Aeran & Rhys (Dragon Hearts 7)

by Carole Mortimer

  “Everyone in London has heard of Gregori Markovic’s pet wolf,” she scorned.

  “I rarely respond to insults,” he taunted.

  Possibly because calling this coldly dangerous man anyone’s pet was laughable, but it was the best Cristina had been able to come up with at the time.

  “You are Cristina Petran, daughter of Cezar Fescaru,” he added when she didn’t speak again.

  Cristina could only stare at him with wide eyes as she now reassessed him in the knowledge of exactly who and what he was: Gregori Markovic’s right-hand man in the Russian bratva. He was also the man she suspected of killing her father.

  He certainly looked like a killer. Those pale gray eyes were edged with a cold ruthlessness, and there were lines beside his eyes and mouth that she doubted all came from laughter. His body was lean and muscular, more like that of a martial arts expert than the bulging muscles of the dragon shifter Pendragon brothers.

  “So that there is no misunderstanding,” he continued softly. “I am also the person responsible for ordering the death of your father and many of his men.”

  Suspecting something, and hearing the man actually speak the words out loud…

  A red haze of pain passed over Cristina’s vision, her chest so tight, it felt as if a metal vise were squeezing all the air from her lungs. “How could you—” she spluttered. “Why would you tell me— You murdering bastard!” She flew across the room toward him.

  Only to be lifted off her feet by an arm about her waist before she came anywhere near the unmoving Russian.

  “What the hell is going on here?” Rhys demanded as his mate struggled in his arms. “What did you do to her?” he demanded of the Russian.

  Nikolai shrugged. “I told her the truth, something no one else here seems willing to do, apparently. That her father was a coldhearted killer with no honor who needed to be put out of his misery.”

  “You—”

  “Get out.” Rhys held Cristina tightly, her back against his chest, their mating link enabling him to feel and hear the way her heart was racing as she breathed erratically. They had already lost her once today. He wasn’t about to let it happen a second time. “Just get the fuck away from her,” he instructed the Russian harshly as Cristina began to shake and her body was racked by loud and uncontrollable sobs.

  “Cristina…?” Aeran appeared in the doorway. He told her the truth, Rhys explained through their mental link. “Leave, Nikolai,” he instructed bleakly as he crossed the room to join his brother in comforting their mate. He had suspected since the Russian arrived that this confrontation might happen. He just hadn’t expected it to happen quite so quickly.

  Cristina remained in Rhys’s arms but settled her forehead against Aeran’s shoulder. “He admitted to killing my father.”

  “Not personally,” Nikolai reminded.

  She turned to glare at him. “No one would ever dare to disobey an order from The Wolf.”

  “True.” He nodded, his mouth thinning. “Your father declared war on Gregori Markovic when he attempted to steal from him. It was also his intention to kill Gayle, Grigor’s mate, by blackmailing Billie into committing that murder, after which he would no doubt have had Billie killed too. She is the mate of Garrett, another of your mates’ brothers.”

  “That didn’t give you the right—”

  “It gave me every right,” Nikolai bit out coldly. “My loyalty lies completely with Gregori, and by attempting to steal from him, Cezar stepped over a line he knew he should never have gone near, let alone crossed. His attempts to then murder Gayle and Billie, two of the mates of our allies, was even more unacceptable.”

  “He was my father!” Cristina choked.

  “He was also a vicious Romanian thug who dealt in the sale of illegal drugs and prostitutes, two things Gregori has long refused to ever be involved in,” Volkov dismissed with distaste. “If Cezar had kept to our agreement, there would have been no reason to kill him. But he became greedy, decided he wanted more, that he wanted London all to himself. When he failed in that attempt, he tried to kill Gayle and Billie so that there was no one alive to confirm his betrayal. He paid the price for doing those things with his life and those of his men.”

  “Stop, Nikolai!” Rhys thundered.

