Page 1 of Tempt the Dragon
Prologue
Miami
Eighty Years Ago
“I got your back.” Truer words had never been spoken to her and Mel would go to her grave believing that.
However, she wasn’t planning for her life to end tonight.
When Aiken used his telekinetic power to push the dumpster in front of the feline shifter to keep it from exiting the other side of the alley, she ran up behind it, jumping into theair to kick it in the back. The force of her kick sent the shifter stumbling a few feet forward. It made a ferocious sound and dropped to its knees before changing from the hundred-and-ninety-pound man they’d followed from the train station to a big-ass white lion!
“Shit!” she yelled, when after a few shell-shocked seconds the large beast turned and charged her. Her hand went immediately tothe waistband of her jeans to grab her gun, but she’d dropped that when she was chasing the guy on the street and he’d knocked over a bunch of trash cans to stop her. She’d had to jump over each trash can to keep herself upright and when he got hip to that and picked one up, tossing it at her, she’d instinctively reached up to catch it, instead of ducking like Aiken had done. The gun had fallenfrom her hand in the process.
But she hadn’t stopped then and she wasn’t going to stop now, regardless of the tendrils of fear slipping down her spine. She reached down to grab her backup gun from her ankle holster, a second before the lion knocked her flat on her ass. Its heavy paws were on her chest, pressing the last breaths out of her, just before its face came closer to hers, long andsharp teeth just inches from her cheek.
The next roar she heard was Aiken’s. She knew because it not only shook the dumpster and the buildings around them, but the ground beneath her trembled, as well. When her next breath came without restriction, she saw the whir of white fur seconds after Aiken lifted the animal and tossed it all the way down to the end of the alley. The force of a four-hundred-poundlion in motion exploded into the dumpster, sending the beast and the dumpster careening to a stop, just inches before slamming into a brick wall.
The lion immediately jumped up, running toward them once more. Aiken grabbed her wrist, pulling her up to her feet and then pushing her behind him.
“What are you doing? I’ve got my gun.” Which she did have in hand now, thanks to the seconds ithad taken him to remove the lion from her lungs and toss it down the alley.
“You’re gonna need more than that,” he shouted and before she could ask what he was talking about more white lions appeared. Shit was about to get real.
Where they’d come from, she had no clue, but Mel raised her arms and aimed her gun dead center between one of their eyes. She barely got off the first shot beforethey all charged. Forcing calm over fear, she stood close to Aiken, ready to do whatever was necessary to catch their target, just as they always did. They’d been partners for just about a year and a half now and worked seamlessly together. There was no doubt in her mind that tonight would be any different.
“Shift!”
She froze. Her finger stuck on the trigger of her gun, arms still extendedas the lions grew closer.
“Shift! Now, Mel! Now!”
His voice rang louder than the lions’ roar in that alley, sending an undeniable vibration through her body. Still, she didn’t move. She knew what he was asking and she wouldn’t do it. He knew why, dammit he knew, and yet he’d still made the command. It was hard to tell what part of that scenario pissed her off more. There was a blur ofmotion then and a blast of hot air as Aiken did what he’d instructed her to do. The toned body of the man, her partner and her lover, shifted into the larger-than-life body of a dragon.
Those lions had no idea what hit them.
Mel didn’t need him to speak to know that he was angry. The emotion, thick and heated, filled the room and threatened to smother her. Yet, she didn’t walk away.It wouldn’t do any good, this conversation needed to happen. They’d put it off for too long.
“You’re a Drakon, Mel. A dragon shifter born on the Far Realm and relocated here to the Human Realm at a young age. You have powers, just like the rest of the Drakon, in addition to being a killer. Your power, passed down by your clan, is that of a chameleon, and you can change your body to match anysurface or thing in order to protect yourself in battle.” Aiken ran his hand down the back of his head, his lips spreading into a thin line.
Droplets of water still beaded over his face and ran down his neck, over his shoulders and chest. An ivory towel was wrapped around his waist. Another time, she would’ve pulled the towel away to stare at his amazing physique. Perfect biceps, sculptedabs, muscled thighs, and in-between...but not tonight. Not after what had just happened.
“You could’ve been killed.” Those words were spoken more quietly than the others, but held the same deadly tinge. “I know you’re a skilled Collector. You’re smart and cunning and, I... I just don’t know what I would’ve done if you’d been killed.”
“I wasn’t.” She hated the thread of fear she also heardin his tone and despised the part of herself that felt weak with the need to assuage him.
He stared at her. “You could’ve been.”
“And the world could stop spinning. The craziness of preternatural beings could not be invading the Human Realm. My parents could still be alive.” She huffed. “There’s a lot of could-haves in this world, Aiken.”
His eyes were still the deepest brown stripedwith bright orange. They were his Drakon eyes, not the ones he wore as a human working alongside her—his girlfriend—as a Collector.
“My only concern is you.”
Her heart pounded, her mind clouding as the love so evident in his gaze combined with the intensity of her feelings for him. Yet, despite the bond they’d built, both professional and personal, she knew what he’d want to discuss next.That knowledge caused immense pain and disappointment to spread like wildfire throughout her body. She inhaled deeply and released the breath slowly. “We lost the target.”
He nodded, a look of conquest and satisfaction pouring over his face. “I killed those rogue feline shifters. The realms are better off without them, so I’m not about to feel regret for what’s done.”
“We won’t get thebounty. And the leader of the shifters won’t get to punish them for their treason against their race. That’s what our job’s all about, catching the bad guy and getting paid to do it.”
