Brothers of Ash and Fire

Chapter 1-1

Moscow, Russia – Three months later

Moscow, Russia – Three months laterMoscow, Russia – Three months laterCharlotte MacQueen tugged the sweetheart neckline of her red satin cocktail dress up a few more centimeters. Despite the thick red velvet winter coat she wore, her exposed skin had drawn the cabdriver’s eyes and made her shift restlessly until he’d had to focus back on the road. But then, she’d known her dress would have this effect. She was practically falling out of the damn thing, but she had a hunch this would be one of the few times having full breasts would be an advantage instead of a hindrance.

She’d spent most of her life hiding her curvy figure behind draping sweaters and lab coats. It was silly, but she’d never felt comfortable in sexy clothes.

Charlotte wasn’t sure if it was how the slide of satin felt on her skin or the way every masculine eye fixed on the thigh-high cut of her dress or the lowered neckline, but tonight she was trying hard to ignore how exposed she felt. She couldn’t be distracted because she was pulling a Mata Hari. She was going behind enemy lines—or rather, into dragon territory—to seduce a seriously dangerous dragon shifter.

How the hell did I get here? It wasn’t the first time she’d asked herself that question.

How the hell did I get here? Before tonight, the idea of chasing down a man who could shift into a dragon was ludicrous. Not because she didn’t think they were real; she’d grown up her entire life knowing the truth about things that went bump in the night. Vampires, dragons, werewolves, shifters—all of it. Until now, she’d been kept safe by her overprotective older brothers, but she was done with that. She wanted to do something meaningful with her life, and tonight that meant quite literally walking into the dragon’s den.

If my brothers figure out I’m here, they’ll probably try to send me to some convent like it’s the middle ages. The thought almost made Charlotte smile, despite the dangerous situation. Her brothers, Damien and Jason, were the experts at this sort of thing—well, not the seduction part, but the infiltration. They would know exactly how to handle something like a dragon shifter. But she’d never been a part of their secret supernatural hunter lifestyle. Until tonight.

If my brothers figure out I’m here, they’ll probably try to send me to some convent like it’s the middle agesIf I bag this guy, they’ll have to admit I’m not just their kid sister anymore. Maybe then they’ll let me join the Brotherhood.

If I bag this guy, they’ll have to admit I’m not just their kid sister anymoreMaybe then they’ll let me join the Brotherhood.But if she were being honest with herself, coming all the way to Moscow hadn’t just been about proving her brothers wrong. It began when she saw the man from the files she’d gotten from the Brotherhood’s headquarters. The man she couldn’t get out of her head. The man she planned to capture.

Her target was Rurik Barinov, youngest of the three remaining dragons in the Russian Imperial bloodline who controlled the western half of Russia. Pulling out her cell phone, she scanned the pictures she had of him, probably for the hundredth time. She’d been lucky enough to snap some shots of the surveillance photos they had of him on file.

He was gorgeous in a dangerous sort of way, with a strong jaw, bright green eyes, and wavy dark hair that was a little too long, making him look a bit like a pirate from those swoon-worthy romance novels she’d devoured as a teenager. Charlotte hadn’t known men could look like that in real life, and she’d already had some seriously dirty thoughts about what he would be like in bed. He’d been her first choice out of the three brothers to try to capture, but that wasn’t because of his looks.

Rurik tended to wear leather jackets, jeans, and biker boots, and there was a long scar down one side of his face, which only made him look that much more dangerous. Her sexy biker dragon was too much of everything, and she had to admit getting close to him tonight was going to be a heck of a thrill.

everythingGod, there has to be something wrong with me. He’s not my sexy biker. He’s my target. But she couldn’t deny the fact that the idea of getting up close and personal with Rurik turned her on.

God, there has to be something wrong with me. He’s not my sexy biker. He’s my target.Keep your cool and focus on the mission. It was the tenth time she had to remind herself of that.

Keep your cool and focus on the missionTonight was strictly recon, though. She needed to get into Rurik’s club, survey the scene, locate and observe him. Nothing more. She’d read the notes on the Brotherhood’s dragon monitoring. These days they really just tried to keep an eye on the dragons’ activities and not interfere, but a few months ago two dragons had fought in a nightclub and a woman had died. This sparked rumors of a coming dragon war between two families in Moscow, possibly drawing in support from other countries. It could easily spiral out of control, and the Brotherhood were desperate to figure out how to stop it before it happened. And it all came down to Rurik.

He’d been the dragon at the nightclub who’d survived. Her brother Damien had made a note in the file that Rurik might be the key to all this. If they could question him, they could determine how serious the situation really was and whether or not they would have to intervene.

