by Eva Chase
“Ren!” Nate said. He brought his hands to my face, cupping it as he leaned close. I closed my eyes against the tears. “I’m sorry,” he said, his voice low and ragged. “I’m here. I wouldn’t have ever brought it up if I didn’t think I had to for us to move forward. I was tempted, and I was unsure, but in the end I chose you. I stopped seeing her—I haven’t seen her in seven years. I knew that no matter how right things felt with her, being with you would be even more right.”
I inhaled sharply, trying to get my reaction under control. “I’m not upset,” I managed. “Not on purpose, anyway. I just—the feelings just came over me—”
“It’s okay. I can’t imagine how I’d feel if you talked about wanting to leave us for some other guy.” He stroked his hand over my hair and kissed my forehead. I leaned into him, soaking up the heat of his body and the strength of his arms as they came around me.
“The reason I wanted to tell you,” he went on, “is to show you that you’ve always been my first priority. Even when I didn’t know you yet, and I had temptation right in front of me. I am so incredibly happy to have finally found you that... I think I’ve been a little terrified of losing you before we even have the chance to really be together. And I let that fear talk me into being over-protective. I know you’re strong. I know you’ve got more power in you than any of us. I have to trust in that and not let my worries get in the way.”
I hugged him back, nestling my head against his shoulder. “Thank you,” I said. “I can see why you’d feel that way. As long as you’re trying not to act on it...”
“I will. I can’t promise that I’ll never again give in to the instinct to leap to your defense when you don’t really need it—but I’ll be doing my best. And if I slip up and you ask me to back off, I’ll listen. So don’t be shy about telling me off.”
A giggle slipped out of me. I swiped away the tears. The wrenching feeling had faded, but an ache remained. An ache for Nate and the years he’d spent alone when he could have had that bond of love already.
I raised my head and touched his cheek. Nate smiled, with so much affection shining in his dark brown eyes that I couldn’t doubt for a second he felt he’d made the right choice. I bobbed up on my toes to press a kiss to his mouth.
He kissed me back, softly and then more hungrily. His hand slid down the skin the dress left bare on my back and over the satiny fabric clinging to my hips. A sharper ache settled between my legs. I wouldn’t have believed it was possible to want one man this much, let alone four, but I did. God help me, I did.
The murmur of the opening door interrupted those thoughts. The heron shifter I’d seen earlier stepped out onto the terrace, clearing his throat. I stepped back from Nate, not even flushing. After the near-orgy I’d seen in the courtyard yesterday night, it was hard to think a little kissing was going to raise any eyebrows.
“Your presence is requested in the dining hall, Dragon Shifter, Alpha,” the young man said with a respectful dip of his head.
“We’re on our way,” Nate replied. He wrapped his hand around mine and pushed away from the railing. We walked hand-in-hand to the door, not with him leading, but in stride together.
I’d have thought it was a perfect moment if not for the dinner ahead of us, which I knew was going to be anything but fun.
Chapter 17
Ren
When I walked into the dining hall, at first I couldn’t do anything but blink in awe. The room was so big I’d bet you could have fit a football field in there. Long teak tables set for twenty each stood in rows across the hardwood floor. Another of those tables, this one covered with a red silk tablecloth, stood on a dais at one end of the room. Five of the chairs on the far side of that table were carved in an ornate style, with the one in the middle the tallest and most elaborately sculpted.
I didn’t need anyone to tell me that was the dragon shifter’s chair.
My heart started thudding twice as hard. Other shifters were already moving around the room, talking with each other and greeting newcomers. I felt all those eyes move to me as Nate and I approached the high table. I must have talked to a lot of them last night at the welcome celebration, but somehow this felt different. Then everyone had been partying. Now we were down to more serious business.
Aaron appeared by the high table to meet us. Like Nate, he’d put on a suit for the occasion—a royal blue number that made his eyes look even more brilliant. Damn, I really had lucked out in the mates department, hadn’t I?
