He finally managed to pry his eyes away from hers to look down at the rest of her. She was slim with a hard muscular body that he desperately wanted to explore.

  “Lions,” she said with a roll of her eyes. “I hate lions.”

  Before Gunner could raise his sweaty hands, she launched forward and hit him with a thunderous uppercut that lifted him off his feet. Two more crushing fists slammed into his stomach, smashing him into the ground and ripping the breath out of his lungs.

  His head was spinning, and before he realized what had happened, a foot came stopping down on his face, sending pain and blackness ripping through him.

  “I’m in love,” he whispered as he dipped in and out of consciousness.

  His enhanced shifter healing kicked in and he shook the dazed thoughts out of his head as he climbed up to his wobbly feet. The door that led to the roof was open, and Gunner rushed up the stairs to stop her before she flew out of his life forever.

  The ripping and tearing sound of a phase reached his ears as he ran up the stairs. His head was still aching and his stomach felt like he had been punched by a sledgehammer, but he pushed forward.

  “Wow,” he gasped when he stepped onto the roof. There was a turquoise dragon flapping its wings to take off. She was much smaller than Draven’s dragon but infinitely more beautiful.

  “You’re not going anywhere,” he muttered as he let his lion come. He gritted his teeth, flexed his arms, and felt his whole body burn as his lion exploded out of him.

  The dragon pushed off the roof, taking off into the dark sky on her turquoise wings.

  Gunner let out a low growl and then sprinted after her, leaping off the roof with his long black claws out.

  Chapter 2

  Aleida

  Aleida wanted to cry. It was either that or scream out in frustration. It had taken her months to track down where her brother Dravenous was living, and five long days to fly over the ocean on her exhausted wings. And now that she had finally arrived, she found nothing but dirty underwear and smelly socks.

  It had been a long shot to think that Dravenous was hiding Caliburnus here, but she wasn’t exactly overwhelmed with options at the moment. She had to try something before it was too late.

  “What now?” she whispered to herself as she stepped onto the roof and quickly got undressed. She slipped her clothes into her bag and tied it to her ankle. It was dark enough now that she could fly out of here.

  She would have preferred to walk out of the firehouse just in case she was spotted by any wandering eyes, but there was a lion shifter in the hallway who was about to wake up in a bad mood any second. She wasn’t interested in having him run after her and starting a fight on the sidewalk. Right now, she just wanted to get as far from here as possible and get a drink to help ease some of her frustration.

  With a deep breath, Aleida let her dragon burst out of her. She flapped her wings and pushed off the roof, flying away into the night, thankful that she hadn’t run into her brother.

  It hadn’t ended well the last time she had seen Dravenous. That was mainly her fault since she was the one who put the knife to his—

  What the fuck?!? Aleida gasped as her dragon screeched. Sharp teeth sank into her wing as a heavy body slammed into her back, sending her plunging downward. The fierce teeth sunk even deeper into her scales as her dragon shrieked. She tried to regain some of the lost altitude by flapping her free wing at a furious pace, but the lion on her back dug the claws of his hind leg into it and pinned it to her body.

  She had nowhere to go but down.

  Aleida plummeted to the pavement like a rocket with the weight of the huge lion on her back. Her dragon stiffened and closed its eyes as it slammed into the ground with a crushing thud. Aleida had grown up with five brothers and was as tough as they came, but even she had to admit that the landing fucking hurt.

  Her dragon was letting out high-pitched whines as she rolled around with the lion’s jaws still locked onto her wing. If they were in a more secluded place, her dragon would have turned this pesky feline into a fireball, but there were too many people nearby and a flaming lion running down the street would cause a little more attention than she was hoping for.

  But that didn’t mean she couldn’t warn him. The dragon opened its huge jaws in the lion’s face and let a touch of fire ripple down its tongue.

  The lion’s honey colored eyes widened as the fire reflected in them, singeing the long hair on his mane. He immediately released his grip on the wing and backed away with his lip curled up over his bloody teeth.

