Page 25 of The Alliance

He snorted. “Yeah, thanks for reminding me, Dum. I was trying to have a moment here.”

I’d ruined that moment, of course, but I’d done it deliberately. Matty’s voice was stronger again and there was a strain of amusement running through it.

I slid my hands down his back to his taught little ass and squeezed.

“Do you want to have a moment in our bedroom?”

“Is that all you think about?”

I considered, breathing in his scent while I did so.

“NotallI think about. But you have been cock-teasing me all day by looking all stern and annoyed.”

“Is that what does it for you, huh?”

“No, I’m just saying that youhavelooked all stern and annoyed all day. And you’re hot. Maybe the two are unconnected.”

The two were connected. He’d been looking pissed-off and protective of his brother, and that always made me hard. No idea why. But I was hoping Matty would drag me back to our room and ride me until I thought I’d die of pleasure.

To my delight – and, I admit, my surprise – he did just that.

Chapter 10

Seren

Gramps had been planning this party for weeks and we’d all been roped into helping at some point. Morgan and I had spent hours telling him about the Somervilles and Dane and Lew had sat with us and listened.

It had been a huge relief, if I were honest. To finally tell my mate and my new family all about my birth clan.

I hadn’t been able to share it before. I’d been keeping just one thing secret, but it had been a big secret, weighing me down with the weight of the lie and the danger it posed to my family.

Alexander had been a golden dragon.

That was it, really. That was the sum total of the secret, but it was enough.

If people had found out about that, they would have worked the rest out for themselves.

They’d have realised that the old Lord Somerville had expected his next son, Morgan, to be a golden dragon, too. And he’d been bitterly disappointed when he was plain silver like the rest of us.

And, naturally, because he’d been a massive dickhead, he’d taken out that disappointment on Morgan by sending him away, claiming he needed to earn his keep.

If anyone had known about Alexander, they could have worked out the next most obvious thing, too, which was that there was another son who could inherit that power.

Telling anyone about it – even my own mate – was too dangerous.

That kind of power was feared and where there was fear, there was violence. I’d kept my secret locked inside me, waiting for Alfie to shift so we’d know one way or the other. Whether he was silver or gold.

Now he’d shifted, the secret was out.

For the first time, I told Gramps everything he wanted to know about the Somervilles withoutwithholding anything. It was helped by the fact that I could feel the relief pouring off Dane, too. He’d been keeping a secret, in his own way, too.

Dane and Glimmer were surprisingly close. I got the impression that Glimmer held him responsible for giving him access to the power he had, the power he used to protect his family. That ability to protect his clan was the most important thing for Glimmer, and it was why he allowed Dane to slip into the territory or draw him out of it when he would never have allowed it for anyone else. He owed Dane.

Dane admitted he’d been in contact with Glimmer, and somehow Nana didn’t burn him alive, which is what he’d said she’d do. I didn’t believe it for a second, but Dane had sounded convincing when he’d been worrying about it.

He seemed to think Nana was strict, which I kind of got, since she was a dragon elder and all and I wouldn’t cross her, given the chance. However, I’d grown up with the old Lord Somerville as my elder and I knew what it was really like to fear my elder. To know that I had no intrinsic value, other than what I could bring to his clan.

I never felt that way with Nana. Even if I never did anything at all to make her clan stronger, she’d let me stay. She’d value me as a person.

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