by Skye Jones
Now the scar irritated her all the time, a constant reminder of the man she’d hoped to forget.
If the situation had been more serious, she’d have done something to try to heal herself. She’d been given hope that perhaps the poison could be reversed, as there’d recently been an instance of that within their community. One dragon, the mighty Rhyndor, who had poisoned another many centuries ago, had taken the poison back into his own body, curing the other dragon of the sickness. But her father wouldn’t help her. And she never wanted to see him again anyway, so she supposed she’d spend her life with the annoying burn of him under her skin.
She sighed and pulled her sunglasses on to hide what she was feeling as she approached the two men. Truth be told, when they found out what her father had done, what a horrible family she came from and the shame of her background, they’d most likely not want her anyway. Once they saw the wound on her leg and knew how ugly it made her, they’d walk away. Better she did it first.
“Hey there.” Jay looked up as she approached and raised a hand in a casual wave.
“Hi.”
Cadan gave a brusque nod of his head and pushed his sunglasses back up his nose. Fine. If he acted as if he didn’t want to be there, so could she.
“How you feeling about this?” Jay asked.
“Okay. A bit nervous, I suppose. I appreciate your meeting me.” She smiled at him, and he grinned back. Cade kept on with the whole lockjaw look, so she ignored him.
When they reached the water’s edge, she put her board down and stared out at the ocean. Rough enough to surf, smooth enough to be safe.
There were some nice white-water waves. She’d usually be all about looking for the unbroken waves to ride in, but today she needed something a little more beginner.
Stepping into the waves as they splashed the beach, she sighed in relief at the feeling of being back where she felt the most at home. Maybe if she hadn’t been a latent and could change, she’d have found her thrills elsewhere. She wondered if Jay and Cadan changed often. If Jay could change. Cadan could, if indeed he was the Cadan of her mother’s recollection.
She shivered at the idea and pushed it to the back of her mind. She’d sort out her feelings about the men later, after a surf.
Lying on her board, she let the ice-cold water lap over her. Really, even in the heat of high summer, one should wear a wetsuit in Cornwall. But she could deal with the cold and, in some ways, relished it.
Paddling out, she got to where a nice cluster of waves was breaking and heading straight into shore. Easy to ride. A good starting point for getting her confidence back. She turned her board and faced the beach.
“You ready?” Cade spoke to her for the first time, his deep voice giving her more goose bumps than the frigid water.
“I think so.”
“Come on, then.”
“You’re going to ride these baby waves in with me?” She kept her voice teasing, light.
He nodded, all serious and so masculine and focused she wanted to lick his iron jaw. “Of course. No point coming with you to keep you safe and abandoning you for the fun stuff.”
With a flick of his gaze behind, he turned to her with a twitch of his lips. “Besides, something tells me you won’t be surfing the small waves for long.”
Probably not. Already she wanted to head farther out to the green waves beyond the break. Small steps, though. She didn’t want to wipe out again in front of these guys. It was a matter of pride.
As a nice, fresh break hit, she popped up on her board and nearly gave a whoop of joy as she rode it in. Memories of the first time she’d done this surfaced. The feeling that, for a moment, she controlled the elements themselves as she rode the wave, before the terrifying realization that the ocean wanted nothing more than to drag her under. A thrill ride like no other.
Once it was over, she smiled to herself. Proud she hadn’t let the horror of the other day stop her from doing something she loved.
“Nice.” Jay paddled up beside her astride his board. “Want to do a few more?”
She nodded, and they spent some time catching the baby waves and riding them in. After a while, Cadan nodded out to sea. “Fancy trying some green, baby?”
She grinned and gave a jerk of her head. Of course she did.
Adrenaline pumping, she followed them out to where the unbroken swells were, some of them quite big, and waited for the right one to come along. It didn’t take long before the opportunity arose, and soon she was soaring above the water, in her element.
Once she reached the shallows, she fell into the water with a laugh. “Nothing beats that!” she exclaimed.
