d ever seen in person.

  But he didn’t have the look of a body builder. In fact, all of his muscles looked like they were useful, strong, corded, and ready. Every area of his body had scars, some long and rippled.

  His powerful chest and wide shoulders led up to a thick neck and then a stubborn, jutting jaw.

  And then his face.

  That face.

  He was beautiful. Masculine. Perfect.

  At least in that way, he was like the dragon shifters she had read about.

  His dark hair was cut short, shaved on the sides, drawing interest to his piercing golden-orange eyes, which reminded her of a sunset.

  She wondered why his human eyes weren’t the same color as his dragon’s but barely had a moment to stare before he stepped forward, pulling an ax out from behind his back.

  “If this form scares you less, I can still use my ax to protect us.” The ax had a deadly blade and a short handle, for use with one hand.

  Though, with his strapping forearms and incredible biceps and triceps, she was sure he would have no trouble handling any kind of ax.

  She blushed at the direction her thoughts were taking and stayed back against the tree, looking to Troy and Jack for guidance.

  “It’s not because I’m scared of you,” she squeaked out at the handsome, infuriating man. “It’s because you’re not a good person, and I don’t trust you.” She moved away from the tree and started backing toward the car. “In fact, I don’t really trust any of you. I just wanted to get help finding out how to remove this mark, but I never intended to get caught up in shifter affairs—”

  “Oh, little one, you’re already caught,” he growled in a voice just as dark and ominous as his dragon’s.

  Truly, with those muscles and carrying that ax, she didn’t see him as much less terrifying than his dragon form.

  He had to be at least 6’7”.

  All that beautiful man wasted on a selfish personality.

  Perhaps someone had made a mistake containing him. That was bad. But if he was willing to watch the world burn, and innocent people with him, that wasn’t someone she could ever trust.

  “Tiny human, reconsider this,” he said, still talking down to her condescendingly, which she didn’t like at all. “That mark indicates something is coming for you. Something these dragons don’t have a hope of stopping. I’m not willing to save your world. But you have power I might want, so I’m willing to make a deal with you.”

  “A d-deal?”

  He nodded. “Your life for your power.”

  “Screw you!” she said. “I was told people would try to use my power, and here you are. Maybe you’re more dangerous than the thing chasing me. Maybe you are the thing chasing me.” She looked at her hand. “I’ll wait for this to fade on its own.”

  “Wait,” Troy said. “Let’s think about this.”

  “Nothing to think about!” Mara said. “For all I know, this is all a scam and you want to sell me off to him or something. I don’t know anything about this mark. I don’t know anything about what shifters want from humans. But I know that guy looks at me like… like I’m some valuable gemstone or something, and I don’t trust it. Nor do I trust either of you for handing me off to some random guy!”

  “We are just trying to help,” Jack said.

  “We have never dealt with this either,” Troy said.

  “Fine,” she said, putting her hands on her hips. “So you can’t say if I’d really be putting my life on the line not accepting this… this… situation. Where I have to stay with a stranger and give up my life, all for something that may or may not happen, just based on the word of people I’ve barely met.”

  “The word of dragons,” Jack corrected unhelpfully, making her snort.

  But she was angry. Something about Konar just pissed her off completely.

  She liked people who wanted to help the world.

  People who could be kind.

  And there was really no way something bad was going to happen based on a mark on her hand.

  What if shifters just used the phone line to tell humans crazy things so they could hand them off to other shifters?

  That certainly made more sense than a huge creature being freed and willing to only protect her.

  No, he wanted something, and it wasn’t just her power. She didn’t like it at all.

  Even if her body had never been so drawn to a man.

  Giving him one last, reluctant look-over to burn his beautiful visage in her memory (while hopefully forgetting his personality), she turned to go.

  “You have no chance without me,” he shot in a deep, cutting tone.

  She sucked in a breath. “It’s still my choice to make.” Her friends were never going to believe this.

  “You’re going to let her go?” Konar asked Jack and Troy.

  “We don’t have a choice. We can’t take her freedom without her consent. We will do what we can to protect her regardless,” Troy said firmly. “And by the way, you may be awake, but there is still a spell of darkness on this place, and the perimeter is sealed. You won’t be able to leave, so think about that before you decide whether to fight in our war.”