Her Dragon: An Urban Fantasy Romance (Silver Shifter Book 2) Read online

  “I’m not worried about me,” I said. I took Maximus’s hand and squeezed. As I rubbed my thumb along his wrist, I was relieved to find no wounds scarring his skin. He must have healed overnight. I raised my eyes to Cash and Owen, who looked as confused as my wolf mate. “I’m worried about all of you. If the vampires come after me, you could all get hurt.”

  My wolf whined at the thought, and I pressed closer to Maximus to give her some sense of comfort. His fresh scent invaded my nostrils, and my wolf glowed with contentment. The only thing that could have made her happier was to get even closer.

  Cash flashed a lopsided grin. “Don’t worry about us, Ari.”

  The return of his smirk actually did lessen my worry. That was the insufferably arrogant dragon I knew.

  “We’ll be fine,” Owen agreed, his boyish smile melting my heart.

  Maximus grunted his agreement. “What we should be concerned about is why vampires would dare attack two Alphas and the Silver Shifter in broad daylight. It breaks every supernatural treaty we’ve ever forged. Something has them desperate.”

  “She should be off limits,” Owen agreed.

  “You know this means war, don’t you?” Cash said. He gripped the back of the sofa, his fingers sinking into the leather until it creaked.

  “I know,” Maximus said, a frown furrowing his brow.

  “War?” I asked. “Between wolves and vampires?”

  Owen shook his head. “Between vampires and all New York shifters.”

  My palms began to sweat at the idea. That was exactly what the Silver Shifter was supposed to prevent. Had I caused a war somehow?

  “We should take Ari somewhere else,” Cash said. His jaw was set, his eyes calculating.

  Maximus’s hold on me tightened. “Where?”

  “I’m not going anywhere,” I growled. I pulled away from Maximus to stand. “I won’t cower in this house or anywhere else for that matter.”

  Maximus rose and so did Owen.

  “She’s right,” Owen said. “We need to prepare for the battle that’s coming. We can’t just hide her away… No matter how much I’d like to.” Pain flashed in his eyes, and I circled the coffee table to take his hand.

  “You think I wouldn’t protect her with my life?” Maximus growled. “She’s safest here, where my pack can protect her.”

  “Whoa, that’s not what I said,” Owen said, holding up both hands. “I’m on your side here, Maximus. We’re not at war with each other. We’re not our parents.”

  “I’ll be fine,” I said, trying for a reassuring smile. “I’m a dragon and a wolf, remember?”

  “Which clan will the vampires attack first?” Owen asked, dispelling whatever weird tension had risen between him and Maximus. I hadn’t known Owen was capable of getting pissed, but he’d been pretty close a moment ago. The competitiveness between Maximus and Cash was obvious, but this was something deeper.

  “I don’t know,” Cash admitted. “Jett didn’t either.”

  I looked between them, confusion furrowing my eyebrows. “What do you mean? We’re wolves. They’d go after us, wouldn’t they?”

  Cash met my gaze, steel in his normally warm green eyes. “You transformed into a dragon in the middle of New York City. They could attack my people, too.”

  My heart sank at the realization. “I’m sorry. I hadn’t thought of that.”

  “If they’re after Ariana, and they know we were on our way to bear territory, they might go after my clan, too,” Owen added.

  Maximus nodded, his lips tight. “No one is safe right now.”

  “Except Jett,” I said. My statement hung in the air, heavy in the silence that descended.

  “So, no one knows who the vampires will attack, or when they’ll do it,” Owen said after a minute.

  “Whoever they attack, it’ll be soon,” Maximus said.

  I looked back at him. “How soon?”

  He grimaced. “Too soon.”

  3

  Ariana

  Shira was unusually subdued as she bustled around the kitchen making us lunch. I figured she was worried about her Alpha, but I didn’t have a chance to ask her because we were all busy talking about the impending war. I was barely beginning to understand my role as Silver Shifter, and I didn’t know much more than that my duty was to prevent war between the clans. They’d finally found their tool to stop war between the clans, only to find out they had an even bigger war to worry about.

