“How can it possibly be any worse?” A hysterical note had entered Hawke’s voice. “There’s a man who can turn into a dragon in my hotel suite, with bloody great talons at the ends of his fingers, and he’s threatening to kill me with them. Oh my God,” he suddenly gasped. “He called you his mate.”
Tegan’s chin rose. “Because that’s what I am. The mate of Bryn Pendragon,” she announced proudly.
Bryn looked at her sharply, able to see that same pride in her expression.
Because she now accepted that was what she was?
Or because she wanted Hawke to believe it was true?
Bryn would have to wait until later, until the two of them were alone together and could talk privately, before asking her those questions. Right now, he had a predator of a different kind to deal with.
“Tegan, go out onto the balcony and close the door behind you,” Bryn instructed, his gaze fixed on the trembling man standing across the room. “I won’t kill or emasculate him,” he assured her as he sensed her anxious glance. “But I intend leaving a scar or two as a warning of what will happen if he ever does this to another woman ever again.”
“Okay,” she accepted quietly before stepping outside and sliding the door shut.
“Tegan—” Hawke’s appeal for her help was cut off abruptly as Bryn crossed the room with preternatural speed and wrapped one of his clawed hands about the other man’s throat.
“How does that feel?” he rasped harshly. “Rough enough for you?” His fingers tightened, talons piercing the skin and drawing blood so that it dripped in rivulets down the length of the other man’s neck before soaking into the collar of his shirt.
Hawke whimpered as one of his hands grasped about Bryn’s wrist failed to lessen his grip in the slightest. “I’m sorry I touched her, okay? I didn’t realize she was yours—”
“Whether you realized it or not did not give you the right to touch a woman who had clearly told you she did not want you.” Bryn bared the sharp points of his teeth. “A lesson you need to not only learn but remember.”
Tegan put her hands over her ears the moment she heard Justin’s first scream. She trusted Bryn when he told her he wouldn’t kill the other man, only hurt him enough for Justin to be too frightened to ever try to blackmail another woman like this ever again.
This whole situation made her feel physically sick.
The thought of Justin being the one responsible for sending her those intimate gifts.
His attempt to blackmail her into putting on that sexy underwear by threatening Bryn.
Threatening to punish her by whipping her.
Before intending to make her get down on her knees and service him like a whore.
If Bryn hadn’t found her, Justin would have then—
But Bryn had found her.
Tegan instinctively knew he would always find her.
Because she was his fated mate.
She. Was. Bryn’s. Fated. Mate.
Now all she had to do was find the appropriate moment to tell Bryn she wanted to be that.
Despite the horrible things that had happened to her this morning, Tegan now gave a snort of self-derisive laughter. What would be an appropriate moment to tell Bryn she wanted to be his mate? After he’d finished with Justin? During the rest of the conference? On the flight home? Once they were both back in England? She—
Tegan turned at the sound of the door opening behind her, relieved when she saw Bryn’s talons were sheathed and his clothing showed no signs of bloodshed. Not that it meant Justin had escaped unscathed—in fact, she was sure he hadn’t—but it seemed a good indication Bryn had kept his word and hadn’t ripped the other man apart. Not for Justin’s sake, but for Bryn’s. Tegan believed killing a man left emotional scars, and she didn’t want their life together to begin that way.
Bryn’s mouth thinned at Tegan’s expression of anxiety. “He’s still alive,” he bit out.
“What if he tells someone what happened to him?”
“He won’t,” Bryn said flatly. “I used dragon compulsion to ensure he doesn’t remember anything of what happened, and arranged the suite in such a way he will believe his injuries were caused by a broken mirror in the bathroom.”
Tegan knew that compulsion didn’t work on a dragon’s mate. “But if he doesn’t remember…”
“I have…arranged it so that in future, Hawke will feel physically sick the moment he so much as thinks of a woman in a sexual way,” Bryn dismissed scornfully.
Tegan winced. “It’s as well he’s divorced.”
“It’s time we returned to our own suite.” Bryn’s body shimmered as he shifted to his dragon before lifting Tegan in his arms and flying the short distance to the balcony of their suite. Once there, he placed her gently back on her feet and returned to his human form.
Tegan wondered if she would ever get used to the beauty of Bryn’s dragon.
If Bryn still wanted her to be his mate, of course. Otherwise, they would both only be alive for a few weeks longer.
She chewed on her bottom lip once they were safely back inside the suite. “So what happens now?”
Bryn gazed at her through narrowed lids. “What do you wish to happen?”
“I have to be here to go to the awards ceremony on Saturday, but I really don’t want to see anyone else until then,” she stated emphatically.
He raised surprised brows. “What about the rest of the conference?”
She gave a humorless laugh. “As of right now, I no longer work for Hawke Publishing, so I have no more meetings to attend either.” There was no way, even if Justin was never able to reveal or remember the events of today, she could ever go on working for a man like him.
She also, at some point, owed Steven an apology for her accusations yesterday. Quite what she was going to say, she had no idea, but she definitely owed him and the pretty blonde an apology for her behavior.
Bryn still eyed her guardedly. “We can remain in our suite for the rest of the conference and order room service, if that is what you would prefer?”
