Page 12 of The Alliance

As we kissed, his scent got deeper and deeper until all I wanted was to strip him down and devour him.

“Definitely bedroom,” he said, when we finally broke apart. Then he leaned his mouth down to my ear and spoke quietly so that nobody but us would hear. “I want to take that plug out of you.”

It might not have been entirely fair play on my part, but my dragon was happy to finally get to take our mate to our room, which was safe and contained and where we could defend our mate and keep him naked and safe.

I hurried him up there before he could see anyone else he wanted to question. He’d have time for that later. For today, he was mine.

Chapter 5

Prince

Ipaused before entering the dining room, suddenly afraid.

Behind me, I felt Darren’s presence as he drew close. If it had been me behind him, and he’d stopped as suddenly as I had, I’d have walked right into him and spilled spaghetti all down his back. Good thing my mate was totally cool and in control, then, wasn’t it?

“What’s the matter, Prince?”

“Um, nothing.”

Darren had his hands full, since he was carrying a large bowl of pasta, just like I was, so he didn’t wrap his arms around me. Otherwise I’m pretty sure he’d have held me tightly and then I’d just have to tell him.

He lowered his voice, which meant nobody could hear us but also meant that he sounded slightly growly and sexy.

“Everything is going to go well, Prince. We’ve been working on it all afternoon.”

“I know. You don’t think I could poison anyone, do you? Because that would be really bad for an alliance if I kill off one of the Somervilles by mistake.”

“You can’t poison a dragon. And I’ve watched you all the time you were in the kitchen, Prince, so there’s no chance you put anything in the food that I don’t know about.”

When he said it like that, it really did sound obvious. And I got a warm glow in my belly that my mate had watched me so closely. His patience was unending and he made me feel safe.

“Right, okay then. I’m going out.”

I stood up straight so that nobody would realise I was nervous and then I marched forward.

“Wait!”

Darren’s sudden order made me stop dead in my tracks. I stood absolutely still.

And only just in time.

I felt the press of a small, furry, feline body against my ankles and peered over the side of the serving bowl in my arms. Morgan’s cat, Frosty, was winding round my legs.

Darren raised his voice and called, “Hannah, will you please come and get Frosty?”

There were a few thuds and a scrape and then the door opened and Hannah came out of the dining room, looking waaaay too innocent. She’d been meant to lock Frosty out of the kitchen but hadn’t. She scooped the cat up and I grinned at her.

Once the cat was gone and I was not in danger of tripping over it, I shot a look of gratitude to my mate and then proceeded to walk slowly into the dining room, praying with every step that I didn’t trip over thin air and dump Bolognese sauce over one of the very grand-looking Somervilles.

By the time everything was on the table, my knees were wobbling and I wanted to collapse with relief. Not a drop of sauce spilled on anyone.

Dane’s deep voice growled out, “This smells delicious, Prince.”

That made me smile. “It should – it’s Darren’s secret recipe.”

He’d told me early on that his grandma was Italian and he made three Italian dishes, and we’d tried all of them.

Darren stood beside me, a solid presence, and said, “He makes it better than I do now.”

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