Grigori threw his head back at the same moment his tail whipped around, hitting the exposed side of Dimitri’s underbelly. The spines, a trait inherited from his father and his Nordic ice dragon heritage, cut deeply, cleaving scaled flesh away from ribs. Dimitri screeched in pain and fell off him, rolling and coming up on his front legs, claws out.
His black frill fanned and he spat a stream of fire at Grigori. Grigori opened his mouth, elongated his bottom jaw an extra inch and icy winds caught the moisture from the air, forming a blade of ice, shooting straight at Dimitri. Above them, Rurik and two other dragons crashed into a cliff, the echoing thunderous impact sending more debris down the mountainside. More dragons hung like ravenous wolves on the cliffs, crawling along the vertical walls toward Rurik. Grigori barked out a sharp guttural sound, a warning his brother heeded.
A stab of pain brought Grigori’s focus back to Dimitri. The other dragon had lashed out with his own tail and while not barbed with spines, it felt like a knife cutting across tender skin.
At least Dimitri had enough honor left in him to fight one-on-one. Dimitri and Grigori circled each other on the ground and Grigori knew he could not fly. His left wing was badly injured, probably broken in a few places.
Must finish this . . . for Madelyn.
And then he suddenly felt it, the drop in barometric pressure and the sudden darkening of storm clouds above the dry valley. Rain. He smelled sweet, beautiful, glorious rain. A surge of unspeakable joy shot through him and he charged Dimitri.
She was alive . . . She brought the rain . . .
* * *
Madelyn came awake slowly. Her body hurt everywhere, and deafening sounds rumbled around her. She blinked as she got to her feet and leaned back against the cliff side and gaped.
The skies were full of dragons, dueling among the thin clouds and along the craggy cliffs. Rurik was snapping and biting at a pair of lethal gray dragons who were bigger than him, but he held his own. Several more dragons were hovering close by, ready to step in the moment the others tired. They were wearing him down . . . It was Machiavellian. The bastards. Her gaze swept over the dirt valley below and she found Grigori, pinned to the ground, Dimitri’s jaws around his neck.
“No!” Her scream was swallowed by the sounds of fighting all around her. She had to do something she had to . . .
Everything around her stilled and the tingling under her skin became a slow burning fire. The fire she needed to unleash.
She closed her eyes, as memories assailed her. Her parents standing hand-in-hand in a rain-soaked field as they face certain death . . . Grigori sitting with her on the couch in the library, their bodies pressed close, murmurs and soft kisses . . . Snow falling over the Kremlin . . .
One minute she was just Madelyn Haynes. The next moment she was something more. The earth exploded around her and she shot straight up into the skies, her clothes falling away as her body changed. There was a brief flash of pain as her body contorted into something new. Feathers fanned out along her body. An ancient sense of being, a sense of knowing who she was, finally was overwhelmed her. She flew straight upwards toward the sun, drawing moisture in the air towards her, building a storm. She arched to the side sharply, testing her wings and clamping her gold beak closed, her talons tucked in as she aimed straight for the clouds below . . .
* * *
Grigori and Dimitri both turned at the sudden flash of lightning that struck inches from Dimitri’s back. The ions in the air sizzled and crackled. Grigori knew another bolt was coming. He flattened to the ground and called out a warning roar to Rurik. Rurik shot like a black bullet and ducked into a low cave at the base of one of the mountains. Grigori was too far away to take cover. Whatever was about to happen, he’d have to brace himself for it. And then the boom came . . .
It was like nothing he’d ever seen in his two thousand years of existence. The clouds broke apart and a ball of white light exploded in a straight shot toward him, Dimitri and the startled Drakor dragons. It was Madelyn.
She was coming in like a meteor, too fast, too powerful . . . the thunderbird war cry ricocheted off the mountains and a wave of air and electricity came straight toward them. All of them. Grigori had mere seconds to catch a glimpse of the finest bird he’d ever seen. Half-eagle, half-phoenix, her body on fire, shooting toward them. What a beautiful way to die, knowing his mate was alive. Then the world went dark.
