Remy was still expecting a double cross, but at least Margery was safe with Casimiro. He didn’t like the smarmy bastard, but the Chinese dragon would protect her with his life.

“Are you ready?” Arianna purred.

He wasn’t. “No time like the present.”

Arianna shifted into an emerald Celtic dragon. Just as beautiful in this form, she was as deadly as Reed. Remy forced himself not to flinch from the gigantic clawed hand that clutched him.

“It’ll be a short trip,” she said.

He resisted the urge to whoop in joy as they sailed over the trees and mountains. Remy never felt slighted that he couldn’t fly. He had the water, which was just as vast as the sky, but it was a treat to glide over the land. How would it feel to have sex in the air?

Probably a hell of a lot nicer if he had wings. Remy wasn’t sure he’d be able to keep it up as he plummeted a thousand feet toward the earth, though. But maybe with the right dragon... His mind wandered to Margery and that damned reverse cowgirl position of hers. He much preferred the other way, with her facing him—he could look into her beautiful eyes and play with her nipples while she bounced on his cock.

He let out a breath and thought about his baseball team’s season to calm his raging hormones. He didn’t want to give Arianna ideas.

Speaking of ideas, Remy wondered if Casimiro was going to behave himself. Unlike him, Casimiro had wings and would be able fly along with Margery once she recovered. Remy closed his eyes to banish the image. Well, at least that got rid of his hard-on.

He didn’t like that Casimiro had been her lover. He especially didn’t like that the singer had treated her like shit because she was human. Margery deserved someone who loved her for her beautiful self. Not just because she was a Queen.

But what if after spending tonight with Casimiro, she realized what Remy was lacking? Well, he’d go back to his lake. Where he belonged. It was a small comfort that she would make her home near his. Hopefully, Casimiro would be on tour most of the time, so he wouldn’t feel the need to smash that arrogant look off his face.

Maybe Margery would even allow him consort privileges when Casimiro was gone. Remy would like to think he was too proud to be second best, but he wanted Margery too much to care. After all, no Queen in over a millennium had been allowed a monogamous relationship. Still, Remy was pretty sure that Margery was still human enough to want one. He held on to hope that in the end, she would choose him over Casimiro, even with all of his faults.

True to Arianna’s word, they were in Vermont before his morbid thoughts could go any farther.

“Just fly low enough that I don’t break my back when I hit the water, and you can let go of me over the lake,” he called up to Arianna.

She skimmed the water and released him. Blowing him a kiss, she winged back up into the air and took off with her squadron of goons behind her. It was bliss to relax into his true form as his coils unraveled and soaked up the lake’s healing water. Remy hadn’t wanted to bring attention to the fact that he had been severely dehydrated. The last thing he needed was to give Reed an edge or Casimiro something else to needle him about.

Remy’s eyes drifted closed. He needed a break to recharge. Being in the presence of four Queens at the same time had almost broken him. Thankfully, all of them were too new to administer discipline for failing to abide by protocols, otherwise, he would have had his ass beaten five ways to Sunday. It was going to take a lot of getting used to, having all these Queens in the world. Dragon life would change. He worried what the three elder Queens would do because they were outnumbered and rapidly losing power. It could get deadly before things settled. Remy blew out a breath. Hopefully his mother would continue to stay out of the politics until the new Queens were in power. He just wished he knew if she was all right.

It had shocked him to learn Esmeralda had taken Carolyn prisoner to do her breeding work for her. What if his mother was similarly imprisoned? Fury blinded him, and he roared her name, which would rattle around the waterways and echo into the earth. She hadn’t responded before, but maybe now she would. He waited, but as always, he didn’t get a response.

He hoped his father was with her. Two lake dragons who’d gotten tired of the humans and didn’t want to be found, even by their son.

With that depressing thought, he pushed himself out of the water. It was too soon, but he needed to check on the mercenaries he’d hired to guard his home. When Margery came back to Vermont after the investigation, he was going to make damned sure what happened at Reed’s complex would not happen here. Grim determination settled into him. He’d handle it. He was a protector and a consort, like his father had been.

He couldn’t help but worry about Margery, though. Casimiro wasn’t known for his martial skills—what was he going to do against a pack of drakes? Sing them to sleep? Remy snorted. He wished he could call her, but he didn’t want to distract her if she was in the middle of something important. Like fighting off assassins. Or dodging bullets.

This isn’t helping.

