1. Prologue

Prologue

Tanyl Helegolor

I didn't know why the hell the stupid dragon king wanted time alone with my best friend, but it was starting to irritate the hell out of me.

I wanted to be in there.

No, I needed to be in there.

I needed to keep my best friend safe.

And if I was being honest with myself, I sort of maybe kinda wanted to see this dragon king for myself. I'd never met a dragon shifter before, and since the day I found out I was moving to Gauhala, I'd been curious about the man.

Even if he was already acting like a jerk by not letting me in there yet.

The dragon's receptionist, Elvira, was doing a valiant job of trying to distract me from the fact that Remi was inside that office, alone with a mother-freaking dragon. A dragon!

I could tell she was using her incubus magic to try and keep my attention, but the joke's on her because I had a rune tattooed on my skin that kept me from being affected by it.

Orangelica, my Bonded One—a witch's familiar—nuzzled into my cheek from her perch on my shoulder. Luckily, she was wrapped around my neck instead of sitting on top of my head and forcing me to wear her like a hat—her favorite spot in the world, apparently. She was my partner in crime. Well, other than the man currently meeting with the damn dragon king.

Fuck . I needed to get in there.

"I think that's everything," I finally said, cutting her off mid-sentence. "I really should be checking in with my boss." Remi was technically my boss seeing as I worked for the company he owned, but he was my friend—my family—first, and he treated me more like an equal partner when it came to business anyway.

She stared at me for a long moment before letting out a small sigh and waving me to the door. Thank the Mother of All. I was afraid I'd have to throw a shield over her and make a run for it.

Although, would that have caused an international incident since I wasn't from Gauhala? I didn't know the answer to that, and I was glad I didn't have to find out.

Remi, two of our friends, and I were from Brinnswick and had come to the country of Gauhala to open a new branch of Remi's security business. Since not many outsiders came to work here, and Remi's family was powerful in Brinnswick, we'd decided to meet with the king as a courtesy.

With a nod at the receptionist, I walked over and knocked.

A deep, growly voice that was definitely not my best friend's said, "Come in."

I walked inside, closed the door, and shot Remi a small smile before my eyes sought out the dragon king. He was sitting behind his desk, but I still couldn't help but let my gaze drift over every part of him I could see.

He had some very broad shoulders, was covered in muscles straining his fancy shirt, golden hair—like seriously gold , not blond—that was cropped short on the sides with the longer top styled neatly, and tan skin that looked like he spent a lot of time out in the sun. His facial features were sort of harsh, but admittedly handsome and absolutely screamed dragon to me.

My body froze when my eyes finally met King Garrick Von Stein's. His eyes were unlike any eyes I'd ever seen on a person. They were gold and shining enough I would've sworn he was wearing contacts. Only, I knew he wasn't. Didn't know how or why, but my gut said that was his natural color.

The strangest thing was his pupils. They were vertical slits going up and down the way a snake's did… or perhaps a dragon's.

And this particular dragon seemed just as frozen as me, staring at me with a strange intensity that made my skin tingle… but not in a bad way. Not in a good way either, but… it felt like…

Oh. His magic was reaching out to me, out to my own magic.

That was considered hella rude, but for whatever reason, I didn't mind too much. Maybe because I was still stuck there, staring at those intense beautiful eyes.

The longer we stared, the more his golden eyes glowed.

Then the dragon shifter king suddenly stood, walked around his desk, and headed straight for me.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Remi jump up to put himself between Von Stein and me, but the dragon king simply pushed him out of the way like he was moving a tiny bug instead of a huge-ass wolf shifter.

Remi growled and pulled something out of his pocket. A sliver of concern wormed itself in because who the hell knew what kind of crazy magical item Remi Ellwood had. His family thrived with magic, and I knew for a fact that they regularly sent him all kinds of things to keep him safe. It could be anything from a shield to a grenade that'd take out half the building—and we were in a tower many, many, many floors up. I really didn't want to see what kind of destruction Remi could bring.

Luckily, the dragon stopped less than a foot away from me, so Remi didn't do anything stupid, like starting some kind of war between our two nations.

And I still couldn't take my eyes off the dragon. For a split-second, I feared he'd entrapped me, but since Orangelica wasn't meowing and hissing at him, I figured this was just my… weird reaction to seeing a hot guy. A hot king.

I took in all six-foot-three of his muscly body and amended that to a really fucking hot king.

"So pretty, little one," Garrick Von Stein said to me as a puff of smoke poured out of his nose and mouth.

I blinked.

Little? What the hell's his problem?

