by Anya Nowlan
Alexander squeezed her hand tighter, watching the late afternoon sun bounce off her raven hair and make her fair skin glow. She looked sexy as all hell to him even when worried.
“I think they wouldn’t mind a chance for some trouble. I don’t know how far they’d go. The Blackscales and the Goldplains haven’t been in the same business since the gold rush ended – that’s helped alleviate some tensions. They’re not in the same area, but I know they still think they deserve a spot on Treasure Lane’s council. Now that we’re both fighting one another on the charts too… well, I wouldn’t be surprised if that was just the push they needed.”
Jade worried her lower lip, and Alexander stopped, pulling her in and against him. He stood tall above her, and he loved the way her breath hitched a little as he kept her close, loving every little shudder that went through her. His body hummed with need, and his dragon was urging him further, but he didn’t want to rush it. Things were far too confusing for Jade, and while Alexander could count on his dragon to tell him what was right and wrong, she only had her gut feeling. It would be unfair to pile more on her so quickly.
Still, he could enjoy it a little, couldn’t he? He traced the outline of her jaw with his thumb, keeping himself painfully clear of her inviting ruby lips. Alexander imagined what it would feel like to kiss them, to kiss her all over. What she would feel like when he pushed into her for the first time. Would she moan? Would her nails rake across his back in ecstasy? Would she be screaming his name, and Apollo’s?
“I can’t say this any other way. Do not worry. What will happen, will. There is nothing we can do about it now, and worrying about it won’t help anyone. Relax. Things will work themselves out, and I have a feeling that the Blackscales and all their darkness can’t stand up to our light if we have you by our side.”
“I can’t help but worry,” she admitted. “I don’t want to cause trouble or heartache for anyone, whether they’re scary-ass dragons or your fans or the people here. All my life, I’ve been trying to leave as small a footprint as I could, and now it feels like things are out of my hands and every step forward means someone has to take a step back.”
“Don’t look at it that way,” Alexander said, somewhat surprised at the conviction the dragon put in his words.
Whenever Jade was vulnerable, his dragon wanted to lash out immediately and take care of whatever it was that was making her feel anxious. But how could he dare to ‘fix’ a heart as good as hers? Though rebellious, there was drive in her and a need to do the right thing that matched his own. It immediately attracted both him and his dragon and made her all the more irresistible to him.
“Life is bound to have its ups and downs. I can tell you with all my certainty that having you with me and Apollo has made us reconsider our lives in a big way. In a good way,” he rushed to add, seeing the question in her eyes.
“How?”
He didn’t want to let go of her yet, so he didn’t. If anything, he dipped his head lower to be even closer to her. Her maddening scent filled his nostrils, and despite the emotionally loaded situation, he felt arousal taking deep root within him. Dragons above, this woman… So much like him and yet different to a fault. Like the perfect step between him and Apollo – wild and uncontrolled in life and always striving for the right thing and the right means internally.
He didn’t think he would ever find a woman he could love as intensely as he clearly saw himself loving Jade. He was thankful that life had proven him wrong.
“Apollo and I, like Cameron and Colt, are dragon twins. With twin shifters, especially with dragons, it is imperative that they find their third, the missing part of their whole to help them reach their full potential. It is called a triad. Me and Apollo, we would form an Alpha Triad.
We are the eldest in our family, and I am the leader of the Goldplains. If the triad remains unfinished, I will only grow weaker. However, if it is completed, the Alpha Triad would rule as the elders of the family, and our powers would be three times what they are individually.”
“And if the triad isn’t finished. If you don’t find your… mate?”
The word rolled off her tongue like the dirtiest secret. Hearing her say it made him want to push her down on the soft grass and make love to her until she couldn’t think of anything but being with him and Apollo for the rest of her life. It took all his self-control to not do it, but he couldn’t stop the low rumble of a growl that burned in his throat.
“Then we would slowly lose our powers until we are only husks of what we are now. It has already begun, and it is growing worse by the day. Since you arrived in our lives, it has slowed down, but still… Until you are our bride, mated to us, we cannot be whole. That is why we need you.”
Jade seemed to consider this, though her eyes were growing hazy with the same need that Alexander was feeling. It was unmistakable. He could read her like a book, and he could only assume she could sense the desire in him as well. How could she not? He was close to vibrating because of the sheer intensity of it.
“How do you know that I’m the one?” she asked finally.
Alexander smiled, letting his hand slip behind her neck and his fingers curl through her black hair, loving the silky feeling against his skin.
“I just know. My dragon knows. There’s no doubt in my mind.”
The look in her green eyes, those jade pools that seemed to promise him infinity… He couldn’t keep himself contained any longer. When she slightly parted her ruby lips, he stole them away in a kiss that made the world stop spinning for a moment and focus only on the two of them.
Jade’s hands wrapped around him, squeezing her against him as they tasted one another, Alexander’s tongue tracing the line of her lower lip and then dipping into her mouth. She tasted even better than she smelled, and his dragon growled its approval, the low rumbling noise thrumming through both of them.
