The confusion slipped from Jen’s face and she clapped her hands with a girlish squeal. “Oh goody. I can’t wait to see what you come up with.”
After tugging Dana into a quick hug, Jen trotted toward the exit. The second the woman disappeared out the door, Aiden cupped Dana’s elbow. “Jace and I need to talk to you. It’s probably best done in private.”
“Okay.” She granted him one last pensive look before pivoting and walking into her office. Once Jace headed in behind her, Aiden stepped inside and shut the door. The click of the lock sounded inordinately loud in the gloomy silence.
“You’re making me nervous. What is this all about?”
“There’s no reason to be nervous, sweetness.”
Dana narrowed her eyes at Jace’s casual tone. “Typically when someone says that, it’s a precursor to something bad happening. Like getting suckered into singing ‘Kung Fu Fighting’ at Karaoke night after indulging in too many margaritas.” Muttering beneath her breath, she moved behind her desk and plopped into her chair. “Whatever you have to say, out with it.”
“Another Drakoni is after you.” Jace met Aiden’s sizzling glare and shrugged. “What? She said to spit it out.”
“You could have done it with a little more finesse.”
Dana leaned back in her chair and gulped hard enough for them to hear it. “After me how?”
Aiden skirted the edge of her desk and hunkered in front of her. He pried her fingers from their death grip around her kneecaps and warmed the icy digits between his palms. The last thing he wanted to do was scare her further, but he knew she wouldn’t appreciate any attempts of beating around the bush. “Morgan intends to keep me from attaining Supreme Alpha status by binding you to him. But I’m not going to allow that to happen.”
Her eyebrows slashed into a V. “You can bet your sweet ass I’m not going to allow that to happen either.” She tried to pull her hands away but he tightened his grip.
“Morgan doesn’t intend to give you a choice like me and Jace are. Now more than ever it’s vital that you trust us to protect you.”
“You’re with me twenty-four hours a day.” Exasperation underscored her declaration.
“It might not be enough. All it takes is one misstep. One split second when our backs are turned for too long. That’s all it’d take for Morgan to snatch you. And believe me, he’s waiting for precisely that moment.” Doubt began to creep into Dana’s expression and he pushed his advantage, knowing it might be his only shot at getting her to see reason. “Sweetheart, our best chance of thwarting Morgan’s plan is to make you undesirable to him.”
Her jaw went slack. “Uh…so what does that mean? I need to not shave and shower for a few days and eat loads of garlic?”
Despite the tension snaking through his body, he couldn’t cage his smile. “Not quite the plan of action Jace and I were thinking of.”
“Okay. Then what?”
“We’d initiate a claim mark on you.”
She stared at him for a long moment before lifting her scrutiny away. Her fingers trembled against his palms. “What exactly does that entail?”
“It doesn’t mean you’d belong to us, if that’s what you’re concerned about,” Jace said, shifting his feet. “The mark announces the intention, but it doesn’t seal the deal, so to speak.”
Some of the worry lurking within Dana’s eyes vanished. She gnawed on the corner of her lip. “Does it hurt?”
“No. I’ve heard it can be…intensely pleasurable.” A lick of excitement burned in his groin, as if to verify the rumor.
Suspicion flashed across Dana’s face. “How is this claim mark made?”
He released Dana and draped his hands over his lap to hide the stiffening of his cock. “With our semen.”
The pulse point at the base of her throat leapt visibly. She wet her lips. “In other words, we have sex. The three of us.”
“Yes.” He failed miserably at disguising the huskiness overlaying the word.
“I…” She rubbed her palms against her thighs. “If we do this, Morgan would really have no interest in me? His libido would shrivel up and disappear, just like that?”
“Sweetness, it’s physically impossible for any red-blooded man or dragon not to have interest in you. But you have our word that Morgan wouldn’t be able to act upon it.”
Jace stepped behind her and ran his fingers through her hair. It was the first time Aiden had witnessed his brother display affection toward Dana with such overtly emotional undertones. Whereas Jace’s teasing and sexy overtures brought out the territorial beast in Aiden, the sight commencing in front of him knocked him squarely in the solar plexus.
It was painful enough sharing Dana’s body with Jace. There was no way in hell he’d survive having to share her heart with his brother.
Chapter Nineteen
If she could use one word to describe the ride home, it’d have to be unbearably tense. Shit, that’s two words. Oh well. Not like someone was going to charge her for sneaking in the extra adverb. Keeping her attention glued on the windshield, she clutched POC’s steering wheel tight enough the leather stitching dug into her skin. Though she deliberately kept Aiden confined to her peripheral vision, her body didn’t seem to take the hint to ignore his presence. Resisting the urge to glance down and ensure that her nipples weren’t poking merrily against the knit of her top, she checked the rearview mirror and noticed the Navigator trailing a few car lengths behind.
“You haven’t said much since this afternoon.”
“Neither have you,” she answered, her focus still fused to the windshield. “Guess that makes us even.”
“Have you made your decision on the claim mark yet?”
“No.” She uttered a strained laugh. “Deciding if I’m going to take the first step in tying myself to a couple of dragons for life requires a minimum of eight hours mulling time.”
Aiden remained silent for a long stretch. She adjusted the volume on the radio and surfed through the stations, hoping the mindless task would counteract the overwhelming urge to look in his direction. She was successful for roughly thirteen seconds. Peeking sideways, she discovered him watching her, his dark eyes filled with an emotion that tugged at her.
“If you think for one moment that I look forward to sharing you with my brother, you’re dead wrong.”
“Yet you’ll do it,” she said, not quite hiding the recrimination in her voice.
“To protect you. I’ll lay down my life, if that’s what it takes.”
Her heart knocked faster. She’d be a goner if he started in on his declarations of love again. Despite knowing the danger such a confession presented, a warm glow bloomed inside her. Desperate to keep the sensation from festering into a full-scale attack, she took a series of deep breaths until the glow diminished. Satisfied she’d regained a semblance of control, she accelerated on the gas and jumped on the expressway.
By the time she pulled into her driveway her nerves felt like they’d been pureed in a Cuisinart.
She shifted into park and cut the engine. All too ready to put some distance between her and Aiden, she escaped the confines of the vehicle and hightailed it into the house. Pulling to a halt in the threshold of the kitchen, she rubbed her shaking fingers over her face. Something small and furry bumped her lower calf and she glanced down at Ms. Whiskers. “Dinner time, I know. The fact I’m going through a nervous breakdown is no excuse to starve you.”
Ms. Whiskers yowled in agreement and skittered into the utility room. Halfway through the process of filling up the kitty dish, Dana remembered the load of wash she’d yet to throw in the dryer. “Damn it.” Gritting her teeth, she plopped the box of cat food onto the floor and went to investigate the condition of the laundry. What she found was way worse than a lump of semi-dry, musty-smelling clothes clinging to the interior of the washing machine.