HerMatesEmbrace (15 page)

She knew they were serious, but she hadn’t thought much
about what Colm’s reactions would be if he wasn’t. She’d been so focused on the
fact that she knew he was reluctant to find and mate with his true mate. As to
the significance of them making allowances for her issues with being crowded,
she wasn’t so sure of that.

Colm might be brash, but he also had a protective streak.
She thought it was part of the reason why he was Ardin. He’d be concerned and
considerate of anyone who he considered weak or hurt. It irked, but she was
almost certain that they did see her as at least fragile, if only emotionally.
In the end, though, she couldn’t blame them for that. She did have some
problems and was still trying to get her feet under her in ways.

“I know they’re focused, but I think that’s more of a
character trait for them.” She shrugged.

“You think that our focus on you isn’t significant?” Colm’s
voice came from the doorway.

Cami jumped and her heart raced. Her head snapped around to
the bedroom doorway. Colm leaned against the frame of the door and Linc stood
just in the hall. Her eyes narrowed and she fought not to grit her teeth or
growl. That habit of theirs of popping up when she was talking about them made
her want to scream.

“You two need a bell. I’m getting sick of you creeping up on
me and startling me.” She put a hand on her hip even as she tried to keep the
growl out of her voice. It wasn’t only them, but they happened to be the focus
of her current aggravation.

“We wouldn’t hear so many interesting things. I think a bell
tinkling would be annoying. I’d definitely have to take it off.” Linc smiled
and hooked a thumb in his belt.

“Even if you are Ardin of this
Thent
, eavesdropping
is still impolite.” She didn’t expect some kind of behavioral change from this
argument. They were who they were, but she wanted them aware of how she felt
about it.

Colm shrugged. “We were coming to get you. Listening to what
you had to say just happened to be one of the good things that came out of doing
that.”

“Came to get me for what? We don’t have anything planned.”
She folded her arms across her chest.

“Well, we didn’t, but we’re going to talk.” Linc held out
his hand. “Now.”

“I don’t want to talk now.” She threw the words out there
and she knew it was a challenge in a way. She didn’t know what they’d do, but
she was ready to find out. If she was lucky, they might not want to push her
because they didn’t want her afraid of them.

“You are in a mood, aren’t you? You can walk beside us or
one of us can pick you up and carry you. Do you want to find out now how you’ll
handle being hauled through the fortress when you normally don’t like being
confined at all?” Colm straightened.

“You two can’t even think about compromise. It’s no wonder
that I detest men with power.” Her jaw ached and she wondered if she was going
to grind her back teeth to nothing with those two around.

He’d do what he threatened. She knew it by the look in his
eyes. She definitely didn’t want to be hauled through the halls. Not so much because
she thought she’d panic if he held her, although she did wonder if she would.
She knew that being in his arms would only make the attraction to him worse.
She’d want to touch and put her arms around him. She needed to stay angry at
him and keep both of them at a distance to keep her head clear. It was bad
enough she couldn’t stop thinking about them or the emotional attraction that
came with the mating, even if she’d stopped most of the sexual pull with the
drug.

Linc blinked a little and his eyes narrowed, but that was
the only sign that the words had affected him. Colm didn’t seem to react.

“Make your decision.” Linc’s voice was quiet.

“I’ll go with you. It’s not as though you’re giving me much
choice anyway.” She narrowed her eyes and held back a hiss. As attracted as she
was to them, she didn’t like their orders or the situation she found herself in
even if she did have a hand in creating it.

“Good. We’re going down to our room. We definitely want
privacy for this discussion. Walk in front of us,” Colm ordered.

She exhaled slowly. No getting out of this now. Oh she could
run down the stairs. If she managed the corner out of the stairwell perfectly,
she could put some distance between them. Getting to the first floor and out of
the building was pretty near impossible without them catching up to her. They
were faster than her, knew the building better and anyone in front of her or in
her way would try to stop her if they saw her running from the Ardin.

