by Skye Jones
He’d treated her as an object. Not trying to get to know her at all as a person, but instead, using her body and trying to limit any emotional entanglement. Even his thinking of a few minutes ago, where he’d been planning how the three of them should have more fun times, reduced her and Steffan to nothing more than vessels for him to slake his lust with and move on. In the past, it hadn’t mattered if he indulged in casual encounters because that’s all the other party wanted too, and feelings absolutely weren’t involved. But try as he might, feelings were getting in the way here. And if they were for him, they must be for Steffan and Mia, too.
Hurrying down the hill toward Kate’s abode, he hoped Mia hadn’t injured herself too badly. Despite his promise to himself to remain detached, he ached when he thought of her in pain. Thankfully, a sprain wasn’t serious. Not like Steffan’s horrifying injury. The thought of the poison working its vile way around Steffan’s virile body, slowly making strong become weak, healthy fall sick, made Aiden sick. Another reason to get the hell out of this mess before he found himself so involved he couldn’t get disentangled. Steffan may never get better. Oh, gods. Steffan might die.
“What’s wrong? Why have you stopped?”
“Sorry?” Her words reached him through a haze of foggy horror at the train of thought he’d been on.
“You’ve stopped. Do you need to put me down?”
He came to himself with a snap and realized he’d stopped dead, halfway down the mountainside. Shit. “No. Sorry. You don’t need to stand.”
He began moving again, but his mind scrambled to make sense of all the thoughts and emotions bombarding him. If he walked away now, and later heard Steffan had died, how would he feel? The sick lurch of his stomach and his increased heart rate told him enough. It would still hurt like crazy. A world without Steffan didn’t bear thinking about. He may not have known the male for long, but he’d idolized him…forever, it felt like. At times, he’d questioned the attraction, wondered if he only liked Steffan due to his unavailability. And maybe a part of it had been about such things, but increasingly, he also understood how strong their biological drive to bond proved to be.
They reached the outskirts of the housing area, and he headed straight for Kate’s abode. A two-story building, it stood out amongst the other single-level homes but fit the landscape well. Kate and her mates had a brood of little ones they had adopted, so the space became necessary.
He banged on the door, hoping he wouldn’t be disturbing them.
It opened, and Kate beamed at him, then frowned the moment she saw Mia in his arms.
“Ooh, come in. What happened?”
“We’re not disturbing you?”
“No. My males are with the young at a fire class.”
He smiled, but a pang of something akin to guilt hit. Mia had missed all of this. Learning how to control her magic and how to unleash her power in a safe way. She’d need someone to teach her, as Nathan and Dom had done for Claire. She needed mates. And he realized in that moment, if he and Steffan didn’t step up, most likely some other males would. The idea of anyone else touching her made his teeth clench.
“Come through to the living area.” Kate led the way, and he followed.
On the way, he noticed lots of photo frames dotting the house, full of pictures of Kate, her mates, and their young. In all of them, they looked happy and content. Could he do it? Be that guy? The one who settled down and lived a life of quiet contentment in the clan? His skin itched at the idea. Fuck, he’d gotten himself stuck between a rock and a hard place. Either having to accept Mia with other males and saying good-bye to Steffan, or trapping himself in a situation where he’d wither and fade like his father.
Determined not to focus on these thoughts now, lest he drop Mia on the huge sofa Kate pointed to and turn tail and run, he banished the issue from his mind.
Kate knelt by Mia once he’d placed her with her feet resting on the sofa, and she gently took her shoe off. She smiled at them both.
“Doesn’t look too serious. I think you’ve twisted it, but I don’t think you’ve sprained it. Even if you have, it isn’t severe. I’ll prepare a poultice to help with the pain and swelling.”
She exited the room, leaving him with the source of all his discomfort. The woman who thrilled, tempted, and terrified him in equal measure.
*****
Steffan took a sip of the tea Rhiannon offered. She sat back on one of two sofas, both groaning with bright, jewel-toned cushions. Her home represented the ideal dragon abode: full of treasures, fine silks, and stunning rugs, all in bold colors.
