“That’s a deep cut.”
“Did you think I’d go with Puff the Magic?”
I shake my head and pour myself some more coffee. “No, not that kind of dragon. I’m talking the Dragons. Your father would’ve been aware of them. His employer, Medved, was obsessed with their secret world.”
“Honestly, let’s act like I don’t know anything about my dad and his business.” She runs a finger around her coffee mug. “Because I don’t.”
“The Dragons are a group of five powerful men. They’re the most secretive, connected, and influential crime lords in the world. Governments rise and fall under their claws. Businesses bow and scrape and beg for their favor. The world works because they make sure it does.”
“Come on, seriously? That sounds a little—“ She waves a hand in the air. “Like a fairy tale.”
“Last night a drone shot a missile into your apartment. Is it really so hard to imagine?”
“Okay, I guess that’s a fair point. Who are these Dragons?”
“My sister married one.”
Her eyebrows raise. “Oh wow. Does that make you royalty? Should I call you Sir Gabriel?” She gasps, messing with me. “Am I an honorary Dragon now too? You may call me Princess Nika. I do breathe fire.”
“Are you done?”
“Yep.”
I start pacing as I drink my coffee. “My grandfather was also a Dragon, but he passed away over a year ago. Ever since then, his position has been wide open, and that’s a problem. In the dragon world, only power is respected. The seat needs to be filled for stability reasons, but it can’t just pass into my hands. I have to earn it. I have to fight for it.”
She watches me carefully. Her hands drum nervously over the table. I can tell she’s trying to mask her anxiety, but the way she flutters around reveals her true emotions.
“Which is why you need me. You’re fighting that Turkish guy for this dragon thing.”
“I need you to settle my internal problems. Then I can focus on getting what I really want.”
She sinks back, catching her lower lip between her teeth. It’s the same needy, hungry expression she wore in the bed and I'm getting hard again thinking about her moans and whimpers. I drink more hot coffee and try to shove the feelings into a small box where all my emotions are kept these days.
But the box is growing smaller and smaller now that Nika’s here.
“Alright, so you’re fighting a war, and if you win, you get to become this super mega ultra-amazing dragon thing. And you need me to ensure you have control of my father’s organization.”
“The Turk is here in Los Angeles. We’ll deal with him first.”
“First?” Her eyebrows shoot up. “How many people are we fighting, exactly?”
“Too many.” I watch her grimly. “You don’t want to know.”
She sits back heavily and closes her eyes. She rubs her forehead, grimacing, and seems to agree with something in her own head.
“I don’t have much of a choice now, do I? We’re married. I signed the stupid documents.” She points a spoon at me. “But you agreed to my terms and I’m going to hold you to it.”
“We’ll find your mother the second I’m a Dragon. All I need?—“
“Uh uh, no way, absolutely not. We’re workingtogether. I’m not doing this Smaugy stuff if you’re not at least putting together a token search for me at the same time.”
That’s frustrating. I try not to show it, but she keeps managing to steamroll right against me, and the fucked thing is, I don’t have all the power in this relationship. She doesn’t realize it yet, but she will soon.
I don’t like being in the position where I have to work with someone as an equal.
That’s not how I operate.
I tried that once, back with the man who used to run this Bratva. His name was Medved, and he convinced me that my sister was in trouble. I went through hell to save her, only to find out that she wasn’t a prisoner at all—and that she wanted to be with her supposed kidnapper.
