He shrugged those impossibly wide and muscular shoulders. “I have already explained someone has to be in charge of the family.”
“And that someone is you.”
“That someone is definitely me.”
Of course it was Grigor. Eldest or otherwise, he was power and strength, loyalty and dedication to the health and happiness of his family. Of his mate. Of her.
For so long, Gayle had wanted, needed, to be the focus of someone’s single-minded attention. To be important to them. To be the center of their universe.
In the way Grigor was now promising to be that for her.
Could she believe him? Believe in the two of them being together?
They were so different. Grigor had lived for centuries, and his powerful and confident demeanor carried the knowledge and strength of having survived those centuries, whereas she… Since leaving university, Gayle knew she had hidden herself away in her bedroom at the apartment she shared with Holly, the outside world something she rarely ventured out into. Living her life through the internet was easier, the friendships she had on there with other hackers and computer nerds less intrusive than the real thing.
Besides, she knew from Chloe’s books that a dragon shifter’s mate was chosen for them, not by them. There was no love involved.
That wasn’t true. Gayle may have only been at the castle for a few days, but she had no doubt Nathaniel loved Chloe. Or that Deryk loved Izzy. Even grouchy Bryn melted into an emotional puddle when it came to his pregnant wife. As for Dylan and her sister Holly… Not only could the two of them not keep their hands off each other, but Gayle had absolutely no doubt of Dylan’s love for Holly and her sister’s love for Dylan. It was there in every glance and touch the two of them shared.
Would Grigor grow to love her in the same way?
Could she love Grigor?
She was already halfway there, Gayle realized a little dazedly. How could she not be falling in love with a man who promised her all of himself, to never leave her, never be unfaithful to her, to care for and protect her for the rest of his life?
The thought of having all Grigor’s strength and devotion directed solely toward her was overwhelming.
Something Gayle had hungered for all her life but never thought she would ever find. “I think perhaps I could be your mate after all.” She placed her hands invitingly on his shoulders.
Grigor drew in a sharp breath. “Perhaps and could are not definitive.”
She rolled her eyes. “You could become a pain in the ass very quickly, do you know that?”
His lips curved in a smile. “I thought I already was that to you?”
“Yeah,” Gayle sighed. “As for the mating thing, do we really have a choice when the alternative’s death?”
He shrugged. “I will happily die with my mate if that is her choice.”
“It isn’t,” she huffed. “Which means you had better get on with it.”
“On with it?”
“The mating thing.”
Grigor frowned. “You wish the two of us to complete our mating now?”
She gave a shrug. “Is there any point in waiting?”
Merely hearing Gayle say these words caused Grigor’s heart to jolt, his body to heat, and his cock to harden to steel inside his jeans. He wanted Gayle so intensely, it physically pained him not to be inside her, taking her, mating her, biting her, fucking her with the barb on his cock latched inside her channel for the days it would take to satiate the initial mating heat.
After waiting for her for so many years, there were no words to express how badly Grigor craved that connection with Gayle. A connection and need he knew would be there between them for however many centuries the two of them lived.
But it was also a mating he dare not begin in earnest until he knew Gayle’s safety was assured. The person spying on the castle might not be connected to Gayle at all, of course, but until Grigor knew for certain, he dare not allow the all-consuming heat of their mating to distract him.
“There is no rush,” he soothed. “We have time for you to know what you are getting yourself into. For us to get to know each other better before we mate.”
Gayle had watched the emotions flitting across Grigor’s face. The triumph. The heat. The possessive glitter in his eyes. Quickly followed by anger and frustration. Lastly, regret. “You don’t want to mate with me,” she said flatly.
“Of course I want to mate with you.”
Gayle couldn’t even look at him as her hands pushed against his shoulders. She wanted him off her. Away from her. “Get off me, Grigor,” she instructed coldly once she accepted she wasn’t going to be able to physically move him.
His eyes narrowed. “You will not tell me what to do.”
“As I’m not your mate yet—and might never be—I’ll do what I damn well please.” She glared her anger. “And right now, it would please me to have you get the fuck away from me!”
He drew his breath in sharply. “You do not really mean that.”
Her eyes narrowed. “What was unclear about get the fuck away from me?”
Grigor’s jaw clenched. “Your need to mate will become increasingly uncomfortable—”
“Then I’ll be fucking uncomfortable!”
“Dylan’s serum would help to dull the arousal to a manageable level.”
“Shove your serum.” She had offered this man her total surrender, her body, to become his mate, and he had rejected her. She wouldn’t make the same offer twice. “I’ll admit that for a few minutes, I was momentarily overwhelmed by arousal, but now I’m not.” She forced herself to look at him coldly, at the same time as she inwardly willed the tears not to fall. She would have plenty of time for tears later. “Now get off me so I can go back to my own bedroom.”
Grigor’s frown was pained. “I said you will be staying in here with me from now on.”
She shook her head. “Not happening.”
“Gayle—” Grigor broke off his appeal as a knock sounded on his bedroom door.
He rose to his feet with a roar. Someone had dared to interrupt him when he was with his mate. Again. In the past, he had always been available for whatever his family needed from him. Now Gayle always came first for him.
