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Apprehension rose swiftly. “What am I acclimating to?”

“Nothing bad. Just a different kind of life.”

He and Lachlan shared another glance, and my unease grew. The events of the night roared back, reminding me how easily they’d subdued me on the roof.

And then Alec had hauled me to the tower and told me I couldn’t leave the room. He’d glowed when he said it, and his words had licked over my skin like an electric current. It wasn’t a sensation I wanted to repeat.

Both men frowned. Alec reached for me. “Chloe—”

“Wait.” I scooted back, tugging the sheet with me. With the harsh light of day filling the room, the atmosphere was different. Gone was the dreamy, seductive night. This was reality, and the men I thought I knew were not human. “I don’t know how any of this works. Are you saying you want a relationship? Or is this mate thing like a marriage?”

Lachlan was utterly still, his golden eyes more serious than I’d ever seen them. Which was saying a lot. His deep voice was just as solemn. “It’s far more than a marriage. The mate bond is permanent.”

“And eternal,” Alec said.

My heart rate picked up. Suddenly, the bed felt smaller with both of them on it. “What do you mean by eternal? Like angels and Heaven?”

Alec shook his head. “Dragons are the only true immortals. We can only die of heartbreak, and even that’s usually a choice. We are very hard to kill.”

Verra. This time, it didn’t make lust shoot through my veins. Heart hammering, I searched his face, for once unmoved by his masculine beauty. “How old are you?”

“A touch over three hundred.”

Oh…my God. He was older than the United States. No wonder he knew so much about the paintings in the long gallery. He’d probably met some of the people in them.

Lachlan’s expression was inscrutable as I turned to him. “And you?”

“A fair bit older than that.”

“How old?”

There was a pause. “Twelve hundred years, lass.”

I gasped. “I am twenty-four years old.”

“Aye,” Alec said. “But you’ll learn age is truly just a number. Especially once you get past the first couple of centuries.”

My pulse fluttered. “So I’m immortal like you now?”

“You will be.” Something dark and possessive flitted through his eyes. “After we claim you.”

“What does that mean?” I swung my gaze between them again, beginning to feel like I was trapped in a neverending ping pong game. Panic stirred in my gut. My family wasn’t religious, but my mother had taken me to St. Patrick’s Cathedral every Christmas as a child. The pomp and pageantry of the mass was beautiful, but I’d spent most of the service staring at the stained glass windows, several of which featured scenes of Heaven. To my child’s brain, the idea of eternity was terrifying. What would I do all day in Heaven? Or eternally mated to a pair of dragons? What if I wanted to leave?

Alec’s eyes flashed. “We settled that question last night, Chloe.”

“You mean after you spanked me?” God, how could I have forgotten that?

Easy. I was busy having multiple orgasms.

He narrowed his eyes. “A mere swat. You were ready to punt my bollocks to Inverness.”

I’m starting to wish I had.

A red-gold eyebrow shot up. “That’s playing dirty, lassie.”

“Stay out of my head!” I scrambled back, and my shoulders bumped wood. Trapped. Again. My chest tightened. “Last night you promised I could leave. But now you’re talking about mates and claiming and immortality. So I need you to level with me.” I pressed against the headboard until it dug into my spine. “Will you let me go?”

The men were quiet, their gazes steady.