Fire & Ice Page 11

  She turned slightly so she could see him, but still remain in physical contact with Aiden. “I didn’t hear anything.” Her eyebrows were drawn downward, as if her sleep-addled mind was trying to put the pieces of a puzzle together.

  'Oh, shit.' Adrian sighed deeply as he looked a bit sheepishly over to his brother. 'Well, she is going to find out sooner or later, I guess now is about as good of a time as any.'

  He reached over and turned his mate a bit so she was touching his body also. His brother’s body was plastered up against the back of her, and now, she was near enough to place her head on his shoulder. As soon as the contact was made, an inner peace descended upon him. She was their mate. She would understand. She would accept them for who they were.

  “Okay, you already know that Aiden and I are dragon shifters and, by the way, Fadri is totally in love with you, honey. It was all we could do to get him to step back so we could take charge, again.” He watched as his twin gave him an arched eyebrow, letting him know he was stalling. “So, you know we are shifters, but there are still a few things we haven’t shared with you, yet.” He stopped for just a moment as he organized his words. “Aiden and I are telepathic, but only to each other. We can open a private link to the other one at any given time, and speak to each other using our mental link.”

  Both brothers watched their mate’s eyes get big as she processed the latest news. “Can all of you guys read minds?” she inquired.

  This is where the fun begins, thought Adrian, as he knew he was unable to tell their mate a lie.

  “No, there is only one other who has that ability,” he stated slowly.

  “Only one other?” Evangelina inquired as she thought about this. If they had the ability, then that would mean… “Wait, your father?”

  Adrian nodded his head. “Yes, our dad is able to read most everyone’s mind, but it is not widely known. We have found it useful and beneficial to us in the past, like when one of the servants became disgruntled and started thinking of ways to poison us.”

  “Oh my God, that’s awful!” she exclaimed, propelling herself up to a sitting position. “But, your dad…King Thoran prevented anything from going wrong?”

  Adrian nodded in affirmation. “Yes, and that hasn’t been the only time his abilities have been useful. We sometimes have visiting officials from other lands. It’s nice to know if they truly possess any threat to us or our people.”

  “Well, that is completely understandable. I guess the old Earth saying of ‘Watch what you say’ changes to ‘Watch what you think’ here on Dragonose.”

  Both men chuckled at her joke. “Yeah, pretty much,” Aiden replied. Neither brother was going to tell her that they knew for a fact the king had been reading her mind at least part of the time, since he was all too aware of her emotional status.

  'Nope, not going there at all, bro,' Adrian sent over to his brother regarding his last thought.

  That night was spent with the brothers just holding their mate, each talking quietly with one another. The twins told her a bit more about their home, then how they both had already fallen in love with her, and for them, there would be no other. When she drifted to sleep, it was with her head resting on Adrian’s chest, and Aiden’s body curled up tightly behind her. She looked peaceful and content, and both men hoped they had calmed some of her fears.

  Now it was morning, and both brothers watched their sleeping mate with hard-ons that could be used in a sport America seemed obsessed with, baseball. While their cocks were hard as bats, their balls hung down heavy enough to be considered for baseballs. Both men ached, but refused to push their mate into anything she wasn’t ready for. They would continue taking cold showers, and jacking off in the shower, for as long as it took. For they knew that once she was ready, it would all be worth it in the end.

  They watched as she threw an arm up over her eyes to block out the light coming in. Aiden smiled. He was betting their mate was not a morning person. He leaned over and nibbled on the fingers of the hand she had thrown up a moment earlier. He quickly moved out of reach as her hand reared backwards to swat at whatever was attacking her fingers.

  They both watched as she slowly lowered her arm, squinting her eyes, and then threw a glare over to Aiden, who could not hold back his grin. “You are lucky I didn’t hit you,” she grumbled.

  “Good morning, sweetheart,” he said in an entirely too cheerful voice. “Did you sleep well?”

