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M ated to a Mckenna ?

Yes . It was Drago who responded, reminding Kai that her mental shields were still wide open.

Aodh turned and looked at her. Really looked at her as if he were seeing her for the first time. However, not just her, but perhaps all the way back to her great-great-great...so many greats, Grandmother Jaseena.

He raised his free hand and cupped her cheek as his blue-opal gaze held hers. The flames that licked in the intense orbs were such a heart-melting blue that they settled her very soul in Aodh’s palm.

“ Myhnn,” Aodh declared in the Drahk language.

For a brief moment, she pressed her cheek into his touch before they refocused on the dragon, who seemed to hold all the answers as it sank deeper into its knoll of exquisite jewels.

Kai turned her focus back to the dragon in the room. Was my grandmother yours? Did you love her?

Drago sighed. His eyes clouded over as if he were gazing back into the past . Yes, I was very fond of her. She was beautiful and unique because she had the warmest heart. She was fierce and willing to stand strong with the man she loved .

“Gracious.” She placed a hand over her heart. It was obvious Drago was dying, but was he dying of a broken heart over her great-grand? Is he my grandfather?

Aodh held her tighter but didn’t answer her question.

No, Draig was, Drago explained. As a matter of fact, the pair of you remind me so much of Draig and Jaseena.

Hearing the other name, Kai felt the burn in her lungs, where her air became trapped. She felt like every time she thought she was beginning to understand something, a ghost pulled the rug from beneath her feet.

Draig. If I recall correctly, he was your brother . Aodh seemed to be doing the same thing she was, trying to fit pieces of the past together. However, he had lived several decades longer than her and hadn’t nearly as many blank spaces in his history.

That’s right, Drago confirmed.

Can you tell us about them? She took a tentative step forward, eager to hear of her familial legacy. There were too many holes, and she wanted them filled.

And the rings. Aodh added as he tightened his hand around hers.

Hmm. A burst of smoke rolled out from the giant creature’s nostrils.

Kai swallowed, not wanting to tax the old Drahk in her enthusiastic need to know everything right now. “If it is too much, maybe we can return another—”

No. As Mckenna knows, I do not have much time left. Drago shifted his immense form. More pearls went rolling, but he brought them back into the fold with an inhuman skill.

Kai knew that just like she’d witnessed with Aodh’s dragon, there was not only reverence for their hearthstone but security as well. When they were near the end, having their hoard close brought them a measure of peace.

I suggest you two settle in for the tale.

Aodh did not hesitate to sweep his foot wide, nudging the many loose jewels scattered around them closer to the beast’s mound. With that complete, the big, powerful leader she had come to know lowered himself to the floor with his legs folded cross-fashion.

The Mckenna’s new position would have been comical or cute in a lesser man, but Aodh’s relaxed pose still gave him the aura of a king on a throne. The man made her breathless.

Aodh patted one thick thigh when she started to assume the same position.

She shook her head. “Aodh...um...” she glanced over at the patient dragon, who once again had rested his head over his front paws, andthen she looked back at Aodh.

As she tried to find a discreet way of reminding him that she was significantly curvy and would be too heavy to sit on his lap for an extended length, her face became heated.

In her mind, it was probably not the best move.

Before she could stop his actions, Aodh tugged her hand, still held firmly, and she tumbled down.

His quick reflexes slowed her rapid descent that would have ended in pain and disaster and brought her down gently.

She found her plump ass cushioned on his thick, muscular thighs.

Kai forced her mind away from thinking about what else she felt under her fleshy rear.

He slipped one hand around her waist, grazing just beneath the edge of her top and brushing over the skin of her stomach, making electric sparks zip through her core.

Kai couldn’t contain the slight shiver at his light touch.

Aodh pulled her back to his hard chest, then used his other hand to brush back her wild, unruly mass, courtesy of the annoying wind of their flight, to provide him with a place to rest his chin along the slope of her shoulder.

“You are my mate and carry my young one. Your comfort is my utmost care,” Aodh whispered for her ears only. “And once we return home, I’ll prove your weight is never too much.”

The heat from her face swelled and swelled through the rest of her body and caused her to go liquid. She sighed as she pressed her thighs together and forced herself to calm her hot response to Aodh until later... much later. She met the gaze of the Wise One. “Tell us, Drago.”