  Her dragon’s high-pitched screeching probably got a lot of people curious, and now it wasn’t a good idea to fly out of here. Especially from the ground.

  She pulled her dragon in, and phased back to her human form, opting to walk out of there instead. It would be safer that way.

  The lion began shaking as she quickly opened the bag tied to her ankle and got dressed. The muscular man from the hallway burst out of the lion, but only this time he was naked.

  Aleida could suddenly feel her heartbeat pounding away as she looked at the gorgeous man standing in front of her. His body was built like a tank with a massive frame and a long thick cock hanging between his muscular legs. He had long blonde hair and golden skin. But it was his stunning eyes that were making her breath quicken. They were the color of honey, and right now they were glaring at her.

  “What were you doing in there?” he hissed as Aleida finished buttoning her shirt in record time. She was glad that he didn’t have time to grab any clothes. Not only was she enjoying the view, but she could run onto the busy sidewalk and he wouldn’t be able to follow her unless he wanted to get arrested for public indecency.

  He stepped forward with his arms flexed. “Answer me!”

  Aleida just laughed as she turned away. “Dragons don’t answer to sheep.”

  The man leapt in front of her as she tried to walk away. “I’m no sheep, lady,” he said, looking furious with his hardened face and his flailing nostrils. “Now what the hell were you doing in there?”

  Two people came running out of the lesbian muffin shop next door, heading right at them. “Shit,” Aleida cursed. This was getting more complicated.

  “What’s going on, Gunner?” the man asked. Aleida could smell a bear in him. The curvy brunette beside him was only human.

  “Zane,” the lion shifter said. “I found her going through Draven’s room.”

  “Another dragon shifter,” Zane whispered as he stared at her in shock. “Draven’s sister?”

  “Gunner, where are your clothes?” the woman asked as her cheeks turned pink.

  Zane covered her eyes with his big hand. “Why don’t you go get Gunner some pants?” he said. “And then go back inside.”

  The blushing girl nodded and then ran into the firehouse.

  Aleida weighed her options as she stared the two shifters down. She could phase into her dragon, smoke these clowns, and then fly away, but then she would be in the same hopeless situation as she was in before.

  But the other option made her stomach turn.

  She really didn’t want to see her brother after all of these years, but as much as she hated to admit it, he may have been the only one who could help.

  Maybe he knows where Caliburnus is. Aleida wasn’t even sure if she could wield it if she did find it. She took a deep breath and sighed. It seemed like meeting Dravenous again was her only option.

  “Do you have any alcohol in this place?” she asked as she turned and walked toward the firehouse. “I could really use a drink.” The two shifters glanced at each other and then hurried after her.

  The bear shifter named Zane ran around her and blocked the door. “My mate is in there,” he said, crossing his flexed arms over his massive chest. “Wait until she comes out.”

  The curvy brunette came out a few seconds later and tossed Gunner a pair of pants. She kept looking at Aleida with wide curious eyes that had a hint of terror in them.

  “Is she a dragon?” she whispered to her mate.

  Zane swallowed hard. “You better go back inside,” he said with a tight voice. “Go finish the movie without me.”

  The girl gave Aleida one last quick glance and then hurried back into her shop.

  “Now can I get that drink?” Aleida asked as she stepped up to Zane. He held her eyes for a minute before stepping to the side and letting her in.

  The firehouse looked so basic inside. Just a small kitchen, a small living area, and some small rooms upstairs. He could be ruling the world and he chooses to live here. It was currently a total mess thanks to the good ransacking that Aleida gave it while looking for Caliburnus.

  She noticed that Gunner’s eyes never left her as she strolled into the kitchen and sat down at the table.

  “I’ll go call Draven back,” Zane said, hurrying away to the phone.

  It was just Aleida and a shirtless Gunner left in the small kitchen, and it was sizzling with something. Maybe it was attraction, or the after-effects of the adrenaline-infused fight, but whatever it was, it was making the kitchen seem unnaturally warm, even for a dragon shifter.