“Whilst this has been a lovely chat and catch-up, something tells me you didn’t come here to enquire about every person in the village, Steffan.” She smiled to soften her words, but she had him there.
He put down the ridiculously dainty cup and gave her his full attention. Jiggling his leg, he forced himself to say the words. To ask what he wanted to know. He cleared his throat. “You told me the wound in my leg can heal if I had something to live for. Is this true?”
She nodded and her gaze sharpened. “Yes. As far as I know, it is true. Your body held the poison at bay so long as you had a purpose for living. Your purpose lived in the revenge you so keenly sought. But I fear, over time, as the dragon you seek hasn’t surfaced, your purpose has dimmed.”
She placed one warm, dry palm over the back of his hand. “You need to find a new reason to live.”
“What if I have?” Oh, fuck. Putting it out there made it real.
Her sly smile, mouth tipped up more at one corner than the other, told him she already suspected as much.
“I’m not surprised. The connection between the three of you is…immense. Your issue will most likely be Aiden. The young male has…problems. He’s derisive of our way of life and spends much time away from the clan. I sensed Mia, too, has fears. As I suspect do you, but you two can overcome them. Him, I’m not so sure.”
“I’m not sure what I’m doing.” The admission pained him, but he may as well get it all out on the table. “If I had two willing mates, I’d still find this hard. I’ve been alone for so damn long. But throw Aiden into the mix, and I don’t have a clue.”
“I think he’ll give in to it eventually. I can’t see him fighting something so powerful, even if he wants to. The issue you have is dealing with you and Mia possibly having to be together without him for a while.”
His sharp inhale of breath at the blasphemous idea had her pausing to give him a small smile. “It’s not impossible, Steffan. It goes against our cultural beliefs, not some absolute, set-in-stone biological fact. We live this way because it makes sense. We live this way because it is decreed by our forbearers, but they were not all-knowing. My view? You’re the best chance that girl has of finding her way and being happy. She’s also the best chance you’ve got. With or without Aiden. He’s the icing on your cake. The last thing that needs slotting into place to make it perfect for you, but you can’t force him.”
She tapped her finger against her lips three times. “You let the girl go, she’s going to find it horribly hard to deal with everything, and you’ll go back to the poison eating away at you all over again.”
He heard her, but he wasn’t sure he agreed. Now that he’d let himself feel it all, his damn naïve heart had cracked open like a fissure, and emotions he’d kept locked down for centuries were washing over him in powerful waves.
“The thing is, I don’t want to do this without him. Pain in the proverbial ass he may be, but I want him. I need him to complete us. He matches me so perfectly. Gods, I only have to stand near him for our heartbeats to sync and his breathing to slow to my pace. He probably doesn’t even recognize it to the same degree. He won’t be aware, but it’s amazing.”
“I hope this works out for you, Steffan. For all three of you.”
She stood and pulled him into a tight hug. A waft of something like jasmine washed over him and he smiled. Dragons didn’t often wear perfume because of their e
xquisite sense of smell, but if they did, they’d dab a little natural plant oil on their person. Maybe Mia would like some?
“Thanks for the talk.”
“Good luck.”
He headed out the door thinking about how much he needed that damn luck.
Chapter Nine
Mia had taken a long bath to soak her ankle and to try to stop the crazy churning emotions running riot in her body. Aiden made a meal of some sort in Steffan’s kitchen. He’d been quiet and subdued since she’d gone over on her ankle.
The bath only partly worked. Every bit of her burned for more time with the two men who drove her crazy. She wanted to do what they did last night all over again. It might be her last chance. Once her sister came for her, she’d leave this place. Leave Steffan and Aiden. The fact caused her to gasp and bend over as something akin to grief washed over her.