* * *
Madelyn stood on shaky legs, staring at the mountain she had just collapsed.
A mountain . . .
She had been aiming for the pack of Drakor dragons, knowing that it might hit Grigori too, but she didn’t know what else she could have done. He would have died if the dragons had descended on him.
She swallowed thickly, and her vocal cords felt shredded from the screech she’d let out while in bird form. Dust billowed up around the crumbled mountains, making her cough. She walked over the rocks, her arms over her bare breasts as she found the small ledge she leapt from. She was in shock. Her brain was fuzzy and she couldn’t seem to string together any coherent thoughts. When her eyes settled on a patch of clothes, she realized belatedly they were hers. They were slightly torn as she pulled them back on, her hands trembling. When she looked around again, more of the dust had settled, revealing two large serpentine bodies.
Her knees crumpled and she fell, crying out at the pain of seeing her mate lifeless. She had killed him.
No . . . no . . . The agony of knowing she had killed him, of becoming the creature she swore she would not, was like a hand had plunged into her chest and ripped out her beating heart, squeezing it before her eyes. Madelyn hunched over and vomited. It took several long seconds before she could breathe again, and her body calmed. But it didn’t change anything. Grigori was dead. She had killed him.
I am a murderer after all, just as Rurik feared I would be.
It didn’t matter that she’d killed Dimitri or the other dragons. Grigori was gone and Rurik . . . She searched for him among the rubble, but couldn’t see . . . two deaths were on her shoulders now.
Madelyn wasn’t sure how long she sat there, staring at the bodies of the two large dragons one silver and one black. Dimitri and Grigori lay on the ground about fifteen apart. Her eyes were fixed on her mate’s body when she saw Grigori’s wings twitch. That single movement jolted her out of her state of calm. He was alive!
Thank God! She dragged her aching body down to him and reached out to caress his head. His frill fanned open and smoke escaping his nostrils. His eyes open and he stared at her through golden blazing eyes.
“Hey . . . It’s okay, I’m here,” she whispered, and leaned against his massive silver scaled body to hug him. The dragon let out a slow sigh and then he shivered, shuddered and transformed. Madelyn fell on top of Grigori as he became fully human and he grunted as they landed on the ground. Then she was hugging him, her breath catching as she whispered his name over and over again.
“I thought I lost you.” He finally choked out, his blue eyes shining with tears.
“Never. I am yours.” She pressed her forehead to his.
The black dragon a dozen feet away stirred and shifted. Dimitri groaned as he laid on his back panting. From the bleeding wound in his side and his broken arm, Madelyn didn’t think Dimitri would get up any time soon. Grigori stared at him and Madelyn could sense the righteous fury building inside him again.
“Don’t go near Drakor until I can make sure he’s not a threat,” Grigori commanded. He didn’t have to tell that to Madelyn. Even if he was dead, she wouldn’t have wanted to go near him.
“Where’s Rurik?” she asked, scanning the skies and the hills.
Grigori raised a shaking hand to point at the rubble where the mountain had collapsed in on itself.
“Oh . . . I didn’t mean to . . .” Stinging tears flooded her eyes. Please no . . . She and Grigori both jumped when the rubble at the base of the mountain shifted. More of the rocks were pushed away as a black dragon stumbled
out from the ruins. But it wasn’t a Drakor dragon.
“Oh God!” She and Grigori rushed over to catch Rurik just as he transformed back into his mortal flesh.
“How did you survive?” Madelyn asked him, her body shaking with a new wave of relief and panic.
“Grigori,” he coughed, clutching his chest. “Warned me. I got . . . into a cave just in time.”
“Aren’t you glad you listened to me little brother?” Grigori teased, but his eyes were misty as he supported Rurik to walk him away from the remains of the cave.
They stopped short when Rurik glanced down and cursed.
“Great,” he panted. “Now I’m the naked one . . .” He fell onto his ass and then jerked his head toward the cave. “I think our clothes fell off in the cavern.”
“Clothes?” Madelyn was confused. Like her, they had no clothes when they transformed and they had flown here in their dragon forms.
