The world was never a gentle place for Ilya 'Dragon' Dragonovich. As the owner of a safe house attached to Brute Force, he knows the way it works. But when he came across the gentle softness of Emma Jane Preston's pretty eyes during their work together, he found himself willing to release his own monster to protect her. Emma Jane stayed firmly away from Dragon while her marriage crumbled. But after an attack a year later, divorced and alone, she turns to him for safety. Dragon is determined to destroy anyone who harms her, and seduce her to his bed. But by the time they realise just how deeply they're embedded in each other's souls, it may be too late. His past may have already caught up with them, and taken her from him forever.