He cupped her face and wiped away another tear. “He does that because he cares for you. Because Dante and I aren’t lightning-struck we don’t feel the same pain and weakness you do when we find our mates. Yes, our beasts are a little more aggressive since we haven’t completed the bond, but it’s not the same. He does it because he cares.”
“He had no right,” she whispered. “I’m going to beat him up for that. Or something that I can actually do since I’m the size of your leg.”
“Hey, I like your size.”
She rolled her eyes. “No wonder Dante calls me a sprite. I can’t even reach you on my tip toes.”
“Then it’s a good thing you’re on this stool. You’re at perfect height.”
She tilted her head, her cheek on his palm. “For what?”
“For this.” He lowered his head and brushed his lips along hers. She let out a little gasp then pressed closer. He took that as an invitation and licked the seam of her lips. She opened for him, and he groaned. Their tongues touched briefly, but he kept himself back, not wanting to take it too far.
His bear growled, wanting more, wanting it all, but Jace was in control.
He pulled away, the sweet taste of honey mixed with the tartness of lemons from her drink on his tongue.
“Wow,” she whispered, and he laughed softly.
“Wow indeed.” He tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and studied her face. Her cheeks were flushed, and he loved the glint in her eyes. “I’m going to go now. I’d like to come back tomorrow and pick you up to take you to Dante’s home. I think the three of us should spend some time together.”
She took a deep breath then nodded. “I agree. If I’m going to find out how to move on, how to be who I have the possibility of becoming, I need to get over my anger, but it won’t be easy.”
He had a feeling she was more than halfway there, but he wasn’t going to point that out. From what he’d heard from Dante, Nadie was a forgiving person. He and the dragon would have to grovel though.
“I’ll take a look at your car and see if I can help. If not, I’ll call my brother. Good night, Nadie.”
“Thank you for helping. Good night, Jace.” She touched her fingertips to her lips then smiled. “It…it was nice to meet you.”
He snorted then shook his head. “Hell yeah, Nadie. But it won’t be the last. Not by far.”
He wanted this woman, no matter what she turned into when the bond was set and the time came. His bear had laid claim, and the dragon, in his heart, had as well.
Nadie would be theirs.
Soon.
Chapter Four
“He’s found his mates. We’ll have to act fast so he understands his responsibilities.”
Rock seethed at Alexander’s words but did as he’d always done and didn’t say anything. He merely nodded like the good little dragon they thought he was. He was the man’s man or, in essence, the dragon’s dragon. He never stepped out of place and never let the others know his true thoughts.
He was the perfect candidate, yet he wasn’t the one they wanted.
Fucking Dante.
“What’s your plan then?” he asked, knowing Alexander would have a plan. The older dragon always had a plan. Rock had done well to learn from him or, at least, had tried to listen when the other man went on his insanely tedious tangents.
“He has the summons. He will come. If he doesn’t…” The man shrugged, the action slow, uncaring. “He knows the consequences of not answering a summons from us. He, like you, is one of the few who have been allowed such knowledge to pass his ears. If he decides to ignore us for the more…carnal pursuits with that bear and the abomination, he will be taken care of. There is no other way. If the dragon ignores us, we take away his distractions. That’s how it’s been done. How it will ever be. No one refuses us. We are gods.”
Rock nodded, making sure his face showed the right level of respect for the man in front of him and contempt for a dragon not following the guidelines and practices of such ancient matters. He made sure the older dragon had no clue that, while Alexander might want Dante to answer his summons, Rock wanted the black and blue dragon to fail.
Failure would mean Dante’s death and Rock’s eventual exaltedness.
That was what Rock desired, what he’d earned.
There would be no other outcome.
****
Dante’s house sure didn’t look like a dragon’s cave. The thought brought a reluctant smile to Nadie’s face. For some reason, when she found out what Dante actually was, she’d always had the little thought in the back of her mind that he’d hoard his jewels and gold in a vast cave with stones and jagged cliffs to protect it from marauders. In Dante’s case, the dragon had a large two-story home off a residential area, but it was tucked deep within the trees. The effect was that it looked as tough he was all alone out there but close enough to the city that he could be near his bar and other people so he wasn’t so isolated.
She liked it.
“Ready to go in?” Jace asked her from her side, and she nodded, though she wasn’t quite sure that was the truth. Oh, she knew she should go in, but she wasn’t sure she was exactly ready. She’d ridden there on the back of his bike, wrapped around him like she had been the night before. Was it wrong she really loved that? Jace said her car might have more issues than just a battery, so he was having his brother tow it to their den to fix.
Their den.
Her car was going to a bear den that she hadn’t yet seen.
Talk about crazy.
The blond Viking of a man towered over her, but though he looked as if he’d smash anyone that came near them, she felt safe. For some reason, she knew he’d never hurt her.
She’d gone to sleep soon after Jace had left the night before, dreaming of dragons and bears and frolicking down a yellow brick road. Apparently her subconscious was a little illogical. Today they were going to sit down with Dante and just…be. She’d never really been alone with Dante for longer than twenty minutes before considering she was usually at the bar with her friends. She did her best to ignore the fact she’d only been alone with him because she’d purposely come early or stayed late in order to do so.
