“You can’t turn a Shifter into a vampire,” Baz said. “Our blood is incompatible.”

  “You can’t turn a Shifter into a vampire,” Andrak replied.

  I understood where Andrak was going, and the excitement rose inside me at the possibilities. “Salia raised the dead, and they drank the blood of her enemies.”

  “Yes.” His eyes darted to Time Bomb. “I can turn him into sanguine drakonkin, but it amounts to much the same.”

  “You aren’t shitting me, are you?” Dee sat up, but she didn’t take her hand off her mate.

  Andrak shrugged. “I can save him. But we must work quickly.”

  “I’ll pay the price,” Dee said, her blood-red tears of anguish tormenting my soul. Time Bomb, one of my best RMCA agents, had just been downed by a massive silver dragon, who was now offering to give it back…for a boon. “I’ll fight my king for the stones if I have to,” the vampire pleaded. “I swear it. You’ll get your heart back.”

  I nodded as tears blurred my vision. Time Bomb could live. We had a way to fix this, and I was going to do everything in my power to make sure it happened. “And as a member of the witch council in Salem, I will work to that end as well. If what you say is true, I’m sure Baba Yaga will be amenable to righting this wrong done to you. I will make it my mission to make good on any promises made here today. I swear it. Please save Time Bomb.”

  Everyone made similar vows to help retrieve the six remaining pieces. It seemed to be enough for Andrak because he slipped his hand inside his own chest again and pulled out a fiery red crystal. The stone artifact had once again become a living piece of the dragon’s heart. “I have to warn you,” Andrak cautioned. “I don’t know how this will affect him. He could be changed by the process.”

  “I don’t care.” Dee jumped to her feet. “I just want him alive. Or undead, or, well, you know what I mean.”

  “What about the mating scent?” Cas asked. “Will his Shifter bonds still exist?” Cas was a Wolf Shifter and mate to Brita Davis. And while I wasn’t a Shifter, I knew enough to know how important the bond was to Shifter-kind.

  Andrak shrugged. “I don’t think so. This will remake his body.” He chewed his lower lip for a moment as he stared at Time Bomb. Then he said, “I don’t understand this mate scent, but if it’s tied to his life, chances are it’s gone.” He lowered his gaze to Dee. “Do you still want me to proceed?”

  Drag walked up to Dee and held her hand. “You love him, and he loves you,” she said. “You are his mate, even if the scent is gone. Whatever choice you make will be the right one.”

  There wasn’t any hesitation in the vampire. “Do it,” Dee said to Andrak. “Bring him back.”

  The dragon knelt on the left side of Time Bomb. Dee took a knee on the other side.

  Andrak used his fingernail and traced a line across Time Bomb’s chest. “I will make an incision and add my heart to his. If it works, he shall rise again.”

  Dee’s eyes widened. “If it works?”

  The dragon shook his head, his voice matter of fact. “It has been three thousand years since I’ve tried anything like this. I have forgotten more than I’ll ever remember.”

  Dee glared at him. “If this doesn’t work, I promise to find all the pieces of your heart and turn them into powder, and when I am done, I will swim out into the middle of the deepest darkest ocean, and I will scatter your heart’s ashes over the waves.”

  I wanted to defend Andrak, and that impulse to help him made me uneasy. Cripes, get your head in the game, Shirley. Instead, I stayed out of it. Dee had every right to her anger and despair. If Andrak couldn’t make good on his offer, Goddess help us all.

  “I understand,” he finally said. He transformed his fingers into talons and used one to cut a hole in the Bear Shifter’s chest. I was surprised by the lack of blood.

  Then, without ceremony, Andrak shoved the fiery crystal into the hole he’d made, then he seared the wound shut with a laser-accurate hiss of fire.

  We waited quietly, barely breathing as…nothing happened.

  “How long does it take?” Dee asked anxiously.

  Andrak narrowed his eyes on Time Bomb. He frowned. “It’s usually instantaneous, but I’ve only ever done this with humans. I don’t know if it’s different for his kind.”

