Charlotte blinked as the visions faded. It was the strangest thing in the world to see through another person’s eyes, to feel what he felt, to taste and smell everything he had. And she had shared those same experiences with Rurik, being a part of him in a way she didn’t know was possible. But it was. Now she was back in bed with him, that bond still in place even though she could no longer see his memories. Her body shook from the pleasure and the shock of what she’d just experienced with him.

“What…was that?” She lifted her head and tensed when she felt him move inside her. Her body was raw and sore down there, but it still felt good.

“I…” Rurik paused and then closed his eyes, a shaky breath escaping him before his dark lashes flew up again.

“What happened? That wasn’t dragon pheromone–related, was it?” she asked, unable to resist her natural scientific curiosity.

A ghost of a smile passed his lips. “It wasn’t. I don’t know where you heard that. The pheromones we give off don’t have any effect on humans or even our own mates.”

“Really?” She shifted beneath him and winced again. “But I was told that dragons are irresistible, that women throw themselves at you…”

His soft laugh made her face flame with embarrassment.

“If that was true, women would have been flocking to me while were walking around the city. But that didn’t happen.”

“Then why do I get all fuzzy-headed whenever you kiss me?” She felt really stupid now. If that was true, the synthetic pheromones they’d engineered in the lab wouldn’t have had any effect. What was happening to her?

“That is because you and I have a connection.”

“A connection,” she muttered, then winced when she shifted. Soreness twinged at her inner thighs.

He noticed, his eyes narrowing. “I was too rough.” A dark frown marred his face as though he didn’t like admitting that.

“No, you weren’t. I was a virgin, remember? I knew I would end up sore. Now explain what you meant by a connection.” She should have felt shy admitting that, but things had changed between them. Something had clicked like two gears in an antique clock, and for the first time in her life, she felt whole.

“It is complicated.”

She bit her lip. “Why not try me? I’m a biochemist, remember?”

He pulled out of her, and the sudden feeling of emptiness was unwelcome. She wanted that connection again. Rurik picked her up, making her squeak in surprise, and carried her into the adjoining bathroom with its massive tub. He set her down on the edge and turned on the taps, testing the temperature with his fingers. Once it was hot enough, he climbed into the tub and waited for her to join him. She’d never shared a bathtub with anyone before, but Rurik was fast becoming a first for just about everything.

“Lie back against me,” he urged, and she did so.

“I’m not too heavy?” She hated to ask it, but she was so aware of herself and didn’t want to remind him that she had a full figure.

“You’re perfect.” He kissed her cheek and wrapped his arms around her waist.

It felt good to be held by him. The hot water rising at her legs felt good too.

“Now will you tell me about how you can affect human women, or at the least me?”

His raspy chuckle made her laugh too.

“We attract women because of our confidence, power, and wealth. We’re like catnip just by being who we are.”

“Catnip?” She snorted. “But like you said, women weren’t flocking around you, so…”

Rurik drew the pad of his index finger around one of her nipples, making it harden as he chuckled. “We’re irresistible, but there is intent required on our part. Desire. Would you like me to remind you just how much you want me?” He gently pinched her nipple, and a bolt of pleasure made her moan and arch her back.

She giggled when he lowered his head to her breast and sucked on the tender peak. “Stop distracting me.”

His laughter was warm and sinful, and she squirmed as he continued to lick and suck on her nipple. When he started to move toward her other breast, she caught his cheek in her hands and forced him to look at her.

“But you do have some abilities. You said you could manipulate the humans by the palace to walk away.”

He stiffened slightly at the mention. “We can mesmerize others, yes, but that is not the same thing. We can erase memories or bury them. We can convince people to do things or not to.”

“Including sex? You didn’t…”

“No. The only time I ever used that power was to alter how you remembered the shooting, to rationalize why I healed so fast. I didn’t want you to panic. You reacted well enough, but I expected you to be in shock. I feared the reality of almost dying would set in.” He stroked a hand along her waist, finding a sensitive spot that made her wriggle and almost laugh.

“I remember the shooting. And I remember being worried at first about your wounds.” She stared at him, trying to remember everything. Flashes of it came back. “Wait, I did pull out some bullets, didn’t I? They weren’t just scratches.”

