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Dwayne didn’t see him as a threat. But that changed when Dan chose to retire early and his son took over the business. Berni, Dan’s son was young and single. Dwayne didn’t like that. He then forced her to quit her job, saying he could provide for both of them.

Like his father, Dwayne was a deputy in the Fairlee sheriff’s office. He took home a modest salary, but enough to live in a town like Fairlee. The sheriff’s family home was a large old Victorian house too big for only the four of them. She could lead a simple and quiet life should she choose. But it wasn’t the life she wanted. She could never love Dwayne romantically.

Never.

“From the way I see it, they shouldn’t been able to force you into doing something you don’t want, Emily,” said Rovik. “I will help you get out of this place, no matter what it takes.”

“Thank you. I don’t know how I can repay you for this.”

“No need for that. Any decent human would do the same if they were in my shoes. It’s the right thing to do.”

She dearly hoped Rovik wouldn’t regret what he promised. As soon as he said that, blaring sirens followed their SUV.

The cavalries had come.

But she didn’t want to be saved.

Chapter Three

Rovik had expected some scuffles with the law when he agreed to help Emily. He hadn’t anticipated it would become a full-on war. From his rearview mirror, he counted six Fairlee sheriff vehicles chasing their tail, followed by at least six other unmarked sedans. The sheriff had organized a hunting party to retrieve their darling bride. A smile tugged on the corner of his lips. This would be fun. He hadn't had anything remotely exciting in the past couple years.

He stole a glance at her.

Emily looked mortified. She gripped the seatbelt until her knuckles were white. Her face paled. Her big blue eyes widened in fear.

He clenched his jaw. He hated to see her like that. Why was she so scared? Did that son of a bitch do something to her? It was hard to believe he didn't abuse her. No one got this scared unless they were mistreated.

Rovik slowed the SUV. He could hightail them across the state lines, but it wouldn't do any good. He was pretty sure the sheriff had his license numbers and could put out an APB for suspected kidnapping. But maybe he could stop and explain the situation. And maybe he could talk the sheriff into reason first. It seemed ludicrous that someone would be forced into marrying someone in this twenty-first century era.

He decided to yield and stopped on the side of the road.

Emily turned to him. "What are you doing? You can't stop now."

"Don't worry, I'll handle this."

"You don't know what you're doing."

"Trust me, Emily. I’ll handle the situation. I need to talk to the sheriff." Rovik fished his smart phone from his pocket and quickly texted Jericho their secret code. They made an agreement if one of them got in trouble on the job and didn't return or call within twelve hours after sending the code, the other would alert the office then come with reinforcement. The message coded with his last latitude and longitude coordinates as a starting point for his partner to look.

A cruiser went past them and blocked their SUV. The one behind them stopped at their bumper. A quick scan at the rearview mirror revealed none of those men seemed too pleased. They were hard-eyed with soured expressions. Well, how could they not be? He just ruined someone's big day, after all.

Rovik sat quietly behind the wheel. He didn’t take his eyes off the rearview as he talked to Emily. “I want you to follow my instruction closely. Do not get out of the vehicle unless I tell you it’s safe to do so. Do not talk to them or engage in any way. Keep your eyes straight ahead and pretend you don’t see anything.”

Emily was stiff as a board beside him. “Y-yes.”

A deputy got out from the cruiser in front. He wore a pair of aviator sunglass and looked as if he was ready to chew somebody raw to their bones. A black baton, hung from his waist, swung with every step he took. In the meantime, two men, one older and his younger copy, fully dressed in black tuxedos with boutonnieres pinned on the lapels of their jackets exited the cruiser at the back of the line. They looked just as pissed as the other guys.

Rovik narrowed his eyes. Something wasn’t right with these people. He was suddenly plagued with an urge to shift. Show them his claws and scales. Baring for them his sharp fangs to show who was more dominant. He was rarely provoked to show his true self, unless threatened by kin.

Kin.

These people Emily tangled with weren’t just ordinary humans.

He stole a glance furtively at her. Did she know what they really were? Was that why she was so concerned he wouldn’t be able to handle them?