“For today, at least.” She nodded. “After that, maybe we could go out of the hotel and do some sightseeing together? I’ve never been to New York before,” she added ruefully. “It’s seems a pity not to go out and look around now that we have the time to do it.”
He nodded. “Very well. And after that?”
That all depended on what Bryn wanted.
What Tegan wanted was to become Bryn’s mate. To live the rest of what would be a long life at his side. To have his children—or offspring, as the dragon shifters called their children.
The rest, what she would do for work, whether or not they would live in Wales with his brothers, could all be decided later. She knew Deryk and Izzy had built a house on the same mountain as Pendragon Castle where the rest of the brothers lived, so perhaps she and Bryn could do the same if they decided they wanted that extra privacy.
Whatever happened, where or if Tegan continued to work, where she and Bryn would live, was something they could discuss at a later date.
The most important thing for them to decide some time over the next few days was whether or not Bryn wanted her to be his mate at all, something he’d made clear he hadn’t wanted when they first met. She knew from Chloe’s books that immortality for the dragon shifters wasn’t without an end, but as long as no one decapitated a mated dragon with his own sword, he would live for a very long time. Bryn needed to be as certain as she was that he wanted to spend all of those long centuries with her at his side.
“Where I work isn’t important right now,” she dismissed.
“Then what is?”
“Us,” she stated simply. “Whether or not, at the end of this, there is an us,” she added hastily as Bryn continued to stare at her.
“Do you want there to be?”
“Do you?”
His smile was rueful. “I asked first.”
“Maybe we could use the next few days to get to know each other bett
er before we decide that?” she suggested hopefully.
Bryn nodded slowly. “We can do that.”
“Did Dylan leave the antidote and contraceptive?” Her cheeks warmed, although why she should feel embarrassed by those subjects felt ridiculous after the things she and Bryn had already shared.
“He did,” Bryn confirmed cautiously.
She sighed. “Good.” It would be as well if the mating fever didn’t muddy the waters while they spent several days getting to know each other better.
“And after we leave here?”
“Do you have a cave somewhere, like your brothers?”
He nodded. “It’s in Southern Ireland.”
Tegan wasn’t in the least surprised Bryn’s cave was in the country where she was born.
Her mother and her two brothers and their families all lived in Ireland still. Even now that she lived in London, Tegan rarely saw her English father.
Bryn’s cave in Ireland was a reminder to her that if she became his mate she would eventually have to separate herself completely from all her family. As the mate of a dragon shifter, she would age, but very slowly, and that would eventually lead to probing questions from her mother and brothers.
And if she didn’t become Bryn’s mate, she would die within the next few weeks, and her family would never see her again anyway.
As Bryn’s mate, there would be at least fifteen or possibly twenty more years when she could get away with having her family believe her youthful appearance was due to her happy marriage. The same was true in regard to Bryn.
Marriage?
If she and Bryn became mates, would he agree to go through a formal human wedding ceremony? Not for her, but for her family.
There were so many things she and Bryn still needed to discuss.
But not now. Not here. They would spend the next few days getting to know each other. After that…
She raised her chin determinedly. “After the awards ceremony, I want to go to your cave.”
Bryn was still wary of putting too much trust in Tegan’s earlier declaration to Hawke, that she was his mate, when she’d done so under duress. Bryn wanted to believe it, but a part of him was still afraid to do so. Whatever Tegan decided, he would support and defend that decision to his brothers.
“We can do that too,” he agreed slowly. “But be warned, it’s a little primitive,” he added with a wince. “There’s no hot water spring in it like Nathaniel has in his.”
“Then I’ll take advantage of being able to use the shower often while we’re here.” She might have showered earlier, but she now felt the need to wash any memories of Justin from her body. “Want to join me for one now?”
Dealing with Hawke already had Bryn’s adrenaline pumping and his dragon excited. The slightest touch to Tegan’s silky soft skin and Bryn was likely to lose it and claim her whether she wanted it or not.
He gave a shake of his head. “I’ll wait out here for you.”
Tegan bit back her disappointment as she went through to the bedroom and adjoining bathroom, keeping herself busy by running the shower and undressing before stepping beneath the cleansing cascade of water.
But she couldn’t completely dispel the ominous feeling, now that she’d realized how much she loved him and wanted to be with him, that once they were in Ireland, Bryn was going to refuse to take her as his mate.
Chapter 16
“Chloe was so thrilled when I called to tell her she’d won the award,” Tegan said with satisfaction as she placed the statue on one of the shelves in Bryn’s cave for safekeeping.
“We’re all very proud of her.”
“I— You have more of them?” Tegan forgot all about Chloe’s award as she watched Bryn unwrap half a dozen syringes from his suitcase to lay them carefully on the shelf below Chloe’s award.
Syringes Tegan knew contained the same antidote to the mating aphrodisiac for her and contraception for Bryn he’d been injecting into the both of them the past four days.
Not that they had needed them. Bryn had behaved the epitome of a gentleman and slept on the couch in the sitting room of their suite for the past four nights.
Despite Tegan’s efforts for it to be otherwise. No amount of flirting on her part or even open invitations to share her bed had succeeded in persuading him to join her.