Unabashedly, he let one hand slide down the curve of her back and rest there, while he fisted her hair expertly with the other and made her bring her chin up higher. He kissed her deeper, their lips as if made for each other, and the heat threatening to scorch even Alexander.
Finally, and with more regret than he could put into words, Alexander pulled back. She was breathing heavily, and though the kiss had been broken, he couldn’t let her out of his arms quite yet. It was too soon, and he wasn’t willing to let that heavenly feeling drift from him.
“Is that enough proof?” he asked, grinning.
Jade nodded, and a killer smile curved those delicious lips of hers, making him want to kiss her over and over again. And now, he was certain he would do just that, as often as she would let him.
“For now,” she said with a cheeky grin. “But I might need more convincing really soon!”
“Can’t wait.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Apollo
So, what’s a man to do when his entire worldview gets upended with the addition of just one person into his life? Apollo was a man not quite lost, but not entirely sure where he was going either. The last few weeks had been a blur, starting with Jade making her first appearance, all the way to coming to Gold Way and telling her with his full conviction that he and his brother would marry her.
If that wasn’t just about the most insane thing he’d ever heard, he wasn’t sure what was.
He knew Jade was special from the first moment he met her. There was something there that made his dragon stand up and take notice, right along with the man. Shifters always preferred women with healthy curves, though Apollo’s tastes had grown less discerning over the years, but one look at Jade made all those eons of lust come flooding back to him. Yup, he definitely wanted a woman with curves. Especially that woman.
His mouth watered at the merest thought of her, and while being away from her was brutal, being near her was even worse. Apollo seemed to be grappling with himself whenever he was near her, trying to convince himself that throwing her on the floor and fucking her senseless wouldn’t be the most gent
lemanly thing to do in their situation.
With each day, it was becoming harder and harder to make that understanding stick.
Never in his life had he been quite as conflicted about what he should and shouldn’t do. Apollo was reactionary to a fault, and finding himself actually plotting and planning, trying to direct his actions so they might impact her only positively, was something he was still trying to get the hang of.
Somewhat curiously for him, Apollo found himself more than willing to forget about every other woman for the opportunity of getting close to Jade. He hadn’t been with anyone since her audition, and damn if that wasn’t a personal record by a mile and then some. He was surprised he could still cling to his sanity, really. At any other time, being confined to just jerking off would have made him lose his mind for sure.
Yet, here he was, perfectly happy with his choices. Voodoo – that’s what it had to be.
Dammit, where is she hiding…
Apollo wandered around the mansion, which he now found annoyingly large, as it wouldn’t allow him to locate his prize as easily as he would have liked. He’d spent the morning in the vaults with Alexander, checking their hoard and making sure that Ares had done a decent job.
Not that he didn’t trust Ares with the family fortune; it’s just that dragons tended to have a healthy amount of focused worry when it came to their hoard. Trusting the main hoard with a younger sibling was already a step most of his contemporaries wouldn’t have dared make.
It had given him a chance to share a few words with Alexander about Jade, though they were still mostly avoiding discussing her when given the chance. It was too… complicated. Yes, he and Alexander had shared women in their life before – it was only natural for twin dragons. But they’d never really expected to find the one, and now that they’d identified her and were sharing a house with her, all sorts of problems popped up.
For instance, what if she preferred one over the other? Dragon lore told them it wouldn’t happen, but dragon lore hadn’t been particularly well introduced to the modern woman, who could upend all traditions with one decision.
The fact that the Goldplains tended to be non-traditionalists didn’t help either. They hadn’t been doing things the way they were supposed to for generations, so when Apollo found himself and Alexander in a situation where they actually wished that the old lore held true, it felt a bit alien at best and downright horrifying at worst.
Apollo smirked to himself. He, Apollo Goldplains, one of the richest men in the world, a rock legend, a fucking dragon – afraid of something. He thought he’d never see the day.
He was just about to give up on finding the elusive Jade, when the sound of a familiar tune caught his ears and made him whip around on the spot.
She must have found the music room…
He was right. Jade was seated in a big leather recliner with a 1953 Fender Telecaster in her hands, playing the Gold Dragons’ first hit – Light This Way. Apollo took a breath as he stalked into the room, grabbing a 1963 Gibson on the way. He plugged it into an amp and sunk into a chair across from Jade, his hands already playing the song before his brain could even catch up.
The night was long, but you were there
We went together, but I’m still alone
It wasn’t real, you’re always missing
We went together, were you ever there at all?
The words came easily, years of singing it at every concert having etched it into his memory. For the first time, he had to stop and wonder what had made him write the lyrics in the first place. It had been so long ago.
He watched Jade smile at him as she took the solo, her hands plucking the strings with effortless grace. She was no slouch on the guitar, and he was sure she could give him a run for his money. It made his chest fill with pride. That was exactly the kind of woman he was missing – one that could stand on her own two feet next to him and Alexander. The dragon ancients had done a great service to them for bringing Jade to their very doorstep.
Jade played the last few notes of the song backed up by Apollo. He kept the guitar on his lap as Jade turned down the volume on the amp, strumming along to some song in her head.