Rovik quickly scanned the mob milling behind the SUV. Most were humans. A few were half-bloods. Some mixed blood. Four were pure
blutrot
. Blutrot,
red
, was one of the old breeds in North America, but not as rare as him. They were vicious, nevertheless.

The old one whom Rovik presumed was the sheriff, tapped his window, while the younger one—must be Dwayne—headed straight to Emily’s side and proceeded to make a ruckus.

His voice sounded muffled from inside the SUV. As soon as Rovik powered down the window, Dwayne’s voice brayed obnoxiously.

“Get out of this car, right now, Emily! How could you do this to me? Get out now!”

Dwayne’s old man told him to shut up for a second. He did, but he didn’t stop intimidating Emily. He snarled while he tried to pry open the passenger side door. That wasn’t successful either because Rovik had everything locked.

“Is there a problem, Officer?” Rovik asked in a composed tone.

There was a glint of recognition in the sheriff’s eyes—acknowledgement from one beast to another. The sheriff became alert. Guarded. “Could you please step out of the vehicle and put your hands up where I can see them.” His voice so sharp, it could cut steel.

Rovik waited five seconds just to annoy him before asking again, “What is this all about?”

“Get out of the fucking vehicle!” the sheriff barked. His men assumed a ready position with their weapons aimed at him.

“Rovik…” Emily looked at him, panicked.

“Stay frosty.” Rovik powered up the window before unlocking his door and exiting the SUV carefully. He pushed the door closed to lock it so Dwayne couldn’t force his way in. He raised his hands in a deliberate mock. The sheriff and his deputies glanced at his holstered gun inside his leather jacket.

In a normal scenario, that alone would have gotten him treated as a hostile. He would have been slammed on the ground and gotten his ass kicked to the nines. But this situation was different. The sheriff and his merry ass kickers knew if they didn’t tread carefully, things could get ugly really, really fast.

In the draconian hierarchy, Rovik’s breed,
Schwarzen
, was at the top of the food chain. In ancient times, the black dragons preferred to eat other dragons first, then common livestock.

Schwarzen males were very competitive with one another and their violent tendencies crossed boundaries even between family members. Before the era of the Great Purge, it was common practice for the son in a family to try to kill his father and assume his position as a rite of passage.

As a result, many females Schwarzen hid their male hatchlings to prevent infanticide committed by the dominant males. Families were displaced and Schwarzen numbers dwindled to near extinction. As humanity began to climb into the top spot, dragons abandoned their old ways and took their human form to live peacefully among the rest of the population.

Millennia passed, but the dragons had long memories. They hadn’t forgotten the fearful breed of their kin. Any dragon on the Earth knew better than to provoke a male Schwarzen.

Rovik faced the sheriff head on. “I don’t want any trouble on your turf. Let us pass and it’ll be water under the bridge.”

“Can’t let you do that, sonny. That young woman you have there is my son’s bride.” The sheriff jauntily nodded in Emily’s direction. “Hand her over and we’ll let you leave in one piece.”

“No, can do. Emily is my mate.”

At this, the sheriff blanched considerably. Surely he knew once a dragon met his mate, he’d go to any length to protect what belonged to him. All dragons were compulsively possessive.

“In fact, I’ll tell you what you’re going to do, Sheriff,” said Rovik. “You will get back in your car and return to town and forget this ever happened. Otherwise, I won’t be held responsible for your safety.”

“In your fucking dreams!”  Dwayne skirted around the SUV then stormed in Rovik’s direction in long strides. “I’d like to see you try, fucking cannibal. We blutrot aren’t cowards.”

“Do you really want to attract mundane attention with this fight?” challenged Rovik. “She’s mine and I’m taking her with me. End of story.”

In the Great Purge era, Schwarzen dominant males hunted and decimated others indifferently in order to rule unchallenged. That made Schwarzen the most hated among the breeds. Then came the peace era where every dragon did their best to blend into the human population. They adopted unwritten rules to let their real existence became stuff of legend, and none were ever to reveal their true form in the presence of humans.

“I don’t appreciate your fucking tone, sonny. Fairlee is Blutrot’s territory. People here know us. We’ll do what we have to do to protect our interest,” the sheriff said. “This is your last warning.”

