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  However, I knew that what Alex had said about sociopaths was true. They could be incredibly charming, especially when they wanted something, lulling their victims into a false sense of security. But then again, I realized, Alex could be the sociopath. Really, for all I knew, he could have been lying through his teeth to me when he’d said everything to me that he had. Maybe he was the real villain, I figured, trying some desperate ploy to get me to pick him as his grandfather’s successor instead of Mason. I knew it was at least possible, although in my heart, I didn’t feel it was probable. This was because I still felt like I could trust Alex, and I felt in my gut that he’d been telling me the truth.

  My head was beginning to spin. With my mind reeling, I wondered if Mason would actually make an attempt to kill me if he were to learn that I’d tried to come clean to Alex about what I’d overheard. At any rate, being that he was a shifter, I was certain that he could easily do it if he wanted to.

  I knew I had to get more information from Alex, had to fully hear him out and then process everything and decide what I believed was the truth. I also knew that obviously, that time wasn’t the present. Like he’d told me to be, I just had to act perfectly normal and pretend that the conversation we’d just had hadn’t happened. Mason had already been waiting in the doorway for a second or two while I’d been doing lightning-fast thinking about everything, and I knew I had about a quarter-second left to give him a response before he’d think that something was up.

  So, I gave him what I hoped was a perfectly normal smile. “Sorry to make you come all the way down here again, but I did call out to you. I was just wondering if I could add a tall glass of ice water to my midnight snack order.”

  Without missing a beat or giving any indication that he thought something was wrong, Mason returned my smile. “Anything for you, because your wish is my command. I’ll bring you ten glasses of ice water if you want.”

  I forced myself to smile again. “Well, thanks for the offer, but one should be just fine.”

  With his pale blue eyes twinkling in the dim light, he gave me a sexy half-grin that turned my insides to jelly before turning to head back down the hallway. “I’ll be right back.”

  I watched him go, smiling a little again, and this time not having to force myself to do so.

  “See how charming he is? He’s got you genuinely smiling now, and not acting. I can tell.”

  Alex had whispered near my ear, making me jump. Having gotten a little momentarily lost in Mason’s eyes, I’d kind of forgotten that Alex was still in the room. I’d forgotten that I was actually still in his arms. I'd honestly forgotten that he even existed.

  Leaning back against the polished oak headboard, he pulled me even a bit closer to him and whispered to me again. “He’s the ultimate sociopath, Kira…and the ultimate manipulator. Don’t feel bad that you’ve fallen for his charm yet again, though. I’ve been deceived by him numerous times, starting when our parents were killed several years ago. See, that was blamed on the Darkwings, but I now think that Mason actually did it, just because he wanted to take our father out of the line of succession. He probably killed our mother simply because she saw or heard something. This is just what kind of a person he is. He’s evil.”

  Suddenly tired, I looked up at Alex’s face with a sigh. “Look. You’re going to have to explain all this about Mason to me a little better. Because right now-”

  “Because right now, you’re having a little trouble accepting that he is who I’m saying he is, and that he’ll do what I’m saying he’ll do. Believe me, I get it. I know that most people capable of murder aren’t exactly so jovial. Mason has even gotten our grandfather wrapped around his little finger. You’ve got to understand, though, that that’s part of the danger…his ability to manipulate people. And I will explain everything about him to you a bit better. But as for right now, I can’t, obviously. Not with him so close by and soon to return. Just promise me that for right now, just at least for tonight, you’ll just trust me. I’m not exaggerating when I say that your life depends on it, Kira. If Mason were to attack us tonight, in this closed space, I’m just not sure what would happen. I’m a strong shifter, but he is, too…and I’d much rather battle him out in the open, with us both in our dragon forms, where you won’t be caught up in the mix.”

  “I understand, but when will you be able to explain everything to me a little better?”

