"She's gone after the dragons. I don't know what her plan is, but that's the only thing I can think of.""You meanthe Barinovs? Is she nuts? She's not a hunter.""I know." Damien rubbed his eyes with his thumb and forefinger. "Call Meg in, along with whoever else is in the building. I want a task force assembled in ten minutes.""Consider it done." Jason sprinted from the room.Damien stared hard at the screen."What the fuck are you doing, Charlotte?" The weight of his past and his burdens settled even more heavily upon his shoulders. When their parents had been killed, Damien had taken over the Brotherhood and had vowed to protect his sister at any cost, even if it meant protecting her from herself. He'd already lost Serena to this life. He wouldn't lose his baby sister too. But dragons? How could he protect her if she was already in their territory?Ten minutes later, he faced a team of the best hunters in North America. Meg Stratford stood close to his desk, her red hair pulled ba

"You failed," Dimitri snapped at Luis Silva. Luis, the battle dragon of the Silva family who controlled most of Brazil, curled his lips in a challenge. He slammed his hands down on Dimitri's desk. Dimitri looked at those hands, unimpressed by the cracks they'd made in the wood finish."Last night wasn't my fault," Luis said. "Those bullets you provided me? Completely underpowered.""That is the nature of a subsonic silenced pistol," Dimitri countered. He'd overestimated this man's intelligence. "You didn't want to attract attention to yourself, now did you?""Yes, but to do it right, I'd have to go right up to him and shoot him point-blank. You think I'm going to do that in front of security cameras?""And what the fuck were you doing shooting up one of the nicer hotels in Moscow in the first place? You were supposed to take care of it from the shadows, not in the limelight. Don't make me regret this alliance, Silva."Luis's black eyes were as dark as obsidian, but Dimitri didn't

Their lips met in a mix of searing heat and sweetness. Joy ran through his veins, like the old lullabies his mother had once sung when he was a drakeling. There was tenderness, fire, sorrow, and delight all mixed in their kiss that rocked him to his core. He held a hand at the nape of her neck as he kissed her more urgently, demanding she open herself, give him everything she had. The burning desire to connect with her went beyond physical need. Behind his closed eyes he saw his home, the Fire Hills of Russia, the rippling shades of fiery leaves in the fall, the joy of flying low over the valley. His body surged with adrenaline and excitement as he shot up through the clouds and into the bright light of the morning sun.Then the images changed. He saw a little girl chasing two blond-headed boys across a sandy shore, laughing as she tried to catch up to them. They stopped, each holding out a hand to her. Their palms, much bigger, much stronger, curled around her small fingers as they l

Heroes know that things must happen when it is time for them to happen. A quest may not simply be abandoned; unicorns may go unrescued for a long time, but not forever; a happy ending cannot come in the middle of the story.?―Peter S. Beagle,?The Last UnicornDamien stepped off the Boeing C-17 Globe Master military transport, tactical gear backpack slung over one shoulder. His team followed behind him."Welcome to Russia," Damien called out to the rest of the hunters and trackers.They'd touched down on a private airbase run by the Russian military. After the end of the Cold War, the Brotherhood had created secret agreements with local military bases in every major country to have safe passage in and out of any region. The local military assumed that they were some kind of special forces, though the use of an American transport no doubt raised some eyebrows. The Brotherhood's true identity was only shared with top government officials, and sometimes not even then, depending on th

I have been mortal, and some part of me is mortal yet. I am full of tears and hunger and the fear of death, although I cannot weep, and I want nothing, and I cannot die. ―Peter S. Beagle,?The Last UnicornCharlotte didn't protest as Rurik took her into the lobby of the Grand Hotel Europe. She had to trust that he wouldn't hurt her after everything they'd been through.He wouldn't, would he?He took her straight to the front desk and spoke to the hotel steward in rapid Russian, then slid the man a black credit card. The steward's eyes widened as he took the card, then hastily prepared a set of keycards, handing them to Rurik."Come," Rurik growled, his grip on her wrist still tight as they headed to the elevators."Rurik, please" she begged as the elevator doors closed, sealing them in. "If you would just listen""Not now."How different this was from the other night. Then she had been safe, the secret she kept still a secret. Now he was taking her up to a hotel room to inter