Way to go, Remy. Shout at the only Queen who ever deigned to have dinner with you.

He scowled. She probably didn’t know that a Queen took everything as her due. That by thanking him, it meant she was surprised that he was able to offer her the littlest of courtesies. It grated on him. At least she hadn’t sneered at him. It would have hurt, but it would have made things a lot easier. Then he probably would have just dived into the lake and stayed there until her perfumed scent was a memory. As it was, he prayed for morning to come as soon as possible and the temptation of her sweetness to fade. Centuries of being ignored and thought of as useless by the bitch Queens should have inured him to their presence. But this new development with the emerging Queens made a dragon hope. Was it too much to ask that one of them would be a lake dragon, too?

Of all the Queens to cross his path, it had to be a sky dragon. Her strength was in the air. His was in the water. They only met on common ground on earth. It would never work between them, even if she could overlook his shortcomings.

He stayed in the shadows and looked out at her. She was still moving gingerly, but he was pleased to note that she left the log she had been sitting on for the comfort of the deluxe air mattress. She frowned in the light of the laptop, and he wondered what caught her attention.

Margery.

He let himself savor the name. She wasn’t perfect in her human guise. The old dragon Queens would never let their magic slip as to appear anything but flawless. He liked that Margery decided to stay true to her human form. Of course, she might not have mastered enough dragon magic to change yet. She certainly hadn’t magicked the T-shirt he gave her into something that fit her. He had to admit, he liked seeing her in his shirt, smelling her fragrance mixed with his, and seeing the swell of her breasts against the soft material. Remy especially liked that part of having a Queen around.

Because he was sniffing like a stud in heat, he smelled the drakes before he heard them. They were deliberately coming in downwind and moving slowly to minimize their presence. Remy glared into the distance. At the extreme range of his vision he saw three of them, but he’d bet there were more. Low to the ground, they resembled enormous Komodo dragons. Wingless, they relied on the brute strength of their mouths and claws. They were coming in a pack to try and steal the Queen before she could fly out of their reach.

He knew she was going to be trouble. But he hadn’t expected them so soon. After taking the Barrett .50 caliber rifle off the wall, Remy loaded the magazine with depleted uranium rounds and walked outside. These bullets could punch through a tank’s armor. While it wouldn’t kill a drake or one of the bigger Celtic dragons outright, it would make them think twice about poaching on his land.

“Remy, what?” Margery said, alarmed. “That’s a big damn gun.”

“Rifle. Cover your ears,” he said and fired to the left of her.

The drake roared and flipped over. It writhed in pain as the depleted uranium bullet shattered through several layers of scales. Remy shot it twice more until it twitched in agony. It was still alive, but it wasn’t going to get up anytime soon.

“Holy shit,” Margery screeched, both hands clamped on her ears.

“Stay down,” he warned and blasted a second drake.

“Hold your damn fire,” the third drake snarled, shifting into human form to make a smaller target.

Margery scrambled up from the air mattress, clutching the laptop and the quilt to her.

“What are you doing on my land?” Remy asked.

“We wanted to talk to the Queen.”

“How did you know she was here?” Remy covered Margery as she scurried behind him, sinking two more rounds into the second drake so the only immediate threat was from the one in human form.

“People talk. We listen. Is she sick?”

“I’m fine. Thanks,” Margery said. “I’m not in the mood to be receiving guests.”

“The Queen says fuck off.” Remy sighted the barrel on the remaining drake.

“We need to ask her a few questions.”

“Then come back tomorrow. The embassy’s delegates will be here.”

“I don’t need to kowtow to Reed and his idiots,” the drake spat. “It can be solved here and now. What is the Queen going to do about the lake situation?”

“Last I checked, it was my lake,” Remy said.

“Not anymore it’s not, son. She’s the only Queen in this territory. Unless Viola is going to claim all the islands, too.”

“I’m not interested in territory,” Margery said. “I’ve got an apartment in Manhattan.”

The drake cocked his head. “I’m not sure who’s Queen of New York, but it ain’t going to be you. You’re not powerful enough to keep it when another Queen attacks it.”

“I don’t think you understand,” she said, tucking the quilt more securely around her. “I’m not interested in dragon politics.”

“Well, it’s interested in you, sweetheart.”

“I’ve got my own life and my own career,” Margery went on as if he hadn’t spoken.

“You need protection. I know Champ here is your protector now, but he’s useless as tits on a bull.”

Remy shot him. A human would have had a gaping hole in his chest where the DU round punched through and into the tree behind him. The drake flew back, but he couldn’t see daylight through him. “How does useless feel, son?”

“It doesn’t have to go down like this.” The drake coughed, slowly regaining his footing. He was a tough bastard. Remy could see why he was the leader. “Let the Queen make her own choice.”

“It’s made,” Margery said. “I’ve accepted Remy’s protection.”

Fuck.

