A rectangular white beribboned box that hadn’t been there when they left the suite this morning.
“Another gift from Baker, no doubt,” Bryn all but growled as he stepped past Tegan to pick up the box.
“How did it get in here?” If Steven had somehow managed to invade her hotel suite—
Bryn took a card from beneath the red ribbon. “This is a ‘with compliments’ slip from hotel room service, so they obviously delivered it to the room.” He glanced at Tegan. “Shall I open it for you?”
“Please.” Her lips had gone numb, and her hands were clenched at her sides.
Bryn tamped down the anger burning inside him as he saw how upset Tegan was. Instead, he calmly untied the ribbon and lifted the lid of the box. But there was no controlling the fury that ripped through him after he’d turned back the white tissue paper, seen the black lace underwear inside, and read the words on the accompanying card: “Very soon, I’ll see you wearing these.”
No fucking way was any man going to see Tegan wearing this black lace underwear.
No fucking way!
Tegan was his.
Mine, his dragon echoed.
There was no thought, no measure of control, only that fury consuming Bryn as a growl emanated from deep within his throat and his talons ripped the lace underwear and the box to shreds. After which he threw the shredded mess onto the carpeted floor before kicking it across the room.
Fucking bastard.
He was going to rip Steven Baker’s no doubt aroused cock from his body for daring to send let alone expect to see Tegan in the sexy underwear. Then he would shove that cock down Baker’s throat before ripping his head from his shoulders—
A soft whimper from behind Bryn reminded him he wasn’t alone.
He turned with preternatural speed to look at Tegan.
Her face was now white as snow. Her eyes were all-black pupils with only a thin rim of blue. Her body was tensed, as if ready for flight. Her hands were also tightly clenched at her sides.
Because of that bastard Baker.
Because while Bryn had been protecting her all day, the other man had managed to have another unwanted gift delivered to their hotel suite.
Bryn held a hand out to her, much as he would a startled or frightened kitten. “Tegan—” He stilled as she took a step back from him, her eyes wide with fear.
Telling Bryn her fear was of him, not Baker.
Making Bryn aware of exactly what Tegan would see as she looked at him in his part shift to his dragon.
Inhumanly glowing eyes.
A slightly different shape to his face and jaw.
Lethal black talons curling from the ends of his fingers.
Chapter 6
Tegan’s heart was beating loudly enough she could hear it in the otherwise silent room, her breathing ragged, and she couldn’t—daren’t—take her gaze off Bryn Pendragon, who suddenly seemed like so much more than the imposing man she’d met only yesterday.
Seconds ago, he’d seemed almost feral, at the very least, and consumed with an uncontrollable rage as he ripped and shredded the white gift box and its contents. When before Tegan had only ever seen him controlled, unemotional to the point of icy coldness.
As for his eyes—
They glowed a deep and unnatural bronze.
A glow and hue that didn’t seem quite human.
Nor did the talons she could see had burst from the ends of his fingers.
Tegan swallowed past the dryness of her throat as her gaze moved down to those talons. “What are you?” she asked shakily.
Bryn gave a humorless smile that revealed two rows of sharp-edged teeth. “I think you already know the answer to that question.”
Did she?
The answer pounding inside Tegan’s head was just too far-fetched, too unbelievable, too insane to be the correct one.
Wasn’t it?
What other explanation could there be?
It could be jet lag, of course, giving her hallucinations, making her think she could see—
Stop kidding yourself, Tegan, she mentally instructed. There was only one explanation for what she was now seeing.
Bryn is a dragon shifter!
No, they don’t exist, were just stories in books, romantic heroes to drool over—
Stop. Lying. To. Yourself.
Her gaze fixed on Bryn. “Is Nathaniel…?”
“Yes.”
“Deryk?”
“Are all your brothers…?”
“Yes.”
