“Rhys attempted CPR.” The red-haired woman beside the bed had introduced herself as Holly, Dylan’s mate and Gayle’s sister.
Cristina would have known that anyway. The likeness between the two sisters was obvious, despite Gayle being tall and willowy and Holly shorter and fuller figured.
She gave a shaky smile. “Well, it seems to have worked.”
“Actually, it didn’t.” The other woman shrugged. “You started breathing again after Dylan pumped a syringe full of adrenaline straight into your heart.”
“Wow.” Cristina was once again wearing Aeran’s T-shirt, but she had a feeling she hadn’t been wearing it when Dylan and Holly came into the bedroom. She had never been naked in front of anyone before, and now it seemed half the Pendragon family had seen her!
The blush seemed to have taken up permanent residence in Cristina’s cheeks. “Who knew that an orgasm was going to almost kill me!” Even as she joked about the situation, Cristina knew she hadn’t almost died.
Just for a few seconds, everything that was Cristina Petran had stopped, ceased to be.
Nor was death that black hole Cristina had always imagined it to be. It was light and colors and a cocoon of such overwhelming love, she had wanted to stay wrapped in it forever.
But something had pulled her back. Not something—someone, two someones: Aeran and Rhys. She had been bombarded with their emotions, a helplessness and agony so raw and deep, she knew she had to return to them and take their pain away.
Holly gave a chuckle. “I think that was a whole lot more than one orgasm.”
Cristina was relieved the two women were now alone in the bedroom. Dylan had left a few minutes ago to go and reassure his brothers of her complete return to consciousness before going to his lab to test the blood samples and virginal swab he had taken from Cristina. She hadn’t asked the reason for the latter, too embarrassed to question it.
“Your mates were…a trifle agitated when we arrived,” Holly understated. “It took Dylan, Grigor, and Nathaniel combined to make them leave and let us do our work.”
Aeran and Rhys had both been noticeably absent once Cristina had recovered enough to be aware of her surroundings.
But their mating bond now allowed her to know they were close by, to feel their distress as they paced restlessly in the adjoining sitting room. As she could also sense, through that same link, there were two other dragon shifters with them. Grigor and Nathaniel? Oh God, had they seen her naked too? Even if they hadn’t, they must know what had happened to her, and that meant their mates would know too, through their own mating bonds.
Cristina had died from having multiple orgasms.
God, could this get any more embarrassing?
The three of them weren’t even fully mated yet, and she had almost died from an overload of their combined pleasure.
Cristina had no doubt that was what had happened.
Her senses had been bombarded with Aeran’s and Rhys’s pleasure as well as her own, until that was all she could feel and it became too much for her body to contain or cope with. “Has this ever happened before?”
“No.” Holly grimaced. “But it isn’t the first time that the mating hasn’t proceeded as expected.” She gave a wry smile. “Dylan was in dragon form, his presence cloaked as he flew over London, when he sensed me as his mate,” she supplied at Cristina’s questioning look. “He plummeted to the ground and ended up on a stretcher in the A&E department where I was working the night shift. You could say he ‘fell for me’ in a big way,” she added ruefully.
“Was he injured?”
“Only his pride.” Holly chuckled. “Dragon shifters have the ability to heal themselves, so any bones broken when Dylan hit the ground would have instantly healed themselves. He was only brought in to A&E because someone found him unconscious on the hospital grounds.”
Cristina remembered the way Rhys’s saliva had healed her when he licked her cut and bruised flesh. “Does that mean I’m going to die every time Rhys, Aeran, and I are…together?”
“Let’s hope not,” the other woman teased before sobering. “Dylan blacked out once more after that first time, but it hasn’t happened again since we were mated.”
“That sounds promising.” Cristina sighed her relief. “I know they call it the petit mort, but that was just ridiculous!”
