Page 11 of Not a Pawn (Tales of the Dreggageggon #2)

Taking Her Sweet Time

Sebastian

I sleep alone even though I never thought I would again. Correction, I roll around in my bed alone because sleeping is the last thing I want to do. My dragon is on edge knowing our mate may choose to leave us behind. The bastard wants free reign to claim what is ours and I have to fight to keep him contained.

He isn’t wrong, though. I want to stomp down the hallway and pin Harlow to the bed beneath me, fucking her into submission until she gives in and agrees to stay here forever. But I won’t.

Instead, I lie here and wallow in the fact that the only woman I want may not want me. She may not want either of us.

Soft footsteps pull me out of my sulking as the woman in question makes her way down the hallway before slowly pushing open my bedroom door. I stare at her, standing there bathed in the light from the hallway dressed in pink sleep shorts that caress the thighs and a white tank top that does nothing to hide the fact that she isn’t wearing a bra.

“Are you sleeping?” Harlow asks softly.

I chuckle wishing I could tell her the truth, but I don’t want to pressure her, so I tell her a half truth instead. “I’ve always been a light sleeper.”

“Can we talk?”

“Sure.” I move over, patting a spot on the bed beside me.

She sits with her legs crossed as she stares at me. For the longest time neither of us speaks.

“What if I can’t choose between you?”

“Choose?” I raise a brow.

“Yes, choose,” she says with a roll of her eyes.

I stare at her in disbelief as I call out to my twin with our mind link. “Get it here. Now.”

“Little one,” I say taking her hand in mine. “You need to explain what you mean.”

“In all the stories we are told as children each person gets one fated mate.” Her voice sounds so sad, all I want to do is hug her. “I don’t know if I can choose between you and Julian.”

A tear tracks down her face and I can feel her heartache as if it was my own. I gently wipe away the moisture from her cheek with my thumb.

Julian wraps his arms around her from behind as a small sob escapes our mate. He lets her cry for a minute before picking her up. He takes a seat on the bed beside me, his back against the headboard as he cradles Harlow to his chest.

“You don’t have to choose,” he says wiping away her fresh bout of tears. “You never have to choose between us.”

“Then I’ll lose you both.” Her words are filled with sadness, and I don’t know what to do to fix this.

“Harlow, take a minute. For hundreds of years there have not been fated mates or female dragons. Hell, we are the only living identical twins that anyone knows of. None of this is following a set of rules.”

“I don’t understand,” she says staring first at him and then at me.

“Do you know why each dragon only gets one fated mate?” I ask. She shakes her head, and I explain. “Our dragons are insanely jealous. They are hoarders of treasure and the greatest treasure any Alpha or dragon could ever have is his or her fated mate. Dragons will tear each other to shreds if they are forced to share anything.”

“That’s exactly what I am afraid of.”

“But Sebastian and I have been sharing everything since before we were born. We shared a womb. Our dragons are two halves of a whole.”

Understanding dawns on her and she gasps loudly. “You want to share me? Not just for a night or a week but always?”

****

Is That Relief?

Harlow

“I need you to listen to me carefully, Harlow,” Julian says sternly. “We never intended to keep you for a night or a week. Since the moment we scented you, laid eyes on you, both of us knew you were it, our forever. The only person that can ever keep us apart is you.”

“I don’t want to keep us apart.” The relief I feel at knowing I don’t have to choose between them is palpable.

“Did you really think we would make you choose?” Sebastian asks with a frown. “After what the three of us did together?”

“I don’t know what I was thinking,” I confess. “I just knew I wanted you both.”

“Well, isn’t this just sweet enough to rot your teeth?”

The voice has fear and revulsion crawling up my spine.

Marco Pezzo. Shit.

Julian quickly turns and flips me between him and Sebastian, protecting me from the threat none of us saw coming. I can feel the anger vibrating off both the men beside me, and I can feel their rage even more clearly through our bond.

All of us have heightened senses even if mine are still brand new, and we should have heard or smelled him before he even made it halfway through the house. But we are all distracted trying to sort out the mess of our mating.

“Sorry to interrupt this moment but you have something that belongs to me,” he says from the doorway.

I push myself upright to see what is happening, even though I know neither of my mates will be happy about it. But I need to know what is going on.

I stare at Marco, a man I used to find unfairly handsome. In the place of the man I met just two weeks ago is someone, something completely different. It looks like he got stuck mid-shift, half-dragon, half-charred human. And the smell of burnt flesh hangs in the air, unmissable now that I know he is here.

Strangely, my dragon finds this monster appealing, knowing our mates did this for us. They took one of the most feared and powerful Alphas in the realm and destroyed him. Like a disturbing gift from our loves.

“There is nothing here for you,” I say flatly. “And if you want to live past this moment, I suggest you leave.”

Marco glares at me while pride comes off my men in waves. And that is what they are. My men. Once we get rid of this minor inconvenience, we will be solidifying our mating and nothing will ever be able to keep us apart again.

“Still a mouthy bitch I see,” Marco sneers. “Not to worry. What these two couldn’t fix, I will beat out of you.”

I smile brightly at the idiot standing in the doorway. “You have no idea how I look forward to you trying.”

Sebastian jumps out of bed, fully intent on killing Marco for the way he is speaking to me, but is stopped dead in his track when Marco levels a gleaming gun at his chest.

“I wouldn’t try anything, Sebastian,” he says angrily. “You and your brother have been a thorn in my side for long enough and I won’t be caught off guard again. Tonight, both of you will die and I will claim my prize.”

“You’re only one man,” Julian says casually. “Actually, it looks like you’re only half a man. Did you try to shift before putting out the fire?”

Sebastian chuckles and a shot is fired. My mate falls to the ground, blood pooling beneath his leg. I fall from the bed even as Julian tries to hold me back. The moment I am beside Bas I can feel my dragon pushing to get out, to defend her mates and destroy this insignificant little man.

I glare at him. “You are going to regret that.”

“I doubt it,” Marco replies casually. “Tonight, I will take out two of my greatest enemies and you will be the spoils.”