“Obviously.” The bartender had set a glass tumbler filled with amber fluid before him. Lucian downed the scotch in one swallow. Alcohol had minimal effect on him, even in his human form, but he hoped the alcohol burn would mask the smell of the club, his brother, and the scent of the willing females that hung on everything. They were so easily drunk on shifter pheromones, the most potent of which was dragon. It was clear Leonidas had already done more than taste his first human of the night. And she surely wouldn’t be his last.
His brother grinned. “Go on, Lucian. Pick one. They’re ripe for the taking tonight.”
Lucian signaled for another drink.
Leonidas sighed, turned to face the bar, and ordered a drink of his own. “You really must break this streak you have going. It’s not like the crown can pass to the spawn of these loins.” He gestured to his cock, already well-used for the evening. Thankfully, he’d remembered to zip. “Just take someone for the night. Get back in the game. You’re worse than our brother with this.”
“Where is Leksander?” Lucian asked. The three brothers had been born minutes apart, but they couldn’t be more different. Leonidas’s endless sexual appetite was, in fact, normal for a dragon. Lucian felt the same raging need, but his past drained any encounters with humans of the pleasure they should have. And Leksander… well, he had his own obsessions.
Leonidas downed half his scotch before answering. “Leksander is where he usually is.”
“Not again.” Lucian finally turned to read his brother’s face.
His normal smirk was replaced by a grimace. “Oh yes, again. I really don’t think he’s going to give up.”
Lucian shook his head and finished his drink. He would entertain thoughts of breaking Leksander of his bad habits, but Lucian was smart enough to know the foolishness of that. Besides, it would only end in bloodshed. Probably his own.
“Come on, Luc,” his brother said, voice light again as he gestured to the undulating bodies on the dance floor. “Any of these beauties would fall in love with you in a single night.”
“Fuck off.” His brother should know better. The last thing he wanted was to revisit the images and the screams, all the things that would be resurrected if he found himself in the arms of a woman again.
“Suit yourself.” Leonidas rumbled a deep growl, drained his drink, and strode off into the crowd, no doubt seeking another release as soon as he was ready. Which for dragons was no time at all, not in this pheromone-infused environment. Several of Lucian’s top lieutenants were doing the same—the House of Smoke was well represented in the club tonight. There was no need for Lucian to follow suit—he had talked to the owner, paid his respects, made an appearance. Nothing more was required of him, and the scents were starting to crawl under his skin.
He turned to leave, but caught sight of Cinaed, his best friend and steady right hand, hurrying toward him from the DJ station near the back. His reddish-toned hair betrayed his Gaelic origins, back when the House of Smoke resided on the European continent, but the washed-out blue light of the club had turned his face ghoulish.
“What’s your trouble, Cin?” Lucian asked when he arrived.
The flush on Cinaed’s face was either sex or anger. It was hard to tell in the odd light and drowning scents. “The House of Drakkon is here, my liege.”
What? Lucian’s senses sharpened, as they always did for battle. It was an ancient reflex, but one that served him even now in the modern city of Seattle. There were far more predators than the city was aware of. Not least the House of Drakkon, an unsavory nest of black dragons that had been plaguing the city and battling with the House of Smoke for years.
Lucian shifted his eyes to scan the club. The Drakkon scents must have been lost in the flood of other smells. His dragon vision would better pierce the blue darkness and tricky lighting than his human eyes. The runes on his skin—a gift from the fae part of his DNA—twitched as they sensed his need for heightened magical awareness. That was one advantage which made his House strong, even if the treaty hadn’t also set them above all other dragon Houses—his fae magic allowed him to perceive any beast, no matter what skin they wore. Shifters. Vampires. Fae and angel glamour alike were no obstacle to him.
But easiest of all to find were his fellow dragons.
Tytus and a few of his thugs lurked by the back door, no doubt lying in wait for some hapless woman. A human female. Their most favorite kind of prey.
Lucian shoved away from the bar and strode toward the cluster of vipers. Cinaed signaled others from the House of Smoke. Several drifted closer, on guard. Leonidas was too wound up in a female wolf to notice.