by Eliza Gayle
Drago buried his face in the crook of her neck and breathed deep. He wasn’t done. Not at all. In fact he was pretty sure he would never be done with her.
Chapter Twelve
Jami curled against Drago’s side. He’d been lying there for a while now just staring at the ceiling. She knew he had fears and demons just like her. She’d glimpsed them a couple of times already.
“Are you okay?” she asked, a little nervous about his answer.
She’d sensed a connection to him before he’d told her about the mate thing, but now after everything that had happened, she was beginning to believe that fate may have brought her to Serenity for all the right reasons. And that still kind of scared her.
“I am more than okay, I am—how would you say—blown away. For the first time in a very long time I feel settled. And my Dragen is settled. That’s the perplexing part.”
Jami’s chest tightened. As far as she was concerned this moment couldn’t get any better. Unfortunately, she had to shatter the beautiful after glow with the truth about Sondra. She only hoped he didn’t go all dragen and do something crazy like try to kill the psycho who was responsible for her death.
She snuggled closer to his side and tucked her head into the crook of his shoulder. After one last, lengthy breath she got started.
“I have something to tell you, but I’m afraid. This moment is so perfect I don’t want to ruin it.”
Drago stilled. “Sounds heavy, probably best to spit it out so that we can deal with it and move on.”
She closed her eyes against his reasonableness. There was nothing that even remotely resembled reason. “You were right all along, Drago. The psycho who tried to kill me also killed Sondra.”
His body stiffened against hers and she felt more than heard the change in his breathing.
“How can you be certain?”
“I only have the word of a mad man, but I think with the details he provided and the instincts I know I should trust more, it's true. But I don’t have any hard evidence, if that’s what you mean.”
For a moment she thought he’d taken the information surprisingly well and then it happened. The room filled with almost unbearable heat. Instead of backing away or doing anything else to escape, Jami grabbed rolled on top of him until she straddled his legs.
"Be careful, Jami. The dragen is dangerous when provoked."
She didn't care. If she was to be his mate then it would be her duty to care and soothe for him no matter what form he took. So she bent forward and caressed his flushed face with both hands.
“Maxim, listen to me. What happened to Sondra was the result of pure evil. There’s no doubt about that in my mind at all. But to seek revenge will not change anything for you. You think it will make you feel better, but I believe you are wrong. Nothing at all will bring Sondra back. The truth of that is not only sad, it’s devastating. But you’re a dragen both in body and mind. You are in control and you can make this stop."
"I would be happier if that fucker died. I should have thrown him off that roof when I had the chance."
"I'm sorry, but that's an unacceptable possibility. I mean, I don't blame you for feeling that way. Part of me would like to know he paid for what he'd done with his death. But not at your hand. How can I love you, if you go around killing people? Aren't there consequences for shiften like there are humans for vigilante justice?"
He leaned into her. "You love me?"
"Drago, focus. That was not the important part of my statement."
"Possibly. Or probably I guess. I haven't spent enough time around other shiften to know all the rules. You love me?" he asked again. "And yes, that was the important part.
She closed her eyes so she wouldn't have to look at him in case this went south. "I know it sounds crazy considering we've known each other for all of one day, but from the moment I heard that sexy Russian accent of yours through my apartment door I felt something. And it's only gotten stronger as I got to know you. I feel connected in a way I have never felt connected before. The closest thing I could compare it to is the bond I have with my sisters. But supposedly it's perfectly normal for siblings all born together to have that type of connection. So yeah, I guess in my round about rambling way, I'm confessing that I am falling in love. Who are we to judge whether that happens fast or slow?"
Drago reached for her hand and pulled it to his lips. "I know. I feel it too."
Her heart stuttered at his confession, forcing her to open her eyes wider.
"There have been so many things that happened today to make this inevitable, but I am fairly certain that when you trusted me enough to jump off of a building not knowing whether you would live or die was the moment of clarity for me. You honestly shocked me with that one. I do not believe most people would have done it." He kissed her fingers. "Trust is as valuable as love. And both are more important than all the treasure in the world."
Her throat closed as a flood of emotions swelled inside her and leaked from her eyes in the form of tears.
