Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 84237 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 421(@200wpm)___ 337(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84237 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 421(@200wpm)___ 337(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
“No,” Samuel managed, the word croaking out. His emotions were all over the map. Dragons. Holy shit, he’d met a dragon. His inner child was giddy with this revelation. But the responsible adult who held the reins of his body could only wonder if the dragons would be a help or a hindrance in his research. He’d had more than enough roadblocks in his life. He didn’t have room or time for dragon-sized ones.
Which this bossy ass might be. Samuel wasn’t convinced the man Dimitri had scared away was actually a bad guy, truth told. The dragon had been high-handed interjecting himself into their conversation, and it rubbed all wrong. While Samuel would be happy to meet and chat with other ice dragons, he didn’t really want to spend more time with this particular one.
Besides, he still had a hotel to find, after all. He could find the dragon clan’s location later and ask them questions if it came down to that. What he was searching for in Brazil wasn’t a dragon, but the dragon clan might have magical records on hand that would prove beneficial.
Pushing his glasses up a little further onto the bridge of his nose, Samuel put the whole matter aside in favor of the practical. “Before you interrupted, I was asking for directions.”
“You don’t want to ask directions of a saci, though,” Dimitri rebutted.
Not the point, idiot. Samuel reined in the urge to say that. He clenched his teeth and held on to his growing irritation. “Do you know this area?”
“Sure.”
Now he was getting somewhere. A person who knew the area and spoke English. As long as they were good directions, Samuel might still be able to sleep in his hotel room tonight.
“Good. It’s this hotel”—he flipped his folder back open to show the page—“and I’m not sure where it’s located. Can you direct me there?”
For some reason, Dimitri just stared at him. “You’re meeting a dragon, likely for the first time, and all you want from me is directions to a hotel?”
“What else,” Samuel asked, now completely impatient, “could I possibly need from you?”
This man smelled liked lightning.
He was electric power crackling on Dimitri’s tongue and sizzling along nerve endings. But different. As if the ozone had been fried crisp and dry. The mages at the compound seemed to make the air heavy with the promise of a summer storm, while this little man was a sharp desert storm. All lightning and thunder, but no refreshing rain.
Everything in Dimitri demanded he take one big step forward, lower his head, and lick his way up that long, slender neck. Not the most civilized way to win a person over. It would probably get him smacked or punched. At the very least, the stranger would run away.
This intriguing man with the glasses and floppy brown hair wasn’t some magical candy man. No, he was better.
He was a mage.
More and more had been showing up in Rio de Janeiro since the Burkhard dragons announced to the world that dragons still existed. Germany had seen more than its fair share of people hoping to discover they were mages, steadily adding to the ranks of the Burkhard Clan.
So far, the Valerii had acquired only a handful of new mages in the past several months, and most of those had come from the reclusive Finnish Taavi mage clan.
But now this mage was standing right in front of him and showed zero interest in dragons.
What. The. Fuck.
It made no sense whatsoever. All mages wanted to find their dragon. They were destined to be together. Who didn’t want to find their mate? Dragons were born to be the mates of mages, both as protectors and fuel for their mage’s powers. They lived to be everything for their mage so they could enjoy long, bliss-filled lives together. It was the ultimate freaking fairy tale.
And this adorable, nerdy little man seemed to have no interest in any of that.
Unless he didn’t know…
That had to be it. Just like King Alric’s Cameron, the man must have no idea he was a mage. Wasn’t that going to be an interesting conversation? Well, at least it had to be easier simply because the man knew dragons were alive and well in the world.
Deep in his chest, Dimitri’s dragon stirred, lifting its massive head to sniff the air as if scenting something delicious. He could feel the beast zero in on the stranger and then rumble as its forked tongue slid over its teeth. Instincts tightened muscles while the dragon urged Dimitri to pick up the man and fly back to the clan. It wanted to know why he was worried about the man’s lack of interest in dragons. The man didn’t understand who he was, and his dragon was happy to make him understand that he belonged in the clan where it was safe.