He huffed and swirled the lightest smoke around his big head as he raised it. Draig was my twin brother but the oldest. We were close, like you and Liekki, inseparable for most of our lives...until—

The rough texture of Drago’s voice in her mind was like the aged wood of an old, abandoned farmhouse. Once glorious in its stalwart charm, but with the wear and tear of life, only a splintered wraith remained a memory to the glory.

Even knowing he was in line to be the Mckenna because our uncle only had female offspring, Draig still allotted time to train beside me, and we took lessons together.

I would have been his second when he ruled.

It all began to change after an incident involving a bit of mischief on my part, a mouse in the bed of one of our younger cousins.

I could not go fishing with Draig the morning when he met Jaseena.

The beast’s voice rumbled with the humor of memories past.

She and Aodh remained silent, allowing Drago to tell the story in his way, even as the older male’s voice became saturated with the brogue of his childhood.

Draig confessed to me that he knew she was his from the moment he saw her stretched out on the bank, relaxing under the sun after a swim.

He exhaustively described her with wild heather blooms adorning her array of thick, tight coils, her skin so radiant and brown thatit was as if the Great Spirit Himself had bronzed every lush inch of her uniqueness with the rays from the sun.

I thought he was pulling my leg. We’d seen and bedded more than a few lovely Drahkelles, so I didn’t believe for a moment that a human female could hold a candle.

But, Draig swore itand begged me to keep cover for him so he could meet with her in the early mornin’.

Draig was my womb mate, so it was not a hard favor to commit to, even though I’d try to warn him from seeing the human.

The Mckenna forbade us from intermingling in such a way with humans.

Back then, the Highlander Scots knew of our existence; we kept watch and protection over them until, eventually, even that had to end.

Why? Kai couldn’t keep herself from asking.

The dragon turned and stared at the fire for a moment as he considered, Humans and their damned wars. Will they never cease as such useless destruction?

Kai couldn’t help but agree with Drago’s words. Even the situation her kind was in now was partly due to earth-flaming wars.

The giant beast tucked its wings tight and rolled to his back as he continued, his rich voice thundering along the rough, cavernous ceiling.

It wasn’t hard for Kai to imagine him asa mischievous youth.

For weeks, I’d head out with my brother before dawn and make myself scarce halfway to the water’s edge to allow them privacy.

Draig promised me nothing more was happening with Jaseena besides getting to know her, hand-holding, and a few chaste kisses.

One day, our uncle, the Mckenna, returned to the keep after being away for months trying to assist in negotiations between Scotland and England to prevent a war.

Everyone could taste its sour bite in the air.

Aiden and his men came up on Jaseena, and Draig locked in quite the heated embrace by tale.

Mckenna Aiden was furious. Not because of my brother’s amorous actions.

No. The elders encouraged Drahks to experiment in their third decade, the start of their youth prime.

But Aiden’s wrath was because it was her.

The Mckenna dragged Draig before the council of leaders.

You see, what we didn’t know was that curvy young woman was the eldest daughter of Moorish man Siel, who had been the first-mate to Aiden when he sailed the seas over decades bringing in goods from all over the world to trade.

It was one of the ways the Drakh added to their wealth at the time.

Drago shifted back to his side and gazed at them once more. When our grandfather decided to retire and called Aiden home to take his rightful place as Mckenna, Aiden decided to grant his long-time friend and confidant who knew of Aiden’s shifter truth one wish for his years of service and loyalty.

What did he offer him? Aodh ran a hand over her arms, seemingly absent-mindedly, just his need to touch her.

Kai didn’t mind because she enjoyed their connection.

The ship, his to command, or a section of property in the highlands.

Siel had met and married a woman on the African island of Mauritius and wished nothing more than to retire and build a family with her on land that was theirs.

For more than twenty years, Siel’s small family kept to themselves and lived in peace on the land with the protection of the Drahk, only to have Draig refuse to give up Jaseena and mate a Drahk when it was time for him to assume the mantel of Mckenna.

My brother was more than a little stubborn about what he loved.

Aodh squeezed Kai’s hips.