Chapter 10
“What the hell did the two of you do to her?” Grigor demanded the moment they were in the sitting room with the bedroom door closed behind them.
“Cristina fucking died in there,” Nathaniel added with incredulity.
Rage such as he had never know before surged inside Rhys and was instantly released in the roar of fury he gave as he launched himself at Nathaniel, eyes glowing a deep aquamarine, talons raised, dragon’s teeth bared.
No.
Rhys instantly stilled, the anger still raging inside him, but no longer out of his control.
No, Rhys, Aeran repeated through their mental link as he stepped forward and touched his arm.
The anger in Rhys died completely, eyes no longer burning with the need to kill or maim, talons receding, teeth returning to their human size and shape.
Nathaniel is right, Aeran sighed. Something we did almost killed our fated mate.
Rhys waited until the last of the anger had drained out of him before turning to Nathaniel. “I apologize,” he said stiffly.
Nathaniel nodded. “Accepted.”
“But we know what almost happened to Cristina. We just don’t understand why,” Rhys continued. “One minute, we were making love with her, and the next, she had stopped breathing. God, the sensations and emotions were so intense, overwhelming, beyond anything I’ve ever experienced before,” he added with a groan. “Is it always like that?”
“Lovemaking with our mate is intense, yes,” Grigor confirmed, still frowning. “But none of our mates have ever died during the claiming.”
“We didn’t claim her,” Aeran put in softly.
Nathaniel’s gaze sharpened. “Still?”
Rhys shook his head. “We wanted to give Cristina time to become accustomed to the thought of having two mates or, in her human mind, two husbands, before we complete the mating.”
“Your mates all had three weeks after the mating started to make that decision,” Aeran reminded.
“We were both making love to Cristina.” Rhys took up the narrative. “She simply ceased breathing, and her heart stopped.” It had felt to Rhys as if his warrior heart ceased the moment hers did, and he didn’t need to consult with Aeran to know he had felt it too.
“If Cristina dies again, then we die along with her,” Aeran said the words anyway.
“Well that goes to the top of my list for most embarrassing moments!” Cristina grimaced as she lay back on the pillows of Aeran’s—their?—bed. “God, my chest hurts!” She gently rubbed the bruised area.
“Rhys attempted CPR.” The red-haired woman beside the bed had introduced herself as Holly, Dylan’s mate and Gayle’s sister.
Cristina would have known that anyway. The likeness between the two sisters was obvious, despite Gayle being tall and willowy and Holly shorter and fuller figured.
She gave a shaky smile. “Well, it seems to have worked.”
“Actually, it didn’t.” The other woman shrugged. “You started breathing again after Dylan pumped a syringe full of adrenaline straight into your heart.”
“Wow.” Cristina was once again wearing Aeran’s T-shirt, but she had a feeling she hadn’t been wearing it when Dylan and Holly came into the bedroom. She had never been naked in front of anyone before, and now it seemed half the Pendragon family had seen her!
The blush seemed to have taken up permanent residence in Cristina’s cheeks. “Who knew that an orgasm was going to almost kill me!” Even as she joked about the situation, Cristina knew she hadn’t almost died.
Just for a few seconds, everything that was Cristina Petran had stopped, ceased to be.
Nor was death that black hole Cristina had always imagined it to be. It was light and colors and a cocoon of such overwhelming love, she had wanted to stay wrapped in it forever.
But something had pulled her back. Not something—someone, two someones: Aeran and Rhys. She had been bombarded with their emotions, a helplessness and agony so raw and deep, she knew she had to return to them and take their pain away.
Holly gave a chuckle. “I think that was a whole lot more than one orgasm.”
Cristina was relieved the two women were now alone in the bedroom. Dylan had left a few minutes ago to go and reassure his brothers of her complete return to consciousness before going to his lab to test the blood samples and virginal swab he had taken from Cristina. She hadn’t asked the reason for the latter, too embarrassed to question it.
“Your mates were…a trifle agitated when we arrived,” Holly understated. “It took Dylan, Grigor, and Nathaniel combined to make them leave and let us do our work.”
Aeran and Rhys had both been noticeably absent once Cristina had recovered enough to be aware of her surroundings.
But their mating bond now allowed her to know they were close by, to feel their distress as they paced restlessly in the adjoining sitting room. As she could also sense, through that same link, there were two other dragon shifters with them. Grigor and Nathaniel? Oh God, had they seen her naked too? Even if they hadn’t, they must know what had happened to her, and that meant their mates would know too, through their own mating bonds.
Cristina had died from having multiple orgasms.
God, could this get any more embarrassing?
The three of them weren’t even fully mated yet, and she had almost died from an overload of their combined pleasure.
Cristina had no doubt that was what had happened.
