“So you’ve loved me all this time and never said anything?”
He squeezed her waist. “Bloody woman, I’m trying to pour my heart out here. Can you work with me a little?”
She grinned. “Maybe. If you make it up to me later.”
Growling, he raised his face to hers. “Aye, I think I can manage that.”
The tenderness in his eyes warmed her heart and Evie decided to stop teasing her dragonman. As he caressed her cheek with his thumb, she whispered the truth, “I don’t think I was truly living until I met you, dragonman. So you’d better stay alive or else.”
Bram moved his thumb to her lower lip. “Or else what?”
“Or else, this.”
She tickled his armpit and Bram’s laughter echoed inside the bedroom. There was something about the large, muscled clan leader being ticklish that made her laugh right alongside him.
Two seconds later, Murray’s crying stopped the tickling. While the mother side of her was upset Bram woke the baby, the Bram’s mate side of her preened at finally winning against him.
Still, Murray’s cries went to her heart. She tried to go to the baby, but Bram prevented her a moment and gave her a quick, hot kiss first before releasing her as he said, “Round two will be mine.”
Evie smiled at his challenge. “I look forward to you losing again.”
Bram laughed as she moved from the bed. She picked up Murray and bounced her baby boy to try to calm him down. Her eyes met Bram’s. The love shining in his eyes for both her and Murray brought tears to her eyes again. And for once, she didn’t care that her pregnancy made her emotional. This moment was one she’d keep with her always.
~~~
Bram adjusted the sporran-like pouch over his crotch and resisted straightening his formal dragon-shifter attire for the hundredth time. He still didn’t know how Evie had convinced him to go through with inviting outsiders to be a part of what should be their special day.
Still, as he scanned the crowd in front of him, the four journalists sitting in the front room were furiously scribbling in their notebooks. He only hoped he’d made the best decision for his clan. While the dragon hunters had retreated for the time being, Stonefire and Lochguard were still searching for the reason why the Carlisle rescue attempt had been so easy. No doubt, Simon Bourne would strike again and Bram had a feeling that next time, more than one person would die.
His eyes fell on Finlay Stewart sitting in the back row. Bram would rather have spent his mating day without the Scottish bastard’s grins and winks, but Evie had convinced him to invite the Lochguard leader.
At least Finn was sitting on the opposite side of the room from Arabella. He’d kept his word concerning the dragonwoman, although the glances Ara kept giving the Scottish leader worried Bram a little.
Moving his gaze, Bram checked that Kai was stationed at the rear door, keeping an eye out for any uninvited guests. The journalists had used their contacts in Westminster to gain permission to be on a dragon-shifter’s land. It was only a matter of time before others, or Evie herself, figured out a loophole to allow others to visit. His head Protector was determined to make sure any unwanted visitors didn’t try to harm the clan.
Then his mate entered from the back dressed in a traditional dragon-shifter dress of cream and he forgot about everything but his beautiful female. The sight of her glowing face and the way the dress hugged her curves warmed his heart, as well as a few other places. When she winked at him, he suddenly forgot why he’d ever try to resist her charms.
A traditional human wedding march played as Evie made her way up the aisle alone. Even if her parents didn’t live abroad, they wouldn’t have been allowed on Stonefire’s lands. Evie had decided to walk alone, as she’d done her entire life until meeting Bram.
His inner dragon said, She will never be alone again. She is ours.
Ours now, eh? I’m glad you decided to share.
His beast bristled. The frenzy made me unstable. You know that.
Aye, but it’s fun to tease.
No more teasing. Our mate is here.
Bram put out a hand and Evie placed hers in his. Squeezing her fingers, he led her up the three stairs to the raised dais. While he had a second, he whispered, “You’re beautiful.”
In a rare occurrence, Evie blushed. That made his dragon smug. She is ours.
Ignoring his beast, Bram focused on his mate. He could hear her heart hammering in her chest. To give her strength, he squeezed her fingers again, leaned over, and murmured, “Be strong for me, love. We all need you.”
She nodded and they took their final places in the middle of the dais. Unlike in a human wedding, there wasn’t anyone officiating the ceremony. Dragon-shifter matings were between two people and no one else.
Never taking his eyes from Evie’s, he picked up the smaller silver mating band in the box next to them, the one engraved with “Bram’s” in the old dragon-shifter language, and the room fell silent. That was his cue to begin.