Chapter 11
“I hope you called us because you have the results of Cristina’s tests,” Rhys demanded some time later as he and Aeran entered the laboratory where Dylan and Holly worked together, their brother having summoned them through the mental link all the brothers shared.
“We do, yes,” Holly confirmed.
“And?” Rhys barked.
Dylan grimaced. “We’ll need to do some tests on the two of you too, but… Cristina’s blood samples and swabs were taken only twenty minutes apart, but even that short amount of time shows a rise in the mating hormone, in both her blood and the vaginal swab.”
“Meaning what?” Aeran prompted.
His brother shrugged. “If the readings are correct, and we have every reason to believe they are, you don’t have the usual three weeks to mate before you all die.”
“How long do we have?” Rhys demanded.
“Possibly a week,” Holly supplied worriedly.
A week?
Aeran heard the same shocked disbelief in Rhys’s thoughts as he was feeling himself.
“Less, if the mating hormone level increases any faster than it is,” Dylan continued. “We’ll test both your blood and semen too, but I think the results will be the same. The three of you being together has accelerated the mating process. Scientifically, that’s fascinating, and yet another anomaly I need to investigate. But for the three of you,” he continued hurriedly as Rhys growled, “it means you must complete the claiming in the next few days to ensure none or all of you die.”
“This is fucking unbelievable!” Rhys turned to pace the room. “We both knew instantly that Cristina is our mate, and once we got over the shock of sharing her, we thanked the Goddess for it. But Cristina is human, and she only met us two days ago.” He knew from her comments earlier, she was thoroughly pissed at them both at the moment too. “Humans don’t make a lifetime commitment to each other within days of meeting.”
“Some do.” Holly frowned. “But it’s very rare it happens that way. I’ve certainly never heard of it happening between one woman and two men.”
“I doubt all the spanking the two of you have been giving Cristina will have endeared you to her,” Dylan mocked.
“Fuck off,” Rhys muttered.
“She liked it,” Aeran defended.
“TMI, Aeran,” Holly chided ruefully.
He grimaced. “Sorry. I just— A week?” he repeated incredulously, remembering how angry Cristina had been with them earlier. She certainly hadn’t looked or sounded in any mood to complete their mating any time soon.
If at all.
“Vasile Fescaru left London five hours ago. It is believed his destination is North Wales.”
Cristina came to a halt in the doorway of the castle’s main sitting room to stare across the room at the man standing near the window. A man she had never seen before, and she was sure she had now seen or spoken to most of the Pendragon brothers. Some of them had seen far more of her than Cristina was comfortable with.
Holly had come back to the suite a few minutes after Aeran and Rhys had left, bringing the borrowed clothes with her. Not in the least sleepy, Cristina had showered and dressed before deciding to come downstairs in search of company or the kitchen and a much-needed cup of coffee.
The castle was silent and seemed to be empty. Which it probably wasn’t, considering there were two babies living there and the rest of the Pendragon mates. But Cristina hadn’t seen any other adults when she came downstairs, just this now-silent and watchful man.
He was several inches shorter than the Pendragon brothers’ six and a half feet, his hair a pale and overlong blond, his eyes a piercing and intelligent gray that seemed to miss nothing. Cristina didn’t sense that vibe of dragon shifter coming off him.
“I’m Nikolai Volkov.” The harshness of his voice satisfied her curiosity. “I see you have heard of me,” he drawled as her whole body tensed.
“Everyone in London has heard of Gregori Markovic’s pet wolf,” she scorned.
“I rarely respond to insults,” he taunted.
Possibly because calling this coldly dangerous man anyone’s pet was laughable, but it was the best Cristina had been able to come up with at the time.
“You are Cristina Petran, daughter of Cezar Fescaru,” he added when she didn’t speak again.
Cristina could only stare at him with wide eyes as she now reassessed him in the knowledge of exactly who and what he was: Gregori Markovic’s right-hand man in the Russian bratva. He was also the man she suspected of killing her father.
He certainly looked like a killer. Those pale gray eyes were edged with a cold ruthlessness, and there were lines beside his eyes and mouth that she doubted all came from laughter. His body was lean and muscular, more like that of a martial arts expert than the bulging muscles of the dragon shifter Pendragon brothers.