She led the way down the stairs and through the halls to
their room. They followed and she could feel their eyes locked on her. They
weren’t letting her out of their sight. She’d made them angry, but they were
focused on talking and most likely getting the answers to a few questions.

She should have kept her mouth shut until she had some time
to think. Why hadn’t she just gone down to the room with them without an
argument? It would have seemed as if she had nothing to hide from them. After
they’d startled her, everything had been a defensive reaction. She’d wanted
space and time. She grimaced. Those were the two things her reaction had pretty
much guaranteed she wouldn’t get.

At the door, she paused. She didn’t know whether she should
open it or wait for them to open it simply to make the point that only their
orders and threats had gotten her this far. She didn’t have time to decide.
Colm reached past her and pushed the door inward before urging her inside the
room.

She walked into the room and strode to the opposite side of
the room. She ignored the bed and the two chairs near a table. She didn’t want
them towering over her while she sat. In their present mood, she knew they
weren’t going to calmly take a seat. They could also start any conversation
since she wasn’t going to volunteer any information.

The two men stopped at the edge of the bed, leaving ample
space between them, and simply stared at her. She appreciated the space,
especially since she knew what they suspected. They stood side by side. Colm
had his arms crossed over his chest and Linc had his thumb hooked into his
belt. She lifted her head and kept her mouth closed, although she did have the
rash urge to throw out a challenging “what.”

“You’ve been hiding a lot from us. Did you think we wouldn’t
find out even if you chose to try to keep it from us forever?” Linc frowned.
His deep voice emerged in a low rumble, but the words were slow and controlled.

“Yes, I’ve hidden things, but I always knew there was a
chance that it could be discovered. I had my reasons and most of them still
apply.” She narrowed her eyes at his censuring tone.

“Most of them still apply. I’m sure we’ll get into the
reasons you think you have, but first, on to the latest discovery. You’re our
mate. Did you think we wouldn’t want to know? That we didn’t have a right to
know?” Linc arched an eyebrow in imperious demand.

“A
right
? You don’t want a mate. Neither one of you
do really. He was deliberately looking for a woman who wouldn’t be tied to
either one of you by anything more than sex and maybe a little emotion.” She
gestured to Colm and shook her head. “I may be that person or I may not be.
Knowing what I do about you two, I didn’t give your rights much thought. I
deserve a chance to be happy. I’m still not sure that will ever happen if I’m
with you.”

“You are our mate. Whatever you’re using doesn’t completely
disguise your taste.” Colm leaned in close and his eyes narrowed.

She shrugged. Well, that cleared up any doubt about what
he’d felt when he tasted her. “That really doesn’t matter. I won’t stop using
these tools until I’m certain that it’s the best choice. If you take it from
me, I’ll be gone before you wake up the next morning. I won’t be resented or
simply tolerated because you think mating with me is the only thing you can do
now. We have options and I’m not going to let you take them away from us.”

“You have options? I can really only see two of them for
you. Accept us and the mating or try running until we catch you. We’re not
giving you up now that we know.” Colm took a slow step forward. “We don’t give
up what’s ours.”

“Goddess, you’re being stubborn and deliberately blind. The
feelings from the taste will fade eventually and you know it. The instincts
won’t truly kick in until you smell me or I smell you clearly.” She shook her
head. “Until then, we can walk away from this. That might be the best option
for all of us. I’m not what you want.”

“You say things such as that and you really expect us not to
want to strip you and scrub you until whatever is on you is finally off?”

She sighed and looked at the wall for a moment as she tried
to push down her mounting frustration. “A lot of this isn’t about you two,
although I do have my doubts about if I could ever be anything more than just a
mate to you. I don’t want you to accept me simply because of that. I deserve
more than that. I’m not sure I can deal with
Thent
life and then there’s
my magic. Maybe it won’t be dangerous, but it’s always going to be there.
Something that makes me more of a burden at times, because you’re going to have
to teach me even the basics.”

