Page 22 of Mikhail
“And if I don’t wantto?”
He reached a hand above her head and freed her wrists. The silk tie slid against her skin and dropped away. She lowered her wrists, touching them, but she wasn’t bruised or tender at all. Just as he’dpromised.
“The door is that way. You know where your room is.” He turned his back on her, and she had another glorious view of the dragon tattoo on his skin. For a second, in the dim light of the fire and the half-lit lamps, she swore the dragonmoved.
Mikhail walked back into his bathroom, disappearing from view. Piper heard the water begin to run. He’d said he was going to make her sleep with him, but then he hadn’t even done that. She reallydidhave a say in what would happen between them. That gave her more reassurance tonight than she could have hoped for. She took the chance to flee his room and go back to herown.
Her bed was ice-cold, even with the fire roaring in the fireplace. She burrowed deep into the covers, shivering. She closed her eyes, trying to pretend the sheets weren’t like layers of ice against her skin. As she lay in the dark, Piper made a vow to install heaters if she ever had to live in a house likethis.
Everything would be better in the morning. She’d find a way back to London, and then she’d call the police and explain everything to them. It would be fine. It had tobe.
She drifted toward the dark realm of sleep. As her mind eased its control, her thoughts wandered more freely. She wished she hadn’t been afraid of her desire for Mikhail tonight, because being under his control like that, at least in a sexual way, had been unbelievablystimulating.
But she couldn’t forget how she’d gotten here. Even though he hadn’t harmed her, he had still stolen a fortune in jewels, had her help him do it, and then kidnapped her. That wasn’t okay. She wasn’t going to be some silly fool who let Stockholm syndrome get the better of her. No matter how sexy he looked without a shirt, how green his eyes were, or how much she wanted to trace the outline of the dragon tattoo on hisback…
* * *
Mikhail stoodoutside the door to Piper’s bedroom for a long while, listening to her shift and toss under her sheets. When he heard the faint chattering of her teeth, he’d had enough. He eased the door open and peered cautiously inside. She was asleep but still cold, despite the mountain of blankets on herbed.
With a growl of frustration, he approached the bed and carefully slipped her out from under the blankets and into his arms. Her chattering teeth stilled, and she murmured something fretful in her sleep before she nuzzled his chest andsighed.
Unable to stop a cocky grin from spreading across his face, he carried her back to his room and settled her beneath his blankets before he turned out the lights and joined her under them. Her feet were like ice, and her hands were just as cold. He tucked her body close to his and placed her feet on his shins. Soon she’d warm up. A dragon gave off more body heat than a human, one of the perks of being a shifter, such as being able to extinguish or start a fire with a wave of his hands. Both had come in handy tonight. Mikhail curled an arm around Piper’s waist and buried his face in her sweet-smellinghair.
“You have nothing to fear from me, little dove.” He whispered the words, hoping she would hear them in her dreams and know what he said was true. “I vow on my life and my brothers’ that you aresafe.”
He wanted her desperately, but he would wait as long as it took to earn her trust.Because she is my mate.It was a thought he’d been afraid to embrace before now, but it was harder and harder to deny how he and his dragon felt about this fierybeauty.
The only problem was that she was human…like Elizabeth. When dragons mated, they tied their lifespan to that of their mate. If he mated a dragoness—an admittedly unlikely prospect—he would live another five thousand years, but if he mated a human? He would draw his last breath mere hours or days after she did. Unless he found a way to changeher.
Being a dragon shifter meant his life and his body were controlled by ancient magic. Ever since he was a child, he’d heard legends of humans who had, after great sacrifices, earned the right to join their ranks. They lived immortal lives alongside their dragon mates. He remembered his mother telling him stories about the first dragons, how they had been creatures of magic and how the early humans had bonded with them, combining the dragon’s soul with the human’s body. Those had been the first dragons. The later generations had been born rather than made. Those first dragons had come from another realm by virtue of special gemstones, ones which held great magic. But no one had done this in a long time, longer than he had been alive. The knowledge of how to do it had been lost, even in the oldest of his people’smemories.
Mikhail didn’t like the idea of Piper having to make any great sacrifice, so he would not ask her to change for him. He closed his eyes, holding his precious human close. If he only had another sixty years with her, it would be enough. Every moment would be a treasure. He didn’t want to make another mistake, not like he had withElizabeth.
That was why he had taken Piper tonight. He had to be in control at first, until she could decide if she wanted him. If she did not, he would let her go, but not before he was certain he could trust her with the truth of who he was and, more importantly, what he couldbecome.
Five hundred years ago, being a dragon had been dangerous enough. He could’ve been captured and killed. But now? In the digital age where cameras were everywhere and scientists were eager to dissect creatures like him? Not to mention the damned Brotherhood of the Blood Moon, who had a stronghold in every major city these days, always watching and waiting for one of his kind to make a false step. It was crucial for himself and his race to stay hidden in theshadows.
His hold tightened on Piper, and he settled deeper into his bed. He had been alone for five centuries. It felt so good to have a woman in his arms again, even if he had to face letting her go when the morning came. Until then, he would dream as he hadn’t done in years, of his gray-blue-eyed dove and the hoard of jewels hidden in the cellar of hishouse.
A smile curved his lips as he slipped into the realm of a dragon’sdreams.
8
Those who build walls are their ownprisoners.
—Ursula K. LeGuin
Piper woke slowly,in that hazy way one does on a winter weekend when one has snuggled deep into the blankets. Bright, clear sunlight bathed the room and bed in stark pale colors, washing everything out and making it feelsurreal.
She blinked and studied the bed hangings and the dying fire in the fireplace. Where was she? Bit by bit, memories of last night came back to her. She winced as she realized it hadn’t been a wild and fantastical dream. She wasreallyin Mikhail Barinov’s house in Cornwall and had been forced into helping him steal the Cheapside treasuretrove.
It took her a few seconds longer to realize she was in a warm bed, but not the bed she’d gone to sleep in. She whipped her head up as soon as she recognized where she was: Mikhail’sbedroom.
How had she gotten here? Surely he hadn’t… She lifted the sheets and breathed a sigh of relief. She was still clothed. Nothing had happened last night, as far she could tell. But why had he brought her back here after she’d been given the freedom to choose where sheslept?
Frowning, she slipped out of bed. A pair of jeans and a sweater lay beside her on a chair, along with boots and thick woolen socks. There was a small note propped up besidethem.
Piper,
