Chapter Two

Levi

T he room erupted in shouting as Secret Service agents drew their pistols, each muzzle pointed directly at my head. None of them even quivered despite the hollered threats, orders to get on the floor, and more.

I savored all that in one corner of my brain.

Most of my attention, however, was reserved for Sarah. In those first few seconds after my revelation, I basked in her complete and utter shock. She didn't move. Didn't speak. All she could do was stare.

That only split my face wider. I hadn't seen her when I'd initially entered the room for the White House tour group, which was my original plan for getting as close to the president as possible. Seeing her face now, however, made up for how it had looked like then, seeing me for the first time in five years and eight and a half months.

I committed it to memory. I never wanted to forget it. Not now, not after seeing her again and finally being able to tell her the truth about me.

Revealing my real nature served me in other ways as well, but at that moment, it was all about Sarah.

Sarah Detfield. If she thought I could ever have forgotten about her, she was well and truly wrong.

I'd never forgotten about her. Ever. Even five years and eight and a half months ago, she'd stirred something in me, in my dragon. A base desire I'd never felt before or could even pinpoint. Not then, at least. I was too young.

Now, however, it was easy for me to know. To have figured out.

Mate .

The word thundered in my head louder than all the shouting in the little underground room somewhere beneath the White House. It repeated itself over and over again. Had been since my dragon and I had first realized who was standing against the wall.

The pull toward her that I'd felt five years and eight and a half months earlier was now clear.

Mate.

Each repetition drove my dragon a little more berserk with the need to shove the other men in the room aside, to show them who was the strongest, who was the best fit for her. It was me and not any of them.

Maybe she'd moved on like she'd claimed, though I was still positive it was a lie. But I would win her back. I would do whatever it took to have her at my side. To be with her again.

Forever.

It wouldn't be easy, though. She was pissed at me—perhaps rightfully. I'd left abruptly. Without warning. Of course, at the time, I hadn't expected to ever see her again. I'd tried to convince myself it had just been a fling. A hot-girl, hot-guy summer of lust and carnal desires to fulfill. And fill her I had. Over and over and over.

Anywhere and everywhere. My place. Hers. In the park behind some bushes. The alleyway behind a bar. Rooftops. Basements. Her body had been mine to do with as I pleased.

And please her I had.

I could still hear her orgasms in my ear as I looked at her now, recalling the way her face contorted into that perfect open-mouthed O that screamed sexual obliteration of her mind.

A smirk replaced my grin as she looked into my eyes and saw what promises they held. Her pupils dilated, her mouth parted ever so slightly, those perfect lips pink and moist.

Ready to wrap around my shaft once more. Her oral fixation had been a much-enjoyed side of her for me. I wondered how long it would be before I saw my shaft disappear into her mouth once more. Could she take any more of it now? I longed to find out.

" Get on the floor!"

"Hands above your head, dragonshit, or I'll blow your fucking brains out!"

"Do it now! Drop!"

Like glass shattering, Sarah's shock abruptly wore off and her gun came out at blistering speed to point at me.

"Get on the ground, Levi," she said calmly. Though she didn't shout or even raise her voice, it still cut through the background din. I heard perfectly the way she said my name.

"No," I said, defying her and the others to whom I now turned my gaze. "Put your guns down. I'm not here to hurt anyone."

Hendricks—Sarah's boss, I gathered—shook his head. "No way, scale-boy. Not happening. You get your ass down on your knees, fingers interlocked behind your head, and you do it now before we put a bullet in your brain and see if you can learn to obey that way."

I sighed. "It won't do anything. Haven't you people learned anything about us yet?"

"Your head isn't covered in scales, dipshit," Hendricks shot back.

"Then you may as well shoot me," I muttered. "Because I doubt me telling you will make much of a difference now, will it?"

"There isn't a damn thing you could say that would get me to put my gun down."

"Care to make a wager about that?" I said, smile slowly spreading once more.

Hendricks' eyes narrowed, but it was the only thing that betrayed his curiosity.

"Fine," I said with a theatrically overdone sigh. "You're so boring."

"Shut up," Sarah said.

I returned my attention to her. "If I do that, I won't be able to tell you why I'm here, or why I revealed myself to you."

The same curiosity burned in her eyes.

"You do want to know, don't you?" I couldn't resist taunting her a little. It was too fun to tease Sarah.

"Spit it out, asshole," Hendricks snarled. "No more games or stalling. What are you doing here?"

I looked him square in the eyes. "I'm here as the official representative of the Sovereign, Ruler of All Dragonkind. I'm here to deliver her terms for peace."

"He's here to negotiate our surrender," one of the other agents said bitterly.

