Fire & Ice (12 page)

King Thoran’s voice broke through her thoughts and brought her back to the here and now. “Mount Armament is our guard tower, and allows us to see any approaching enemy. Some of these dragons call Mount Armament home, so I took the time to make certain the inside of the mountain is set up like a home for them. While they are out on the perches, they keep a vigilant watch. If an enemy dares to approach, some dragons will split off and meet the enemy head on, trying to keep the fight as far away from our homes as possible. Others will break off and promptly come warn the castle, so an alarm can be rung. Once this alarm is sounded, everything immediately closes and the men gear up for battle, while the females gather in the market area with the younglings.” He waved up at the dragons as they went by, and the women watched the dragons bow before their king.

“Can the dragons speak at all?” Evangelina asked out of curiosity.

“Oh yes, I heard Fadri myself,” Angel quickly replied.

“Fadri?” Evangelina shook her head and pinched her brows together. “Who is Fadri?”

King Thoran took over the conversation. “Fadri is my sons’ dragon. His name derived from the fact that one head spews fire, while the other spews ice. These elements are the letter F at the beginning and the letter I at the end, and the letters in the middle are from their names Adrian and Aiden. To answer your first question, yes, our dragons speak English perfectly. I think after you meet your mates’ dragon you will also realize they have a personality all of their own!”

He glanced up at the sun, which was now starting to drift down in the sky. “Come, ladies, it is beginning to get late, and I am sure your mates are back by now. They may possibly even be worrying about your whereabouts.” There was a bit of tease in the last part, and Evangelina wondered, with a small smile on her face, just how much the king would like to keep his sons squirming and wondering about their mate. He was a father for sure, she could see it now with the sparkle in his eyes and the smile on his face as he spoke of his sons.

As they approached the castle, Evangelina noticed three men standing outside the stone walls. Two of the men she recognized immediately as the twins, Adrian and Aiden, the third she assumed was Angel’s mate, Zen. She took a quick moment to study the man whom her best friend was falling for. He was strong and tall, but was not as strong or tall as the twins. There was just something irresistible about them.

Even with Aiden and his gruffness, she knew he would never do anything intentionally to hurt her. She felt protected when she was with the twins. She felt cared for, and that was a first for her in a very long time.

The horses stopped and the three men stepped away from the wall as one, and headed to them. The twins were headed straight for her, while Zen headed directly to Angel. When the twins reached her horse, Aiden reached up, wrapped his hands around her waist, and lifted her off the horse in a second; however, instead of setting her on her feet, he cradled her against his chest as he leaned his head into her hair and sniffed deeply.

“Baby, are you feeling okay?” he gently inquired.

She smiled up at her big warrior. She knew being as gentle as he was with her did not come naturally to him. He was more the type to bark orders, demand answers, and not give a damn about the feelings of another person. But he was trying hard for her sake, and she appreciated the fact he was putting forth the effort. “I’m fine, really. Your father took us on a quick tour through the village, then out to see Mount Armament where the dragons keep watch. It was fascinating!”

Adrian’s full-blown smile suddenly came into view, making her grin. “Hey, babe. Missed you today.” He placed a chaste kiss on the side of her mouth, before taking up position next to his brother, and grinning down at her like a fool.

King Thoran dismounted, then handed the reins for the women’s horses, as well as his own, to waiting stable hands. “It should be about suppertime. Come, everyone, I for one have worked up an appetite!”

Dinner had been a very boisterous affair, but it was over and everyone had since gone off in different directions. Evangelina had watched her friend and Zen head back outside as soon as dinner was over. The twins had brought her into what looked to be a sitting room, and now seemed at a total loss of words other than to ask if she was feeling okay every five minutes. If she had to smile sweetly and reply “yes,” one more time tonight, she might just put a fist in their faces.

Deciding to take matters into her own hands, she decided to verify some of the things Angel had told her that afternoon. “So, Angel explained to me that you believe there is one special person made just for you: your mate. She is also under the impression you two believe I am your mate. Care to explain any of that?” She gave each man a questioning look.

The brothers looked over to each other for just a moment. '
Well, brother, what and how much do we dare tell her?'
Adrian asked telepathically.

'
I say we go ahead and lay it all out there for her. She is going to need to know the facts anyway; she is our mate. The sooner she realizes that, the better off we will be,
' Aiden replied.

