Chapter 1
Casidhe froze. She couldn’t speak, couldn’t catch her breath. She stood all alone with the most powerful dragon shifter to ever live.
Her family’s greatest enemy. Daegan of Treoir, the scare-the-spit-from-her-mouth red dragon. Right here in her ancestral archive centre. Her heart tried to catapult out of her chest and run screaming for help.
Daegan of Treoir had started the Dragani War.
Like trying to avoid watching a train wreck, she couldn’t peel her gaze from him. Towering over her, he could be mistaken for a human man in worn jeans, a dark long-sleeved pullover, and boots. But that formidable body and those silver reptilian eyes glowed with the enormous power inside that body.
No one outside the centre in this small village could save her.
Plus, Daegan had cloaked them to reach this point unnoticed. He could keep whatever he did to her hidden.
“Breathe, dammit,” Daegan ordered in a deep voice. “Ya wanted the truth, now ya have it.” He straightened, giving her space, but the force of that gaze held her locked in place. Growling a curse, he turned away, taking long strides, then paused at the opening to the front reception area.
She sagged, suddenly free from his overwhelming presence.
From the freakin’ red dragon who claimed he had not burned any forests in Europe reported torched by a dragon. As if two red dragons existed today? A lot of people questioned if the stories of a dragon in today’s world were true.
A lot of people had never walked in her shoes.
At least Daegan hadn’t killed her.
That didn’t mean he wouldn’t snuff her out of existence if she lost her usefulness.
Her limbs came back online and started functioning again. She still had her backpack on, pinned between her and the wall from where she’d reversed course to this point.
Nowhere to go. Why try to run? If he wanted to kill her, he could.
Then she realized why he had not killed her. He needed her to find the grimoire.
Her life was being royally screwed because he wanted a damn ancient book of majik? The hell with backing away from this dragon shifter. Her fear dissolved under all of what had happened to her from the minute he broke into her cottage.
Not breaking and entering.
He’d teleported into her cottage in the middle of the night.
Imortiks and demons had attacked her because of Daegan.
Casidhe had missed her meeting with Cathbad because of Daegan. She could go on and on, dammit.
He needed her.
That gave her power, too.
“Have ya calmed down yet?” Daegan stood in the passway to the reception area, staring straight ahead in an angry profile. Powerful arms crossed and jaw muscles flexing.
Did he feel bad for trying to scare her out of a year’s growth.
“Don’t flatter yourself by thinkin’ you rattle me, dragon.” Lie, but it made her feel good to sound confident. Her pulse still hammered as fast as a gerbil on crack.
He angled his head in her direction, but made no reply. Dark eyebrows lowered over narrowed eyes now a natural gray.
If she had an open mind about him, she’d say he looked tired and sad. But she couldn’t spare him the consideration she would a friend.
They were not friends.
What now?
She leaned away from the wall, planting her two feet, prepared to deal with him. She unsnapped the strap anchoring the backpack around her chest as she walked forward and shrugged off the pack.
His deadly gaze tracked her every step.
When she could go no farther, she ordered, “Move.”
No please. No manners for this being.
He stepped aside, allowing her passage.
With every muscle she flexed, she felt her strength renew. As long as finding the grimoire remained at stake, she had a few things to get off her chest.
She dropped the backpack hard next to her desk and turned on Daegan. “What. The. Hell? You call me a liar every time you take a breath when you’ve been lyin’ about who you are the entire time.”
He swung that deadly gaze at her. “Ah, there’s the little termagant who berates me with every breath. ’Tis your turn to explain who ya are, Luigsech. I realize to speak truthfully tasks ya sorely, but attempt it anyhow.”
As if she weren’t pissed enough already? “Listen, buster. I’ve been tellin’ you a lot more truth than you’ve yet to tell me.”
He gave her a dismissive glance. “’Tis no scoresheet to be kept. Lies are lies. I told mine to protect my people. Why did ya tell yours?”
“For the same reason.” She cocked up her chin in a righteous pose, daring him to question her honor.
“If such is true, then who are your people? Ya know who mine are ... or ya should if ya are truly a Luigsech.”
He’d walked her right into that trap.
She was not about to speak a word about Herrick.
That left her only one answer she could give, which had served her well through college then working here for ten years. “The Luigsechs are my people.”
Daegan stepped into the front office and sat in her reading chair. “Ya still step too far from the truth. The Luigsechs were all human. Ya are not. This means ya are not of their blood. Do ya deny this?”
Did he think this was a social visit? She wanted to scream at him for all he’d done to Herrick, but those words couldn’t be spoken, dammit. “Get out of my chair.”
“I think not. ’Tis quite comfortable. At the speed ’tis takin’ ya to form a thought, I require a place to relax as I wait.”
Miserable dragon shifter. “Insinuatin’ I am slow-witted is a poor way to gain information.” She curled her lips at him. “I’m merely considerin’ if it’s worth the effort when you’re not goin’ to believe me.”
Daegan’s fingers draped over the chair arm curled tight, his only sign of anger. “’Tis not a game I play. Ya wish to find your friend, Fenella? I must find my friend as well. I promise ya Cathbad has a plan afoot and will remove anyone in his path, even an innocent female. If ya want to know what Quinn learns from our people in Atlanta, ’tis time for ya to be forthcomin’. I am not a man of great patience, particularly when my people are in danger.”
She’d had it with him. Storming across the room she slapped one hand on a chair arm and the other on his wide chest, leaning close to make sure he heard every word clearly. “Listen up, dragon. I was orphaned as a child. The Luigsech family raised me. I’ve a strong educational background, plus knowledge passed down to me by former Luigsechs. Do not dare to call me a liar about who I am.”
Daegan’s nostrils flared and his chest rumbled. The sound reminded her of Herrick’s chest when his dragon became agitated.
His energy hummed. Her energy hummed.
She’d just challenged the red dragon. Had she lost her mind?
Don’t poke a dragon.
And never poke the red dragon.
She started to lift up.
He caught her wrist, the one attached to the hand still splayed against his chest. Heartbeat ramping up again, she swallowed hard and stared into the molten silver in his eyes.
His heart thundered beneath her fingers. Heat soaked into her skin from his touch and made her lightheaded.
That didn’t make sense.
Neither did touching Daegan.
She shoved away from him hard, thinking he’d try to hold her in place. He released her immediately.