There was an increase in sound from the crowd when Rai walked in with a man Jory had never seen before. The similarity of features told him it was probably the brother he'd mentioned before.
"Good morning, everyone. I am letting my brother, Lewn, make the announcements this morning because I have a mate to claim."
Without another word, Rai stripped off his shirt and turned his back to the crowd. A black dragon sprawled across his back, a perfect image of Precious.
The crowd applauded wildly.
"As you can see, our king has found his mate," Lewn said into the microphone. "Now, brother, would you like to announce who your mate bond is with?"
Jory looked hopelessly at Val. Pain ripped through his chest at the thought of leaving the gorgeous man alone.
"Just one moment." Val's voice sounded behind him. "I would also like to claim my mate."
With one smooth motion, Val stripped off his shirt and turned his back towards the audience, exposing an identical dragon to the one on Rai's back, an exact image of Precious.
Rai scowled. "Jory, come up here."
With a sigh, he walked up to the podium. He could feel Val's stare like a physical presence on his body.
"Remove your shirt," Rai demanded.
Jory looked down at the sea of people standing around and then back at Val, who climbed up the stairs to join him.
"Go ahead."
Taking a deep breath, Jory set Precious on a nearby chair and stripped off his shirt, turning around for everyone to see. "What's on my back?"
He was almost afraid to ask. Val was like a need in his gut, but another part of him would feel hollow if he lost Rai.
There was a long silence where no one spoke.
"What's on my back?" Jory demanded. As his tension level spiked, Precious flew back to drape across his shoulders, careful of his flesh when she landed. Instinctively, Jory scratched her head, trying to calm his spiking nerves.
Lewn came around as the other two men just stared. "You have them both; a green dragon for Rai and a blue dragon for Valer. I've never heard of anyone in our family having a triple mating before." Lewn gave him a wide smile. "Congratulations, brother."
"Great, just what I need, another brother," Jory said in a dry tone.
Only Rai and Val caught the joke and started laughing, breaking the tension that had risen.
"As I was saying," Rai went on, "Joriah is now bound to both myself and Lord Klarian, making him my official consort and Val's registered mate."
"Consort?"
This was bad. This was so bad Jory didn't know how to respond. Not to mention he didn't even know if the tattoo would last. His father was going to be way too happy about this.
"Yes." Rai walked up to him and placed a long hot kiss on his lips.
Forgetting his concerns, forgetting the audience, hell, almost forgetting his name, Jory gave himself up to the large dragon man.
"I am king, and you are my king-consort and Val's duke-consort. You are now the most important person in my kingdom."
"Shit."
Pulling out of his thoughts, he looked up at two angry men.
"What?"
"You could at least pretend to be happy about it." Rai glared at him.
