Emmaline gasped. Aiden jerked his head in the older woman’s direction and noticed she’d pressed her trembling fingers against her lips.
“What is it?” Dana pushed off the overstuffed arm of the sofa.
“Nothing. Just a Charlie horse in my leg.” Emmaline smiled reassuringly but Aiden didn’t fail to notice the slight tremor at the corner of her mouth.
“Take a load off. You’ve been on your feet too much today.” Dana patted the couch cushion, apparently not picking up on the anxiety wafting from her aunt. Emmaline’s gaze shifted in Aiden’s direction before she dutifully obeyed her niece’s request. Yep, she was definitely hiding something.
“I still find it hard to believe my father would have agreed to any of this.”
Aiden sucked in a deep breath. If she wanted proof, he could oblige. “We brought along a copy of the contract.”
“I’ll get it,” Jace offered, striding to the door.
In the wake of his brother’s departure, a strained silence filled the small office. It didn’t help that Dana and her aunt kept a wary eye on him the entire time. Yeah, nothing like being the solitary dragon in the room. Finally Jace returned and handed the sheaf of papers to Dana. Her gaze fell to the name scrawled at the bottom of the top page and she went still, her breathing seeming to cease.
Emmaline rubbed Dana’s back. “Hon, you know your father didn’t willingly sign that. Like Aiden said, your pops was forced into it.”
Dana released her breath in a rush, her uncertainty vanishing. “You’re right. I just wasn’t expecting…” Worrying her bottom lip between her teeth, she shook her head and scanned the remainder of the document. “Other than the basics—like my personal info and the word sacrifice—I don’t understand most of this.”
“A lot of it is archaic terminology. That’s the problem with relying on a nine-hundred-year-old scroll,” Aiden said dryly.
Dana fidgeted with the corners of the contract. “I guess my main concern now is do I need to worry about your relatives torching my aunt’s restaurant if I don’t agree to sacrifice myself?”
When it came to the council, he didn’t know what to expect. “I wouldn’t rule out the possibility.”
“Great.” Dana let go of the papers and they plummeted to the floor. She clasped her knees tight enough her knuckles whitened. “So I have sex. With you both. Then we go along our merry ways?”
“Not exactly.” He saw no way to avoid killing the spark of hope in her expression. “Next Sunday marks the first phase of the Talon Moon. That night, Jace and I will claim you. Completely. Bindingly.”
The muscles in Dana’s graceful neck worked as she swallowed hard. “What are you saying?”
“You’ll belong to us. For as long as you live.”
Dana surged to her feet, her eyes snapping fire. “That sounds an awful lot like slavery.”
Aiden gusted a weary exhale. “More or less.”
“Well screw that. I’m not going to be the live version of a blow-up doll the two of you will pass back and forth whenever you’re horny!”
Jace cleared his throat. “It’s not like we’d only be using you for sex.”
Her face livid, Dana swung on Jace. “Let me guess—I’d also get the honor of doing your laundry and scrubbing your toilets. Wow, I should probably bow and kiss your feet for such a privilege.”
“Good going,” Aiden growled beneath his breath to Jace. He schooled his features into a less threatening mask before facing Dana again. “You don’t have to decide now. There’s almost eight days to make up your mind.” That gave him and Jace a little over a week to persuade her to accept the claiming. In whatever way it took.
“Gee, that really takes the pressure off.” Dividing a hot glare between him and Jace, she stalked from the office.
In the wake of Dana’s departure, a tense silence descended on the room. Emmaline broke the mood by plopping onto the sofa with a groan. “All these years I thought my poor brother was suffering delusions caused from the trauma of losing his wife.”
Aiden narrowed his gaze on the woman. “When I was explaining the candidate pool earlier you looked like someone walked over your grave.”
“I was reliving a memory. One that’s going to haunt the rest of my days.” Emmaline pinched the bridge of her nose. “I always wondered if I somehow betrayed my brother by allowing the hospital to forcibly admit him into the psychiatric ward. Now I know I did.”
A heavy weight anchored in Aiden’s chest. “Let me guess. Your brother suddenly started ranting about dragons wanting to take his baby?”
Emmaline brushed a tear from her cheek and nodded.
“It isn’t your fault. You reacted as anyone would.”
She stared at him, her expression doubtful. “I should have believed him. Especially after he joined the hunters.”
A shiver of dread raced along Aiden’s spine and crawled inside his head, unfurling into an unpleasant realization that refused to go ignored.
Dana’s father didn’t become a hunter because he was crazy. He became one to protect his daughter.
From me.
Chapter Seven
The remaining five hours of Dana’s shift passed in a haze. Somehow she managed to keep her orders straight and even smiled for the customers. In other words, she pretended her life hadn’t just imploded. Her steps sluggish as a zombie’s, she trudged into Emmaline’s office and grabbed her Renaissance costume from the locker. Draping the dress over her arm, she listened to Emmaline’s sneakers squeaking along the hall. A second later, her aunt shuffled inside the office.
“Hon, I don’t want you sacrificing yourself for me or this restaurant. It’s not right.”
“Could we not talk about this?” Dana released a heavy exhale when Emmaline planted her hands on her hips, her typical prelude to an argument. “Please? Right now all I want to do is go home and soak my aching head in a hot shower.”
Emmaline’s chin lost its stubborn tilt. “Okay. But don’t do anything foolish until we’ve had a chance to discuss everything.”
“What—you mean like tying myself to a sacrificial altar?” Although she’d said it in jest, her mind immediately conjured the image from her painting and the host of dreams responsible for its inspiration. Oh my God. Had she somehow known?
The pounding behind her skull increased and she pushed aside all the thoughts making her head spin. Which pretty much left her with little else to concentrate on. Okay, the hot shower. Yeah, that was a dreamy prospect she could focus on. Hugging the dress against her chest, she pecked Emmaline on the cheek. “Don’t worry, I’m not doing anything rash. I’ll call you tomorrow, ’kay?”
“You better.”
Leaving her grumbling aunt behind, Dana took the back hallway. POC was waiting in the parking lot. Unfortunately, so were Aiden and Jace. After sending them both a hard glare, she fished in the pocket of her wench dress for her keys.
“You should have your keys ready in your hand before you leave a building.” His face tight, Aiden fell in step beside her. Jace took up position on her other side.
She was well aware of the precautions a single woman alone needed to take. So acknowledging she’d made a major snafu just now really irked. Rather than sharing the admission with Aiden or Jace, she decided to stick with the surly route. “Don’t tell me you’ve spent the last five hours out here?”