“So that there is no misunderstanding,” he continued softly. “I am also the person responsible for ordering the death of your father and many of his men.”
Suspecting something, and hearing the man actually speak the words out loud…
A red haze of pain passed over Cristina’s vision, her chest so tight, it felt as if a metal vise were squeezing all the air from her lungs. “How could you—” she spluttered. “Why would you tell me— You murdering bastard!” She flew across the room toward him.
Only to be lifted off her feet by an arm about her waist before she came anywhere near the unmoving Russian.
“What the hell is going on here?” Rhys demanded as his mate struggled in his arms. “What did you do to her?” he demanded of the Russian.
Nikolai shrugged. “I told her the truth, something no one else here seems willing to do, apparently. That her father was a coldhearted killer with no honor who needed to be put out of his misery.”
“You—”
“Get out.” Rhys held Cristina tightly, her back against his chest, their mating link enabling him to feel and hear the way her heart was racing as she breathed erratically. They had already lost her once today. He wasn’t about to let it happen a second time. “Just get the fuck away from her,” he instructed the Russian harshly as Cristina began to shake and her body was racked by loud and uncontrollable sobs.
“Cristina…?” Aeran appeared in the doorway. He told her the truth, Rhys explained through their mental link. “Leave, Nikolai,” he instructed bleakly as he crossed the room to join his brother in comforting their mate. He had suspected since the Russian arrived that this confrontation might happen. He just hadn’t expected it to happen quite so quickly.
Cristina remained in Rhys’s arms but settled her forehead against Aeran’s shoulder. “He admitted to killing my father.”
“Not personally,” Nikolai reminded.
She turned to glare at him. “No one would ever dare to disobey an order from The Wolf.”
“True.” He nodded, his mouth thinning. “Your father declared war on Gregori Markovic when he attempted to steal from him. It was also his intention to kill Gayle, Grigor’s mate, by blackmailing Billie into committing that murder, after which he would no doubt have had Billie killed too. She is the mate of Garrett, another of your mates’ brothers.”
“That didn’t give you the right—”
“It gave me every right,” Nikolai bit out coldly. “My loyalty lies completely with Gregori, and by attempting to steal from him, Cezar stepped over a line he knew he should never have gone near, let alone crossed. His attempts to then murder Gayle and Billie, two of the mates of our allies, was even more unacceptable.”
“He was my father!” Cristina choked.
“He was also a vicious Romanian thug who dealt in the sale of illegal drugs and prostitutes, two things Gregori has long refused to ever be involved in,” Volkov dismissed with distaste. “If Cezar had kept to our agreement, there would have been no reason to kill him. But he became greedy, decided he wanted more, that he wanted London all to himself. When he failed in that attempt, he tried to kill Gayle and Billie so that there was no one alive to confirm his betrayal. He paid the price for doing those things with his life and those of his men.”
“Stop, Nikolai!” Rhys thundered.
The Russian eyed him coldly. “It is time the spoilt Romanian princess knew the truth about her father, and neither of you seemed prepared to do it,” he snapped. “She also needs to consider, if Cezar had succeeded in killing Gayle or Billie, then being your mate or not, she would now be having this conversation with Grigor and Garrett. An occurrence, when the two of you chose to defend your mate with your lives, guaranteed to rip the Pendragon family apart.”
Cristina stared at him blankly. Volkov spoke too matter-of-factly, also implicating himself in her father’s death and those of his men, to be telling her anything other than the truth. Knowing that didn’t make it any easier for her to accept, but Volkov was right. At least she now knew the truth.
“I came to Wales to warn and also help the Pendragon brothers in protecting you from your father’s cousin,” the Russian continued, that gray gaze fixed coldly on Cristina. “My men and the rest of the Pendragon brothers are all out in the surrounding countryside now, carrying out that protection. Not because, in the case of my men, they know you, but because I ordered it out of loyalty to the Pendragon brothers. In the case of this family of dragons, it is enough that you are the fated mate of their brothers.”
Cristina swallowed past the tears clogging her throat. “I didn’t ask for anyone to put their lives at risk because of me.”