“Grigor,” Nathaniel called out. “We have a visitor.”
What the fuck did he care about a visitor when his mate was not only demanding he release her but pushing him away, physically and emotionally?
“It’s Nikolai Volkov,” Nathaniel added softly.
“My God, I can’t believe Nikolai’s here!” An excited smile lit Gayle’s face as she scrambled off the bed to hastily pull on and straighten her clothing.
Grigor frowned. He knew who Nikolai Volkov was, of course, but his mate’s pleasure in the arrival of Gregori Markovic’s second in the London bratva was unexpected. Admittedly, he knew the two of them had met in London a few days ago, but surely Volkov was a married man? With a child.
Gayle hurried toward the door. “I wonder if he brought Adam with him.”
Grigor held back another possessive roar at hearing his mate speak so warmly of yet another male.
A painful reminder that he hadn’t thought to ask Gayle if there was already a man in her life. A man she cared about, possibly loved.
If it transpired there was, then Grigor would have no choice but to kill him.
Gayle was his, damn it.
His!
Chapter 9
If Nikolai was surprised by the warmth of Gayle’s greeting, flinging herself into his arms the moment she saw him standing in the sitting room, then his usual unsmiling demeanor and coldly assessing eyes didn’t reveal it as he briefly hugged her back. He even kept an arm about her waist to keep her at his side once the hug was over, seeming to know how much Gayle needed that as the two of them turned to face the whole of the Pendragon family.
For Gayle’s part, it was just so good to see a familiar face. One that wasn’t a dragon shifter or someone married to one. Someone normal,
after the insanity of the past few hours. “Is Adam here too?”
“Unfortunately not,” Nikolai drawled. “But he sends his love.”
“I—”
“Take your hands off her!” Grigor demanded as he strode forcefully into the room. “And who is this Adam you keep talking about?” He turned his accusing gaze on Gayle.
She instinctively moved closer to Nikolai as Grigor walked toward them, his eyes glowing that scary red. Luckily, it seemed to be the only part of him that had partially shifted.
“What the hell?” Nikolai murmured beside her. “What mischief have you been up to this time, little girl?” he prompted indulgently.
“I said take your hands off my mate!” Grigor towered over the other man by at least five inches.
“Mate?” Nikolai lowered his head slightly to look into Gayle’s face. “You’ve mated with a dragon shifter?”
Her eyes widened at the realization, the shock, of knowing Nikolai knew exactly what and who the Pendragon brothers were.
“Yes, she is my mate!” Grigor thundered, seemingly stripped of all pretense of being human as talons pierced the tips of his fingers and his hand encircled her wrist to pull her toward him. Except Nikolai Volkov refused to remove his arm from about her waist. “You will release her right now if you do not wish to have your head ripped from your body!”
The Russian’s eyes narrowed to steely slits. “I will release Gayle when she asks me to do so, not you.”
Gayle felt like a tasty bone being fought over by two predators. Grigor might be a dragon shifter, but Nikolai had grown up and survived on the harsh streets of Moscow, and he bowed down before no man. Or dragon shifter, apparently. Gayle knew from talking with Adam that Nikolai had more than earned his name in the London underworld as the Wolf. Consequently, he didn’t seem in the least concerned that he was currently standing in a room with seven dragon shifters, one of whom had just threatened to rip his head off with his lengthy talons.
“It’s okay, Nikolai.” Gayle gave his chest a reassuring pat as she stepped away from him. “He’s basically a big flying lizard who likes to throw his weight around.” She heard one of the other women in the room give a titter of laughter, but she had no idea which one as she kept her challenging gaze fixed on a Grigor. A Grigor so white in the face with anger, he looked as if he might combust any minute. “Isn’t that right, Grigor?”
“We will discuss that remark and you will be punished for it later,” he spoke through gritted teeth.
Gayle’s cheeks warmed at the thought of her last “punishment.” “He’s also under the impression everyone is frightened of his big scary flying lizard,” she challenged.
“I think it’s time we put…personal matters behind us for now,” Nathaniel cut in firmly, “and listen to the reason Nikolai is here.”
Gayle’s cheeks warmed even more at the deserved rebuke. She could also feel her body once again responding to Grigor’s close proximity. Her blood felt like liquid fire pulsing through her veins. That awareness set her nerve endings aflame, so that her core ached and her bare nipples rubbed painfully against the material of her T-shirt. Her bra, which was still on the floor in Grigor’s bedroom, had been too badly damaged for her to resume wearing it.
If anything, the heat of the desire coursing through her body was worse than it had been earlier. Because Grigor the Bastard hadn’t allowed her to come, but had denied her release over and over again, as part of that previous punishment.
Well, she wouldn’t give him that satisfaction a second time, didn’t care how much discomfort she was in now or in the future. No way was she ever going to plead or beg for Grigor to give her relief. Ditto the serum that would help alleviate this raging desire. No fucking way. After his rejection of her earlier, Gayle would rather die of that sexual need than show Grigor even a moment of weakness.
Nikolai’s gaze was still glacial as he answered Nathaniel. “I could have telephoned with this news, but as your family and our organization now has something of an…accord…” He glanced challengingly at Grigor, “…Gregori and I both thought I should bring some of our men with me and deliver this news in person.”