"I wish that were true," I said.

"That's what you just said." Sarah rejoined the conversation.

"No," I corrected gently. "I said I was here to deliver her terms for peace. A ceasefire as she called it."

They all looked surprised at that.

"The terms are simple and more than generous. Too generous, really," I said. "But I'm only to discuss them with your president. So, please take me to him."

"Not a fucking chance." Hendricks shook his head. "You aren't getting anywhere close to him."

I met his eyes. Really met them and let the shift leader get a good long look. "Trust me, Hendricks, if I wanted that, he'd be dead already. I didn't have to reveal myself. Didn't have to tell you what I was. I could have just bulldozed this entire place before anyone reacted. Instead, I'm here talking to you. Using words to tell you why I'm here. So, go relay this to him. Let him decide what to do."

Hendricks didn't move, but he didn't shut me down either.

"I'm here to end a conflict," I added. "Not start another one."

He was torn.

"Go," I said, sitting on the floor, moving slowly so I didn't scare anyone. The bullets wouldn't hurt me, but there was always the chance Sarah would get caught by a ricochet or something. I couldn't chance that. "I'll stay here with Agent Detfield for company. You have my word I won't try anything."

"Why should your word mean shit?" one of the agents sneered.

"Shut up, Rickle," Hendricks ordered, his eyes focused on me as he spoke, likely trying to determine whether I could be trusted or not.

"Do it, Hendricks," Sarah said softly, shaking her head. "He's serious."

The team leader's eyes shifted their gaze, staring at her for a count of ten before nodding. "Wait here."

Then he was gone, leaving us in silence.

Nobody spoke. The tension was unbelievably taut.

"You can put those down now," I said to the agents, gesturing at their guns. "You won't need them."

"My sister was in New York," one of them hissed. "If it's all the same to you, dipshit, I'll keep my gun right the fuck where it is."

Murmurs of agreement rippled through the agents. There was a full dozen of them now, plus Sarah. Word was spreading about who, and more importantly what , I was. I could only imagine the panic their commanders felt, knowing a dragon could be anyone .

It was enough to bring a half-smile to my face.

"Something funny?" Sarah asked, crouching down to look me straight on where I sat.

"Lots of things," I murmured, before sitting up straighter and patting my lap, indicating she should sit. "We need to talk."

"No, we absolutely do not ," she growled. "I don't know why you think you can just waltz in and think I still care, but you're wrong."

My dragon pushed harder, insisting she was my mate. That she did want us. She was only hiding it.

Mate .

I wondered for a moment about how I might have missed that sign all those years ago. Had I ignored it? Or had something changed?

Sitting back, I studied her, comparing the image in my mind with the one standing in front of me. There could be no doubt. Something was different. The question, of course, was what ? It wasn't that she was almost six years older. It was something else . A heavier force of personality. A way of carrying herself. It just didn't line up with simple age.

No, she had changed. More infuriatingly, I couldn't place what it was.

"I'm sorry for leaving," I said to her, thinking perhaps she might open up.

"Just shut up."

"It was abrupt, I know, but at least now you understand why."

She blinked in astonishment, the perfectly schooled "agent" face dissolving however momentarily. " I do? "

"Yes." Wasn't it clear? "I'm a dragon. I had to return to our homeland."

"That was years ago," she hissed. "You could have come back. Or hell, I don't know, left a note . Not that I wanted you to. W—I'm fine without you."

Now, what was she about to say, I wondered idly, pausing to let her anger cool.

She mostly ignored me, but I caught her giving me the odd glance when she thought I wasn't looking.

I was about to ask her what had changed when Hendricks returned.

"Get him up," he said unhappily. "POTUS wants to see him."

"Good," I said, happy to be moving forward with the mission forced upon me.

A host of guns were instantly refocused on me as I stirred but did not move. I smiled back at the agents, wondering if they knew just how much I enjoyed their attention. Not that any of them needed to know it was for all the wrong reasons. They assumed I was someone important.

If only they knew the truth.

A part of me still burned at the knowledge that I was sent not because I mattered but because the sovereign viewed me as expendable. I knew because she'd said so to my face.

"Peace," I rumbled at them all, clamping down at my hatred for the Ruler of All Dragonkind, for the time being at least. "I'm here for peace, everyone."

As always, my eyes came back to Sarah, focusing on her, lingering. I was almost done with the mission that had been forced upon me. Then I would return home and never see her again.

Unless …

A broad toothy grin spread across my face as an idea came to me. A perfect idea, so simple I wanted to hit myself for not thinking of it sooner.

It was beautiful. I could fulfill my mission and the raging desires of my dragon.

All in one go.