Page 2 of Rurik
“Such hostility,” Ruslan said. “I was just here to talk business. I like your bar. I was thinking about buying it. How about…oneruble?”
Rurik growled. “One last chance, Ruslan. Walk away and I leave your pretty faceintact.”
The other man laughed. “I was about to tell you the samething.”
Rurik sensed Nikita close behind him. Not everyone had left when the alarm went off. “Nikita, get out ofhere.”
“But—”
“Go!” he roared, his voice dropping to a low pitch as his vocal cords started totransform.
Nikita tried to flee, but Ruslan threw up a hand. Fire shot out of his palm, and a blazing beam cut off her escape. Ruslan’s eyes morphed into red irises with slitted pupils. A hint of smoke puffed from his nostrils. Both men were fighting to stay in control and not fully transform. The club wouldn’t be able to fit one full-grown dragon, let alonetwo.
“You would break your father’s treaty?” Rurik bellowed, raising his own palm, unleashing a spray of fiery sparks. It was the closest thing to a warning shot he could manage without starting a fire in hisclub.
“I am not bound byhisword!” Ruslan balled his other fist and slammed it down on the bar. The glass counter shattered into thousands of pieces, and the wood beneath exploded in a burst of massivesplinters.
A six-inch piece of wood buried itself in Rurik’s lower belly.Fuck!Pain set in like a dull ache, and he knew it wasbad.
“Rurik!” Nikita screamed and ran toward him. He gripped the shard and ripped it out. Hot blood streamed down his shirt, and his belly throbbed. He would heal fine—the wound was already clotting—but the sight of it must have scared her. When Nikita reached him, he waved heraway.
“You have to get out.” He panted. “I can’t fight him and worry aboutyou.”
She bit her lip and nodded. “Be safe,” she said. She kissed his forehead and fled, but she never reached the door. Ruslan raised his hand and aimed a jet of fire at Nikita. She was knocked into the wall against a massive mirror just feet from the exit. The mirror shattered, and her limp body fell to the ground. Blood dripped from Nikita’s lips, and the light in her green eyes faded like the light of a dyingstar.
Something inside Rurik broke, a piece of hisheart.
A cold, harsh laugh escaped Ruslan’s lips. “What’s one more human, more orless?”
Shock and grief raged inside Rurik. His Nikita,his Nikiwas gone. A red mist descended over his vision. He didn’t care about the club, the treaty, or the Brotherhood right now. He cared only forvengeance.
With a deafening roar, Rurik’s clothes shredded as his body transformed into a fifteen-foot-tall black-scaled dragon. His frill fanned out around his neck as he opened his jaws and a stream of fire shot out, so hot it was nearlyblue.
Ruslan tried to change into his own beast, but Rurik’s jaws caught Ruslan’s elongated neck mid-change and snapped shut. The heavy crack echoed in the room as Ruslan went limp beneath him. The battle was over before it evenbegan.
Rurik released him, and the body changed back to a man, lying broken and bleeding at Rurik’s feet. Rurik’s eyes darted around the room, seeking out more threats, and then he saw Nikita’s body. The beast recognized the loss of a woman he cared about, and he let out a mournfulsound.
Rurik let go of the dragon side of him, and his body shrank back to its mortal shell. Rurik fell to hisknees.
Nikita was dead, Ruslan was dead, and a three-century-old treaty had beenbroken.
He dug his hands into his hair, trying to stop them from shaking as emotions rolled through him like violent riptides. How was he going to tell Grigori that he had killed Dimitri Drakor’s eldestson?
I’ve just started awar.
1
Among all the kinds of serpents, there is none comparable to the dragon. - Edward Topsell, 1658
Moscow,Russia – Three monthslater
Charlotte MacQueen tugged the sweetheart neckline of her red satin cocktail dress up a few more centimeters. Despite the thick red velvet winter coat she wore, her exposed skin had drawn the cabdriver’s eyes and made her shift restlessly until he’d had to focus back on the road. But then, she’d known her dress would have this effect. She was practically falling out of the damn thing, but she had a hunch this would be one of the few times having full breasts would be an advantage instead of ahindrance.
She’d spent most of her life hiding her curvy figure behind draping sweaters and lab coats. It was silly, but she’d never felt comfortable in sexyclothes.
Charlotte wasn’t sure if it was how the slide of satin felt on her skin or the way every masculine eye fixed on the thigh-high cut of her dress or the lowered neckline, but tonight she was trying hard to ignore how exposed she felt. She couldn’t be distracted because she was pulling a Mata Hari. She was going behind enemy lines—or rather, into dragon territory—to seduce a seriously dangerous dragonshifter.
How the hell did I get here?It wasn’t the first time she’d asked herself thatquestion.
