Chapter One
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“Going once. Going twice… Gone.”
The auctioneer slammed his gavel, and a murmur rippled through the crowd.
Silas went very still. The next item for sale was the one that had brought him all the way from Maui to this swanky event in New York. The one he needed. Badly.
“We’re up next,” Kai said in a low, growly voice to Silas’s left.
Silas didn’t look at his cousin. Instead, he glanced across the auction hall, ignoring the crystal chandeliers and gold accents that hinted at wealth and treasures to be obtained. No matter how hard he tried to keep his eyes trained straight ahead, they kept roving over to the gray-haired man in the third row. A man who fit in perfectly with the crowd — tailored suit, diamond cuff links, silk tie. One of the well-to-do in New York’s high society. But that man was different in one critical way.
Drax — the mightiest dragon lord of them all. Silas’s bitter enemy.
Drax folded his hands on his lap and cast a bored glance at Silas.
I am king here, his smug, disdainful look said. I have it all, and I will keep it all.
And Drax really meant all. Properties around the world. A dragon hoard beyond compare. The riches Drax had seized from Silas’s family a generation before. And above all, the woman Drax had wooed away from Silas less than a decade ago.
Moira.
Just thinking of her together with Drax made a thousand emotions roil.
Then something red and silky flashed, and those emotions turned into a whirling storm.
Moira, his inner dragon muttered through clenched teeth.
The people in the third row stirred as Moira made her grand entrance. She nodded as she swept by them the way a queen might nod to peasants. Halfway along the row, she paused and lifted her right heel to inspect some invisible imperfection.
Silas grimaced. That was all part of Moira’s show. The woman craved attention. She was addicted to it, just as she was addicted to wealth and power.
She sashayed to the empty seat beside Drax and sat with her hands folded neatly, casually. On the outside, a perfect lady. On the inside, a ruthless abuser of hearts, fortunes, and souls.
She was younger than Drax — much younger — but the hand she placed high on Drax’s thigh advertised to the world how intimate they were.
Silas’s hands clenched into fists as he ordered himself to remain cool. So Moira had broken his heart when she’d left him for Drax, eight years ago. That was all water under the bridge, right?
His dragon snorted. Right. That’s why your pulse is through the roof.
Okay, so maybe he had loved Moira, once upon a time. That was all over now.
It’s not over because it never started, his dragon insisted. We never truly loved her. We just thought we did.
Silas made a face. Love was all in the head anyway.
Love is in the heart, and hers is made of stone. His dragon lashed its tail.
Silas looked around. What would the people in attendance do if they discovered dragon shifters in their midst? He almost wondered if the guests would care, given how intently they focused on the next item for sale.
An attendant with white gloves stepped forward with a black velvet box, and the auctioneer tapped his gavel. Everyone leaned forward, including Silas and his companions. Even Drax, he sensed, leaned forward and held his breath.
Is that it? Is it a Spirit Stone? Tessa, Kai’s mate, whispered into Silas’s mind.
He pursed his lips. From this distance, it was impossible to tell.
The auctioneer cleared his voice and spoke. “Lot number 457. An exquisite thirty-six-carat diamond from an anonymous collection.”
At anonymous, a low snort went out from the back of the crowd. Silas craned his neck and caught a glimpse of a woman whose arms were crossed tightly over her chest. Her chestnut hair reflected the light of the chandeliers, and for some reason, his heart skipped a beat or two. But the room was so packed, she was blocked from view a moment later.
“Lady Montgomery DeWitt was known to have worn this diamond before it was lost to the public eye, and before her…”
The auctioneer droned on with a long list of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century socialites who had once owned the diamond. None of those facts was new to Silas. He’d been feverishly researching the Windstone ever since the first of the Spirit Stones appeared on Maui less than a year ago. The Windstone was far older than that recent history implied. Far more important than any other jewel — if that diamond truly was The One.
He closed his eyes, trying to pick up on the subtle radiation of power all the Spirit Stones exuded. But when a Spirit Stone slumbered, there was no way to tell it from just another jewel.
Just another jewel? his cousin, Kai, huffed, reading Silas’s mind as all closely bonded shifters could.