  And how could she stay mad at that? She moved her leg and suddenly realized that what she was feeling pressed up against her wasn’t their legs, but their hard cocks. Her mind suddenly went back to the night before when they had stripped down in front of her to show her their dragon. Both men were freakin’ huge!

  They knew the moment the look crossed her face she had realized their engorged cocks pressed up against her legs. Aiden leaned over and gave her a quick kiss. “How about we go check on getting some breakfast while you get dressed?”

  Her eyebrows knitted together in confusion. She could feel, really feel, their erections against her legs. Hell, she could even feel the heat coming from them, and they were all clothed! “Umm, okay, yeah, breakfast is good,” she replied slowly, still a bit puzzled over why neither brother had made any moves on her even though she could feel how great their need was.

  She started just to let it go, but they had been so open with her last night before she fell asleep, she just had to know what was going on.

  “Guys, umm, I know both of you are…well…” She could feel the heat pouring off her face, as she was making hand gestures, hoping they would get what she was obviously having trouble stating.

  “We’re what, honey? Dragon shifters? Good looking? Head over heels in love with you?” Aiden couldn’t help but goad her just a little.

  “No, I meant that!” she exclaimed as she pointed to his stiff cock. “Aren’t you…don’t you want that taken care of?”

  Before she could even blink, Aiden had her snatched up and plastered her to the front of him. He kissed her hard, demanding entry immediately, which she complied. He tasted like warm, sweet honey.

  “Never, ever think we don’t want you. We want you so damn much it is physically painful. But we want you to be comfortable around us. We want to show you there is a lot more to us and this relationship than just sex. Although when we do make love, I promise you your toes will curl, and you’ll never want to stop.”

  Eyebrows drawing back downward, she tried to make sense out of what he was attempting to convey to her. “Okay, so it’s not that you find me undesirable?”

  Both brothers chuckled as Adrian came up behind her. Each man took one of her hands. Aiden brought her hand down the front of them and placed it on his engorged dick while Adrian brought her hand behind her body to his. She couldn’t help but run her hand up and down a bit over their clothed, covered shafts.

  “Now, does that feel like we find you undesirable?” Adrian asked from behind her.

  “No, but most men would just go ahead and take...” she started, but Aiden quickly cut her off.

  “Honey, there’s where the problem is. You’re comparing us to human men, which we clearly aren’t.”

  Adrian gave her a playful slap on the ass. “Go get changed, woman. The staff should have left a few more outfits for you in the closet over in the corner. I’m going to go see about breakfast, and then Aiden and I are taking you shopping.”

  The men waited until she was in the bathroom with the door closed. “You hit the east wing, and I’ll hit the west wing spare shower?” Aiden inquired of his brother.

  “Yeah, I think mine is going to have to be a double.”

  It was forty-five minutes later when Evangelina walked down the winding staircase. She heard the brothers’ voices and followed the sound. She walked into what appeared to be another dining room, since it had a large oval table and chairs in the center. And yes, she smelled food! The room was full of huge men. There must be something in the water on this land, she thought.
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  Both of her men immediately sprang up from their seats to meet her at the doorway. “Hi, baby.” Adrian had reached her first and didn’t hesitate to snatch her up for a quick kiss. He then buried his nose in the side of her neck. “You smell so good!” he whispered in her ear.

  Aiden waited for his brother to finish greeting their mate and then grinned at her as he snaked his arm around her waist and pulled her flush against his front. He leaned down, eyes still full of merriment. “Good morning again, my love.” His lips descended on hers, and she was immediately caught up in his kiss. Both men kissed so well, she knew she was ruined for all others for the rest of her life. She thought she heard a throat or two clear, but it sounded so far off…until she remembered they were standing in a room full of men! She pried her lips away from Aiden’s, who had a ‘cat that licked up all the cream’ look on his face, and narrowed her eyes at him. Thankfully, her back was to the others in the room, and if she hadn’t been starving, she would have run out of there as fast as her legs would carry her.

