Jason stepped on the gas and the castle’s image shrank rapidly in the rear vision mirror.

Mine, his dragon insisted. Mine!

He slammed on the brake halfway down the mountain road leading to the mines. “Shut up!” Goddamn dragon. “She’s not ours.”

The fucking animal had been a damn asshole the last few weeks. Clawing at him, roaring at him, and fighting him at every turn. And every single time he got near any other woman, it would rail at him. For the first time in his life, he wished the damn thing would just go away.

After weeks of fighting, seeing Christina at the airport finally calmed the dragon down. Catherine called him, saying she had a wedding emergency (whatever that was), and asked if he could pick up Christina. He almost said no, but just the sound of her name soothed his dragon.

He hadn’t been sure what to expect when they’d met again. He huffed. He’d wondered if she was still angry, or if she’d felt the same anticipation he had while waiting outside the airport.

Fuck, he was turning into a lovesick idiot, like the ones from those romantic movies. He ran a hand through his hair. He couldn’t stop thinking about her, even after all these weeks. And the fact that she seemed immune to whatever it was affecting him made him crazy. She was the same—unfriendly and indifferent. Though apparently, she thought Cole was hot.

No! Mine.

“Quit it!” He nearly lost it, but had the presence of mind to stop himself from losing his temper. He would never hurt her, but he wanted to shake her senseless. Or kiss her so she could forget about Cole or any other man.

A few deep breaths calmed him down and he had enough control to start driving again. Clearing his head, he focused on the task at hand.

The call from Ben had been unnerving. In all the years the mines had been in operation, they’d never had a major accident. Maybe a few minor scrapes, but never one that had injured anyone badly. And now…

He stepped on the gas and drove through the familiar mountain roads, all the way to the blackstone mines, named for the substance found deep inside the mountains. Blackstone was the hardest substance on earth and there was only one way to mine it: dragon fire. Perhaps it was a lucky twist of fate that his four-times grandfather Lucas Lennox won the mountains in a card game. It had made him and his family one of the richest in the country.

Jason made it to the mining site in record time. He parked his car and jogged up to the mouth of the cavern they had dug a few weeks back. Benjamin Walker, his cousin and their lead foreman, was waiting outside, a grim look on his face.

“How bad is it?” Jason asked.

Ben rubbed a hand down his bearded face. “Pretty bad. Good thing we got to them on time. They’re on their way to hospital now.”

“Show me what happened.”

His cousin nodded and led him inside, deeper into the mine. It was dark, but his shifter sight quickly adjusted so he could see around him. Ben directed his attention to the pile of metal and glass in the middle, and the smell of blood hit his nose like a dank perfume.

Mining blackstone was difficult, and turning it into something useful was even harder. The Lennoxes had always hired shifters for the collecting and processing of the blackstone, because they healed faster when they handled the flaming hot rocks. With modern technology, few workers suffered any injuries, though Lennox Corp. still hired shifters to do the more dangerous jobs inside the mines.

“How could this happen?” Jason asked. “We use the best equipment in the world and our safety standards are above average.”

Ben shook his head. “We’re still looking into it.” He nodded toward a group of men huddled in the corner. Nathan Caldwell, their chief engineer, was talking in a low voice to their workers. He glanced at them, gave Jason an acknowledging nod then continued talking to his crew.

“Walk me through what happened,” Jason said.

“It was a routine day,” Ben said. “The cleanup crew was getting ready for the next extraction session and the surveying guys were checking the deposits.” He pointed to the cave in the corner. “I was down there when I heard this loud sound. A couple of the lights and one of our catwalks crashed down, and unfortunately seven of our guys were injured.” He shook his head. “Jones and Carrol are recovering in the infirmary, but the others had to be rushed to the hospital.”

A grim thought entered his head. If those guys hadn’t been shifters, they’d surely have been dead on impact. The look on Ben’s face confirmed it. “What about their families?”

“We’ve contacted them. Probably on their way to the hospital now.”

“Good. I’ll make that my next stop.” He scratched his chin. “Something doesn’t feel right.”

“You think?” Ben asked.

“Could be nothing,” Jason said. “But my gut says otherwise.”

“We’ll tighten security. I haven’t talked with our security company in a while. Dad and I had been telling Riva that we need our own crew instead of outsourcing it, but she kept putting off the decision.”

“I’ll talk to Matthew about it,” Jason assured him. “Call me if you need anything else.”

“Will do, cuz.”

Jason followed the same path going outside the mine, his mind focused on the accident. He knew the mine operations inside and out, and how tightly controlled everything was. Safety was always a priority, even if all of their crew could survive life-threatening injuries. Was it a freak accident or something else?