Her senses had been bombarded with Aeran’s and Rhys’s pleasure as well as her own, until that was all she could feel and it became too much for her body to contain or cope with. “Has this ever happened before?”
“No.” Holly grimaced. “But it isn’t the first time that the mating hasn’t proceeded as expected.” She gave a wry smile. “Dylan was in dragon form, his presence cloaked as he flew over London, when he sensed me as his mate,” she supplied at Cristina’s questioning look. “He plummeted to the ground and ended up on a stretcher in the A&E department where I was working the night shift. You could say he ‘fell for me’ in a big way,” she added ruefully.
“Was he injured?”
“Only his pride.” Holly chuckled. “Dragon shifters have the ability to heal themselves, so any bones broken when Dylan hit the ground would have instantly healed themselves. He was only brought in to A&E because someone found him unconscious on the hospital grounds.”
Cristina remembered the way Rhys’s saliva had healed her when he licked her cut and bruised flesh. “Does that mean I’m going to die every time Rhys, Aeran, and I are…together?”
“Let’s hope not,” the other woman teased before sobering. “Dylan blacked out once more after that first time, but it hasn’t happened again since we were mated.”
“That sounds promising.” Cristina sighed her relief. “I know they call it the petit mort, but that was just ridiculous!”
Holly nodded. “I’m going to take some more blood now, and I’ll need another swab too so we can compare the two samples.” She extracted the necessary blood into a vial but allowed Cristina to do the virginal swab herself. “I’m sure Dylan and I will be able to come up with some answers for you once we’ve tested the two samples and hopefully worked out what’s going on. In the meantime, I’ll ask Gayle if you can borrow some of her clothes so you can move about the castle freely. You’re about the same size.”
“She won’t mind?”
The other woman smiled. “Gayle’s bark is much worse than her bite,” she assured. “And as your mates didn’t think about a little thing like you needing clothes…”
“They were in too much of a hurry to leave London.”
Holly laughed. “I can imagine.”
“So you were a doctor before…well, before?”
“I still am,” the other woman confirmed. “Except now my patients are all dragon shifters, their human mates and children. We have no idea yet whether the children will also be shifters. I’m not sure if you know, but none of the brothers could shift into dragon until they were thirty-five. They told you that,” Holly smiled after Cristina nodded. “Dylan has been their healer for years, so now we’re working on all of this together as it evolves.”
Cristina chewed on her bottom lip. “You’re Gayle’s sister.”
Holly chuckled. “For my sins, yes.”
Cristina grimaced. “She hates me.”
“Gayle doesn’t hate you,” Holly dismissed. “She doesn’t even know you.”
“She knew my father.”
“Well. Yes.” Holly shrugged. “But you aren’t your father any more than I’m Gayle.” She rolled her eyes. “Believe me, wild child doesn’t even begin to cover my little sister’s antics this past year. Thank God it turned out she’s Grigor’s mate. Otherwise, I’m not sure my sister would have lived to her next birthday!” She gave a rueful shake of her head.
“Because my father ordered her killed.”
“Because of a situation Gayle created,” Holly corrected firmly. “Actions have reactions. She did something reckless and almost paid the ultimate price for it. That decision was made by Gayle, not you or your father. I mean it, Cristina,” she added sternly when Cristina still looked doubtful. “You are not responsible for either my sister’s decisions or your father’s response to them, and you should put any thought of that being the case out of your head.”
Easier said than done, but Cristina would try… After all, it seemed she had her own nemesis to deal with right now, in the shape of her father’s cousin, Vasile, so why go looking for further trouble?
She changed the subject. “Gayle and Grigor seem…an oddly matched couple.”
Holly chuckled. “They’re actually perfect for each other. Gayle is outwardly outrageous and outspoken to Grigor’s stern stoicism. But inwardly, Gayle is insecure, desperately wanted someone to love her and only her. We lost our parents five years ago, and it affected her badly. Grigor was very close to shifting and remaining dragon when the two of them met.”
“I don’t understand…”
“Neither did I at first.” The other woman shrugged. “But without their fated mate, the Pendragon brothers would eventually shift into dragon form and not shift back again before going on a killing rampage. At that point, the other brothers would have no choice but to eliminate them.”
No one had told her that. Cristina wondered what else her two mates hadn’t told her. “Aeran and Rhys are the only unmated brothers left, aren’t they?”
“Yes.” Holly gave her arm a squeeze. “Don’t look so worried. It always works out in the end. Their fated mate is everything to all the Pendragon brothers. I’ve never felt so cherished in my life as I have since meeting Dylan. He told me they hadn’t seen Grigor smile for a couple of centuries until Gayle came into his life,” she assured indulgently. “Also, Gayle is a little crabbier than usual at the moment because I suspect she might be pregnant.”
Cristina’s eyes widened. “Wow.”