Damn it.
The more time they spent together, the more she wanted him.
They had only been apart once during the past four days, when Tegan had asked Bryn for a few minutes of privacy one evening while she went and found Steven. She met up with him and the blonde as they were about to enter the bar area. It had been an uncomfortable but necessary few minutes for Tegan as she offered them both her sincere apologies for the previous behavior. She had no idea when or if she would ever see Steven again.
Bryn hadn’t questioned her when she returned to their suite, but she’d nevertheless sensed he’d put a barrier back up between the two of them.
A barrier that remained, no matter what she did.
Tegan had heaved a sigh of relief when the awards ceremony was over and they could finally leave New York.
The flight to Ireland had been as incredible as Tegan had expected it to be. Being flown in a dragon’s arms was so much more immediate than being inside an airplane, the beautiful scenery so close at times, she felt as if she could reach out and touch it.
Nor was Bryn’s cave anywhere near as primitive as he’d made it out to be. There was at least a huge bed and a cooking area, along with several comfortable-looking chairs. There was also a cascade of water that could be used to wash with, although Bryn warned her it was icy cold.
The way she felt at the moment, the mating heat once again consuming her body after hours of being held in Bryn’s arms, a cold shower didn’t sound like such a bad idea.
She drew in a deep breath. “You must be tired after flying all this way.” She was too antsy, too aroused, to feel much like sleeping, despite the fact it was dark outside in this remote part of the Southern Ireland coastline. Bryn, on the other hand—
“Not particularly,” he dismissed unhelpfully.
Tegan had never been one to back down from facing things head-on, in anything, and she had no intention of doing so now either. “Then I guess it’s time for the two of us to talk.”
“About?”
Oh, very encouraging! “This.” She made a gesture between the two of them. “You and me.”
Bryn turned away so that Tegan couldn’t see his hands were shaking. This, as she called it, was too important to him to be able to discuss it without showing emotion. The time they had spent together in New York had only deepened the love he felt for her, to the point he now wanted, craved, Tegan as his mate. But he would never do anything to force or guilt her into it. She had to decide for herself—
“Will you marry me?”
Bryn turned so quickly, it made his head spin. He couldn’t speak, couldn’t think beyond that question as he stared at her.
“I love you,” she added softly, her mouth twisting ruefully at what must be his continued look of shock. “Don’t worry, I’m not expecting any grand declaration from you in return,” she assured him self-derisively. “I know it doesn’t work like that for dragon shifters. That it’s all about the mating frenzy and fated mates. I just… I do love you, and I wanted you to know that I want to be your wife as well as your mate. If you’ll have me. If you want me, that is.” She gave an uncomfortable wince.
“If I want you,” Bryn repeated breathlessly.
“Yes.” Her gaze didn’t quite meet his. “I realize I wasn’t exactly…cooperative when we first met.” She gave a self-conscious shrug. “I wasn’t too pleased at having a bodyguard who was going to pretend to be my boyfriend, and then the real shocker came when I learned dragon shifters are real. Even more so to be told I’m the fated mate of one of them.” She dragged in a breath. “But I’ve fallen in love with you this past week, and I want you to know, if you do want me—” Her words
were cut off as Bryn crossed the cave so quickly, he knocked the breath from her body as he pulled her in tightly against him. “Bryn?” She blinked up at him uncertainly, using her hands to hold herself slightly away from his muscular chest so that she could look at him.
Bryn’s hands moved down to cup the cheeks of Tegan’s ass. He pulled her in close against the throb of his aroused cock, leaving her in no doubt of the depth of the desire he felt for her.
It was time he admitted he didn’t only desire her. “I’ve fallen in love with you too, Tegan,” he said gruffly. “Not because you’re my mate, but because of the incredible and beautiful woman that you are. Because you’re my soul mate, and if this mating isn’t what you really want, then I will proudly die beside you.”
Her body relaxed completely against his, into his, as if she were already a part of him. “I don’t want either of us to die,” she stated firmly. “I want to live for and with you for however long our lifetime is.”
“You do?”
“Oh yes,” she said without reserve. “Because you’re my soul mate too. The perfect other half of me.”
“Then my answer is yes. To your marriage proposal,” he teased as she looked up at him blankly. “I want to be your husband as well as your mate.”
Her eyes widened. “You do?”
“Gods, yes,” he said with feeling. “I love you and want to marry you, mate you, lay claim to my soul mate in every way possible, and I want you to do the same to me.”
“Wow.” Tegan gazed up at him incredulously.
Bryn chuckled. “I can see I will have to tell you that often if it results in rendering you speechless.”
Tegan narrowed her gaze. “Are we about to have our first engaged argument because you’re complaining I talk too much?” She could feel her heart fill to bursting with love for this man as Bryn laughed out loud.
Bryn.
The man and dragon she loved, and the man and dragon who loved her back. Because they were soul mates, not only dragon mates.
“The first argument of many, no doubt.” But he didn’t sound concerned by the fact.
Tegan grinned at him. “Can we get on with the mating now? Minus the antidote and the contraceptive,” she added huskily.
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