Remy’s stomach gurgled from the acid bite of worry. What if one of the elder Queens decided to kidnap her? Casimiro didn’t have the resources to battle a Queen. He rubbed his face and tried to banish these thoughts. There was nothing he could do about it now. But if a situation arose, he would react to it with lethal force. He blew out a sigh. That was all he could do.

The mercenaries knew their stuff. After answering a few questions and giving some instructions, Remy spent a few hours sleeping in the lake to rejuvenate. He dreamed of Margery and him sky dancing over the lochs of Scotland. He came just as they plummeted into the water. Then she was on his turf. All the thrashing he did in his sleep probably caused wakes that upset the boaters on the lake’s surface.

Waking up rejuvenated and oddly satisfied, Remy swam to where he docked his boat. He turned back into human to visit the dock master. But old Ben wasn’t around. Remy felt comfortable enough to break the lock on the office door and let himself inside. He flicked on the lights; he wanted to attract attention. But even though it was close to midnight, no one came to investigate.

Remy checked the logs and saw that his boat had been taken out three times while he was in Scotland. Old Ben put down that the captain was “a friend of Champ’s.”

“Great.” Remy sighed. Like that didn’t make him look guilty. Remy called old Ben’s cell phone, but it immediately went to voicemail.

Time to try out the local bars. With any luck, he’d be able to get a description of his “good friend” who used his boat to smuggle drugs.

He found Ben at the local dive bar, Brews and Cues. Both the beer and the pool tables had seen better days. Still, he was greeted like an old friend, and when he bought the bar a round, he became their hero, at least for the next hour or so.

Sitting down across from old Ben, Remy realized he was going to have to talk fast, because Ben was on his way to either falling asleep or passing out at the table.

“Champ! Good to see yer,” old Ben said, shaking his hand.

“Had a question about who’s been using my boat.”

Old Ben squinted at him. “Your dragon friend? That bastard’s been dipping his wick into every female willing to spread her legs for him.”

Remy’s eyes widened. That didn’t sound good. “Really? I haven’t seen him around lately, and I was wondering if he said when he’d be back?”

Ben scratched the whiskers on his chin. “Haven’t seen him in a few months or so.”

“Where does he stay when he’s in town?”

Ben shrugged. “Pretty much any damn place he wants to. Women throwing themselves at him. Grown women, too. I can excuse the younger ones. They ain’t got any sense. But widow Frieda was practically sitting on his lap.” He shook his head and blew out a sigh. “How’s a man supposed to compete with the likes of you studs?”

“Widow Frieda?” Remy racked his brain but came up with a generic older woman, midforties, handsome rather than pretty. Her husband had died a few years ago of cancer. She kept mostly to herself, but Remy had run into her at ball games and dock parties. She wasn’t a dragon stud’s usual prey. “Did he take her out on the boat?”

“He took her, all right,” Ben said, darkly.

“Where does she live?”

“Why?” Ben shoved away from the table, swaying. “This time of night? You think she’ll let you in her bed because she’s dragonstruck?”

“Uh.” Remy got up, too, and tried to pacify the old man. “No. I’m looking for my friend. That’s all. Settle down. I don’t want any trouble.”

Or all the attention he was suddenly getting.

“I remember that friend of yours,” Zeke, who owned the coffee shop next to the dock, said. He paused in his game of pool, rubbing chalk on the tip thoughtfully. “Dark-skinned dude, right? From India?”

India? That’s Choyo’s territory.

“Yeah, that’s him,” Remy said. Not that it narrowed it down any.

“He propositioned my daughter Lisa.” Zeke blew on the tip of the pool cue. Blue dust powder floated to the ground.

“I’m sorry.”

“Sorry, hell. Now she’s pregnant.” Zeke swung the pool cue.

Damn it. Remy let it hit his arm. The cue shattered. “I think I should talk to your daughter.”

“Even if I knew where she was,” Zeke said, “I wouldn’t tell you. He broke her heart.”

Nidhogg save me from stupid humans. Remy spoke slow and calm, as if he was soothing a wild animal. “If she’s carrying a dragon’s egg, she’s in terrible danger. Biologically, our species aren’t compatible, right?” Remy held out his hand in a gesture of peace. “She needs a doctor or she could die.”

“You son of a bitch.” Zeke swung wildly. Remy sidestepped, and Zeke, off balance and more than a little drunk, fell to the floor. That’s when all hell broke loose. Ben hit him with a chair from behind. Someone threw a bottle at him. Two fishermen tried to tackle him to the ground. He pried them off as gently as he could.

