Inception

by Laxmi Hariharan

  As the wind rushed through her hair, lifting the long strands, her muscles began to relax. When she felt a tug, she turned to find he'd coiled a strand of her hair around his finger.

  Long sensuous fingers, tapered at the end—an artist's hand.

  He brought the strand to his nose and sniffed. Another tremor raced through her body.

  He'd always have this effect on her. However much time she spent with him, there'd always be this frisson of something dangerous between them that would keep her on edge.

  She pulled, and he let go of her hair, his fingers dropping to touch her shoulder.

  Sizzle.

  The heat zoomed straight to her core, and a shudder trembled down her back.

  He hadn't noticed how much his touch affected her, had he?

  "You love being out in the open." His voice was soft, reaching that part of her she was trying so hard to hide from him.

  Perhaps she was going about this all wrong. Maybe she should stop fighting her dragon and find a way to come to terms with what her beast was feeling for this male?

  A breath whistled out from between her lips.

  "It would have been much faster if we'd flown." His hands were loose at his side. At least he'd stopped touching her. She had to stop herself from leaning into him and melting against his side.

  "Nice try." She flashed him a look from below her lashes. "We dragon shifters don't let just anyone ride us. That right is reserved for family and friends only."

  "Ouch." He thumped his heart and grinned.

  That wicked, wicked smile of his set off something hot and liquid in her belly. Did he have to be so sexy?

  "You so flatter me. I don't count as either, I take it?" The remains of a smile still played around those strong lips.

  "You are just an alliance of convenience. Someone I must put up with because it’s best for my species." There. That should shut him up.

  Or so she thought.

  "You could have flown. I'd have followed in this cruiser." He waggled his eyebrows at her.

  Stubborn male.

  She found her lips pulling apart in a smile but stopped herself in time.

  "No one drives Dragon Heart but me." She set her jaw then decided it was safer to look ahead.

  Better to focus on the blue of the sea rather than the blue of those distracting eyes that did things to her insides, hot sexy yearnings she didn't want to acknowledge.

  "Dragon Heart?"

  She sensed Aaron's glance on her face. "Growing up, we knew Eve would be our alpha. But she joked that I was the one with the heart that marked me out most as dragon born." Hope's lips twisted in recollection.

  "What do you mean?"

  18

  Aaron

  Reaching out, Hope took Aaron's hand and placed it over her heart. It was the last thing he'd expected.

  Thud, thud, thud.

  The beat of her heart pulsed through his fingers, sinking into his blood stream, until it felt as if her heart beat with the same rhythm as his. The heat of her was like flames which shot up and licked him. The feel of her skin, a contrast, like liquid honey that swirled over his hand.

  It was that very contradiction of sensations running through him that made desire flare, hot and hard, intense enough that it caught him by surprise.

  Accepting Hope made it feel like he was being untrue to the memory of Zayn, which was stupid.

  If Zayn had been alive, he'd only want Aaron to be happy. He'd have loved Hope and would’ve wanted Aaron to pursue Hope until she accepted. Yet, it all felt so rushed, and Aaron felt he hadn't yet had time to mourn Zayn properly.

  So, Aaron withdrew his hand. He hadn't counted on missing her touch so intensely. It felt like he was tearing his heart out.

  As he stepped away, the breeze blew in between them, and already he missed that exotic scent of her that had teased him, that he had scented even before he first saw her.

  He needed to get his heart away from thoughts of her and to focus on the task he'd been sent to do: form an alliance with the dragon shifters and find a way to overcome the Elysians.

  Yes, that was it.

  Part of his job was to find out everything he could about the dragon shifters. Mind made up, he turned to her, pretending he didn't see those emerald-green eyes narrow in confusion.

  "So, you're descended from the founder of this city?" It was like he couldn’t help himself.