Volkov’s nostrils flared. “That is the whole point, Cristina. You did not need to ask. It is what this family does for each other. It is a loyalty Gregori and I put great value on, which is why my men and I are also here. Such loyalty should never be taken for granted or abused.” He eyed her icily. “It is perhaps time, Cristina, for you to decide where your loyalties lie, with your mates and their family, or with the dead man who was your father but who was also a corrupt bastard whose main enterprise was the sale of illegal drugs and women’s bodies for sex.” His top lip curled back with distaste.
Ignorance is no excuse.
That phrase came back to haunt Cristina. Because ignorance was no excuse. She knew, a part of her had always known, that there was nothing legal about the way her father had accrued the millions upon millions of pounds that allowed him, and her, to live such a luxurious lifestyle.
Millions, possibly billions of pounds, Volkov now confirmed that her father had made from the sale of illegal drugs and women’s bodies. Dirty money.
The thought of that money being earned by human misery made Cristina feel sick. Disgusted. With herself as well as her father. Because she had suspected but had never demanded the truth.
Would her father have told her that truth if she had ever asked him?
But she had never asked, and now it was too late to ever know what her father would have done. Or if she had ever really known her father at all.
She moistened her lips before speaking. “I don’t like you, Mr. Volkov. I will never like you, but I appreciate that you believe you are helping me by telling me that truth.”
The Russian nodded. “It is enough for now.” He crossed the room until he stood just inches in front of her, those piercing gray eyes leveled on her as he stared at her intently.
Cristina instantly felt the increased tension of her two mates. She placed a reassuring hand on both Aeran’s and Rhys’s arms. “Mr. Volkov has no intention of harming me. Do you?” she challenged him.
He gave a hard smile. “Perhaps you are worthy of being the mate of two Pendragon shifters, after all.” He gave an acknowledging inclination of his head before straightening and stepping away. “It is time I rejoined my men.”
Cristina waited until he’d left the room before releasing herself from Rhys’s arms and straightening. “That is one very scary man.”
“Scarier than the two of us?” Aeran teased.
“Doubtful,” Rhys rasped.
Cristina looked at her two mates, able to sense what was in their hearts through their mating bond. Volkov was right about them; Aeran’s and Rhys’s loyalty to her was such they would both defend her with their lives, without question, and under any circumstances, even against their own family if they had to.
It wasn’t the romantic love of her girlhood fantasies.
It was more.
More even than that loyalty Nikolai Volkov set such store in and which, it now seemed, her father hadn’t possessed in regard to his business agreement with Gregori Markovic, himself, or his men. None of what Nikolai had told her excused what the Russian had done, but it did explain the reasons why he had. Volkov had been right to tell her the truth. One day—in the very far future—she might even thank him for it. Maybe.
The smile she gave Aeran and Rhys was slightly shaky. “Contrary to what I said earlier, and if it’s not too much to ask and you don’t have to go out on patrol with your brothers, could the two of you take me back to bed now?”
If it’s not too much to ask…
Aeran and Rhys exchanged a look, their hearts swelling with emotion at this first sign from Cristina that she actually wanted to be with them. That she felt safe with the two of them.
Rhys touched her cheek gently. “As our mate, you may ask anything, and we will do everything within our power—”
“—to see that it happens,” Aeran confirmed huskily.
“That’s a pretty sweeping statement,” she attempted to tease.
“Nevertheless, it’s the truth,” Rhys assured.
“What if I asked you both to take me to Vegas and marry me in an Elvis chapel? I believe they’re very popular over there— I was joking!” She chuckled wryly at what was no doubt their joint expressions of complete horror.
Aeran breathed a sigh of relief. “We would marry you in a heartbeat—”
“—but not in an Elvis chapel in Vegas.” Rhys grimaced his distaste.
“Although a marriage of three people is not acceptable—”
“—in the human world.”
“To us, our mating is—”
“—of far more significance and for all our lifetimes.”
“Did you know that you’re starting to finish each other’s sentences?” Cristina teased as the three of them made their way up the wide staircase together.
The bond—
—is growing stronger, Rhys completed Aeran’s thought.
Now all they had to do was persuade Cristina to complete the mating, after which they would all share each other’s thoughts and emotions.
All they had to do?
Both of them sensed Cristina seemed calmer after her conversation with Nikolai, painful as hearing that truth had been for her.
But that didn’t mean she would be willing to complete their mating within the timescale of a week Dylan had given them.