  The Russian eyed him coldly. “It is time the spoilt Romanian princess knew the truth about her father, and neither of you seemed prepared to do it,” he snapped. “She also needs to consider, if Cezar had succeeded in killing Gayle or Billie, then being your mate or not, she would now be having this conversation with Grigor and Garrett. An occurrence, when the two of you chose to defend your mate with your lives, guaranteed to rip the Pendragon family apart.”

  Cristina stared at him blankly. Volkov spoke too matter-of-factly, also implicating himself in her father’s death and those of his men, to be telling her anything other than the truth. Knowing that didn’t make it any easier for her to accept, but Volkov was right. At least she now knew the truth.

  “I came to Wales to warn and also help the Pendragon brothers in protecting you from your father’s cousin,” the Russian continued, that gray gaze fixed coldly on Cristina. “My men and the rest of the Pendragon brothers are all out in the surrounding countryside now, carrying out that protection. Not because, in the case of my men, they know you, but because I ordered it out of loyalty to the Pendragon brothers. In the case of this family of dragons, it is enough that you are the fated mate of their brothers.”

  Cristina swallowed past the tears clogging her throat. “I didn’t ask for anyone to put their lives at risk because of me.”

  Volkov’s nostrils flared. “That is the whole point, Cristina. You did not need to ask. It is what this family does for each other. It is a loyalty Gregori and I put great value on, which is why my men and I are also here. Such loyalty should never be taken for granted or abused.” He eyed her icily. “It is perhaps time, Cristina, for you to decide where your loyalties lie, with your mates and their family, or with the dead man who was your father but who was also a corrupt bastard whose main enterprise was the sale of illegal drugs and women’s bodies for sex.” His top lip curled back with distaste.

  Ignorance is no excuse.

  That phrase came back to haunt Cristina. Because ignorance was no excuse. She knew, a part of her had always known, that there was nothing legal about the way her father had accrued the millions upon millions of pounds that allowed him, and her, to live such a luxurious lifestyle.

  Millions, possibly billions of pounds, Volkov now confirmed that her father had made from the sale of illegal drugs and women’s bodies. Dirty money.

  The thought of that money being earned by human misery made Cristina feel sick. Disgusted. With herself as well as her father. Because she had suspected but had never demanded the truth.

  Would her father have told her that truth if she had ever asked him?

  But she had never asked, and now it was too late to ever know what her father would have done. Or if she had ever really known her father at all.

  She moistened her lips before speaking. “I don’t like you, Mr. Volkov. I will never like you, but I appreciate that you believe you are helping me by telling me that truth.”

  The Russian nodded. “It is enough for now.” He crossed the room until he stood just inches in front of her, those piercing gray eyes leveled on her as he stared at her intently.

  Cristina instantly felt the increased tension of her two mates. She placed a reassuring hand on both Aeran’s and Rhys’s arms. “Mr. Volkov has no intention of harming me. Do you?” she challenged him.

  He gave a hard smile. “Perhaps you are worthy of being the mate of two Pendragon shifters, after all.” He gave an acknowledging inclination of his head before straightening and stepping away. “It is time I rejoined my men.”

  Cristina waited until he’d left the room before releasing herself from Rhys’s arms and straightening. “That is one very scary man.”

  “Scarier than the two of us?” Aer
an teased.

  “Doubtful,” Rhys rasped.

  Cristina looked at her two mates, able to sense what was in their hearts through their mating bond. Volkov was right about them; Aeran’s and Rhys’s loyalty to her was such they would both defend her with their lives, without question, and under any circumstances, even against their own family if they had to.

  It wasn’t the romantic love of her girlhood fantasies.

  It was more.

  More even than that loyalty Nikolai Volkov set such store in and which, it now seemed, her father hadn’t possessed in regard to his business agreement with Gregori Markovic, himself, or his men. None of what Nikolai had told her excused what the Russian had done, but it did explain the reasons why he had. Volkov had been right to tell her the truth. One day—in the very far future—she might even thank him for it. Maybe.

  The smile she gave Aeran and Rhys was slightly shaky. “Contrary to what I said earlier, and if it’s not too much to ask and you don’t have to go out on patrol with your brothers, could the two of you take me back to bed now?”