“No, they weren’t. Now you remember everything.” He used one hand to brush soothing fingers along her collarbone. Drops of hot water trickled down her breasts.

She couldn’t believe that he had influenced what she had thought. “Only you didn’t take my memories away?”

“I try never to remove memories. I change them as little as possible. A dragon could get carried away with exerting that sort of power.”

She couldn’t argue with that. If she’d been in his position, it would have been tempting to make someone believe a different version of events in order to hide a more difficult truth.

“But I admit, I did convince you to dance for me in the cage in my club,” he added with a chuckle. He couldn’t seem to resist.

“The cage—” She blushed deeply, burying her face against his shoulder as she remembered. “Oh my God, the cage.” He massaged her shoulders. The water sloshed around them, and she moved forward so she could twist the knob and turn off the water before leaning back against him.

“So what we just did, that was something, wasn’t it?” She knew what had transpired between them had changed everything. There was something between them now; she felt it whisper at the back of her mind. She needed to know what it was.

Rurik was silent for a long while before he spoke. “What do you know of dragon mating?”

She ran over the Brotherhood file in her mind. “Um…not a lot. They say you mate for life, but I assumed that was a cultural thing, old habits dying hard, or to keep the dragon lines going.”

“Well, dragons do mate for life, but there is more to it than that. When we mate another being, the bond is…” He murmured a few words in Russian, as though unsure how to describe it. “Unbreakable. That is the closest I can get to describing it.”

A prickling sensation skittered along her skin, lifting the fine hairs on her neck.

“Okay.” She held her breath as she waited for him to continue.

“We cannot mate just anyone. It has to be destiny. A true mate. I once had a possible mate, but I never claimed her.”

“What happened?” She shifted to lie on her side against him in the massive tub. She was bothered by the idea that he might have loved another woman, yet had chosen not to. What made her situation different?

“I never succumbed to the temptation to claim her as mine. The dangers were too great. And then she died a few months ago…” Rurik’s voice trailed off.

Charlotte was torn. She wanted to comfort him, but she feared he would not accept that.

“I’m sorry,” she finally said.

He gave the barest hint of a nod. “It is dangerous for dragons to mate.” He lifted one hand and settled it on her hip beneath the hot water, holding her close.

“Dangerous?” She couldn’t see how something like mating would be. Maybe he meant the consequences of being in their world?

“Yes. When dragons mate, it’s for life.”

“But you’re immortal,” she added. “How can that be dangerous?”

“We bond so deeply to each other that when the mate dies, we die. And if we mate a mortal…”

Charlotte realized just how short her life was compared to his. For a dragon, getting involved with a human was cutting your own life tragically short. Her stomach fluttered as she sensed there was something he still wasn’t saying.

“Rurik, please just tell me.” She turned to face him, the water splashing as she straddled him. Despite the way their bodies intimately rubbed, she was determined not to get distracted. This was too important.

“As I said, I had one possible true mate before, and she died. The grief I felt was great, because I realized all that I had missed in life. I feared there would never be another chance. Then I met you…and discovered you were a possible mate as well.”

She couldn’t process what he was saying. A true mate? How was that even…

“I mated you, Charlotte.” He cupped her face, his thumbs brushing over her cheeks in soothing strokes. “I didn’t want to, and I tried to stop…but you are irresistible to me.”

Mated. She was mated to Rurik. Charlotte still had no idea what that meant.

“But, wait, you didn’t want to?” She hung on that fact first, probably because it hurt the most.

His eyes, those pure jade pools, softened to a dark emerald that made her hungry for him. “Want? I’ve wanted you from the moment I saw you. But my position means I must protect the family first and foremost. If something happens to you, I will die. And my family will be left vulnerable.” He sighed, closing his eyes, and then inhaled deeply. “But I couldn’t stay away from you, even knowing all that. And then, when you begged me to bite you…”

“How does it happen?” she whispered, her heart thudding against her ribs.

“Mating is like two pieces of a puzzle sliding into place. We’ve gotten closer and closer since we danced at my club, and just now in bed, we stood no chance of resisting you.”

