by Rinelle Grey
She nodded, her face determined, then looked towards Nate and Kyrian, her forehead furrowed.
Was she talking to them? Hopefully not to Nate. For a moment, sharp jealousy flared in Brad’s heart at the thought of his twin hearing Lyrian’s dragon voice. But he took a deep breath, and let those feelings go. Nate was his brother, and passionately in love with Kyrian besides. He was no threat to the feelings Brad couldn’t even admit to himself.
Brad was the only threat to those.
His talk with Karla had eased some of his fears and jealousies, but not all. Brad suspected they’d never all go. But he’d have to learn to live with them. And have to realise that he had no right to be jealous.
Nate stepped forwards, holding Kyrian’s hand, his expression determined. The Trima dragon looked nervous and reluctant.
“Princess,” Nate said, his voice raised slightly, “since it will take time for the tunnel to be finished, do you think there is time to hold our mating now?”
The dragons around them stared, their eyes widening. A few glanced towards Ostrian, as though expecting the grumpy old elder to object. Brad did too.
But though Ostrian’s lips tightened, he glanced towards Aunt Mary, and said nothing.
Lyrian pretended to consider, her head on one side, but Brad suspected she’d already made up her mind. He was pretty sure this was all her idea.
“We understand if now isn’t the time, of course,” Kyrian added quickly, ducking her head in deference.
She was so worried about alienating the clan. Brad felt sorry for her. At least that wasn’t a concern he shared. He couldn’t care less what the dragon clan thought about him. He only cared about Lyrian.
His princess wasn’t looking at him, she was staring at the dragons around her. “Yes, I think now is the perfect time,” she said with a smile. “It will give us all something to look forward to while we wait for the tunnel to be finished.”
“And it shows that life goes on, that there are things to look forward to, even when it seems like all is lost.”
Lyrian’s voice in his mind, for him alone, held a note of sadness at odds with her words.
Brad wished he could answer her.
Wished he could pull her into his arms and tell her that they had so much to look forward to, that this current problem was just a blip on the radar, to be long forgotten in the bright lights of their happy life together.
But he couldn’t.
He couldn’t take that leap. The jagged rocks peeped through the bright lights, dark and menacing. What if he regretted it? What if Lyrian did? There was just too much that could go wrong.
At that moment, Lyrian’s brothers returned from examining the tunnel.
“What will give us something to look forward to?” Taurian asked with a raised eyebrow.
Lyrian turned and gave him a brilliant smile. “Nate and Kyrian’s mating.”
Her brother frowned. “I thought you said now wasn’t the time…” he started.
Lyrian interrupted him before he could finish his sentence. “I was wrong. It’s the perfect time. Kyrian and Nate are ready. The only reason we put it off is because we thought we would be waking Sarian tonight, but now that we are stuck here, we have plenty of time.”
She must have been talking to her brother telepathically, because although Taurian stared at her, he didn’t argue further. Just nodded, and said, “That is true. We do have time now. When are you thinking?”
“I’ll talk to Mesrian, but hopefully this evening,” Lyrian said immediately. She turned to Verrian. “Can you find a way to dampen any sound we make inside the chamber, so that there is no risk of the celebration being heard outside if things get a little… rowdy?”
Verrian nodded. “Of course. Good thinking. We should probably do that anyway, just to be sure.” He motioned to two other sound dragons, and they walked towards the entrance of the cave.
Kyrian’s eyes widened, and she stared at Lyrian. “Are you sure? I mean, Nate and I don’t mind waiting, really.” Her words were belied by the light in her eyes.
“Yes, I’m sure,” Lyrian said gently, but her smile didn’t quite reach her eyes. Brad winced, knowing he was the one responsible for the sadness that lurked in their blue depths.
Brad knew exactly how she felt. He stared at his brother, at the half excited, half nervous expression on his face, and couldn’t help feeling a little jealous.
What would it be like to be excited over his own mating? To not have all these doubts or concerns, but to just have his heart filled with love, and his mind filled with thoughts of Lyrian.
He’d never intended to get married. It hadn’t been in his plans at all. Now he had an even more convincing reason to remain single. He couldn’t imagine being with anyone but Lyrian, so there was no point.
Kyrian glanced shyly at Nate, who nodded, his face radiating love. She turned back to Lyrian. “We’re ready.”
“Good.” Lyrian turned to the rest of the room and tried to keep her voice down a little as she announced, “Everyone prepare for a mating. This evening, we welcome another new member to our clan, Kyrian’s mate, Nate.”
Everyone stared at her for a moment. There were a few, uncertain glances exchanged.
Then the first dragon smiled.
*****
Lyrian and Mesrian whisked Kyrian off to prepare for the mating, leaving Brad to help his brother. Trouble was, he wasn’t quite sure where to start.
Luckily, there were plenty of dragons around to assist them. A young couple, a human woman and a dragon male, took them aside. Brad tried to listen to what they were saying, about what the mating would consist of and what Nate would be expected to do.
But he found it hard to concentrate. For some reason, everything felt like it was hanging in the balance. As though everything could change without a moment’s notice.