“Are you picking up on anything?” Tessa whispered.
Kai shook his head. “I can’t tell yet.”
Silas’s eyes slid to Drax. The man sat ramrod stiff, and his eyes had the slightest hint of dragon glow.
That has to be a Spirit Stone, Silas’s dragon whispered. It has to be.
He took a deep breath. Even without more evidence, he knew this was it. Slowly, inexorably, everything was coming to a head. He and Drax had been steering toward all-out conflict for years. First over Moira, and then over the Spirit Stones. Their indirect power struggle had become increasingly intense, as if destiny wanted to unleash a new shifter war upon the world.
Was it coincidence that the Windstone had surfaced now? Hardly. Like the other Spirit Stones, it was part of a collection of precious stones with magical powers. But the dragon that had watched over the Spirit Stones had died generations ago, and the jewels had been scattered and lost.
Until now. One by one, the Spirit Stones had resurfaced. And one by one, they’d ratcheted Silas’s conflict with Drax to ever-higher levels. Drax had refused to acknowledge Silas for years, but not any more. Not with Silas gaining his own power, experience, and supporters.
Silas ignored the look of open appraisal Drax threw his way.
Look all you want, his inner dragon growled. I have nothing to fear from you.
Except he did, and he knew it. He had strengthened his position over time, but he’d become more vulnerable too. The very men and women who gave him strength — the shifters of Koa Point — were also his Achilles’ heel. Some of the couples were close to starting families, and Drax wouldn’t hold back from exploiting any advantage he could.
Drax smirked, and Silas nearly bared his teeth to show his fangs.
We need that diamond, Kai grunted.
“Bidding opens at $500,000,” the auctioneer announced.
Kai caught his gaze, but Silas shook his head. There was no need to bid early on. He would draw too much attention as it was when bidding reached the serious stages.
Silas gripped the edge of his seat, frowning. The problem wasn’t bidding, but whether he could match other bids. Drax had far more money, resources, and power scattered in dark, shadowy corners of the globe than Silas could ever amass. All Silas and his clan really had was a generous benefactor and the other four Spirit Stones: the Firestone, the Lifestone, the Earthstone, and the Waterstone.
Surely, the power of those four outweighs that of a single Windstone, his dragon said.
Silas wanted to believe it, but with Spirit Stones, you never knew. And according to legend, the five Spirit Stones would create a single, combined power if they were reunited. They could be used to aggregate incredible wealth and power — something Silas had no doubt Drax would do, given half a chance. But other shifters understood that such power was better left untouched. Silas and his friends would protect the Spirit Stones, and the Stones would protect them in turn, allowing them to live in peace and prosperity.
Silas sighed. Prosperity came and went; he wasn’t concerned about that. But peace — true peace, mental and physical… God, that would be nice. Not just for him, but for all the shifters of Koa Point — and for generations to come. Nina and Boone were already expecting — twins, as the proud papa wolf had predicted. And it was only a question of time before Kai and Tessa started their own family too.
So much was at stake. So much depended on the Windstone.
Silas watched closely as the auctioneer’s assistant tilted the case for the crowd to see. Rays of light caught in the diamond’s facets and shot across the ceiling. The moment that light flashed across Drax’s greedy face, Silas knew. That was the Windstone.
Moira licked her lips and whispered into Drax’s ear. Something like, That’s the one, no doubt. It’s beautiful. It’s powerful. And I want it. Now.
Silas took a deep breath. At least there was that — the only emotion Moira stirred in him these days was anger. Still, his heart hammered away. So much depended on what happened next.
“$500,000,” the auctioneer said, pointing to a bidder in the fifth row.
Another hand shot up, and the auctioneer swung around. “$600,000.”
Kai nudged Silas, but he kept his hands folded firmly in his lap. Too soon.
When the bidding hit one million, Drax casually raised one manicured finger.
The auctioneer pointed. “One million dollars to Mr. Drax.”
A murmur of recognition went through the crowd, and Kai made a face. What kind of shifter draws attention to himself by living big in high society?
The kind who thinks he can get away with anything, Silas replied in his driest tone.
Drax’s smirk grew as bidder after bidder dropped away.