She tilted her head. “We?”

He threaded a hand through her hair. “My dragon. He and I knew we had to have you.”

She cuddled closer, spellbound by the look in his eyes. “What does it mean that we’re mated now?” Part of Charlotte still couldn’t believe she was having this discussion, but she had to know everything about being mated to him.

“We share memories. We see into each other’s hearts in a way that no other species can, because we share actual vivid experiences, even thoughts. It’s as though our beating hearts become one, and when one part dies, the other cannot survive.”

The weight of his words finally sank in, and Charlotte’s eyes filled with tears.

“So…what does this mean? For us?” she asked, the words escaping from her trembling lips.

“We are bound together, you and I. We stand as one, fight as one, live and die as one.” She could feel his gaze burn into her. Part of her wanted to open herself completely to him, but she was afraid. Mating him might mean leaving her brothers and the life she’d known behind forever.

“Am I…allowed to go home?” She swallowed hard, fear shooting through her as she waited for his response.

“You will go wherever you wish, but I will go with you. I must protect you.”

That stung like a sharp slap. He had to protect her to protect himself.

“No, stop,” he growled. “I can see you misunderstand me. I protect you because you are mine. I go with you because my heart craves closeness to yours. I would miss you if you left me.”

Was he saying he loved her? Or that he could he come to love her? Just as she now realized she was in danger of falling in love with him?

“Rurik, we’re practically strangers. How can this make sense? What about my family…?” Oh God, when her brothers found out, they would kill him…unless of course that would kill her.

“If you die…will I die, as a human?”

“I’m not sure,” he admitted. “Few of my kind have mated humans, and as far as I know, none have died before their human mates.”

He nuzzled her cheek and closed his eyes briefly with a heavy sigh. “We will make it work. Both of my brothers mated Americans. I’m sure you and I will manage, just as they have.” He smiled at her, but she didn’t miss the shadow of sorrow in his eyes.

“You never wanted this, did you?” He hadn’t, and neither had she, but now they were tied together.

“I have always longed to mate, but my duties were clear from the moment my father saw my strength. He told me a battle dragon could never mate—it was too risky for the rest of the family. But now that I have you, I won’t ever let you go.”

Charlotte didn’t know what to say to that. She wanted him to want her, but…

“Rurik, I can’t put your family at risk.”

“What’s done is done. We are mated, and I do want you.” He brushed away a tear that trailed down her cheek. “I never want to see you cry. A mate is a sacred gift, and you are sacred to me, Charlotte.” He kissed her as though it could last for days. As much as she had loved his rough, frantic, dominating kisses, she loved this kind even more. It was sweet, a dozen emotions welling up inside her that filled her with warmth. She could lose herself in that strange and beautiful world of snow where he kept his heart. The flames of his soul were there, so close, if only she dared to reach for him.

“Why don’t we continue this on the bed? I’ll order room service. We’ll stay here today and fly back to Moscow this evening with Grigori and Madelyn.”

Rurik slid Charlotte off his lap and climbed out of the tub. Rurik grabbed a towel from a rack and wrapped it around his waist. She sank deeper into the tub, soaking in the hot water as she watched him leave the bathroom.

I just had sex with a man who turns into a dragon, and it was amazing! What a way to lose her virginity. She’d bet even a hunter like her friend Meg hadn’t done something this crazy.

Part of her was still in shock over everything that had just happened. She was mated to a dragon, and she didn’t know what that would mean for her in the long run. A flurry of thoughts stormed her mind. Where would they live? What about her job? What about if he died before her? She had a thousand questions. Could they have children? She didn’t know where to start.

She bit her bottom lip, holding back the sudden grin on her face. And I’m mated. Damien and Jason were going to be furious, but in a way she’d done what she had promised herself she would do. She’d captured a dragon—she just hadn’t needed the serum to do it.

She stretched languidly in the tub as she listened to the sound of Rurik’s voice as he ordered room service. Then he appeared in the bathroom doorway, leaned against the doorjamb.

“Out of the tub, my little rose. I have many wicked things I wish to do to you.”

