by Donna Grant
“First, we need to call Cassie and Hal so they can be back. No, I’m sure Con or Banan will take care of that.” Elena paced back and forth in front of the bed, one hand on her hip and the other held in front of her face as her finger tapped her chin. “There might be enough time to drive into Inverness and find something.”
“At almost six in the evening?” Jane shook her head and walked to her closet. “No. I’m going to have to make do with what I have.”
She began to pull out the five or so dresses that she had bought to wear to the parties, balls, and charity events those from Dreagan had to attend throughout the year. Since Banan, Hal, and Guy were the ones with women, it was usually at least one of the three couples going.
That was the only reason Jane had anything even remotely acceptable to wear to her own binding ceremony.
“Do you have a blue one?” Elena asked.
Jane looked up and grinned. “Because Banan is King of the Blues.”
“I think it’s fitting.”
“I agree.”
Jane unzipped one of the protective garment bags and pulled out the blue dress. It was the loveliest shade of sapphire. The chiffon gown had a strapless sweetheart neckline bordered with clear Swarovski crystals that continued to the plunging V-neck. The same Swarovski crystals made up the two-inch-wide belt, adding to the beauty of the gown.
“I remember that gown. Banan couldn’t take his eyes off you,” Elena said as she fingered the chiffon skirt.
Jane held the dress in front of her. “It was our first party we attended together. I felt like a princess. No matter how many times I tripped or spilled my drink, he was always there.”
There was a quick rap and the bedroom door flew open. Cassie poked her dark head in and hurried inside once she saw them. “We rushed back as soon as Hal heard Banan’s news through their link,” Cassie said as she hugged Jane.
“So glad you arrived,” Elena said as she pulled back her dark blond hair into a ponytail. “Jane found a dress to wear, but the binding is at midnight.”
“Midnight?” Cassie asked, surprised. “What a neat idea.”
“But leaves very little time to get ready.”
Jane hung the dress over the door and smiled at her two friends. “Stop, both of you. There is no need for any of this.”
“It is. This is your wedding,” Elena said. “The Kings may call it a binding, but it’s a wedding either way you look at it.”
Cassie nodded as she sat on the bed. “Will you be having an actual wedding as well?”
“No,” Jane said as she returned the other gowns to her closet. “The binding is enough for me.”
Elena raised both brows. “So you’ll get ready for your binding like any other day? You won’t take that extra time or get your hair done as you do when we go to the parties or charity events?”
That made Jane stop and think. It was her wedding. How often had she dreamed of her wedding as a little girl? If she didn’t do everything she wanted she would regret it later.
She faced Cassie and Elena. “All right. What do we have time for?”
Cassie jumped up from the bed as she and Elena began talking at once. Elena pushed Jane into the bathroom, urging her to take a nice long soak.
The next thing she knew, Jane was alone. She drew her bath and filled it full with bubbles. When the water was deep enough, she climbed in just in time for Cassie to be heard outside the bathroom telling her she’d found someone to come do her hair.
A few minutes later and Elena was asking her about makeup, then didn’t wait for Jane to answer before she left again.
Jane smiled as she leaned her head back against the tub. She was getting bound to a Dragon King, a man who filled her nights with passion and her days with laughter.
How had she gotten so impossibly lucky?
CHAPTER
FOUR
Banan stood at the back of the manor on the paved patio and gazed at the moon. He moved through thousands of years of memories to his earliest ones, before he had been able to shift into human form.
There were times the moon had hung low and large in the sky. During those times, Banan had thought he could touch the moon. And there had been times it almost seemed as if he did.
Throughout those early years it had all been about being a good King to his dragons. How he missed his dragons. There was an emptiness in his chest that would never be filled until he was with them once more.
But Jane had helped fill most of that hole. She had given him everything he hadn’t even known he needed. What a fool he had been to think he was content. He hadn’t been remotely happy, but it hadn’t been clear until the first time he held Jane in his arms.
