Page 46 of Rurik
“Stand back, Barinov. This does not concernyou.”
Rurik snarled, his hands creating his own fire. He could let his dragon loose, but it would put the priceless amber room and the rest of the palace at risk. Drakor dove at him, snarling violently, and the flames consumed the air aroundthem…
The vision of the bloody battle slowlyfaded.
Rurik panted against Charlotte’s lips, his forehead touching hers. Her heart still pounded from experiencing his memories and the pain and terror of those final horrifying moments when the two dragons had lunged at eachother.
“What was that place?” she asked in a shakywhisper.
He brushed his thumbs over her cheeks, and she reached up to stroke hisscar.
“That was the Amber Room. It was once considered the eighth wonder of the world. During the Second World War, I fought with the Soviet Air Forces. I didn’t agree with their politics, but the German Luftwaffe was annihilating my countrymen, so I chose to fight. We had so few experienced flyers, and I knew the humans needed my help, but I couldn’t help as a dragon. Being a pilot was the next best thing. Germans were bombing the palace and the cities, and I had made a promise to Empress Elizabeth when the Amber Room was installed that I would always protect it. I failed in that promise when the Germans bombedRussia.”
Rurik’s green eyes darkened. Charlotte hugged him close. “Whathappened?”
“Dimitri Drakor happened. He betrayed the czars in 1918, then betrayed his own country in the Second World War. He came into the palace as the Nazis broke into the Amber Room to loot it. I couldn’t shift. If I had, it would have wrecked the palace and its priceless treasures. Drakor didn’t have the same concerns, so he transformed and clawed my face. He wounded me in other places as well, but those wounds healed better than my face.” He touched the scar, gaze dropping to the floor. “Does it bother you? That I’m…marked?” The vulnerability in his voice surprised her. The man who had lived so many lifetimes and fought in countless wars was afraid she would find his scaroffensive?
She stood on tiptoes and kissed the base of his scar, then hisforehead.
“It is a badge of courage, the very outward mark of the kind of man you are.A good man. I love…the scar.” Rurik pressed his lips to hers in a slow kiss. It burned inside and out, making her dizzy. “Are yousureyou don’t have pheromones? Because every time you kiss me, I go a little crazy—in a goodway.”
Her dragon shifter grinned wickedly at her. “It’s a mate thing, my delicate rose. It will only grow stronger the more time we spendtogether.”
“You know about a lot about mates for not having one,” shenoted.
Her mate sobered. “I’ve wanted one for so long, even as a boy. I knew I couldn’t have my own, but I could at least dream about it and help my brothers recognize theirs. Keep them off the path that was minealone.”
Charlotte gazed at him, her heart tight in her chest. To think of this beautiful, brave man longing for a life he would never have and yet fantasizing about it was, she had to admit, a bit of a turnon.
“So let me get this straight—you, the sexiest man I’ve ever met, who could haveanywoman you want, your dream was to have one mate for the rest of yourlife?”
He nodded, his lips pursed as though he had been afraid to admitit.
She pulled his mouth down to hers, kissing him hungrily. “That is the most romantic, thesexiestthing I’ve ever heard.” Each time their lips met, something seemed to tighten between them, like threads being woven closer and closer together on an elaboratetapestry.
I will love this man, this dragon. It’s already happening.It’s been happening since I met him.But she was seeing things from Rurik’s point of view as well now. A human lifetime was nothing to him, so even if the drug was in the right hands now didn’t mean it would be a century from now. The only way she could picture the Brotherhood changing for good would be if they established real ties with families like the Barinovs. She thought of the old woman with her tarot cards and the message she felt they had senther.
“Rurik,” she whispered, “I think we have to find a way to bring your family and mine together. Make them understand they don’t have to beenemies.”
He shook his head, a rueful smile upon his lips. “Bring the Capulets and Montagues together? I know how this story ends. ‘Thus, with a kiss, Idie.’”
She rolled her eyes. “You’re really melodramatic, youknow?”
He shrugged. “I’ve been around a long time. I’ve seen the Brotherhood at its worst. Dark times where they hunted my kind, killed mates and drakelings who were only protecting themselves. Theymurderedchildren. It’s hard to forget that.” He still held her close, but she felt the distance between them span like a vastabyss.
“Hey.” She tugged his coat, catching his attention. “Don’t shut me out like that. I believe you about the past, but my father spent his life changing how the Brotherhood works, and Damien’s carried on that legacy. This isn’t the Brotherhood you know. Damien has…” She puzzled over the right word. “He has a soft heart. He’s all exterior roughness, but there’s gold inside him, like you. Jason…” She paused again, finally realizing the dichotomy of her brothers for the first time. “Jason acts like a sarcastic teddy bear. But deep down, he’s all steel.” It wasn’t that he was a stone-cold killer, but he wouldn’t hesitate in a situation where Damien would. Jason would go with his gut instead of stopping to think through all theoptions.
“You really aren’t convincing me that meeting your brothers is a goodidea.”
“It will be fine. I know it. I just have to explain everything before they meet you. If I call them with an entire ocean between us, they can’t do anything rash. I’ll call them after we get back toMoscow.”
“Aren’t they wondering where you are?” Rurik asked. They started to walk through the rest of the palace, their heads close together and their fingerslaced.
“They think I’m in New York at some boring conference. I’ve gone to a lot of those. It was my only real way to travel. They never let me vacation alone or go anywhere exciting outside of the United States. It’s beenreally…”
“Controlling,” he finished forher.
She laughed. “I was going to saylonely, but you’re right. They are controlling. I don’t think they’ve ever understood me. They had their fellow hunters, the ones who understood the organization, but me? I was never allowed to be a part of that life. To them, I was a civilian, yet they didn’t let me have any freedom, either. Worst of bothworlds.”