Holly nodded. “I’m going to take some more blood now, and I’ll need another swab too so we can compare the two samples.” She extracted the necessary blood into a vial but allowed Cristina to do the virginal swab herself. “I’m sure Dylan and I will be able to come up with some answers for you once we’ve tested the two samples and hopefully worked out what’s going on. In the meantime, I’ll ask Gayle if you can borrow some of her clothes so you can move about the castle freely. You’re about the same size.”
“She won’t mind?”
The other woman smiled. “Gayle’s bark is much worse than her bite,” she assured. “And as your mates didn’t think about a little thing like you needing clothes…”
“They were in too much of a hurry to leave London.”
Holly laughed. “I can imagine.”
“So you were a doctor before…well, before?”
“I still am,” the other woman confirmed. “Except now my patients are all dragon shifters, their human mates and children. We have no idea yet whether the children will also be shifters. I’m not sure if you know, but none of the brothers could shift into dragon until they were thirty-five. They told you that,” Holly smiled after Cristina nodded. “Dylan has been their healer for years, so now we’re working on all of this together as it evolves.”
Cristina chewed on her bottom lip. “You’re Gayle’s sister.”
Holly chuckled. “For my sins, yes.”
Cristina grimaced. “She hates me.”
“Gayle doesn’t hate you,” Holly dismissed. “She doesn’t even know you.”
“She knew my father.”
“Well. Yes.” Holly shrugged. “But you aren’t your father any more than I’m Gayle.” She rolled her eyes. “Believe me, wild child doesn’t even begin to cover my little sister’s antics this past year. Thank God it turned out she’s Grigor’s mate. Otherwise, I’m not sure my sister would have lived to her next birthday!” She gave a rueful shake of her head.
“Because my father ordered her killed.”
“Because of a situation Gayle created,” Holly corrected firmly. “Actions have reactions. She did something reckless and almost paid the ultimate price for it. That decision was made by Gayle, not you or your father. I mean it, Cristina,” she added sternly when Cristina still looked doubtful. “You are not responsible for either my sister’s decisions or your father’s response to them, and you should put any thought of that being the case out of your head.”
Easier said than done, but Cristina would try… After all, it seemed she had her own nemesis to deal with right now, in the shape of her father’s cousin, Vasile, so why go looking for further trouble?
She changed the subject. “Gayle and Grigor seem…an oddly matched couple.”
Holly chuckled. “They’re actually perfect for each other. Gayle is outwardly outrageous and outspoken to Grigor’s stern stoicism. But inwardly, Gayle is insecure, desperately wanted someone to love her and only her. We lost our parents five years ago, and it affected her badly. Grigor was very close to shifting and remaining dragon when the two of them met.”
“I don’t understand…”
“Neither did I at first.” The other woman shrugged. “But without their fated mate, the Pendragon brothers would eventually shift into dragon form and not shift back again before going on a killing rampage. At that point, the other brothers would have no choice but to eliminate them.”
No one had told her that. Cristina wondered what else her two mates hadn’t told her. “Aeran and Rhys are the only unmated brothers left, aren’t they?”
“Yes.” Holly gave her arm a squeeze. “Don’t look so worried. It always
works out in the end. Their fated mate is everything to all the Pendragon brothers. I’ve never felt so cherished in my life as I have since meeting Dylan. He told me they hadn’t seen Grigor smile for a couple of centuries until Gayle came into his life,” she assured indulgently. “Also, Gayle is a little crabbier than usual at the moment because I suspect she might be pregnant.”
Cristina’s eyes widened. “Wow.”
“I am too,” Holly revealed a little shyly. “Billie and Garrett have decided to wait awhile, as have Deryk and Izzi. How about you? Do you want children? It’s okay if you don’t want them right away,” she assured. “Dylan has formulated an injection to prevent pregnancy until you’re both—or in your case, all three of you—are ready for children.”
Cristina had never really thought about having children of her own. There had been no point when her father kept her so well protected, she had never even been out on a date, let alone fallen in love or had sex with a man.
As she now loved Aeran and Rhys and wanted to have sex with both of them?