Even though she was sore, she scrambled out of the tub, laughing as she grabbed a towel to dry herself.

He watched her with a crooked grin. “I’ll only get you wet again.” His green eyes promised wicked things, and now that she’d had a taste of him she wanted more. She walked up to him and stood on her tiptoes, her towel wrapped snugly around her, and kissed him. His lips curved against hers. There was something magical about a kiss built upon a world of shared secret smiles. When they broke apart, she was still grinning.

“Wow,” she said, still shy at her brazen behavior. Her face was hot, and she knew he’d seen her blush.

He caressed her cheek with the backs of his knuckles. “Fuck, you are so beautiful.”

“So are you. I mean—” She shut her mouth, blushing harder.

His green eyes swirled with gold. “Go lie down on the bed, on your stomach.”

When she reached the bed, she had the sudden urge to be impish. Charlotte dropped the towel and glanced over her shoulder at him. Then she shook her hips at him and started to climb onto the bed. A second later, he was behind her, his hands on her hips.

“I was going to give you a massage until you shook that fine ass at me.” Rurik’s growl was almost like a purr.

“A massage sounds nice.” She started to crawl forward on the bed on her hands and knees, but he tugged her hips back, and she felt his pelvis bump against her backside.

“Oh no, you little tease. I demand more.” His words came out rough and sexy.

She jerked when he pressed his cock in at that angle. It felt different from before, and it stretched her in a new way. She dropped her head on her arms against the bedding and moaned, absorbing the soreness of her channel and a whisper of pain mixed with the building pleasure of this new way of lovemaking. She’d fantasized about this, a man taking her from behind, someone who was completely in control, but she’d never imagined the reality would be so much more intense. Rurik thrust his hips, pushing deeper into her. They both shared a moan.

“More,” she begged, shifting her ass, encouraging him to move faster.

Rurik gave her a little spank. “I’m trying to be gentle. You are still sore,” he reprimanded her.

“I don’t want gentle,” she replied as he withdrew until he was almost fully out. “I want you to let go of your control. Take me hard. Hard as you want.” She lifted her head and met his burning gaze over her shoulder.

“You don’t know what you’re asking.” His voice was gravelly, and his eyes swirled with that honey color. She now knew this meant his dragon was fighting to get to the surface.

“I know what I’m asking,” she promised. “We’re in this together, remember?” She pushed back, driving him a little deeper into her.

“Fuck,” he muttered. “Tell me if I’m too rough.” He drove into her, his hands digging into her hips as he penetrated her over and over. The feel of him so deep inside her was heaven. She hissed out a breath as he moved faster, harder, but she didn’t want him to stop. It felt amazing.

He reached around her hips and teased her clit with the pad of his finger, causing her to explode. He kept fucking her, his hips pumping even as she sagged on the bed, her body limp.

Rurik thrust a few more times and gave a guttural cry as he pulled out of her, and something hot splashed down her thighs. He retrieved her towel from the floor and set about cleaning both of them, with surprising gentleness given the way he’d just claimed her. She collapsed on the bed, stretching out on her stomach.

“Wow,” she gasped.

Rurik chuckled as he ran a hand from her shoulders down to her bottom in a soothing caress.

“Scoot up on the bed,” he ordered, but his tone was gentle.

Charlotte clawed her way up the bed and collapsed when she reached the pillows. The bed dipped behind her, and large warm hands settled on her shoulders while Rurik’s knees settled on either side of her hips. He began to massage her, just as he’d said he would, rubbing deeply into her muscles. It felt so wonderful that she couldn’t…keep…her…eyes…

* * *

Rurik knew the moment she fell asleep. He carefully picked her up and pulled back the covers before tucking her in. He wasn’t sure how long he stood there, watching her, feeling like the most blessed man alive. He had a mate. The one thing he’d believed he would never have. He could have had this with Nikita, but he’d enjoyed a gentle contentment watching her work alongside him at the nightclub, and he’d convinced himself that was enough. And it had been, until she’d died. Losing Nikita had changed him in a way he hadn’t expected and had driven him to throw caution to the wind. His heart ached at the thought of what might have been with Nikita, but he couldn’t regret that he’d found Charlotte either. The complexity of the situation left him feeling lost until he looked down at his mate and the turmoil inside him eased.