At the time he had hoped it was merely lust. Though he hated to admit it, it was because he had been afraid of what might grow between them.
Then he had tasted her kisses and learned her body. There had been no holding back then. He wanted all of her, and in return, she had silently and gently demanded all of him. It never entered Banan’s mind to deny her.
Rhys kept his distance from any woman who might want more than an hour in his bed, and the other Kings were just as bad. They might accept Cassie, Elena, and Jane, but they had no interest in their emotions being tied to humans.
Banan couldn’t wait until each was brought low by a woman, because he had no doubt it would happen.
“Why are you smiling?” Guy asked as he walked up.
Banan glanced at his friend. “Because I know some of the other Kings think I’ve lost my mind.”
“They doona realize what they’re missing,” Hal said as he walked up holding three glasses of whisky. “We do.”
Banan took two of the glasses and handed one to Guy. “I’ll drink to that.”
The three held up their glasses and clinked them together. “To our women,” Guy said.
“To our women,” Hal and Banan repeated in unison.
They drained their glasses, and Guy was quick to refill them. “I expected this from you and Jane months ago.”
Banan swirled the whisky in his glass. “I desired it the moment we returned from London, but I wanted to give her time. I guess I took too long because she thought I’d changed my mind.”
“Women,” Hal said with a smile. “It certainly is difficult to keep up with how their minds work.”
Guy snorted. “I doona even try anymore. I just nod my head anytime Elena says something.”
“Smart man,” Banan said as he raised his glass in salute.
Hal’s brow furrowed. “Keep that to yourself, mate. I doona want Cassie getting any ideas.”
Banan and Guy burst out laughing.
Hal was affronted. “What?”
“As if Cassie didna already have you wrapped around her finger,” Guy said.
Hal just grinned in response.
Banan took a sip of the fifty-year-old scotch and studied Guy. “When will you and Elena bind yourselves?”
The smile slipped from Guy’s face. For several tense seconds he stared at the ground before he shrugged. “I doona believe she wishes to bind herself to me.”
“Bollocks,” Hal said. “She loves you.”
Guy’s smile was suddenly back in place as he reached for the bottle and refilled their glasses once more. “What did Jane think of the sailboat?”
Banan knew Guy was changing the subject for a reason, and Banan would let it go. For now. Tonight was meant to be Jane’s. Tomorrow, however, Banan intended to get to the bottom of what was going on with Guy and Elena.
“She loved it,” Banan said. “I had to point out the name of the boat before she realized it was hers though.”
Hal sat on one of the teak chairs and drolly lifted an eyebrow. “You do know you keep doing things like that and we have to try to either catch up or outdo you?”
Banan lifted his glass to his lips, and right before he took a drink asked, “Afraid I’ll win?”
“As if,” Hal said with a roll of his eyes.
“I think we should take bets on who will be the next King to fall for a woman,” Guy said.
Banan shrugged. “I’ll take that bet. My money is on Rhys. He’s trying too hard no’ to be snared.”
“My bet is on Ryder. He just awoke from how long?” Hal asked. “Ryder is looking at every woman as if she’s his last meal. He’ll be felled quick enough.”
Guy merely shook his head. “You both have it all wrong. It’s going to be Con.”
“Con?” Banan repeated in dismay. Then he realized Guy might have a point.
“He’s gone more often than no’ of late,” Guy pointed out. “Where is he going to? I sure doona know.”
Hal said, “He goes to check on Ulrik.”
“Every time?” Banan asked.
Hal didn’t have an answer, but with their bets in place, Banan was sure he would win.
The patio door opened and Elena looked out. “I wondered where you three had gone off to. Is everything ready?”
“There isna much on our part to be ready for,” Hal said. “How is Jane?”
“Calm,” Elena said with a chuckle. “I think I’m more nervous than she is.”
She gave a wave to Guy, then ducked back inside.