Even now, it wasn’t just their close proximity she could sense. Cristina was also totally aware of their arousal, their need, as well as her own. She wanted them again, and they wanted her.
“Aeran and Rhys will make awesome fathers,” Holly said with certainty.
The thought of having her mates’ children, one with amethyst-colored eyes and another with aquamarine, certainly caused a fluttering sensation in Cristina’s bruised chest. She—
Cristina’s eyes widened as the door was suddenly thrown open and an anxious Aeran filled the doorway, a white-faced Rhys towering behind him.
“What’s happening?” Aeran demanded as he strode toward the bed. “I felt Cristina’s heart miss several beats. Is she dying again?” he demanded of Holly as he sat on the side of the bed and took one of Cristina’s hands into his much larger one.
The other woman raised a rueful brow in Cristina’s direction before answering him. “Not at all. We were just discussing whether or not Cristina wanted to have children.”
“She isn’t having any,” Rhys announced as he sat on the opposite side of the bed to Aeran and took possession of Cristina’s other hand. “Ever,” he added grimly.
Cristina pulled both her hands free to move farther up the pillows. “Now just a damned minute—”
“Absolutely not,” Aeran stated firmly as the two brothers stood up. “We almost lost you once. We never intend to put your life at risk again. It isn’t necessary for you to ever have offspring.”
“It was the two of you making love to me that almost killed me,” Cristina reminded. “Does that mean you aren’t going to do that again either?”
Rhys’s mouth thinned. “Any further lovemaking would have to be monitored closely by Dylan.”
“I don’t think so,” Cristina scoffed.
“That’s how it has to be,” Aeran insisted.
She snorted. “Then it isn’t happening.”
Rhys nodded. “Not until Dylan has run his tests and gives his permission, no.”
Cristina gave a disgusted shake of her head. “You two are just unbelievable.”
“You almost died earlier,” Aeran reminded gruffly.
“I did die,” she corrected impatiently. “But now I’m back again, and I have no intention of having another man in our bedroom when we make love together, monitoring whether or not I expire from an overload of pleasure. Holly, speak to them,” she appealed to the other woman.
Holly winced. “That does sound a little extreme.”
“See?” Cristina challenged.
“You’ll do as you’re told, mate,” Rhys roared.
“Or I’ll once again go over the knee of one or both of you?” Cristina taunted. “Puh-lease!” She glared. “You have to be two of the most arrogant dragons I’ve ever met.” The venom in her voice made it sound like the insult she intended it to be.
“And on that note…” Holly wisely moved toward the bedroom doorway with her vials of blood and the swab. “Cristina should try to remain calm until Dylan and I have had chance to test her blood thoroughly,” she warned before exiting the room and closing the door softly behind her.
Cristina narrowed her gaze on both men. “Neither of you told me that if you hadn’t found your mate in time, you would have shifted into dragon and gone rogue, resulting in your brothers having to kill you.”
Aeran winced. “It didn’t seem of any relevance now that we’ve found you.”
“But you still didn’t tell me. Lying by omission, wouldn’t you say?” she taunted.
Rhys scowled. “Do not attempt to play word games with us, little warrior. We’ve told you what you’ve needed to know when the situations occur.”
“But not everything?”
“You have enough to cope with.” Aeran frowned. “There’s no need to worry you with things that don’t concern you—”
“Go away.”
“But—”
“You—”
“I said go away.” Cristina sat forward to glare at both men. “Since I met you, you’ve informed me I’m your mate, to both of you. You’ve dragged me—or rather, flown me from London, to a castle in the Welsh mountains. I’ve been spanked—twice. Made love to—twice. Died—once. I’ve learned my father is dead.” Her voice broke. “Your whole family appears to be friendly with the man I believe might be responsible for his death. He’s actually here, right now, in this bloody castle.” Tears stung her eyes. “I honestly can’t take any more right now.”
“We only want to protect you,” Aeran reasoned gently.
