Enlightenment replaced Emmaline’s scowl. “
Sex?
Is that what this is about? Jeez Louise, I’m not a nervous virgin who’ll fall into vapors at mere mention of the word.” She suddenly frowned. “Come to think of it, Dana isn’t exactly a virgin either. Isn’t she supposed to be untouched in order to be placed on the sacrificial chopping block? She’s had her fair share of lovers. Not an outrageous amount or anything, but let’s just say the girl’s no longer pure as driven snow. Maybe she’s not exactly tarnished as the mucky black stuff you see piled on the side of the—”
“Okay, you’ve officially clobbered that simile and it’s now whimpering for mercy.” Dana didn’t know whether to hug her aunt or throttle her. On one hand, it was darned sweet that Emmaline was fishing for a way to save Dana from becoming the sacrificial offering. On the other hand, it was rather mortifying to have her sex life up for debate.
“Virginity isn’t a requirement,” Aiden said, his strained voice breaking through Dana’s internal grumblings.
“Besides, do you have any idea how hard it is to find a virgin these days?” Jace’s smile turned teasing. “We’d have better luck finding the Easter Bunny.”
Dana dug her fingers into her temples. “Don’t tell me it exists too?”
“Don’t know. But I sure do love me some rabbit.” Smacking his lips, Jace rubbed his stomach.
“That is
really
warped.” Despite the weirdness of everything, Dana couldn’t help her chuckle from joining Jace’s full-scale belly laugh. Once the hilarity passed, the seriousness of the situation returned and she shoved her hands against her lap, twisting her fingers together nervously. “I’m still not clear on this whole sacrifice thing. You want me to have sex with one of you—why?”
The now all-too-familiar silent communication passed between Aiden and Jace, earning an exasperated groan from Dana. “Would you quit that and just spit it out already?”
“Fine, you want blunt?” Aiden, his jaw hard as stone, pinned her with a stare that sizzled. “You’re not having sex with
one
of us. We’re a package deal.”
Chapter Six
“Oh my Lord.” Every inch of Emmaline’s exposed skin turned the same color as an overripe tomato. “Maybe I am too old to hear about kinky dragon rituals.”
“I warned you,” Aiden muttered. He glanced at Dana and found her wearing an expression like she’d spotted a semi truck hurtling straight for her at one hundred and twenty miles per hour. “As for the why—it dates back to a pact that was drawn up almost nine centuries ago between the ruling dragons and the neighboring village. In return for a human sacrifice, the Drakoni promised not to ignite their homes.” He winced. “My ancestors were sort of pyromaniacs.”
Dana sped up the circles she was massaging into her temples. “What exactly does any of that have to do with the here and now?”
“Tradition is important to the Drakoni, which is why every two to three hundred years a pool of candidates is chosen for sacrifice and contracts drawn up.”
Dana stopped drawing figure eights into her temple and gaped at him. “
Pool?
”
Jesus, he hated being the one forced to explain it to her. Everything about the damn custom was distasteful. Archaic. Everything he stood against in his quest to make his clan embrace the twenty-first century. Shit, at the rate they were going, the Drakoni might successfully join the rest of civilization right around the same time dinosaurs re-inhabited the earth.
Dana continued staring at him, patiently awaiting answers. With great force of will, he unclenched his jaw. “Several centuries ago the Drakoni realized the wisdom in creating a pool of potential candidates rather than relying on a solitary sacrifice.” He offered a half shrug when her forehead wrinkled in confusion. “People get married, have children. Model the latest in sheet-metal fashion during a lightning storm. Always a good idea to have a backup plan.”
He detected the gleam of consideration in her eyes. “It’s too late for you to get married or have children. And I don’t advise trying the last option.”
Her shoulders visibly sagged in tandem with her long sigh. “Right. So how exactly did I luck out and end up in the pool, if you don’t mind my asking?”
“Your birth coincided with one of the years they sought candidates, during the full talon moon.” He met Dana’s puzzled look and hurried to explain the significance of something he knew would probably make no sense to her. Hell, many of the Drakoni traditions made no sense to
him
. Most of them were passed down from generation to generation solely in hopes of persuading the younger dragons to toe the line. “It’s a sacred moon phase to my kind. Trust me, you won’t find reference to it in any astronomy books. Drakoni representatives were dispatched to various hospitals throughout the country and given the task of convincing the parents of any females born that night to sign the sacrificial contract.”