In a way, it could. The excitement in the lair over the impending mating was juxtaposed over the very real fact that there were police outside looking for them. For him.
In a few short days, he’d gone from a world where dragons were a fairy tale, to a world where they were real. Everything had changed.
And nothing had. Brad had seen enough of these dragons to know that in some ways, all the ways that mattered, they were just like humans. They loved, mated, had children, and worried about them, just like humans did.
Not everyone was going to see that though.
If he were on the other side of this. In the hospital, watching people who’d been wounded by dragons, or in the government, watching people who were terrified of dragons, he would be thinking someone had to do something about them.
Dragons might be very similar to humans in a lot of ways. But in others, they couldn’t be more different. For starters, they could transform into a dragon. A huge, powerful beast that struck fear into the hearts of anyone watching it. They could heal from almost any wound with their Mesmer ritual. They also mated for life.
And they used magic to achieve all that. Magic was even more terrifying than their size or their teeth and claws. To be able to create lightning, or fire, or manipulate sound with a thought, that was terrifying to the average person.
Sure, humans as a race could do all that and more. Far more. But in a single individual? Dragons would win that battle almost every time.
No, the majority of people weren’t going to react well to the existence of dragons.
Or to the changes the world was about to face if, or when, the truth came out.
He’d thought he would be able to return home, resume his job, visit Anarian and Lyrian a few times a year, and trust that they would be safe once she was with her clan.
But it seemed that safety was gone along with their secret.
Now everything was different, and Brad knew his plan had to change as well.
He just wasn’t sure how yet.
He wasn’t sure about him, but he was sure for Nate. Nate would be part of this, working and, if necessary, fighting alongside the dra
gons. He had a place with them.
And yet, for the first time now, his brother looked uncertain. “What about Mum and Dad? Do you think they’re going to be upset that they missed out?”
Brad shrugged. “Maybe,” he agreed. “But there’s no way they can get here. And I suspect it would take them a while to get used to the idea that you’re mating with a dragon. You might not want to wait as long as it will take them to accept it. Have another ceremony later for them, if you want.”
Dragon mating wasn’t quite like human marriage. It was easy for humans to have long engagements, a year, sometimes two. They could still be intimate in that time.
For dragons, if they continued their relationship, they’d be mated anyway. So it wasn’t surprising it happened more quickly.
If Lyrian hadn’t had the willpower she did, he would have been well and truly mated by now.
Brad bit back a laugh.
Maybe that would have been easier. With the decision made, he could have just gotten on with dealing with it. Not still be stuck in the ‘will I, won’t I,’ stage.
He thought he’d put any option of mating with her off the table, but the indecision seemed to have returned after his chat with Karla earlier.
He pushed that thought away. Right now, he needed to help the dragons deal with the crisis they were facing, not muse on his own issues. And to do that, he needed to convince his brother to get mated.
Despite his initial resistance to the idea, Lyrian had been right. As soon as she’d made the announcement, the atmosphere in the lair had changed from nervous fear to subdued excitement. Definitely an improvement.
Nate nodded slowly, “I suppose so,” he agreed.
Brad could see the uncertainty on his face. “Are you really worried about Mum and Dad, or are you having doubts about the mating?”
“No, I have no doubts at all about mating Kyrian,” Nate said immediately, his tone enough to convince Brad that he spoke the truth.
“Good, then what do we need to do to prepare?”
“I don’t know,” Nate said, looking at Jayrian for support.
They young man smiled. “The mating ceremony is similar, in some ways, to the human customs Gretchen has described to me,” he said, giving his mate a quick smile. “There is a feast, singing and dancing, and if we had more time, there would be games designed to allow a dragon to show he was worthy of his or her mate.”
Brad would have liked to see that. Although somehow he suspected that he wouldn’t be able to win games against dragon competitors. And for a princess’s hand, there would be plenty of competitors.
Here he was, thinking about Lyrian again. He needed to stop that.
Nate wasn’t likely to face the same problem. In fact, his brother wouldn’t likely have any competition for the mate from an enemy clan.
Probably lucky they didn’t have time for games.
“Sounds simple enough,” he said firmly.
Jayrian nodded. “The magical component is the biggest difference between human and dragon mating.”
Nate nodded, and he and Brad listened.
“As you’ve no doubt heard, when dragons, or a dragon and a human, mate for the third time, a permanent bond is formed.”
“Do I have to do anything special to make that work?” Nate asked, his voice a little nervous.
Brad listened too, curious in spite of himself.
“Nope, it will just happen,” Jayrian said cheerfully. “There’s no way to mess this one up.” He grinned at Gretchen, then looked back at Nate. “All you have to do is trust your instinct.”
Trust instinct?
Brad wasn’t quite convinced by that. In his experience, human ‘instinct’ was dead. What people tried to call instinct usually turned out to be more related to fear.
And he suspected something other than instinct was responsible here. “You mean magic takes over?”
Jayrian considered him for a moment, then gave a laugh. “I suppose so. The mating bond certainly is strong.” He reached for Gretchen’s hand without looking, and she reached for his at the same time, their hands connecting without any fumbling.