A woman who looked a few years younger than Aaron, with the same golden-blond hair and bright blue eyes, stood by his side. She studied me with an expression that wasn’t exactly unfriendly, but wasn’t all that welcoming either. Her dress was a simple Grecian style gown in gray silk, and I could tell from the way she held herself that it wasn’t her usual get-up.
Her arms, crossed over her slim chest, were solid muscle. Right. Aaron had said I’d be meeting his sister—the one who’d appointed herself as a sort of bodyguard. She definitely looked the part.
“Serenity,” Aaron said, motioning me over. “This is my sister, Alice. Alice, meet Serenity, my mate.”
“Hmm,” Alice said. She held out her hand for me to shake and squeezed mine tightly as she pumped my arm. “So you’re the one who’s had my big brother running around all over the country. Glad you finally made it back here.”
Her voice was so deadpan I’d have thought she was being snarky, but her lips curled into a playful but warm smile. I relaxed a little inside.
“It was a long trip getting here,” I said. “But I did make sure he returned in one piece, as much as certain rogues might have preferred otherwise.”
Her smile grew into a grin. “I’ll give you that. And it’s probably a good thing he’s got someone dragging him out of that library every now and then.”
Aaron gave her a baleful look. “The more time I spend outside the library, the more you complain about all the potential danger I’m putting myself in.”
“Only when you don’t bring me along.” She gave him an affectionate pat on the arm and shot me another smile. Okay, I liked this chick.
Aaron escorted me the rest of the way to my special chair, as if I needed help finding it. I guess the formality looked nice for our spectators. And it wasn’t like I minded the reassuring squeeze of my shoulder as he took his seat beside me.
I was particularly glad that he and Nate had been the first ones here, because I had them sitting directly next to me on either side. I still wasn’t sure what to say to Marco or West. They’d both avoided me all day.
Marco showed up first, sauntering to the chair beside Nate with his usual carefree expression. When our eyes met for a second, his were wary. I dragged my gaze away, my throat tightening. I didn’t want to think about our earlier conversation or the revelations it had brought right now.
West arrived a few minutes later. He stalked to his chair without a word or a glance at me and sank into it abruptly.
Alice, who was sitting at his other side, leaned forward to catch my eye and raised her eyebrow. Okay, so that chill wasn’t just in my imagination. Was he pissed off because he hadn’t meant to make out with me last night? Or was something else going on in that inscrutable wolf shifter head of his?
The chairs across from us began to fill. Aaron introduced me to each figure as they sat down. The Cumberlands, Hubert and Isla. The Porters, Frankford and Tracy. And so on. I caught whiffs of their scent, my instincts and their forms helping me determine their animal side. Hubert and Isla were swans. Frankford and Tracy falcons. The couples around them included hawks, pelicans, and even a couple of geese. I had to bite back my amusement imagining their rounded bellies and long necks in bird form.
“Well,” Hubert said to Aaron after a passing nod to me, “I hope the arrival of the dragon shifter means the community can move forward in a more orderly fashion from here on.”
Tracy gave a harsh sigh. “It has been a stressful several years.”
I’m
sure your alpha has been doing his best, I wanted to say, but I bit my tongue. Aaron didn’t look offended. And it would probably be a wise idea for me to make a good first impression.
“I’ve already observed a change in the tone of conversations,” Aaron said smoothly. “Seeing the four of us alphas united around Serenity gives everyone the stability we’ve been needing.”
Frankford peered at me over his hooked nose. “And this is the girl we’ve been waiting for all this time.”
He didn’t sound impressed. Had he expected me to come to the table in dragon form? “Here I am,” I said, trying not to show how uncomfortable I was.
Servers started to come around with plates of food. Oh, good, at least I’d have something safe to do with my hands—and my mouth. I picked up my fork, jabbed it into a slice of steak... and realized everyone on the other side of the table was staring at me.
My shoulders stiffened. Nate leaned over and said gently by my ear, “At the formal dinners, the tradition is that the five of us don’t start until everyone else is eating. It’s a symbolic thing, or something.”