  Pursing her lips, Hope shook back the hair from her face in a gesture he was beginning to recognize. "My grandmother, Nora, and her mate were the first to settle Mauritania. She gave me this pendant before she died." She touched the amber she wore around her neck. “She left each of us seven of her grandchildren something of value. She said it would help us when we most needed it."

  "And you believe her?"

  "I do." Hope wrinkled her nose. "After all, my grandparents came from the mountain kingdom of Druk Yul."

  "The legendary land of the Druk, in the eastern-most corner of the Himalaya mountains." Aaron snapped his fingers. "Where dragons lived. Dragons so beautiful they'd make you cry. Dragons that breathed red fire—"

  "—that manifested as sparkling thunderbolts, which swept down the valleys of the kingdom." She completed his statement, a smile playing around her lips.

  "Well? Is it true?" He rubbed a hand over the stubble on his chin.

  Her eyes were drawn to his jaw. Her gazed followed the rhythmic movement of his fingers.

  Ah! She was turned on by him all right. She wanted him. She just didn't want to admit it.

  As if reading his thoughts, her cheeks reddened. Hope looked away, shuffling her feet. "Some of it has been romanticized over the years. I remember when we were young dragonlings and the Elysians attacked us. Our parents led a small team of dragon and wolf shifters to attack them. The combined fire of the dragons turned the skies red, the sound of it like the biggest thunderstorm to have hit this island. So, the name of thunder dragons seems apt."

  "Have you been back to the mountain kingdom?"

  "We can't return." Hope gripped the wheel, her fingers sliding over the smooth surface. "My grandmother was banished from the kingdom of Druk for falling in love and breaking her betrothal. The Druk dragons and those of Mauritania have never been in touch."

  "So, she left because she wanted a mate of her choice," he mused aloud. "Yet, she wants her granddaughters to be duty bound to only mate with those chosen for them?"

  "She did mate a dragon." Hope looked straight ahead, a pulse jerking at the base of her throat. He knew then that she was going to tell him something he didn't want to hear.

  "Besides, no other species has the power to withstand the psychic force of mating with a dragon. Not many dragonlings make it to adulthood, so our species is declining fast. It's important I mate one of our own."

  "Like Jason?" The image of the man who had called out Hope's name came to mind. Rage roared through him.

  "Like Jason." Hope set her jaw.

  "A dragon shifter has never mated with another species?" His voice came out harsh.

  Hope angled her body away from him. "The only times it happened, the mate of the dragon shifter died."

  "Perhaps that is what you were told?" Aaron welcomed the clean bite of anger that pulsed through his blood. Better to focus on that than the thought of any other man laying claim to his dragoness.

  Her eyes swiveled to his. "What do you mean?"

  "You don't know unless you try it. Perhaps this is a story that has been propagated, just to make sure you keep your bloodline pure." Aaron was not sure where the words came from.

  It wasn't something he had consciously thought of. He'd wanted to pull back from the attraction this woman had for him. There was no place in his life for her right now, for he needed to fight his own demons first.

  Yet, he couldn't help but goad her. As he spoke, he felt a thread of truth in his own words.

  She felt it too, because she cut the motor of the cruiser a second before she turned and raised
her hand to slap him.

  He reacted on instinct. Grabbing her hand, he turned her around so her back was plastered to him, his arm around her neck, holding her flush against him.

  Too late, he realized his mistake.

  For in this position, her body curved against his, her hips thrust against his groin, and his chest muscles flexed against her shoulder blades. His arm lay just above her breasts, yet he could feel her chest rise and fall. Her head fit into the crook of his neck.

  His breath stirred the hair against her ear, and a tremor ran through her body. He felt it like his own.

  Desire licked his nerve endings, sending a rush of blood to the part of him that was molded to her.

  He didn't stop himself from sliding his other arm around her waist or from swaying in tune to the breeze that rushed around them. He held her until her muscles relaxed against his, even as a fine tension simmered between them.

  In the quiet that surrounded them in the middle of the ocean, Aaron turned Hope to face him.