  Her nerve endings stirred and tingled as she watched him walk over to the open cupboard and grab a bottle of Whiskey.

  “Are you going to tell me why you’re here?” he asked as he opened the bottle.

  “Are you going to pour me a glass of that or just keep standing there yapping?” she answered.

  His hard eyes were locked on her, but the corner of his lips curled up into a grin. Without another word, he grabbed two glasses and placed them on the table.

  His eyes never left hers as he sat down, filled the two glasses halfway, and then slid one over to her.

  “Cheers,” he said, lifting his glass up.

  She smiled as she clinked her glass to his. “Cheers.”

  A shot of Whiskey was exactly what she needed after a shitty day. It felt so good going down that she drank the whole thing. Luckily, her new friend was quick to refill her glass.

  “I bought you a drink,” he said with a deep throaty voice that made the tiny hairs on her arms raise. “The least you can do is tell me your name.”

  Aleida was a dragon shifter. Daughter of the great King Artorious. She didn’t have to answer to him. He was beneath her in every possible way, but there was something about him. Something she couldn’t explain, and she wanted him to know her name. She wanted to hear it on his lips.

  “Aleida Stone,” she said in a low voice. Their eyes were fused together. She was feeling lightheaded as he shamelessly stared at her.

  “Aleida,” he growled in his low gravelly voice. Seeing his sexy lips move while hearing her name slip out of them was making her warm between the legs.

  She would have laughed if she wasn’t so flustered. No way, Aleida. You are not having these thoughts about a lion shifter.

  But she couldn’t stop herself. She couldn’t stop imaging what it would be like if he bent her over the table and took out that big cock that she had seen outside. The one that she couldn’t stop thinking about.

  “So, Gunner,” she said, biting her bottom lip as she stared at him. “Let me give you a little tip. Don’t ever jump on a dragon’s back unless you’re wearing SPF a million sunblock.”

  He chuckled and the soft sound made her chest hurt. “Well, here’s a tip for you,” he growled back. “You should throw your hips into your punches to give them some more power. That way they’ll do more than just tickle when they land.”

  Aleida laughed. “That’s funny,” she said, downing her drink. “If I hit you any harder you would have flown through the roof.”

  He grinned. “Probably.”

  “They’ll be here in a few minutes,” Zane said as he walked over.

  Aleida was disappointed that their drink was now interrupted by a third wheel. She was enjoying Gunner’s company and once Dravenous arrived, she probably wouldn’t get the chance to be alone with him again.

  “You should wait for him by the door,” Gunner said, nodding at the bear shifter. “I got this.”

  Zane looked at him funny, and then glanced at Aleida. “All right,” he said, looking at them skeptically before walking to the door. It seemed that she wasn’t the only one who was enjoying their drink.

  This time she grabbed the bottle and refilled the two glasses.

  “I don’t think my brother is going to be very happy to see me,” she said as she placed the bottle back on the table.

  Gunner looked around at the trashed kitchen and laughed. “I wonder why. Do you always do this much destruction wherever you go?”

  “I’m a dragon shifter,” she said with a mischievous grin. “Destruction is what I do.”

  He smiled warmly at her as he raised his glass. “Well, you’re pretty good at it.”

  Aleida grinned. “You haven’t seen anything yet.”

  A minute later the fire truck came barreling into the fire station—the big tires squealing to a stop. The driver’s door opened and then slammed closed and she heard a voice that she hadn’t heard in a long time. “Where is she?” her brother asked, his tone thick with anger and impatience.

  Aleida swallowed hard as she finally took her attention off the sexy lion shifter in front of her and turned to Dravenous who was charging over with fury in his eyes.

  She downed the rest of her drink and stood up.

  “Hello, brother.”

  Chapter 3

  Gunner

  Every nerve in Gunner’s body was on high alert as his alpha charged over to the table. Draven looked like he was going to strangle his sister and not let go until her wild red curls went limp.