Saddened that his village had turned against him over the actions of one bad dragon, he lamented that he hadn’t visited them sooner. But just as soon as he got back from Scotland, he’d had his hands full with Margery. Maybe he could have stopped this pressure-cooker situation before it reached this point.

Remy left the bar as peacefully as he could. They couldn’t hurt him, even if they pulled out their shotguns, but he wanted to be long gone before that possibility even occurred to anyone. He’d never forgive himself if someone got caught in the crossfire. The bar fight raged around without him, making him wonder if maybe they just needed to blow off steam.

He wandered off down the roads, wondering what the hell he was going to do now. He had to talk to the widow Frieda and find Zeke’s daughter Lisa, but he had no idea where to find either at this time of night. Two Burlington police cars flew down the road, their lights flashing but their sirens off. No sense waking the locals for a bar fight. A third squad car slowed and pulled off to the side.

A big, burly man with a gray beard down to his chest uncoiled from the car and walked over to him. It was the chief of police. “I heard you were tearing up Brews?”

“It would be splinters if I was, Dan.”

Dan shook his head. “It ain’t the same since your friend came to town.”

“What if I tell you he isn’t my friend?”

“All you dragon studs stick together.”

“No.” Remy ground his teeth. “This is my territory, and he hurt my people. I’d appreciate it if you can help me out here. I think widow Frieda and Zeke Jordan’s daughter Lisa are in trouble.”

“What can I do?”

“Can you take me to widow Frieda’s house?”

“Champ, it’s after midnight.”

“It might be life and death.”

This time, they traveled with the lights and sirens on. Dan had called ahead, and Frieda was out on the porch wrapped in a black chenille bathrobe and looking annoyed.

“This better be good, Chief. I need my beauty sleep.” She straightened up when Remy got out of the car and smoothed her hand over her hair. “Shit, Dan. You could have warned me.”

“I’m sorry for bothering you,” Remy said. “But I need to ask you a few questions about the dragon that was telling everyone he was my friend.”

“Sure,” she nodded. “Let’s go inside and get warm.” They followed her into a pretty cabin and sat down in her living room. “Can I get you guys something to drink? I’ve got some beer.”

“I’m on duty,” Dan said, making himself as comfortable as he could on the prissy couch. He fiddled with the doilies on top that kept dropping into his lap.

“No, thanks.” Remy perched on the arm of the chair, but at her disapproving look, he sat in the seat instead. “What was the name he gave you? I’m not even sure I know who this stud is.”

“Really?” Frieda blew out a sigh. “I can’t imagine why Rathin would lie about knowing you.”

“Rathin?” Panic flared up in him. That was the name of the guard Carolyn had suggested for Viola, the one who had survived the explosion. “Do you have a picture of him?” He had to make sure it was the same guy.

She bit her lip. “I know your kind doesn’t like to have their picture taken. I don’t want to get in trouble. I never would sell it or anything.”

“I just want to confirm it’s the same stud.”

“I thought you said you didn’t know him,” Dan grunted, giving up on keeping the doilies on the top of the couch. He tossed them to the coffee table in disgust.

“I just met him. If he’s the same one.”

Frieda dug her phone out of her purse and flipped through it until she came across the picture she was looking for. She showed it to Remy.

Son of a bitch. Remy exploded off the couch. Frieda squawked and pinwheeled back; he had to force himself to calm down. “That dragon just tried to kill one of the new Queens. I have to warn the embassy about him.”

“Kill a Queen?” Frieda clutched the opening of her robe in shock. “Why? I thought he wanted babies.” Her hand went to her stomach.

Remy tracked the motion. “Did he give you any pills? Any medicine to take to make you...” He cleared his throat. This was embarrassing. “You know, fertile.”

Her eyes darted to a collection of stuffed animals in another chair. There was a blue Smooshie doll. Remy snatched it up even as she moved toward it.

“You give that back. It’s mine. I was planning on giving it to my child.”

“What are you yammering on about, Frieda? You and Louis never had any kids.”

She cradled her stomach again. “I may be too old to have a human child, but Rathin gave me his baby. It’s a boy. I just know it.”

“Frieda,” Remy said, handing her back the dragon doll. “Did Rathin leave you with any instructions on how to reach him? Did he tell you when to go to the hospital?”

She shook her head. “He said he had to go away for a bit, but he’d be back to see our son born.”

Remy blew out a sigh. “I’m going to have some dragons pick you up and take you somewhere safe.”

