“It’s been a long time, brother,” Grigori said.

“It has indeed,” Mikhail replied. A hundred things he’d longed to say simply faded. He pulled his elder brother into a fierce hug. Two hundred years had passed since he’d seen Grigori, and in that embrace he felt every single day fade away.

“Now that you have the jewels back, tell me you will stop this exile nonsense and come home. Rurik and I miss you. Besides, now that you shall be an uncle soon…”

Mikhail’s lips parted in shock. “You mean you…”

“Madelyn and I are expecting a drakeling. Should be here in eight months. Can you believe it? I’m going to be a father.” Grigori’s blue eyes sparkled like diamonds. He’d never looked happier.

Mikhail slapped his brother’s back. “Congratulations.” But then he sobered. “But how? Madelyn isn’t a dragoness.” Belishaw was sure Mikhail’s brother had mated a mortal. He’d thought that Grigori wouldn’t want to have to watch his mate die, and children wouldn’t be possible.

Grigori’s expression sobered. “No. Madelyn isn’t a dragon, but she’s not mortal either.”

Mikhail was confused now. “Then what is she?”

“She’s a Thunderbird. I think that dragons can mate with other supernatural creatures because of the way our ancestors bonded to spirits in the same way.”

That wasn’t possible. The Thunderbirds were extinct, weren’t they? Their father had made it his life’s mission to kill them to avenge the loss of his own father. But if there were still Thunderbirds alive, and one was here…

“Piper.” Mikhail’s gasp sounded more like a hiss than he meant it to. His brother tensed as he barred the path to the kitchen.

“Easy, brother, she’s not going to hurt you.”

Mikhail curled his hands into fists. “She’s in the kitchen with my mate.”

“And Piper is perfectly safe,” Grigori promised. “Sit, and let me tell you all that’s happened since you left.”

Mikhail reluctantly sat down and listened as his brother shared an almost unbelievable tale of how he’d met Madelyn when she’d discovered James Barrow’s old journal in a library in Russia. Then he explained what had happened that fateful night when their parents had died. Only Mikhail’s mother had survived the battle, and she’d lived long enough to tell Grigori and Rurik what had happened. Mikhail had known their father wasn’t perfect, but to learn that he had tracked down and killed the last mated Thunderbirds on earth, when they hadn’t even wanted to fight, left him feeling cold.

“It was Mother. She found Madelyn, who was just an infant at the time. Mother took her to safety before she died. It’s all connected. Don’t you see?” Grigori asked, his voice full of awe. “It was fate that bound our lives together. First as enemies, and now as mates.”

“How did Rurik take the news?” Mikhail knew how hotheaded their younger brother could be. It was a trait in battle dragons to act rashly and without thought. It usually kept them alive.

“He was hesitant at first, but when we had to face the Drakors, Madelyn killed all of them. You should have seen it. They were all circling around this high mountain and coming out of these caves. Madelyn came screaming down from the heavens in her bird form and created a sonic boom that crushed the mountain down on them. I’m just glad that battle was in rural Russia or else the damned Brotherhood of the Blood Moon would be knocking on our door.” Grigori chuckled as though recalling some memory. “After that, Rurik became a fan.” It pained Mikhail to know he’d missed out on so much of his brothers’ lives.

“So,” Grigori said, focusing on him again. “Will you come home, brother?”

It was what he’d hoped to hear from his father, but he never would. Forgiveness from a dead man was not something he could ever get.

“I still need to talk to Piper. She’s only just become a dragon. This is all new to her. She’ll need time to reorganize her life. She might not want to move to Russia. So until she decides, I’ll go where she goes.”

Grigori nodded. “Wise answer. A good dragon puts his mate’s needs above his own.” It was something their father had said over and over again, a code he’d lived by, except the night he’d gotten himself killed, dooming their mother in the process.

“I’m sorry I didn’t reach out,” Mikhail said, his voice a little rough as long-buried emotions began to claw back to the surface.

“I know,” Grigori replied. “I’m sorry too. Father put so much emphasis on duty, you never had a chance to learn that life was also about love and joy.” Mikhail had never seen his brother like this before. Grigori’s eyes were soft as he spoke. He had always been hard and strong, like their father, but now he seemed strong in a different way. More like their mother.

“You’ve changed.” Mikhail smiled.

“We both have.” Grigori glanced over his shoulder toward the kitchen. “Finding one’s mate is like learning to fly for the first time. Excitement, fear, joy, love, and exquisite pleasure.”

His brother had summarized it perfectly. Finding Piper, loving her, and almost losing her had shown him just what he’d missed out on by hiding away. He’d lost Elizabeth, and that had almost destroyed him. But Piper had saved him.

“How did you do it?” Grigori asked quietly. “How did you turn her into a dragon?”

“I’m not sure. It all happened so fast. Piper leaped in front of Sinclair’s blade and…” The words died on his lips. It took a moment to compose himself. “She was dying in my arms, and I heard a voice that told me I needed to give her a dragon’s heart.”

Grigori frowned. “A dragon’s heart?”

“Yes, but not an actual heart. The Dragon Heart Stone. A fist-sized ruby that was imbued with magic.” He curled his fingers into a fist, remembering how it had felt to hold the ruby and feel the power surging through it into Piper. “I held her as she breathed her last, and then the stone exploded with power and turned to dust. There must have been a dragon’s soul sleeping in there, one that bound itself to Piper. I can’t think of any other explanation, but I’ve never heard of such a thing before, have you?”

