Tempted by Fire: Dragonkeepers - Book Two Read online

  She came all over me, coating me. I felt the sun and moon join within her. Our magic. Our power. There had never been anything like it before.

  “Gideon!” she cried my name over and over.

  “Yes,” I hissed in her ear. “Say it. Mean it.”

  “Yours! I’m yours. Oh, baby!”

  I went still, letting Grace grind into me and wring out her pleasure. Her thighs quivered and she went limp beneath me. But, I was only getting started.

  “Are you sure?” I whispered. I already knew the answer. Somehow, Grace found the strength in her legs to do what she knew I needed.

  She turned, going up on all fours. She gave me a wicked smile over her shoulder then dropped her head low, resting her chin on the ground. I stroked myself, admiring the view. Grace with her ass up in the air, her sweet pussy gaping open and her juices flowing. Mine. All mine.

  I put my hands on her hips and drove into her again. I held her steady as my fire raged around us. It went into her, through her. She didn’t burn. It made her stronger and woke something inside of her she didn’t know she had.

  I came in a burst of light, my seed filling her. A column of fire rose a hundred feet in the air to join the lava bubbling from the volcano beneath us. Then, the fire came down and went into us. Grace screamed with pleasure as I bit her neck and marked her as my own.

  She was spent. Sated. I knew I was just getting started. I would give her time to rest up, but I would need her again soon.

  Cooing, she nuzzled against my neck, wrapping her long leg over my hip. She was still wet and hot and I ran a quick finger over her folds.

  “Baby,” she whispered. “Why in God’s name did we wait so long to do that?”

  I laughed. “You don’t know how badly I wanted to do that the second I saw you in that damn bagel shop. Had a plan to take you in the alley and bend you over against the brick wall.”

  She laughed and I felt a flare of heat between her legs. She wanted it too.

  “Are you sure?” I asked, growing serious.

  She went to her side and smiled at me. She kissed my nose. “Little late to be asking me that. But yes. This is for me. You’re for me. The rest...we’ll just figure it out as we go. It’s been working for us so far.”

  I pulled her close. I had to get her back. Not to Wicker Park. I didn’t want to spoil the spell, but I could never let her go back there now. Maybe she already knew because her eyes grew serious. I think it was in her to ask me, but I felt a presence flying overhead.

  “What’s that?” she asked.

  I tossed her jeans and top to her and scrambled down the hill to grab a pair of pants I kept hidden for emergencies just like this one. I tossed a second pair in the air.

  Finn caught it neatly as he landed with a gentle thud that shook the ground. I shielded Grace from view as she dressed and Finn pulled on his jeans. His eyes glistened as he approached. He knew. I don’t know what changed about me, but it was enough to reveal the truth to my brother.

  I had taken my mate.

  “I’m sorry,” he said, sheepish. Grace came to me. Her cheeks were still flushed from the afterglow of our passion. There was a large, back circle where we’d scorched the ground with our mating. But she was safe. She survived. She was mine.

  “What is it?” she asked, sensing Finn’s mood as I did.

  He looked from Grace to me. “I don’t…”

  “It’s okay,” I said. “Grace is part of this family now.”

  “I know,” Finn said, smiling. He was awkward and sweet as he went to her and embraced her. She let out a gush of air and staggered back when he let her go. I wrapped my arm around her.

  “I’m sorry,” Finn said. “But, there’s trouble. We have eyes on Vadim like you asked. He’s...his people...Grace, I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened at the house. Your father went alone. Vadim’s got him. Our contacts say he’s planning to kill him by sundown.”

  Grace let out a choked sound of horror. My heart flared.

  “It’s time,” I said. I had hoped for more of it. There was none to be had. If Andre Kalenkov used dragonstone to bargain for his life, we would lose this war before it started.

  “Let’s go!” Grace said. She took a step back, giving me room. I locked eyes with my brother and we shifted in unison. Then, I bent low as Grace climbed on my back and I rocketed toward the sky.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Grace

  Gideon’s fire still burned inside me. It lifted me. Gave me power beyond anything I could have dreamed. No, that wasn’t true. I’d dreamed it all my life. I almost felt as if I was the one who could fly.