“Wait. I’ll find them.” Grigori rushed into the rubble, slipping into the narrow opening. A few minutes later he came out wearing jeans and a shirt and carrying a tightly packed black bundle which he threw at his brother. When he caught Madelyn staring at him, he explained.
“We always travel with clothes, usually in a bundle tied tightly to one of our legs. Rurik took our clothes since I was supposed to fight Dimitri one-on-one. Speaking of which . . .” Grigori stopped over to the fallen Dimitri who had turned back into his human form while they had been helping Rurik. Grigori put a booted foot on Dmitri’s chest, and stared down at him.
“As you can see, Drakor . . . my mate is a thunderbird.”
“I thought your father died killing the last of them.” Dimitri eyed Madelyn now with fear.
“Apparently not, and she’s mine. That means she’s a Barinov. I would think twice about taking on the Barinovs again unless you want to test my woman’s fury once more.” Pride layered Grigori’s tone and Madelyn flushed with pleasure. He was proud of her and she was . . . a Barinov. She belonged to him, with him . . .
“You’re not killing me? It’s what I would’ve done.” Dimitri spat, his sour mood returning.
Grigori glanced at Madelyn before he turned back to Dimitri.
“It’s what you would’ve done. Not me. My mate has likely killed your entire family simply because you had me and my brother unfairly outnumbered. I would really hate to see what she’s capable of if she thinks you’ll try to hurt any of us again. Welcome to being almost extinct. I believe we Barinovs outnumber you now.”
Dimitri turned his head in her direction and Madelyn raised one hand, sending little electric sparks up and down her arm. Dimitri’s eyes widened.
“So Drakor, do you agree to honor the previous treaty? Or should I end this once and for all?” Grigori growled.
Half of Madelyn wanted her mate to kill Dimitri, but the human half didn’t want to have any blood on his hands.
“I honor the treaty!” Dimitri gasped.
Grigori removed his booted foot from Dimitri’s chest and walked back over to her, pulling her into his arms. He cupped her face, kissing her soundly and everything else faded away. There was only this kiss and his mate . . .
“Ahem . . .” Rurik interrupted. “Sorry to interrupt you guys, we have a long walk to the nearest town and I can’t fly, not after Madelyn a collapsed damn mountain on me. And while we’re stuck in this valley we have no cell reception to call for our jet.” He held a hand to his side, wincing. A series of dark bruises covered his ribs.
Grigori rolled his eyes. “Fine. We can walk to the nearest town. Then we will call for the plane to come pick us up. I’ve got a bad wing too.”
Madelyn curled one arm around Grigori’s waist and he put an arm around her shoulder, pulling her close to place one more kiss to her cheek before they began to walk. They only got about fifty feet before Rurik sighed dreamily.
“You guys hungry? I could really go for some borscht and beef stroganoff right now—I’m craving meat. Would it be bad if I just transformed and ate a cow?”
Madelyn blanched and glanced at Grigori. “Tell me he is kidding about the cow,” she said.
Grigori chuckled. “He is . . .” he tilted his head, studying Rurik more seriously. “At least I think he is.”
The three of them started the long walk out of the Drakor valley, and Madelyn knew in her heart that she was finally free of the past, of her fears and painful memories. She had honored her biological parents today by embracing what she’d been born to be. But now, more than ever, she was thankful for the Haynes, who’d raised her and loved her as much as her biological parents had.
“Grigori, I think I need to go home to Michigan.”
His grip on her shoulders tightened slightly. “Do you want me to go, or . . .”
She bit her lip. “If you want to. I’d love to introduce you to my parents.”
“Then I’d be honored,” he murmured, smiling softly in a way that made her giddy and relaxed all at once.
“I don’t know how they’ll take finding out about us,” she admitted.
“You’re going to tell them about . . .” He gestured to the valley, clearly surprised.
“No . . . I meant,” she laughed. “I meant that I’m marrying a stranger I just met after two weeks in Russia. This is going to flip them out a little.”
Grigori smiled, understanding now. “I will just have to charm them. Shouldn’t be too hard.”
