“Good. I might not have known you long, but my dragon trusts you, which means I do.” He leaned over to her ear and whispered, “With the possible threat to the clan and yourself, I don’t want people thinking you’re an easy target. The more strength you project, the more time they’ll take to plan how to nab or hurt you, which gives us more time to find the threats.”
The fact Bram worried about her did strange things to her heart. For so long, she’d had to exude strength to survive her job. She’d never had someone to lean on, yet she knew implicitly Bram would help her. All she had to do was ask.
After only two days, she was already growing fond of the dragonman who would soon be her mate. Maybe one day, if they continued to be honest and open, she might even grow to love him.
But it wasn’t the time for sentimentalities and dreams of the future. “Okay, I can do that. At some point, though, I need to see a picture of Neil and anyone else connected to him. The DDA doesn’t keep pictures on file, as you know, which means I’m going to have to treat every stranger as a threat. That’s going to make getting to know the clan difficult.”
Bram nodded. “We’ll set that up as soon as possible. For tonight, either Kai or I will watch over you. Don’t leave without either one of us at your side.”
“What about Nikki?”
“She’s working on something for me. And as fond of Melanie and Samira as I am, they won’t be able to stop Neil if he goes after you. Liam should be along later to help, but Tristan is home with the twins.” He squeezed her. “I know you hate having a babysitter, lass, but it’s just for one evening. Can you abide it?”
She smiled. “Since you asked, I think I can manage it. Just make sure to keep me in the loop. If you try to hide information for my safety, I will be pissed. You wanted honesty from me, and I expect the same.”
He gave her a gentle kiss. “I will. I’ll even give you a full brief later.” He released her and put an arm around her waist. “Now, are you ready to take on a dragon clan?”
She straightened her shoulders and raised her chin. “Bring it.”
Bram grinned. “There’s the spirit I love so much.”
He caressed her side with his fingers. Even through the cloak and her dress, his touch was like a brand, sending heat through her body straight to her lady parts.
Before she could think about what he might do later with the aforementioned parts, the dragonman’s voice snapped her back to the present. “Right, lass, then let’s go.”
~~~
As they entered the great hall, Bram resisted the urge to haul Evie tightly against his side and growl at the other males looking their way. It might be early yet for the dinner, but there were already ten or twenty clan members inside.
And too many of them were single dragonmen.
His dragon didn’t help matters by roaring inside his head. We should not be here. We should be home with our female. The others are thinking of ways to steal her.
Stop being daft. They are just curious.
No. Look at the lust in their eyes.
Bram tried to push his dragon aside, but the beast resisted and roared again. No. You will not protect her. I must do it.
Of course I’ll protect her. We must be here for a few hours. It’s for the future of the clan. Don’t you want to protect them?
His dragon fell silent. Protecting the clan and their young was one of the few things that could rival protecting a mate in a dragon’s list of priorities.
His inner beast’s voice was sullen when he replied, Don’t let the Scottish leader touch her.
I’ll try my best.
His dragon somewhat pacified, he scanned the room until he found Kai on the side with Mel and Samira. Once the Protector gave him a nod that all was well, Bram led Evie up to the front of the room where the dais for him and Finn was located. A quick glance told him Finn was still off to the side talking with Arabella. Or, rather, flirting with Arabella. He couldn’t tell if Ara was distressed or not, but before he could act, Evie’s voice broke his thoughts.
“It looks like Finn has met his match.”
He glanced to Evie, who was smiling. “Arabella looks irritated to me.”
“There’s a fine line between irritation and enjoyment. Personally, I think they’re hitting it off, which is strange given what I’ve heard about Arabella MacLeod.”
He motioned with his head for them to take a seat at the table. Evie unfastened her cloak, slipped it off, and Bram’s jaw fell open.
The dark blue material of her dress not only made her skin glow, it hugged her breasts before cascading over her round stomach until it brushed the floor; the tease of curves and skin made him hard.
