“You can seduce me after you tell me what I want to know.”

He simmered at me. He positively simmered, his eyes molten, his body a temptation that I had to steel myself to ignore. “I can think of other things I’d rather do, naked things, than talking about the blue dragons.”

I rubbed my head. My body was demanding I give in to him, but my brain wanted answers.

Sometimes brains are overrated.

“Please, Drake,” I said, teetering on the verge of desire. “I hate being kept out of things. Please just tell me, and then I promise I’m all yours.”

“You’re all mine right now,” he growled, pouncing on me with his usual feline grace. His lips burned mine for a moment before he kissed a fiery path to my collarbone, his tongue swirling around the sept brand he’d burnt there. “The situation isn’t clear because Bastian is by right wyvern. Fiat never formally challenged him for the sept.”

I shivered again and pulled his shirt out of his pants so I could slide my hands under it, my fingers dancing along the long, strong lines of his back. “Which would mean that Bastian wouldn’t have to challenge Fiat, because he was already wyvern? Hallelujah! But why is Fiat still claiming to be wyvern then?”

“His claim is that Bastian wasn’t formally named wyvern. Aisling…” Drake pulled back enough to look me in the eye just as I was nibbling on his delectable earlobe. “Fiat has many followers in the sept. This will likely divide the sept between those members who are loyal to Fiat and those who are loyal to Bastian.”

“Oh, no. That would be horrible. Those poor people. Is there anything we can do to help Bastian?”

He shook his head. “No. Intra-sept struggles are beyond my reach. It must be for them to resolve.”

“But Fiat has so much power, and he’s been around the last hundred or so years, so everyone is more familiar with him than with Bastian. If we don’t help Bastian, I’m going to be stuck with Fiat!” My voice rose on the last few words, despair my companion again.

“I will not allow that. Kincsem…it has not been easy for me, this last month. I have not liked involving myself in sept business without you.”

I nuzzled his neck, holding him tight against the pain that stung within me. “I know. It hurts.”

His lips were hot on my flesh. “I would not hurt you for all my treasure. And now that I know what the situation is with Fiat, I will take action.”

“What sort of action?” I asked, nibbling his jaw, unable to resist the lure of his sexy self. “Are you going to challenge him for me? Lusus naturae?”

“No.”

The word pierced my heart like a dagger.

“Do not look at me that way,” Drake said, pressing his forehead against mine. “I am not betraying you, Aisling. But a challenge with Fiat would not serve the purpose. He would take extreme steps to ensure that he did not lose you, and I am not willing to risk him harming you.”

The pain eased as I acknowledged the truth of what he said. Fiat wouldn’t hesitate to destroy me utterly if he thought Drake stood a chance of winning me back. “What are you going to do if you can’t challenge him?” I asked, ashamed of the pathetic tone of misery in my voice.

Drake smiled. His lips curled up, and his eyes went dragon as the smile grew in a way that made me thankful he was on my side. “I am wyvern of the green dragons.”

“Yeah, so?”

“Such a look of confusion in your beautiful face. What do green dragons do best?”

“You’re not going to make love to him,” I said, scandalized for a moment even though I knew Drake couldn’t mean that.

He gave me a long-suffering look. “Hardly.”

“Well, good. Because I told you once I don’t share, not even with another guy, although I have to admit that…um…never mind.”

One of Drake’s eyebrows rose. “Such unplumbed depths to you. I’m afraid that particular fantasy will never be fulfilled. I hold what is mine. No others will have you.”

I smiled at the slightly outraged glint in his eyes. “Don’t worry, it’s not a fantasy. I always kind of wondered what it would be like to have so much attention, but then I met you, and, well, I don’t think I could survive more attention than what you give me.”

“That was the correct answer,” he said, his voice rich with smugness.

“Uh-huh. OK, so back to Fiat…” I pulled my mind from the delightful sensations Drake’s hands and mouth were giving me, and thought hard. If he couldn’t challenge Fiat, what could he do? Drake was a man of many talents, but I couldn’t think of one that would help him get me back without some sort of fight between him and Fiat.

And then the penny dropped.

I started laughing, causing Drake to pause as he unbuttoned my shirt. “Figured it out, did you?”

“I’m allowed to be a bit slow. I’ve had a hell of a day. So, my darling green dragon…what treasure of Fiat’s are you going to steal?”

20

“Here I am! Sorry I’m late, but I had a bit of trouble locating your secret clubhouse. Did I miss anything good?”

Three of the four male faces in the room turned to me with astonishment. The fourth shook his adorable head resignedly. “We have not yet started. Out of idle curiosity, how did you find this room?”

I donned my most haughty look as I perched myself on the arm of his comfy leather chair. “You expect me to reveal my Guardian secrets? Ha! I think not, plebeian!”

Drake’s eyes narrowed in thought. “Ah. The ward at the entrance.”

“Dead giveaway,” Jim said, plunking itself down in front of a small fireplace that was merrily blazing.

I nodded, patting Drake on the head. “No one binds a perdu ward on a bookcase unless they have something to be concealed. So when I knew you were in the house but couldn’t find you, I decided it was time to investigate that bookcase. What’s going on?”

“If I told you that we were conducting sept business…” Drake’s eyebrow rose meaningfully.

I pushed it back down with the tip of my finger. “I wouldn’t believe you. For one thing, you don’t hide when you have sept business. And for another, you would have just told me if that’s what you were doing.”

He smiled. “I had a feeling you would see through both the hidden entrance to this room and that objection. As it happens, we are discussing strategy.”