CHAPTER 14
Heading upstairs, I’m hesitant to step in the room.
One of the cooks has brought a platter of food, cheeses, crackers, and fresh fruits as well as some weird round pieces of meat and what looks like little colored onions.
Dragus plucks a grape off the tray. I go inside the closet; my clothes are a little damp from walking in the snow.
I slip on some comfy pajamas and walk back out to find them only in shorts having removed their shirts.
My eyes roam over each one of them, and my stomach tightens at the sight of them.
Silas holds out his hand to me, beckoning me over.
“Don’t go back on your word, Elora, or I will, too,” he says.
Placing my hand in his, I let him pull me toward the bed and sit on the edge. I reach over, taking a cube of cheese and a cracker as they were literally the only thing other than the fruit I recognize and start eating with them.
“Try these,” Matitus says, pointing to the round thing that looked like meat and the little onions. He puts them on the cracker with the cheese, popping it in his mouth.
The little green onions feel slimy. I sniff one, but it doesn’t smell like an onion. I pop it in my mouth and nearly spit it out from its weird, tangy taste. It wasn’t horrid but not what I was expecting. Matitus chuckles, doing the same to another cracker and handing it to me.
“You’re supposed to put cheese and cabanossi with it,” he says, handing it to me. “Try it now,” he says as I place the cracker with its strange assortment in my mouth, chewing it slowly and swallowing.
“Taste better?” Silas asks beside me as he lays on his side.
“Yes, better,” I tell him, making another one, copying what Matitus did.
When we finish eating, I become nervous. Will it hurt being marked by them? In the Dragon heat, nothing hurt worse than the burning, so I didn’t even notice Matitus’s initial bite.
“It will only hurt for a second, then it will feel good,” Matitus answers my racing thoughts.
“Can you not do that; I should be allowed the privacy of my own mind,” I tell him, annoyed.
“Fine, I will try not to, okay?” he says, reaching for me as Dragus removes the tray and places it outside the door on the trolley.
“How do I know you will turn the power back on?” I ask, staring at Silas.
“You may not trust me, Elora, but I am not a liar. If you want, though, you can let one of us mark you then the other after the power is back on.”
“Will you allow that?” I ask incredulously, that one of them will wait. It honestly surprised me when he didn’t mark me as soon as I said it.
“Yes, so who first? You can decide,” Silas says.
Looking between both Dragus and Silas, how do I choose without angering the other?
“They won’t be angry,” Matitus says next to my ear, making me look at him.
“Stay out of my head, Matitus,” I tell him.
“Oh, right, forgot.”
“Anyone got a coin, flip for it?” I suggest not wanting to choose between them. Silas stands, digging through his pocket and pulling out a gold coin. He tosses it to me, and I catch it.
“Fine, heads or tails” I ask looking at them.
“Heads” Silas says. Flipping the coin in the air, I catch it, placing it on my arm and lifting my hand.
“Tails, that means you Dragus,” I tell him, looking at him. Dragus smiles devilishly, and his eyes flicker black. He bites his lip as he turns to Silas. Silas doesn’t seem fazed as he sits back down on the bed.
“It won’t hurt for long,” Matitus tells me, invading my thoughts again.
“Oh, my fucking god, are you incapable of listening? Stay out of my fucking head, Matitus,” I tell him slapping his arm.
“I find your thoughts entertaining, little one. Especially your thoughts when I catch you, perve.”
Turning around quickly, I place my hand over his lips so he can’t finish what he is about to say. I can feel him still trying to talk as I press my hand to his mouth, muffling his voice. Matitus snorts and my face goes bright red with embarrassment.
Matitus grips me, lifting me on his chest as he lays back on the bed, pulling me with him. My hands clamped tightly over his full lips.
“Don’t be embarrassed, Elora. I would be more worried if you weren’t attracted to us, because it would mean you don’t feel the bond at all,” Silas says.
Somehow, I don’t think anyone would find them not attractive. They look like sex on legs, with their masculine bodies and godlike looks.
Oh my god, he is listening. I forget to block him from my mind. I feel Matitus quietly chuckle, trying to pry my hands from his face as he goes to blab my thoughts to them.
“Don’t. It’s bad enough you keep invading them,” I tell him. I glare down at him, and he smiles back mischievously.
Moving my hand from his lips, Matitus smirks. “Oh, how will you survive the embarrassment when we can all hear you,” he whispers, gripping my hips as I go to get off him.
I sit up, my legs straddling his waist as he holds me in place.
I can feel his erection growing underneath me and I raise an eyebrow at him and feel Dragus sweep my hair to the side, exposing my neck where Matitus marked me.
I flinch when his fingers brush the mark and tingles spread down my neck and shoulder, making me shiver.
“Just remember what you also promised, Elora. Dragus and Matitus will know if you resist the mate bond,” Silas says, rubbing his hand up my thigh. My heart hammers in my chest at his words and the meaning behind them.
“We won’t force you, Elora. Just don’t deny what you feel,” Matitus says softly, causing me to stare down at him. Silas nods in agreement.
“Aren’t they the same thing though? The mate bond will make me want to even if logically I don’t want to,” I tell them, and they shrug.
“Like I said, we won’t force you, but.”
There is always a but.
“We will know if you don’t want to. We just don’t want you to deliberately shove what you feel aside because you don’t want to be with us. Make sense?”
“Not really,” I tell him, and he softly chuckles.
Dragus presses into my back as he kneels behind me, his knees on either side of mine, straddling Matitus.
Fear consumes me when I feel his breath on the back of my neck.
His arm snakes around my waist, pulling me against him and I forget how to breathe as my heart beats so hard and erratically that I can hear it.
Dragus moves his hand to under my shirt. Matitus’s hands run up my thighs and under the pajama shorts I have on. His hands stop at the apex of my legs as he brushes his thumbs against my hips.
“Breathe, Elora. It will only hurt for a second. I promise,” Matitus says making my gaze snap to his. I take a deep breath as I feel the points of his fangs press against my skin. Silas sits up and places a hand on Dragus’s shoulder, gripping it tightly.
“Just a precaution,” he whispers. Silas has said before that Matitus and Dragus can sometimes struggle with control, and I know that’s why he has grabbed him.
The thought scares me. But I don’t have enough time for that fear to completely register as his teeth break through my skin over Matitus mark.
I scream and squirm for a second while Matitus’s grip and Dragus holds me in place.
His teeth slice through my skin. It hurts but doesn’t last long when, all of a sudden, a pull, like an elastic band snapping into place, links us together.
I feel his tongue roll over my skin and pleasure explodes throughout me as I lean into him.
A moan escapes me and my body relaxes against him, my head rolling back onto his shoulder.
I feel a little high from his bite when he pulls back. I can feel through the bond the struggle he actually has, but he forces himself because he doesn’t want to hurt me. His teeth leave my skin and he runs his tongue over it, making me shiver. He seals the mark then kisses the side of my face.
Dizziness rushes over me, and my head spins as I feel him move away, and I slump against Matitus, feeling sleepy. I can feel his venom spreading throughout my body. I don’t remember feeling this when Matitus bit me.
“It’s because Dragus isn’t a pure Dragon. One mark has little effect on your body, Elora. Two will make you feel tired, and Silas may just knock you out for a few days,” Matitus answers my thoughts as I allow my eyelids to flutter closed. I try to nod my head when sleep consumes me.