this was real or if she was back on Earth, shut
away in some asylum. Given the choice, she
would be here with them--mad or not.
Brandy let the two men lead her along the
dance floor, pressing against her, knowing she
was the final female in the famed Triads formed to
fight the Banarts and Hienials. She knew the two
men holding her must be her mates. She lusted for
them.
Even from the beginning, when she'd first seen
them shift from their dragon forms to stride to the
group she stood with, she wanted to make love to
them. She had watched the males, her tongue
practically hanging from her mouth as they both
strode confidently toward her group. Her
mythical beloved dragons...
"And now we have come," Kaylen said,
stepping away so Damir could turn her in their
arms to face Kaylen. She looked up into his perfect
face and knew she must have truly died and gone
to heaven. That these two very handsome,
powerful men would want her--even with her too
tall, too curvy body that bordered on chunky.
She deliberately looked up, meeting his gaze.
She knew her unusual eyes were her best feature.
The iris, a striking deep shade of violet, rimmed
with the thinnest ring of grey; her lids framed by
thick blonde lashes. Her brothers had commented
too many times on the uniqueness of her eyes for
her to not realize they were, by far, her best asset.
It was just too bad the rest of her body wasn't so
special.
Damir pressed up against her rear, his hands
moving over her thighs. "What is wrong with
your body, aliante?" He once again ran his hands
over her hips. Reaching around, he pressed one
hand against her rounded belly. "You are perfect."
Kaylen's eyes narrowed. A red haze formed
over the whites of his eyes. "Who here has told
you that you are anything but perfect?" His right
hand moved up to cup her cheek when she would
have looked away. Tears slid from her eyes and he
thumbed them away before leaning forward and
lightly brushing her lips with his. "Do not look
away in shame, aliante. You are perfect in every
way." His free hand moved to join Damir's at her
hips. "Your full hips tell us you are capable of
bearing many children." His left hand traveled
from her hip to her full breast. "Your ample
breasts tell us you will feed our children well.
Your height--yes you are tall for a woman--only
tells us you will bear us tall sons and daughters,
those who will grow even stronger than Damir
and me one day." He leaned forward to kiss her
tears away. "Never think you aren't ideal in every
way."
Damir pressed more firmly against her rear.
"Now I would like to know who it was that made
you feel less than wonderful, mate. I shall correct
their opinion immediately."
"It was no one on this world." She let them pull
her from the dance floor, escorting her to an
empty balcony, which faced the palace gardens.
When they reached the stairs, she took the lead,
taking them to the center fountain where the water
sprayed in a rainbow of color. It was one of the
places where she felt the most comfortable.
"You know I am not Lioni." She trailed her
hand through the warm water and waited for
them to acknowledge her statement. At their nods,
she continued around the fountain and let her
memories take her back to her home world. "You
would never believe the number of women on my
home world. I think we are more numerous than
men, though I can't be sure." She swiped at a tear
she swore she'd never shed and called herself
weak for it. "When my father found me," she
turned and added, "the father you know, he found
me with two things, other than the filthy clothes
on my back."
She reached down inside her blouse to pull the
pendant from between her breasts. "This pendant
in a box that my parents made me promise to keep
with me always and a magazine with a picture of
my mother on the front. She was a model. The
world considered her beautiful. She realized too
late that her career drew rabid fans and religious
fanatics to us and she sent me out alone to find my
grandmother. My father went in another direction
with a bunch of my dirty clothes wrapped up in a
blanket to keep them from finding me. It wasn't
until I got here I realized that it was our current
enemies looking for me.
"Anyway, the Lioni men found me several
weeks later, starving to death in a ditch with my
box and magazine clutched in my hands. They
have been nothing but kind to me. No one here
has made me feel less than what I am, only that
one magazine from my home-world where thin
women are revered and those who don't fit that
mold are considered less than perfect--sometimes
even less than human."
She buried her face in her hands and sobbed. "I
hear you say I am perfect the way I am and still,
somewhere inside me, this insidious voice
whispers, `You are not. You never will be, and
soon, even these two men will realize it and leave
you'. How can I fight this thing when it is inside
me?" She looked up at the two gorgeous men who
had moved to kneel in front of her. "No matter
how many times you tell me otherwise, how can I
think I am beautiful when everything inside me
tells me I am not? When I am nothing like my
mother?"