“Which is?” Nathaniel prompted politely.
“Sybil Rider, an ex-employee of Markovic Enterprises and the reason we made Gayle’s acquaintance several days ago,” Nikolai gave her a brief smile, “escaped our…retribution before then disappearing from London.”
“Careless of you,” Nathaniel drawled.
Nikolai’s eyes gleamed icily. “The people responsible for her escape have been…dealt with. We have reason to believe Miss Rider might have now made her way to Wales.”
“Why?” Bryn prompted.
Nikolai glanced at Gayle. “It is our understanding that the Rider woman was working for the Romanian Mafia when she stole from Gregori. As a test, an initiation, if you will. One at which she ultimately failed. They have given her the opportunity to redeem herself by…eliminating one of the two people responsible for denying them twenty million pounds. One of those people, Adam Bishop, is in our employ and now in a safe house being closely guarded.”
Gayle felt a shiver down her spine that had nothing to do with her complete physical awareness of the brooding and silent Grigor standing just feet away from her.
Because she was the other person responsible for reclaiming Gregori Markovic’s money, after she’d been stupid enough to hack into one of his bank accounts and helped Sybil Ryder steal it in the first place.
“She is coming for Gayle.” Grigor now had his dragon back under control, his talons retracted into his fingers. The dragon was still there, simmering beneath the surface of Grigor’s skin, ready to leap to his mate’s defense should it be necessary. But for the moment, Grigor needed to concentrate solely on what Volkov was telling them. “I believe this Rider woman is already here in Wales.” He had no doubt she would be identified as their elusive intruder.
Volkov frowned. “You’re sure about that?”
“Does she smoke particularly pungent cigarettes?”
The other man raised surprised brows. “Yes.”
“Then, yes, I am sure of it,” he bit out grimly.
Gayle turned accusing eyes on him. “You thought all the time this intruder was here for me?”
Grigor eyed her impatiently. “I suspected that might be the case, yes.”
“But you chose not to tell me.” She gave a disgusted huff. “Why is that, Grigor?” Her chin rose. “Mustn’t alarm the defenseless little human?”
“There is nothing defenseless about you,” he dismissed in a hard voice before turning to his brothers. “We will find this woman and eliminate her before she has chance to come anywhere near my mate.”
“I’m not your mate, damn it!” Gayle snapped, but strangely felt no satisfaction when she saw Grigor flinch.
“Yes, you are,” he rasped.
“No, I’m really not,” she insisted again. “And now that Nikolai is here, I can go back to London with him and his men—”
“You will remain here.” Grigor had never felt so furious in his long life. Gayle was not leaving Pendragon Castle, and no one but him would ever protect her.
She narrowed her gaze on him. “They’re keeping Adam in a safe house. I’m sure they can do the same for me.”
“I said no—”
“You can say what you damn well please, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to accept it.” Gayle stepped forward until the two of them were almost touching, her eyes glaring up into Grigor’s. “You had your chance, Grigor, and you blew it,” she told him softly, seemingly unaware, or uncaring, that at least six other people in the room had the same preternatural hearing as Grigor.
His gaze softened as he looked down at her. “I thought only of your welfare when I kept my suspicions to myself.”
“Yeah, right.” She tossed the long length of her red hair over her shoulders as she stepped back. “I’m going with you when you leave, Nikolai.”
A red tide passe
d in front of Grigor’s eyes. “You will not—”
“I suggest, as it’s late, that we all sleep on the situation and decide in the morning what’s the best course of action.” Once again, Nathaniel was the calm voice of reason as Grigor exploded into anger. “Nikolai, you and your men will, of course, spend the night here.”
The Russian nodded. “I would appreciate that.”
Gayle gave Grigor one last narrow-eyed glare before stepping back to link her arm with Nikolai’s. “Whenever you decide to leave, I’m coming with you,” she told him warmly.
“Gayle.”
She turned to look at Nathaniel, her cheeks warming slightly as she saw the reproof in his calm green gaze. But what did he expect? What did Grigor expect? The whole of the bloody Pendragon family for that matter? That she was going to meekly roll over, bare her nape, and let Grigor bite her, mate her, just because he had decided she would?
Hadn’t she offered to do exactly that half an hour ago?
And been rejected.
Her shoulders straightened. “As you said, Nathaniel, it’s late, and we should all sleep on this latest development.”
Not that she would have changed her mind in the morning; she was determined to leave when Nikolai did. But the heat in her body, the desire raging through her veins, was becoming so unbearable, she needed to get away from Grigor, from everyone, so she could at least fight this desperate physical need in private.
“’Night, everyone,” Gayle announced breezily, her head high as she forced herself to walk and not run from the room.
But she did run once she was safely out into the entrance hall. Up the stairs. Along the hallway to her bedroom. Closing the door of that room firmly behind her to lean weakly back against it, her breathing ragged as she tried and failed to control the desire raging through her body.
It was going to be a long night.
A very long night.
Grigor was so stunned by Gayle’s abrupt departure that for several seconds, he was unable to move.
Grigor Page 7