For some reason, watching the simple gesture between them made a lump form in Brad’s throat, and tears prick at the back of his eyelids.
Was he missing out on that? Was he giving up possibly the greatest thing he’d ever been offered, all because he was afraid?
Well, it was logical to be afraid. This dragon mating bond was nothing to be trifled with, from what he’d heard.
How could you ever tell if you loved someone, or if it was just the dragon magic?
You’d know if you loved them before you mated with them, his mind argued. And from the ache in his heart, he knew it was true. He had no doubts of his love for Lyrian, and that the mating bond would only strengthen the tie between them.
The tie he already knew was there.
Nate was smiling at him. “Of course the magic takes over, bro. That’s the way it always is when you fall in love, don’t you know?”
Brad knew only too well.
Nate was still frowning though. Was he having second thoughts? Brad couldn’t help hoping he was, even though he berated himself for the fact. He was jealous that everything he was struggling with was so easy for Nate.
“Have you found that the other dragons accept that you’re a human mated to a dragon?” Nate was asking Gretchen.
She hesitated. “They weren’t very accepting at all initially. Jayrian and I were the first.” She looked over at her mate, and the love in her eyes caused Brad’s own eyes to mist up a little.
“That must have been hard,” Nate said sympathetically.
Jayrian nodded. “It was. I never thought they would accept a human mate, but we stayed true to our feelings for each other, and they accepted us in the end.” He smiled at Nate. “Just as they will accept you and Kyrian.
Nate didn’t look so convinced. “It’s not just a human mating with a dragon though, is it? I mean, if Kytr… Kyrian had been born a Rian dragon, then that would be one thing, but in this case, they need to accept her before there’s any chance they will accept me.”
“They will,” Jayrian said warmly. He clapped Nate on the back.
Brad forced himself to speak up around the lump in his throat. “They’re going to have to accept it, Nate. Lyrian has decreed it so. The advantage of being a princess I guess.”
Nate gave him a smile. “I suppose so.” He looked at Brad, a touch of curiosity in his gaze. “She’s a pretty amazing woman.”
Nate was fishing, curious about Brad’s feelings.
Brad forced a smile. Just because he had misgivings about his own feelings didn’t mean he doubted his brothers. “She definitely is.”
Nate looked at him strangely, and for a moment Brad thought he was going to say something.
He braced himself, prepared to defend his own choices.
But Nate just smiled.
Chapter 6
Planning for the mating kept Lyrian too busy to stop and think about the fact that soon, Brad would be gone. When she’d come up with this idea to use his brother’s mating to keep the clan’s spirits up while they waited for the tunnel to be finished, she hadn’t considered that.
Not that he was going anywhere until they were all out of here, so no point dwelling on it right now. She had more than enough to worry about. She needed to focus on keeping her clan safe, and that meant organising this mating.
There were food choices to make, a suitable mating outfit to be found and prepared, an area to be cleared and set up, and the inevitable disputes to be settled.
Taurian helped, of course, but he had little idea of what needed to be prepared, besides insisting on using nearly all the clan’s meat reserves. He seemed certain that the tunnel would be dug quickly, the Trima dragons would have no issue helping them, and they’d be out of the lair and hunting again within days.
Lyrian wasn’t so certain, and insisted some of the meat be put back into storage af
ter he left.
Much as she was ready to welcome Trima clan back, she was not yet convinced that all was as they said it was. Besides, it was never a good idea to use up all the food based on something that hadn’t happened yet.
Even if the Trima life dragon did agree to help them, there was no guarantee she could make the humans leave. Lyrian knew how persistent they could be. Brad had hung around for a week trying to convince her to move to America with him. And he hadn’t known she was a dragon.
If he had…
She shook her head. This wasn’t about her. This was about Nate and Kyrian. The two had been through a lot together, and they deserved to have a nice mating.
Even if everyone would be busy thinking about the humans searching outside, the tunnel being dug behind them, and the fact that they were relying on Trima clan to save them.
She pushed that thought away.
Mesrian was far more help than Taurian. The elder knew just who to go to for something, and exactly how to convince them to help her. By the time everything was ready, Lyrian was even more convinced that the old woman was a valuable asset to the clan.
While she helped Kyrian dress, she left Anarian with Brad again. She was starting to get used to not having a baby in her arms every minute, and for some reason, that made her nervous. Anarian should be in her arms. If she couldn’t be, it was better that she was with her father, but still…
Lyrian didn’t even want to think what she would do once Brad left. Who could she trust then?
She twisted the end of the braid she’d plaited in Kyrian’s hair and tucked it in out of sight. “There.” She took a step back to survey her work.
The newest Rian dragon looked back at her nervously, but her expression was the only thing that wasn’t perfect for a mating.
It hadn’t been easy, finding something for Kyrian to wear. Everyone in the clan had claimed not to have any suitable outfits. Lyrian wasn’t quite sure whether to believe them or not, knowing how stacked the opinions were about the former Trima dragon, but she suspected that pushing would have only made things worse.