  “Oh, for Goddess’s sake,” Drag said. “I swear to Fate, buddy, I will swim out in that ocean with Dee, and you’ll have one helluva time picking up all the tragic micro pieces of your heart.”

  “This isn’t his fault,” I snapped at Drag. Instantly, I regretted it. I shook my head. “Technically, yes. But we made a bargain, and he’s keeping his end, so...”

  “Time Bomb.” Dee grabbed him by the shoulders and began to shake him. “TB. Baby. Come back to me. Come back.” Her voice was high-pitched and full of panic. A minute earlier, she’d had hope, and now it had been snatched away. “No. No, no. I lied to you, you big lunk. You smell like blood and wine to me, the most delicious aroma. Not buttercups. And that story about your Aunt Ida, nobody has ever seen me the way you do. I’m begging you to find your way back. Don’t you dare,” she cried. “I love you. I love...”

  She was holding onto a gold nugget and frantically tracing some kind of loop on it.

  Baz put his arm around her shoulders and gently took the gold away. “It’s over, my dear Desma. I’m truly sorry for your loss.”

  Dee fell onto Time Bomb, her sobs filling the air around us. Drag joined her next to his body, and they both cried. One for the loss of a mate, the other for the loss of a best friend.

  Then Time Bomb said, “Mmmm. Mushrooms.”

  I glanced at Andrak, and I could see his relief. It was the first indication he’d been worried. Time Bomb was alive, as promised, and I made a vow to myself that I would make sure the RMCA did everything possible to keep our side of the bargain.

  One week later…. Somewhere in the Green Mountains of Arkansas.

  “Haymitch to Katniss. President Snow is in the manor.” Monty Abadose, warlock and leader of the alpha team, said into my well-hidden earbud.

  By Katniss, he meant me, and by Snow, he meant the pain in the ass king of the vampires. I have had a strong obsession with the Hunger Games since the first book. The movies solidified the trilogy as the greatest rise of a reluctant heroine ever penned. At least in my mind, so I liked to use terms from the series as call signs and passcodes.

  As for President snow, aka Legabute Ambroos Delgados-Ravenblood, the current king of the Ravenblood vampire clan, the jerk had been nothing but uncooperative with the witch council, going as far as kicking Dee and Baz out of the clan.

  Fortunately, he’d granted me one meeting to make my case. I knew he had no interest in turning over the artifacts, so I planned to dazzle him with bullshit while my alpha team snuck into the catacombs to search for the pieces of Andrak’s heart. The plan had taken shape quickly, with the only problem being a certain dragon.

  “Copy that,” I told Monty. “Going in.” I straightened the lapel of my brown leather hunting jacket. “I’m walking out with those artifacts. If I don’t, I’ll start the biggest vampire-witch war on his bitch ass that this continent has ever seen.”

  There was a crackle in my earpiece, then Monty said, “May the odds be ever in your favor.”

  I smiled and shook my head. “Smart ass.”

  “Roger that, boss,” he replied.

  Chapter Three

  —Andrak—

  Hiding in a really tall tree in the Green Mountains of Arkansas, outside the Ravenblood compound…

  * * *

  It was a strange sensation having a piece of my heart back. It stirred emotions inside me that I’d forgotten I was capable of experiencing. Shirley and her agents, true to their word, had given it back to me after the bear Shifter had been reborn as sanguine drakonkin, the dragon version of a vampire.

  In the early days of mankind, dragons were the masters over humans, and they would gift the most faithful and most beloved with the immortality that came when we shared our hearts with them. Some dragons even took humans as wives, giving them the gift of sanguine drakonkin in order to complete the ritual of drakadmissurae, where a dragon would cover his chosen bride with his eternal flame.

  Even before the fragment had been returned to me, there was something about the blonde witch that I’d connected with the moment I’d seen her wearing her black leather battle armor and riding a broom as if it were a flying Maserati. I knew I was in trouble. Shirley Brothers was a skilled ace and a great source of frustration for me. Like the fact that she wouldn’t let me attend the meeting between her and the foppish vampire king. Bah. She believed that I would roast all their undead souls if Legabute pissed me off.

  She wasn’t wrong.

