Page 28 of Lachlan

“Yes, it does, and I will be honored to be so. And it’sourlives, Belle,” he added gently. “Because once we mate, you would be completely faithful to only me, and your lifespan will be matched with my own.”

“Which is how long?”

“Both my parents were over three thousand years old when they died, so I’m a mere babe compared to them.” He chuckled as he guessed Belle’s sudden frown was due to the calculations she was currently making inside her head. He sobered. “However long we live, neither I nor my dragon will ever want to be with anyone else but you. Once the two of us are mated, we will dedicate our lives to only you and your happiness.”

Lachlan could see the tears glistening in Belle’s beautiful blue eyes. It wasn’t difficult to guess the reason for those tears. Belle had been on her own all her life, and the thought of having someone totally devoted to her happiness must appear to her as elusive as that unicorn Hunter had mentioned, waiting for her at the end of a rainbow.

She eyed him cautiously. “Does…what we did earlier”—her cheeks flushed a deep red—“does that mean we’re mated now?”

“No. I would never mate with you without your permission. Besides, you’d know if we’d mated.”

Her eyes widened. “Why, what does the mating involve?”

“Well—” Lachlan broke off, a frown marring his brow as a loud knock sounded on his bedroom door.

He knew before answering it that it was Ranulf standing on the other side of that door.

He could also sense his brother was far from happy.

Whatever Ranulf’s reason was for disturbing them, and Lachlan was sure it must be an important one, now that he had kissed and tasted Belle, intimately touched and caressed her, he didn’twant another man or dragon shifter anywhere near her until their mating was complete.

Probably not even then.

“Wait there,” he told Belle abruptly before moving to open the door.

CHAPTER TEN

Belle instantly bristled, her snort indignant, after hearing Lachlan’s harshly issued instruction.

Bloody arrogant dragon shifter.

Oh God, Lachlan and his brothers were all men who could shift into dragons!

That was going to take a lot of getting used to. If she ever did.

In the meantime, she certainly wasn’t prepared to remain obediently sitting on the bed once Lachlan had opened the door and spoken softly to whoever was outside before then stepping out into the hallway and closing the door behind him.

No doubt as a centuries old dragon shifter, being an alpha male as well as an apex predator, he was used to issuing instructions and having them obeyed.

But Belle was a twenty-first-century woman, one who had determined her own actions and decisions since she was eighteen years old. As such, she had no intention of meekly sitting there waiting for her lord and master to return.

Even so, she was also a twenty-first century woman who made sure her ripped panties were safely stowed in the back pocket of her jeans before she wrenched open the bedroom door to look questioningly at two of the Drake brothers, Ranulf and Lachlan, standing in the hallway.

Finding herself the focus of the sheer intensity of two such powerful males made Belle want to step back into the bedroom and close the door.

Instead, she forced her fingers to tightly grip the side of the open door and remained standing exactly where she was. “Does what the two of you are talking about concern me? Because if it does, I think I should also be present, don’t you?”

“Strong-willed,” the gruff Ranulf admired.

“I prefer to think I’m in control of my own life and actions,” Belle corrected before turning to Lachlan. “Well?”

His smile was rueful. “I’m sorry I ever thought of excluding you.” He sobered. “Ben McGregor has disappeared.”

She stilled. “What do you mean by ‘disappeared’?”

“Gone. Left. No longer visible to the human eye.” Ranulf snorted. “Or the dragon one either, for that matter.”

Belle decided to ignore that reference. She was still having trouble coming to terms with what she’d seen and been told on that subject. For now she needed to concentrate on what was happening now and not what could be. “How do you know Ben has disappeared?”

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