“Oh.” My face flushed hot. I set down my fork as if it had burned me. Great, now I already looked like a nitwit in front of all these bigwigs. The last seven years, mostly living on the streets, waiting to eat often meant someone else snatching your food out from under you. I guessed I was going to need a major attitude adjustment.
“I’m sorry,” Aaron murmured. “I should have warned you.”
I should have waited and followed their lead. Had West just shot a glower at me? Great, one more reason for him to think I couldn’t cut it in this role.
I kept my hands folded in my lap until the servers had finished moving around the room. All around the tables, the estate’s guests dug in. When my alphas picked up their silverware, I figured it was safe for me to start too.
Now that I could eat, I had to say the food was freaking delicious. Not that I’d expected anything else after spending a day in this place. I chewed blissfully, letting the rich, tender bites of steak overwhelm my embarrassment.
It wasn’t enough to keep Isla occupied, though. She jabbed her fork toward Aaron. “As soon as possible, you need to do something about that feline kin bunch who’ve been running around in the Southend forestland area.”
“I’ve already started discussing it with their alpha,” Aaron said in the same even tone as before. He tipped his head toward Marco, who offered a narrow smile. “It’s a big forest. We’re all running out of room where we can exercise our animal natures in private. I think we can find a fair division.”
I frowned. “Why divide it? The cats will mostly be using the ground and the birds the canopy, right? Can’t you all use all of it without much hassle?”
Isla pursed her lips with a disgusted expression. Her husband cleared his throat. “There are boundaries in place,” he said, shooting Aaron a look as if accusing him of misinforming me. “For good reason. The feline kin have a history of harassing avians. They agreed decades ago they would not intrude on our kin’s spaces.”
So this was a Sylvester and Tweety sort of conflict? I’d have laughed if it weren’t for all those disgruntled looks. I’d put my foot in it again. Shit.
“Oh,” I said. “Okay. I didn’t realize.”
Was that pity they were looking at me with now? The back of my neck prickled. Hell, I’d only been preparing for this gig for two weeks, a significant amount of which I’d been busy simply keeping myself and my mates alive. Couldn’t these people cut a girl a break?
Maybe I should just not talk. That was a surefire way not to sound like a total dumbass.
The talk turned to some event the Cumberlands wanted to organize for the kin group, and then a couple of business concerns I couldn’t follow. I cleared my plate, sated but definitely still with room for dessert. Just sitting there, listening to conversation that was going over my head, made me restless. How could I be a proper mate to any of the alphas when every other shifter in the room could see how clueless I was?
Then Frankford started ranting about humans. “We should have bought up that plot of land when we had the chance. Now those people will be right on our doorstep. Making their stupid human assumptions, offering their stupid human advice. So wretchedly unaware.”
“But can you imagine the stir if they did know?” Tracy twittered. “The poor creatures couldn’t wrap their heads around the power we have.”
I couldn’t just sit quiet then. “Not all humans are jerks,” I said. “My best friend has stuck with me through everything.”
Isla gave me another of those pitying looks. “But would she if she found out what you are? I think not.”
A flicker of anger shot up inside me. “Well, you’d be wrong. Because she already knows, and she’s still got my back.”
If I’d thought the shifter bigwigs had looked horrified before, now they looked absolutely aghast. The color drained from Isla’s face. Hubert’s mouth twisted into a grimace.
“You revealed yourself to a human?” Tracy spat out.
Aaron raised his hand for calm. “There were extenuating circumstances,” he said. “We made a judgment call. It worked in our favor. Serenity’s friend did prove to be a valuable ally.”
“To expose not just shifter affairs, but those of our alphas...” Frankford shook his head.
I gritted my teeth. That wasn’t enough to contain the rising flare of my frustration.
“Look,” I said tartly, “I’m the dragon shifter around here. I’m the only one you’ve got. If I can’t make a call about who can know what, who else exactly is qualified to do that?”