"Besides, I have already made up my mind that I will never get you out of my system even if I wanted to. How could I when you make me hard as a rock until all I can think about is tearing off your clothes."
She choked on tears and laughter, while slapping at his shoulder. "You definitely are incorrigible. I really can't believe no one has ever told you that."
He shrugged. "Until you came along, everyone was too afraid of me to say such a thing. That is half the reason I must make you mine. You stand up to me when you need to and I love that." He gave her a crooked smile.
Despite the happy tears and laughter, she couldn't stop thinking about poor Sondra and what she'd meant to her mate. A piece of her heart would forever be broken for him if he took justice in his own hands.
"Maxim," she started quietly. "Will you tell me about Sondra? Not today and maybe not tomorrow, but sometime soon? It's obvious how much she meant to you, but I was connected to her too. We need—I don’t know—something."
He leaned forward and wiped the tears trickling down her face away. "Closure. We both need some. How about this? I will do my best to table my thirst for vengeance on this for now and wait to see how the human courts handle this. But if the ball is dropped, I cannot promise I will do nothing. In exchange we will share our memories of Sondra with each other. I love that you cared enough about her to want to help me." He leaned in and gave her a soft kiss on the lips. "Do we have a deal?"
She nodded. "Yes, we have a deal."
"Good. Now we should sleep. It has been too long since either of us has had a good night."
As if on cue, just the mention of sleep got her yawning. "Okay."
Drago pulled her tight to his side and wrapped his arms and legs around her. "You know if I was in dragen form, I could wrap you up in my warm wings and you would sleep like a baby."
That did sound good. "We might have to try that sometime. It would be excellent for camping."
"Do not count on that, my little princess. I am far too accustomed of silk sheets and room service."
Jami gently laughed as she drifted towards sleep. A few minutes later, Drago's alarmed question woke her up again.
"Hey babe, what did you mean when you said you and your sisters were all born together?"
She tried to answer, but had to fight off another yawn. "Did I not mention we are triplets? Don't worry, you won't have to wait long to meet them. As soon as I tell them about you, they will be on a plane to Illinois from Texas to check you out."
"Well, that certainly complicates matters," Drago sighed.
"What? Why?"
"Looks like we will have to return to Serenity sooner rather than later like I'd hoped."
She snuggled deeper into his arms, seeking more of this warmth. "Of course we are going back to Serenity. Why wouldn't we?"
When Drago didn't answer that question she lifted her head to look at him. "We are going back to Serenity tomorrow, right?"
He nodded. "We are now."
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Jami scrunched up her forehead, not understanding his cryptic comments that didn't seem to match their conversation.
"I don't understand." Or maybe she was just too tired to comprehend anything else right now.
"Babe, you are a true mate, born of a human female and an angel. If you are a triplet, then it stands to reason that your sisters are true mates as well."
Oh crap. She hadn't even thought of that.
Violet and Savannah were going to shit bricks over this news.
Epilogue
Two days later Drago found himself back in Serenity and ensconced deep in police headquarters around a conference table full of shiften with his mate sitting on his lap. There was a perfectly good chair for her next to him, but he felt uneasy with her around all these other males so he chose to keep her closer. He also liked having her scent all over him every minute of the day.
If he couldn't be inside her, it was the next best thing.
"Have there been any signs of Khain around your mate since you found her?"
Drago hated the way Jami's back stiffened against him at the sound of the being's name that wanted nothing more than her death. All of their deaths actually, but he currently spent most of his time targeting the OTMs.
"No."
The question had come from Wade, the wolfen he now knew as the man in charge of this force as well as the Citlali, which were the spiritual leaders for shiften. While he thought the intel he'd been buying from a local foxen had been thorough, there was still a lot more he didn't know.
"Good. But you need to get prepared for it. Graeme has already agreed to work with you and your abilities and shiften guards have already been assigned for protection. Jami, please don't run away from them. As strong and smart as you may be, Khain is not someone you can face alone."
"As long as no one interferes with my job, we should be good," Jami said.
Wade nodded and set aside the folder he'd been rifling through. "Now about the sisters."
