Claimed by the Dragons (Alma Venus Shifter Brides 3)

“Don’t cry, baby… It’s okay.”

“No! No, it’s not! I’m sorry. I’m so sorry…” And she started crying harder.

“Shh…” Eric took her into his arms and held her head against his chest as he looked at Viggo over her shoulder.

Viggo relaxed when he saw there was no threat coming from his Fyrstur. He wasn’t sure what was going on, but things had taken an unexpected turn. A good one, to his huge surprise. He knew that look in Eric’s eyes. It was… appreciation, friendship… devotion. He gave Viggo that same look when the Annarr did something better than Eric, and the Fyrstur didn’t know how to thank him. It was weird, but it was happening, and Viggo was curious to see how it ended.

Delyse kept repeating “I’m sorry” like a mantra, until Eric leaned over her small frame and pressed his lips to her ear.

“No, you’re not.”

She instantly lost her voice, choking on her own words. What was that in his tone? It sounded… wicked and mischievous. Was he making fun of her? Was he getting ready to punish her?

“You’re not sorry, because you know what you really want. And I know it. He knows it.”

A shiver ran up Delyse’s spine, making the little hairs on her nape stand on end. When Eric ran his hands down her sides, grabbed her hips, and pressed his erection against her belly, where Viggo’s had been just minutes earlier, she almost fainted.

“I have an idea.” He licked the shell of her ear. “Why don’t you go up to our room and wait for us there, like a good girl?”

All right, she was dreaming. Hallucinating. This wasn’t happening. It couldn’t be happening. But then, Eric grabbed her shoulders and held her at arm’s length so he could stare right into her eyes and let her know this wasn’t a joke.

“Lily, go up now.”

Eric released her and she hesitated before heading to the door. She turned to look at Viggo, and the small smirk she saw on his lips sent even more chills running up and down her spine. When she wrapped her fingers around the doorknob, her hand slipped because it was too clammy with sweat. She realized she was sweating like she had a fever. When she finally made it on the corridor, the chilly air hit her and she understood why she had been sweating and trembling so badly. Two horny dragons could turn a room into a furnace. She made a mental note to open the windows wide when she reached the bedroom.

***

Fifteen minutes. Delyse jumped off the bed and walked to the window. It had started to get a bit chilly in the room, but she ignored the goosebumps on her bare arms. She wasn’t sure they prickled across her skin because of the cold, or because of what was about to happen. But, what was about to happen, exactly? She sighed and leaned forward, elbows on the windowsill, to look at the island and the tall glacier in the distance, and let the wind play in her hair. The fresh, sharp air helped clear her head. Maybe she had gotten it all wrong, and Eric and Viggo were having a violent argument right now. She couldn’t wait to become a hybrid so she could hear just as well as the weredragons. Then again, if she had screwed up so royally, would that even happen anymore?

So many questions. No answers.

Thirty minutes.

The soft sound of the door being opened and closed sent a jolt of adrenaline through her veins. She closed her eyes and waited for her heartbeat to slow down before she turned around. When she finally gathered her courage, she found herself facing the two men who had turned her life upside down and made her doubt her own sanity. Eric was leaning with his back against the wall, arms crossed over his chest in his trademark position, and Viggo was standing casually, a few steps in front of his Fyrstur, hands inside the pockets of his jeans. Delyse swallowed heavily and fought to keep her back straight. In reality, she wanted to curl up in a ball, far away from them, far away from this awkward situation she didn’t even understand.

“Viggo and I go way back,” said Eric.

Delyse nodded but wasn’t sure what that was supposed to mean.

“We grew up together,” said Viggo, shrugging his shoulders.

“He took care of Clan Drekinn better than anyone could have. Sometimes, better than me.”

Delyse watched Viggo as he crossed the room and sat on the edge of the bed. She threw Eric a confused glance. Eric smiled. It was the sweetest, most casual and easygoing smile she had ever seen on his lips.

“I think the

point I’m trying to make is that you can have both of us, if you want. You can have anyone and anything you want, Lily. If it weren’t for you and Viggo, who found you and brought you here, Clan Drekinn would have eventually fallen. I know I’m difficult and stubborn most of the time, but I’m not incapable of admitting and accepting the truth. He deserves you, you deserve him, and I think it’s time for me to take my responsibilities seriously and prove to both of you, and the clan, that I deserve to be a leader.”

Delyse looked from one man to the other, blinking in disbelief. She couldn’t quite grasp the idea that Eric, the proud and egotistical Eric Drekinn, had just said those things.

“I… I don’t know…”

Viggo smiled and patted the spot beside him. “Come here.”

Delyse hesitated. Butterflies fluttered in her stomach at those two simple words coming from him. “Come here.” They implied so much. Still, she didn’t dare move.

Eric cocked an eyebrow, then walked straight towards her. His shifter speed made her head spin a bit, and before she knew it, she was pressed against his wide chest, and he was kissing her passionately while his fingers were running through her hair, combing it, spreading it over her back and shoulders. She moaned and let her palms rest on his collarbone. She was aware of his erection trapped between their bodies, and her pussy throbbed in response, her panties becoming wet again. When he broke the kiss, she looked up into his eyes, and the lust she saw there made her shudder.