So far no one had been able to get close to Rurik. Direct contact was useless. Shifters didn’t trust the Brotherhood and always closed ranks the moment they appeared. They’d tried incognito female agents. It seemed logical, given his background and reputation, but he never let any of them get close enough to lure him to a secure location. He always seemed to sniff them out somehow. And bringing him in by force would only justify the distrust shifters had and make it even harder to get answers.

That’s why I’m here alone. Rurik won’t see me coming.

That’s why I’m here alone. Rurik won’t see me comingShe grinned a little. She wore a light perfume she’d concocted that contained a bit of enhanced pheromones, a side project she’d been working on. If it worked, she would catch his interest and then go with him rather than try to lure him somewhere with her. That had been the tipoff, she assumed. The moment the female agents had tried to get Rurik someplace he wasn’t familiar with, the warning flags went up.

But Charlotte had a better way in mind.

Once she had him alone in a place he felt comfortable, she’d use her secret weapon on him: a d**g that could incapacitate him long enough to call in the Brotherhood to help her transport him to secure facility where he could be questioned safely without anyone getting hurt.

The cabdriver hit the brakes as a car ahead of them swerved into their lane. Charlotte winced as she jerked forward and collided with the cab’s back seat.

“Sorry!” the driver muttered in heavily accented English. Then he flashed an obscene gesture at the driver ahead of them. At this rate, it would take them forever to reach the club where Rurik was supposed to be.

Charlotte slid back in her seat and tried to still her jittery nerves. She would have been back in her little lab in Detroit—safe and sound, instead of here dragon hunting—if it hadn’t been for her friend Meg.

Meg Stratford, a hunter for the Brotherhood, had secretly called on her to analyze a serum Meg had found in London—a d**g that could subdue a dragon’s shifting abilities. Charlotte had unraveled the chemical composition in a matter of days. The product she’d synthesized essentially made them human for a period of time depending on the dose. She’d made samples that would last around twenty-four hours on an average-sized shifter.

But the d**g was potentially dangerous. Not in terms of directly harming the shifters, but because of how easily it could be misused. In the wrong hands, it would threaten the balance that existed between the various supernatural factions. Even certain members of the Brotherhood, known for their overzealous nature, couldn’t be trusted with it. As a result, Meg had sworn her to secrecy, even from her own brothers.

A stab of guilt cut through Charlotte. She’d told Meg she needed more information on dragons to help her solve the mystery of the serum, but that hadn’t been true. The real reason she needed to know about dragons was because she planned to prove she was a worthy hunter just like her brothers.

She’d created a batch of the dragon-dampening serum for herself, and she had the vials tucked away safely in her hotel mini-fridge. She went over the list of what she knew about dragons in her head as the taxi drove toward Rurik’s nightclub, the Lair.

Charlotte studied the Moscow nightlife nervously as the taxicab came to a stop in front of the nightclub. Being out of America for the first time in her life, she definitely wasn’t used to the cultural differences. On the flight over she’d listened to some Russian language lessons on her smartphone, trying to learn some phrases, but it gave her a headache. It didn’t help that Russian was a notoriously difficult language, requiring a greater range of vocabulary just to reach a basic understanding. Luckily, the majority of the hotel staff and taxi drivers spoke English, something she was incredibly grateful for. However, once she stepped into that nightclub, she was positive it was going to be all Russian. The driver had warned her that this was a Russian-only nightclub, not the sort of place for tourists.

“Here is okay?” the driver asked.

“Yes, thank you.” She slipped him a few hundred rubles and then got out of the cab. There were several men lingering at the entrance of the club, one of whom whistled when he caught sight of her.

She clutched her cell, which contained an emergency number for the Brotherhood office in Saint Petersburg, hoping she wouldn’t have to use it. If things went poorly, she’d have to face her brothers and listen to them tell her “I told you so” about staying in Michigan, where life was safe but boring.

Please don’t let this be a bad idea.

Please don’t let this be a bad ideaOne of the men by the door said something to her in Russian, but she didn’t understand him. She smiled but kept her head down as she brushed past them. One of the men slapped her a*s as she walked by. She tensed and almost tripped.

Just stay cool, her inner voice warned her. She might not be a hunter like her brothers, but she’d taken enough self-defense classes to know how to take care of herself. If this guy wasn’t careful, she’d kick him in the balls so hard they’d snap up into his cheeks. But she couldn’t afford to make a scene. She needed to stay calm and not call attention to herself.

Just stay cool,Ignoring the harsh laughter of the men outside, she slipped into the dark club interior. The energetic dance music enveloped her, and the bass pounded so hard against the walls that she could feel them shake as she skirted the club’s interior. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust, even with the flashing white lights and pulsing strobes. Fog filled the bottom of the club, hiding a clear view of the dance floor. Everywhere people were dancing, drinking, and laughing. It was a hedonistic gathering where pleasures ruled the night.