Chapter Two
Dr. Lavinia Walker slowly came awake, her head pounding as she opened her eyes and noticed the sunlight was nearly gone.
Her inner dragon—the second personality inside her head—spoke up.The fucker.
She didn't need any more information to understand who her beast spoke about.For all the underhanded tricks, I didn't think he'd actually render us unconscious.
I still say we should drop him from the sky. Not high enough to kill him, but maybe to just break a leg or two.
Lavinia laughed and then put her hands to her head and groaned.After giving us this bloody headache, I'm tempted to do it.
Not that she could, of course. She had a rare visa that allowed an Australian dragon-shifter to be in England. And after the hellish trip to get to the island, complete with making her dragon silent for days on end so she could board an airplane, Lavinia wasn't going to risk losing it.
She was determined to be the first to discover the old dragon-shifter queen's legacy, the castle her descendants had built to rule over all English dragon-shifters for centuries.
Sitting upright, she finally noticed the blanket and clothes on top of her. So maybe Max wasn't a complete arsehole, although if he thought putting a few blankets on her would make up for stealing the key, the bastard had another thing coming.
Her dragon spoke up.Even if he found it, we still have three weeks to steal it from him before the solstice.
Yes, but finding him will be the problem. You know how he disappears for weeks at a time.
Her beast sniffed.We know where he'll be in three weeks, if nothing else. Either way, we should finally take up Honoria's offer of an escort to accompany us whenever we go out.
Any dragon-shifter visiting the UK had to stay with one of its five dragon clans. Since all of Lavinia's research and sites had been in southern England, she'd chosen Clan Skyhunter in South Downs National Park. It'd been a near thing, given some recent history of the clan's politics and problems. But eventually, the Department of Dragon Affairs—both in the UK and Australia—had worked out a compromise. Mainly, Skyhunter would agree to more DDA visits during Lavinia's stay, as well as someone from their clan would volunteer to stay with Lavinia's clan back in Victoria, Clan RiverRock, in the next year.
Her head was clearer now and not pounding as much. She finally noticed the four motion sensor alarms stationed around her.
Maybe if Max hadn't just knocked her unconscious, she'd approve of the extra level of protection, showing he wasn't completely cold-hearted.
But she suspected it was more to do with the DDA keeping a close watch on him than any sort of guilt or conscience. They'dboth received funds to find the mysterious Dragon's Court, and physically harming each other was against the rules.
No doubt Max had found the line and stopped just before it. Something about a fucking powerful brother high up in the government, one who often protected him and always made things difficult for Lavinia.
Not this time, though. It would be tricky not crossing the line that would get her kicked out of England, but Lavinia would be the first to locate Dragon's Court.
Quickly disarming the motion sensors by pressing the buttons on the back of each unit, she stood and slowly dressed. While fairly certain Max was long gone, there was no bloody way she would leave without checking.
Once she gathered her belongings and moved toward the villa site, her dragon spoke again.I hope we find him. Maybe we could tie him to a tree.
She snorted.Maybe. But only if we pay someone to let him go before it gets too cold.
The year had been unusually hot for the Brits, although Lavinia had secretly laughed at them. Their heat waves were mild by Australian standards. And for a while, it'd given her an advantage over Max since she could work in higher temperatures without wilting.
But then the cold had hit, and she bloody well hated it. She could never get warm enough, no matter what.
Her dragon grunted.Find a male, take him to bed, and he'll warm us right up.
Right, because that's so easy to do. Everyone on Skyhunter is distantly polite, and most human males run screaming when they meet a female dragon-shifter.
You're making excuses, like always.
True, but Lavinia didn't like to admit that to her dragon. Especially since the last time she'd had sex with a dragon male,he'd immediately told her to leave. He'd been blunt—she wasn't pretty enough to fuck twice.
It'd taken everything she'd had to not punch the bastard in the face. But clan tensions were high among most Australian dragon clans, and she'd been waiting for her UK visa paperwork to go through.
So she'd left him with her head held high but self-conscious. And she fucking hated it.
No,she said to her dragon.I don't need to fuck anyone right now. All that matters is finding Dragon's Court before Max. End of story.