Fire Rising (Dark Kings) by Donna Grant Page A

long and narrow that she couldn’t make out what it was
    Then he turned to face her. Sammi had seen gorgeous men before, but not one of them compared to Tristan in all his glory. He stood as imposing as a vengeful spirit and as commanding as a god. He was startlingly handsome, dazzlingly strong.
    Mind-bogglingly virile.
    The wind whistled about him, as if caressing his body as she longed to do. It pushed his hair away from his face. Sammi bit her lip as he closed his eyes and lifted his face to the sky as if being in human form pained him.
    Her gaze lowered from his face to his chest and his impressive body, but it wasn’t just the thick sinew that caught her attention—it was the tattoo that covered his entire chest.
    The tat was done in an amazing mixture of red and black ink, making it neither red nor black, but a beautiful mix of both.
    The tat itself was of a dragon. It stood on its hind legs with its wings spread wide. The tail wrapped from his waist around to his back. Her eyes drifted lower to his flaccid rod and long legs.
    His eyes opened and looked at her before his narrowed gaze shifted to the mist. A muscle ticked in his jaw as if he were deciding what to do.
    The decision had already been made for Sammi. He had disappeared once. She didn’t want him to leave again. When he took a step into the mist, she jumped to her feet.
    His head whirled to face her, and all emotion fled from his face. He hesitated as if trying to decide to remain or go into the mist.
    “I saw you,” Sammi said, hoping it would keep him near. She wasn’t sure why. She was both relieved she wasn’t going insane, and a little scared knowing Tristan was a dragon.
    A dragon!
    Where she might have run from him earlier, she recalled all too well how he had calmed her where others never could. He had reached a place inside her that only her mother had ever been able to touch.
    The fact he could do that is what kept her from being frightened. She did, however, have a healthy dose of anxiety for just what he might be able to do.
    “You’re dreaming.”
    A shiver raced over her skin at the sound of his voice. How she loved his voice. Sammi shook her head. “I’m not.”
    “You hit your head when you fell earlier. You’re dreaming now, Sammi. Your shoulder hurts, and you have a concussion.”
    She smiled as she realized to what lengths he would go in order to make her believe she hadn’t seen him shift from a dragon to a human. “I did fall, but I didn’t hit my head. I was saved by a magnificent amber dragon. You.”
    His chest expanded as he took a deep breath, causing the dragon tattoo to puff out. “With your injuries, I can see how dreaming this would help you cope.”
    Irritation filled her. She knew she wasn’t dreaming, just as she knew she hadn’t hit her head. “Shift back into a dragon. Let me see you again.”
    “I can no’.”
    She took a step toward him. “I’m not supposed to know, am I?”
    Tristan glanced away.
    That was answer enough. “You’ve been with me this whole time, haven’t you? And don’t you dare say I’m dreaming,” she said before he could try that tactic again.
    “Dammit, Sammi,” he grumbled and ran a hand through his hair.
    She let out a long breath. A kernel of doubt had begun to fester until then. “Your secret is safe with me.”
    “That’s just it,” he said. “It’s no’. They’re after you because of your connection to Dreagan.”
    “Dreagan?” she repeated, grasping that he meant her sister. “Jane.”
    “Aye. Jane.”
    “They want Jane?” she asked, more confused than ever.
    “They want us.”
    Us, as in other dragons. Sammi’s eyes widened. “Banan’s a dragon, too?”
    “We’re Dragon Kings, actually,” Tristan said and then frowned as he stiffened. “Shite!”
    She opened her mouth to ask what was wrong when he closed the distance between them in two strides and grabbed her uninjured arm as he dragged her after him.
    He wedged them both between two