Fraser MacKenzie watched his twin brother from the kitchen. His brother, Fergus, was due to meet his human sacrifice in the next few hours and instead of celebrating his last hours of freedom, Fergus was doing paperwork.
Sometimes, Fraser wondered how they were related at all.
Taking aim, he lobbed an ice cube across the room. It bounced off his brother’s cheek and Fraser shouted, “Goal.”
Frowning, Fergus glanced over. “Don’t you have a hole to dig? Or, maybe, some nails to pound?”
Fraser shrugged a shoulder and inched his fingers toward another ice cube. “I finished work early. After all, it’s not every day your twin meets the possible mother of his child.”
As Fraser picked up his second ice cube, his mother’s voice boomed from behind him. “Put it down, Fraser Moore MacKenzie. I won’t have you breaking something if you miss.”
He looked at his mother and raised his brows. “I never miss.”
Clicking her tongue, his mother, Lorna, moved toward the refrigerator. “Stop lying to me, lad. You missed a step and now have the scar near your eye to prove it.”
Fraser resisted the urge to touch his scar. “That was because my sister distracted me.” He placed a hand over his heart. “I was just looking out for the wee lass.”
Lorna rolled her eyes. “Faye was sixteen at the time and you were too busy glaring at one of the males.”
“He was trouble. Faye deserved better,” Fraser replied.
Fergus looked up from his paperwork. “Where is Faye?”
Lorna waved a hand. “The same as every day. She leaves early in the morning and I don’t see her again until evening.”
Fraser sobered up. “I wish she’d let us help her. Does anyone know if she can fly again yet?”
His younger sister, Faye, had been shot out of the sky by an electrical blast nearly two months earlier while in dragon form and her wing had been severely damaged. While she was no longer in a wheelchair, the doctors weren’t sure if Faye would ever fly again.
His mother turned toward him. “I trust Arabella to help her. Faye will come to us when she’s ready.”
Jumping on the chance to lighten the mood again, Fraser tossed the ice cube into the sink and added, “I’m more worried about Fergus right now anyway. Who spends their last few hours of freedom cooped up inside? Even if he doesn’t want to go drinking, he could at least go for a flight.”
Fergus lifted the papers in his hand. “For your information, this is all of the new procedures and suggestions from the Department of Dragon Affairs. Finn worked hard to make Lochguard one of the trial clans for these new rules, and I’m not about to fuck it up.” Lorna clicked her tongue and Fergus added, “Sorry, Mum.”
Lorna leaned against the kitchen counter. “I still applaud you for what you’re doing, Fergus. After the last fifteen years of near-isolation, the clan desperately needs some new blood.”
Fergus shrugged a shoulder. “It’s not a guarantee. Besides, how could I pass up the chance to help our cousin?”
Fraser rolled his eyes. “Right, you’re being all noble when I know for a fact you just want to, er,” he looked to his mum and back to Fergus, “sleep with a human lass.”
“No one around here has stirred a mate-claim frenzy and I’m not about to look in the other clans. I’m needed here,” Fergus replied. “A human sacrifice is my only other chance.”
“And what if she’s not your true mate, brother? Then what?” Fraser asked.
“I’ll still try to win her over. If she gives me a child, I want to try to convince the human to stay.”
Lorna spoke up. “Her father’s ill, Fergus. Let’s see how things go before you start planning the human’s future.” Lorna looked to Fraser. “Let’s just hope she has spirit. I can handle anything but fear.”
Fraser answered, “If Finn picked her out, then we should trust that he chose a good one.”
“You’re right, son,” Lorna answered. She waved toward the living room. “Now, go get that ice cube.”
“Fergus is closer. He could just toss it over.”
Fergus looked back at his stack of papers. “Get it yourself.”
With a sigh, Fraser moved toward the living room. “You were always a lazy sod.”