While her aunt rushed through the door, Dana hurried to the woman’s restroom. After availing herself of the toilet, she washed up the best she could and returned to the front of the restaurant. Aiden and Jace were sitting at the bar, a bottle of whiskey between them. At first she assumed the alcohol was for consuming—something she was fully onboard with at the moment—but then she saw the soaked strip of cloth Aiden was pressing to his shoulder. She turned her attention to Jace and noticed him threading a needle.
“Uh…guys? We do have a first-aid kit up by the hostess stand.”
“First-aid kits are for wimps.” Jace tied off the thread. “Plus his shirt was already ruined anyway.”
She took a closer look at the fabric bundled in Aiden’s hand and realized it was a shirt sleeve. “How very MacGyver of you.”
Voices suddenly filled the front entrance. Dana turned and counted at least fifteen people trooping toward them. She shook her head. “It’s like watching the opening of a joke. Fifteen dragons walk into a bar…”
Aiden and Jace hooted. Wincing, Aiden clamped his hand over the cloth compressed against his wound.
“Just a scrape, my ass.” She leaned over him, fully intending to check the injury for herself. He blocked her progress by cupping his free hand around the back of her head and sliding his lips over hers. She tasted a hint of whiskey on his breath. Ah, so he had resorted to some liquid courage.
The room seemed inordinately quiet all of a sudden. With the tiny hairs on her nape giving her a clue why, she swiveled and found fifteen sets of eyes glued to her and Aiden.
A rotund man with the coldest eyes she’d ever seen disengaged from the throng. “It’s six minutes to midnight. Unless you’re planning on the fastest binding ceremony of all time, you’ve failed your mission.”
Dana bristled at the stranger’s triumphant expression. “They’ve been dealing with a lunatic hunter all day. Cut them some slack.”
“Shut up, sacrifice.”
Aiden shot from his seat and in a blink of an eye, towered over the older male. “Do not speak to her like that. Or better yet, at all.” His jaw hardened. “Just because I didn’t give in to my instinct to kill Tony doesn’t mean you will fare so lucky.”
The tiniest hint of fear flickered across the features of the man facing Aiden. “Clearly you’ve developed an emotional attachment to the sacrifice. That alone is grounds for banishment.” He turned to the grumbling assemblage. “It looks like we’ve come all this way for nothing since there will be no ceremony this evening.”
Aiden’s father stepped forward. “You are not the sole speaker of this council, Kinnit. We will go the proper channels and take it to a vote.”
“No, Kinnit’s right,” Aiden said, his voice thundering above the shouts of the others. “There won’t be a binding ceremony.”
Everyone’s attention veered to Aiden and the bickering petered off. Calmly, he returned their incredulous stares. “I’m renouncing my title of Supreme Alpha-elect. Furthermore, Dana and I won’t be returning with you. This is her home. She belongs here.”
Her heart overflowing with so much love it nearly hurt, Dana twined her fingers around Aiden’s. “But you’d be giving up everything for me. How can I ask that of you?”
“You’re not. I’m doing it of my own free will.” He lifted her hand and kissed the tips of her fingers. “You’re my home, sweetheart. I belong nowhere else.”
“You are a disgrace to the Drakoni name!”
Dana glared at Kinnit. “You are a vile little weasel, you know that? What’s your problem? Penis envy?” She ignored the snorts of laughter from the crowd and continued ranting. “Aiden is a good and honorable man. Dragon. You should be bending backwards, begging him to be your Holy Alpha.”
Aiden chuckled and squeezed her fingers. “Supreme Alpha, sweetheart.”
“Oh. Right.”
Kinnit smirked. “Regardless of your glowing recommendation, we simply cannot allow it. You’re no longer his sacrifice and he’s no longer the elect. Now, my son on the other hand—”
“Is dead. By his and your folly.”
The blood drained from Kinnit’s face and he staggered back. “Did you…?”
“No. Not that I wouldn’t have if I’d gotten to him first.”
A gray-haired gentleman in the middle of the pack suddenly spoke up. “We still have to come to a conclusion on the Supreme elect. And the way I see it, we still acquired our sacrifice.”
“What are you talking about, you idiot?” Kinnit’s mouth practically foamed. Apparently his grieving period was officially done.
Unperturbed by the hostility directed at him, the other man shrugged. “Aiden was willing to give up his title. That’s a sacrifice in my book.”
Excited murmurs erupted and Aiden held his hands up in front of his chest. “I appreciate the sentiment but I’m out.” He glanced at Dana and gave her a smile that took her breath away. “I’m going to be too busy trying to keep my new wife deliriously happy and out of trouble to take on the responsibility.”
She gaped at him. “You want to marry me?”
He nodded.
“Do I have to learn how to cook?”
“Not if I want to be deliriously happy.”
Maggie Fortune stepped forward and wrapped Dana in a warm hug. “Welcome to the family.”
Soon enough, Dana found herself surrounded by well-wishers.
Maggie extricated herself from the assemblage and strode to Jace. She slung her arm around his waist. “You know, it just dawned on me who would make a perfect candidate for Supreme Alpha.”
Jace stared down at his mother. “Have you stopped taking your meds?”
“Sassy boy. You’re a natural-born leader, just like your brother. Don’t you think it’s time to embrace your heritage?”
“Mom has a point.”
Jace glared at Aiden. “Hey, I’ve put in thirty-one years perfecting the art of laziness. Don’t blow it for me.”
Maggie peered up at Jace with her big, luminous eyes filled with hope. Jace groaned. “Shit, this is really gonna impact my daily siesta.”
Dana elbowed her way toward Jace. He grinned at her and she tossed her arms around him, squeezing hard. “They’re right. You’ll make a great Holy Alpha.” She joined in his boisterous laugh. Emotion welled in her chest as his hands slid along her back. She’d come to love Jace in a way that was different from what she felt for Aiden, but it was real nonetheless. How could she not after everything they’d shared? “I’m going to miss you.”
“Me too, sweetness. Now how about a kiss for old time’s sake?”
She tilted her face in offering. The kiss Jace bestowed on her wasn’t exactly chaste. By the time their lips parted, she was fairly certain she’d steamed off a few pounds.
“You better have enjoyed that,” Aiden growled at his brother. He stopped beside them and planted his fists on his hips—though he looked like he’d much rather plant them on Jace’s nose. “It’s the last time you’re frenching my woman.”
“Shit, can you blame me? You get the hot babe and I’m stuck with the old farts. I needed some kind of consolation prize.”
Aiden’s scowl vanished, morphing into an expression of tenderness. “Guess I can’t argue with that logic. God knows, I got the best prize of all.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
“Baby, I’m just now getting off the expressway. Should be there before you know it. Jesus, I’ve missed you like crazy.” Aiden hung up his cell, a little disappointed he’d been forced to leave a message. They’d been separated for two long weeks while he’d taken care of business back in Washington. He didn’t want to talk to a damn answering machine. He wanted Dana.