  “Very soon. I’ll explain everything to you very soon. I’ll try my best to get away when Mason and I are leading our men out on patrol tomorrow. The Darkwings are now giving us problems on a daily basis, and I expect we’ll be sweeping the outskirts of town for their spies in wolf form all day. I’ll try my best to get away during the afternoon, though. Maybe I’ll meet you somewhere in town. Just please keep your phone on you so I can get a hold of you when I need to. In the meantime, tonight, just eat your sandwich when Mason comes back, and then try to go to sleep. Do those things, and just act completely normal around Mason, and just try to trust me. Okay? Please?”

  Stifling a yawn, I said all right. “I will. I’m tired and confused, and I’m vaguely scared because of what you said about Mason attempting to kill me if he-”

  “You shouldn’t be ‘vaguely scared’ of him. You should be outright terrified any time Mason is near. You can’t forget that.”

  “Well, thanks for making me feel so much better right before I’m supposed to act perfectly normal and go right to sleep.”

  “I didn’t mean to, and I’m sorry about that, but I just want to make sure you take all this very seriously. You need to stay on your toes around Mason.”

  “Well, I will. Until you can explain all this to me a little better, I promise I’ll just act completely normal around him. I’m really putting my trust in you about all this, Alex.”

  Right then, looking up into his dark coal-colored eyes, I couldn’t imagine not trusting him. His eyes certainly didn’t hold the same mischievous twinkle that Mason’s frequently did, but instead, there was some look of unmistakable sincerity in his eyes that I just couldn’t deny. It was a look that now made me feel in the core of my being that he was telling me the honest truth about everything and that I was right to trust him. However, at the same time, I did need him to do a lot of explaining. Because of this, I hoped he’d be able to get away and meet me sooner rather than later the following day.

  In response to what I’d said about trusting him, he planted a kiss on my forehead. “Good. Now, no more talking or even whispering about all this tonight. We can’t take the chance that Mason could hear a few words on his way back from the kitchen. In fact, right now, he’s probably wondering why he’s not hearing sounds of normal conversation. So, let’s just change the subject right this second. Just say anything to me. Maybe tell me a joke and then laugh. Or better yet, why don’t we kiss? That way, when he comes back, he’ll think our mouths have been occupied with non-conversational activity this whole time.”

  Studying the way Alex’s dark lashes were casting shadows on his handsome, square-jawed face in the dim light, I gave him a little smile. “Well, I think I can handle that. I can handle giving you a little kiss right now. But instead, why don’t you kiss me? Just tip me back in your arms and really plant one on me.”

  “Oh, I can definitely handle that.”

  With a low growl rumbling deep within his chiseled chest, Alex pulled me onto his lap and tipped me back in his arms. He then brought his mouth to mine with another low growl that I could feel as well as hear. Soon, reveling in the feel of his soft lips gently savoring my own, I was lost in pleasure, breathing in his woodsy, masculine scent as deeply as I could.

  CHAPTER 15

  When Mason came back into my bedroom after maybe a minute or so, I didn’t even realize it until he cleared his throat, which made me break my kiss with Alex.

  “I have a special midnight snack delivery,” Mason said. “One turkey sandwich with Swiss cheese, tomato, lettuce, and mayo; I also have a plateful of some weird cre
ation called ‘banana crackers.’”

  I looked at him, smiling in a way that I hoped was perfectly normal. “Thank you. I’m still going to force you to try one, you know.”

  Maybe fifteen minutes later, after I’d eaten my sandwich and crackers with Mason joking with me the entire time, I brushed my teeth, then got back in bed between him and Alex.

  Tracing the side of my face with a finger, Mason smiled. “Goodnight and sweet dreams. Don’t let the bedbugs bite, and don’t have any nightmares. Although if you do, just wake me up. I’d be more than happy to hold you.”

  I said thank you and made myself smile, thinking how that statement was more than a bit ironic since he himself had become my nightmare. Soon, I fell fast asleep, sandwiched between the man who’d professed that he’d fallen in love with me, and a man that would supposedly kill me without a second thought.