  The ground hurtled toward us, but the true marvel of Gideon’s power was his control of it. He flared his wings out behind him, slowing our descent like a parachute. He landed softly, in the center of the helipad on top of the Brandhart Building. Finn landed just behind us.

  The rest of Gideon’s brothers were already at the rooftop door, waiting. I didn’t see Avelina anywhere. A small flare of alarm went through me at that.

  Xander came forward. A woman followed close behind. I knew immediately this must be Shae. She was glorious with thick, long, red hair that flowed behind her like her own version of dragon flame. She pulled me into a warm hug, her face wet with tears.

  “You’re here,” she whispered. “I knew you’d come. I have a secret, I saw you in my dreams.”

  My heart filled with joy and relief. I loved her at once. She would be my sister. “Is that a thing?” I asked, sniffling past tears that threatened to flow. So much had happened in the last day. I felt overwhelmed.

  “The dreaming?” she asked. “Yes. You’ve known Gideon was yours all along, haven’t you?”

  I nodded. Xander came to her and put a light hand on her back. Shae had a glow about her, the blush of new motherhood. Her breasts swelled over the scoop-necked top she wore. Gideon had told me she’d given birth to Xander’s baby a few months ago. Cassia. Half human. Half dragon. Avelina said there had never been a child born of her kind in history.

  “Let’s get below,” Shae said. “There’s a storm coming. Avelina should be back any minute.”

  “Gideon!” I called behind me. “My father…”

  “I’m right behind you,” he said. “Finn says it was Avelina who watched it all unfold. She’s still circling. Vadim’s men won’t lay a hand on your father while she’s in a position to stop it.”

  “But how?” I said as we all filed into the stairwell and headed down to Gideon’s penthouse suite. He had one quarter of the entire building with spacious views of downtown on the west side and Lake Michigan to the east.

  Gideon stood at the window. His brother Kian kept his distance, taking a position near the massive fireplace Gideon had at the center of the room. Loch and Finn stayed together, taking a seat on one of the large L-shaped leather couches. Xander and Shae came in a little after the rest of us. Shae held her baby against her shoulder. She had a mass of red hair just like her mother.

  The air hung heavy in the room. Subtle changes among the Brandharts quickened my blood. As if they were all in on some secret they had yet to share with me.

  “Is he…” No. I couldn’t think it. Was it already too late? Gideon had just told me Avelina was watching out for my father.

  “We voted for war,” Gideon said, coming to me. He put a hand on my back and smiled down at me. It didn’t reach his eyes.

  War. With the wolf shifters. With Vadim’s pack. “But, there’s no need to now,” I said. “You and I are…” A blush rose into my cheeks. I knew Finn had sensed what happened between Gideon and me the moment he saw me. The rest of them did too. Even Shae.

  “There’s no chance he can claim you now, no,” Gideon said.

  “But he’ll try to take it out on my father and the rest of my family. Pavel Vadim isn’t the kind of Alpha to just go quietly away, tail between his legs,” I said. We seemed to have solved one problem and created another.

  Gideon went to the center of
the room. He dropped the two pieces of dragonstone on the table. They were cool and white now.

  “Grace’s father was planning to trade this for her. She says he’s got an egg. Found it under the church at St. Basil’s.”

  “Shit,” Loch leaned forward and picked up the stone. “I’ll be damned. Avelina’s been right this whole time. She’s been telling us for decades about rumors she heard of dragonstone somewhere in Chicago. Lots of it. I was hoping our little run-in with that rogue pack of wolves was the end of it.”

  “And it’s not yours,” Shae said. She picked up one of the pieces and it started to glow. Her eyes lit up.

  “Well,” Gideon said. “There’s another rumor of Avelina’s that we’ve just proven. I think maybe it’s time for us to start respecting her mysterious contact even more.”

  “Wait,” Shae said. “You’ve told me dragonstone is fossilized dragon egg and it’s the only substance that can hurt you if it’s weaponized. So why is it glowing in my hand and it wasn’t in Gideon’s?”