“No.” She shook her head. “I know all about how you studs are jealous of each other. You’re not going to steal me away from Rathin. I love him. And I love this child. If he tried to kill a Queen, she must have deserved it.”

Remy’s vision turned red. She couldn’t possibly believe that killing a Queen would be anything but a catastrophe to the dragon race. “Excuse me for a second.” He stormed outside and took several gulps of air. “Holy shit.” The BabyDragon drug really worked. Or at least Frieda thought it did.

When he got his breath back, Remy bit the bullet and called Reed.

“Why does my phone say you’re in Vermont instead of on my roof?” Reed snarled.

Remy ignored him. “Rathin was the one using my boat. He impregnated a middle-aged human. I’m with her now. She has a Smooshie.”

“I’ll be right there.”

“Bring your Queen.” He spoke fast before Reed hung up. “The woman’s going to freak if studs come for her. Rathin warned her about them trying to kidnap her.”

“Isn’t Margery with you? Can’t she talk some sense into this human?”

Remy sighed. “Margery is with Casimiro in Quebec.”

“Doesn’t she realize her life is in danger?” Reed shouted.

He wasn’t going down that road right now. “There’s more.”

Reed growled, “Tell me.”

“Another woman has gone missing. I’m willing to bet she’s pregnant, too. I don’t suppose Rathin ever came back to the compound?”

“No, but I’ll find him. Give me the human girl’s information.”

“You can talk to the chief of police about it when you get here.” Remy glanced up at the night sky, wondering how long it would take before word got out and they faced more than dragons. The human news could be just as lethal, and he couldn’t afford to scare Lisa any more than she already was.

“How did you manage to get out of my complex without me knowing?” Reed asked.

“Ask Carolyn on the way here.”

***

IT WAS ALMOST DAWN by the time Carolyn won Frieda over. Remy wanted to jump into the lake and head on up to Margery, but Reed terrified Frieda so much that Remy promised to stay until she no longer felt threatened. It would have happened much sooner if Reed had the ability to tone down his attitude.

In the end, it was Frieda’s love for Agatha Christie books that bridged the gap between her and Carolyn. She agreed to be driven in a limousine to New York to have the dragon doctors look at her.

“For the good of our child,” she said as she was helped into the back of the car.

“I’ll see if I can get any drug residue off that damned Smooshie,” Reed said once she was inside. “If we can find out what’s in it, we’ll have a better chance of protecting the ones who took the drug. I’ll put Rathin under twenty-four-hour surveillance once he emerges. We’ll find the other woman, too.”

“Before it’s too late?” Dan asked, crossing his arms over his barrel chest.

“It depends on how far along she is. In Frieda’s case, we may still be able to save her life. But I’ll warn you. None of the human hosts have survived gestation. None of the dragon hatchlings did, either.”

“Nidhogg’s balls,” Remy said. “I need to find Margery.”

“You shouldn’t have left her.”

“I had no choice.”

“Did she order you from her sight?”

“Close enough.”

“Don’t harass him,” Carolyn piped up. “No one dreamed we’d have this much of a cluster fuck going on.”

Reed glowered at her.

“Oh, stick it,” she said. “Remy, we’ve got this from here. Let us know when you catch up with Casimiro and Margery.”

“Keep me informed about Frieda and Lisa. They’re my people. In my territory. I feel responsible.”

Reed gave him a curt nod. “In the future, however, I wish to be informed of any actions that violate my direct orders.”

“We are whims to the Queens’ commands.”

“That’s right, Remy. Just throw me under the bus,” Carolyn said, changing to her dragon form.

“I wouldn’t do that to a poor unsuspecting bus,” he said and waved as she flew off.

“I’d better catch that,” Reed said, peering up at his mate’s fleeing form.

“Did you apologize?”

“I don’t have to answer... Yes.” Reed sighed. “She should have known I was angry at the situation and not her. But I told her that anyway, and things are back to normal. Or as normal as they get.”

“Good. She’s a nice Queen. And if you don’t take care of her, there will be a hundred other studs who will.”

Reed shifted to his full Celtic glory. “I’d like to see them try.” He bared his teeth at Remy and took to the sky.

“Never dull with you here, Champ.” Dan clamped a hand on his shoulder. “You find Lisa and help Frieda and things will die down.”

“Count on it,” Remy said. “Give me a ride to the wharf?”

“Only if I can leave the sirens off this time. The office has already fielded fifty complaints.”