Chapter 6
GABE
After she showers and gets dressed, she sits in the living room of the suite and picks at breakfast. She seems thoughtful this morning, rattled, but otherwise okay. I watch her from across the room, figuring she’s going to need some space for a while, especially after what she just did.
I’m trying hard not to overthink the significance of it.
“Do you know what the dragons are?”
She looks up, smiling uncertainly. “Like, Smaug from Lord of the Rings?”
“That’s a deep cut.”
“Did you think I’d go with Puff the Magic?”
I shake my head and pour myself some more coffee. “No, not that kind of dragon. I’m talking the Dragons. Your father would’ve been aware of them. His employer, Medved, was obsessed with their secret world.”
“Honestly, let’s act like I don’t know anything about my dad and his business.” She runs a finger around her coffee mug. “Because I don’t.”
“The Dragons are a group of five powerful men. They’re the most secretive, connected, and influential crime lords in the world. Governments rise and fall under their claws. Businesses bow and scrape and beg for their favor. The world works because they make sure it does.”
“Come on, seriously? That sounds a little—“ She waves a hand in the air. “Like a fairy tale.”
“Last night a drone shot a missile into your apartment. Is it really so hard to imagine?”
“Okay, I guess that’s a fair point. Who are these Dragons?”
“My sister married one.”
Her eyebrows raise. “Oh wow. Does that make you royalty? Should I call you Sir Gabriel?” She gasps, messing with me. “Am I an honorary Dragon now too? You may call me Princess Nika. I do breathe fire.”
“Are you done?”
“Yep.”
I start pacing as I drink my coffee. “My grandfather was also a Dragon, but he passed away over a year ago. Ever since then, his position has been wide open, and that’s a problem.
In the dragon world, only power is respected.
The seat needs to be filled for stability reasons, but it can’t just pass into my hands.
I have to earn it. I have to fight for it. ”
She watches me carefully. Her hands drum nervously over the table. I can tell she’s trying to mask her anxiety, but the way she flutters around reveals her true emotions.
“Which is why you need me. You’re fighting that Turkish guy for this dragon thing.”
“I need you to settle my internal problems. Then I can focus on getting what I really want.”
She sinks back, catching her lower lip between her teeth. It’s the same needy, hungry expression she wore in the bed and I'm getting hard again thinking about her moans and whimpers. I drink more hot coffee and try to shove the feelings into a small box where all my emotions are kept these days.
But the box is growing smaller and smaller now that Nika’s here.
“Alright, so you’re fighting a war, and if you win, you get to become this super mega ultra-amazing dragon thing. And you need me to ensure you have control of my father’s organization.”
“The Turk is here in Los Angeles. We’ll deal with him first.”
“First?” Her eyebrows shoot up. “How many people are we fighting, exactly?”
“Too many.” I watch her grimly. “You don’t want to know.”
She sits back heavily and closes her eyes. She rubs her forehead, grimacing, and seems to agree with something in her own head.
“I don’t have much of a choice now, do I? We’re married. I signed the stupid documents.” She points a spoon at me. “But you agreed to my terms and I’m going to hold you to it.”
“We’ll find your mother the second I’m a Dragon. All I need—“
“Uh uh, no way, absolutely not. We’re working together. I’m not doing this Smaugy stuff if you’re not at least putting together a token search for me at the same time.”
That’s frustrating. I try not to show it, but she keeps managing to steamroll right against me, and the fucked thing is, I don’t have all the power in this relationship. She doesn’t realize it yet, but she will soon.
I don’t like being in the position where I have to work with someone as an equal.
That’s not how I operate.
I tried that once, back with the man who used to run this Bratva. His name was Medved, and he convinced me that my sister was in trouble. I went through hell to save her, only to find out that she wasn’t a prisoner at all—and that she wanted to be with her supposed kidnapper.
I put my trust in the wrong man. He used me to try to hurt my own family. I’ll never forgive myself for what happened, but now I’m making amends. When I’m Dragon, nobody will ever use me again. Nobody will ever hurt my family again.
I need to focus on the dangers in front of me, but clearly I’m going to have to put in some effort for Nika. If she wants to find her mother, then I’ll find the damn woman. It shouldn’t be that hard.
“I’ll do what I can, but you should be careful. If we bring attention to her, our enemies might try to use her against us.”
“Our enemies? I didn’t realize we were trying to become dragons together.”
“You’re my wife, remember? Once I have my position, you’ll be Queen Smaug. Breathe all the fire you want.”
She sits up straight, grinning, and I feel a sharp jolt in my stomach. Why do I like making her smile? Why does it matter to me? She’s a pen and paper. She’s a signature on a dotted line. She’s a means to an end, and that’s all.
“Great, I’m up to speed. So how do we do this, exactly?”
“Blood. Lots and lots of blood.”
She wilts. “Seriously?”
“I kill my rivals.” I refill my coffee and talk as I move.
“The four current Dragons are meeting to decide who will take the final position. If I can eliminate them, there won’t be anyone else for them to choose, and it’ll default to me.
If I can’t, I need to ensure I’m in the strongest position imaginable. ”
“Your brother-in-law is one of them, right? That seems like it’ll help.”
“He’ll do what he can, but he’s forbidden from directly giving me aid. The Dragons take this shit very seriously.”
“Sounds dramatic.”
“It holds the world together.” I sit down beside her.
She watches me intently and I like her focus.
“The Dragons aren’t just guns and money.
They’re a set of norms and regulations that guide the entire global trade system.
Without them steering the world from the shadows, we would’ve descended into madness and chaos a dozen times over. You know World War Two?”
“I believe I’ve heard of it, yes.”
“That only happened because of a dispute between the Dragons alive at the time.”
She stops tapping at her plate and laughs at me. “Pretty sure we can blame Adolf Hitler for that one."
“He was a useful patsy. A psychotic, racist monster, but not the true catalyst. That war nearly ripped the world to pieces, and the Dragons since then have worked hard to make sure what’s left stays intact. You think the Cold War stayed frozen by accident?”
“Okay, assuming you’re not totally full of crap, and let’s be honest—“ She gives me a deeply dubious look. “When you’re Dragon, what are you going to do with all that influence?”
I reach out and touch her arm. I don’t know why I do it. My fingers run down her skin on total impulse, almost like it’s out of my control, and I hate the feeling, but I can’t stop myself. Her lips part in surprise, but she doesn’t pull away.
“When I’m Dragon…” I lean in close and my voice drops to a whisper. “You and I will sit on top of our hoard and never have another worry again.”
The corner of her mouth lifts. I can tell she likes that. Except it isn’t exactly true.
A Dragon’s life is a constant struggle. It’s meant to be hard. Pain shapes and molds us into something stronger, and if we can’t handle it, then a stronger man will take control. That’s how it works: the weak get pushed aside. A Dragon’s life always ends in violence.
If I were half the monster I pretend to be, I’d tell her all that. I’d make her understand that she’s now involved in a life of danger and struggle, and her husband is likely going to end up in a shallow grave at the end.
But she doesn’t need to worry about any of that.
Because I’ve already decided that no matter what happens I’m going to make sure she’s safe at the end of it.