Deryk (Dragon Hearts #2)(2)
The Pendragons brothers had also been born, but of a human father and the ten Welsh goddesses capable of birthing sons who could shift into dragons. Two of their brothers had perished, Gideon over fourteen hundred years ago, and Rufus during the days of the Victorian dragon hunters. But of the eight remaining, only Nathaniel had so far found a mate.
If both clans were to survive, they had agreed they needed to join forces and so double their efforts in the search for those mates.
Deryk raised one blond brow. “You want to send me and Bryn on a diplomatic visit with the Russians?” Deryk was unstable at worst, and sarcastic and rude at best, but Bryn was… Well, Bryn was Bryn. Gruff, arrogant, and chauvinistic to the point some woman was probably going to end up wanting to shoot him if or when he tried to mate her. Not that a bullet would kill Bryn. Only having their heads chopped off with their own sword could kill the Pendragon brothers. But being shot certainly wouldn’t improve Bryn’s taciturn temperament any. Especially if that bullet came from his mate.
“I don’t want to send the two of you anywhere,” Grigor admitted. “But as I said, everyone else is occupied with other work right now, and Dylan needs to remain here so that he can monitor Chloe through her pregnancy.”
None of them knew yet whether the young would be born human or dragon. So far it looked human on ultrasound, but there were still a couple of months to go, and the baby could shift to dragon before the birth.
Deryk frowned. “And where are you going to be?”
“I’m going to my nest for a while.”
All the brothers had their own “nests.” Usually a cave somewhere remote and undetectable by humans. The brothers had lived together for fifteen hundred years, but as dragons were naturally solitary creatures, they all had their own private cave somewhere in the four corners of the world. It was where they kept their most valuable treasures, and somewhere they could also be alone and completely dragon for a few days. Grigor’s nest, predictably, happened to be a cave in the wilds of Alaska.
“Why?” Deryk probed.
Grigor rose to his intimidating height of an inch over six and a half feet. “Mind you own fucking business!”
Deryk studied his eldest brother through narrowed lids. Grigor had untidy and overlong dark hair, eyes so dark a brown they almost looked black, and features that looked as rock-hewn as this dungeon.
He also noted the fierce glitter in the darkness of Grigor’s eyes. The tightness of his jaw. Hands clenched into fists, the talons threatening to burst free from his fingertips. Deryk recognized those signs only too well.
“How close are you?” he prompted softly.
“Very,” Grigor bit out between clenched teeth. “But I would appreciate it if you would keep that information to yourself,” he added bleakly.
Goddess knows Deryk didn’t wish his own torment on anyone, least of all his eldest brother and their leader. “When do you want Bryn and me to leave?”
Some of Grigor’s tension eased. “As soon as you’re ready. I’ll contact Vlad before I go and tell him to expect the two of you.”
Vladimir Romanov. Didn’t get any more Russian than that. The leader of the Russian clan was also one of the most arrogant bastards Deryk had ever met.
Which should make this a very interesting visit.
Chapter 2
Mikhailov Palace
St. Petersburg, Russia
“If you are not going to be of any assistance to me, Izabella, then you might as well take yourself from underneath my feet and return downstairs to help in the kitchen,” her mother grumbled as she prepared the bedchamber for the second of the guests expected today by their employers, the Romanov brothers.
Izzi gave an unconcerned grin as she sat on the window seat looking out at a typical Russian winter wonderland. It was a truly beautiful sight, and one Izzi knew she would never tire of looking at.
She also knew her mother was only snapping at her because she wanted everything to be perfect for the Romanovs’ guests. Not surprising when it was the first time Izzi could ever remember the brothers having a single guest to stay, let alone two.
Izzi wouldn’t normally have been here. At twenty-two, she now lived in an apartment close to the State University where she was studying law. But her parents had asked her to come home to help out with the heavier workload over the weekend. “Who are these guests? We haven’t recognized royalty since the revolution, you know.” She attempted to tease away her mother’s fussing.
There was no answering smile. “You know who and what we are to the Romanov family.”
Ah.
For the past thousand years, the Mikhailov family had been the human servants of the Romanov dragon shifters. For three hundred of those years, since the birth of St. Petersburg, the Mikhailov family had, to all intents and purposes, been the owners and in residence at the Mikhailov Palace. Which was why the Mikhailov family hadn’t been murdered along with all the other prestigious families during the Russian Revolution. Even revolutionists didn’t want to argue with a dragon at the height of its wrath, and the Romanov brothers rewarded the Mikhailov family loyalty by protecting them to their last breath.
Thank God Izzi had two older brothers and their families who would one day take over as caretakers here after their parents died, although both would continue to live and work away from home until that happened. The females of the line were not expected to do the same, although Izzi’s law degree would become useful to the Romanov business empire once she was qualified. They were paying for her education, after all.