  “We should continue on to bear territory,” I said, interrupting the guys who had kept talking while I mulled over my position.

  “Absolutely not,” Maximus said, rubbing his ribs and grimacing. “If they even suspect that we were headed there, they might attack again.”

  “They attacked while I was in the car,” Owen said. “So we can assume they know we were going to bear or wolf territory.”

  “I have my people patrolling twenty-four hours a day,” Maximus said. “They’ll communicate through the pack bond the second they get so much as a whiff of vampire stink. We’re safe here.”

  “You can’t keep me from this,” I said, irritation rising inside me. “I’m supposed to be the center of all this, right? Some kind of glue that holds the shifter clans together, or a salve that soothes your little spats, or whatever you want to call it. I’m supposed to help all the clans. Isn’t this my chance to do just that?”

  “We’re only trying to protect you,” Owen said, laying his big hand over mine.

  Shira slid a plate across the table, and I had to jerk my hand back so the stack of pancakes didn’t topple onto my arm. I was too hungry to care. I felt like I could eat the dozen pancakes and then some. I grabbed the plate as it slid and pulled it in front of me before glancing guiltily at the others.

  “Go on, eat,” Cash said with a smirk. “No one can put it down like a dragon after fire-breathing.”

  “Although you’d think an entire vampire would provide a good amount of energy,” Owen said with a grin.

  “Shut up,” I said, kicking him under the table.

  “Maybe they don’t have any life energy, since they’re dead,” Maximus said with a look of disgust.

  Shira set a plate of pancakes in front of Maximus, her eyes searching his for something I didn’t understand. Fortunately, my wolf knew just how to eavesdrop, and she perked up her ears for information.

  I got about as far as hearing Shira silently ask, “Did you know she’s—” before a brick wall flew up in the face of my wolf.

  Were they talking about me? What other “she” could they mean?

  Before I could think twice, my mouth fell open and a huff of indignation escaped. They were blocking me out of their conversation!

  “We’ll talk about it later,” Maximus said to Shira, his voice quiet but firm.

  “Talk about what?” I demanded, pausing with my fork poised above the pancake stack.

  “A personal matter,” Maximus said. “We have more important things to discuss right now. This attack by the vampires concerns us all. Keeping you safe is our number one priority, Ariana. You have to know that.”

  “And who’s going to keep you safe?” I shot back. I plunged my fork into the pancakes like I had a personal vendetta.

  Maximus stiffened at my words, but I caught the twinge of pain flickering across his face before he hid it. I couldn’t believe it. He’d come down here to talk politics with the other leaders, but he wasn’t even fully recovered. He was totally still injured and trying to save face by faking his recovery.

  “We don’t need you to keep us safe,” Maximus said stiffly. “We each have an entire clan who would die for us just as surely as we’d die for them.”

  “Oh, like the whole pack was there to protect you on that rooftop?” I asked through a mouthful of pancake and syrup and butter. Oh my god, food had never tasted so good.

  “That’s not fair,” Shira said, setting down plates in front of the two visiting Alphas.

  I knew it wasn’t fair, but I was too pissed to
hold back. Maximus was trying to keep me out of the fight even though I was completely healed and a freaking dragon, for fuck’s sake. But he was apparently just fine to fight even though he could hardly breathe without wincing. My wolf was having none of that—and neither was my dragon. She seemed to be rousing with the addition of food to my system, and she was not happy about one of my mates being injured.

  “Just another reason to stay here,” Maximus said, a gloating smile tugging at his lips.

  “No,” I said, stabbing viciously into a pancake. “Hell no. I’ll be your Silver Shifter like you wanted, and I understand the necessity of having clan unity. Now, more than ever, I can see why it’s important. But fuck if I’m going to be a mascot who sits in a silver cage while there’s a war going on. I’ve spent way too much of my life in cages already.”

  “No one’s going to put you in a cage,” Maximus growled. “But we are going to protect you.”

  “And I’m going to protect you,” I said, my skin burning with heat as my temper flared.

