Chapter One
Dr. Maximilian Holbrook had outmaneuvered plenty of people over the years to locate the dragon-shifter archeological sites and treasures that made his life worth living.
Evading human guards, playing the fool to distract a dragon-shifter, or even giving one of his colleagues or rivals a drink spiked with a sleeping draught to reach somewhere first. He'd done them all and more.
Everyone underestimated him, which was part of the plan. No one had ever truly tested his patience or his skills.
Until now.
As he saw the golden dragon flying up ahead, circling the forest, looking for a place to land near the Roman-era dragon settlement, he knew it could only be his current rival and pain in his arse—Dr. Lavinia Walker.
Even though he had the advantage of knowing the breadth of England much better than the blasted Aussie, she seemed to always be one step ahead of him.
But he'd bloody well be damned if he let her win this time. A site related to the Roman-era dragon queen, Alviva, and herlegacy was at stake, one that would lead him to the biggest discovery of his career. And Max would be the one to find it first, no matter what.
And thanks to his older brother, Antony, who had connections no average person could ever dream of, Max had the means to render Lavinia temporarily unconscious and get to the villa's temple first. Only then could he locate the key that would unlock what he truly wished to find—the lost Dragon's Court, where Queen Alviva's successors had ruled over England until the Norman conquest in 1066.
Of course, to execute his plan, Max needed to get a hell of a lot closer to the dragonwoman.
He crept slowly through the forest, doing his best to stay quiet.
Not for the first time, Max was glad his brother had recruited him years ago to help with some of his top secret projects. Since he mainly played the fool to the world, no one guessed what he was capable of.
Max wove through the trees, underbrush, and the large rocks and minor ruins that had once stood outside the walls of the main villa complex. While the town that had grown up around Queen Alviva's principal residence would eventually provide valuable information about dragon-shifter history, those secrets could wait. After all, the rubble and ruins had been ignored for centuries, and no one was going to disturb it in the next couple of weeks.
No, his target inside the villa complex, where he'd hopefully find the next clue, was all that mattered. Everything pointed toward the Winter Solstice as when the key would reveal the hidden location of Dragon's Court, provided he could find the blasted thing in time.
Although it wasn't a normal key that would open a door. No, it was some sort of thing that had to be positioned in just theright place at the right time, to hopefully display the secret map he'd spent more than a decade searching for.
And there was no bloody way he was going to let Lavinia Walker reach it.
Moving through the dense forest was tedious, but Max finally reached the edge of the trees. He kept out of sight and waited for Lavinia to land in the clearing not twenty feet in front of him. For a few minutes, she circled overhead, probably memorizing the lay of the land. It was the only true advantage she had over him—being able to fly and see things from the air that he couldn't.
True, sometimes he could beg a favor from a dragon-shifter to take him into the air, but never on demand.
He'd been using the Lochguard dragons' help for a couple of years now, but his current quest was too important and secretive to include them. Especially since the only dragon-shifter he trusted from the Scottish dragon clan, Iris Mahajan, was currently being trained by his brother for some kind of secret mission.
Lavinia's golden scales glinted in the weak sunlight as she slowly descended to the clearing. Max took out his slingshot, and the precious, soft ball filled with secret ingredients. Impact would make the powder spill, and as soon as Lavinia inhaled it, she'd be unconscious for a few hours with no adverse effects.
It would be enough time to ensure he could search the last section of the old villa grounds, grab the key, and be long gone before she woke up.
Once the golden dragon laid her large satchel on the ground, and her hind legs touched the earth, he watched as her wings shrank into her back, her snout receded into a human nose, and her forelimbs became her arms until she stood in her black-haired, light-brown-skinned naked form. For a beat, as he did every time he saw her shift back into a human, he admired her full breasts, the curve of her hip, and how she was morevoluptuous than most dragon-shifters because she spent so much time in libraries and archive buildings instead of flying.
Not that Max minded. If she hadn't sabotaged his previous sites and quests, he might've tried to get her into his bed. Especially as it'd been too long since he'd trusted anyone enough to be naked with them, let alone spend the night.
But, no, this was Lavinia Walker. And he wouldn’t allow her naked body to distract him, no matter how bloody beautiful she was.
As the dragonwoman always did after shifting, Lavinia bent to retrieve her clothes from the bag on the ground. As she stood up and started to dress, Max aimed. When he had a clear shot of her chest to ensure she'd breathe in the mixture, he let fly and watched as the soft ball hit his mark. As the cloud formed around her in the air, Lavinia coughed, finally met his eyes, and sank to the ground before collapsing into a heap.
Once he was sure she was unconscious, he tucked away his slingshot, picked up his rucksack, and went to where she lay on the ground.
While he might want to get to the key first, he wouldn’t leave her naked in the cool air. He quickly laid her clothes, and even the blanket and coat from her bag, over her body. Then he set up a motion-triggered alarm, with four sensors around her form, in case someone tried to approach her. The sound was at a frequency only a dragon-shifter could hear, and even after inhaling his secret mixture, she'd wake up if it went off.
Satisfied she was unconscious but not completely vulnerable—in most cases, he liked to think he was a gentleman—Max retreated a safe distance, clicked the remote to activate the sensors, and headed into the now-familiar site of Alviva's villa toward the temple dedicated to the Roman goddess Minerva.
He hoped the key was there. It had to be. And glancing at his watch, he only had a few hours to find it.
So he ran into the site and went looking.