  “Because you’re a dragon’s mate,” I said. I sat down next to her. Little Cassia gurgled and gave me a lopsided smile.

  “Well,” Shae said, setting the stone back on the table. “I suppose that’s handy. Would have saved us a lot of trouble last year if I could have just picked up a piece of that stuff instead of getting blasted full force by Avelina’s fire to prove it wouldn’t kill me.”

  My mouth dropped as I found Gideon’s eyes. He hadn’t bothered to tell me that little bit of family history.

  “Is it yours?” I asked. “That egg. Did...uh...one of you hatch from it?”

  “No,” Kian answered, coming out of the shadows. “Avelina destroyed most of ours so it couldn’t be used against us. She’s been chasing this down thinking it would lead us to the dragon who came out of it. She was hoping she could find us a mate.”

  I gulped. “Er...for all of you?”

  Gideon smiled. “A mate. Gross. We don’t share. She’s long believed we were the only dragons left in the world. That may be still true. But, that begs the question where this particular fossil came from. She may have a way of finding out. We need to loop her in on this.”

  “God,” I said. “Unless Pavel’s already got it. Gideon, I’m so sorry for all the trouble my family has caused yours.”

  He came to me, hooking a finger beneath my chin. “Your family brought you to me. Don’t forget. Everything that’s happened to you, that’s happened to your father...it all led you to me in one way or another. I don’t regret a second of the past. You shouldn’t either.”

  I was full on crying now. “He loves me. He’s been trying to keep me safe. He’s lost so much.”

  “I know, my love,” Gideon said. “You’re my family now. So I guess that means so is he. We’ll do what we can.”

  “We voted for war,” Kian said, reminding me why we were all here in the first place. “This only means the stakes just got higher. We can’t let that egg get in Vadim’s hands. If it already has, then we don’t have a lot of time.”

  Just then, there was a knock at the door. Xander was closest and answered it. An attractive, middle-aged woman with neat gray hair stood there wearing a crisp, blue suit. “Grace, this is Marie,” Xander said. “She works for us downstairs.”

  When Gideon saw my shocked expression, he leaned over and kissed me on the cheek. “Don’t worry. Marie is a friend. She knows what we are.”

  “I’m so sorry to interrupt,” Marie said. “There are two gentlemen downstairs in the lobby who are pretty adamant that they have business here. One of them says he’s Miss Call’s brother.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Grace

  I took Gideon and Xander down to the lobby with me. No way I trusted the rest of his brothers to keep their dragons under control in the presence of two full-blooded wolf shifters whom I happened to love. Now, I just had to worry about said shifters keeping their wolves under control around the two dragons.

  “Grace!” Milo charged across the lobby, his face ashen. My heart cracked in two. Maybe Avelina couldn’t really get to my father in time. Maybe Vadim already knew how to use the dragonstone.

  “We’ve been worried sick. After we left dinner, Vadim’s men came and took Papa...when you didn’t come back, we thought…”

  “How did you know where to find me?” I asked. Gideon stayed close. It was audible only to me, but his whole body trembled with a rumbling growl. I put a hand on his back to still him. The gesture wasn’t lost on my brother. It was just a quick flash, a baring of fangs, but the testosterone level in the room shot up.

  Leo hung back, his eyes glimmering silver. I thought Milo would have more trouble keeping control. But, it was Leo, the family peacemaker, who looked about to shift right in the middle of the Brandhart lobby.

  “It took me a while,” he said. “Dragonsteel is powerful stuff. But, I remembered enough.”

  The floor seemed to drop beneath me. Oh, God. Oh, Leo. Of all the men in my family, I’d betrayed him most. It seemed I might never be able to honor the new parts of my family without hurting someone.

  “The other night,” Milo said. “You were with him, weren’t you?” Milo jutted his chin toward Gideon.

  “Leo,” I said. “This is Gideon Brandhart. He’s…” There was no good lie that would work. There was no good lie at all. I was done with it anyway. From this day forward, I had to try to repair the damage I’d done. I loved Gideon. But I loved my Kalenkov family too.