“Oh, I don’t know.” Cade came up alongside her, powerful arms resting on his board. “Flying in dragon form can be as exhilarating, under the right conditions.”
“I can’t change, though, can I?” She reminded him.
“No, but you could fly with us.” He fixed her with his warm brown gaze, and she froze for a moment, trapped by the intensity of him as he watched her.
“I can’t fly with you. We aren’t going there.” She knew all about what happened when females flew with their males. Those sisters had found it not only exhilarating but bonding. No way would she let herself get into that position.
“Really? Scared?” Cade’s fiery gaze mocked her and tempted her at the same time.
“I’m thirsty. Shall we go get a drink?” She needed to break the moment and turned to head for dry land.
With a deep chuckle, Cadan followed her.
“Perhaps you’re not the adrenaline junkie you think you are.”
She ignored his jibe as she hiked back up the sand carrying her board. A naughty part of her, the rebellious one that got her into trouble from time to time, wanted to call his bluff. She wanted to make a move on him just for the hell of it and to see his face. But a bigger part of her, one more interested in her own self-preservation, told her if she started to play games with this particular male, she’d surely lose.
Instead of taking the risk, she headed to her car and stowed her board. Then she waited for the guys to do the same. “Drink?” she offered. “Least I can do is buy you guys a glass of something cool and refreshing after you went to the trouble of meeting me out here.”
Jay grinned. “I’d love a drink. Lead the way.”
They headed up the beach and toward a café at the top of the pathway leading from the sand. It was past midday now, and the sun beat down. The warmth of it heated her skin, but it didn’t hold a candle to the fire of the blood in her veins as the two males walked either side of her. Not touching, but close enough for their arms to brush hers with a rush of air. Such a mundane thing, really, but their presence electrified her.
Out on the sea, it was different. There, she focused on the rush of catching a wave. Here on dry land, there was nothing to stop her from focusing on the incredible electricity passing between them.
A group of women walked by, young, perhaps twenty-four- or five-ish, and beautiful. One of them glanced at Jay and batted her eyelashes at him like some silver screen siren.
Hating the jealousy that rose within her, Gwen looked away and pretended to be focused on the window display of the gift shop they passed by.
“Cade?” A sultry, husky female voice jarred Gwen, and she looked around to see the most exquisite woman jogging across the street, waving at the two males.
As the woman neared, Gwen took in her scent. Human. And all hot and ready for her males…wait. What the fuck? Her males? Oh no. Absolutely not. This couldn’t be happening. She’d promised herself to keep her distance, and already she saw them as hers somehow. Never mind the weird electricity zapping between them and the rampant jealousy. It was all too much. Far, far too much. She needed to bug out of there.
“Sarah.” Cade’s smooth tone got on Gwen’s every last nerve.
“I’m visiting my aunt who lives here. Fancy seeing you two.” Sarah gave both males a lascivious look that left nothing to the imagination wh
en it came to what sort of relationship these three had.
The knowledge that this woman had been with both males, probably at the same time, exhausted the last of Gwen’s patience. Sick with jealousy, and sick of her jealousy, she began to inch away from the group.
“We’ve been surfing with a friend,” Cade said.
Friend? Fucking friend? Mr. Coming-on-Strong wasn’t so hot for her now that another female might be available. Gwen gritted her teeth and began to turn away.
“Do you want to hook up later?” The femme fatale asked.
Gwen hated her for it, but the woman was dynamite. From her long, thick, glossy hair to her sexy heels, with all the curves and amazing green eyes that went on in-between, she screamed sexual allure.
Not needing to hear Cade’s answer, Gwen turned and began to walk away.
“Hey, where you going?” Jay called.
“I remembered I have an appointment,” she shot back before heading quickly to the car park.
She didn’t turn around once, and by the time she reached her car, her heart was pounding. More from the strange and tumultuous emotions those damned males instilled in her than because of the brisk walk.