Fadri decided to chime in, '
It’s about time you two got off your asses and went after her. Just look at her. She is ready for us. And such a beautiful creature! You two need to hurry up and bond with her!'

Knowing his brother had a more diplomatic way about him, especially with words, Aiden was happy to let him take the lead on this one.

“Sweetheart, our dragon recognized you as our mate before we even met you. Last week while we were keeping tabs on Gerald, and realized he was following you, our dragon informed us that you were ours. Then the night we met you at the bar, our human half knew right then and there that you were our true mate.”

“But…how? How do you know I am your mate? How do you know it isn’t just something sexual? Something that once you scratch the itch, you won’t be interested in anymore?” She still wasn’t sure about this whole “mate” thing. She asked the question in complete seriousness, not trying to be rude or flip in any way.

“I can’t answer you as to how our dragon knew a week before we did, you will have to ask him yourself. But for us, the minute we were close enough to you, two things happened at once. The first was your scent. I am not implying you stink in any way, but when you meet your mate, their natural scent wraps around you like a warm blanket. The second thing is pure recognition on a very basic level. As soon as we looked into your eyes, it was as if two pieces of a puzzle that had been floating around inside us finally joined and locked together.”

“So this is not just sexual?”

“Oh, we find you extremely sexy, darling, don’t ever wonder about that. We have wanted to lay you down and pleasure you until you scream our names ever since we met you at the bar. But we are trying to give you time to get to know us and become more comfortable in this situation. We realize this is a bit difficult for you, and that things are not done the same way on Earth as they are here.” He stopped there for just a moment to let his words sink in. “So, while we desperately want to ravish your body, we have made the decision we must wait until you are comfortable. In the meantime, we have the pleasure of wooing our mate.”

Evangelina realized Adrian had been the one speaking the entire time, Aiden had yet to say a word, one way or the other. Turning her attention to him, she inquired, “And how do you feel about this situation?”

Aiden gave her a smoldering look and then a slow, sexy half-smile, half-smirk. “Darling, I want nothing more than to strip you right here and show you how many different ways I can send your body to heights unknown and have you screaming in pleasure, but I do agree with Adrian. You are our mate, and if we mess things up with you this early, we take the chance of starting this relationship on the wrong foot. Or worse yet, scare you into leaving us. That is just not acceptable.”

“Okay,” Evangelina replied as she nodded her head and bit down on her lower lip. She had one more thing to ask them, but wasn’t sure how they were going to take it.

“Will you two show me your dragon?”

Aiden glanced over to his brother who looked just as shell shocked as him. “You want to meet Fadri?” he verified.

“Well yes, isn’t your dragon a part of you?”

Aiden shook his head in amazement. She certainly was taking all of this far better than he had ever hoped. “Yes, he is.”

Fadri decided to lift his head up and join in. '
And why would
she not want to meet me? Everyone knows I am much better looking, more sophisticated, and better cultured than you two hellions will ever be. Now stand aside so I can meet and woo my mate!'

'
Settle back down, Fadri! Father will have our asses handed to us if we shift here. We will take her outside to an open field and then we shall let you out.
But you had better not do anything to scare her! I will kick your ass myself if you do anything to upset or frighten
her!'
Aiden warned darkly.

'
Blah, blah, blah…as if I
would ever do anything that would upset our mate! Give me a little credit here! I bet I will have her wooed before you will!'
Fadri challenged, to which Aiden just rolled his eyes. Sometimes Fadri was difficult to control, and that situation seemed to have been getting worse since meeting their mate. He hoped that maybe after they all had bonded, Fadri would settle back down.

Adrian and Aiden walked on either side of Evangelina as they took her out to the back of the castle’s property where there was a nice open field for them to be able to complete their shift without destroying anything. Both twins asked her yet again if she was feeling all right, and if she was sure about this; she couldn’t help but inwardly roll her eyes as she sighed and replied, “Yes,” while also flexing her fingers. They would be lucky if she didn’t end up taking a swing at them before the evening was over. She felt fine, why could they not get that through their thick heads? Although, she had to admit to herself, it was nice to have someone, or in this case,
two
someone’s, looking after her and caring about her welfare. Thinking back, she couldn’t remember a guy ever treating her the way these two did. It was kind of old-fashioned, but romantic.