“I see you found our music room,” Apollo said, sweeping an arm across the studio.
The walls were lined with old and rare guitars and there were concert-level instruments along with amps, speakers and lighting all over the room. All of the Goldplains were musical – it ran in the family. Alexander and Apollo had taken it one step further from using music for healing purposes or singing hymns for the dead, but their brothers were just as eager to take part. Ares was a damn fine drummer, and Achilles had a weakness for more classical instruments.
“It’s awesome! You guys should have told me you’re hiding stuff like this in the mansion!” she said, lifting the Telecaster a little and grinning from ear to ear. It was worn, but still in good shape, just like most of the gear in the room.
“Yeah. That was one of my father’s. It was his little weakness. Back then, rock was just starting to make a mark on the world, and they felt it wasn’t the time yet to indulge in stuff like that.”
Apollo shrugged. His parents had passed one after the other in quick succession, both his fathers succumbing to their age after his mother died. It was the heartbreaking reality of dragonkind. Life without their mate wasn’t worth living, and the dragon always seemed to agree. It was as if the life force got sucked out of the shifter after losing their mate. Even if they could have kept living physically, the soul didn’t wish to go on anymore. The downside of having human mates – they cut down the dragon’s life expectancy quite a bit. Still, Apollo had to agree that a shorter life with a woman he adored would be far superior to a long one filled with loneliness.
“Your fathers… So you had two?” Jade asked, cocking her head to the side.
Apollo chuckled. It must have been an odd concept for a human to grasp – sharing body and soul with more than one person. Of course, it was perfectly normal for shifter twins, but he couldn’t blame her for being a bit taken aback by it.
“I did, yes.”
The look on her face told him she obviously wanted more details, and when she launched into the theme song from Little House on the Prairie, he burst out laughing.
“Alright, okay. It isn’t exactly the most traditional way to be raised, I’ll give you that. But I think of it as just getting more of that parental attention kids crave for. Our fathers were pretty similar – strong, caring, dependable. A lot like Alexander. Most twin Alphas are pretty much alike, I hear. It’s supposedly what makes them work so well as a unit.”
Apollo shrugged. He certainly wasn’t very similar with Alexander. It was something that had become almost a point of pride as they grew up. Alexander was always the ‘good’ one. The one that kept the family values in mind, the one who excelled when needed and fell into the backdrop when required. Apollo always did everything the opposite way, and it didn’t take long until not being like Alexander became important to him as well. Funny how life goes – some rules just aren’t made to be followed.
“But you and Alexander aren’t,” Jade said.
It was more of a statement than a question. Apollo nodded.
“We’re not. We’re actually descended from dragons, who used to own areas on the present day territory of France. We still have a chateau there with some vineyards. Our mother was French – Colette. She named me, and my fathers argued until they settled on a name for Alexander. That was their agreement – my mother would get to name the rest of the brood if my fathers, Argus and Aias, got to name the firstborn.
That doesn’t explain how we’re different, but I guess what I’m trying to say is that we weren’t brought up to be the same from the beginning. There weren’t separate expectations for us or anything, but my parents made it very clear that we were allowed to chase our dreams, and they weren’t going to stop us. The Goldplains prosper in a time where most dragon families are bleeding wealth, and I think
the fact that we’re a bit off the norm is a big part of that.”
Apollo plucked a few chords on the guitar, memories of his childhood flooding back to him. Happy days spent in this very same house, exploring and becoming the dragon he was today. He had to wonder what his parents would say now. He doubted they’d be very happy with his deservedly bad reputation, or the drinking, or the women.
But they’d like Jade, he concluded with a smile.
“I think having a big family would be nice,” Jade said absently, staring up at the high ceiling of the room. “I was an only child, and I always missed having siblings. And my mother was a single mother, so there was never that support system that a kid needs. If I am to have kids, I want plenty of them. But only if I can be sure that they have two parents.”
She glanced at Apollo, and with a sudden blush, corrected herself. “Or, well, at least two parents, I guess.”
Heat pooled in Apollo, and he set aside the guitar. Dragons above, she was completely devastating. It was as if she was made to fit between him and Alexander, to match their curves and edges perfectly and make them into one whole. Intelligent, a killer musician, feisty, but still so delicate – she was everything he didn’t know he’d missed.
Apollo stood up and stepped over to her chair. He put his hands on either armrest, his body blocking Jade’s. Her gorgeous green eyes went wide with surprise, and as he leant in, she touched her hand to his chest, sending a lightning bolt of desire through him.
His lips brushed against hers. Gently at first, but all carefulness was quickly abandoned. He took the guitar off her lap, and his hands went around her waist. In an instant, she was in his arms, her legs around his waist, and he was sinking back into the chair, holding her body tightly against his.
He wasn’t sure what it was – whether the immensely clear vision he had of her as the mother of his and Alexander’s children? Or was it just that he’d been imagining how the moment would taste for so long that he couldn’t say no when they were finally alone and she was within his grasp? Whatever it was, he was going to enjoy it.