I narrowed my eyes. "Who the hell are you calling little?" I cringed internally. Probably not the best way to speak to a fucking king, but to be fair, he started it.

Instead of answering, Garrick Von Stein let out another puff of smoke, and the man leaned down, saying something in a language I didn't understand.

But the smoke sure as hell seemed to understand because it circled around my head to frame my face. The hell? Tendrils of it brushed along my cheek like the softest of caresses, and I fought to hold in my shiver. It felt… nice… soothing.

I almost leaned into the touch, and I definitely wanted to lean into the dragon who was still staring at me.

But then the bastard shot the damn smoke right up my nose. I inhaled it before I could stop myself, not expecting the move, and immediately started coughing. What the actual fuck?

My eyes watered as my nose burned like a motherfucker. Ow, ow, ow. My throat felt scratchy and dry.

And then my magic reacted. Only, instead of lashing out like I'd expected, it sort of flared to life inside my body. It felt strange and almost giddy with excitement.

If my magic could dance, it'd be shimmying across the dance floor and getting all up in the dragon shifter's face.

The smoke felt like it wrapped around my heart and brushed against my soul. Something deep inside of me uncurled and reached out to the smoke—or rather, the dragon magic. I didn't know what that meant, but for some reason, I wasn't scared of it. Even if I couldn't freaking breathe properly.

I gasped for air as I coughed, and my heart and soul reacted much the same as my magic had. Twerking all up against the dragon. Er, well, against his magic anyway.

What the hell was this?

Remi moved over and grabbed my arm, pushing me behind him. "Get your hands off my witch." His voice was more growls than words. My best friend was pissed. And I couldn't blame him. That dragon was an asshole.

An even deeper and angrier growl came out of Garrick Von Stein. "He's not your anything."

Holy shit, he was so growly it took me a second to process his words, and when I did, I wrinkled my nose. Ew . Remi could call me his witch all he wanted. We'd been friends since we were kids. What the hell would this douche bucket know about it?

Remi looked like he was about to shift and attack the dragon. "That's where you're wrong, Von Stein. He's my friend, my family, and I'll be damned if I let you hurt him any more than you already have."

The dragon king shook his head like he was shaking some sense back into himself or maybe coming out of a trance. His glowing eyes dimmed. "I…" He cleared his throat. "I would never hurt him."

"What the fuck do you call shooting your freaking smoke up his nose then?"

"I… I didn't hurt him. I swear I didn't hurt him."

I gently grabbed Remi's arm and said, "It's okay, Rem. I'm fine."

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yes. I'm good." As much as I appreciated Remi's actions, I didn't need him to stand up for me. I was perfectly capable of standing up for myself against some bully. So I stepped out from behind my friend. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't do that to me again, though, Mr. Von Stein." I kept my words polite, but there was no missing the ice in my voice.

Since the dragon king winced, I was pretty sure he got what I was throwing down.

Asshat .

Von Stein cleared his throat and did a little bow that would've looked ridiculous on anyone else but looked almost regal on him. "My deepest apologies, little pretty. I meant no harm."

I squinted at him, then sighed. This needed to be done. "Whatever. But stop calling me little."

"I notice you don't mind the pretty part," Remi muttered, clearly trying—and failing spectacularly—to keep his voice down and between only us. So I elbowed him in the gut because I had no doubt that the dragon heard him.

They were both asshats.

Remi said, "I think we're done here, Mr. Von Stein. We'll see ourselves out."

"No!" the dragon yelled before wincing at his volume. He lowered his voice to continue. "No. Please don't go yet. I need to talk to the little pretty first."

"Seriously? Are you deaf, man?" I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at the rude man.

Stop calling me little, dickhat!

Von Stein completely ignored me and added, "Alone."

Remi straightened. "I beg your pardon?"

"I need to speak to him alone."

My best friend let out a humorless laugh. "I don't think so, buddy. Come on, Tan. Let's get out of here." He went to push me out of the room, but froze when a low growl filled the air.

I took in Garrick and sucked in a huge breath. His eyes were glowing as if his magic was simply too much to hold in, but they were oddly beautiful in their intimidation. His fingers had grown claws, and golden scales were starting to pop up over his neck and face.

Holy shit. Was he about to shift?

"Don't touch him," Von Stein growled out at Remi. "Release the pretty. Now." The floor vibrated, and my bones rumbled with his growl.

And for some reason, my cock twitched in my pants. And holy shit, no. That was not good. Stupid body reacting stupidly. This guy was an ass. I was not allowed to be attracted to him.