  Thankfully, he stopped in front of the table, took a deep breath and looked down at the bottle of Whiskey instead.

  “Grab me a glass, will you Gunner?” he whispered.

  Gunner jumped up and happily got his alpha a glass. He was more than intrigued by Aleida and if the dragons came out swinging, he was afraid to know which side he would be on.

  The two siblings sat at the table, eying each other as Gunner, Jax, Axel, and Zane stood close by, listening in.

  “You can call off your sheep,” Aleida said, grinning at the boys. “Or are you afraid you can’t handle your little sister?”

  “My ‘little sister’ tried to kill me the last time I saw her,” Draven said, staring her down. “So, my friends can stay right where they are.”

  “Are we still holding old grudges?” she asked, raising her red eyebrow. “That was over three hundred years ago.”

  Three hundred years ago?!? She’s that old? Gunner couldn’t believe that this breathtaking girl was much older than his ancient date who was currently sleeping in the back of his pickup truck.

  “Funny how it’s hard to forget when your own flesh and blood tries to kill you,” Draven said before downing his drink.

  Aleida’s bright eyes dropped to the table. “I was wrong Dravenous. I’m… I’m sorry.”

  Draven took a deep breath as he leaned back, eying his sister with a curious look. Without a word he grabbed the bottle of Whiskey and refilled his glass.

  “Why are you here?” he asked, narrowing his eyes on her. “First Jarin, now you.”

  Her eyes darted up to his as she stared at him in shock. “Jarin was here? When?”

  “He came with a cryptic message and left before I could see him,” Draven said. Gunner listened closely. Their dragon shifter brother Jarin had muttered something about bringing the earth back into the shadows of time right before he dislocated the jaw of Zane’s Kodiak bear. “Do you know what that was about?”

  Aleida’s eyes flickered over to Gunner, making his body tense.

  “Our brothers—”

  “Half-brothers,” Draven corrected.

  “Half-brothers,” Aleida repeated, “are planning to scorch the earth and start over.”

  Gunner snorted out a laugh. Scorch the earth? It was time to take that bottle of alcohol away from her.

  But she wasn’t laughing, and neither was Draven.

  “They long for the good old days,” she explained as Draven listened closely. “It’s too hard to rule with technology. There’s no need for them and they know it. They’re becoming obsolete. They want to bring the world back into the stone age. They miss the blood and battles. Swords and spears are more fun for psychotic dragon shifters than RPGs and unmanned drones.”

  Draven was watching her skeptically. “And how the hell are they going to do that?”

  “One country at a time,” Aleida said. “They have it all planned out. They’ll destroy the power sources, light the world’s oil reserves on fire, and Jarin will destroy all the satellites in orbit. It will be chaos.”

  Jax laughed, shaking his head in disbelief. “That would take decades.”

  “Nine months,” Aleida said, her eyes darting to the lion shifter. The amusement disappeared from Jax’s face when he heard the seriousness in her voice. “You haven’t seen how fast these guys can move. They can wipe out a power reactor that’s powering a whole state with a sneeze and be onto the next one before your TV shuts off.”

  “Are they all…” The words disappeared from Draven’s mouth like he was afraid to utter them. “Mated?”

  Gunner was watching Aleida closely and saw her muscles tense. “Yes.”

  “Shit,” Draven cursed as he leaned back in his chair. He rubbed his eyes as Aleida shifted uncomfortably in her chair.

  When a dragon shifter finds their mate, their core ignites making them powerful beyond belief. All dragon shifters have a superpower hiding within that only comes out once they bond with their one true mate. Draven had been alive for centuries, but he still hadn’t found a mate. It was too bad because a superpower could really have come in handy right about now.

  “Their powers?” Draven asked, looking like he really didn’t want to hear it.

  Aleida told him anyway. “Jarin still has the speed of light,” she explained. “And Valerius is still an ice dragon.” They already knew that, but his two remaining brothers were still a mystery. “Berinon is a size shifter. He can make himself as large as the tallest trees.”

 

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