Seven hells.
He waited, tethering his animal to his humanity as tightly as he dared. What was wrong with him? Dragons’ mates were found among human women who showed dragon sign, not among female-born shifters who were already dragons themselves. A dragon and his mate’s soul-deep connection was forged in fire when he turned her. Every dragon prayed and waited for the day he’d meet his mate, a craving that went deeper than every other instinct they were born with. His dragon was making no sense, wanting to claim this woman. They wouldn’t be able to bond if he tried it.
“Are you the only new recruit for us?” Deep asked.
At least Levi could still listen to the discussion, even if he couldn’t join the conversation now that he was human.
“You should expect two green and two white dragons in the near future.”
His dragon focused on the fact that Lyndi had been the one to answer. Drake didn’t talk much apparently.
“I’m surprised the High King allowed you to join your brother here,” Titus commented.
“I didn’t ask.” A decided smirk lilted in her voice.
If Levi wasn’t so hell-bent on keeping his dragon contained, he would’ve grinned. Technically she didn’t need permission to go anywhere. As long as one retained the king’s mark on the back of the right hand on the fleshy part between thumb and forefinger, a sign of loyalty and belonging to a clan, one was free to come and go and dwell wherever, though most stayed near the place of their birth. But as a female-born, and especially as a relative of the High King, things were different for her. There would be…expectations. She would be considered a political prize, and an advantageous mating would no doubt be arranged for her at some point.
Lyndi Chandali was either incredibly brave or damn stupid.
“Let us land and greet each other properly,” Deep offered.
Levi grunted as his dragon surged again. Still needing distance, he stumbled inside the cavern he’d just drilled a hole into, seeking calm in the cooler interior out of sight of the others.
After several minutes, he spotted the group through the entrance, all shifted and now moving inside where he waited. The newcomer, Drake, walked in front, blocking Levi’s view of the female causing him so much trouble.
Then Drake, his face seeming to be formed in a permanent scowl, red eyes glowing with flame, moved to the side, and Levi’s dick went as hard as a steel broadsword as his gaze zeroed in on her.
Silky black hair, lithe body, and the face of an angel. Her wide smile, highlighted by a deep dimple that gave her beauty an adorable edge, hit him at the same time as her spring scent. Levi agreed with his dragon on the spot.
Mine.
Lyndi turned her head away from Deep, who had escorted her inside with her hand linked through his arm, and stilled at the sight of him. No doubt his eyes were golden flames. The skin over his cheekbones tightened. Hell, everything tightened. He opened his mouth to welcome her, but her smile suddenly disappeared and she shot him a glare so full of spitting fury, he stepped back.
“Just because I am female-born doesn’t mean you need to treat me like a leper and fly away,” she snarled at him.
Levi froze, a riot of conflicting thoughts keeping him from correcting her. He knew he’d just fucked up, and his dragon was riding him hard to tell her she was wrong. That some misplaced sense of male dragon superiority wasn’t why he’d run.
It was exactly the opposite, actually.
Lyndi walked away while he stood there, still stunned, and he watched her go.
There was no easy answer here, and the lead weight in his chest told him so. Given who she was related to and what she was, not to mention her clear aversion to him already, he had no damn clue how fix any of this, or if he should even try.
Chapter One
Present day
The jarring wail of a siren split through Lyndi’s sleep and had her jackknifing up in bed. Still, it took another second of blinking herself awake, the sensual haze of the dream that had plagued her for centuries taking a second to dissipate, before her brain fully engaged. She glanced at the clock on her bedside table. Three in the morning.
Another dragon fire.
Well…hell. These were turning into an almost weekly occurrence, and not for no reason. The team just didn’t know what that reason was yet.
Which was a serious problem.
She went into a whirlwind of dressing, which involved searching through her pile of clean but not-yet-folded clothes, slowing her down. Where was her other shoe?
Her brain chugged along at its standard uncaffeinated pace. She probably shouldn’t have been up all night trying to track down another orphan she’d heard whispers of through the grapevine. More fires often meant more fights and more young, abandoned dragon shifters in need of a home and a semblance of family life. A home and life Lyndi and her house full of orphaned dragons could provide.
She hadn’t found this one yet. But she would.
The siren shut off, the sudden absence of sound somehow more jarring.
Shit. That meant the rest of the enforcers on night duty were already there.
Yanking on her last shoe, she gathered her thick, black hair—her one admitted vanity—into a ponytail, then burst from her room and navigated the labyrinth of levels and halls inside the mountain to skid to a halt at the war room.
Slowing her breathing, she scooted through the door and tucked herself behind Levi’s broad shoulders, glad, for once, of the gold dragon shifter’s height and muscles to hide behind and pretend she’d been there all along. Except this close, his scent surrounded her—smoke, of course, but with a hint of brandy and fine cigars—yanking her into the memory of that dream she absolutely was not just having about the two of them.
Her body throbbed, calling her all sorts of liar.
“You’re late,” Levi tossed over his shoulder in a muttered warning without even turning his head.
Lyndi glared at his Hawaiian shirt-covered back.
How did he do that? She’d moved with a stealth that Rune had taught her years ago, back before he’d turned traitor and left the team. But Levi still always knew exactly where she was.
Probably because he didn’t want her around. He hadn’t wanted her here from the day she’d shown up in California with her brother, but especially not acting as part of the team, as she was now.
The thing was, Lyndi was a female-born dragon, and female-born dragons weren’t supposed to be fighters. An idiotic tradition in her opinion. Rare and sterile didn’t make her helpless by a long shot. Unfortunately, females like her were seen as good for only two things: political alliances if they were born to a high-ranking family like Lyndi had been, or helping their male family members take care of their young, like spinster aunts.