Andor walked out of his house and toward the clearing. He could not take his brother and Rickman watching him any more. Tonight the Hunter's Moon would rise for the first of three nights, and he imagined that they were watching him for signs of madness. After trying repeatedly to tell them he was fine, he decided that being away from them was best, otherwise they would drive him mad before the moon had a chance.

He had given up on drinking away Lyssa's memory, since all the wine had done was give him a headache. It had failed to chase her from his thoughts, and there seemed little point to it. Now that the day he had been dreading was upon him, he wanted to think of her. If he was to die tonight, he wanted the last memories he experienced before the end to be of her.

He made it to the clearing and a chill chased up the back of his neck. He rubbed it as he scanned the trees around him. Nothing appeared out of the ordinary, and it could be the cool bite of autumn that was causing the chill. It didn't explain the feeling of being watched, but perhaps Rickman or his brother hadn't gotten their fill of spying on him. It didn't matter. Let them watch and worry.

The feeling of eyes upon him was chased away by the memories of Lyssa that came flooding back. He remembered bringing her here, when she had been concerned that he was keeping secrets from her. Perhaps he should have told her then about his true nature. It could not have gone any worse than the night he did tell her, and he could have shown her what he was instead of relying on her taking him at his word.

He stood in the spot where they'd made love and he would have given anything to have that moment back. Was it too late for them? Had he ruined his only chance with her? Could he try talking to her again, now that she had a chance to think about what he had revealed to her?

In his head, he knew that getting Lyssa to come back to him was a lost cause, but his heart cried out for her. He had never loved anyone the way he loved her, and he could not bring himself to believe that this was over. He longed to take his dragon form, to clear through the thoughts clamoring in his head. It was too dangerous to do it today of all days. He was more primal, more fierce in his dragon form and with the Hunter's Moon cresting tonight, transforming would only bring the madness closer. He could not risk it, even for the clarity it brought.

He raked his hands through his hair as he paced around the clearing. He wanted to shout to the heavens, to ask what he should do, but he would not find the answer there. Rickman seemed to think that there was still hope, that she might be willing to listen to him. He took a deep breath and pushed it out.

There was nothing left for him to lose by going to her. Tonight would be his last night alive if the madness took hold and his brother kept his word. He wanted to see her one last time. Even if she didn't believe him, he could at least say goodbye to her.

Peace settled over him once his mind was made up. He would go to her and talk to her to see if she could accept him for who he was. If not, he would at least face his death knowing that he had done everything he could to make her his.

A twig snapped behind him, and he rolled his eyes as a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. Either his brother or Rickman could not content themselves with spying. It did not matter. He was leaving the clearing now that he had decided to see Lyssa one final time.

He turned around, and the smile on his face fell away when he saw that it was not his brother or Rickman who stood behind him. Kevin, who must have finally gotten his nerve back after his last confrontation with him, stood at the edge of the clearing with a rifle trained on him.

"I was wondering if you would ever crawl out of the hole you'd scurried away to." Andor crossed his arms over his chest while he waited for Kevin to speak. It appeared that Kevin was a dragon hunter in name only, since the weapon he held would have little affect on him. Unless he had bullets in that gun that were made of iron forged in dragon's fire, his weapon would be as harmless to Andor as a slap in the face.

“Lyssa isn’t going to take me back, and it’s all your fault. Even with knowing what you are, she still won’t come back to me.”

There was a desperate light in Kevin’s eyes and it was the same fevered look Andor had seen on the night of the gala. Time in jail had done nothing to dampen Kevin’s obsession with Lyssa. Andor’s attention was caught by what else Kevin had said. He knew that Lyssa was aware of his true nature, which mean that he had seen her since he had gotten out of jail.

Andor stepped forward with a growl and Kevin raised the rifle higher. “If you have hurt her, I will kill you.”

“I’m the one holding the gun, I’ll be making the threats. I only went to talk to her, not hurt her. She’s fine, but you won’t be if you you don’t back off.”

Andor stood still as he stared at his opponent. The bullets in Kevin’s gun would not kill him, but they would cause him some damage. It was damage he could not afford right now. If Kevin had gone to see Lyssa, she must be frightened. Andor was more certain than ever that he needed to go to her. The thought of her, alone and scared, made him want to hold her and reassure her that the man standing in front of him would no longer haunt her.

“And she told you that she is never going back to you. Can you blame her? After everything you have done to her, how could you possibly think that she would allow you back into her life?”

Anger suffused Kevin’s face and he brought the rifle up to his shoulder and sighted it. “Shut up. I still would have had a chance to get her back if it weren’t for you. You are going to come with me, and I’m going to give her a choice. She can either come back to me or watch you die.”

