Marduk continued to look angry. “Worthless male.”
Danzig’s expression softened. “Aww, you’re putting us in the boyfriend category.”
Their reactions made me laugh. “You guys are kind of cute.”
“Only kind of?” Danzig asked, fluttering his eyelashes. “Wait until you see my naked body by firelight. I’m breathtaking.”
It was difficult, but I managed to keep those images out of my head.
Marduk ignored Danzig’s flirting. “We are Jörmungandr. We don’t lie to our mate.”
I gave him my best no-nonsense lawyer look. “There are different ways to lie besides speaking an untruth. There are also lies of omission. But the absolute worst is when someone lies to themselves first. They promise they’ll do something but then fail. I need you to be honest with yourself before you promise something.”
I expected both of them to deny my claim immediately, but they silently looked at each other. When they looked back to me, it was Danzig who spoke without any of the earlier teasing.
“We can’t know exactly how we’ll react in every situation, but we both promise to do our very best to act reasonably and allow you to lead us.”
Marduk nodded his head as Danzig spoke, agreeing with his brother’s statement.
Those words made me confident that they'd really thought about what they were suggesting. “I accept your offer.”
Danzig’s expression lit up, and he sat up and stuck his hand out across the table. “Shake on it!”
I chuckled and put my hand in his. Then Marduk’s hand was in my face.
“Me too,” he demanded. I pulled my hand free of Danzig’s warm grasp and pressed my palm to Marduk. A look of absolute satisfaction crossed his face.
Feeling a little uncomfortable, I tugged my hand from his. It wasn’t that I didn’t want him to touch me, but because I had the urge to pull Marduk close and kiss him to see if he tasted different than Danzig.
Marduk jumped up and went to the kitchen to bring back three more beers. “We need to toast our partnership.”
I accepted and we all clinked bottles.
Waking up, Hugo yawned widely then got out of his bed and moved over to me. Setting down my drink, I scooped up the dog and settled him into my lap.
“He’s cute,” Danzig said, reaching across the table to give Hugo a little pet.
“I’m going to tell you the same thing I said to Em, don’t get attached,” I said. “I’m waiting for his owner to contact me about him.”
“Where is Em?” Marduk asked, taking a turn at petting the solid little dog.
“She’s gone for the week,” I said. I let the next words come out of my mouth without thinking about it too hard. “You guys could stay here until she gets back. One of you could take her bed, and the couch folds out into a bed.”
“I’d love that,” Danzig said.
“Thank you,” Marduk said.
Then they looked at each other and spoke at the same time. “I get the bed.”
I snorted. “I’ll flip a coin to find out who gets it tonight, then you guys can switch off every other night.”
They both blinked, then grinned at me and once again spoke at the same time. “We accept.”
I held up a finger. “One thing, though. I’m going to need you guys to stop doing that.”
“We’ll try,” they responded in unison, making me burst out laughing.
Chapter 11