Banan saw Guy’s guarded expression. “You have no’ told her she can no’ watch the binding, have you?”
“Nay,” Guy said. “She’s so excited I couldna tell her.”
Hal set his empty glass down on the table next to him. “Cassie said she would stay behind so Elena wouldna be alone.”
“I doona want to leave her behind,” Guy said angrily. “Elena is part of me. She should get to come.”
“Aye, but you two are no’ bound. Until that happens, you know the rules,” Hal reminded him.
Banan had been concerned about Jane not wanting a traditional wedding. He understood her reasoning, but she did have family she should get to celebrate with. And then a thought took root.
“How long do you think it would take for us to put together a party?” he asked his friends. “Nothing big, just us and Jane’s parents and half-sister.”
“Um … no’ to get in the middle of things,” Hal said, “but has Jane even told her parents about Sammi?”
Banan groaned. “No’ yet. I just wanted Jane to celebrate with her family.”
“I’ve no doubt you’ll meet them soon enough,” Guy said.
Banan ran a hand through his short hair. “Then a party with all of us, and we invite Sammi.”
“That could be arranged by tomorrow evening,” Hal said.
Guy finished off his drink. “I’ll get on it right now. Maybe it’ll be enough to soothe Elena.”
* * *
Jane glanced at the clock. Ten minutes until midnight. Her stomach was such a ball of nerves that she hadn’t been able to eat the delicious sandwiches Cassie had made. Jane had, however, drank several glasses of wine.
No matter how many times she asked, Cassie wouldn’t tell her what to expect. Cassie kept saying that was part of the surprise of it all.
It had only been an hour before when they’d learned Elena wouldn’t be allowed into the mountain to witness the binding. Only Dragon Kings and their mates could be there.
Elena had laughed it off, but Jane had seen the hurt in her eyes. The three of them had been close since living at Dreagan, and Jane didn’t like Elena being left out for any reason.
There was a rap at her door, and she turned, knowing it was Con come to take her to the mountain.
Constantine walked in wearing black slacks and a pale silver dress shirt with silver dragon-head cuff links. “You look beautiful, Jane.”
“Thank you,” she said and licked her lips. “Con, I know I may be out of line, but is there any way the rules can be bent for Elena? I don’t like leaving her out of the ceremony.”
He gave a single shake of his blond head. “I’m sorry, nay.”
“Then can we have the ceremony outside? If she can’t be allowed in the cave, she could come to the ceremony if it was held elsewhere.”
“I know you doona want Elena to stay behind, but we have our traditions, Jane. All binding ceremonies for every Dragon King take place in the mountain. Once you’re there, you’ll understand why we continue to adhere to tradition.”
She felt defeated. It was the day of her binding, and she wanted Elena with her, just as Cassie would be. It just didn’t seem fair.
“It is the duty of the King of Kings to present a King’s bride with a gift,” Con said as he pulled a black box from his pocket and stepped toward her. “Thank you for loving Banan as he deserves.”
Jane took the box with both hands and opened the lid. Her brows raised as she stared, dumbfounded, at the silver cuff bracelet that was at least three inches wide. Upon it was a dragon, wings spread, covered with sapphires that went the width of the bracelet.
“It’s stunning, Con. Thank you,” she said as she put it on her wrist, admiring her reflection in the mirror.
“Your Dragon King awaits you. Shall we go?”
Jane looked into Con’s black eyes and accepted his arm. She wondered how different she would feel the next time she and Banan stepped into their rooms. Did one feel different once they became immortal?
She forgot all about being immortal as Con led her into the library and through a hidden door. As soon as she stepped over the threshold, Jane realized she was inside the cave.
“This section is kept sealed except for binding ceremonies,” Con whispered as she looked around the corridor she had to walk down.
It was wide enough for two people to walk through side by side. The ceiling was arched and covered with drawings she couldn’t quite make out in the dim light of the torches that lined the hallway.