The only thing that had been holding him back from killing Kevin was the madness that would rise within him this night. Murdering Kevin would only make it rise faster, and he didn’t want that if there was a small chance that he could get to Lyssa before the moonrise. He would try talking to this idiot one last time before he took more drastic measures. Surely he would see how ridiculous his plan was.

"What makes you think that I'm going to come with you willingly. It will take a lot more than you and that gun to make me go anywhere." For a self professed dragon hunter, Kevin didn't know a lot about hunting dragons. He had ten times the strength that a mortal man had, and without a proper dragon killing weapon this fight would not be an even match. He wouldn’t need to kill him in order to subdue him.

"You're coming with me and that it all there is to it. My gun will be just fine for what I have planned." As soon as that statement was out of his mouth, Kevin fired and a sharp pain struck Andor in the shoulder.

He looked down at what Kevin had shot him with, and he reached up to pull it out. It was a dart of some sort, and it swam in front of his eyes. He blinked his eyes hard but that failed to bring what he was looking at into focus. The dart fell from his numb fingers as he looked up at Kevin, who had morphed into three people.

"What have you done?" The words formed in his head, but what came out was unrecognizable jumble of sounds. The ground came rushing up to meet him as darkness swallowed him.

* * *

Lyssa pulled up in front of Andor’s house as her stomach cramped. God, what was she going to say to him? She cringed when she remembered how she’d spoken to him the last time she’d seen him. Instead of listening to him and giving him the benefit of the doubt, she’d told him that he was insane and needed help. Would they be able to come back from that?

She gripped the steering wheel tight as she debated turning the car around and going home. Maybe it would be better if she came back tomorrow, when the day was fresh with new possibilities?

“You’re doing this.” Her voice echoed in the car, loud in comparison to the stillness around her. She’d put this off too long already. He needed to know how she felt. If he wasn’t prepared to forgive her for not believing in him, she would accept that. But she had to at least try to get back together with him.

She got out of the car on shaky legs. Giving her head a shake she stood straight and forced steel into her spine. In all the time she’d been with Andor, he’d never shown her anything but kindness and respect. She had to believe that it would be no different this time. He would listen to what she had to say, and once she was with him, she was certain the right words would come pouring out.

She went up the steps and took one last deep breath. She had to see him, had to tell him what was in her heart. She knocked on the door and it echoed inside the house. Several minutes passed and she wondered if her knock would be answered. She raised her hand again when the door was yanked open.

“What do you want?”

A man she didn’t recognize, but who had the same European accent as Andor, stood in front of her. She had to crane her head back to get a good look at him, and he had the same coloring as Andor but his features were arranged in a subtly different way. He was obviously a relative of some sort.

“I’m here to see Andor.” She have him her brightest smile to mask her intimidation and it didn’t do anything to eliminate the scowl on his face.

“He is not here.” He closed the door in her face.

Lyssa blinked several times. What had just happened? He couldn’t know who she was, since they’d never met. What had he been so rude? Dare she knock again?

She raised her hand and thought better of it. If Andor wasn’t there, she really didn’t want to talk to that other man to convince him to tell her where he was. She’d come back tomorrow, when hopefully Andor would be home.

She turned to go back down the steps when the front door opened. She looked back and Rickman’s eyes flared wide when he saw it was her.

“Lyssa, I’m so sorry. Iszak shouldn’t be allowed answer the doors. He’s not yet used to the way things work around here. Come in the house.” Rickman rushed outside, and took her arm in a gentle hold. He led her into the house, and closed the door behind them. The man he called Iszak leaned against the wall, with his arms folded over his massive chest and his scowl as deep as ever. Lyssa wanted to tell him that his face was going to freeze that way, but thought better of it. This man didn’t appear to have much of a sense of humor.

“He said Andor isn’t home. I can come back and talk to him tomorrow.” She was comfortable around Rickman, but this Iszak character made her nervous. Unless Rickman told her that Andor would be back in the next few minutes, she was leaving.

“Rickman, who is this woman? She should not be seeing Andor today or tomorrow.” Iszak gave Rickman a look that Lyssa couldn’t interpret, and she wondered what was going on.

“It’s okay, Iszak. This is Lyssa, and I’m sure you will agree that she needs to talk to him. Sooner rather than later.”

Iszak’s eyes focused on her with a laser like intensity that made her shift on her feet. It was like he was peering deep inside her and she didn’t like the feeling at all.

“So you are the woman who rejected my brother. Have you come to make amends or are you here to hurt him further?” He took a step closer to her and his eyes changed. Lyssa blinked hard, sure that she was having some sort of hallucination. His eyes could not look like they were made of flame instead of the silver grey they’d been only a second ago. Then it hit her, what he’d said. He was Andor’s brother, and as far as she knew, the only brother’s Andor claimed to have were the dragon statues in the basement.