  And I can acknowledge that killing a clan of vampires could start a war the rest of my kind would have to fight, and that wasn’t something I was willing to do. No. I just wanted what belonged to me, the other six pieces of my heart, and nothing else.

  Well, maybe not nothing else, but I would settle for what was rightfully mine.

  I’d spent a week getting grilled by every witch on the council, and I put up with it because Shirley had promised me her people would get the rest of my heart and return it to me. I’d been without it for too long, and it had turned me cold and unfeeling toward humanity. Even so, I’d offered to save the bear Shifter. For what reason? It hadn’t been the vampire’s tears or the pink-haired witch’s anger. No. Honestly, I hadn’t cared about their grief. The bear had died a good death. However, Shirley had given my heart piece back to me without putting any attachments to the act. Simple decency. An act of doing the right thing because it was the right thing to do.

  I shook my head at the thought. I’d existed in this world and watched humans, witches, Shifters, and vampires evolve over the past three thousand years. Industry, technology, and science had advanced them all as species. Yet, as much as they’d grown, they also never seemed to change. Selfish, greedy, jealous. At least, that had been my experience. For the last thousand years, I could barely bring myself to engage with them. I was tired of existing.

  That is until I heard the song of the first piece that had been excavated from the Atlantic Ocean. The call had been an awakening. It had given me something I hadn’t felt since before I gave my heart away.

  Hope.

  Hope that I would finally find peace.

  Shirley’s action was a rare thing in this world, and it had moved me. And putting it back in my chest where it belonged had sparked my emotions. Now, I wanted the rest of the pieces back. So, I followed Shirley even though she’d asked me to stay behind. At a distance, of course. I’d parked several miles away and set out on foot in my human form. A giant dragon would’ve stuck out like a sore thumb.

  I climbed the tallest tree I could find for a dragon’s eye view. The compound rivaled the size of my castle in Serbia. Only, instead of an icy wasteland, the Ravenblood property was lush with trees, greenery, and multiple streams. Interesting that a place housing the undead would be teeming with life.

  I had excellent eyesight, but I was glad I brought my binoculars along. As I watched Shirley go over a small drawbridge, I found myself admiring her ass. Damn, the woman knew how to wear clothes, and I was willing to bet she looked just as good out of them as she did in.

  It was midnight, and the three-quarter moon cast a blue glow over the landscape. Shirley approached the guards at the large front doors. I snarled when they patted her down, angry at the way they manhandled her body.

  I was beyond the ability to love anyone, let alone a witch, but Shirley made me wish I could. The blonde stirred a longing in me.

  The vampires admitted her inside. Now it was a matter of waiting. I would know when she came out if the news was good or bad. And if she didn’t come out by morning, I would burn the place to the ground.

  An angry puff of smoke escaped my nostrils.

  So, I probably wouldn’t light the compound on fire. As I’ve said, I didn’t want a fight between dragons and vampires. We were both difficult to kill, but it didn’t mean we wouldn’t take losses. Besides, I was patient. I’d waited for three thousand years.

  I heard a throat clear. I looked down at the base of the tree and saw a man looking up at me. I’d spent a fair amount of time with Shirley’s agents this past week, so I recognized him right away. Cas Connor, a wolf Shifter, and partner to the witch Brita Davis.

  “Watcha doing up there?” he asked casually.

  I groaned. Damn it. Caught. I hopped down, bending my knees when I hit the ground to cushion the impact.

  I narrowed my gaze at him. “How did you find me?”

  Not intimidated in the least, he stared back. “Dude,” Cas said. “Shirley ain’t no dummy. She knew you’d be out here huffing and puffing while you considered blowing the vampires’ house down. So, I set my sniffer for smoke.” He tapped his nose. “Duh.”

  “Oh.” I sighed, and more smoke came out of my nose. “I didn’t realize….”

  “I could smell you coming from a mile away.”

  I grimaced. “Your point is taken.”

  He arched his brow. “Is it? I mean, I know our fearless leader told you to stay out of this.” The wolf Shifter lowered his voice. “If the bloodsuckers find out that they’ve got a dragon’s heart in their cold little hands, they aren’t going to give up the pieces.”