What the hell was happening to her? This made no sense. She’d known them a few days, for God’s sake. Oh, she’d chatted to Steffan about it. She’d also talked to Kate after Aiden left her with the other female for twenty minutes to have her leg patched up. He hadn’t left the house, but he had taken himself off to another room to take a long phone call.
She’d found out much more about her heritage from Kate, who’d threatened bodily harm to Aiden if he upset her again. She had learned she’d been part of a warlike clan who’d done immense harm to the Welsh dragons. In response, the Welsh clan had taken terrible revenge and wiped her people out. Only she and her siblings survived. They believed there were six of them in total, and they’d been secretly adopted to hide their identity from anyone wanting to murder them, too. Her brain ached when she tried to get her head around all she’d learned.
Then Kate had explained the mating bond and how strong it grew to be. Added to the small amount of information Steffan had told her the previous evening, Kate’s words confirmed Mia, Aiden, and Steffan were somehow meant to be together. A beautiful biological miracle. But it went against everything she’d learned growing up. Love supposedly grew over time. Yes, people fell in love quickly, but that usually meant within months, not days. And she understood the idea of instalust, but this proved deeper. She wouldn’t call it love, not yet. After all, it didn’t feel deep and endless like the emotions she’d held for her mum. But it was strong. It caused her to want to build on this foundation of lust and addiction to these two men and create something more permanent.
If Steffan and Kate were right, the biological building blocks they possessed meant, with time, they’d become a deeply committed triad. She’d belong. To the two men, to this community. The idea thrilled her, enticed her, but also scared her. What about her life back home? She loved her art, and she’d miss the sea. The views here were spectacular, but she wanted to clamber out of the mountains and see what lay beyond the steep peaks. Here, nestled away from the world, claustrophobia stalked her. The wide-open expanse of sea relaxed her. She’d miss her home terribly.
She’d dressed in casual clothes, towel-dried her hair, and now wondered what the hell to do about the mess she found herself in.
A commotion in the main part of the house snagged her attention.
She walked out of the bedroom and along the long corridor to see Steffan enter the living space, two sheepdogs at his side. Marlow ran into the room, and the three dogs sniffed at one another. For a few long moments, they circled one another warily, then one of the sheepdogs gave a high-pitched yip, and all three ran down the other corridor, tails wagging.
“Mia. Steffan.” Aiden sauntered into the room from the direction of the kitchen, looking absolutely delicious.
His hair stuck in odd directions, and his face held a light smattering of stubble. The whole deliciously rumpled thing he’d got going on made her want to eat him up.
“What’s for dinner?” she asked, trying to distract herself from climbing all over him.
“Chicken in a pot.” Aiden laughed as he answered. “Most things I make are in a pot.”
“You said there might be a sort of gathering with the other villagers, didn’t you?” she asked.
Steffan nodded. “Yeah, but Robert’s not sure. He says you’re welcome, Mia, but he’s not sure a gathering and feast would be a good idea when there are still Dragonea who lost their families to the Havsa. I’m sorry.”
“What? Why didn’t you fucking challenge him?” Aiden blew up in that way of his, and Mia rolled her eyes.
Steffan snorted and cocked his head to one side, regarding Aiden with something akin to boredom.
“Why would I? Mia is leaving us in a day or so. She won’t see anyone from this clan again.”
Mia swallowed thickly and blinked back tears at Steffan’s indifferent words. So, he didn’t give a shit? His talk earlier meant nothing?
“Well, I mean, yeah, maybe. But she’s still—”
“She’s still what?” Steffan raised his arms then dropped them by his thighs with a slap against his denim-covered muscles. “What is she? A friend? A quick bit of fun in the sack?”
“Don’t fucking talk about her in such a way. She’s standing right here!” Aiden’s nostrils flared.
Mia didn’t get what the fuck was going on, but she didn’t like it one bit.
“Why not? I ask you again, why not? She’s nothing to us, right? And we’re nothing to one another.” Steffan’s voice had risen, and her arms goose bumped in response to his anger and the way the air fairly crackled with electricity. “We’re going to fuck around a bit tonight, have some fun, and all walk away from this. No harm done, yeah? We won’t see her again. And you and I will go back to giving one another a nod and hello if we pass on occasion.”