“From us, if necessary,” Rhys agreed.
Cristina turned her glittering gaze on them. “Then go and protect me somewhere else. You can come back when you feel ready to tell me all and everything and not just what the two of you have decided I need to know.” She deliberately turned her back on both of them.
There was absolute silence for several seconds, then the sound of footsteps on the carpet, moving away from the bed, before there was the soft sound of the bedroom door closing.
At which time, Cristina gave in to the tears she so badly needed to cry.
Chapter 11
“I hope you called us because you have the results of Cristina’s tests,” Rhys demanded some time later as he and Aeran entered the laboratory where Dylan and Holly worked together, their brother having summoned them through the mental link all the brothers shared.
“We do, yes,” Holly confirmed.
“And?” Rhys barked.
Dylan grimaced. “We’ll need to do some tests on the two of you too, but… Cristina’s blood samples and swabs were taken only twenty minutes apart, but even that short amount of time shows a rise in the mating hormone, in both her blood and the vaginal swab.”
“Meaning what?” Aeran prompted.
His brother shrugged. “If the readings are correct, and we have every reason to believe they are, you don’t have the usual three weeks to mate before you all die.”
“How long do we have?” Rhys demanded.
“Possibly a week,” Holly supplied worriedly.
A week?
Aeran heard the same shocked disbelief in Rhys’s thoughts as he was feeling himself.
“Less, if the mating hormone level increases any faster than it is,” Dylan continued. “We’ll test both your blood and semen too, but I think the results will be the same. The three of you being together has accelerated the mating process. Scientifically, that’s fascinating, and yet another anomaly I need to investigate. But for the three of you,” he continued hurriedly as Rhys growled, “it means you must complete the claiming in the next few days to ensure none or all of you die.”
“This is fucking unbelievable!” Rhys turned to pace the room. “We both knew instantly that Cristina is our mate, and once we got over the shock of sharing her, we thanked the Goddess for it. But Cristina is human, and she only met us two days ago.” He knew from her comments earlier, she was thoroughly pissed at them both
at the moment too. “Humans don’t make a lifetime commitment to each other within days of meeting.”
“Some do.” Holly frowned. “But it’s very rare it happens that way. I’ve certainly never heard of it happening between one woman and two men.”
“I doubt all the spanking the two of you have been giving Cristina will have endeared you to her,” Dylan mocked.
“Fuck off,” Rhys muttered.
“She liked it,” Aeran defended.
“TMI, Aeran,” Holly chided ruefully.
He grimaced. “Sorry. I just— A week?” he repeated incredulously, remembering how angry Cristina had been with them earlier. She certainly hadn’t looked or sounded in any mood to complete their mating any time soon.
If at all.
“Vasile Fescaru left London five hours ago. It is believed his destination is North Wales.”
Cristina came to a halt in the doorway of the castle’s main sitting room to stare across the room at the man standing near the window. A man she had never seen before, and she was sure she had now seen or spoken to most of the Pendragon brothers. Some of them had seen far more of her than Cristina was comfortable with.
Holly had come back to the suite a few minutes after Aeran and Rhys had left, bringing the borrowed clothes with her. Not in the least sleepy, Cristina had showered and dressed before deciding to come downstairs in search of company or the kitchen and a much-needed cup of coffee.
The castle was silent and seemed to be empty. Which it probably wasn’t, considering there were two babies living there and the rest of the Pendragon mates. But Cristina hadn’t seen any other adults when she came downstairs, just this now-silent and watchful man.
He was several inches shorter than the Pendragon brothers’ six and a half feet, his hair a pale and overlong blond, his eyes a piercing and intelligent gray that seemed to miss nothing. Cristina didn’t sense that vibe of dragon shifter coming off him.
“I’m Nikolai Volkov.” The harshness of his voice satisfied her curiosity. “I see you have heard of me,” he drawled as her whole body tensed.
Aeran & Rhys (Dragon Hearts 7) Page 9