For the past year, though, she’d been snippy and rude to him. She knew it had to do with her own unresolved feelings and the pain riding her, and she was ashamed of how she’d acted. He’d kept his feelings and his own pain from her, believing he was protecting her. She’d tell him just what she thought of that today though. He couldn’t go around treating her like she was less than him. He also wouldn’t be allowed to hurt himself for her. He might have held key things from her, but that didn’t mean she had to act as though she hated him.
Maybe if she hadn’t been so mean, lashing out when she could, he’d have confided in her. Not that she thought that was a real possibility considering he and Jace were way too alpha for that. She’d just have to show them that she was strong enough to take it.
During her dreams and after she’d woken up, she’d come to the conclusion she would take this one step at a time and not look back. She had to. She couldn’t force herself to run away from something that could be amazing because of fear or hurt feelings.
Fate was giving her a gift, and she was going to take it.
Well, she’d take it after she got a few things off her chest.
Namely, making sure the dragon knew he couldn’t keep sacrificing his health for her and keeping secrets.
No, that wouldn’t work in the future.
In their future.
Jace walked right in without knocking, though that didn’t surprise Nadie for some reason. The men had a history—one she would want to know about. For some reason, she felt a little thread of jealousy at that, but then it went away quickly. These two were together in a sense and weren’t just bookends. She wouldn’t be one either. Nadie had already decided to talk to Jamie about how she dealt with two men on a daily basis, though she hadn’t talked to any of her friends about what had happe
ned in the past twelve hours.
For some reason, she wanted it to be just between the three of them. She’d tell her friends about everything later—the same way the other three women who had been in this situation had done.
Dante came out from one of the back rooms and stopped in the hall, putting his hands in his pockets. It might have been wrong of her, but she was glad she wasn’t the only one nervous. Jace stood with a smile, but she could also feel the tension radiating off him. They were there for something far different than anything she’d ever done or even thought about doing.
The man they’d come to see wore tattered jeans and a rock tee, his normal attire. She liked that he wore casual clothes and really seemed to fit in with the world around him rather than standing out like a sore thumb. After all, he’d said he was way over a few hundred years old, so he would have learned to blend in with the rest of them.
Well, as blended as Dante could get. His brow ring and tribal tattoos, which she’d studied over the years, formed an ancient dragon that didn’t let him blend as easily as others. Then, of course, his long black and blue hair just screamed rebel.
She loved it.
He’d left his hair out of the band today, so a long piece hung over his shoulder while the rest went down his back. It might have looked feminine on anyone else, but not on Dante. She looked to her left at Jace and couldn’t help the grin. He had that Thor blond hair going on. It helped that she totally had a crush on Chris Hemsworth, and Jace looked as though he could match him punch for punch—and swoony glare for swoony glare.
Nadie held back a groan and closed her eyes.
Okay, she really needed to get her mind on what she was supposed to be thinking about, not going off on random tangents because she was too nervous to do anything else.
“You two made it here okay, then,” Dante said unnecessarily.
“We did,” Jace rumbled beside her. “We gonna sit down, actually hash this out, and get comfortable or stand here like strangers? Since Nadie and I are the only two here who could possibly qualify as strangers, I don’t think the latter works well.”
She sank into the couch without another word, nervous, but oddly ready to just…be. Curious, she looked around the place and felt at ease. Everything might have been made for a man much larger than her, but she didn’t feel uncomfortable. Even the colors and fabrics were soothing, as if it was for a man who had lived long enough to know what he liked. In Dante’s case that was true many times over. “I’ve never seen your house before, you know. I like it. At least what I’ve seen.”
Dante grinned, and her heart fluttered. Damn heart. “Only Jace and a few others from my past have seen my house. I can give you a tour later if you want.”
“So not even Balin has seen it?” Balin was not only one of Jamie’s mates, but a friend of Dante’s that he’d known in hell before the dragon had been banished. She’d have to get the banished story out of him at some point too. It seemed her dragon held more secrets than any other man she’d known. It only made sense, though, with how he lived.
Alone.
Dante shook his head. “Before the lightning strike, when I hid who I was from you girls, I didn’t want to show the girls the place only to have to use magic to wipe your memories of it when you started to notice I didn’t really age. I do think Becca would have caught on eventually.” She grinned and agreed with him. Becca was tenacious when it came to things she didn’t know and wanted to figure out. “I didn’t show you because I was waiting for Jace. And I didn’t show Balin or any of you when things were brought out in the open because…” He shifted uncomfortably, and she would have sworn a blush darkened his cheeks. “Because I wanted you to see if first.”
She swallowed hard. “Oh. Well…I’m glad you did.” She ducked her head. Darn it, she hated acting like the innocent virgin who didn’t know what she was doing. So what if that label happened to be true? That didn’t mean she had to act like it.
“How long have you lived here again?” Jace asked, and soon they were talking about trivial things that didn’t matter but at least made them relax. The man seemed to always know when they needed words that didn’t mean much or time to breathe before they worked on other issues. It must have been because he was a Mediator.