Since it was only fastened over one shoulder—for easy access for a dragon-shifter to change forms—one of her pale shoulders was bare. In that instant, he wanted to lick every inch of visible skin. The precious time from earlier hadn’t been enough to sate his desires. Not even close.
Evie raised one dark red eyebrow. “What? It’s a dress. You’ve seen me with less.”
He stepped close and took a deep inhalation of her scent. “Yes, but you’re wearing the traditional dress of my kind and it’s one of the sexiest things I’ve ever seen.”
His female frowned. “Don’t be ridiculous. It’s just some blue material. Believe me, you haven’t seen sexy yet.”
With another step, he whispered against her cheek, “Maybe I should add that as a condition to our mating—you need to dress in your sexiest clothing for our post-mating ceremony night.”
He could hear her thundering heartbeat and smell her arousal. Good. She could suffer just as much as he. If Bram wasn’t careful, everyone in the room would know he had a hard-on.
Evie brushed a hand against his chest. “We’ll see if you earn that as a reward or not.”
He smiled. “You are a conquest I’m going to enjoy very, very much, Evie Marshall.”
Before she could reply, he turned them toward the table and gently pushed her toward their chairs. As much as he enjoyed standing close to his mate-to-be and teasing her, he needed to sit down to hide his hard cock. For the next few hours, he would think of his clan and not a naked Evie under him as he pounded into her tight, wet pussy.
Pushing those thoughts aside, he sat down and placed a hand on Evie’s thigh under the table. The contact reassured both man and beast of how she was safe. Before he could stop himself, he squeezed her plump flesh.
Mine, his dragon said.
Ignoring him, Bram decided conversation would help drown out his inner beast’s demands and he switched back to a safer topic. “Arabella’s had a difficult time getting past her trauma from a decade ago, but ever since Melanie forced her way into Arabella’s life, she’s been doing better. Her biggest struggle is accepting her inner dragon. But, to be honest, she was more at ease with Finlay Stewart earlier than she is with most of the members of our clan.”
Evie laid a hand on his arm. “I’d take that as a good sign. Besides, don’t worry. If Finn hurts her, he’ll have to deal with me.”
Bram snorted. “And what if he shifts into his gold dragon form?”
“Really? A gold dragon? As if his ego wasn’t big enough. Anyway, yes, I can handle his dragon form. After all, I have a few tricks up my sleeves.”
“But, lass, you aren’t wearing any sleeves.”
She gave him a glare and he grinned.
He leaned over and whispered into her ear, “All right, then, care to give me a few hints about these tricks? That way I can prepare for your attack. I can’t have you besting me and trying to take over the clan.”
Evie laughed and the sound not only warmed his heart, it made his dragon hum and then say, She is light. She will make us happy.
Still not telling me the why yet?
It doesn’t matter. She is our best chance.
His dragon’s answer only stoked his curiosity further. We’ll discuss this again when I have time.
Evie’s voice quieted his dragon.
“I think keeping you on your toes will be good for you.”
Squeezing her plump thigh, he whispered, “Aye, I suspect it will. But the sooner you share your knowledge, the sooner I can incorporate it into my grand plans.”
She glanced up into Bram’s light blue eyes. “Provided you reward me as promised earlier, I’ll start tomorrow.”
“I don’t recall promising anything.”
Her hand went to this thigh, sending blood straight to his cock. Never breaking eye contact, she moved her hand a few more inches. The pulse between his legs grew more insistent. If she would only move her hand a little further…
A male cleared his throat and it broke the tension. Bram narrowed his eyes and looked up to see Finn grinning. It took everything he had not to punch the Scottish bastard in the face as the Scot said, “Do you need to go for a quickie in one of the side rooms? I can hold the fort if you do.”
His dragon snarled. He is too close. Send him away.
I can’t. He will help the clan.
Bram focused on the other leader. “Did you finish with Arabella? What’s the result?”