  "Don't." Was he cautioning himself or her?

  Her scent was spicy with a simmering lick of heat. It made his heart ache with desire. Made him want to reach out and consume her whole. She would fill parts of him he hadn't let anyone else reach.

  Zayn had always had his back. But for the first time, Aaron realized how much he'd missed having his own identity.

  Him. Immortal warrior. Ascendant. A lover who thirsted for this woman who made him feel more alive than he ever had in his life. One whose psychic energy was so in sync with his that he could let her in. He could find himself by letting her twine with him.

  The force of his thoughts had his eyes flying open. That's when he saw the flames that enveloped them both.

  It was the most beautiful thing he had seen, a physical manifestation of her desire.

  They may deny their mutual attraction, but there was the evidence of how combustible they were together.

  The flame was a living embodiment of the alluring woman he held in his arms.

  The fire didn't hurt him, yet it was as if he were immersed in her essence, a taste of how it could be when he buried himself in her, for they would burn each other with the force of their desire.

  He pulled her up until she was balanced on tiptoe and melting into him. From chest to hip to thigh, they were one.

  Her eyes were closed, an expression of such rapture on her face that he was loath to disturb her.

  As he watched, a tendril of green-violet flame curled around her, and the tips of the long strands of her hair flickered to life.

  "Baby, you are on fire."

  She chuckled, the sound rolling up her chest and reverberating off the wall of his, where they were fused together.

  When the meaning of his words sank in, her eyes snapped open.

  His breath caught in his chest.

  She'd gone dragon on him. Gold flecks swirled in green pupils with vertical slits. They widened as they took in the green-violet flame enclosing both of them.

  Her eyes latched onto his and held. "I am on fire." Her voice was stark with surprise. Her eyebrows furrowed.

  Reaching down, he brushed his lips over hers. "It's not burning me."

  Her fingers fluttered over his shoulders, his arms. "How? It can't be…" The shock in her voice seemed to snap her out of the final throes of desire.

  Her eyes cleared, showing she was back in control. The violet flames echoed in those green depths blinked out, and with it, the flames that covered them both.

  He let her slide down, stifling a groan as she brushed against the aching hardness that pushed up against his pants.

  Her cheeks flushed.

  When she made to step back, he didn't stop her.

  She started the engine of the boat, giving it throttle as the boat jumped forward. The only hint that something was wrong was in the whiteness of the knuckles that gripped the wheel of the boat.

  "What was that?" he asked her.

  When she didn't say anything further he touched her shoulder. "Are you going to tell me what happened?"

  "Nothing happened." She shuffled away.

  He took the hint and dropped his hand. "Something upset you."

  "Perhaps it was a sign of how much you repel me." She chuckled, but the sound came out all wrong. Her tongue came out to flick at her lower lip.

  An answering pulse of desire in his groin had Aaron reaching for her.

  Gripping her upper arm, he turned her around, taking care not to mark her skin. His dragoness was stronger than him, yet the woman was fragile. He'd felt her throb with desire, felt the vulnerability of her soul just then. The protector in him screamed to take care of her.

  "That's not true." His voice was gentle. "The fire didn't hurt you or me. I have never seen this kind of spontaneous combustion before. Tell me what it means. You owe me that much." A part of him knew her answer was important.

  Her eyes skittered away. The obstinate set to her jaw told him she was going to stay silent.

  He answered his own question. "It means your dragon accepts me, isn't that right?"

  "It doesn't matter what my dragon wants. I don't want you; get it?" Folding her hands, she met his gaze, all trace of the fiery dragon gone. Her eyes were pools of green that reflected the sea around them.

  "Loud and clear." Letting her go, Aaron clenched his fingers into fists at his side.

  It's what he wanted to hear, wasn't it?

  He'd sensed the connection between them and had been attracted to her; yet, he wasn't ready to accept it. Not yet. Not when it felt like he didn't deserve this chance.