A spark of triumph flashed in Dana’s green irises. “Ah-ha! I knew there had to be a mix-up. No way would my father have willingly signed me away to a bunch of dragons.”
A blanket of weary frustration settled over Aiden, and he cursed the council all over again for putting him in this unenviable position. “Dana, you don’t understand. Your father wouldn’t have been given a choice. The representatives would have seen to that. Much like our predecessors, the old guard Drakoni weren’t opposed to using intimidation and threats to get what they wanted. Most of the parents went along with it, naturally, and quickly learned that going to the authorities would earn them nothing but a trip to the local shrink.”
Emmaline gasped. Aiden jerked his head in the older woman’s direction and noticed she’d pressed her trembling fingers against her lips.
“What is it?” Dana pushed off the overstuffed arm of the sofa.
“Nothing. Just a Charlie horse in my leg.” Emmaline smiled reassuringly but Aiden didn’t fail to notice the slight tremor at the corner of her mouth.
“Take a load off. You’ve been on your feet too much today.” Dana patted the couch cushion, apparently not picking up on the anxiety wafting from her aunt. Emmaline’s gaze shifted in Aiden’s direction before she dutifully obeyed her niece’s request. Yep, she was definitely hiding something.
“I still find it hard to believe my father would have agreed to any of this.”
Aiden sucked in a deep breath. If she wanted proof, he could oblige. “We brought along a copy of the contract.”
“I’ll get it,” Jace offered, striding to the door.
In the wake of his brother’s departure, a strained silence filled the small office. It didn’t help that Dana and her aunt kept a wary eye on him the entire time. Yeah, nothing like being the solitary dragon in the room. Finally Jace returned and handed the sheaf of papers to Dana. Her gaze fell to the name scrawled at the bottom of the top page and she went still, her breathing seeming to cease.
Emmaline rubbed Dana’s back. “Hon, you know your father didn’t willingly sign that. Like Aiden said, your pops was forced into it.”
Dana released her breath in a rush, her uncertainty vanishing. “You’re right. I just wasn’t expecting…” Worrying her bottom lip between her teeth, she shook her head and scanned the remainder of the document. “Other than the basics—like my personal info and the word sacrifice—I don’t understand most of this.”
“A lot of it is archaic terminology. That’s the problem with relying on a nine-hundred-year-old scroll,” Aiden said dryly.
Dana fidgeted with the corners of the contract. “I guess my main concern now is do I need to worry about your relatives torching my aunt’s restaurant if I don’t agree to sacrifice myself?”
When it came to the council, he didn’t know what to expect. “I wouldn’t rule out the possibility.”
“Great.” Dana let go of the papers and they plummeted to the floor. She clasped her knees tight enough her knuckles whitened. “So I have sex. With you both. Then we go along our merry ways?”
“Not exactly.” He saw no way to avoid killing the spark of hope in her expression. “Next Sunday marks the first phase of the Talon Moon. That night, Jace and I will claim you. Completely. Bindingly.”
The muscles in Dana’s graceful neck worked as she swallowed hard. “What are you saying?”
“You’ll belong to us. For as long as you live.”
Dana surged to her feet, her eyes snapping fire. “That sounds an awful lot like slavery.”
Aiden gusted a weary exhale. “More or less.”
“Well screw that. I’m not going to be the live version of a blow-up doll the two of you will pass back and forth whenever you’re horny!”
Jace cleared his throat. “It’s not like we’d only be using you for sex.”
Her face livid, Dana swung on Jace. “Let me guess—I’d also get the honor of doing your laundry and scrubbing your toilets. Wow, I should probably bow and kiss your feet for such a privilege.”
“Good going,” Aiden growled beneath his breath to Jace. He schooled his features into a less threatening mask before facing Dana again. “You don’t have to decide now. There’s almost eight days to make up your mind.” That gave him and Jace a little over a week to persuade her to accept the claiming. In whatever way it took.
“Gee, that really takes the pressure off.” Dividing a hot glare between him and Jace, she stalked from the office.
In the wake of Dana’s departure, a tense silence descended on the room. Emmaline broke the mood by plopping onto the sofa with a groan. “All these years I thought my poor brother was suffering delusions caused from the trauma of losing his wife.”
Aiden narrowed his gaze on the woman. “When I was explaining the candidate pool earlier you looked like someone walked over your grave.”
