“You are Rurik’s mate,” the Russian dragon mused as he leaned in and inhaled Charlotte’s scent. She tensed, closing her eyes as he drew close enough to kiss her. He didn’t, but the invasion of her personal space was unsettling.

When he finally leaned away from her, she opened her eyes again. Luis, the man she’d head-butted, leaned against the closed door, watching her with black eyes. He’d brought her to an expensive high-rise structure in Moscow, newly built and mostly empty. She almost fainted at the height when she realized they were more than forty stories up in an empty corner office. She sat in a metal chair, but she wasn’t restrained. Why bother? She had no way to escape, except jumping.

Luis’s gaze raked down her body. “She reeks of Barinov.”

Dimitri Drakor didn’t seem nearly as brutish as she’d expected. He was nothing like Luis, who’d so casually talked about using her and leaving her ravaged body for Rurik to find. Instead, Drakor stared at with her with open curiosity, as though she were a strangely shaped puzzle piece that wasn’t fitting where he expected.

“He has claimed you.” Drakor brushed her hair back from her neck, his fingers tracing the outline of the still healing bite mark Rurik had left on her.

“That’s just a love bite,” she said, forcing herself to calm down. They weren’t going to kill her, at least not yet.

Drakor smirked. “Just a love bite? I think not. You experienced the dar bogov, didn’t you?” Charlotte looked puzzled, not knowing what he meant. The Russian dragon struggled for words. “I believe in English it means ‘gift of the gods.’ You could see through his eyes, and he through yours.” He reached up and curled his fingers around her throat but did not squeeze.

“Did you know he loved another before you? My son killed her in front of him, before Rurik murdered him. But he never claimed her.”

Charlotte swallowed. The suffering he must have endured being so close to her for so long, yet holding himself back.

Drakor growled softly, his eyes glowing a reddish gold as he captured her attention again.

“I’d counseled my son to wait, to let Rurik mate her first, but he was young and impulsive. He got what he deserved, I suppose. But now I will have my wish. When I kill you, Rurik will die. It might take hours, maybe days, but it will happen. And then his brothers, lost in grief over his death, will be easy targets.” His fingers pressed a little harder into her throat, but his touch was still loose enough that she could breathe. It didn’t stop the panic inside her, however.

“Then why haven’t you killed me yet?”

“I have my reasons,” Drakor said. “Nothing you need concern yourself about. But then there is this…” He crooked a finger in the air. Luis stepped forward, holding up a set of three vials. Charlotte recognized them with dread. They were early samples taken from her lab. A stronger version of the drug she’d created, a version that she didn’t trust herself to use because she feared it might cause long-lasting damage.

“Yes,” Drakor said, still watching her face. “Luis recovered these from the hunters and thought they might prove useful. Do you care to enlighten us as to what they are? My instincts tell me that you know. In fact, I feel as though your entire presence here in Russia revolves around them.”

Charlotte tried to remember the training she’d had from her brothers, tried to think her way through this. Stay alive. That was her biggest concern. Because staying alive kept Rurik alive too.

“It’s a drug I created. It has the power to make a shifter’s dragon go dormant.”

Luis looked like he wanted to throw the vials on the floor and smash them beneath his boots.

“Why would you make such a thing?” Drakor asked, then raised a finger before she could answer. “Ah. Yes. Of course. Control. Your brothers have plenty of weapons to kill us with, yes, but the Brotherhood has never been able to control us.”

Charlotte’s mouth dropped at the mention of her brothers.

“Oh yes. I know who you are,” Drakor replied. “I found great joy in turning the Brotherhood against the Barinovs. If they aren’t already killing each other, they soon will be. Your death will be made to appear like the other side was responsible. Blood calls out for blood, and when it is over, I will finish off whoever is still alive. But your drug intrigues me, so we will chat a little longer.”

Shit… Charlotte’s heart skipped a few heartbeats, the rush of terror hitting her anew.

Drakor finally let go of her throat. “How does it work?” When she didn’t answer, his hand erupted in fire. He held the flame painfully close to her face.

“Don’t make me ask again,” Drakor warned.

“It’s an enzyme-reaction-based structure. The enzymes lock onto cells with dragon DNA and paralyze them.”

This was, in fact, complete gibberish. The serum had originally been developed by John Dee five hundred years ago, and there was as much magic involved with it as there was science. She could spend years trying to unlock its secrets and trying to explain them in scientific terms. She’d been fortunate that her ability to replicate it hadn’t required any magic of her own.

“How long does it last?” he asked.

“About forty-eight hours.”

“Could you make a permanent version of the drug?” He moved his flaming hand away from her face a little.

“I don’t know. It’s possible. I would have to research it more.”

Drakor stood and walked over to Luis and took the vials. “Bring one of your men here. I wish to test this.”