“One-point-five million dollars… One-point-six…” The auctioneer pointed at each successive bid. “One-point-nine. Ms. Lee?” He raised his eyebrows at an Asian woman with a phone pressed to one ear. She held her hand out in a flat, stand-by position.
“Who is that?” Tessa whispered.
“A rep for an absentee buyer,” Kai murmured as the woman spoke into her phone.
“Anyone you know?” Tessa asked.
Silas shook his head. “It could be anyone.”
Ms. Lee turned her thumb down. No go.
“I have one-point-nine million dollars with Mr. Drax’s bid.” The auctioneer scanned the crowd. “Going once…”
Kai looked at Silas as the tension in the room rose.
“Going twice…”
“Silas…” Kai started, but Silas already had his hand up.
“Two million dollars,” the auctioneer cried.
Every head swiveled toward Silas, and he took a deep breath. Like any self-respecting dragon, he hated the limelight. He’d grown accustomed to a certain level of scrutiny on Maui, but he still hated the prying, appraising looks. If only people knew how little wealth he had left, given that Drax had stolen most of his inheritance decades ago.
A long minute later, everyone looked at Drax, who nodded. Moira’s lips curled in one of her carefully calculated, I’m so rich, everything bores me — but why not indulge myself? smiles.
“Two-point-one,” the auctioneer said.
Two-point-two million dollars came from an oil magnate Silas recognized from the newspapers. Fine. Let Drax and that man duke it out for a while.
Fine — except for one thing, his dragon reminded him.
The higher the bidding went, the less likely he was to be able to keep up. Drax and the oil magnate might have unlimited resources, but he didn’t.
How much did Uncle Filimore leave you? Kai asked.
A blur of sentimental images swept through his mind. His great-uncle waving him toward a chair in the library of the family estate in southern France, where Silas had spent summers as a child. Or his uncle kneeling to hug him goodbye the first time Silas had left for boarding school after his parents died.
A pang of regret sliced into his side. Filimore had become a father to him, and Silas hadn’t visited nearly enough in recent years. His uncle’s recent death from mysterious causes had left a gaping hole in Silas’s heart — and in the dragon world. As the last of the ancient dragons, Filimore had maintained a certain degree of law and order among their volatile species. Since then, the dragon world had been holding its breath for a new leader to emerge — or for chaos to break out.
Silas blinked a few times, fighting away a burning sensation. His eyes were starting to glow. He couldn’t allow that in public, no matter how much he despised the idea of Drax ascending to power.
Silas? Tessa called softly, pulling him back to Kai’s question. How much had Filimore left to him?
He gritted his teeth. Three million.
The other two winced.
That’s it? Kai protested.
Filimore’s fortune was vast — even greater than Drax’s. But he had only bequeathed three million in cash to Silas. The rest was being held back as lawyers pored over the will. And truthfully, Silas wasn’t interested in the luxury properties, ten-digit accounts, or glittering treasure said to be hidden in various corners of the globe. All he really wanted was peace for the shifter world. Everything he treasured — his home and the future of his clan — hung in the balance.
The diamond glittered from the podium.
“Two-point-five million dollars,” the auctioneer cried, pointing at Drax.
Silas hid a scowl. Drax was bidding with money he’d stolen when Silas’s parents died, years before. In fact, Silas suspected Drax of orchestrating his father’s death, even if Drax hadn’t directly participated in that fight.
Drax grinned as if to rub in the point. Two-point-five million dollars. What do you say to that?
Silas kept his lips sealed as a hundred pairs of curious eyes peered at him. Drax’s haughty black eyes pierced his, while Moira’s deep grays mocked everyone. But the gaze that captured Silas’s attention came from the back of the room — so intense, he had to fight the urge to turn around.
Must find out who that is, his dragon cried, more agitated than ever.
Silas told himself it didn’t matter, but the itch remained.
It’s important, his dragon insisted.
He kept his eyes firmly ahead. Nothing was more important than the Spirit Stone. He raised his hand.
“Two-point-six million dollars,” the auctioneer crowed.
Silas sucked in a slow breath. Bidding against a billionaire might be a losing battle, but he would push Drax as high as he could go. And meanwhile, he’d think of a Plan B.
