The morning had come far too early and Antonio found himself none too appreciative of it. He’d called a car to be delivered to the cabin – his private getaway kept off-limits from the rest of the family – finding it arriving promptly. Despite Julie’s good humor, or relative approximation of it when he plucked her into the skies in his talons and carried her to the house, he figured she would appreciate being delivered back home in more comfort.

“Are they going to stay there?” Julie asked, eyeing the two men from the Capirelli security detail that had come to drop off the car, now hovering quietly around their own black Jeep and attempting to be inconspicuous.

“Unless I tell them that I will burn them and their entire lineage to char, likely, yes,” he said, sparing them a glance as he shuffled Tony into the safety seat in the back.

He had no doubt his mother had made it well and truly clear to the men that if they returned without him in tow, there would be hell to pay. Now it was a simple matter of who they were afraid of more, the matriarch or the future king. By the looks on their faces, they were equally terrified of both, which was the only wise place to be.

“Is this how it always is with you? Constantly watched and kept guard of?” Julie asked with a sigh, the look in her eyes speaking of compassion and discomfort.

It was a life one got used to, and one that Julie clearly was not yet accustomed to.

“It becomes second nature, carrying yourself like someone’s always watching. Until you break and then the reckless side takes over,” he told her, slipping his arm around her waist before she could clamber into the passenger seat and pulled her close to him.

“We shouldn’t,” she whispered almost against his lips, though she was smiling the same secretive smile that Antonio was.

“Let them see,” he said, leaning in for a kiss. “Let them all see.”

It was torture letting her go for even a minute when their kiss ended and Julie took her seat. Giving one more glance to the duo set to tail him, Antonio exhaled heavily, readying himself for more than one battle when he reached home. These were fights that had to be fought, though he loathed the fact that he knew he would be leaving broken hearts in his wake.

His mother would certainly be waiting, as was probably Rossella. The sooner he could take care of all of this, the better.

The drive was uneventful, nearly two hours separated from the main villa. What made it breeze past though, was Julie’s palm on his thigh and the way her fingers scrabbled over the inseam of his slacks every now and then. She sent shudders through him without even trying, his dragon contentedly purring away within him.

Never had he felt such tension and relaxation at the same time. A dragon could get used to that.

As predicted, there was an entourage waiting for his arrival at the villa, though it was nearing dusk and dinner time for the family.

“It will be alright,” he told Julie, squeezing her palm encouragingly as she gave him a worried look. “I will make it all okay.”

“Where have you been?” Amira asked immediately as Antonio stepped out of the car.

“A prince does not need to answer one’s mother, especially when she knows where I was,” he snarled in response, making Amira’s mouth thin into a strict line.

Rossella was standing next to the older dragon, practically shaking in her spot. She’d never looked quite so furious and if she thought the innocent, worried expression she had plastered over her expression was fooling him, she would have another thing coming. No person who offered to drive away what was so important to him could be thought of as even adjacent to innocence.

“Come, Julie,” he said, opening the door for his mate and helping her out.

Together, they took Tony out of the seat, sleeping soundly after the long ride, and he put his palm on the small of her back as he led her up the steps of the house.

“Do you not intend to give your fiancée an explanation of what you’ve been doing?” Amira demanded as he passed by the two fuming women with Julie.

“I believe Rossella has an explanation owed to me instead,” he commented coolly.

He gently pushed Julie forward as they made it to the front door, motioning for her to get inside. This was no place for a human to be. With three dragons sizing up against one another, even if no actual aggression was expected, things could get heated.

“I love you,” he whispered in her ear before he closed the door behind her.

He saw the way she mouthed ‘I love you,’ back at him through the glass, drawing a smile from him.

“You what?” Rossella hissed, her eyes wide and pure gold. “Did you hear what he said!? He loves her! You can’t love her, you love me!”

She was mere seconds from hysterics. Antonio did not need to be told how much an alliance between the Simonettis and the Capirellis would mean, it had been drilled into him from his youth as an unquestionable fact. Yet he had no intention whatsoever of following along with this anymore. Not after he’d found and now barely managed to hold onto Julie.

Their respective families would simply have to find a way to get on with their lives without this ‘sacred’ union of pureblooded dragons.