  I awoke sometime shortly before dawn, alone in my bed. An inch-wide crack in the curtains revealed the sky just beginning to turn from a pale gray to a grayish-lavender with the faintest hint of pale pink.

  I got out of bed, used the restroom, and brushed my teeth, intending to get up for the day. However, once out of the bathroom, the sight of my bed called to me more than any thought of breakfast. I got back in, covering up with a thick blue blanket that did a wonderful job of keeping the pre-dawn chill at bay. It was now early October, and mornings were growing colder. Not that my apartment wasn’t climate-controlled to about seventy degrees at all times, but nonetheless, I’d been seeming to feel autumn’s chill more and more.

  Probably not even two minutes after getting back in bed, I was dozing again, having some vague dream about Alex, Mason, and me. However, the dream was so vague that I couldn’t really even tell what it was about. I could just almost feel both of them near me. Then soon, I felt them touching me, or at least one of them touching me. A strong hand was caressing my thighs as I remained on my back, sleeping but somehow aware at the same time. Although not quite so aware that I was a hundred percent sure if I was really dreaming or not. But at the same time, my eyelids were so heavy that opening them seemed like something of an impossible task.

  Mere moments after the strong hand began caressing my thighs, it was joined by another hand. Next, I felt two hands slide beneath my silky camisole to cup my breasts. Now, I was sure that I wasn’t dreaming. What was happening just felt too good, too real, to ever be any kind of a dream.

  A soft whimper of desire escaped my mouth, and my voice came out in a whisper.

  “Please don’t stop.”

  Immediately, I heard what I thought was Mason’s voice near my ear, low and husky. “We won’t stop. But keep your eyes closed for us.”

  “All right.”

  I really had no desire to open my eyes anyway. The experience of being touched while not having any sight of who was even touching me and where was unexpectedly arousing, to the point that I could already feel myself becoming slick. At that moment, I honestly didn’t care what had been said to me the night before and by whom. I barely even remembered what had been said to me.

  Soon, after the blanket had been slowly pulled off my body, I again heard what I thought was Mason’s voice near my ear.

  “We thought we heard you up and around in here, and we had the idea to give you a new kind of sexual experience...one that you’re only going to be able to feel, and not see. You also won’t be able to use your hands during this new sexual experience, because they’ll be tied up to the bedposts with silk scarves. Sightless and helpless, you’ll then be all ours to tease, and pleasure, and maybe even torture a little bit in whatever way we see fit. Does this sound like something you want, Kira?”

  Stifling a sudden gasp as one of the four hands on my body gently squeezed one of my stiffened nipples, I nodded. “Yes…I definitely want all that.”

  With a current of something wild and electric coursing through it, my whole body seemed to be saying that’s what I wanted.

  Again, Mason spoke near my ear. “All right, good. Now, just keep your eyes closed until we’re finished with the scarves. And don’t worry...one of us will be keeping you completely occupied while the other one of us does the tying. You just relax and enjoy the experience.”

  Not a moment after he’d finished speaking, I felt one of the hands on my thighs move up a little higher, just high enough to lightly caress my pussy mound through my sheer, lacy underwear. I breathed a sigh, hardly even noticing that something soft and silky had been draped across my eyes. Then, while the silky fabric was tied behind my head, the hand slid down the front of my underwear and began toying with my slick pussy lips, making me moan, arching my back while I did so.

  “Yes. That feels so good. But maybe move your fingers a little more toward the center.”

  I didn’t even have a clue who I was directing my command to. All I knew was that between my pussy lips, there was a certain very sensitive spot of my anatomy that was now aching and throbbing with need, just begging to be touched. I felt warm breath near my ear, and then heard Mason’s voice again, barely loud enough to even be considered a whisper.

  “No. Not quite yet.”

  I whimpered, partially out of frustration but partially out of pleasure, because whoever was stroking my slick outer lips was still doing so. I had an idea that it was Mason, although I couldn’t be sure. His voice was so very similar to Alex’s, although I had started to notice little differences. However, in my current state, I was hardly able to focus well enough to notice these little differences.