But he couldn’t think, somehow. Not with that magnetic force drawing him toward the back of the room. He turned his head slowly, wondering who or what it was.
There were a dozen rows of chairs behind Silas, all filled, and beyond that, a packed standing-room-only section at least five deep. For all the faces in that crowd — the business types watching proceedings with eagle eyes, the painted beauties seeking to make eye contact, the curious reporters — his eyes landed right on the woman with the chestnut hair.
Her arms were still crossed, her face furious. She tapped her foot while her eyes threw daggers at a man in a brown suit slowly making his way to the podium. Why did she seem so important? She was a stranger to him.
We’ve never met, but she’s not a stranger, his dragon said in a choked voice.
Her eyes darted over the crowd and stopped right on him. Silas’s breath caught in his throat, and his blood rushed.
“Two-point-seven million dollars,” the auctioneer announced.
Drax was bidding. Kai was nudging his elbow, and Tessa was whispering something. But all Silas could see, hear, or sense was the stranger at the back of the room. Everything became muted and fuzzy except her, and time slowed until he could feel each thump of his heart, each heavy rush of blood through his veins. They stared at each other through what seemed like a long tunnel of light in an otherwise dark and dreary world. When she tilted her head, her hair swung in a slow wave, mesmerizing him. He nearly reached out a hand as if she were right behind him and not several yards away.
“Silas,” Kai hissed, elbowing him hard.
“Going twice—” the auctioneer said.
Silas blinked as Kai pushed his hand up to bid. Whoa. What had just happened?
“Two-point-eight million dollars.”
“Damn it, man. Keep your head in the game,” Kai muttered.
A bead of sweat ran down Silas’s brow. It doesn’t matter who she is, he berated his dragon.
She does matter, his dragon insisted. Can’t you see?
He kept his eyes firmly forward, trying to focus on the diamond. But with the tunnel vision gone, he saw Drax and Moira too. Moira tossed her head, making the light glint off her hair in a forced effect that made him want to turn around and point to the woman at the back of the room.
That’s beauty, he wanted to tell Moira. Natural beauty, because it comes from the inside. From confidence, and from the instinct to fight for what’s right.
A second later, he shook his head, trying to clear those crazy thoughts. He didn’t know that mystery woman or what drove her. Was he losing his mind?
Not losing, his dragon murmured. Finding.
He didn’t have time to ask, Finding what? because a movement caught his attention. The man in the brown suit was still making his way forward — the one the mystery woman had been watching so intently. He edged past a long table of champagne flutes then leaned in to whisper to a security guard.
“What’s that about?” Kai murmured, studying the same man.
Moira arched an eye at Silas as if wondering why he would pay attention to anyone but her.
I don’t love you, he wanted to say. I don’t care any more.
“Two-point-nine million dollars.” The auctioneer pointed at Drax.
Shit, Kai said.
Shit was right. Three million was Silas’s hard limit, and he still didn’t have a Plan B — other than cornering Drax on the way out of the auction house and wrestling the Spirit Stone from him.
One of two linebacker types standing by the doors cracked his meaty knuckles and scowled as if reading Silas’s mind. Those two were just the most obvious members of Drax’s security force — a wolf and a boar shifter, if Silas’s nose was right. Drax would have more bodyguards outside, of course.
I can take them, his dragon huffed.
Silas kept perfectly still. Yes, he could take on any one of them. Hell, he could take them on in pairs or in threes, but not a whole gang at the same time. He had his own backup in Kai and Tessa, but there had to be a better option than fighting.
Sooner or later, we have to fight Drax. We have to kill him, his dragon roared.
Silas knew that. He even looked forward to it, in a way. But if he were to succeed, he’d have to use his brain. New York was Drax’s home turf — not the place or time for that fight.
When, then? his dragon demanded.
He wished he knew, but destiny never revealed her plans, and fate loved springing surprises on a man.
Moira’s eyes glittered at his, suggesting something.
He furrowed his brow. What the hell was that about? He could feel Moira’s mind tapping at his, demanding to be let in. The woman could worm her way into a man’s soul if he didn’t watch out — a lesson he’d learned the hard way.
He blocked her out and raised his hand.