“I was reliving a memory. One that’s going to haunt the rest of my days.” Emmaline pinched the bridge of her nose. “I always wondered if I somehow betrayed my brother by allowing the hospital to forcibly admit him into the psychiatric ward. Now I know I did.”
A heavy weight anchored in Aiden’s chest. “Let me guess. Your brother suddenly started ranting about dragons wanting to take his baby?”
Emmaline brushed a tear from her cheek and nodded.
“It isn’t your fault. You reacted as anyone would.”
She stared at him, her expression doubtful. “I should have believed him. Especially after he joined the hunters.”
A shiver of dread raced along Aiden’s spine and crawled inside his head, unfurling into an unpleasant realization that refused to go ignored.
Dana’s father didn’t become a hunter because he was crazy. He became one to protect his daughter.
From me.
Chapter Seven
The remaining five hours of Dana’s shift passed in a haze. Somehow she managed to keep her orders straight and even smiled for the customers. In other words, she pretended her life hadn’t just imploded. Her steps sluggish as a zombie’s, she trudged into Emmaline’s office and grabbed her Renaissance costume from the locker. Draping the dress over her arm, she listened to Emmaline’s sneakers squeaking along the hall. A second later, her aunt shuffled inside the office.
“Hon, I don’t want you sacrificing yourself for me or this restaurant. It’s not right.”
“Could we not talk about this?” Dana released a heavy exhale when Emmaline planted her hands on her hips, her typical prelude to an argument. “Please? Right now all I want to do is go home and soak my aching head in a hot shower.”
Emmaline’s chin lost its stubborn tilt. “Okay. But don’t do anything foolish until we’ve had a chance to discuss everything.”
“What—you mean like tying myself to a sacrificial altar?” Although she’d said it in jest, her mind immediately conjured the image from her painting and the host of dreams responsible for its inspiration.
Oh my God
. Had she somehow known?
The pounding behind her skull increased and she pushed aside all the thoughts making her head spin. Which pretty much left her with little else to concentrate on. Okay, the hot shower. Yeah, that was a dreamy prospect she could focus on. Hugging the dress against her chest, she pecked Emmaline on the cheek. “Don’t worry, I’m not doing anything rash. I’ll call you tomorrow, ’kay?”
“You better.”
Leaving her grumbling aunt behind, Dana took the back hallway. POC was waiting in the parking lot. Unfortunately, so were Aiden and Jace. After sending them both a hard glare, she fished in the pocket of her wench dress for her keys.
“You should have your keys ready in your hand before you leave a building.” His face tight, Aiden fell in step beside her. Jace took up position on her other side.
She was well aware of the precautions a single woman alone needed to take. So acknowledging she’d made a major snafu just now really irked. Rather than sharing the admission with Aiden or Jace, she decided to stick with the surly route. “Don’t tell me you’ve spent the last five hours out here?”
Aiden slowed his pace to match hers. “Other than the forty minutes we racked up at the sporting goods store at the mall, yes. You’re our responsibility. We’ll stick around however long is necessary in order to ensure your safety.”
His pronouncement was like a matador’s red flag waved in front of a snorting bull. She slammed to a halt, anger buzzing in her head. “I am
not
your responsibility.” No way in hell would she be yet another charity on someone’s list.
“Yes, you are.” Aiden calmly plucked the keys from her hand. “Which vehicle is yours?”
“What do you think you’re doing? Give those back.”
“I will as soon as you point out your car.”
She could either argue with him all night or give in and be one step closer to a nice, hot shower and her comfy pajamas. The hot shower won out. “That’s POC over there, by the red convertible.”
“POC?” Jace asked.
“It stands for piece o’ crap.”
Both men choked on a laugh. She tried grabbing for her keys but Aiden held them out of reach.
“Hey, I told you what you wanted to know. Now hand them over.”
“I will. Just as soon as we reach your…POC.”
“Really, that isn’t necessary.”
“Yes, it is.”
Jeez, he was single-minded. And bossy. “Look, I’m sure you’re used to women falling all over themselves to do your bidding, but you’re in for a rude awakening where I’m concerned. See, I actually have a mind of my own, and I’m not afraid to use it.”
Rather than looking irritated or offended, Aiden actually grinned. “Yeah, I noticed.”
Okay, it was seriously annoying how doubly gorgeous he was when he smiled. Kind of hard to remember all the reasons she shouldn’t like him.