Not even if he was the most gorgeous man I'd ever met.

Which he definitely wasn't.

Lies.

Ignoring my brain—and my body—I called on my death magic and threw a shield over the top of Remi and me. All witches had an affinity—death, nature, light, or shadow—which was where their power came from. I pulled power from the dead or dying, and there was a surprising amount of death magic at my fingertips at all times. Even the dragon king's desk was filled with death magic from the tree it was carved from.

I said, "Don't you dare threaten my best friend, you giant bully."

Then I reached through my own shield and swatted Von Stein right on the nose. Like, a little nose boop. I had no idea where that'd come from. Maybe I just wanted to touch him.

No, brain. Just no.

The move made the dragon jerk back in surprise. He turned his attention from Remi to me with the most pathetic look on his face. He looked so… hurt and upset, and my chest clenched. Shit . I'd hurt his feelings. Look at that pathetic, big, sweet, adorable, sexy as hell, sad, cute—

Orangelica cut off my ridiculous thoughts by standing up on my shoulder and meowing loudly at the big guy, yelling at him.

I silently thanked her for pulling me from my thoughts and said to Von Stein, "That's enough out of you, asshat. We're leaving, and just so you know, I'm the one who gets to decide who touches me. Not you. So I suggest you knock it right the fuck off and leave us alone."

Take that, dragon.

I turned on my heel, grabbed Remi, and pulled him toward the door.

I couldn't help but look back at the dragon king one last time, and when I saw the hurt expression on his face, my heart lurched.

But I steeled my resolve because it wasn't my fault the man was a grade-A jerkface.

So I pushed forward and maneuvered my shield easily through the door, keeping us shielded all the way into the elevator. I didn't drop it until the doors were shut and the elevator was moving.

My emotions were all over the place. I felt some weird pull to go back into Garrick Von Stein's office and make that sad expression turn into a smile.

A big part of me wanted to hug the man and bury my nose in the side of his neck… but that was probably coming from my cock since it definitely liked the sexy dragon and really wanted to rub all over those muscles.

No, brain. Or dick. Or, well, both. Fuck.

I pushed away those thoughts and concentrated on getting my best friend out of the building and down the street.

But I couldn't stop picturing the sad look on the dragon's face. I got that I'd upset him, but that expression, that sadness… it went deeper than what happened in that office. There was something… troubling and almost shattered in his eyes. Deep down, the man was heartbroken.

And I really wanted to find out why.

Maybe I could help.

I shook my head at myself because that was ridiculous. The king wouldn't want help from me, of all people. I was just some random witch from a foreign country.

The farther we walked from the building, the more my chest started to ache. It was an odd feeling, but I was pretty sure I was just feeling sorry for the dragon.

But did he even deserve all the thought I was putting into him? He'd been a jerk. Especially because he kept calling me little. Rude .

And for a minute there, I'd thought he was going to hurt Remi. Double rude .

I sighed to myself because I didn't even know what to think. But I did know one thing…

"That was fucked up," I said once we were far enough not to be overheard. I made sure to keep the strange emotions out of my voice.

"I don't even understand what the hell just happened. But agreed. It was fucked up." After a moment, Remi said, "Did you seriously just swat the fucking king's nose?"

I turned to him with wide eyes. Because wow, when he put it that way—yikes. "Yeah, I think I did."

We stared at each other for a beat before we both laughed loudly, and Remi patted my back.

After a few moments of laughter, I sighed and rubbed the bridge of my nose. "I can't believe I did that, but that guy is a douche."

"Yep."

"I hate him."

Remi looked at me with a lifted brow. "Is that right?"

One look at my best friend made me roll my eyes. "Shut up."

"Holy shit, you actually like him? After all of that?"

"What? No. I definitely didn't say that. He's an asshole."

"But…?"

"But he's a hot asshole, so there's that." Which was true, even if that wasn't everything I thought… or felt.

"Shameless."

"That's me, Mr. Shameless."

That made Remi laugh, which was the goal because I didn't want him digging into that any further. I didn't want to dig into that any further.

He threw an arm over my shoulders and pulled me into a side-hug as we continued our walk. "For real, though, are you alright?"

I sighed. "Yeah. I'm fine."

"The smoke didn't hurt you?"

I shrugged. "It felt weird when it happened, and my magic reacted to it, but I'm fine now."

"Reacted how?"

"Don't know how to explain it. It sort of felt like the smoke… woke something up inside of me, but I can't feel it now, so it was probably just a reaction to foreign magic, you know?"

One could only hope.