Claiming Carina (7 page)

"Carina,
look at me."

Denver's gentle
command brought her attention back up from her lap to his sparkling emerald
eyes.

"It makes
us proud that you liked your meal so much. As we're the farmers of the clan
we're responsible for providing the ingredients for it, so you liking it
makes
us extremely happy. Please, don't be
embarrassed."

Phelan cut him
off to add, "And ordinarily we'd have eaten just as fast as you have this
morning. But we were all enjoying the sight of you too much to focus on our own
meals."

Phelan's
lighthearted comment got a giggle out of her. She shook her head at him before
she began to rise from her seat.

"Well, I
should go have that chat with Skye and let you men finish your meal without
further distraction then."

She kissed all
three of her men and headed over toward Skye with a bounce in her step. Being
blown through that portal really was the best thing that had ever happened to
her.

****

"Shouldn't
one of us follow them?"

Phelan looked up
and followed Denver's stare to where he watched Carina leave the room arm in
arm with Skye. He couldn't get over how much she'd changed since last night.
She was alive now. She'd lost the scared look in her eyes and walked with
confidence.

"Nah, they
need to have
girl time
. We'll all go
round them up in half hour or so. They both know about Eilagh and Becky being
kidnapped, so they won't stray far."

Once the females
were out of sight, they all returned to their meals, finishing them off in no
time.

Hart chuckled.
"Did you see how fast she ate?"

"Yeah, she
must have been starved. We’ll have to start keeping more food in our chambers
for her to have between meals. She needs to keep her strength up."

Phelan cocked
his eyebrow at Denver's comment. "Keep her strength up, huh?"

Phelan and his
brothers all grew quiet. He assumed that, like him, they were remembering how
sensual and responsive their Desired had been last night.

"She's
something else, isn't she?"

Hart's comment
confirmed Phelan's suspicions.

"Do you
think she'll be ready for all three of us after the bonding? I'm not sure I can
hold myself back once we're mated."

"She
responded to all of us last night, not just me. I'm sure once she feels the
bond take hold she'll be fine to take all of us. Hart started prepping her last
night, and she responded beautifully. I think she's going to love having all
three of us love her at the same time. She won't want it any other way after
tonight, I'm sure."

Phelan groaned.
"Thanks, Denver,
now
I'm going to be hard all
bloody day with that image in my head. How about we go see Dimitri about
organizing the Bonding Ceremony for later today?"

All three of
them stood from their now empty plates and headed over to where Dimitri and Max
sat drinking coffee. Dimitri spoke as they approached.
"Morning,
men.
How's Carina doing? She certainly looks much better this
morning."

"We made a lot
of progress with her last night. She's agreed to bond with us. Is it possible
to have the ceremony this afternoon?"

Dimitri barked
out a laugh and slapped his thighs. "Well, isn't this the day for
celebrations? We were already getting ready for a Bonding Ceremony for Drake,
Savren, and Becky—assuming they can smooth over their colossal screw-up—it's
easy enough to add another ceremony into the mix."

"What screw
up? And what else are we celebrating?"

Both Dimitri and
Max wore huge grins, and their eyes sparkled with happiness. "Eilagh is
pregnant. The mark appeared overnight—"

"That's
awesome news! Congratulations."

"Well
there's more if you'd let me finish. Becky's pregnant, too—except Drake and
Savren didn't tell her what the mark meant. They are currently off doing some
major sucking up. I'm not too worried though. She's their Desired. She won't be
able to stay mad at them for too long."

Just then Eilagh
strolled into the room and came over to them. She gave Dimitri a quick kiss before
settling on Max's lap. She looked so comfortable with her men. Phelan couldn't
wait to have Carina that relaxed around them.

"Congratulations,
Eilagh, such wonderful news."

She smiled
sweetly at Hart's comment before she uttered a quiet thank you.

"Where are
the others?
Carina and Skye?"

Phelan frowned
at her question and looked over to Denver. "They have been gone for quite
some time now. Think it might be a good idea to go round them up?"

"Yeah, I've
got a bad feeling all of a sudden. Grab Calix, Axel, and Owen, and we'll head
out. Knowing Carina, they went outside for their chat."

Dimitri grabbed
Denver’s arm as he went to leave. “I’ve had warriors doing patrols of the
castles’ borders several times a day since we rescued Eilagh and Becky. This morning
they reported seeing a black and grey dragon fleeing the grounds. He was too
far away to be caught, so they didn’t give chase. That doesn’t mean that Huro
and Gyasi haven’t left something behind. I was planning on taking a team out
after breakfast to search the area for traps. The dragon was spotted flying
northwest from the castle, so you’d best start in that direction.”

“That’s where
we’ll start looking then.”

With an
increased sense of urgency, they raced outside, ready to go find their
Desireds
. Phelan listened as Denver and Calix formed a
plan.

"Calix, has
Skye touched any of you in dragon form yet?"

"No, not yet.
We haven't got
that far with her."

"Okay, well
we'll be able to zone in on Carina, and they should be together."

As Denver closed
his eyes, Phelan did, too.
Focusing in a northwest direction
and on Carina, searching for her life force to call out to him.
To them.
When he found it, he dropped to his knees and
rasped out, "Found her."

He opened his
eyes to see Denver and Hart kneeling next to him, both with pain in their eyes.

"She's
scared. She's calling out to us."

Phelan dragged
himself up with his brothers. "Let’s go."

"You two
stay in human form. I'm going to take to the sky."

Denver flashed
to dragon and took off. The rest of them ran down the path toward where they
knew Carina was.