He’d risked his family’s future, but he’d spent the last thousand years thinking of others. Wasn’t he due some measure of happiness? She was perfect. He hadn’t lied when he told her that. She was perfect in every way. Rurik brushed a lock of her hair back from her face and drank in the sight of her.

My mate…

He collected his jeans and sweater, putting them on before he searched for his cell phone. He’d shut it off to better enjoy the day with Charlotte, but now he need to call his brothers. There was much to discuss.

He saw he had missed several calls from both Grigori and Mikhail. He also had half a dozen messages.

Rather than listen to them, he called Grigori back. He answered on the first ring.

“Where the hell are you?”

His brother’s panicked tone scared him. “What’s wrong?”

“Is Charlotte with you? Just say yes or no.”

Rurik answered carefully. “Yes.” He knew the drill. When there was a risk of being compromised, everyone answered questions in a way so no one could overhear and understand the subject of their conversation.

“Can she overhear you?” Grigori asked in Russian.

Rurik replied in kind. “No. She is asleep. What’s wrong?”

“She’s a hunter for the Brotherhood.”

The words were a punch to Rurik’s gut. “How do you know this? I know of her ties to the Brotherhood, but I swear on my life she isn’t a hunter,” Rurik said quietly. She couldn’t have lied to him, not after the way he’d questioned her. She was chemist, not a hunter.

“You can’t trust your instincts. Your dragon is blinded by desire. Remember what happened to Mikhail five hundred years ago? He got too close to the queen of England and ended up in an English prison for forty years.”

Rurik didn’t care for the reminder of their brother’s suffering. He wasn’t Mikhail, and this wasn’t the sixteenth century. He trusted Charlotte. If she said she wasn’t a hunter, she wasn’t.

“I know you don’t want to believe Charlotte could lie to you, but it’s true. Drakor called. He has been monitoring the Brotherhood, something he reminded me I’ve been failing to do. We have to take care of this. We need to—”

“First of all,” Rurik interrupted, “since when do we listen to Drakor? I’ve never trusted that bastard. And second, we can’t do anything.” Rurik closed his eyes and prepared to confess his mistake to his older brother.

“I understand, but I trust Drakor on this. This is the Brotherhood we’re talking about. That issue transcends all our rivalries. And what do you mean, we can’t do anything?” Grigori snapped. “We can restrain her and get the truth out of her.”

“We can’t because I mated her. She is mine. She’s part of our family now, hunter or not.”

There was a long silence, so long that Rurik started to wonder if Grigori had hung up on him.

“Then it is too late. They have what they came for.”

“What?” Rurik didn’t understand what his brother was talking about.

“If you’re mated to one of them, they can control you through her,” Grigori said with a growl. “Think about it. They’ll have a leashed dragon as a weapon now. If you don’t comply, they can use your own mate against you.”

“She’s not what you think, brother. I’ll just have to convince her to leave that life behind.” There was no way Charlotte would be used against him, not like that.

“It won’t be that easy, Rurik. She’s a MacQueen.”

The name was one that sent witches fleeing to their covens, vampires deep into their nests, and werewolves running off to their packs. In the past, the name MacQueen meant death to the creatures in the supernatural realm. It was a name that brought fear and panic, even to dragons, even today. Damien’s grandfather had been ruthless in the 1950s.

“How could she be a MacQueen?” he asked. From what little he knew of Damien MacQueen, he couldn’t imagine Charlotte being anything like him. She was sweet, sensitive, and open to trusting someone like him.

“She’s Damien and Jason’s younger sister. Even if you convince her to leave them, they will come looking for her. And we have no idea of her true purpose in finding you in the first place. They may have trained her as a secret weapon. This bond is exactly what they wanted.”

“What do you suggest we do?”

“Until we know more, I want Charlotte secured. Act normal and convince her to come back with us tonight on the plane. I’ll slip a knockout drug into her bottle of water. Then we’ll figure out what to do with her. We can’t take any chances. Do you understand?”

