Page 30 of Rurik
Madelynnodded.
“She was a potential true mate for him. It hurt him deeply to lose her, even though he never claimedher.”
Madelyn cuddled closer to him, her gray eyes filled with sorrow. “So if he gets too close to Charlotte, he could mate her by accident? I still don’t fully understand how dragons dothat.”
Grigori chuckled. “Do you need a reminder of exactly how we mated?” He leaned in, kissing her and relishing her sweet taste. Madelyn finally put a hand on his chest and gave him a little pushback.
“You know what I mean. How do you choose to mate someone at thatexactmoment?”
Grigori set his wine down on the coffee table and took her hands in his, lacing their fingers together as he tried to find the words to describeit.
“For me, mating was like…catching the wind with your wings and harnessing its strength. When I kissed you, it was as though I was spinning an invisible cord around us and binding us together. I opened up my mind and heart to you in a way I never have to another soul. I didn’t have to think about it, but I also couldn’t stop it. One’s true mate is a gift. I honestly don’t know how Rurik managed to resist Nikita.” Grigori squeezed her hands gently. “With Charlotte he’s already falling hard. I’ve never seen him like this. If he continues to spend time with her, he will cave and claimher.”
“Is that bad?” sheasked.
“I believe he will fight falling in love and hurt themboth.”
Madelyn frowned. “That would behorrible.”
“He’s stubborn enough to hold out longer than me orMikhail.”
His cell phone resting on the coffee table suddenly vibrated. The name showed that the ID was blocked. Nothing unusual there, given his family’sties.
“Do you have to answer that?” Madelynasked.
“It might be important. If it’s business, I promise to hang up immediately.” He reached for it andanswered.
“Barinovhere.”
“Grigori.” Dimitri Drakor’s voice was instantlyrecognizable.
Grigori growled. “What do you want? I thought we finished our business when we saw each other last time.” If Drakor made any threats, Grigori would killhim.
“I thought that given our peace treaty has been restored, you deserved awarning.”
“Warning aboutwhat?”
Madelyn sat up, eyes wide withworry.
“Your brother is romantically involved with a Brotherhood hunter. Did you knowthat?”
“What?” Grigori got up from the couch and startedpacing.
“Your brother is entangled with a MacQueen, Grigori. Charlotte MacQueen. She’s ahunter. What’s more, she’s the sister of their leader,Damien.”
Grigori went still, his heart racing. The Brotherhood had never been on good terms with his people. In recent decades they’d left shifters and their kin alone unless they threatened human affairs, but that hadn’t always been true. Some were notoriously proactive, and it wasn’t that long ago, during the Cold War, that they had been especiallyunforgiving.
And Rurik was interested in MacQueen’s sister? Another truth hit him like lightning. She was Rurik’s true mate. How was that possible? It wasn’t. There was something else atplay.
He remembered his meeting with her, the attraction he’d felt because of her scent, despite his true mate being right there with him. It wasn’tnatural.
Of course. Itwasn’tnatural. The Brotherhood must have found a way to manipulate a shifter’s senses. It could be she wasn’t a true mate at all but somehow was made to seem like one. Pheromones, perhaps? And she had been sent to bond with Rurik, tie his life with hers. He could already see how this would put them in a position of power over theBarinovs.
This could destroy themall.
“How do you know this, Drakor? Are you spying on us?” he asked, his voice deadlycalm.
“I stay in Moscow on occasion, as per our treaty. And I see things. I keep track of the Brotherhood, which it seems you do not.” Normally, this chastisement would have enraged Grigori, but he was right, and the fear for his own mate and unborn child was toostrong.