“The Dragon Heart Stone,” Grigori mused, his blue eyes serious. “I remember Father telling us about it, how even the Belishaw clan feared to keep it in their possession. Yet none knew what power it held. But if this is true, if it did hold a sleeping dragon’s soul, then it might not be the only stone out there with such powers. You remember our uncle, Vasili? He was searching for the Heart of Sorrows, a sapphire the size of an apple. What if it holds a similar power?”

“Did he find the stone?”

Grigori shook his head. “His mate died while they were exploring the Alps together, and he passed away shortly after her and failed to discover its location. We never found either of them. Father believed they were buried beneath snow after they perished.”

For a long moment neither brother spoke as they thought of all the dragons long gone.

Then Mikhail smiled as a new thought occurred to him. “You and Rurik never got to see the hoard I was supposed to bring home all those years ago. Do you want to see it?”

Grigori shook his head. “Better not. I would end up spending all night counting pearls, and my lovely wife would be upset.”

The brothers laughed, then paused when they heard their mates’ laughter coming from the kitchen.

“It’s nice, isn’t it?” Grigori asked. Mikhail nodded. For so long it had been just the three of them against the world. Now with mates and a drakeling on the way, the Barinovs would be a real family again. “All we need now is to find a nice dragoness for Rurik,” Grigori said.

“Find Rurik a mate? I doubt that will ever happen.” Mikhail snorted.

Grigori grinned. “Never say never, brother.”

* * *

Piper sat on the edge of Mikhail’s bed, watching him undress. It was close to midnight. They’d had a wonderful dinner with Grigori and Madelyn, who at this moment were settling in for the night in a bedroom down the hall.

“It’s time for our little talk.” Mikhail came over to stand in front of her, wearing only his jeans with the top button undone. He did that on purpose, she supposed. Something about him in just jeans made her a little crazy. She stared at his chest until he cupped her chin and tilted her head to look up at him.

“Hmmm?”

“We need to talk,” he repeated. His green eyes were warm. Piper couldn’t help but smile, even though there was a sudden flutter of nerves in her belly. She held her breath as she tried to stay calm.

“Is it a good talk or a bad talk?”

“A good talk…I hope.” He brushed the pad of his thumb over her lips and flashed her a smile. Then he knelt down in front of her and took her hands in his.

“So much has happened this last week. I know you still need time to adjust to being one of…my kind.” His face turned ruddy, as though he was embarrassed.

“A dragon,” she said with a giggle. “You can say it, you know. It’s not so scary anymore. I talked to Madelyn, and she faced the same thing, becoming something she didn’t know how to be. Knowing that I’m not alone—” She paused a moment. “That makes it easier.”

Mikhail raised her hands to his lips, pressing a kiss to her knuckles. “And you have me.” The kiss singed her skin deliciously. She wanted those lips all over the rest of her body.

“I do,” she agreed, pulling them up so he towered over her. “Why don’t we talk later?” She trailed a finger down his chest toward his jeans.

Mikhail’s eyes went from green to molten gold as he groaned. “If I have to tie you down to talk, little dove, I will.”

She held out her wrists. “Yes, please.”

“Fuck, you are driving me wild, love.” He captured her wrists and closed his eyes. “Just let me say what I need to say first. Then we can play.” He opened his eyes again. “I love you.”

Piper held her breath, her heart racing like it had the first time she’d leaped into the air as a dragon.

His face turned red. “You must understand, for me to say this might seem rushed to you, but it is different with our kind. We know, deep down, about those we choose to love. There is no doubt, because the bond couldn’t happen without it.”

“I know,” Piper said, both confused and understanding. “I feel it too. I just…know. It’s not something I think I could have ever felt as a human. Like I can actually sense a piece of me that’s missing, and you fit it perfectly.” She said the words softly, a little afraid to admit something so intimate, so vulnerable. She’d never loved anyone before, not like this. It was terrifying, exciting, and overwhelming. But he felt the same way about her, and that made it so much better.

“You feel the same?” Mikhail’s eyes widened.

Her eyes stung with tears. “Of course I do.” She climbed onto her knees on the bed, putting their faces level. She curled her arms around his neck and pressed her forehead to his. “It’s insane to love someone so soon, I know, but I do. It’s like a part of me was missing all these years, and being with you… It’s that missing piece settling into place. I am whole.” She feathered her lips over his, and their breathing matched the steady beating of their hearts.

“Let’s go home. To Russia,” she said before kissing him again.

“You want to?” he asked.

Piper nodded. “Once we get the treasure situation sorted out, I want you to take me home.”

Mikhail smiled. “We’ll be the first dragon family to have our own private gemologist.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “The others will be jealous.”

Piper laughed. “Just promise me I get to look at the jewels from time to time.” She was teasing, but a mischievous glint filled Mikhail’s eyes.

“Oh, little dove, I plan to strip you naked and cover you with pearls, drape you with diamonds, torture and tease you with topaz, entice you with emeralds, show my love with lapis lazuli—”

This time she did giggle, unable to stop. “That sounds like a wonderful dream.”

“Which I promise to make come true.” He nudged her back on the bed and covered her with kisses, each one more tender than the last. As she and Mikhail made love, she swore she heard a faint whisper of sound sighing against the windows.

For whoever owns a dragon’s heart will know love unending.