“Aye, the lass knows what she’s doing; I’ll give her that. I’d like for her to come to my lands to work with my IT person to set things up.”
“I’m not sure if that’s such a good idea, Stewart.”
“Well, Arabella said she’d think about it. So you might want to talk with her.”
Bram leaned forward. “That’s pushing the boundaries, Finn. You should’ve asked me first.”
Finn shrugged. “The lass might’ve said no if I waited to do that. This way, it’s a maybe.”
He stared at the other leader, torn between the male’s interest and effect on Ara and his disregard for Bram’s position. Before he could think of how to reply, Evie touched his arm and said, “People are starting to file in. Finn might want to take a seat.”
The politeness of her words brought his anger in check. He missed her blunt nature. He could just imagine her telling them to stop their ‘who has the longest dick’ contest to sit their arses down. Maybe one day the alliance with Clan Lochguard would be close enough to unleash Evie Marshall on them.
He smiled at that thought.
Finn gave him an assessing look. “I hope that smile wasn’t for me. Otherwise, I may have to sit at a table on the far side of the room.”
Bram shook his head. “Sit down, already. Your smartass comments can wait.”
Finn replied, “Then it was about me.” Bram growled. Finn winked and rubbed his hands together. “Okay, it’s time to get this dinner started. The sooner your clan knows who I am, the sooner they will all start loving me.”
Only because of years of practice dealing with dragon-shifter egos did Bram not roll his eyes.
Evie leaned against him. From the way she turned her face into his side and shook, he could tell she was holding in a laugh. His dragon was not happy about her reaction.
Still, Bram was currently in control and he kept his dragon in check. He motioned to his other side. “Sit next to me. I don’t trust you with my female.”
As Finn moved to sit next to him, Bram took a deep breath. Between Evie’s heat and scent surrounding him and Finn’s man-whore behavior, it was going to be a long evening.
Chapter Four
Evie’s stomach hurt from holding back her laughter. Watching Bram and Finn together was better than any TV program. To be honest, the two were already acting more like brothers than two clan leaders with a new alliance.
Of course, that bode well for Stonefire.
Bram squeezed her thigh and whispered, “I need to make an announcement, lass. Keep Finn away while I do or my dragon will cause problems.”
Looking up into his eyes, she nodded. “Okay, but you have nothing to worry about. You’re the only dragon-shifter I imagine undressing inside my head.”
Her dragonman let out a strangled sound. “Lass, you’re not helping matters.”
She laughed. “You said I shouldn’t castigate you in front of the clan. You said nothing about me not teasing you.”
“You’re clever.”
“Of course I am. Now, go do your duties before you become sidetracked again.”
Leaning down, Bram placed a gentle kiss on her lips and murmured, “Just remember that I’ll have my payback tonight. I think I’ll make you beg before I let you come.”
Heat coursed through Evie’s body as wetness shot between her legs. The end of the dinner couldn’t come soon enough. “Hurry up, then.”
Her dragonman chuckled, gave a warning glare to Finn, and then moved to the front of the dais. She took a second to admire his broad back. The way his plaid-like outfit cascaded over his arse was quite nice. Earlier, she’d wanted nothing more than to slip her hand underneath the hem of his kilt-like outfit and prove he wore nothing.
Still, Finn’s interruption had been a good thing. It seemed that whenever she was alone with Bram, her lady parts took control and they very much didn’t care what was happening around them. Somehow, she didn’t think giving Stonefire’s clan leader a hand job in the middle of dinner would leave a good impression with the clan.
Bram’s voice boomed out over the mostly full hall and she listened, “Thank you all for coming. Tonight is the beginning of something which will benefit our clan more than anything else we’ve done over the last decade. You may have seen him around, but Finlay Stewart, the leader of Clan Lochguard, has agreed to become our ally.”
A wave of reactions coursed through the crowd. Everything from dropped jaws to indignant cries. Clearly, the Stonefire dragon-shifters hadn’t expected the news.