Luis licked his lips nervously. But then he opened the door and spoke to whoever was outside. The tall, hulking man came in, scowling as he closed the door.

Drakor studied the vial he held, pinching it between his thumb and forefinger. “Does it have to be injected?”

“Yes.”

He filled a syringe with contents from the vial and held it out to the Brazilian dragon.

The third dragon looked to Luis, who nodded. Then the shifter accepted the syringe and injected it into his arm. For several seconds nothing happened. The man stood there, staring at them. Then he laid a hand over his abdomen, muttered something in Portuguese to Luis, and then his eyes widened and he started to thrash. He fell to the floor, his body shaking from violent seizures, but eventually they stopped.

For a moment Charlotte thought the drug had killed him, but then he groaned and staggered to his feet.

“Ask him how he feels,” Drakor said.

Luis translated the man’s reply. “He says he feels empty somehow.”

“Tell him to change,” Drakor said. “Bend fire, do something with his dragon.”

The man frowned and for a moment looked constipated. He shook his head, then looked to his hand and frowned again, flexing the fingers like it might help. Nothing. He began to shake again and started repeating the same words over and over. His entire world was crashing down upon him, and it was making him panic.

“Hearing, sight, he says everything is diminished.” Luis let out a stream of furious Portuguese. He raised his hand, and it erupted into flames. Charlotte tried to shield her face, but the attack never landed.

“Silva! Stop!” Drakor growled. “We cannot kill her. Don’t you see what she’s done?” Drakor held the two remaining vials in his hand, his dark eyes glowing a swirling gold now.

“It’s witchcraft is what it is.”

“You’re right.” Drakor grabbed Luis’s arm and held him back. “The best possible kind. She didn’t just give us a weapon. She gave us a tool.” He turned a cold, terrifying smile upon her. “A fate worse than death.”

Charlotte shrank back in her chair.

“My people lost the Cold War, but we won’t lose this one, not with this. With this, I will even make the Barinovs my servants.” He walked over to her and shook the vials tauntingly. “You are proving far more useful than I anticipated.” He glanced at Luis, who was still fuming. “Your men may have her, but they cannot kill her. I need her for the formula.”

Luis grabbed Charlotte’s arm and dragged her from the chair. “What will you do?” he asked Drakor.

“If the Brotherhood and the Barinovs haven’t killed each other yet, they might learn the truth. So we change tactics. I’ll make a ransom call and send them on a merry chase far away from us. Buy us some time.” Drakor pulled out his phone and dialed as she was hauled away from Drakor.

“Grigori,” he said in the phone. “I believe we need to—”

“It’s a trap!” Charlotte screamed, praying that Rurik’s brother would hear. Luis cuffed her, the blow landing on her temple. Pain shot through her head. She stumbled, hitting the doorjamb hard enough to bruise her right shoulder. Luis pulled her into the hall where his men were standing, and he grinned as he shoved her to her knees. Whatever he said to them made them all laugh.

“Me first, menina.” He reached down and fisted a hand in her hair, using it to jerk her head up. Charlotte’s scalp burned with sharp agony. The sound of men laughing was a haunting, frightening cacophony all around her. Luis jerked her to her feet by the arm and hair. He shoved her into the nearest room, slamming the door shut behind him. Charlotte had a few precious seconds of freedom before he grabbed her again, but she was facing him now, so she kneed Luis hard in the groin. Even dragons felt it there.

“Puta!” he snarled. She balled her fist and swung a haymaker at him, but that only hurt her hand. Luis braced himself against the wall by the door, blocking her only way out.

“So you have spirit after all. But not for long.” Luis grinned and tackled her to the ground. Her head smacked the thin carpet concealing concrete, and black dots filled her vision. His hands closed around her throat. She tried to scream, tried to fight. She was not going to go down like this.

In that moment she swore she could hear Rurik’s voice. She closed her eyes, searching for that veil of snow that she’d seen inside him. The fire hidden within the snow seemed to beat like a heart, and his voice came from it.

Charlotte, let me see through your eyes.

Luis tightened his grip. She clung to life, clung to Rurik, remembering everything she’d felt the moment she’d first kissed him. And then it happened—she felt herself falling into him like a meteor. She was unable to stop falling, even when she got close enough to him.

The flames of his heart enveloped her and she gasped, her body jolting like a live wire. She replayed everything she’d seen after the collision.

Find me, Rurik.

Just as he could see her memories, she suddenly saw his. Her brothers interrogating him, challenging his love for her, and Rurik holding fast, his heart unchanged. Her chest clenched as though invisible fingers had squeezed tight around her heart.

My heart… His words were rough, emotion breaking through like waves on an angry shore.

I won’t go home with anyone but you. You are my home. She sent the message to him as clear as a bell. Seconds later, she blacked out.