Page 16 of Not a Pawn

And then he too is gone. My entire world has been turned upside down by these two men and now I don’t know which way is up. I do know I can feel their sadness at the thought of me walking away. I know how hard it must be for them to go against their nature, and words will never express how grateful I am for the opportunity to make my own choice. Even if I’m sure I already know what I will decide.

Chapter Eleven

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 twohalves 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?”

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