Fingers shaking, she fumbled twice getting the key in the lock. Her battered old rust bucket was so ancient it didn’t have electronic locks. On the third fumble and a curse, something warm covered her back, and a big hand curled around hers.
“Steady. You’ll snap the keys at this rate.”
Cadan!
She wanted to turn around and scratch his eyes out, which was ridiculous as, objectively, he’d done nothing wrong.
“Why so wound up?”
Oh no. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of answering that. He already knew anyway, if the deep chuckle that rumbled through her gave any indication.
“Here, let me.” He took the keys from her, and with his big arms still bracketing her and his front warming her back, he opened the door.
Managing somehow to maintain a shred of dignity, she mumbled a thanks and went to pull open the door.
“Not so quick, sugar.” He pushed the metal shut and spun her around.
Gwen gasped as her front came up against the hard wall of his chest. “What the heck?”
“I don’t want you driving home in a bad mood, all het up and likely to have an accident.”
She snorted. “You have a high and mighty opinion of your effect on the ladies. Why don’t you go and find your plaything and leave me alone? After all, I’m only your friend.”
Damn. She’d let her hand show with that little outburst. She clamped her lips shut, determined not to say anymore.
“For someone who says they don’t want anything approaching a relationship, you sure are a little green-eyed monster.”
“I am not.” She jutted her jaw up at him and hated the mirth dancing in his gaze.
“You are a terrible liar.”
She sighed and aimed for nonchalant. “Don’t you have a hookup to be getting ready for?”
“No. I told Sarah we wouldn’t be hooking up later.”
“But you have…before.”
“Yes.” He didn’t sugarcoat it, and his gaze was direct. “I’ve hardly been a monk, Gwen. But I didn’t know you existed, and I won’t apologize for anything I’ve done. But now that you’re here, there won’t be any more hooking up.”
The news exhilarated her. It also flat out terrified her.
“I don’t know what you want.” She tried to look away from him but couldn’t.
“Yes, you do.” His words were low. Soft. And his breath caressed her ear as he leaned in toward her when he spoke.
She shivered as her body moved closer to his by a tiny increment. They were like two magnets, unable to tear themselves away from the other’s pull. Dimly, she wondered where Jay was, but right then, she didn’t care. This moment was all about Cadan and the conflicting sensations he created in her.
“You can’t run from this.” He tipped her chin up, forcing her to look once more into his eyes. “You try to run, sugar, it will eat you alive. You’ll burn for us. Nothing you’ve felt before in your time on this earth can prepare you for it. But I can help you through it.”
She rolled her eyes. “I suppose your version of helping me through it involves a lot of sex.”
He laughed. “I like you, Gwen. It’s one thing to meet someone you bond with perfectly, but an even better thing when you find you like them anyway, irrespective of the biological shit between you.”
She liked him too, but he scared her.
“I’m scared.” She let the truth out. Let it hang in the air.
“I know you are. You won’t drown, though. We won’t let you. We didn’t let you drown in the ocean, and we won’t let you drown in this.”
Oh gods. His words were beautiful.
“Just let us in.”
His lips brushed over hers, light, tender, and heartbreakingly brief.
As footsteps approached, he stepped back. Jay jogged up to them.
“Sarah’s more than a bit put out by your attitude to her just now.” He informed Cadan with a frown. “Do you always have to be so damned direct?”
“Yes.”
Cadan’s one-word answer made her smile.
“Sometimes sugarcoating things works wonders,” Jay huffed.
“What does it matter? We’re never going to see her again. We don’t care for her, and she doesn’t care for us. A clean break is best.”
“Manners are free, dickhead.” To Gwen’s utter astonishment, Jay smacked Cadan’s forehead with the flat of his hand.
Even more surprising, Cadan let him and merely chuckled. “I’ll try to do better in future.”
Jay looked at her. “You okay?”
“She’s fine, aren’t you, Gwen?” Cadan gave her one his patented intense looks, and she tried not to melt all over her car.