Tegan drew in a shaky breath. “Does Chloe know— Of course she knows.” Her smile lacked all humor. “She wrote the books, literally. I thought naming her hero Nathaniel and including all his brothers in the books too was just a compliment to her new family.” She gave Bryn a startled glance. “Is all that other stuff in Chloe’s books also true?”
“Yes.”
Tegan wished Bryn would say something, anything, other than answering with the word yes to every incredulous question she asked him. Telling her she wasn’t going completely insane would be a good start!
Although, thankfully, his eyes had returned to just that unusual bronze, and the talons had retracted from the ends of his fingers.
Talons, for God’s sake!
Maybe she really had gone insane?
“You’re completely sane, I assure you,” Bryn answered, telling Tegan she must have spoken those last words out loud.
She swallowed. “Your father is—was Uther Pendragon? You have a Welsh goddess for a mother? And your brother was King Arthur?”
“He was one of my ten half brothers, yes.”
“The Russian dragons and the dragon hunters also exist?”
“Yes.”
She gave a shake of her head. “So when you said Nathaniel’s mother is with Chloe…?”
“The goddess Aeronwed, yes.”
“Nathaniel’s dragon is green, Deryk’s is gold, Dylan’s is blue, and yours is bronze? The same color as your eyes?”
“Yes.”
A blush warmed her cheeks. “Did you listen in on my conversation with Myra yesterday evening?” In Chloe’s books, the dragon shifters—the Pendragon brothers—had preternatural hearing too.
“A magnificent specimen of manhood?” he drawled.
Oh God, he had heard.
It was all too much for Tegan to take in. Too fantastic to totally absorb, let alone make sense of. For a mere human to absorb or make sense of.
Her eyes widened. “Oh God… Does telling me all this mean you now have to kill me to protect your secret?”
Bryn’s dark brows shot up to his hairline. “Absolutely not.”
Tegan wasn’t sure she believed him. If Chloe’s books were to be believed—and Tegan realized the irrefutable evidence standing in front of her said she really did have to start believing they were—then the Pendragon brothers were not only all dragon shifters, but they had been alive for sixteen hundred years. And they hadn’t survived for so many centuries by allowing humans to know of their existence. Not humans they allowed to live, that is…
Her frown became pained. “You have no guarantee I won’t shout out your existence to the rest of the world the moment I’m able to do so.”
“You won’t.”
“You don’t know that.”
“You wouldn’t endanger Chloe and her baby.”
“God, no…” She gave a definitive shake of her head before her gaze narrowed on him. “There’s something else, isn’t there? Something you aren’t telling me.”
It didn’t surprise Bryn that Tegan knew that. They might not have started the mating, but the affinity to each other’s emotions had already started.
“Well?” she demanded.
This was the part Bryn had hoped to avoid telling Tegan. For tonight, at least. Forever, if possible. Which it wasn’t. Not anymore.
His visceral reaction to Baker sending more sexy lingerie proved to Bryn that as much as he might want to fight his destiny, the situation was
now beyond his control. Tegan was his fated mate, and he would rip and claw to shreds, much as he had the box and lace underwear minutes ago, any other man who tried to get close to her.
But Tegan was already dealing with the knowledge that dragon shifters existed, and that Chloe’s books were pretty accurate in regard to the Pendragon brothers being some of them. Bryn might not have known Tegan for very long, but he did know her well enough to understand if he now told her she was also his fated mate, then she was likely to fly back to England, locate his sword at Pendragon Castle, and slice off his head with it. It was one of only two ways a Pendragon dragon shifter could be killed. The other was to have their mate refuse them.
Which, the sword not being handy, Bryn believed Tegan was likely to do once she learned she was his mate.
Tegan was as fiercely independent as Chloe, and he very much doubted she would appreciate knowing fate had chosen her mate for her. He—
The cell phone rang in Bryn’s trouser pocket.
“Chloe!” Tegan instantly muttered anxiously as Bryn retrieved the slim phone.