As soon as he walked out of the cave, his phone started ringing. Matthew, he thought. And he was right.

“Did you find out anything yet?” his twin asked, the tension in his voice evident. Matthew was probably as edgy as he was. After all, they both considered everyone in Blackstone under their protection.

Jason relayed what Ben told him.

“And what do you think?” Matthew asked.

“It could be an accident.”

“But…”

“I have a gut feeling.”

Matthew let out a breath. “Me too. I don’t know why.”

“Maybe it’s because we both know this is the first major accident in at least two generations,” Jason said. “You know we always put the safety of our workers first.”

“Right. What should we do?”

“Well, we’ll have to keep an eye on things. What do you think about setting up our own security crew?”

“I’m sure we could swing it. I’ll talk to our current contractors about a transition.”

“Good. I’m on my way to the hospital, just to make sure our guys and their families are okay.”

“Let me know if you want me to come by,” Matthew said. “I’ll make time.”

“I will, but you focus on what you need to do. And your wedding,” he added, hoping to have a lighthearted end to their conversation.

“Speaking of which … can you come to dinner tonight?”

“Dinner? Why?”

“Well, you know, Christina just arrived and we’re having a welcome dinner. But no one else can make it, and I didn’t want it to be awkward, just the three of us.”

His dragon perked up. “What? Fuck, no.” He probably sounded harsher than he wanted and his dragon agreed. “Besides, I’ve already seen her. You lovely fiancé was called away on an emergency and I had to pick her up at the airport.”

“Oh, really? I didn’t know.” Matthew’s voice didn’t sound convincing. “How was she?”

“Christina? Oh, she still hates me, don’t worry,” he huffed. “Which is why I probably shouldn’t be there.”

“C’mon, Jason. Please?”

“I’ve got plans.”

“What other plans could you possibly have? Hanging out at the Den with Nathan?”

He let out a breath. “Fine.” His inner dragon gave a contented snort. “I’ll be there.”

“Great. I’ll see you later.”

Jason frowned. He hoped he wouldn’t regret this.

* * *

Jason was tired and hungry, but the last thing he wanted to do was battle his inner dragon and twin, so he drove right back to Blackstone Castle as soon as he was done. After he spent the afternoon with the families of the injured workers, he had to go straight back to his office at the Lennox Foundation to put out even more fires at work.

He was cranky and he hadn’t eaten, and he told himself that he was only going back to Blackstone Castle so he could have one of Meg’s fabulous dinners. Though he preferred living alone in his modern apartment in town, there was nothing like coming back to his childhood home and having a real meal.

Christopher, their butler, welcomed him home and informed him that everyone was in the dining room in the east wing. When he got there, Matthew, Catherine, and Christina were already seated. Catherine was in the middle of a story and Christina threw her head back and laughed. She looked gorgeous, with her blonde hair pinned up, and her blue, off-the-shoulder dress showing off her collarbones and an expanse of creamy skin. But it wasn’t her outfit that made her beautiful. Rather, it was the genuine smile on her face, which promptly disappeared the moment her cool eyes landed on him.

“Nice of you to join us,” Matthew said, raising a glass to him.

“How could I say no?” he said. Looking at the table, he saw that the empty place setting was right next to Christina. He sat down and flashed her a smile. “Did you get some rest?”

“I did, thank you,” she said, taking a sip of her wine, her eyes carefully avoiding his.

“So,” Matthew began. “Catherine was telling me about all the trouble she and Christina got into while they were in boarding school.”

“All the trouble she got us into, you mean,” Christina said wryly. “I only snuck out with her to make sure she didn’t do anything too crazy.”

Catherine giggled. “Oh c’mon, you had fun too.” She turned to Matthew. “I know you’re a stickler for rules, like my sister here, but don’t tell me you’ve never had any wild stories from your youth?”

Matthew shook his head. “Wild stories are more of Jason’s thing.”

“Oh really?” Catherine asked. “Do tell.”

“Well, there was that time during our senior trip in California…”

Jason groaned. “Don’t.” Normally, he didn’t care about his reputation, but now wasn’t the time for this particular story.

“What?” Matthew asked. “It wasn’t that bad. Compared to all your other shenanigans later in life.”

“So what happened?” Catherine asked.

“Basically, Jason came up with the idea of sneaking out and breaking into Disneyland after hours.”

“No!” Catherine laughed. “Really?”

“Yes. He shifted, flew over the fence, and then turned off the security system.”