“I am too,” Holly revealed a little shyly. “Billie and Garrett have decided to wait awhile, as have Deryk and Izzi. How about you? Do you want children? It’s okay if you don’t want them right away,” she assured. “Dylan has formulated an injection to prevent pregnancy until you’re both—or in your case, all three of you—are ready for children.”
Cristina had never really thought about having children of her own. There had been no point when her father kept her so well protected, she had never even been out on a date, let alone fallen in love or had sex with a man.
As she now loved Aeran and Rhys and wanted to have sex with both of them?
Even now, it wasn’t just their close proximity she could sense. Cristina was also totally aware of their arousal, their need, as well as her own. She wanted them again, and they wanted her.
“Aeran and Rhys will make awesome fathers,” Holly said with certainty.
The thought of having her mates’ children, one with amethyst-colored eyes and another with aquamarine, certainly caused a fluttering sensation in Cristina’s bruised chest. She—
Cristina’s eyes widened as the door was suddenly thrown open and an anxious Aeran filled the doorway, a white-faced Rhys towering behind him.
“What’s happening?” Aeran demanded as he strode toward the bed. “I felt Cristina’s heart miss several beats. Is she dying again?” he demanded of Holly as he sat on the side of the bed and took one of Cristina’s hands into his much larger one.
The other woman raised a rueful brow in Cristina’s direction before answering him. “Not at all. We were just discussing whether or not Cristina wanted to have children.”
“She isn’t having any,” Rhys announced as he sat on the opposite side of the bed to Aeran and took possession of Cristina’s other hand. “Ever,” he added grimly.
Cristina pulled both her hands free to move farther up the pillows. “Now just a damned minute—”
“Absolutely not,” Aeran stated firmly as the two brothers stood up. “We almost lost you once. We never intend to put your life at risk again. It isn’t necessary for you to ever have offspring.”
“It was the two of you making love to me that almost killed me,” Cristina reminded. “Does that mean you aren’t going to do that again either?”
Rhys’s mouth thinned. “Any further lovemaking would have to be monitored closely by Dylan.”
“I don’t think so,” Cristina scoffed.
“That’s how it has to be,” Aeran insisted.
She snorted. “Then it isn’t happening.”
Rhys nodded. “Not until Dylan has run his tests and gives his permission, no.”
Cristina gave a disgusted shake of her head. “You two are just unbelievable.”
“You almost died earlier,” Aeran reminded gruffly.
“I did die,” she corrected impatiently. “But now I’m back again, and I have no intention of having another man in our bedroom when we make love together, monitoring whether or not I expire from an overload of pleasure. Holly, speak to them,” she appealed to the other woman.
Holly winced. “That does sound a little extreme.”
“See?” Cristina challenged.
“You’ll do as you’re told, mate,” Rhys roared.
“Or I’ll once again go over the knee of one or both of you?” Cristina taunted. “Puh-lease!” She glared. “You have to be two of the most arrogant dragons I’ve ever met.” The venom in her voice made it sound like the insult she intended it to be.
“And on that note…” Holly wisely moved toward the bedroom doorway with her vials of blood and the swab. “Cristina should try to remain calm until Dylan and I have had chance to test her blood thoroughly,” she warned before exiting the room and closing the door softly behind her.
Cristina narrowed her gaze on both men. “Neither of you told me that if you hadn’t found your mate in time, you would have shifted into dragon and gone rogue, resulting in your brothers having to kill you.”
Aeran winced. “It didn’t seem of any relevance now that we’ve found you.”
“But you still didn’t tell me. Lying by omission, wouldn’t you say?” she taunted.
Rhys scowled. “Do not attempt to play word games with us, little warrior. We’ve told you what you’ve needed to know when the situations occur.”
“But not everything?”
“You have enough to cope with.” Aeran frowned. “There’s no need to worry you with things that don’t concern you—”
“Go away.”
“But—”
“You—”
“I said go away.” Cristina sat forward to glare at both men. “Since I met you, you’ve informed me I’m your mate, to both of you. You’ve dragged me—or rather, flown me from London, to a castle in the Welsh mountains. I’ve been spanked—twice. Made love to—twice. Died—once. I’ve learned my father is dead.” Her voice broke. “Your whole family appears to be friendly with the man I believe might be responsible for his death. He’s actually here, right now, in this bloody castle.” Tears stung her eyes. “I honestly can’t take any more right now.”
“We only want to protect you,” Aeran reasoned gently.
“From us, if necessary,” Rhys agreed.
Cristina turned her glittering gaze on them. “Then go and protect me somewhere else. You can come back when you feel ready to tell me all and everything and not just what the two of you have decided I need to know.” She deliberately turned her back on both of them.
There was absolute silence for several seconds, then the sound of footsteps on the carpet, moving away from the bed, before there was the soft sound of the bedroom door closing.
At which time, Cristina gave in to the tears she so badly needed to cry.