The caller ID confirmed the caller was Nathaniel, but Bryn’s reaction was more cautious than Tegan’s. If anything had gone wrong, if they had lost Chloe, the sister-in-law they all adored, then they would lose Nathaniel too.
Bryn kept his gaze on Tegan as he took the call. “Yes?”
“Chloe and I have a baby daughter,” Nathaniel announced emotionally.
“A daughter.” Bryn frowned as Tegan gave an excited squeal at the news. “Chloe?”
“My mate is very well,” his brother assured him.
“Thank God.” Bryn gave Tegan a confirming nod as she continued to gaze at him anxiously. “A daughter?” he questioned Nathaniel ruefully.
All the Pendragon dragon shifters were males, as were the Mikhailov family of Russian dragon shifters they had met the previous year. Did that mean Nathaniel and Chloe’s daughter was completely human?
“Mother says Amelia Tegan—we have named her for Chloe’s mother and her future godmother—will be a strong and regal dragon. Unlike any we have ever seen before,” Nathaniel added proudly.
A female dragon.
Something they had all believed no longer existed.
Bryn realized a smile was curving his lips in his relief at knowing all was well in Wales. “Give Chloe a hug from me. And my congratulations to you both, you lucky bastard.” He was surprised to hear a note of longing in his own voice.
He’d never considered the idea of producing offspring himself. Why would he, when he never intended taking a mate? But all that had changed in the past few minutes. Much as he might fight the idea of taking a mate, he couldn’t banish the sudden image of Tegan’s lithe body round with his child. Their child.
“You’ll tell Tegan?” Nathaniel prompted.
Bryn glanced across the room to where Tegan’s beaming smile showed her happiness. “She already knows.”
“Chloe wanted me to remind you to keep her friend safe,” his brother added seriously.
Bryn’s laugh lacked humor. “I don’t have a choice.”
“What does that mean?” Nathaniel said sharply.
“Nothing.” He sighed. “Absolutely nothing.”
“Bryn?”
“Go be with your mate and daughter, Nathaniel,” he advised briskly.
“But—”
“I have to go.” Bryn ended the call abruptly. He had no wish to explain to his brother that, as his mate, Tegan’s well-being was now his main—his only priority. There would be time for that later, when—if, Tegan agreed to become his mate.
“Chloe and the baby are both well?”
He glanced at Tegan. “Very well.”
Tegan sighed her relief. “Thank God.” She’d been worried by Bryn’s concern earlier today, but even more so since Bryn had acknowledged he and his brothers were all dragon shifters. But the birth seemed to have gone well, thank goodness. Emotion welled up inside her as she acknowledged Chloe was now the mother of a baby girl.
“They have named the baby Amelia Tegan,” Bryn informed her softly.
Her eyes widened. “They have?”
“Yes.”
“Oh my God,” she cried excitedly. “Really?”
“Really.”
“That’s… That’s… Oh God.” Tegan felt the heat of the tears suddenly streaming down her cheeks as she rushed across the room and threw herself against Bryn. Her emotions were all over the place as she wrapped her arms about his waist before raising her face to kiss him enthusiastically on the lips. “I am so excited! Damn this conference—” She broke off as she realized Bryn’s body was now rigid with tension against hers, his hands still down at his sides. “Sorry.” She stepped away, her gaze lowered uncomfortably as she realized she’d not only pressed her body against his, but she’d just kissed him too. He didn’t look at all pleased—
“You should not have done that!”
She flinched at Bryn’s fierce growl of condemnation, nervously chewing on her bottom lip as she saw his eyes were once again glowing that fierce, unearthly bronze as he stared at her mouth. The angles of his face were also sharper. His hands clenched at his sides. Although, thankfully, there were no talons visible. Yet.
Had he changed his mind about killing her?
Except Bryn wasn’t looking at her as if he wanted to kill her. His tension might appear predatory, but the hunger in his gaze said he didn’t want to kill her but instead wanted to rip all her clothes off before throwing her down on the carpet and—
“You kissed me,” Bryn bit out harshly.