Oh, right. He enjoyed running roughshod on her. And don’t forget the whole sacrifice thing. That alone sufficed as the mother of all reasons. “Fine, you can escort me to my car. But that’s it, understood?”
“We’re also following you home.”
The angry bees swarming in her head went into attack mode. “There is no way in hell I’m going along with that. Forget it.”
“Dana, it’s our duty. As our intended sacrifice, we’re sworn to protect you.”
She narrowed her eyes at Aiden. “That’s hilarious. From where I’m standing, the only ones I need protection from are the two of you.”
Aiden stacked his arms over his chest. “What about the guy I pulled off of you this afternoon?”
“Who, Calvin? He hasn’t stalked me at my house in over a week.” The second the words left her mouth, Dana wished she could reel them back.
“He’s been to your house?” The growl Aiden emitted seemed to come all the way from his toes.
“Only the one time. He took off pretty fast after I pointed my dad’s old Remington at him.”
“You know how to shoot a rifle?” Admiration underscored Jace’s question.
“Sure. My dad taught me how to shoot when I was old enough to pull a trigger.” Just thinking about her father made her teary. In the twelve years he’d been gone, the pain of losing him hadn’t vanished. She sniffled, hoping Aiden and Jace wouldn’t notice. “My dad was a big-time hunter. He was going to take me out with him, but he never got the chance.”
Aiden and Jace wore identical expressions of horror. Jace was the first to break the odd silence that’d fallen over them. “Your dad planned on taking you…hunting?”
“I know it isn’t your typical father-daughter pastime, but I didn’t care. It was great just getting to spend a day shooting pop cans off our split-rail fence together.” She glared when Aiden’s mouth twitched. “So help me, if you’re even
thinking
the word hillbilly, you’re going to regret it.”
He held a hand over his heart. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”
She took advantage of the opportunity and yanked her keys from beneath Aiden’s flattened palm. His only response was a serene smile. That’s when she remembered they already had her address, thanks to the Drakoni contract. So much for losing them on the freeway. She gritted her teeth. “If you think I’m going to invite you to stay in my house, guess again.”
His eyes glinting with beastly wickedness, Aiden traced a finger along her neck in a lingering caress. By the time he reached her earlobe, goose bumps dotted every centimeter of her skin. “If there’s one thing a dragon despises, it’s an easy conquest.”
Following Dana’s lead, Aiden made a right turn off the rutted country lane the Navigator had been bumping down for the past fifteen minutes. Soon he found himself on an even worse street.
“Shit, why didn’t I take a leak before we left?” Jace groaned and shifted in his seat. “Ten bucks says she doesn’t actually live on this road, and she only lured us down it to torture my bladder.”
Aiden glanced at the GPS. “Nope, this is the right way. But good theory.”
The taillights on the Suburban flashed and Dana veered onto a hidden driveway flanked by a tall screen of pines. Aiden followed after her. A split-rail fence lined either side of the drive and led to a modest, white-shingled ranch house. He imagined a pint-sized Dana taking bead on a row of pop cans and grimaced. Pretty damn scary to think she might have been using his ass for target practice instead.
Dana broke to a stop in front of a detached garage. Aiden stared at the sagging gutters overgrown with miniature saplings. First chance he got, he was cleaning those suckers out. He swung in next to her SUV and killed the Navigator’s engine.
“I can’t believe she lives out here all by herself.” Jace shook his head. “Her closest neighbor must be half a mile away.”
“Yep, not too safe.”
“Good thing we’re staying.”
Aiden watched as Dana hopped from her vehicle and stomped toward his door. “Something tells me she’s not going to see it the same way.” He reached for his handle the same instant she tapped on his window.
“Well, I made it here fine.” She flicked her fingers in a dismissive wave. “Feel free to take off.”
He snicked his door open, forcing Dana back a step. The look she sent him would have given a snowman frostbite. “What are you doing?”
“Jace and I need to get our tent pitched before the sun sets.”
“Are you out of your freakin’ mind? This isn’t a KOA! You’re not camping in my front yard.”
“Why not? You’ve got plenty of room.” Aiden inched the door open farther and climbed out.
“That’s not the point.” She rolled her lips tight before blinking as if a brilliant idea occurred to her. “This area is known for attracting coyotes and the occasional wolf. It’s probably not a smart idea sleeping outside.”
Jace sauntered behind Dana. “You offering us your bed instead, sweetness?”