The narrow corridor quickly opened up and that’s where the Kings were lined up on either side of the passage. She spotted Hal, Tristan, Rhys, Laith, Ryder, Kiril, and Darius, but there were dozens more she hadn’t met or even seen.
Their eyes watched her intently, but Jane forgot all about them as she spotted Banan standing at the end of the passageway with Guy standing beside him.
“Nervous?” Con asked in a whisper.
Jane smiled as Banan winked at her. “He’s the only thing in this world that doesn’t make me nervous.”
When they finally stopped next to Banan, Con handed her into his care, and Jane felt as if everything had finally come together in her world.
Banan gave her an appreciative once-over before he leaned close and whispered, “Lovely gown. It’ll look even better puddled next to the bed.”
He always had a way of making her heart race, and now was no exception. The desire she saw in his gray eyes made her blood heat.
Banan looked at the bracelet and then up at Con. The two shared a smile before Banan tucked her hand into the crook of his arm.
“Last chance you’ll get to back out,” he told her.
“Just try and make me,” she responded.
Behind them, Guy chuckled.
The teasing ended as soon as Banan walked her into the cavern. She looked around in awe at the time it must have taken them to carve the stone and granite into such intricate detail. Dragons were depicted in various ways—some flying, some sleeping, some rearing on hind legs, and some breathing fire.
But all of them were larger than life. She could see each and every scale carved into the stones. The craftsmanship boggled her mind, and she wanted a closer look.
While she had been ogling the cavern, the Dragon Kings had filed in behind her and Con and took their places around them.
Banan brought her to a halt before Con who now faced them. Con looked at each of them, before he took a deep breath and said, “Few have been worthy enough to bind themselves to one of us. Jane Holden is one of those. She has lived among us for months, but now we will officially welcome her as mate to Banan.”
Jane found herself facing Banan as he held both of her hands. His eyes crinkled in the corners as he smiled at her.
“Banan
, do you bind yourself to the human, Jane Holden? Do you vow to love her, protect her, and cherish her above all others?”
Banan’s eyes were intense as he stared at her. “Aye.”
Jane blinked back a rush of tears. The truth shone in Banan’s eyes, and she wondered how she could have ever doubted his love for her. It had been foolish and stupid, but she would never doubt him again.
“Jane,” Con said. “Do you bind yourself to the Dragon King Banan, lord of the Blues? Do you swear to love him, care for him, and cherish him above all others?”
“A thousand times yes,” she said.
Jane knew what was coming next, but she didn’t expect the pain on her arm to nearly double her over. She gripped Banan’s hands as he calmly waited until she could open her eyes.
“The proof of your vows and your love,” Con told them. He then raised his voice to the others. “Jane is officially marked as Banan’s!”
The cavern erupted in cheers as Jane looked upon her left upper arm to see the tattoo done in the same black and red ink as the dragon tats on each of the Kings.
Jane had seen Cassie’s mark often enough, but now she had her own. It was the size of her fist and so lovely she could scarcely believe it was now a part of her.
Banan traced the dragon’s eye and the flames surrounding it on her arm. “Do you know why the mates were chosen to wear a dragon’s eye?”
“No. Why?”
“Because a dragon recognizes one of its own. You may no’ be able to shift into a dragon, but you hold my heart.”
“As you hold mine,” she said before she leaned up to kiss him.
They weren’t left alone long. The other Dragon Kings wanted to personally welcome her. It was Banan who finally called a halt to things by lifting Jane into his arms and striding from the cavern.
He took her out of the mountain and back into the house, but he didn’t stop there. Outside, the massive patio was ablaze with candles.
As soon as Jane saw Elena and Cassie they ran to her, looking at her tattoo. The party was just getting started, and Banan wouldn’t be denied.
He danced song after song with Jane until dawn streaked the sky. Only then did they stop to watch the sunrise. Once the sun was up, Banan had Jane in his arms once more.