Nadie pulled her feet up to tuck under her body and leaned against one of the large pillows on the couch. This was nice, sitting in a room with these two men and just talking about random things. She liked the way they were already friends but, because they’d spent so much time apart, were still learning about each other—the same as she was.
She didn’t feel as though she was on unequal ground—just an uneven one since they still hadn’t discussed the giant elephant in the room. She held back a grin. With the dragon, bear, and now the elephant in the room, it was getting a bit crowded.
Dante sat on the ottoman in front of the L-shaped couch where Jace sat and turned to her. “What’s funny?” he asked.
She looked into those blue eyes of his and knew the time for casual conversation was over. “I was just thinking we’re dancing quite nicely around the giant elephant in the room.” She paused as the guys looked at each other before looking back at her. “Then I thought about how we already have a bear and a dragon, why not add the giant elephant?”
Dante’s brows rose, and Jace snorted. “I’m quite a bit larger than an elephant in my dragon form.”
She leaned closer, interested. “Really? Will you show me what you look like as a dragon?”
He gave a slow nod. “Yes, I can do that. I have a field a little off from the house that’s protected by wards where I shift and fly undetected in the human realm. I don’t go to the dragon realm often to rejoin my people, so I’ve learned to make do with what I have.”
Nadie reached out and traced her finger along his hand, the pull within her needing to touch him. He turned it so it faced palm up, and she followed the lines there. “Why is that?”
“That’s a long story for another time. I will tell it all, I promise. There are things even Jace doesn’t know. I’d rather talk about that elephant you mentioned first, and then we can talk of the dragons and their fire.”
Jace scooted a bit closer on the couch and put his hand on her knee. The warmth seeped through her jeans, and she relaxed. Odd that a man she’d just met would do that to her, but right then, normal didn’t make sense.
Normal wasn’t part of her life anymore.
Hadn’t been since the lightning.
“I was so angry with you, Dante. So freaking angry,” she started, her voice oddly calm. She’d tried to think of what she’d say to him, what she’d say to Jace, yet it had all come out in rambles. “I don’t like that you thought you could control me by keeping secrets.”
His eyes widened, and he grasped the hand she’d placed on his harder. “What? I wasn’t trying to control you.”
She tilted her head. “Weren’t you?”
Jace squeezed her knee then reached out and slid his hand over Dante’s knee as well. She liked the connection that made; the three of them entwined as they might be if they could get past the oddness.
“That was not my intention,” he said slowly, his blue eyes pained.
“But it happened nonetheless. By taking away my choices, by not letting me know what could be, you controlled that aspect of my life. Of our lives. I don’t like that, Dante. Hell, I hate that.”
He grinned at her cursing, but that slid off his face quickly. “Nadie…you have to believe that I didn’t mean to do that. I only meant to keep you safe, or at least in less pain than you would have been if you’d have known.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Yes, about that pain. We will discuss your intentions there in a minute.”
Dante glanced at Jace, who grimaced.
“Don’t blame him for telling me something you should have.”
“Nadie—”
“No, let me get this off my chest first. Please.” He nodded, and she took a deep breath. “Don’t ever t
ake away my choices again. If this is going to work, then you’ll have to be honest with me.” She looked at Jace, not knowing if Dante had held secrets from him as well. “No, us. I know you have your secrets, and I don’t want them all at once. I know you have things that are close to your heart, and I hope one day that you’ll trust me enough to share them, but when it comes to things that are important to us,”—she motioned between the three of them—“you need to tell me. Tell us. You can’t hold them back because you’re afraid I’ll be hurt.”
She paused and licked her lips, but the others didn’t say anything.
“I know I’m the little fish in the vast ocean of things that aren’t human, but holding me back and thinking I’m not strong enough to take it won’t help. I know I’m not a fighter or anything like that, not like what the others have had to become when they changed into their own paranormals. I know that. That doesn’t mean I’ll always be as weak as I am. No, weak isn’t the word I want, but I can’t think of another. I want to learn about who I can become.” She sucked in a breath. “And I want to become that person with you and Jace along the way. I know it’s crazy, and I should wait to see what happens and think of things like a human, but I’m not human. Right?” She shook her head, feeling lost yet determined at the same time.
She took a deep breath then continued. “I’m not human, not in the same sense that I was before the lightning hit. Treat me like someone who has the potential to be something far greater than I am, and then I can be by your side and take the future as it comes. Treat me like I’m less than you by hiding things, and we won’t have a future at all.”
Dante was on her in a flash, and she gasped as, suddenly, she was on his lap and he was sitting where she’d been just a moment before. Jace had moved as well, sliding so he was thigh to thigh with Dante. The dragon had his hands on her face; the bear, his hand on her hip.
“You are not less than me. You never have been, and you never will be. I will tell you everything, Nadie, but you can’t make me promise not to protect you.” She opened her mouth, but he gave one sharp shake of his head, shutting her up. “You can’t ask that. I will always protect you and Jace, just as Jace will do the same for us. That doesn’t mean, though, that I’ll keep secrets. From here on out, if something happens, I’ll tell you. I promise.”
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