  “Whoa, there,” Cash said, holding up both hands. “Just calm down, Ari.”

  “Calm down?” I asked, scratching irritably at my arm. “You’re basically telling me that you rescued me from a bunch of soulless vampires who made me murder people every day just to earn a bowl of dog food for dinner, so I can sit around and look pretty while you go off to fight them. And I’m telling you I’ll die before I let that happen. God, it’s hot in here! Why is it so damn hot?” I yanked at the bottom of my t-shirt, fanning my belly with the edge of it. I felt like my skin was about to burst into flame.

  “You’re getting a little scaly there, Ari,” Owen said carefully.

  They were all staring at me. I looked down at my arm, which was itching and burning. And covered with silver scales.

  Shit. Well, that explained the hot flash. I was shifting into a dragon.

  “Take a few deep breaths,” Cash said, his eyes dancing with amusement as he pushed a glass of water across the table to me. The other two Alphas had pushed back from the table a little, and Shira was gaping at me as she flattened her back against the counter.

  I picked up the glass with shaking hands and chugged the whole thing. Thankfully, my body began to cool, and the scales on my arms smoothed into regular flesh again.

  “Okay, now that we know how that works,” I said, “I think it’s fair to say I’ve made my point.”

  “You certainly have,” Maximus said, glowering at me and then Cash.

  “Good,” I said lightly. I leaned in and fisted the front of his shirt, pulling him closer. “Now, I think someone needs a little more time to rest before we get on our way.”

  The muscle in Maximus’s cheek jerked as he clenched his jaw. “I said you made your point, not that I agreed.”

  “I’ll go with you,” I coaxed, pushing my bare leg against his beneath the table. I didn’t know much about men yet, but I knew I had him when his eyes dropped to my thigh and lingered a beat longer than necessary. I wasn’t using my powers of persuasion for entirely selfish reasons. Sure, I wanted to dig for that secret that had passed between him and Shira, but I also I wanted to get him alone so I could yell at him about overdoing it before he was recovered. If he wanted to keep it from the other Alphas, that was his business, but he wasn’t keeping it from me. No wonder Shira was pissed. The whole pack must be feeling how weak he was.

  “If you’ll excuse me, it seems my mate needs some attention,” Maximus said, pushing his chair back and standing. If I hadn’t known already, I wouldn’t have noticed that he was favoring one leg.

  “You kids enjoy yourselves,” Cash said with a wink.

  “We will,” Maximus growled, looking like he was about to leap across the table at Cash to wipe that smug smile off his face.

  “Come on,” I said, taking Maximus’s arm. My thighs quivered when I saw the way Owen was eyeing my bare legs. I wondered if Maximus would mind if I invited him to join…

  Maximus’s arm clamped around my waist, pulling me against him as he marched out of the room. Okay, so that was a no for inviting Owen. For today, anyway.

  Focus, Ari. You’re pissed at Maximus. You lured him away under false pretenses so that you could yell at him. You’re not actually going to sleep with him or Owen right now.

  I didn’t say a word as we climbed the stairs, but Maximus’s commanding hand on my waist was kinda making me forget myself. I was all too aware of how little I was wearing. As soon as we closed the door to his bedroom, I pulled away so I could clear my head.

  “What the hell, Maximus? You’re still hurt,” I accused. “And don’t even deny it. I can feel it through the bond.”

  “It’s not that bad,” Maximus said with a dramatic roll of his eyes.

  “Bullshit,” I said. “You should be in bed for another day, maybe two.”

  “I don’t have that kind of time.”

  “Yeah, well, you’re not going to have any time if you go into a battle like that,” I said. “One vampire could take you down right now.”

  “Are you calling me weak?” he growled, stalking toward me.

  “I’m calling you too stubborn for your own good,” I said. “You want to protect me, but you don’t think twice about getting up and running around when you’re obviously not ready.”

  “I can’t look weak in front of the other Alphas. Not when they’re already clamoring for my mate.”

  “Oh my god,” I said, heaving an irritated sigh. “Is that what this is about? Do I need to get you a measuring stick?”

