Laughing, Griff plopped down on his backside and stretched out his aching legs. “I’ll take that as a yes.” Leaning back on his hands, he studied his cousin. There was no mistaking the tiredness in him and it wasn’t just from this fight. “Are you still having those dreams?”
Mad threw an arm over his eyes and breathed slow and deep. “Yes.”
Concern rippled through him. “Have you talked to Ignatius?”
“I did.”
“And?”
“And he told me sometimes we have to slay the beast.”
Griff rolled his eyes at their leader’s cryptic reply. “What the hell does that mean?”
“I don’t know,” Mad said, his voice filled with resignation. “Maybe he means I’m literally supposed to go out and hunt down whoever is filling my head with all these crazy images.”
Griff grumbled softly, “I don’t think that’s such a good idea. You could be walking into a trap. It wouldn’t be the first time the Knights used a seer or someone with empathic abilities to screw with a dragon’s mind.”
Mad let his arm fall back to the mat. He met Griff’s gaze. “I can’t go on like this. I may not have a choice.”
“Will you at least wait until I’ve finished this mating phase so I can come with you?”
“Sure.”
Griff opened his mouth to ask him where they would start their search but the wild vibration of an approaching dragon gripped his gut. Every dragon of his acquaintance had a specific feeling but this one he didn’t recognize. The vibrations in his gut filled him with a bright, trembling sensation of excitement. The alien sensation unsettled him.
Griff pushed off the mat and rose to his full height. Mad was a little slower getting off the floor. They climbed out of the ring and crossed the gym to the main entrance. The vibrations in Griff’s stomach pushed into his chest. A pulsing heat burned him. He rubbed the spot just over his heart and glanced at Mad. His cousin didn’t seem to be the least bit affected.
The double doors burst open and a woman appeared. Her scent hit him like a ton of bricks. Swaying on his feet, Griff backed up a step and tried to clear his hazy mind. Alluringly sweet and spicy, the smell invaded his lungs. His inner beast snapped with lust and need. This woman, whoever she was, had ignited his desire.
Griff let his hungry gaze roam her petite frame. He’d never seen a skirt look so good. The hip-hugging fabric outlined her body in all the rights ways. A fitted blouse with the top buttons popped open displayed her curves. She wore her jet-black hair coiled at the back of her head. Emeralds dangled from her earlobes. The glimmering green jewels accentuated her silky brown skin. His fingertips buzzed as he wondered what it would be like to stroke her face.
She turned her dark eyes on him. Something about her was so familiar. When she waved her hand up and down, he spotted the white handkerchief.
“Griffin Cadogan?”
Her gentle voice spilled over him like sunshine. “Yes?”
“I’d like to request we put our family’s little blood feud aside for the duration of my visit.”
Blood feud? The shock of her identity smacked him right in the face. “Avani Monroe?”
Her lips curved in a teasing smile. “They told me you were the smart one.”
Trying to ignore the needful pull tugging at him, Griff narrowed his eyes. “You’re either very brave or very stupid to come into our gym.”
“I assure you I’m neither stupid nor brave. It’s desperation that brought me to my enemy’s door.”
Her somber tone struck a chord in him. Against his better judgment, he asked, “What do you want?”
Her sexy, sinful grin knocked the air right out of his lungs. “You.”
Feeling anything but confident, Avani ignored the nervousness wobbling low in her belly and tried to maintain the cool, controlled facade that had served her so well in business. Her gaze skipped to Ian Madoc. Griffin’s cousin stared at her with amusement and interest. She glanced back to the man she desperately needed to help her.
Surprise filtered across Griffin’s face. She spotted the briefest flare of crimson in his pale blue irises as that beastly Welsh Red tried to surface. Like her, he was only hours away from going into heat. She figured that was the reason the two cousins had been knocking the crap out of each other in here. She preferred the more enlightened methods of fasting and meditation to ease her transition but apparently these two dragons still clung to the more barbaric old customs.
She examined Griffin more closely. His size still made her nervous. She’d heard he was a big man but hadn’t been expecting this. Nearly seven feet tall, he sported the broadest shoulders she’d ever seen and muscular arms emblazoned with heavy tattoos. She didn’t recognize any of the symbols or markings but they were probably significant to his old tribe or his Welsh homeland.
Griffin lifted one huge hand and crooked a finger. His deep, rumbling voice made her heart race. “Come with me.”
Gulping down the anxiety clogging her throat, Avani followed him across the gym to an office. She glanced over her shoulder and found Ian making his way to an arched doorway on the other side of the gym. The realization that she would have a few moments of privacy to plead her case with Griffin bolstered her courage.
He entered the office and kept one hand on the door for her. Fearful that inhaling his scent would make her brain fuzzy, she held her breath as she passed him. Soothing heat radiated from him in strong, penetrating waves. Her breasts ached and her core pulsed with need. Attraction and lust weren’t emotions she allowed herself to experience very often. Right now, she didn’t have a choice. Griffin’s nearness had inflamed her.
The door shut with a soft click. Hands trembling, she gripped the handkerchief tighter. Coming into a closed space with him had been a terrible idea. His delicious scent curled around her. She eyed him warily as he walked to the desk and leaned back against it. Even in that slight sitting position, he towered over her. Refusing to sit or give him the upper hand, she lifted her chin.
“You realize that I’m about to go into heat. The risk you’ve taken—”
“It’s acceptable to me,” she interrupted. “In fact, our synced heat cycles are exactly why I need you.”
His jaw visibly clenching, he said, “If you’re suggesting what I think you’re suggesting, you are out of your damned mind. I’m not in the market for a mate and certainly not one whose great-aunt stabbed my great-uncle to death.” He pointed to the door. “You should leave.
“No.” She stood her ground. “And, for the record, my father’s family tells a slightly different version of the altercation that started this feud.”
He snorted. “I’m sure they did. Now why are you here?”
“You’re a member of the Brotherhood of the Green Hide. You’re charged with protecting our species from extinction. You know what the Knights of St. George did to my mother’s family?”
His harsh expression softened. “Yes.”
“Then you also know that after the massacre last fall, I’m the last of my mother’s line.” Her eyes prickled with bitter tears as the memories of the vicious and brutal battle flooded her mind. “My mother’s family had invited us home for reconciliation. It was supposed to be a beautiful family reunion but those bastards…”
She couldn’t finish the thought. Swallowing hard, she touched her chest. “I’m the last of the Naga. I’ve been combing the family trees of my people looking for someone, anyone, with the right genes, but the Knights have snuffed us out.”
Griffin exhaled slowly. “The Knights are frighteningly efficient when it comes to targeting specific bloodlines. Your mother’s line was one of the most fragile and unique of our kind.”
“Centuries of arranged marriages and a closed society didn’t help.” She thought of the horror her mother and father had caused with their scandalous love affair and elopement. Her Indian mother had chosen to marry a Western man from a little-known branch of a British dragon tribe. Both sets of parents had decried the match and ostracized the pair. Avani had grown up as an outcast, never quite belonging in the dragon commune that had accepted her parents as members.
“I don’t know why you think I can help you. My people are lightning makers and thunder clappers.”
“Not all of them,” she said. “Your archivist, Reynard, helped me identify dragons with suitable bloodlines.
