Chapter One

Rhiannon sucked in a haggard breath and tried to let it out through her nose. It was going to be a long day. She signed on for field work for a reason. These bureaucratic crowds made her anxious with the hefty judgement they placed on all others around them.

She hung back in the crowd, anxiously eyeing the spectacle that she had helped to create. Her former boss, Gregor Wilson was being walked through the Guardians of Existence Judiciary building like a cow on display. His hands were casually stuffed in his pockets and he looked up with a straight spine despite the uniformed Guardians that gripped his arms on either side. The crowd around her, politicians, GOE officers, and protesters, whispered about Wilson. It set her teeth on edge. Her former boss’s dark eyes met Rhiannon’s and she saw the nearly imperceptible nod he gave her.

She pulled in another breath, the air hissing through her teeth. This was the man that had taken her in and raised her after her own parents were killed by a pair of dragon shifters. Now, he was being tried for attempted murder because of a pair of stupid dragon shifters and a human girl. Her eyes scanned the crowd and she felt heat boil through her when she caught sight of Raphael in the crowd. The smug smile on his face made her want to march through the sea of onlookers and punch him in the face.

That would give away everything they fought to keep under wraps, though. Because the secret she held like a slimy lump in her throat was that Gregor Wilson really did try to kill the human girl in order to start a war that would wipe out the red dragons on the Snowdonia Territory. All because another dragon told them to. The worst part was Rhiannon had helped him. She was the one who had pulled her weapon and shot the girl when she ran for her life. GOE brushed off her participation due to her outstanding record, claiming that she was only following the orders of her senior officer.

She hated herself for blindly following. She hated herself for letting Wilson, a loving man and an upstanding commander, trust the white dragon menace that slipped into their branch. None of this would have happened had Raphael not whispered in Wilson’s ear.

Turning toward the hearing, her body froze. Behind Wilson came a procession of the red dragon shifters. Their muscle-bound bodies and heads topped with various shades of red hair gave them away. At least, for Rhiannon they did. The girl that Wilson had kidnapped walked with her head high, despite the tremble in her limbs. The dragon closest to her glowered at anyone that dare glance in her direction.

That must be her mate, Rhiannon decided. Her eyes moved on until she came across a familiar face. She felt her lips form a scowl against her better judgement. A haze of red and gold stubble graced his jaw and a lock of reddish gold hair fell over his eyes until he reached up and pushed it back with thick fingers. He had been the one to disarm her the day everything went to shit.

Rhiannon was one of their best agents when it came to hand to hand with the dragon species. She was quick and, more often than not, she was stronger than some of her male counterparts. How the copper haired dragon had swept in and so easily rendered her useless was beyond her. In fact, it made her angry. It burned inside of her like a palpable heat.

She wanted to move, to put one foot in front of the other and go where she was supposed to go. The hearing was waiting on her. Instead, Rhiannon found herself glued to the spot. She watched the dragon man make a bee line toward her.

***

Gareth hadn’t expected to ever see the woman again. Maybe, he should have known better when Drystan asked him to act as security for his cousin, Wesley, and Wes’s new human mate as they answered GOE’s questions about the incident. This woman had been part of the team that kidnapped Dakota. It should have been obvious that she would be here.

Gareth liked to think himself a lady’s man. There was not a rutting night that he had ended empty handed. Most mornings after began with a sated and smiling woman. Yet, this woman glowered at him like he was the scum of the earth. Even worse, she confused him and his beast. Her smell drove him wild in a way that he’d never felt before. She smelled like open air and smoldering fire ashes.

It screamed dragon.

Yet, she was the enemy. She was an operative of the Guardians of Existence, an elite task force that had once been an order of knights that thought to wipe the earth of dragons for humanity’s so called protection. The Occurrence that happened almost a hundred years ago brought GOE forward and gave them government badges instead of coats of arms and high tech weapons instead of swords. Humans often did a better job of killing themselves than dragons ever had.

Gareth found himself walking directly toward the woman with dark red hair. It was so dark that it could have been called mahogany brown if he hadn’t seen the sunlight release the crimson in it. She wore it pinned into a bun at the back of her head, as tightly wrapped up as the rest of her from the way she stood. Her arms were crossed over her chest and her feet were spread apart like she might launch into a fight at any moment.

He was nearly to her when he realized his mistake. What was he doing? Her hot glare of hatred seared across his skin as he came closer. There was no going back. He closed the distance between them. His huge frame had made lesser men cower. This red-haired woman simply tilted her head back to look up at him with her hot glare, unaffected by his size.

No matter what she thought of herself, Gareth knew two things. One, he knew that he had rendered her defenseless once before and, two, she was willing to kill a human woman.

“Are you here to lie for your commanding officer?” Gareth growled. He knew that he was invading her space, but he couldn’t help himself. She had threatened his family.

“Back. Up. Dragon.” She growled the words at him.

He laughed, a small huff of air that said he would not be intimidated by her. He watched her lips press together into a firm line.

Gareth breathed her in, so close that he was unable to avoid her confusing scent. It roused things inside of him that he did not understand. He was caught between the anger that burned inside of him and the desire to reach out and pull her close to his body. He could not argue that she wasn’t attractive. She was athletically toned, yet her breasts were still heavy and perky. Had he met her in a bar or on the street, he might have let her take him home. In fact, he would have insisted.

Instead, the two of them stood in the center of a GOE Judiciary building because she hurt one of his.

“Why don’t you go find a farmer’s daughter to harass,” the woman growled at him as she pushed into his space.

“A farmer’s daughter would be a much better alternative. At least she would know the difference between cattle and human when it came time to slaughter.”

He could see the tick in her jaw, but it was the flash of another emotion in her eyes that made him pull back. Regret. It was bitter and sharp in her scent, lasting in the air between them where the look in her eyes had not. Still, it meant nothing. She was still here to defend her boss. She had still shot Dakota.

“Your kind can only make the distinction when you stick your cock in it.”

“Oh, now that isn’t fair. My cock isn’t going anywhere near you, yet here you still stand.” He didn’t add after her own attempted murder. There were too many people already watching them.

Inside of him, his beast’s tail thumped. His beast begged to differ. It wanted to make the harsh woman scream their name. Gareth promptly told his beast to shut up. The monster that lived in his mind laid its head on its claws and gave him a level glare before turning its attention back to her. The beast’s tail thumped with impatience and made his head hurt. It was a loud message that Gareth didn’t want to hear.

“Rhiannon Kendrick,” a monotonous voice said over an intercom. “Please report to the hearing or face insubordination charges.”

The woman’s face fell. Her arms fell away from her body.

Rhiannon.

Can you not want any other woman, Gareth asked his impetuous beast? The thing growled at him without looking away from her. She was off limits. Forever.

“You need to leave,” Rhiannon commanded him.

“Do not think that this is over between us,” he warned her.