“Then by all means, don’t hold back,” Rovik hedged, thumbing his nose. “But Emily isn’t going to marry your son. Not now, not ever.” He cast a contemptuous glance at Dwayne. “Pity, if the best you can do is force an unwilling woman. Don’t tell me you can’t get an erection unless you see a girl cry.”

It appeared Dwayne had enough and decided to talk with his fist. From the corner of his eyes, Rovik saw Dwayne barreling toward him and his combat instinct took over. Everything happened in a fraction of a second.

Rovik sidestepped, avoiding Dwayne’s attack. He grabbed Dwayne’s neck and slammed it against the side window of the Escalade.

The glass broke spectacularly as Dwayne’s head hung halfway inside the vehicle. Rovik heard Emily scream. Before Dwayne could react, Rovik yanked him out and hurled the sheriff’s son’s body toward his father. Both of them sprawled, hitting the ground harshly.

One of the human goons, shot at Rovik. The sheriff yelled to stop as Emily was in the line of fire. Stupid thing to do. Rovik moved in with inhuman speed, grabbed the rifle from the idiot and slammed the butt squarely in that man’s face with a satisfying wet crunch. The idiot tumbled, howling in pain.

Rovik heard Emily scream through the broken window. A red-headed deputy tried to open the door to extract Emily. Rovik was on him instantly. The red-head snarled at him and bared his sharp pointy teeth.
Damn half-blood.
Rovik decided he wouldn’t hold back. His system was full of endorphins to the point of euphoria. His Schwarzen battle instinct nearly took over.

He loved the bloodlust.

The smell of blood. The violence.

The amount of pain he inflicted on his opponent.

One of the reasons he enlisted as a marine was to channel his beastly side into the correct outlet.

He liked battlefields as if he were the apostle of the God of War.

Rovik’s scales resurfaced his skin; fingers turned into sharp claws. The red-headed deputy had threatened his dominance and Rovik disliked it. His instinct demanded the threat be neutralized swiftly. Rovik seized the deputy and tore a chunk of flesh off his shoulder with his equally transformed sharp teeth before twisting and yanking the arm itself from the deputy’s body.

Scream of pain.

Looks of shock.

Taste of flesh and coppery-tang blood filled Rovik’s mouth.

Fuck. Rovik never knew it’d be so sweet.

He’d never fought dragons before, be that full or half-blooded, and he never let his Schwarzen instinct have full rein. But there had to be a first-time for everything.

Fight. Kill. Feed.

At this point his humanity slipped farther, but he didn’t mind.

Behind him, the Escalade roared alive. Emily had moved behind the wheel and took over the SUV, trying to get away.

Run, run away, little sweet thing.

Better for you not to see me like this.

Emily ran into the cruiser that blocked the street. The Escalade crashed. She backed up and didn’t stop when the SUV slammed the front of the sheriff’s cruiser. Tires screeched a loud shriek. The back of the SUV scaled the front hood, crushing the cruiser beneath. The Escalade stopped then lurched forward in full speed, plowing the blocking cruiser in its path. It climbed over the beat up vehicle, squashing it as it passed and sped onto the quiet road.

Rovik turned his head to the sheriff’s party. Eyes wild reptilian yellow, devoid of humanity. A pair of black majestic leathery wings ripped through his jacket and uncurled like stuff from a nightmare.

He breathed deeply and laughed deliriously at his shell-shocked opponents. His body rapidly transformed into his dragon form.

“Food,” he hissed before his human speech was entirely impacted by the shift.

It was all fair game now.

Them Blutrod.

Food.

Chapter Four

Emily counted herself lucky that the SUV’s airbags hadn’t inflated from the extensive damage she’d inflicted to the vehicle. The car’s Onstar security system kicked in when Dwayne’s head broke through the car window. The smooth voice of a female care specialist asked if they had been in an accident. Emily answered everything was fine. When Emily crashed and ran over the cruiser, another care specialist asked again if Emily needed police assistance. Criminy, the ones they were trying to get away from were the police. She told her that the police already assisted them.

Assisted to kill them.

Emily floored the gas to get away from the bloody carnage scene behind her.