“Three million dollars,” the auctioneer noted.
Silas’s stomach sank, because the woman at the back of the room was glaring at him. And somehow, that hurt. He didn’t want her to hate him. He wanted…
He scratched his chin. What did he want?
Her, his dragon murmured. Want her.
He might as well have been sucker-punched in the stomach, he was so surprised. So caught off guard by his dragon showing an interest in anyone. Genuine interest, not a passing little burst of lust.
Lust too. His dragon grinned. Want her every way. Want her to want me too.
Fat chance of that if she had already pegged him as an enemy.
“Mr. Drax?” the auctioneer asked.
Tessa gripped Kai’s hand. The whole crowd hushed as Drax made a show of deciding, torturing Silas by drawing out the process as long as possible. Finally, the gray-haired dragon raised a single finger with a look that said, A single finger is all I need to crush you, boy.
The auctioneer smiled broadly. “Three-point-one million dollars from Mr. Drax.” He turned back to Silas. “You, sir?”
The assistant tipped the velvet box his way, letting the diamond toss out one last ray of light. A hopeful, almost plaintive light, as if the stone knew exactly what was at stake.
Don’t let me go to that bastard. Don’t let him win.
Kai nudged him. Remember what Nina said.
Nina, one of the wolf shifters of Koa Point, had recently inherited fifty million dollars. She’d given half to cancer research and kept half — twenty-five million she’d offered to Silas to use for the greater good.
Silas’s fingers itched, begging to jump up and place a higher bid. Instead, he gave a curt shake of his head. No matter how high he bid, Drax would bid higher. It was time for Plan B or C. Time to go through every letter of the alphabet and figure out what the hell to do.
“No?” the auctioneer asked. “No more? Three-point-two?”
Silas shook his head, refusing to let any emotion show.
“I have three-point-one million dollars from Mr. Drax. Going once…” the auctioneer started.
Drax flashed a triumphant grin, letting the points of his fangs show. The Windstone is mine, and soon, I will find a way to rob you of the others.
Moira’s eyes flashed too. Tsk, tsk. You lost your chance.
There was something sneaky and disappointed in her gaze. Something Silas couldn’t pin down.
“Going twice…”
Kai bristled. Let that asshole have it. We have the other four stones, and those will keep us strong.
They would. But five Spirit Stones would have made them nearly invincible, and Silas would have liked that buffer for the future. So far, Drax had left the shifters of Koa Point in relative peace. But who knew what he might attempt in his quest for supreme power?
The auctioneer raised his gavel, ready to close the sale. Silas could read the word forming on his lips. Gone. The diamond was gone.
But the man in the brown suit had been waved forward by the security guard, and he raced to the podium, halting the auctioneer before he could actually call the bidding to a close.
The crowd broke out in a hubbub as the frowning auctioneer leaned down, listening to the man’s urgent whispers.
“What’s going on?” Tessa asked.
Silas had no clue. Even Drax furrowed his brow as the two men at the front gestured and spoke in low tones. The man in the brown suit looked toward the back of the room — just once, and only briefly, but Silas whipped around.
The chestnut-haired beauty was there, staring at the front of the hall with her hands clasped as if praying for something.
Silas pursed his lips. What was that all about?
Quick, turn away, his dragon bellowed.
But he was too late. Drax had followed his gaze and spotted the woman. He frowned at her — a menacing frown that told the woman she’d better not mess with him, or else.
Her knees wobbled for a split second, but then she straightened and glared back.
No, Silas wanted to yell. You don’t know who you’re crossing! She was a mere human, and Drax was a ruthless dragon.
“Ladies and gentlemen, pardon the interruption,” the flustered auctioneer said. “But we have discovered an irregularity. I regret to announce that Lot 457 has been removed from sale.”
“Removed?” Drax jumped to his feet and shook a fist. “What do you mean, removed?”
The auctioneer shrank away. The attendant hurried offstage with the velvet box. The man in the brown suit and a security man shot pained looks at the woman at the back of the room.
Silas spun around, catching her flash a brief smile before slipping toward the door.
“What the hell is going on?” Kai muttered.
Silas stood quickly and headed for the exit, wondering the same thing.