Someone down the table muttered something under their breath. Most of it was too low for me to catch, but I heard enough. “...so long away from her own kind...”
My hands clenched under the table. “Does anyone here need a demonstration?” I asked, raising my voice slightly. “To make sure I’m dragon enough for you? I could bring down the ceiling. I could set the whole place up in flames. The shifting part is covered. The rest of the details I’m learning as fast as I can.” I eased open my fingers to grasp Aaron’s hand, setting it on the table between us. He gripped mine in return, the corner of his mouth twitching up.
“And there’s no one I’d rather have by my side while I’m learning than your alpha,” I added. “He followed me when I needed his help, and I’ll follow him anywhere he needs me to go. Anywhere all of you need us to go, to keep the community strong. So I’d appreciate it if you’d give me a little credit.”
Silence hung all around the table for a moment. The shifters across from us lowered their eyes. Fuck, had I made an embarrassment of myself all over again?
Before I could make any more mistakes, dessert arrived. Perfect portions of strawberry cheesecake for me to drown my sorrows. I kept my mouth shut and watched and listened.
When the meal was over, Aaron stood up, tugging me with him.
“It’s an honor to stand before you with my fellow alphas and, of course, my new mate,” he said to our audience, pitching his voice to carry through the room. “Thank you all for how welcoming you’ve been to Serenity. You won’t find a more devoted advocate or tenacious fighter for our people.”
My face warmed. He said a few more things about how great I was, and I gave a wave to the crowd, but inside I felt unsteady.
The farewells to the guests passed in a blur. Aaron walked me back to my rooms. I let him in and collapsed face-first on my bed with a groan.
“You didn’t have to pile on the compliments like that. I’m so sorry for running my mouth. I will never speak again.”
Aaron chuckled. “What are you talking about? You were great.”
I turned my head to raise a skeptical eyebrow at him. “What are you talking about? I made a total fool of myself at least five times.”
“Not at all.” He sat down on the bed beside me, smiling. “You showed them you’d follow our traditions when you knew what those were. That you were willing to ta
ke new information into consideration. That you’re devoted to the people you care about. And that you’ve given that loyalty to me. I couldn’t have asked for more.”
Was he serious? He sounded like he meant it. I couldn’t quite believe it, but a little of the tension around my heart fell away.
I pushed myself upright and leaned in to kiss him. Aaron slid his fingers into my hair as he kissed me back. I tried to channel every bit of love and gratitude I was feeling into the meeting of our lips.
My hand rested on his thigh. As I scooted closer to deepen the kiss, my palm slipped. My thumb grazed the hard bulge that had already come to attention in Aaron’s dress pants.
Aaron hummed in pleasure, and a different sort of heat washed through me. Suddenly I knew exactly what I wanted to do with this wonderful, gorgeous man.
I trailed kisses along the edge of his jaw as I eased down his fly. When I tugged at his pants, he let me slide them down, watching me with eyes gone heavy-lidded with lust. The sight of it only stoked the fire inside me.
“Stay right there,” I murmured, and knelt in front of him.
I flicked my tongue over the head of his cock. Aaron groaned. I grasped the base of his erection, and his hips canted toward me of their own accord. “Serenity,” he started, as if to tell me I didn’t have to, but I already knew that. I was dying to do it, for me as much as for him.
The man in front of me ruled over a quarter of all the shifter kin with even temper and measured words. But I had the power to make him lose his cool with a simple touch. And there were some parts of him I hadn’t fully claimed yet.
I tipped my head, taking his cock into my mouth. The taste of him, even saltier than the ocean air, laced my tongue. I swiveled it around his shaft, loving the way it twitched at the motion. He leaned back on the bed, his hands fisting the covers. His breath was already rough.
I pumped my hand, gradually building speed, as I sucked him down and released him. Over and over, until his body was trembling and his breath coming in hoarse pants. I closed my lips around him even more tightly, and another moan carried into the air.