Well. Yes. It was true, Tegan had kissed him. But only because she was so excited about Chloe and the baby. It hadn’t meant anything other than that. At least, she hadn’t thought it had.
There was really no need for Bryn to make such a fuss because she’d briefly forgotten, in her excitement about the baby, that Bryn was one of the dragon shifters in Chloe’s books. Fierce warriors who could change into twenty-foot dragons—
God, Bryn must look spectacular as a bronze dragon—
Which was of absolutely no relevance to the seriousness of this situation, she chastised herself impatiently.
Except her imagination didn’t want to listen, and she could almost see Bryn in that other form. He would be a tall and regal dragon, his scales a deep and glittering bronze, with human intelligence glowing in those unnatural colored eyes.
But still a dragon who could rip a human being to sheds with his talons as easily as he had the lace underwear earlier, Tegan reminded herself as she took another step back. “Stay away from me.”
“It’s too late for that.”
Her eyes widened in alarm. “What does that mean?”
His smile was all sharp teeth and no humor. “I think you know the answer to that too.”
Did she?
Okay, so she accepted he and his brothers were all dragon shifters, and that kissing a fierce and wild dragon shifter wasn’t the wisest thing to do. But she wasn’t—
“I had already recognized you as being my mate before you kissed me.”
“What?” Tegan’s chest had become so tight, she could barely breathe, let alone speak.
“You are my fated mate,” Bryn repeated slowly, as if he was still trying to come to terms with that idea himself.
She felt the last of the blood drain from her face. “No.”
Bryn nodded. “I have barely been able to control my dragon’s need to claim you since the moment you entered the hotel suite yesterday and I heard your voice for the first time.”
Tegan clearly remembered his intensity yesterday when they first met. That feeling she’d had she was in the company of a predator. But at the time, she’d wrongly believed it was a human predator.
The intensity of Bryn’s gaze now was mesmerizing as he walked, stalked toward her, causing Tegan to take a step back to each one he took forward. She came to an abrupt halt as her back hit the wall, telling her there was nowhere else for her
to go.
She gave a determined shake of her head. “I don’t want to be your mate.”
“You took away that option when you kissed me.”
“It was one tiny little kiss.”
He nodded. “And what did you do after you kissed me?”
“Will you stop saying that!” It was embarrassing to have him keep reminding her she’d been the one to kiss him rather than the other way around.
“What did you do?” he persisted.
Tegan tried to think, to remember. “I chewed on my bottom lip.”
“And took some of my saliva into your own mouth.”
“Ew.” She wrinkled her nose. “That sounds pretty disgusting, to be honest.”
He gave another of his humorless smiles. “Nevertheless, the mating has now begun.”
“From one little kiss?”
“It isn’t the kiss, it’s—”
“The saliva,” she finished impatiently. “It was barely a taste—”
“Ingested by my mate.”
“A mating I don’t want.”
“Then in three weeks, you’ll die,” he stated flatly. “We both will.”
But she didn’t feel any different… “If Chloe’s books are true, then shouldn’t you be taking Dylan’s antidote to the aphrodisiac?”
“I’m not.”
She frowned. “Why the hell not?”
“Because I never intended to take a mate.”
“Well, don’t let me change your mind,” Tegan snapped back, knowing the sharpness of her tone wasn’t all because of anger. She might not want to be Bryn’s mate, but it was somehow hurtful to be told he didn’t want her either.
He shrugged. “We no longer have a choice.”
“You’re seriously saying we mate or die?”
“Yes.”
Tegan moved agitatedly. “Don’t start yessing me again!”
He sighed his frustration. “What do you want me to say?”
“And don’t start being all accommodating either.” She glared. “We both know that isn’t your true nature.”
“What is my true nature?”
The mockery Tegan could see in his gaze only infuriated her more. “Going on what I’ve seen so far? Rip. Destroy. Claim.”
Bryn (Dragon Hearts 3) Page 5