  Taking a step back, he turned away. "Now what?"

  "You keep your distance from me, immortal." Her voice was steady.

  She was right. Best that he stay away from her. Besides, he wasn't ready for a mate either.

  19

  Hope

  Aaron had insisted on taking a shift at the wheel so Hope could go below deck and get some rest. As a dragon, Hope was used to going without sleep for days. But right then, she needed the chance to put distance between them.

  So, she gave over the wheel to Aaron without protest.

  If Aaron had been surprised by that, he didn't comment.

  As she slept, the pulse of the motor of the boat was a steady beat against her back. Four hours later, she was back on deck, just as dawn broke over the horizon.

  He handed over the wheel, letting her steer the boat through the small islands that had begun to appear.

  She focused on navigating to the side of the larger island, which she knew from experience was uninhabited. By the time she let the cruiser drift closer to shore, Aaron had lowered a smaller rowing boat into the water.

  Together, they got in, and when Aaron took the oars, Hope directed him to the far side of the island.

  When a small beach came into view, he whistled. "Just how many times have you been here?"

  Lips curving at the question, she raised her eyebrows. "Enough times to know my way around. Don't tell Eve. If you do, she'll only worry."

  "That's what older sisters are for." He tilted his head.

  "You have siblings?" Hope knew it was dangerous to find out more about this enigmatic immortal. It would only make it more difficult to part when the time came.

  Yet, her dragon wouldn't back down, insisted on finding out everything it could about this man.

  "Brothers," he replied. "Not blood-born, but brothers by fate. Me and five other Ascendants were brought up together in a hermitage in the Himalaya mountains. Zayn, my twin, younger by just five minutes, was always getting into trouble. He loved picking fights with neighboring shifter clans, and I was always having to bail him out. He was fiery, Zayn was, and so impulsive. Fearless, he never hesitated to speak his mind or follow his heart."

  Caught up in his story, she placed her hand on his arm. "Where is Zayn?"

  Aaron looked away, his knuckles tightening on the oar. "He's dead."

  Her fingers tightened on him. She wanted to
comfort the lost, lonely boy in him who missed his brother. Before she could reach out to hug him, Aaron stopped rowing.

  Jumping out, he pushed the boat toward the beach, the muscles on his forearms and biceps bunching with the movement.

  When she made to follow, he held out a hand. "I’m taller than you."

  The water barely reached his waist, while it would be chest deep for her.

  The boat was by no means light, and she was no weakling. Yet, Aaron was not even breathing heavily by the time he'd towed the boat to where the water was shallow enough for her to jump out.

  She'd underestimated his strength.

  She'd felt the corded tension of those muscles when they'd kissed, had felt the power of him when they'd fought, yet the sheer animal strength of him hit her.

  Her dragon pushed up against her skin, insisting he would be a worthy mate, one who was more than a match for her. Then the boat hit the sand.

  Grasping the side of the boat, she heaved it up.

  Aaron did the same on his side, bending a little to accommodate the difference in their heights.

  She gestured to the tree line, helping to carry it across the beach. Once they reached the trees, she helped him hide it behind a thick row of bushes.

  Keeping close to the ground, she motioned for Aaron to do the same. Using the trees for cover, she ran through the forest until she hit the edge where it gave way to a clearing.

  Dropping to a crouch behind a large banyan tree whose trunk was wide enough to provide cover, she felt Aaron do the same.

  His skin brushed hers, his eucalyptus and pine scent a sharp, tangy contrast to the smell of earth and leaves around her.

  A rush of heat bloomed low, and she swore to herself. They were on Seychelles, on enemy territory, and yet she couldn't stop her instinctive reaction to this male.

  Moving just enough to put some distance between them, she closed her eyes and raised her nose to scent the air.

  There was a smell of water laced with a tingling taste of something metallic, white and dry like aluminum. Elysian guards.

  They didn't smell of dry ice like vampires. The Elysians felt more closed off.