  “I thought you guys were going in to steal it.”

  He waved a hand. “Last resort. Brita and Cardinal are going in through the drainage tunnels, but there’s no guarantees.”

  I narrowed a suspicious gaze at Cas. “I don’t know this Cardinal person. Who is she?”

  “He,” Cas corrected. “New alpha team member.” The wolf Shifter had the audacity to clap me on the shoulder. I snarled, and smoked curled from my nose. “Chillax, man,” Cas said. “Cardinal doesn’t know about the bounty being your heart. He just knows it’s important. Nobody’s breaking the deal.”

  “Why didn’t you go in with your mate?”

  “She nixed it. Vamp blood is toxic to Shifters. One drop can kill us.” He jerked his thumb across his throat. “And considering you have to basically tear their head off with your teeth or bare hands….”

  “I see.” But I really didn’t. I’d done some research of my own when I’d decided to take Desma as a hostage. “Can’t they be staked with silver in the heart?”

  Cas shrugged. “Yeah, technically. But miss the mark, and there’s still all the blood.”

  “And what if I chop their head off with a knife or a sword?” I asked him.

  “They can just reattach them, then drink a little blood to heal up, and bang, bam, boom, Bob’s your uncle.”

  “I don’t have an Uncle Bob.”

  “It’s a figure of…you know what,” he waved his hand and gave a head shake, “never mind. All I’m saying is that vampires are total bitches to kill, and for Shifters, it’s a double-edged sword.”

  “Noted,” I told him. “Dragons are very hard to kill as well.”

  “Obvi,” Cas said. “I’m mean, dude, you’ve lived without a heart for three thousand years.”

  “Existed,” I amended. “Can you ask your leader, Monty, if he’s heard any news?”

  Cas put his finger to his ear. “Peeta to Haymitch, what’s the four-one-one on Katniss? Still in the capital? Cool, cool.”

  I frowned at him. “I didn’t understand most of that.”

  “Hunger Games. It’s a Shirley thing,” Cas said. “The boss is a Katniss Everdeen nut. Don’t ask.”

  “Wasn’t going to.” Even so, I made a mental note to look up this Hunger Games. If it was important to Shirley, I would make an effort to find out why.

  “Found Smokey in a tree.” Cas still had his finger to his ear, but he was staring at me. “Yep. Will do.”

  “In modern vernacular, you are what they call a snitch,” I told him.

  “It’s sort of my job.” The wolf Shifter looked unperturbed. “Monty says you need to go.”

  “Make me.”

  He gave me a flat stare and then said, “Nope.”

  A tremendous ground-shaking boom brought our conversation to an abrupt halt.

  —Shirley—

  Still in the freaking vampire lair, trying really fucking hard not to lose my shit on the vampire king so I can keep my promises…

  Legabute stared at me from across a long, ornately carved table in a grand dining room. “Methinks the bloodsucker is compensating,” my negotiator, Alma Peters, a brunette witch with a penchant for truth spells, whispered. “Big table, tiny weenis.”

  I stifled a giggle. “Methinks you’re onto something.” The king had been less than cooperative, and this was our second meeting since our return from Siberia. I’d been careful not to divulge too much about the true origin of the artifacts or why I wanted them. I could see the vampires trying to trade directly with Andrak for services rendered. In other words, they wouldn’t hesitate to use him as a weapon on their enemies.

  I wasn’t about to let that happen.

  “I don’t know why you wanted to meet again,” Legabute said. “I told you the last time that I’m not interested in any kind of trade with you.” He glared at me. “You’ve already stolen one of my artifacts.”

  “Not stolen,” I countered. “I recovered it.”

  “After my investigator was kidnapped, and it was stolen from her.”

  “It wasn’t in her possession when I found it.”

  “Since you insist on keeping it, we have nothing else to talk about.”

  “That’s not exactly true.” I nodded to Alma, and she raised her hands.

  “I invoke the power of two. No one can hear but you and you.” She pointed back and forth between Legabute and me. “So mote it be.”

  “Now that we have some privacy,” I said to his royal pain in the ass. “Let’s get down to the brass tacks.”

 

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