Smoke and Fire (Dark Kings #9) by Donna Grant

ARC generously gifted by St. Martin's Press.

She wanted to touch him. There had always been something about being in his arms that made her feel as if she could tackle anything and the world wouldn't dare get in her way...

SWORN TO PROTECT
A dragon shapeshifter and a computer mastermind, Ryder is sent to guard Glasgow after a devastating Dark attack. But when memories of an explosive affair come back to him-in the flesh-Ryder cannot help but want to protect the woman who haunts his dreams. Even if means shifting into the dragon he was never supposed to reveal...

DRIVEN TO DESIRE
Kinsey could never get enough of Ryder. His every touch only left her wanting more. But now that she's seen him in his true form, Kinsey's world is rocked to the core. She knows that to stay-and feel-alive, she must be with Ryder. But is Kinsey's passion worth the risk of danger that comes with being a part of Ryder's dark and fierce world?

Dragons, dragons and more dragons! They are taking over the world! 

Sure I'm missing aspects of the story because of skipping to book 9 of the Dark Kings series, but thanks to Smoke and Fire I'm willing to start reading from book one. I'm lucky that the book makes sense , I'm unfamiliar with the other characters , besides Kinsey and Ryder.Even so it can be read as a stand alone...sort of.

Ryder is a tech dragon who is fighting to protect his fellow dragons from human eyes. He doesn't want to harm humans. He wants to coexist. In fact, dragons did their best for humans to feel comfortable , until human race turned against dragons , hunting them. So Ryder and his kind need to remain hidden. Dreagan is their sacred territory and the Dragon Kings try to keep humans away.

Ryder felt inlove with a mortal , with Kinsey.  But one night he left her without a word and he never came back . Then one night Kinsey saw Ryder's true form and she run away from him. Heartbroken and disappointed Kinsey tried to move on, little did she knew that all this time Ryder never stopped watching over her from the shadows.

Three years after Kinsey is mislead to Dreagan and now she comes face to face with Ryder. She continues to be bitter and can't get over the fact that Ryder lied to her about his true form and she can't understand his reasons. Ryder is heartbroken that Kinsey fears him.

I'm gonna stop here with this review and I'm not gonna write about the other characters. At this point I feel that my review doesn't make justice for this book.As I said, it is best to read the previous 8 books to understand better. I'm gonna start doing that myself and then re-read Smoke and Fire  . As a first read I'm rating it 4 stars ,but there are chances to edit it to 5 stars after I'm done. This review will also be updated.