His blue eyes were steady across the fire. “Something ails you?”
I opened my mouth with a lie at the ready. Instead, the truth spilled out. “I’m worried I’ll never see my parents or brother again.”
Albie put a hand on my thigh. “You will. I promise.” He hesitated, then spoke slowly as if he was unsure of his next words. “O…K…?”
My throat tightened. Tears burned my eyes, but I blinked them away. “Okay,” I whispered.
The fire snapped. Rain beat a steady rhythm on the rocks outside the cave.
A new worry struck without warning. The three of us had to sleep sometime. In the cave. Together.
Tavish misinterpreted my sudden panic. “Don’t fash yourself about comfort, lass.” He gestured to a spot where he’d covered evergreen boughs with moss. “We’ll bed down there. The fireshould keep you warm enough, but if it doesn’t, you can share my plaid.”
He’d have to remove it for that.
Which meant he’d be naked right next to me. It couldn’t happen. Under no circumstances could I make it through the night sleeping between him and Albie. My dragon had already proven she was wholeheartedly in favor of accepting the mate bond. She’d be useless when it came to resisting them.
Even as my thoughts spun out of control, the heat between my legs intensified. The ache became a throb. My heart sped up, my breasts lifting above my corset. Why in the name of the gods had I foregone my jacket? What was a little dampness compared to my tits mashed together and served up like the main course at a dinner party?
Across the fire, Tavish watched me like some pagan god of old, his elbows resting on his knees and a few escaped strands of hair dangling around his face. Firelight played over his knuckles, which bore the small, waxy scars of a swordsman. My fathers had similar marks.
The pounding between my legs became a hard, relentless beat. For one wild moment, I could have sworn drums pounded with it.
“We can ease you,” Tavish said quietly. Flames flickered in his eyes, and they weren’t reflections from the fire. They wereinsidehim. He burned.
So did I.
The throbbing grew…and grew painful, everything between my legs hot, wet, and hurting. I dared to look at Albie.
He waited for me, the expression in his eyes anything but scholarly. His eyes had darkened until they were almost black. His lips were parted, his breathing shallow. Aside from the slight rise and fall of his chest, he was completely still, as if he didn’t trust himself to move.
“I can’t accept a claim,” I said weakly. “I have to get home.”
The fire popped, making me jump. Tavish gave me a wicked look across the flames.
“We don’t have to claim you to ease you, Princess.”
Desire ratcheted higher. I shifted, my thighs slick. My dragon stretched under my skin, pressing for release. But she didn’t want out. No, she wanted to let the menin.
“We won’t touch you unless you ask,” Albie said quietly.
I looked between them. Tavish’s blue eyes blazed with heat. Albie’s expression was steady and hungry. The contrast between them was something that could occupy my mind endlessly if I let it. They both wanted me. Tavish demanded while Albie asked, but thewantwas the same.
And I couldn’t allow myself to want them in return.
“I’m not having cave sex,” I said.
The wickedness in Tavish’s eyes gleamed brighter. “We don’t have to do everything. Just enough.”
My inner muscles clenched. Sweat dampened my hairline. “You haven’t even washed your hands.”
Silence. Then Albie’s shoulders shook. He was laughing.
“What?” Heat flooded my face.
“The moss, Princess,” Albie said, gesturing to the small mound next to Tavish. “It draws out corruption. Physicians in the East have used it for centuries to treat wounds and prevent infection.”
Tavish’s lips curved into a wicked smile. “My Albie is smart. He reads a lot of books.”