  If it’s not too much to ask…

  Aeran and Rhys exchanged a look, their hearts swelling with emotion at this first sign from Cristina that she actually wanted to be with them. That she felt safe with the two of them.

  Rhys touched her cheek gently. “As our mate, you may ask anything, and we will do everything within our power—”

  “—to see that it happens,” Aeran confirmed huskily.

  “That’s a pretty sweeping statement,” she attempted to tease.

  “Nevertheless, it’s the truth,” Rhys assured.

  “What if I asked you both to take me to Vegas and marry me in an Elvis chapel? I believe they’re very popular over there— I was joking!” She chuckled wryly at what was no doubt their joint expressions of complete horror.

  Aeran breathed a sigh of relief. “We would marry you in a heartbeat—”

  “—but not in an Elvis chapel in Vegas.” Rhys grimaced his distaste.

  “Although a marriage of three people is not acceptable—”

  “—in the human world.”

  “To us, our mating is—”

  “—of far more significance and for all our lifetimes.”

  “Did you know that you’re starting to finish each other’s sentences?” Cristina teased as the three of them made their way up the wide staircase together.

  The bond—

  —is growing stronger, Rhys completed Aeran’s thought.

  Now all they had to do was persuade Cristina to complete the mating, after which they would all share each other’s thoughts and emotions.

  All they had to do?

  Both of them sensed Cristina seemed calmer after her conversation with Nikolai, painful as hearing that truth had been for her.

  But that didn’t mean she would be willing to complete their mating within the timescale of a week Dylan had given them.

  Chapter 12

  “I thought you said you preferred me not to wear any clothing when we’re alone?” Cristina eyed the black T-shirt lying on the bed and obviously meant for her.

  “We do,” Rhys confirmed gruffly, his cock having leaped to attention the moment a completely naked Cristina emerged from the bathroom. He and Aeran had gone to Rhys’s suite to take it in turns to shower before returning to Aeran’s suite, both of them now wearing only towels wrapped about their waists.

  She arched one eyebrow. “But not tonight?”

  “No,” Aeran rasped. “We will happily hold you all night, but we can’t make love to you again until Dylan completes his tests and we know we aren’t going to kill you.”

  “Again,” Rhys muttered.

  “Well, I suppose that’s an improvement on the suggestion of having Dylan actually in the bedroom with us.” Cristina pulled on the T-shirt before slipping beneath the bedcovers, sliding to the middle of the bed, and looking at them both expectantly.

  A position obviously meant to leave room for Aeran and Rhys to get into bed either side of her.

  “Although…” she murmured as the two men removed their towels and revealed how aroused they both were, cocks standing to attention, the bulbous tops glistening with pre-cum. “It doesn’t seem fair that I’ve actually died from an overdose of pleasure, and so far, neither of you have—have—”

  “Come,” Aeran supplied as he got into the bed on her right before turning on his side and leaning up on his elbow.

  Color bloomed in her cheeks. “Don’t start finished my sentences for me too!”

  “Was that not the word you were going to say?” Rhys teased as he climbed into the left side of the bed and adopted the same pose as his brother.

  It wasn’t only Cristina’s face that was hot now. These two men’s naked bodies were like furnaces, their heat surrounding her.

  Two men’s naked bodies!

  Would she ever be able to stop freaking out about that? Cristina really hoped so, because now that she had grown used to the idea, she couldn’t imagine her life without either one of them.

  Rhys was the gruff protector and demanding lover.

  Aeran gave the appearance of being more amiable, and no doubt he was, but he was just as fierce a protector and lover as his brother.

  “This can’t all be about me and my pleasure.” Cristina couldn’t look either man in the eye. “Just because you can’t make love to me again yet doesn’t mean the two of you have to miss out.”

  “What did you have in mind?” Rhys prompted huskily.

  “We’re completely open to suggestions,” Aeran agreed softly.

  Considering her sexual experience to date—none—Cristina wasn’t quite sure how she was supposed to satisfy two men when they couldn’t actually make love to her. But she had read books—some of them dragon shifter books—and she had the general idea about oral sex and how to perform it. Quite how that would work when there were two cocks and she had only one mouth was also a bit of a dilemma, but she was willing to experiment if they were.