  However, her stomach took that moment to growl, so when Aiden turned her around, she hung her head down low, knowing her face was red from embarrassment.

  “Come, sweetheart, let’s eat.” Aiden steered her over to an empty seat between himself and Adrian.

  A large plate was placed in front of her, with yet another completely different array of foods, varying in color and size. As much as she wanted to, she couldn’t bring herself to ask what anything was while the room was full of strangers. She picked up her fork to take a bite.

  “So, my princes, do we get the honor of being introduced to your lovely mate?” someone from down at the other end of the table inquired.

  Adrian reached over and gently took hold of her free hand. His thumb lightly rubbed over her skin, calming her immediately.

  From her other side, Aiden chuckled. “Evangelina, this motley crew is the castle guards.” He started with the person on the other side of his brother and went about introducing them to her. When he got about halfway around, he introduced the man as Camdon. He went on to explain that he was actually part of the king’s inner circle, along with Graham beside him. Camdon was a big man with shoulder length midnight-black hair.

  His blue eyes twinkled at her as he winked and stood, executing a bow. “At your service, my lady.” He waited until he had taken his seat again before adding, “And if you ever get tired of these two jokers, you come see me.” It was said in jest, and she knew he meant nothing by it. The guys were just having a little fun. But the possessive streak that hit her square in her chest took her by surprise. She was certainly not going to be looking elsewhere!

  She managed a tight smile and a slight nod. “Thank you for your kind offer, sir, but I am afraid these two have ruined me for all others.” She watched out of the corner of her eyes as both twins’ chests puffed out in pride.

  After the introductions, breakfast seemed to go by quickly. Much to her delight, the wonderful, mouthwatering Wheadirskon bread was served, along with some sort of spread that tasted a bit like almonds. Whatever it was, she spread it on two slices of her new favorite bread and enjoyed every last bite.

  Evangelina leaned back against Aiden, who insisted she ride with him, rather than her personal horse. It was on the tip of her tongue to remind him she had done perfectly fine on her own horse when she went out with his dad, but she decided against it. After not having anyone to take care of her, she found his old-fashioned values kind of nice and refreshing. Never would she have thought she would be comfortable handing control over to a man, but it was fast changing the longer she was around the twin princes.

  She turned her face upwards toward the warm sun as she snuggled her back to Aiden’s front. His arms came around either side of her to hold the reins, and he leaned forward a bit in order to kiss her cheek. He moved the reins easily over to one hand, as his free hand now lay on her rib cage.

  They stopped the horses at the edge of the marketplace and tied them up. Aiden and Adrian each claimed one of her hands as they walked through the market area. It didn’t take very long for word to spread that the princes had brought their mate to town for shopping.

  Evangelina was somewhat surprised at the number of people who came out to greet them and stop to talk with them. Some wanting to congratulate and meet her, others hoping the three of them would honor them by stopping in their shop. What surprised her even more was how kind and considerate her men were to everyone that stopped them. They seemed to know everyone, and took the time to ask about their families, how business had been going, etc. It touched her that even though they stood out as royalty, they acted the same as commoners.

  By the time they finished shopping several hours later, her men had hired a driver to deliver everything to the castle. They bought her an entire new wardrobe, and seemed to enjoy picking out numerous lingerie pieces for her. Next came the jeweler, who had bins of uncut and cut stones in every color imaginable. The shopkeeper had insisted on giving her a beautiful diamond and ruby necklace and earring set. “A present to the royal family,” he stated.

  Her men had picked out their own selections, and she had tried to talk them out of spending so much on her, but they would not budge on their decisions. So, along with the shopkeeper’s gift, she was also the proud owner of an emerald bracelet, necklace, and earring set, as well as a topaz and sapphire set. She also had caught a glimpse of a ring that looked to be a large diamond going into Aiden’s pocket.