She whirled to face him. “No! That isn’t what I meant. And don’t call me sweetness.”
Aiden wiped the grin from his face before she returned her attention to him. Planting a hand on the Navigator’s doorframe, he swung it shut. “In case you forgot, we’re dragons. We’re pretty much top of the food chain.”
Dana shivered. “Oh yeah. Thanks for reminding me.”
“Relax. I already told you we have no intention of harming you.”
“No, you just want to have a dragon ménage with me, that’s all.”
If there was one thing he didn’t want to do, it was share her with Jace. But the council had made their stance on the whole subject crystal clear. As a twin, he couldn’t claim sole rights on the sacrifice. No matter how badly he hungered to.
The damning thing was he’d never been slave to his inner beast before. This need to brace Dana against the Navigator and fuck her senseless, mark her as only his, was a foreign urge he struggled to control. Frustration welling inside him, he stared at Jace. It wasn’t his brother’s fault they were trapped in this circumstance, but it didn’t stop the territorial beast dwelling deep within Aiden from snarling a dark growl when Jace leaned on Dana and whispered in her ear. Whatever Jace said must have been suitably ribald because Dana turned pinker than the low bank of sun-striped clouds on the horizon.
Clenching his fists, Aiden pivoted and walked to the Navigator’s backend. He wrenched the hatch open with more force than necessary and grabbed the box containing the tent he’d purchased earlier in the day. Fully aware that Dana and Jace were tracking his every move, he stalked to the large patch of lawn fronting the house. “If you’re done making a monkey’s ass of yourself, maybe you’d care to help me,” he snapped at Jace.
The bang of a screen door preceded the steady crunch of boots approaching through the leaves. Ignoring the smirk on his brother’s face, Aiden ripped the box apart and dug out the stakes for the tent.
An irritating chuckle snuck from Jace. “I don’t know what you’re so worked up over. We’re on the same team here.”
Jace couldn’t have it more wrong. Instead of opening himself up for Jace’s inevitable ridicule, Aiden tossed the stakes at his brother. Not directly at his head, though it was tempting. “Make yourself useful.”
Dana hung her wench dress in her bedroom closet before venturing into the kitchen. Ms. Whiskers met her with a plaintive yowl near the cupboard. “Oh, so now you’re talking to me. Easy to see where your priorities lie.” Bending, she gave the tabby a scritch behind the ears and snatched the box of cat food. After trekking into the utility room, she shook the ocean catch medley into the ceramic kitty bowl and left Ms. Whiskers to chow down. Much as a hot shower enticed her with its siren song, she found herself abandoning the kitchen for the living room. The large bay window afforded a perfect view of Aiden and Jace erecting their tent.
Okay, tent was a relative term. The damn thing was practically bigger than her house. With mounting dread, she watched Jace walk to the Navigator and drag a pair of inflatable mattresses and an air pump into the clearing. “Oh my God. They’re never going to leave.”
Groaning, she slunk into the bathroom and turned the shower to full blast. Steam filled the cramped space. She quickly stripped and jumped behind the opaque screen, a blissful moan escaping her as jets of hot water pummeled her aching muscles. “Oh yeah, baby, give it to me.” She squeezed a fat dollop of vanilla-scented shower gel into her shower mitt and stroked the suds over her skin. The nubby texture of the mitt glided over her breasts and her nipples pebbled at the friction. Automatically, her mind conjured an image of Aiden’s palms cupping her soapy breasts, his thumbs swirling circles over their tips. Meanwhile, Jace’s mouth would be—
Dana yanked her hand from between her legs. She had nothing against solo stimulation. In fact, she was a big fan of it these days. But getting hot and lathered over the men—correction,
dragons
—taking over her front yard was a monumentally bad idea. She needed to keep her wits together and not do something stupid.
“It’s all Jace’s fault. Planting that scene in my head.” She tore the mitt off and flung it inside the shower caddy suctioned to the tile. After shampooing and conditioning her hair, she stepped from the shower and dried off. Winding the towel around her head in turban fashion, she pulled on her favorite red flannel pajamas and trekked into the living room. She curled on the couch and reached for the TV remote just as two knocks sounded on the front door. Craning her neck, she spied Aiden through the stained-glass medallion. For a brief moment, she debated ducking to the floor and pretending she wasn’t in the room. Like that’d do her any good. Duh, he obviously knew she was somewhere inside the house.