  After the man that I was pretty sure was Mason had spoken to me, the next thing I knew, I felt the heavy blanket being pulled back, and I felt myself being pulled up, to sit. My arms were then lifted and my camisole pulled off before I was gently lowered back down to the bed. Then, to my increasing excitement, I felt my underwear being pulled down and off even as another set of hands began fastening my wrists to the bedposts with the same soft, silky fabric that was covering my eyes.

  The man I was pretty sure was Mason spoke near my ear again, in a tone of voice that made me think he was wearing at least the hint of a grin. “And now, Kira…your new sexual experience really begins.”

  With a little shiver of anticipation rippling through my body, I found I couldn’t wait.

  CHAPTER 16

  Naked, unable to see, and bound to the bedposts by my wrists, I struggled against my silky restraints. However, even though the fabric they were made from was nearly weightless, they held fast.

  “All right. If one of you doesn't touch me again right this second, I swear to God I’ll kill you both.”

  After the last time that Mason had spoken near my ear, I’d felt all hands withdraw from my body, maddeningly. Now, they’d remained gone for at least ten seconds, plenty long enough to frustrate me into making my threat. Obviously, Mason and Alex had decided to start the “torture” part of my “new sexual experience.” However, in response to my threat, instead of touching me again, the only thing I felt was Mason’s warm breath as he chuckled quietly near my ear and then spoke just as quietly.

  “Hm. What an interesting threat. Now, tell me how, exactly, a mere human woman would kill two were-dragons.”

  Realistically, I supposed that she couldn’t and wouldn’t, although I certainly wasn’t about to say this and underscore Mason’s point about just how comparatively weak I was as a “mere human woman.” I may have been involved in what was currently happening to the point that I barely remembered what Alex had told me the night before, barely remembered my own name even; but a tiny little part of me was working hard to remember that Mason was supposedly dangerous somehow and could and would kill me. And I didn’t really want to remind him of just how easily he could do that.

  So, I decided to simply play off my little threat like a joke. “How, exactly, would a ‘mere human woman’ kill two were-dragons? Well, just keep your hands off me for another few seconds, Mason, and you might find out. I think I’ll start first by tying the two of you up. Then, we�
��ll move on to a few dropkicks to each of your midsections. I don't think either of you realize just how powerful a ‘mere human woman’ can be when she’s extremely sexually frustrated.”

  Mason chuckled. “Well, now I’m really scared. To the point that maybe we should move on before we frustrate you any further.”

  “Yes, maybe ‘we’ should. And you can start by moving one of your hands where it was before, if that was you.”

  “Oh, you mean when I had my hand right about here?”

  I suddenly felt long, strong fingers brushing across my slick pussy lips, and I sighed, arching my back. “Yes, that’s it. Right there. But, like I said before…maybe move your fingers a little more toward the center. I have a certain little spot that’s getting a little desperate for some direct stimulation.”

  Mason, who I sensed was on his side beside me, chuckled again and moved his fingers a little higher up, almost to my lower stomach. “Oh, you mean this little spot right here?”

  “Oh my gosh. Don’t be so clueless.”

  He walked his fingers over to the side of my hip and began slowly stroking my bare skin. “Oh, sorry. That was my mistake. But now I think I’ve found that certain little spot of yours.”

  Gritting my teeth in frustration, I just remained silent for a long moment. “You know, Mason…I do find you funny sometimes, but right now, I'm finding you the least funny person of all time. Oh!”

  Someone had suddenly found my clit, and not only that, but they’d also simultaneously slid what felt like maybe two fingers inside of me. If I’d had to hazard a guess, I would have guessed that a thumb was on my throbbing clit, and this thumb was connected to the same hand that the fingers were. I just didn’t know whose hand it was. However, within a second or two, after my gasp had turned into a loud moan of pleasure, I became reasonably sure who was touching me when I heard what I was pretty sure was Alex’s voice near my ear.