“No. I mean…yeah, but…” Aiden scrubbed at his jaw. “Maybe we can all see one another sometimes. You know, meet and have some more fun.” He attempted a weak smile.
That had been her plan, before she’d realized how deep her feelings went already after only days with these guys. She now believed if they didn’t at least attempt to forge some sort of relationship, she’d need to walk away to protect her heart.
“Doesn’t work like that.” Steffan pointed a finger at Aiden, almost poking him in the chest. “You know what’s happening here. You’re scared of it, is all.”
“Oh, so you suddenly want this? From being some sad, freaky, cave-dwelling loner to mate material in, like, three days. How does that work?”
Aiden’s harsh laugh got cut off as Steffan pushed into him and hauled him up by the front of his T-shirt. Aiden sneered, and the two men faced off.
“No!” She drew herself to her full height and faced Steffan head on. His cold, silver eyes scared her, but she didn’t believe he’d harm her in any way. Aiden, she wasn’t so sure about. As far as she knew from the little she’d learned, males bonded and then found a mate. Their mate, if the match was a true biological one, became someone they needed to cherish and protect. She’d been told the males also had extremely strong feelings for one another, but she wasn’t sure about the whole cherish-and-protect thing. Maybe between two men—males, she needed to remember that—things were more…volatile.
“Do you see this?” Steffan shook his head. “Your female is protecting you. Pathetic.”
Aiden pushed his way around her and got right up in Steffan’s face.
“You’re so fucking insufferable.”
“And you’re a scared little boy who can’t see what’s in front of his face.”
“Christ, I don’t know if I want to fucking hit you or…”
“What? What else do you want to do?”
And Aiden grabbed the other male and pulled him in by fisting his hands into his thick, dark hair as his mouth smashed into Steffan’s.
Crikey! Life with these two might prove to be too hot to handle, even if she did want it. They were a combustible pair for sure.
Steffan broke the kiss and pushed Aiden to his knees. “Why don’t you show me?”
Aiden looked up, and she swore she saw a battle raging in his eyes.
His teeth gritted and his warm face turned hard, but he undid Steffan’s fly. Mia tried her best not to get turned on, because this moment needed to be all about these two men and their strange internal battles. But when Aiden pulled Steffan’s already hard dick out, she almost gave a whimper. So sue her, but she liked watching.
“Fuck, yes,” Steffan groaned when Aiden’s mouth wrapped around him.
After a few moments, he pulled Aiden to his feet, and they were kissing once more as Steffan fiddled with Aiden’s fly.
Steffan turned to her, and she gave a squeak of surprise, for his eyes glowed yellow in his face.
“Come on.” He grabbed her hand in his and took Aiden by his T-shirt again and dragged them both down the corridor to the bedroom.
Her knees hit the bed as he pushed them both in front of him. His gaze flicked from one to the other.
“Christ, you’ll both be the death of me.”
Then he began to kiss her, and it wasn’t like any of his other kisses. It felt as demanding and harsh as the kisses he’d given Aiden. Steffan claimed her mouth, and in the moment, he owned her.
Hot breath hit the back of her neck, and Aiden kissed her there, lifting her hair at the nape and pushing it over her shoulder to one side to give him better access.
Hands were all over her. Running up her side, over her back and shoulders, down her arms. She didn’t know who touched her where, and all the while, Steffan kissed her. Her mind went blank, a fuse or circuit somewhere in her body well and truly blown. These two men, their scent, their warm bodies so close, and Steffan’s hungry kiss proved too much for her to take in.
She ran her hands under Steffan’s tight Henley top and delighted in the hard play of his muscles under her fingers. His chest broadened out into the slabs of muscles that made up his pecs, and she trailed the tips of her fingers over his small nipples, enjoying the way he broke off from kissing her for a moment to inhale sharply.