Grigori was right, and Rurik hated that more than anything. He’d surrendered his heart and soul to a woman who was most likely there to betray him. But the thought of drugging her made him sick nonetheless.

“We will see you at the airport in a few hours. Text me the flight time.”

“Be careful, brother.” Grigori hung up.

Rurik set his phone down on the table. He was halfway back to his bed when the door chimed. He met the hotel staff member at the door and took the cart from him, slipping him a handful of bills that would tide the man over for at least two weeks.

Rurik took the tray with the two plates and carried it over to the bed. Charlotte was still sleeping. She started when he set down the tray and lifted the metal lids, sitting up without thinking, and her bare breasts were exposed as the blankets fell away. Rurik had to remind himself that even though she was his mate, he could no longer trust her, couldn’t just take her back to bed, not when he needed to find out if she really was a hunter after all. If she really did plan to betray him.

“Eat,” he encouraged, sitting beside her. Only when she was finished did he speak. He cupped her chin, controlling her enough that she had to look at him. “Were you ever going to tell me the truth?”

Her eyes widened, and she opened her mouth but didn’t speak.

“You are a hunter, and you’re MacQueen’s little sister—two very important facts you left out of your confessions.” He wanted to see if she would deny it. There were flashes of fear in her eyes, but they were tempered by an unexpected resolve.

“Damien is my brother, but I am not a hunter. I’ve never been a part of the Brotherhood or its mission.” She reached out and touched his chest. He barely resisted the urge to pull away and had to remind himself she was his mate—he shouldn’t want to pull away from her.

“I’m not a hunter,” she insisted. “Mesmerize me. Make me tell you the truth. Let me prove it to you.”

Rurik considered it. He could use his power on her, but he didn’t want to. He still wanted to trust her. He also worried that she might have a way to resist him. It was possible hunters had trained themselves against this power. Yet he didn’t think she could be so cold, so heartless to lie to him this entire time. She’d made him feel so happy, so full of hope, and his brother had crushed that joy with a single phone call. How could he ever trust her now?

He rose from the bed and collected her clothes. “Get dressed. We fly back to Moscow in a few hours.” He couldn’t look at her—it made his stomach coil into knots.

“Rurik, stop!” she shouted. “You want the truth? All of it?”

“Yes,” he snarled as he spun to face her. “Tell me every damned detail. Leave nothing out.” He clenched his hands into fists as he glared at her.

Charlotte, to her credit, didn’t cower. But he would never hurt Charlotte, not even if she betrayed him to his worst enemy.

“I am just what I said. A biochemist. A lonely woman whose brothers left her out of everything. They refused to let me join the Brotherhood because it cost my parents their lives. But a few weeks ago, my friend Meg, who is a hunter, told me about a serum that someone had created that suppresses the dragon shifting ability. She asked me to try to re-create it. But I wanted more…” She paused, her face falling. “I wanted to show my brothers I have value, that I could be a part of their world. I thought I could help prevent a dragon war from spiraling out of control. So I took the serum I made and left for Moscow. My plan was to catch you, but the moment I met you…I couldn’t use it on you or take you to my brothers.” She pointed to her purse. “You will find two syringes inside. You can pour the contents down the drain and throw the syringes in the trash. There’s a third one in my hotel room in Moscow. I don’t care anymore. You matter too much to me. I couldn’t hurt someone I—” She halted abruptly, wiping a stream of tears from her face.

“Someone you…what?” he asked. His dragon had been ready to fight, just as he was, but now he and his dragon were both confused and panicky.

Tears rolled down her cheeks as she met his gaze and said the only words that could change the way he felt.

“I couldn’t betray someone I was falling in love with.” The pain in her eyes was unmistakable. No one could affect that level of fear unless they were telling the truth.

Rurik held his breath, trying to process what she’d just said. She was falling in love with him.

Charlotte stumbled away from the bed, wrapping a sheet around herself. She looked so vulnerable and small as she approached him and the table where her purse sat. She held the small bag up to him.

“Please. Take the syringes and destroy them.” His dragon paced inside his head, still puzzled. His enemy…his mate…what was she really?