Bram put up his hands and continued, “I understand some of your concerns, but Finlay Stewart isn’t Dougal Munro. His ideas and plans for the future are similar to my own. While the alliance is new, I think it is promising. Especially as his clan can help with the increasing number of attacks by the dragon hunters.” There was more murmuring before Bram’s voice echoed through the room once more. “Rather than me tell you about Finn, I’m going to step aside and allow Lochguard’s leader to say a few words. Listen to him and give him a chance.”
Motioning with his hand, Evie watched Finn move from behind the table to stand next to her dragonman. They were of equal height, but Finn was somewhat leaner. Still, she wouldn’t take his leanness to mean weakness. Given what she knew of how dragon-shifter clan leaders were chosen, with grueling trials over multiple days, anyone who won the right to the position possessed a great deal of strength and fortitude.
Someday, she wanted to ask Bram how he’d won the right.
But then Finn’s Scottish tones filled the hall and she focused on the present. “I understand your concern and your wariness. My clan is the same way. However, combining the forces of Stonefire and Lochguard will increase our reach and ability to control our destinies. Our territories combined cover more than half of the isle of Great Britain. If we can convince the humans of our respective territories to not fear us but rather to become interested in us, we may be able to sway the South of England and Wales, even with the harsh reputations of the leaders there.”
He must be talking about Melanie’s book. The knowledge only made Evie more determined to help Mel and make the launch a success.
Then the Scottish leader gave a sweeping bow and the murmurs of the audience increased. Once he stood tall again, he continued, “That bow was my invitation to dance with any members of the clan who wish to sneak a peek at me. I prefer females myself, but, hey, I don’t want to deny any males who might fancy me a bit.”
Evie smiled as laughter echoed through the hall. The Scottish leader did seem to know how to win a crowd.
Then Finn turned toward Bram and put out a hand. Without hesitation, her dragonman took it and leaned to Finn’s ear to whisper something.
Once Bram gave the other dragonman’s back a clap, he said, “Now, that’s enough of the formalities. If Finlay Stewart is to dance with anyone who fancies a chance, we’d better get
started.”
As the crowd settled to the tables and chairs at the edges of the room, Finn went out to the dance floor and was immediately accosted by five young dragonwomen. No doubt, they were just the start and he would be dancing all evening.
Bram sat down by her side, and without thinking, she leaned against him and said, “That was quite the performance, but it seemed to have worked. Did you plan it earlier?”
“No. The Scottish bastard likes to act in the moment, but I’m going to enjoy watching him dance with whoever wants a chance. I think he underestimates how tenacious the younger, unattached clan members are.”
“You did well yourself, mister, but I’m glad you didn’t offer the same chance.”
Bram’s voice was full of amusement. “Oh, aye? Why not?”
She frowned up at him. “Because I would’ve had to chase them all away and I’d rather spend the time sitting next to you so I can cover you in my scent. I’m pretty sure that’s how part of the territory marking goes, right?”
As soon as the words left her mouth, she regretted them. The only time she knew for certain that a person would carry a dragon-shifter’s scent was when a female was pregnant.
The thought that Evie would never carry Bram’s scent squeezed her heart.
No. There is more to building a life than having children. Besides, there were always children who needed a home. That thought reminded her of little Murray. Maybe they could take him in and raise him. She might not know what the hell she was doing at first, but Evie’s determination would hopefully pay off in the end. Bram seemed to like the little tot. Not only that, she would love to see even more of her dragonman’s softer side. Nothing brought out a soft side like a baby.
With Bram and Murray, Evie could finally have a family again. She was an only child and her parents had retired to Spain years ago. She rarely saw them.
As much as she was growing to like the image of her and Bram with Murray, she still barely knew her dragonman. Hell, they hadn’t even been officially mated yet.
Seducing the Dragon (Stonefire Dragons #2) Page 12