He was now her protector until she put together a formal court and he could petition to be relieved of duties. Remy couldn’t stop to glare in her direction. She probably didn’t even know what she’d just done. Still, he was a better choice than these jerk-offs.

All he wanted to do was fish and be left alone. He didn’t need this Queen shit.

“Is he your consort?”

His body twitched in response. It might not be all bad after all. He’d never thought he’d have sex with a woman of his own species. And Margery was gorgeous as a human; he would have been buying her a drink if they’d met under different circumstances.

“That’s none of your business,” she said.

Remy grinned at her prim tone.

“If you haven’t picked a consort yet, there will be plenty offering for the job.”

“I’m in negotiations,” Margery hedged.

Remy rolled his eyes. She was a bad liar, but the drake wouldn’t call her on it.

“I’d like to offer the services of me and my friends.”

“For what?” she asked.

The drake looked at her like she was a little dim. Remy considered shooting him again on principle. But the DU rounds were custom-made and more expensive than what the satisfaction would be worth.

“For anything you want. Provided that you turn a blind eye to some of our cargo that we’re shipping down from Quebec. Of course, you’ll be given a generous cut of the profits, as fits a Queen of your stature. We’re agreeable to setting you up with a mansion and your own yacht.”

“Great. I’m Elmer J. Fudd, Millionaire, now,” she muttered.

Remy cracked a smile.

“What cargo?” she said.

The drake slid his eyes to the red dragon doll that she’d left behind on the air mattress. Time slid to a standstill as three things happened simultaneously.

Remy couldn’t contain his rage and emptied the clip into the drake. Drugging humans. Killing them. Not on his watch.

Several more drakes swarmed the camp.

Margery screamed and tried to shift. Her form fluttered, and for a moment he thought she’d make it, but after a brief blur, she was still human.

Out of the corner of his eye, Remy saw her bent over, retching. He exploded into his dragon form. Even though he was a fish out of water, he used his tail and mouth to keep the drakes from coming in too close to Margery.

Stretching his long neck out, he snapped a drake out of the air in midleap and crushed him in his jaws, shaking him until he died. He threw the carcass at another drake that was thundering in. Remy’s tail slashed out and bowled over two more.

“Get to the lake,” he roared.

Margery turned and ran, but into the house.

“Idiot,” he called before he remembered he was addressing a Queen. At least the drakes would have to get by him to storm the house. Four drakes launched themselves on top of him. He barrel-rolled, crushing them under his bulk. Unfortunately, that exposed his belly, and two more jumped on. He turned again. That was fine. Let them come at him. If Margery had any sense, she’d be using the laptop to call for backup. If he was lucky, the delegation was in Vermont, staying at Viola’s farm in Burlington.

He continued to twist, trashing the camp. Remy had a thought to roll them all through the woods down to the lake, where he could end this in a hurry. But the drake who was still in human form picked up the Barrett that Remy had dropped and took aim.

Damn it. This was going to hurt.

“Stop!” Margery bellowed. The crazy bitch was standing on the roof of his house. “As Queen of New York State, I command you.”

Remy groaned. She did not just declare herself Queen of New York. She was so screwed.

The drake held up a hand, and the teeth and claws puncturing him let up. Remy had a choice. He could take advantage and kill the one with the gun and risk death for disobeying a Queen. Or he could lie still and take orders. He was never good with orders.

“I don’t recognize your authority...bitch.” The drake took the decision out of his hands when he turned the Barrett on Margery.

Remy lunged at him. Bit him in half. But the drake got a shot off first. The remaining drakes scattered. Killing a Queen was obviously not on their agenda for tonight. It was a terrible death sentence, a slow, agonizing one. Margery was no longer on the roof. She was so tiny and already weakened. The shot and the fall, combined with everything else...damn it.

In less than twenty-four hours a Queen under his protection had been killed. Remy’s body curled up in a fetal position as he shifted back to human. If he could get to the cabin, he could call the embassy to send reinforcements. Trying to stand was a bust. He couldn’t even get to his knees. He lay there panting from the exertion. He needed to be back in the water to heal his wounds, otherwise he’d die alongside her.

Not just yet. He had a little more in him.

Crawling toward the house, he was surprised at the grief he felt at the poor girl’s passing. The caliber of bullet hitting her at that close range, in her weakened state, would have turned her into a fine red mist.

Nidhogg damn it.

Remy struggled forward. He wanted to check, even though he already knew what he would find. Blackness tinged at the very edges of his vision, and his entire body spasmed.

Maybe he was as useless as tits on a bull.

He tried once more, every muscle in his body shaking with the effort.

Nope.

Live or die? They could find him with the rest of the dead bodies tomorrow. Or he could try and make it to the lake. The waters called to him.

He stopped struggling and rolled an agonizing inch at a time until momentum took over, and his body tumbled down the long hill into the healing waters of his lake. The water cloaked him as he transformed into a dragon. Exhaustion stalked him as he swam to the deepest part of the lake and sank four hundred feet to rest at the bottom, trying to escape the recriminations in his own head.