Her legs sagged. Rickman gave a startled exclamation, and supported her until he could get her over to a chair. She sank down gratefully as her head swum and she feared her body would not be able to stay upright any longer.

“It’s okay, Lyssa. Just put your head between your knees, and breathe.” Rickman gave the back of her head a gentle push, and she obeyed, putting her head between her knees. After seeing the fortune teller she’d been about ninety percent convinced that Andor had been telling her the truth. Now she knew for certain that he had been, and the reality of it made her woozy.

“What is wrong with her?” Iszak's voice rumbled above her and she took another deep breath when she remembered what his eyes had done.

“I think she’s a little freaked out by you. Andor told her that he was a dragon, and that’s something that is a little hard to believe. I’m sure she was coming around to the truth, but you’ve obviously shocked her into accepting it. Why don't you back off and let me handle this. She is the key to saving your brother, so we can’t scare her away now.”

“It’s okay, Rickman. I’m fine now.” Lyssa sat back up and her head remained steady. Her cheeks burned for a moment. How foolish she must have looked, almost fainting like that. Her own embarrassment was forgotten when her brain caught up to all that Rickman had said. “What do you mean I’m the key to saving Andor? He’s alright, isn’t it?”

She reached out and clutched Rickman’s arm. Andor had to be okay. She could not be too late, not now that she knew for certain that he’d spoken the truth.

“How much of the book did you read? Did you get to the part about the dragons being cursed?” Rickman pulled a chair over and sat beside her. He took her hand and stroked it, which soothed her nerves. She needed to calm down. She couldn’t help Andor if she wasn’t calm.

“I did, but what does that have to do with Andor?”

“My brother is cursed, as we all are. Unfortunately for him, he has not found a woman to love and accept him before his curse reaches its pinnacle.” There was an accusation in Iszak’s eyes when he spoke, and she knew that he blamed her for rejecting his brother. Didn’t he know how hard it was to believe in such things as dragons? She could feel her defensiveness rise inside her, and she wasn’t going to let him intimidate her.

“You don't know what I’ve been through, buddy. So why don’t you just back off.” Her voice came out in a tone she used once already today, when she told Kevin to get out of her house. It was a roar and she could feel her own power rise inside her.

Iszak’s eyebrows climbed his forehead, and he inclined his head to her. “It looks like my brother has chosen his mate well. You will need all the strength you’ve just shown me if you are going to save him.”

That was the second time he’d referred to saving his brother, and she was no closer to getting an answer.

“What is he talking about?” She looked at Rickman, hoping he could provide her the answers she needed.

“The Hunter’s Moon rises tonight, which means Andor’s curse will rise with it. If the curse is not broken in time, he will go mad and become dangerous. There will be no bringing him back from it, and…” Rickman’s voice trailed off, as if he was afraid to say out loud what would need to be done if Andor went mad. Lyssa’s body went cold as she understood the implications.

“Then we will have to save him first. Where is he?” She stood up and hitched her purse high on her shoulder. She would save him. There was no other option.

“He went to the clearing to be alone. I’ll take you there.” Rickman led her from the house, and her phone buzzed inside her purse. She ignored it. Whoever was calling would have to wait. Andor was much more important.

She was hyper aware of Iszak hulking behind her, and she stuck as close to Rickman as she could as they walked to the clearing. There was something wild and untamed about Andor’s brother. He lacked the civilized veneer that Andor had, and seemed more dangerous to her than Andor ever had.

Her phone buzzed again, and she rolled her eyes. Whoever was calling would have to get the hint that she wasn’t interested in talking right now.

They got to the clearing and it was empty. There was no sign of Andor anywhere.

“Did he come back to the house? Did we miss him somehow?” She thought there was only one path to the clearing, but maybe there was another one? They were in the midst of twilight so perhaps Andor had taken the other trail and they hadn’t seen him.

“There is no other path. Something is wrong.” Iszak came around and stood in front of her. He sniffed the air as he walked around the clearing. “Andor was here, but the scent is faint, like he hasn't been here for a while.”

Iszak looked down at the ground and paused. He stooped and picked something up. Lyssa got over her fear of him as she walked closer to see what he held in his hand.

It was a tranquilizer dart, and her mouth went dry. She didn’t want to think that someone had deliberately been out to hurt Andor, but what other reason could there be for that to be here while Andor was not.

Her phone buzzed again, and with a sinking feeling she knew who it was. She pulled her phone out of her purse, and although it said unknown caller, she knew exactly who it was. She touched the answer button and put the phone to her ear as a deep anger burned inside her.

“Where is he, Kevin?”