“Gwen’s going home now, but we’re having her to our home for dinner tomorrow night.”
Again, Cade pinned her in place with his gaze as he spoke. She should tell him she couldn’t make tomorrow night, prick his presumptuous bubble. But unable to, she merely nodded. She’d be there, damn her, because somehow, she didn’t have a choice. Her body wanted to be around these two men, and nothing she thought, and no amount of reason, seemed to hold sway over her traitorous hormones.
“Tomorrow. Jay will come for you at seven.” Cadan kissed her cheek, the arrogant bastard, then strolled toward his car.
“He’s so bossy!” She rolled her eyes.
Jay snorted. “He is, but he’s also kind of easy to manipulate. All he wants is to make those he loves happy. You’ll have him wrapped around your finger in no time. Just bat those gorgeous big eyes of yours, and he’ll give you anything you want. Heck, it works for me, and he doesn’t want to fuck me. You’ll have him eating out of your hand.” He paused, and a grin lit up his face. “In fact, I can’t wait to see it.”
“I’m going to come tomorrow, but this can’t be a thing. It just can’t. It’s Mum and me, together, and I won’t leave her.”
Jay’s grin became a softer smile as he studied her. Those blue eyes of his gave an incredible light to his golden face, and she thought she’d never seen a more beautiful person. “Don’t worry about the future. Let’s take this as it comes. Tomorrow, princess.”
He kissed her cheek and then he was gone, jogging over to join Cadan.
Take it as it comes. Easy for him to say. She’d never been more mixed up in her life.
Tomorrow hung over her already, a promise. And a threat.
Chapter Five
Jay watched as Cade directed their menservants what to prepare for the evening. He didn’t think it mattered one jot, personally, but Cade could be surprisingly old-school at times. He wanted to make sure everything they did was perfect for when Gwen came, but Gwen didn’t need perfect. And Jay doubted she’d like a huge meal at their formal dining table. He’d bet good money she’d prefer takeout on the sofa watching a m
ovie.
But Cade wanted to do it this way, and Jay didn’t mind letting him. He would save his energy for the bigger battles he was sure were in their future.
“What are you wearing?” Cade stalked over to him. “Not those tatty jeans?”
For the love of the gods. Jay fought not to roll his eyes. “I was going to wear some smart jeans and a polo shirt. Is that okay with you, sir?” He smirked at the flash of anger in Cade’s eyes.
“No need to be a cheeky little shit.”
Oh, that pissed him off. “First of all, Cadan, I am not little. And secondly, I am not cheeky. I’m not some cute little female you can boss around. And neither, for your information, is Gwen.”
Cadan frowned. “She’s cute and she’s female.”
“Yes. But she’s not some silly airhead you can push about. You need to calm the fuck down, or you’ll scare her off before she’s ours. This whole feast thing is the wrong thing to do if you ask me.”
“I didn’t.”
Jay looked at the ceiling and counted to ten. He poked Cade in the chest to emphasize his point. “You’d do a lot better with Gwen by being more casual. We’ll do this your way tonight, but the next time we have her here, I want to do it my way.”
“Okay.” Cade gave a shrug and headed off to the kitchen.
What the hell? Sometimes the male surprised the shit out of him.
“But you’d better not fuck it up,” Cade shouted from somewhere in the house.
That was more like it. Always had to have the last bloody word.
A couple of hours later and Cade had dressed in dark gray jeans and a Henley. He’d gone downstairs to check on the feast, leaving Jay to finish getting dressed.
Jay thanked the gods the male hadn’t chosen a suit or some such. He himself wore dark blue jeans and a hot pink T-shirt, which, if he said so himself, highlighted his tan, golden hair, and baby blues.
Jay knew he was pretty—and in a way that wasn’t feminine at all, but like some gorgeous youth in a renaissance sculpture or painting. It might be bigheaded to know how attractive the ladies found him, but he’d use any weapon in his arsenal when it came to making Gwen theirs.