“Did he get caught?” Christina asked.

“Oh yeah, the cameras caught him,” Matthew said. “Mom and Dad swooped in and saved the day, of course. Grounded both of us for a month.”

“Both of you?” Catherine exclaimed. “Why?”

“Because he wouldn’t rat me out,” Jason said. “They couldn’t tell which one of us did it, though they both knew it was probably me.”

“And why would you do that?” Catherine asked.

Matthew laughed. “Because Jason did it for me.”

“He what?”

“I was the good kid, you know? Stayed at home to do homework. Straight A student.” Matthew said. “Never did anything crazy or stupid. And I told him that it was the one thing I admired about him—not the stupid part, of course.”

“Thanks,” Jason said sarcastically.

“It was also the one thing I regretted. Not letting go and just being a kid. We were graduating that spring, after all.” He gave Jason a warm smile. “And so Jason pretended to be me, snuck everyone into Disneyland, and basically everyone thought I was the coolest guy in school when we got back.”

“Awww,” Catherine said. “That’s so sweet.”

“You also scored with Jenny Davis on Space Mountain,” Jason pointed out.

“It was ‘It’s a Small World’ actually,” Matthew corrected.

“Oh really?” Catherine asked, her brow raised.

“That was a long time ago, sweetheart.” He gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Besides,” he turned back to Jason. “I know what you did with Carmen Perez on the Jungle Cruise.”

Jason laughed. “Touché.”

The rest of the evening didn’t turn out so badly. The food was excellent, as always. Meg had prepared roast lamb with rice and vegetables, plus bread pudding with ice cream for dessert. Matthew and Catherine kept the conversation going, and if they noticed that Christina and Jason weren’t speaking to each other directly, they didn’t say anything.

The thought irritated him. He was right beside her, but it was like he wasn’t even there. His dragon must really be fucked up if this woman was supposed to be his mate. She was civil enough, but again, it was the indifference that was driving him crazy.

“Do you want to stay for a nightcap?” Matthew asked when they finished putting away the dishes. Meg, Christopher, and the rest of the staff had retired long ago, and so they had to clean up after themselves.

“Nah, I should head home.”

“Okay, but let me walk you out.” Matthew then turned to Christina and Catherine. “And you girls?”

“We have wedding stuff to do,” Catherine said. “I need to go over a few things with Christina.”

“All right, you go ahead then.” He gave Catherine a quick kiss and then the girls left. “Did you find anything else about the accident?” Matthew asked as they walked out of the east wing.

Jason shook his head. “No, nothing new. I can’t talk to our guys yet, they were recovering when I got there. Maybe tomorrow.”

“Keep me posted.”

They reached the front door, but before Jason could open it, Matthew cleared his throat. “Wait.”

“Yes?” he asked impatiently.

“There’s one more thing we should talk about.”

“What?”

“Christina.”

“There’s nothing to talk about,” Jason said. “I should get going.” But, as he opened the door, Matthew reached over his shoulder and slammed it shut. “What the hell?”

“Jason, we need to talk about this.”

“About what, exactly?” he asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

“About what happened. And the fact that she can tell us apart.”

“I told you, it was a fluke.”

“Then why do you shut down every time we mention her name? And why has your dragon been difficult the past few weeks? Don’t deny it.”

“It’s nothing,” he said defensively.

“Look, if she’s your mate—”

“She’s not,” he said flatly.

“But what if she is? Why are you denying yourself? Why would you deny her the chance to have a mate and share love—”

“First of all,” Jason said, cutting him off. “This is none of your business. Second, in case you didn’t notice, she hates me.” And that truth cut him deep.

“She does not—”

“Will you let me finish? Lastly, I don’t need a mate. I don’t want a mate.” He huffed. “My life is fine the way it is.”

“Is it?” Matthew asked. “Running around screwing girls left and right, spinning your wheels? Is that what you want the rest of your life?”

“For God’s sake, are you going to turn into one of those married people? The one who thinks everyone should be paired off and pop out a bunch of kids and live happily ever after?”

“I don’t mean to judge you,” Matthew said. “Hell, you were the one who told me to go after Catherine, remember? I just thought, I’ve never been happier in my whole life, and that’s all thanks to her. Is it wrong that I want that for you? My own brother?”

Jason sighed. “I am happy, the way I am. I don’t want things to change.”

Matthew shook his head in resignation. “Fine, I won’t press it.”

“Good.” But Jason didn’t feel any relief. In fact, the heaviness pressing on his chest grew. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Goodnight, Matthew.”

“Goodnight, Jason.”