  They spent the remainder of the afternoon riding through the countryside, the twins pointing out different highlights as they went. By the time they rode back through the castle gates, she knew she was falling for both men. She wasn’t sure how that would work on a permanent basis, but she could not fathom not being able to see either of them every day. Oh, she knew life would be a challenge, especially if they decided to stay on Dragonose, since they were royalty and would one day take over the throne for their father. She found herself becoming more and more ready to do whatever she had to in order to stay with her men.

  Dinner that evening was a lively affair as Angel and Zen, along with the king, several castle guards, and part of the king’s inner circle were in attendance.

  “I have taken the liberty of contacting the Council of Others on Earth and filled them in on your mate’s ex-boyfriend. They have assured me they will begin a manhunt immediately. They seemed a bit worried that a human not only knew of their existence, but was going around screaming about it at the top of his lungs,” King Thoran commented as he made eye contact with his sons.

  Evangelina’s eyes shot up from her plate. She immediately sat her fork down and reached out to touch both brothers, one on each side of her. “C-Council of Others? Am I in trouble also?”

  King Thoran’s face registered surprise at her question, then relaxed into a soft smile. “No, my child, you’ve done nothing wrong.”

  “But, what will they do to Gerald? Will they…” As much of a problem he had been to her, including trying to kill her, she didn’t wish the same done to him. He needed mental help for sure, but outright killing him because he stumbled upon information he wasn’t supposed to know, well, how did that make the Council any better than the mafia?

  She suddenly remembered the guys telling her that their father could read her mind, and her head popped back up to watch the king’s eyes twinkle. “No, more than likely they will send a vampire to wipe his mind of our existence. And yes, you’d be surprised at the similarities.” Everyone else at the table looked perplexed, not knowing what their king was talking about, but Evangelina knew. She knew he’d been reading her mind.

  Chapter Eleven

  Once dinner was over, everyone seemed to go their own separate ways. “Babe, Aiden and I have to get up early in the morning for training, and will be gone for a few days. We were wondering if you’d like to retreat up to our room and relax a bit.”

  “Sure, what exactly do you two do when you train?” she asked, curious as she allowe
d herself to be led upstairs.

  “We practice our fighting skills against the guards or the king’s inner circle,” Aiden answered.

  “But why? Is there an imminent attack I don’t know about?”

  “No, there isn’t one that we know of. But we have been gone for a few years, and Aiden and I have always been trained to fight, as most of our males are. We never know when the Raptorians are going to strike, and we are a little rusty since we haven’t been home in so long.” This came from Adrian, as he gently tugged her down beside him on the end of the bed.

  “Okay, but who are the Raptorians, again?”

  “They are really our only enemy. They are hideous-looking creatures from the land Raptor. They are half man and half beast. In their beast form, they resemble your ancient T-Rex, complete with vicious sharp teeth. They seem to think they should be allowed to rule everywhere they want. So far, we have been able to keep the knowledge of our portals to Earth a secret from them.”

  She visibly shivered and Aiden wrapped an arm around her, bringing her in close to his side. She was now sandwiched between the two men, and warmth crept into her from both men’s bodies. She lay her head on Aiden’s shoulder for a moment, preparing herself for the next few minutes.

  Aiden spoke a moment later, “We will also be allowing Fadri to spend some time sharpening his skills. The mountain of dragons that dad took you by the other day? Well, some of those dragons live there. Dad made sure the inside is comfortable for both man and beast, and as they are there for our protection and benefit, it is Adrian’s and my job to make sure we interact with them and convey to them how important they are to the royal family and to our world.”

  She hadn’t been too keen on the idea of them leaving her for a few days, but she knew that as the king’s only sons, there would come times the throne would take precedence. “Guys, I need to tell you something.” They both stilled, as if ready for her to drop a bombshell on them. She slid down the bed until she was on her knees. Grabbing both of their hands into her smaller ones before she started, she got comfortable sitting back on her legs, but leaned up a bit in order to kiss each of their hands that were now intertwined with hers.