Just as he was about to say all of that, in likely less than kind terms, the door was thrown open and Giovanni appeared, looking relieved that the courtyard was not yet set aflame.

“Antonio, explain yourself!” Amira screeched.

As much as Antonio loved his kin, there were times like this one in particular when he wished he could chuck most of them in a dungeon and throw away the key.

“I will speak to him, mother!” Giovanni called, giving their mother a stern look, while he hooked his arm around Antonio’s and pulled him inside, out of hearing range of Rossella and Amira. “I saw Julie. She looked… aglow. Is there something you wish to tell me, brother?” he asked, leading Antonio up the stairs toward one of the smaller studies.

Antonio let himself be carted off willingly, gladly choosing his brother’s company over that of his fiancée and mother at the moment. He had expected this to be problematic, considering that the wedding was set in motion more than a decade ago and the plans were made back when the patriarch of the Capirelli family was still Antonio’s father, but he had not been prepared for how little it took to get him to snarl in pure rage at those who were supposed to care about his happiness and not only the good of their names.

“Nothing that shouldn’t be said to the whole family,” Antonio said as the door closed behind the pair of brothers.

Instead of finding himself alone with Giovanni, Antonio came face to face with Rosa, the younger sister of Rossella. He stopped in his tracks, frowning as he looked from the younger Simonetti to his brother.

“Is there something I should know?”

“There is,” Giovanni said, his cool airs evaporating slightly as he moved to stand next to Rosa, his arm snaking around the woman’s shoulders.

While Rosa shared her sister’s good looks, she had always struck Antonio as a sweeter, milder soul, which of course still made her a firebreathing dragon of a woman. As she was the younger of the two, Rosa had fared much the same fate as Giovanni had – though an integral part of the family, she would always be in the shadow of the one that came first.

Antonio’s brows knit together as he waited for his younger brother to find his words, but the situation unraveled itself for him soon enough. His expression cleared and his lips curved into a smile as Rosa touched her hand to Giovanni’s chest, urging him to speak.

They’re lovers.

“We’ve been meaning to speak of this, but with the wedding coming, it seemed futile,” Giovanni started, looking down at Rosa with pure affection in his eyes.

No wonder my little brother was so eager to help me find Julie.

“We’ve known for a few years now,” Rosa said, implying the obvious – that they were mates.

“And you couldn’t say anything because with my marriage to Rossella, you would not be allowed to wed,” Antonio finished, grinning wide.

“That’s correct,” Giovanni agreed, his posture relaxing slightly as he read Antonio’s expression.

“You should have told me sooner,” Antonio admonished as the two brothers met in the middle of the room in a tight hug, Antonio clapping his younger sibling on the back with a heavy palm. “Things could have been changed! The family needs a full bloodline marriage, it does not have to be mine.”

“That’s not exactly what history says,” Rosa started, gnawing on her lower lip slightly.

“History is written by the victors,” Antonio scoffed, moving to the petite woman to embrace her as well. “And as you have won my brother’s heart, it will be you who gets to dictate the rules.”

This was splendid news. There would be no feud as the two families would be tied regardless, sating if not satisfying Amira, and both Antonio and Giovanni could have what they desired. Of course, there would be the matter of a non-dragon mate for Antonio, but he was more than ready to bury anyone who dared question who fate had chosen as his mate.

There was no question left now. Fate had planned this for him, and he would grab hold with both hands and never let go. His mind had been made up before, but now all the splinters were coming back together.

“You two will be marvelously happy,” he announced, watching Giovanni pull Rosa to him in a show of possessive affection that Rosa seemed to absolutely revel in.

“I’m glad you approve,” Giovanni said, obviously breathing a sigh of relief.

“Approve? I endorse this with every fiber of my being! If only you had told me before, brother…”

“We weren’t sure that Julie was really out there, or that mother would not shred her to fine dust the moment she appeared.”

“What would you have done if I had married Rossella, then?” Antonio asked, cocking a brow at both of them.

The young lovers shared a look and Antonio knew what the answer was before they spoke it.

“We would have run away together.”

The fact that both of them were willing to leave their fortunes for one another was all the testament anyone would have needed that these two were meant to be. Before Antonio could truly come to appreciate it though, a scream rattled him to the bone.

It was Julie.