They still
hadn't found her when he heard Denver's loud roar rip through the air. Phelan’s
breath caught with fear, but he resisted the urge to shift and fly to her. Denver
would handle anything that needed a dragon. His precious Desired would need at
least one of her males in human form to comfort her. With Hart by his side,
Phelan sprinted to find his female.

****

Denver saw red
as he flew over the trees toward where he could sense Carina was. He should have
followed them. How could he forget Huro and Gyasi were still desperate to
obtain a female? He was the oldest, so it was his responsibility to keep his
family safe. He saw a flash of black moving through the trees and roared in
anger. Swooping down below the tree line, he chased the black dragon. He got
close to its tail and blew a jet of fire. He managed to singe the end of his
tail, causing the other dragon to roar in pain. Just as he felt Carina close in
front of them, the black dragon veered off to the left. Denver abandoned the
chase to get to Carina. There were two black dragons after his Desired, and he
wouldn't allow one to distract him while the other took her.

Denver's heart
stuttered when he saw Carina. About eight feet off the ground, she dangled in a
net from a tree branch. She'd curled herself into a tight ball, and by the
shuddering he could see, he'd guess she was crying. Sending a mental message to
his brothers that he'd found her, Denver landed next to where she hung and
rubbed his snout against her back through the ropes in an attempt to calm her.
No doubt she'd feel better with him in human form, but he needed his dragon’s
height to get her down and to keep her protected. She squealed and jerked at
his touch, but Denver didn't take it to heart. She was scared out of her mind.
Just as he reached out to wrap his arms around her, he heard Hart's voice come
from below him.

"Carina,
it's us. Denver's got you. Just relax and let him get you down."

Denver felt her
body relax, and she twisted her head toward him. She gave him a watery smile as
she pushed her arms through the net to cling to him. Holding her tightly
against him with one arm, he reached up with the other, and sliced the rope
attaching her to the tree with his claws. He lowered her and the net to the
ground where Hart and Phelan stood waiting. His brothers quickly freed her from
the trap, and she sprang up into Hart's embrace, sobbing into his shoulder.

Hart, we need to get her out of here. I singed the
tail of a black dragon on my way here. Huro and Gyasi are here looking for her.
Tell her to come with me back to the castle, and then you two can go help
Calix, Axel, and Owen look for Skye.

Hang on, Denver. Let's ask her if she knows where Skye
is first. She should be able to give us a direction at least.

Denver nodded.

Hart pulled
Carina away from his body and pushed her hair back.

"Baby doll,
we have to get you out of here. The men that kidnapped your friends are back, and
this is their trap. You need to go with Denver so he can fly you back to the
castle where it's safe. Phelan and I will help find Skye. Do you know where she
went?"

"Oh no,
Skye's missing? She went for help. She headed toward the castle to get you all.
Didn't she make it?"

Carina broke
down into soul searing sobs. Hart picked her up and brought her over to him.
Denver took her into his arms and cradled her against his chest. Once she was
safely tucked in close, he took to the sky and headed to the castle, leaving
the others to find Skye.

As he came in to
land at the castle, Dimitri was waiting for him.

"What
happened?
Where's
Skye and the other men?"

Carina was caught in a rope trap, and Skye had left to
go get help. The others are looking for her.

Dimitri cursed
under his breath before he looked back at him. "She’s trembling. Denver,
pass her to me while you change to human. She needs you as a man."

Denver handed
his precious bundle over to his clan leader and stepped away from them to flash
into human form. As soon as the light dissipated, he returned to them, taking
Carina back from Dimitri before heading inside the castle.

He entered their
bedroom and laid the now sleeping Carina down on the mattress. Exhaustion had finally
won as he’d walked through the castle, and she'd fallen asleep with her head
against his chest. He gently stripped her down to her beautiful caramel skin,
noticing she was covered in grime and had tear tracks down her cheeks. He
covered her with a sheet before he quietly padded over to the bathroom to get a
bath ready. Once he had the tub filled with warm scented water, he headed back
to the bedroom. Carina was thrashing around on the bed whimpering, obviously in
the throes of a nightmare. Denver stripped off his pants and scooped her up in
his arms, making soothing noises as she clung to him in her sleep. He walked
with her to the bathroom where he carefully climbed into the tub. He sat on the
molded seat, submerging them both in the warm water.

Carina began to
stir as he stroked her face while whispering, "
It's
okay, sweetness. I've got you. Everything is going to be okay. Phelan, Hart,
and the others will find Skye, you'll see. Just relax and let me bathe
you."

He took his time
washing every inch of her skin. She was glorious naked, glistening from the
water. As he gently washed her hair, his heart soared as she made small mewling
noises of pleasure at his touch. He finally stood with her from the water when
he noticed her fingers had begun to wrinkle. He stepped from the tub and
carefully stood her on the mat before fetching a towel to dry her.

"I can do
that myself, you know."

"I know,
sweetness, but I need to touch you. To believe you're really here and are all
right."

The shy smile
she gave him sent fire through his veins. Damn, their Desired was so gorgeous.
Once he had them both dry, he picked her up and carried her to the bed. He laid
her down before crawling in behind her, spooning up behind her back. He pulled
her in close to his body reveling in the feel of her safe and sound in his
arms. She held herself tense, and he stroked her hair and her arm, then her
side in an attempt to relax her.

"Try to
sleep, Carina. I'll let you know if I hear any news."

"How will
you know, if you're in here with me?"

"The
telepathic link we mentioned earlier. I'll hear the news the second they find
her."