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Master of Dragons

Nineva charged, but before she could close with him again, something snapped tight around her waist. She looked down. A massive clawed hand gripped her, talons curled around her body. Before she could even blink in surprise, the ground dropped away from her feet.

"Nice try, kid, but I'm afraid you're out of your league," a rumbling voice told her over the thunderous flap of wings.

It was the dragon.

"He's got the Sword of Semira!" she yelled, kicking futilely.

"I have to get it back!" The dragon muttered an English curse and dove toward Arralt, who flung a magical blast at them. The roiling ball of energy splashed off the dragon's shields even as the huge creature breathed a spell of his own.

Arralt ducked back, gesturing. The shimmer of a dimensional gate formed in the air.

Oh, hell. Semira!

The dragon! Take the dragon as your lover. His magic is great...

What? Nineva looked down at the huge claws gripping her waist. She must have misunderstood. Semira, he's a dragon!

Not all the time. Was there a trace of amusement in the goddess' faint voice?

Arralt whirled and plunged for the gate, the sword glowing in his hand. The dragon snatched for him, but he dove through, hurling another blast as he fled.

Taking Semira with him.

"No!" Nineva cried in despair, thumping her fists on the scaly hand that held her.

The dragon touched down, head jerking to and fro as he looked for another Sidhe to grab. Around them, closing gates vanished, carrying the last of the warriors away. Nineva sensed the rise of magic as he cast yet another spell.

"Bloody hell. Wherever they went, it's heavily shielded. I can't punch through." The dragon sighed and released her, carefully uncurling his talons.

She turned and looked up at him. And up and up and up. He towered over her, looking more like an animated hillside than a living creature. Moonlight shimmered on his scales as ropes of muscle shifted under his skin. His head was as long as her entire body, crowned by curving horns that gleamed under the moon. His eyes blinked at her, the size of her head, glowing crimson and flashing sparks of magic.

Semira wanted her to make love to that?

The memory of the nightmares only made things worse. Particularly with those scarlet eyes looking down at her, just as they’d done every time he'd incinerated her in those damned dreams.

I don't have time for this. Nineva forced the fear away.

She had to concentrate on one thing: he was the dragon warrior the legends had predicted for thousands of years. As Semira had said, he was the key.

Unfortunately, Nineva had let Arralt escape with the sword. Which put him that much further along with his plan to unleash a Dark One invasion on Mortal Earth.

It was sickening. Arralt was right- she was a coward. In trying to avoid her fate, her duty, she’d lost everything. "We'e got to get that sword back, or we're all screwed."

"I know." The dragon's eyes flared red. Nineva sensed a burst of magic so intense, she took an involuntary step back and swallowed a scream.

Was he going to burn her now?

But when she blinked away the magical dazzle, he was gone, replaced by a man. His starkly handsome face and broad-shouldered build were instantly familiar. "Oh, hell. You're the dragon?"

He gave her a crooked little smile. "Afraid so."