“I still don’t know how you know some of the things you
know, but I’m beginning to believe that it’s more than the crystal. I think
it’s also because of your lineage. Yes, the
chatar
told us.” Linc’s head
tilted as he caught her sharp look at him. “Your doubts will fade with time.
We’ll make sure of that. You are and will be a priority for us. You seem to be
dealing fairly well with life in a
Thent
.”

She definitely didn’t like the gleam in his eyes. “It’s
temporary. That’s how I’m coping.”

“Some coping. You’re relaxed and comfortable, not tense.”
Colm took a step to the side and eased closer to her.

“Damn it, why don’t you two listen? It’s not as though I’m
such a prize. I’m not beautiful or perfect and definitely not your type. Don’t
you think you deserve someone better? Someone who’ll be able to trust you
easily. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to have that kind of simple belief in
anyone again.” She nearly choked on the word perfect.

“I think she’s hit every one of them.” Linc looked over at
Colm.

“Every one of what?” She narrowed her eyes.

“Every excuse. I think there might be a couple that you
missed. You left out not being able to cope with being with us both sexually.”
Colm smiled, but the predatory intent pushed it far beyond comforting.

“Probably because it would be such an obvious lie.” Linc
exhaled slowly. “We’re not going to forget that you’re our mate. That’s not
going to change, but we’re not going to strip away your defenses. You’re going
to do that.”

“No.” She stared at him. Had he gone crazy? Why would she
want to do that?

Colm nodded. “You won’t settle for second best and now
neither will we. We want you.”

“Physically, you want me. You don’t know me.” She felt
cornered and frustrated by their insistence that there wasn’t any way but their
way. She was also a little afraid that they were right. Her doubts burned
inside her, but the natural attraction to her mates pulled her to them. Her
body ached to know their touch, but she also wanted to know them as men. What
scared her most was Linc and Colm might simply tolerate her. She might not be
able to walk away from them even knowing that.

“Then we’ll have to get to know you and you will learn about
us at the same time. We’ll be talking and spending time together. Don’t expect
us not to treat you as our Lady when we know what you are.” Colm took a step
forward and his eyes swept over her.

“But I’m not your Lady. Not formally. If you treat me that
way, your people are going to expect some kind of declaration at the least.”
Her eyes widened and shock rolled through her. That was a step beyond what
she’d thought they’d take even when she imagined the worst scenarios. Well,
other than taking her bag and dragging her to the bath as they had warned her
they wanted to do. Not that the bath would work.

“That’s something you’re going to have to bear. We’re not
backing away from this. You are our mate and we won’t be hiding that fact. I
know what I tasted even if it wasn’t reinforced by your smell. I want to feel
everything. Do you think I can know this without wanting to have it all?” Colm
took another step forward and his hand lifted and cupped the side of her cheek.

She didn’t back away from him. She was too stunned. The man
who’d searched for a woman who wasn’t his mate was determined to claim her now
because she
was
his mate. It made no sense. Acknowledging it and
accepting it were the last things she thought he’d ever do if he found out. At
least, not for a long time and after a lot of struggle. It seemed too easy. She
was almost positive that she was going to feel the backlash of it.

“And what about the women you led on with your dogged search
through the females of your own
Thent
? Are you going to deal with them?
I don’t think they’re all going to accept it easily.” She scowled at him and
tried to ignore the warmth of his hand. It felt right to have him touching her,
even though the possessiveness in his eyes made her want to kick him.

“Words from him aren’t going to make them back off. They’re
going to have to see that we’re serious about you. I don’t think they’ll
believe it’s real until the ceremony is completed.” Linc shook his head,
drawing her attention.

He was probably right and that irritated her. She was the
one who’d be getting all of the attitude and dealing with any problems that
arose because of it. So not fair.

She wasn’t the one who’d practically spat on the idea of
mating and now wasn’t willing to consider any other option. Not that she had
any clue why he’d been so adamant about it. She simply knew that he hadn’t been
willing to consider it before.