She looked at them and almost laughed. "On
my world, two men like you wouldn't even give
me a second glance."
"Then they are fools," Kaylen said with a
growl. "We have known all our lives a woman's
heart is what matters the most, not her body.
When a woman loves, and knows she is loved in
return, this is the shape her body becomes," he
said as his gaze roved over her curves. "This is just
the right figure for childbearing. Your body is
designed for loving as you deserve to be loved."
He leaned forward and kissed her deeply. One
hand cupped the back of her head while his other
hand cupped her breast, kneading its fullness, his
thumb rubbing over the tight peak.
She gasped when she felt the sensation of
fingers delving into her wet slit when she could
clearly see neither of them were touching her
there. She threw her head back and groaned when
the warm wetness of a mouth closed over her bare
breast. Yet she was still clothed! Fire licked at her
skin as the two men held her in their arms. Damir
sat next to her then scooped her into his arms. He
did his best to hold her on his lap at the edge of
the fountain while Kaylen kissed her senseless.
The two men breached her mind, touching her
&nbs
p; in places they shouldn't have dared until they
were truly mated. She knew what her father
would think of such a thing, yet she was
powerless to stop it. Somehow, they penetrated
her clothing without removing it. Somehow, she
felt the mouth of one at her breast and the mouth
of the other breathing fire into her nether parts.
The hot wet tongue stroked fire over her clit
before entering her channel. She should stop this,
stop them. As the king's daughter, she should
know better, but she didn't want to stop.
Cold water closed over her head and the three
of them surfaced sputtering. Her father and
brothers stood before them with fierce scowls on
their faces. One of them must have pushed her in.
"You asked my permission to court my
daughter, dragons. I do not remember giving my
permission to mate her in my own gardens in the
dark of night like a couple of thieves." Her father
glared at her. "You know our customs, daughter.
With so few women in our midst, this type of
behavior binds you to them--whether you truly
choose them or not. I can only hope your body has
made the right choice for your mind."
Brandy rose from the water, her face burning
with mortification as the steam from the two
aroused dragons rose about her.
Steam rises from you, as well, aliante. It can only
mean you were meant to be our mate. Your father only
speeds up the process of our courtship and mating with
his decree. Do not fear this. This is as it was meant to
be.
Her father and brothers turned away from her.
"Go change into something less revealing. Your
wet clothing shows your body to anyone who
cares to look." Her father's hands were fisted at
his sides, showing her how angry he was with her.
He'd never been like this before--at least not in
front of her. She climbed from the fountain as he
said, "And make it something suitable for the
binding! Your ceremony is tonight."
Tonight? Her surprised gaze darted from her
father's back to her brothers'. She had nothing to
wear. All her life she'd planned to wear a gown
like the one her mother had modeled in the
magazine. It was a wedding gown of pure white.
Tears streamed from her eyes as she pictured the
gown in the magazine--the one tie to her mother
that she would now never have. She nodded and
wiped the tears from her eyes. "Yes, Father." She
could not regret what happened. What she knew
would happen when she brought the two men to
this fountain. Her only regret was the loss of the
dress she would never have the time to make.
Warmth and tingling surrounded her. She
closed her eyes, unsure of what new dragon magic
she would be subjected to. Air blew her body and
hair dry. Long fitting sleeves moved down her
arms, her body was cinched into what felt like a
corset as heavy material settled on her shoulders.
Finally, finding the courage to open her eyes,
she gasped. Long white sleeves tapered down her
arms, a low neckline studded with pearls showed
her cleavage to perfection. She felt her back. A row
of tiny buttons ran the length of her back from her
hips to her neck. She turned to see a long train of
silk and netting trailing her. It was the dress! But
how...?
She looked to her dragons, now garbed in the
finery of their houses. They each wore black suits,
uniforms that resembled tuxedos. One with a red
sash, the other blue, both wore their suits to
perfection, their shoulders back as they proudly
displayed their medals.
Brandy reached up to feel the veil on her head.
They had forgotten nothing, right down to the
pearl studded gloves and the shoes she'd wanted
to match her mother's.
She looked at Kaylen and Damir and smiled.
Suddenly she knew everything would be all right.