Madelyn hugged his waist. “You charmed me . . .”
“I did.” He stopped walking and they faced each other. He brushed a lock of hair behind her ear and Madelyn swallowed a lump in her throat. She no longer questioned how it was possible to love someone so completely, so quickly. All she knew was the truth of what she felt deep in her heart. They belonged together . . . two mortal enemies.
And so it was that a dragon mated a thunderbird. She blinked away tears and grinned up at him. If their love was possible, then anything was possible. And with such a hope for the future shining inside her like the sun, there was no room for fear. Only love. A great, powerful, beyond death kind of love.
“You saved me,” Grigori whispered, his voice rough.
She flashed him a smile. “I was pretty bad-ass, wasn’t I?” He shook his head, completely serious. “Not just today . . . every day from this moment on. I need you in my life and I didn’t even know it until you opened Barrow’s book.” His blue eyes twinkled and her skin flushed in response.
“I always knew a love of reading was a good thing.”
“Indeed.” He lowered his head and her heart was soaring back into the clouds far above when he kissed her. She didn’t have to be physically in the air to fly, not with him. A single kiss could send her into glorious heights. His hands explored the hollow of her back, holding her close as her lips promised what words could not. A vow to love each other, past the skies and into the stars.
When they broke apart, Grigori was still smiling. “Didn’t I promise to teach you to fly?”
She swallowed thickly, thinking back on each kiss and every single touch between them.
“You certainly did, and I could always use more practice.”
“I agree.” He took her in his arms again and she discovered anew the joys of flying with one fiery kiss . . .
Epilogue
“So comes snow after fire, and even dragons have their ending!”
—J. R. R. Tolkien, The Hobbit
Snow was falling thickly over a little house in a quaint neighborhood only two miles from a lake. The night was cold, but the inside of the house was filled with warmth and laughter. Madelyn leaned into Grigori as she told her parents about everything she’d seen in Russia and how she’d met him.
“You met while researching?” Her father asked as he poured Grigori a second glass of wine.
“Yes, we were interested in the same thing.” Grigori’s lips curved in a smile and he winked at her, making her bite her own lip to keep from laughing. That was certainly one way of putting it.
“Dragons? You are interested in dragons?” Her mother had just pulled a tray of cookies out the oven and the smell of the freshly baked sugar cookies was intoxicating.
A rush of memories filled Madelyn’s mind, holidays spent here with her parents. The taste of cinnamon and cocoa and the feel of being loved . . . She might never have known her real parents, the ones who died saving her, but she’d been gifted with these parents. John and Linda had saved her, loved her, and given her a life, one that had led her to Grigori and the wilds of Russia. For the first time she didn’t feel like an outsider and she knew why.
I’ve embraced who I am, I’m not afraid of it.
“How does dragon mythology relate to your business exactly?” Her father was watching them closely, a protective gleam in his eyes even though she knew he had liked Grigori from the moment they’d come into the house two hours ago.
“Well, it’s more of a passion for me, not really connected to my business.” Grigori leaned over the tray of cookies now cooling on the kitchen counter. He inhaled deeply, grinning.
Her mother’s lips twitched. “Dragons and cookies . . . I should have made a double batch for his appetite.”
Madelyn and Grigori both stiffened when she realized what her mother had said.
“Mom . . .” Madelyn’s hand clenched and her skin prickled fear began to slither under her skin.
“It’s all right, sweetheart. We know what he is, just as we know what you are.” Her mother slipped her oven mitts off and set them on the counter before she smoothed a lock of her blond hair back from her face.
“What I am?” Madelyn choked on the words.
“Yes,” her father said. “We’ve always known. From the moment that female dragon gave you to us. You’re a thunderbird, the last of your kind. The second we held you in our arms, we knew you were meant to be ours, to protect and love.” Her father’s eyes glimmered with a dozen emotions.
“You know that dragons are real?” Grigori slipped an arm around Madelyn’s waist as he studied her parents intently.
Madelyn cut in with another question. “Wait, you knew I wasn’t human? You knew I was a thunderbird?”
Grigori Page 19