Jami scoffed. "I know we have to tell them, but the idea that you can line them up and parade your shiften past them like a love match meat market, that is never going to fly. Violet believes in fate and won't do a thing to find the love of her life. She says it will happen when it happens. So you can forget trying to make her choose from a line up. And as for Savannah, well, she's tough. She loves danger and anything adrenaline related. As soon as she finds out about your demon hunting us, she'll go on the defensive and it will take half your men to keep up with her."
"Well, there's always—
Jami shook her head. "Nope. Don't even think for a second you can hide them away for their own protection. Savannah taught us both how to pick locks, but that is just the tip of what she can do. She is gifted. You can't cage her."
Wade's right eyebrow rose as many of the shiften gave each other knowing looks.
"Sounds like my sister, Amaranth." Rogue said from her seat next to Mac.
Mac shook his head. "They must raise them to be ornery in Texas then. Maybe we should all go there."
Rogue rolled her eyes and shoved Mac with her shoulder. Drago smiled. While the wolfen certainly got on his nerves, he liked Rogue and the friendship she'd formed with Jami. They would need that connection when things got rough, and that time would come. It always did.
"And they are due to arrive in a couple of weeks?"
"Yes, that's all the time I could hold them off for. They are dying to meet Drago."
"Well, I'm afraid word is already out about their visit. But I will do my best to keep things from devolving into a free for all."
Drago pulled his lips into a grim line. What Wade had failed to mention to his mate was that her sisters were already under the protection of a detail of shiften. He'd sent them to Texas the moment he'd heard about them.
While he understood the necessity of protection, he knew first hand trying to control a Raye female would not go as planned. Trying to do it in secret...That almost made him laugh out loud. They'd learn, even if they had to do it the hard way. He had chosen not to interfere unless his mate asked him to. For now he had no plans beyond spending as much time with his mate as possible.
"There is also still the matter of the foxen you have been buying information from."
A blast of molten heat filled Drago's chest. "If you want us to stay and help you, then you need to stay out of my head uninvited."
Wade simply smirked, not looking apologetic in the least. "We can't have shiften spreading our secrets. Any tactical advantage we have comes from the breadth of knowledge we keep secret."
Jami placed her hand on his leg and squeezed. To his surprise, that soothing touch calmed his dragen fire and gave him a moment to see Wade's perspective clearly. Although he still wasn't turning over the foxen. Business was business.
"Then I will be the one to take care of it." He was confident he could speak to his source and persuade him to stop sharing information.
Wade must have been satisfied with that as he moved on to other situations involving the OTMs and the demon Khain.
After a few more questions and some lively debate among the wolven, Wade finally adjourned the meeting.
He leaned forward and brushed some hair from Jami's neck. "You ready to get out of here?"
She turned to face him. "I was ready the moment we arrived. It's a bit much what they have going on here."
He agreed. "I happen to know of a 5-star hotel not too far from here. They have dragen sized beds, bathtubs perfect for two and all the room service you can handle."
A slow smile crossed her face. "That does sound good. But you know what sounds even better?"
He swallowed thickly, unsure if he was ready for her to suggest something crazy like camping or worse, her apartment. Which reminded him that he needed to make sure that building got condemned this week. Since he was hoping to surprise her, he hadn't shared his plans with her quite yet, but he planned to tear it down and replace it with safe and clean affordable housing. "Tell me."
"I can't stop thinking about a certain pool house. It was so pretty there and we didn't even get a chance to try out the pool or the hot tub. And since I have the rest of the week off from work..."
He smiled. "You want to go back to my house?"
She nodded, her eyes filled with excitement. "Once my family descends we'll get no peace."
He didn't hesitate pulling out his phone. "I will call the car service and make arrangements. We can be on our way within the hour."
She shook her head and bit her lip.
He stopped pressing the numbers. "You want to ride the dragen, don't you?"
She laughed. "You make it sound so dirty when you say it like that."
He wrapped his hand around the back of her neck and mindless about the shiften still milling around the room, he kissed her hard.
He lifted his head. "And you say that like it is a bad thing. I guess I will just have to work on that, one orgasm at a time.
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Also by Eliza Gayle
Southern Shifters Series:
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