These men cared for her already. She could feel it
deep inside her where she'd made all of her life-
changing decisions. When she chose to accompany
the strange men who offered her a safe home--
when she'd accompanied Drace on his mission,
knowing she could be killed. Still she wasn't,
she'd found her mates. Now, she would choose to
live her life with them. They thought she was
perfect. She smiled softly as a tear slipped from
her eye. Who was she to tell them otherwise?
* * * *
Damir looked on his mate and nearly fell to his
knees. She was already beautiful. However, the
dress they'd picked from her mind made her look
like the Lady Goddess herself. She was a vision of
perfection, her white dress glimmering with
something she called pearls.
Next to him, he felt Kaylen's similar reaction.
Had I known how beautiful she truly was I would have
been at her feet begging her for her hand instead of
taking advantage of the privacy of the garden.
I know what you mean, dear friend, Damir said, his
vision blurring with unshed tears. He blinked
them back rapidly. He could not show weakness
now. If her family should deem them unworthy,
they could still stop the ceremony. Still keep them
from her. He couldn't have that. Not when they
were so close to having their mate.
"We will have her now, if you don't mind."
Kaylen said, causing her family members to turn.
They gasped but it was her father who was first
to speak. "We knew you dragons possessed a
certain...magic other than shifting. We had no
idea what it was," he said, obviously amazed.
"You still have no idea, Sir. But as you will soon
be family, perhaps we will share some of it with
you." Damir said, stepping forward. "But, for
now, your daughter wishes a human ceremony--
or as human a ceremony as she can remember. As
we have no particular ceremony other than the
claiming, we ask your permission to give this to
her."
"She is not Lioni by birth, only by adoption. If it
is her wish to marry in the ways of her people I
shall allow it. But it will happen now."
Brandy turned and kissed her father on the
cheek. "Thank you, father. And though I wish to
be married in this way, it is only because it is the
only tie I have with my real mother. She once
wore a dress like this, she told me she was married
in a dress like this. I wish to honor her by doing
the same." She took his hands and met his gaze.
"Otherwise, I am Lioni in all things and this is why
I follow your decree." She turned to take both
Damir and Kaylen's hands.
She felt Damir delve into her thoughts, knew he
needed to know that she wanted them. He needed
her to want them, not just join with them because
they'd compromised her with her people.
Through the merging
, she felt Kaylen's need to
know the same.
At his mental probe, she smiled and opened her
mind to them. She wanted this, wanted them more
than anything else. She only hoped they would
continue to see her as perfect. She allowed Damir
to see her fear that in time, they would tire of her,
think less of her because of her full figure. She
heard his thoughts on her worries. What he saw of
the so-called perfect figure from her home looked
pale, sickly, and certainly not strong enough to
give birth to dragons.
Her smile widened and she squeezed their
hands.
"Do you Kaylen and you Damir take me to be
your lawfully wedded mate?"
They nodded. "We do."
"Do you promise to love, honor, and keep me?"
Again they nodded. "We do."
"Do you promise to cleave only unto me, `til
death do us part?"
"We do."
Understanding that her knowledge of the
ceremony grew thin, Damir and Kaylen knelt at
her feet and continued, knowing what she needed
to hear.
"Do you, Brandy of the house of Lioni, take us
as your mates?" When she nodded and made to
answer Damir held up his hand, silently telling
her to wait. "Do you promise to love honor and
keep us in sickness and in health and cleave only
unto us, as we will you, until death do us part?"
Tears ran from her eyes as he added that bit of
the ceremony buried in her subconscious that she
couldn't remember and she nodded. "I do."
He stood and whispered in her ear. "Now who
pronounces us men and wife?"
Brandy smiled. "That would be my father, since
he's officiating here."
Damir turned toward Darvin, with raised
brows, "Well?"
Her father chuckled and after placing a chaste
kiss on her cheek, he joined the hands of the newly
mated Triad. "I now pronounce you officially
mated."
Before he could announce that they could now
kiss their bride, a magnificent ball of white light
began to form right behind him. The light grew
brighter until a form began to take shape inside.
When it became too difficult to see through the
magnificent brilliance, it forced them to close their
eyes.
Damir's gut tightened. He knew what was
happening and his heart clenched. Was the Lady
Goddess here to bless their union or to renounce
it? He could only pray that She was there to bless
it even knowing that it would mean She had a