  “Gideon is my mate,” I said. “And I’m sorry I lied to you. It’s complicated. Leo…”

  Milo growled. He let go of me and rounded on Gideon. Xander looked amused. Leo’s wolf flared in his eyes and fur sprouted on his hands.

  Shit. If the two of them shifted, I wouldn’t be able to put this particular genie back in its bottle. “Stop!” I put myself between Milo and Gideon, placing a flat hand on each of their chests. They were both hot, but Gideon was practically on fire.

  “I know what you are,” Leo said. “I told you, it took me some time to put it together. And most of it I didn’t want to believe. Then, I saw that egg. Grace, I saw what it did when you held it. Milo didn’t want to believe me. You see it now, don’t you? You see what they are.”

  Milo took a step back. His eyes dimmed at last as he checked his wolf. “Dragons. Holy shit, Grace. Dragons?”

  “Gideon Brandhart,” Gideon said, he extended a hand to my brother. I knew it what it took for him to do that, even if his eyes glinted with more sarcasm than fire. One dragon against a whole pack and it would be a fair fight. Milo vs. Gideon alone and Milo would be literal toast.

  “He’s my fated mate, Milo,” I said again. I knew it didn’t make it easier for my brother to accept, but at least he knew what that meant.

  “Son of a bitch,” Leo said. “Christ, Grace.”

  “Watch yourself,” Gideon said. “What’s happened isn’t her fault. And I am sorry for what my brother did with you. But, I can assure you we did what we thought was best and would keep you all safe. Wolf shifters have never been allies to my kind.”

  “Well, they are now,” I said.

  “Grace, you can’t speak for the pack,” Milo said.

  “You’re not a pack. You’re five Alpha wolves who’ve been exiled and are trying to figure this shit out as you go. You’ve got that in common with the Brandharts. Now we all have a common enemy and I’m the bridge between you. Like it or not, Gideon is my mate. He’s my family now as much as you are. You were willing to fight to the death to keep me away from Pavel Vadim. So were Gideon and his brothers. I’m safe now. He can’t touch me. But, Papa isn’t. And whether he meant to or not, Papa’s actions have put Gideon’s family in grave danger now too. If Pavel has a chance to turn that dragonstone into a weapon…”

  “My God,” Milo said, he finally got past his wolf enough to see the real problem. “He doesn’t need Grace to strengthen his hold over the pack. If he finds out that Gideon’s… that dragons are real. And he’s got
the means to hurt you…”

  “Exactly.” I went to my cousin. He stood slack-jawed as I reached up and pressed my palms to his cheeks and kissed him on one. “If Pavel Vadim has the means to hurt or use real dragons, it’s not just the Russian shifter pack we have to worry about. He’ll expand his power...well...basically everywhere.”

  “You’re right,” Leo said. “It seems we do have a common enemy.”

  Gideon reached his hand out again and clasped it in my brother’s. “We have a common treasure too. Grace is my mate. That’s true. She’s more than that though. She’s my heart. I love her. I will spend the rest of my life trying to be worthy of her. Whatever that takes. Now, if you’ll let us, we’d like to help you get your father back and take out the bastards who killed your mother once and for all.”

  Milo came to stand at Leo’s shoulder. Leo stood tall and straight. Gideon had about two inches on him, but at that moment, my brother and my mate seemed well matched. Leo clasped Gideon on the shoulder.

  “You love him?” he asked me, not taking his eyes off Gideon.

  There were tears in mine. “I love him,” I answered. “And I love you too.”

  “I don’t like all of this,” Leo said. “I’m pretty sure my cousin here hates most of it. But you’re right. This is going to take all of us.”

  “Good,” Xander said. “It’s settled. Then I’d say we’re wasting time.”

  Gideon turned to me. “Stay here. We’ll go get your father.”

  “Bullshit,” I said. “I’m coming with you. You think Vadim’s going to just come out and play because you ask him to? He still thinks I’m the key to consolidating his power. So let him. The way I see it, you need bait.”

  Gideon and my brother growled at the same time with exactly the same tone. But, neither of them could argue my point.

  Chapter Twenty