  “I’m your mate and your Alpha,” Maximus said. “It’s my job to take care of you, no matter how badly I’m injured. The moment I stop taking care of my mate is the moment I stop breathing.”

  “Obviously, I’m the one who can take care of myself,” I said, throwing my hands up. “I slept until I recovered like a smart, responsible person. How are you going to go into bear territory like that, Maximus?”

  “We’re not going,” he snapped, striding to the bed and sinking onto the edge. “That little display downstairs only made it more obvious that we can’t go rushing off unprepared. We don’t know what your Silver Shifter powers really are, Ariana. We don’t know exactly what you can do, and you don’t know how to control your dragon side yet. It would be irresponsible to leave right now. We don’t know when or where the next attack will come. Hell, for all we know it’s not just the vamps that want you.”

  “What does that mean?” I asked, my fingers tightening into fists. “Who else would want me?” My heart beat at double speed when I pictured the warlock who had held me captive all those years. Had he known something?

  “The whole world will want your blood when they know it cures vampirism,” Maximus said, taking my hand and looking at me with such concern it almost made up for his infuriating stubbornness. “You’re basically a weapon against a bloodsucking plague of vampires.”

  “I love it when you talk dirty,” I purred at him.

  He blinked a couple times and cleared his throat. “That’s what you call dirty talk?”

  “What, did you expect me to be a cute little pound puppy when you rescued me from my kennel?” I asked, taking a seat beside him. “Have you forgotten where I came from? I’m a trained fighter, Maximus. I’ve probably killed more people than any of you. Don’t expect me to roll over and play dead at your command.”

  I linked my fingers through Maximus’s, holding his hand while I reminded him that I was a ruthless killer. True, I was no longer forced to do that every day. But that didn’t mean I couldn’t do it when the situation called for it.

  “I know you’re capable, Ariana,” Maximus said, raking a hand through his thick, chestnut hair. “I just never wanted you to have to kill again.”

  “You’re not forcing me to fight for my life every single day or keeping me in a cage and starving me,” I said. “You’ve treated me better than anyone has in my entire life. You gave me freedom, Maximus.”

  To my surprise, tears burned be
hind my eyelids.

  Maximus held my gaze a long moment. “And I’ll die to ensure that you stay free,” he said, lifting my hand. He closed his eyes and pressed his lips to the back of my fingers. “You don’t have to fight anymore, Ariana.”

  “I know,” I said, placing my hand on his chest and pushing him back onto the bed. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to. I’m choosing this, Maximus. I want to stand and fight by your side, not for an audience or to make someone money. I’m fighting for us.” I scooted down beside him, leaning up on my elbow while I began to undo the buttons on his shirt.

  “What are you doing?” he asked, watching me work his shirt open and slip my hand inside. I pressed my palm to the smooth, hard planes of muscle that made up his chest.

  “Don’t cut me out of it,” I whispered. “I’m part of this. I may not know everything about living in the outside world, but I’m tougher and smarter than you give me credit for.”

  “I’m beginning to see that,” he said, his voice rough with desire as I slid my hand lower, relishing the warmth and softness of his skin.

  I circled his bellybutton with one fingernail, watching his skin contract as a chill swept over his body. I had that power. I had more power than any of them could imagine. I could feel it inside me like another beast, another animal waiting to come out, though I didn’t yet know what form it would take.

  I leaned down and swept my lips over Maximus’s. His eyes closed, and a growl rumbled through him as my hand inched lower, slipping beneath the button of his pants. My teeth rasped against the stubble on his chin.

  “Stop trying to protect me,” I whispered, brushing kisses along his sculpted jawline. “You’ve already rescued me. Now let me take care of you.”

  4

  Max

  I knew I should stop Ariana, that I was about as impressive as a weak human in this state. I could still feel the silver coursing through me, poisoning me like the shame of what had happened on that roof. I hadn’t saved my mate. I hadn’t protected her. We’d escaped, but no thanks to anything I’d done. Ariana had saved us both.