  The press of their hard and heated cocks against the outside of her thighs told her they were both very willing.

  Okay, she could do this. Perhaps not as skillfully as their previous lovers but surely enthusiasm had to count for something?

  “You don’t have to do anything, mate.” Rhys smoothed the frown from between her eyes. “We’re happy just having you here with—Goddess!” He gave a groan and fell onto his back as one of Cristina’s hands slid down his muscular chest and abdomen before her fingers curled about his throbbing cock.

  “What— Fuck…!” Aeran gave a similar groan and fell back against the pillows as the fingers of Cristina’s other hand curled about his cock.

  She did only have one mouth, but she had two hands!

  The duvet fell to the bottom of the bed as Cristina moved up onto her knees between the two men, feeling her own arousal deepen at the sight of her palms and fingers curled about the turgid length of those aroused cocks. Able to feel their pleasure in her touch.

  Aeran’s cock was longer than Rhys’s, but Rhys’s was thicker around. Both of them were leaking pre-cum from the slit of those bulbous and mushroomed tops. Both promised indescribable pleasure.

  Except tonight, Cristina was determined they would be the ones who were pleasured.

  She maintained her grip on Rhys’s cock, fingers lightly pumping as she lowered her head to lick and swallow the pre-cum from the tip of Aeran’s rampant arousal. It was salty and tweet. Totally addictive. She licked and swallowed over and over again until Aeran’s hips arched up and he thrust his cock deeper inside her mouth.

  “Fuck, fuck, fuck!” he groaned, eyes closed, his cheeks flushed.

  Sensing he was on the brink of coming, Cristina gave his cock one last sweep of her tongue before lifting her head, maintaining her grasp of Aeran’s cock and pumping harder as she turned to Rhys. That aquamarine gaze held hers as she parted her lips and sucked the whole of his bulbous tip into the heat of her mouth. His taste was sli
ghtly different to Aeran’s, a little saltier, but just as addictive.

  “Goddess…!” Rhys’s head fell back on the pillows, hands clenched into fists at his sides. “Like that,” he encouraged as Cristina sucked his cock greedily to the back of her throat. “Just like that.” His hands moved to her shoulders to hold her in place as he began to thrust up into the pleasurable cavern of her mouth.

  She felt Aeran shift on her other side, his cock pulsing in her hand and his breathing ragged as he watched the two of them from between narrowed lids. Cristina matched the movements of her hands and mouth to what she could feel through their bond gave them both the greatest pleasure.

  Rhys was so aroused, he knew his release was imminent as he felt his balls draw up tight beneath his cock. Cristina resisted as he tried to push her up and away from him, not because he wanted to, but because he was unsure whether or not it might speed up the mating if he released inside her mouth. Their triad mating was already different to his brothers’, and he didn’t want to risk—

  It was too fucking late!

  “Cristina!” he cried out as the cum pumped hotly down the length of his cock and into the back of Cristina’s throat. Pulse after pulse of his scorching-hot cum that she swallowed down greedily before slowly licking him clean and then turning to take Aeran’s cock back in her mouth.

  Rhys took hold of Cristina’s hand as he turned to watch the two of them, able to feel Aeran’s rising ecstasy as if it were his own, and knowing that Aeran must have felt Rhys’s pleasure and release too.

  Rhys had to clench his fists to stop himself from touching Cristina as he both sensed and breathed in the arousal slicking those rose-petal lips between her thighs and was able to see her engorged nipples pressing against the T-shirt.

  The combined pleasure of all of them was beyond description. Beyond anything Rhys had ever felt before.

  “I can’t stop!” Aeran cried out seconds later as he thrust up into Cristina’s mouth and held himself there as jet after jet of cum pulsed down her throat.

  Their mate was magnificent. Her eyes were closed. Cheeks flushed. Her lips red and parted as wide as possible to accommodate the girth and length of Aeran’s cock as her head bobbed up and down.