Chapter 6

CHAPTER SIX

Lachlan could feel his dragon's increasing clamoring tension as he and Belle neared the door that would take them through the back way into Drake House.

He knew the reason for it too. His possessive dragon didn't want any other dragons near Belle until they had claimed her. And that included Lachlan's two brothers.

Lachlan felt that same possessiveness, but it was tempered by the human logic that if he wanted to take Belle to his home, that his brothers would necessarily also be there.

The brothers each had their own set of rooms within the large house, into which they could disappear if they so wished. They rarely did except to sleep. Because the only way that Lachlan, Hunter, and Ranulf had survived for as long as they had was by remaining together. Fighting together too, against whatever foe presented itself.

Lachlan knew that Hunter and Ranulf would feel as he did. That far from being a foe, Belle was Lachlan's precious mate, to be cherished and protected. Even at the cost of their lives.

A protection Lachlan readily gave his brothers and would give to their mates too, if or when that time ever came. He sincerely hoped that it would.

He had only known Belle for a very short time, but already, that sense of inner desolation and loneliness, of everything being a combination of white, gray and black, had disappeared.

Colors were more vivid to him now. Most especially the blue-black of Belle's hair and the sky-blue of her eyes. As well as the rosy hue to her pale cheeks and the delicate blue of the veins visibly thrumming beneath that pale flesh.

In his eyes, and his dragon's, Belle was absolute perfection.

"My brothers can be a little…overwhelming when you first meet them." As they approached the entrance to the house, he felt it necessary to attempt to soften the reality of having three powerful dragon shifters in the same space. One of whom was her mate and already fiercely possessive of her.

Her mouth quirked. "The brooding Ranulf, but the less so Hunter."

Lachlan grimaced. "Well remembered." His dragon preened at his mate's attentiveness to his words.

"None of you are married?" she prompted curiously.

"No," he grated as, out of deference to Belle's human emotions, he continued to hold back his need to state his claim on her right now.

She smiled at him. "As I intend getting on the first train back to London, I doubt I'll be around long enough to be bothered by your brothers' differing levels of brooding."

Mine.

Take.

Now.

After hearing Belle state she was leaving, it was difficult for Lachlan to control the roar of his dragon, but hopefully, none of that inner struggle showed on his face.

"Are you okay?" Belle eyed him curiously, letting him know that he hadn't completely succeeded in hiding his inner turmoil at the thought of her leaving him.

"Fine," he bit out from between clenched teeth. "But, as I said earlier, I doubt the trains are running after the blizzard we've had for the past twenty-four hours."

Belle had no idea if there was a hotel or somewhere else nearby where she could stay until the weather improved and the trains were running again. She certainly wasn't going back to the McGregors' house. Or anywhere near Ben.

Not only had he tried to get into bed with her, but apart from that cursory search this morning with his father, he hadn't even bothered to look for her after realizing she was missing.

Maybe he really had thought she'd gotten on a train and gone back to London without so much as a thank-you or a goodbye?

As Lachlan had just pointed out, the trains wouldn't be running today, and considering the weather, Belle doubted they would have been running yesterday either.

Which meant Ben really hadn't cared whether she lived or died.

Belle would seriously have to think about moving into other student accommodation before Ben came back from Scotland. There was no way she could live in the same house with him now.

"You can stay here with us until the weather improves," Lachlan announced as he opened the door for her at the end of the sheer rock passageway.

Belle momentarily forgot her denial as to the suitability of accepting his hospitality or questioning how he had even known that was what she was thinking. Instead, she groaned her pleasure as the opening of that door meant she was immediately assailed by a blast of heat and the delicious smell of food, luring her to step into the warmth of the huge kitchen beyond.

She came to an abrupt halt, her fingers tightening about Lachlan's, when she stepped into the room and saw two men sitting at the scarred table placed squarely in the middle of the room.

She didn't need to be told they were Lachlan's two brothers. Not that they looked like him, or alike, for that matter, because they didn't. But as Ranulf and Hunter rose to their feet, she could see all the brothers were the same six and a half feet in height, with wide and muscular shoulders and chests, narrow waists, and long, long legs.

One of the brothers had his short dark hair styled shaved on the sides and back and longer on top. His eyes were so dark, they almost appeared black.

The other brother also had dark hair, but it was long to his jaw, a darker beard covering his chin and top lip. His eyes were a piercing green.

Belle wasn't sure if, genetically, it was possible for brothers to individually have gray, dark brown, and piercing green eyes.

Whether it was possible or not, that was what the Drake brothers had.

The two men in the kitchen were also both staring at her with the same intensity Lachlan had when he'd first entered the cave where she'd taken shelter.

She could also see Lachlan more clearly in the overhead light of the kitchen.

If anything, he was even more startlingly attractive now she could fully take in those piercing gray eyes and slicked-back silver hair.

"This is Belle Brown," Lachlan introduced as he released her hand to stand behind her and help her remove the thick coat. He then placed it and her hat and gloves on one of the hooks beside the door. Belle continued to hold on to her backpack.

Piercing green eyes blinked at her. "My God, is she…?"

"Yes," Lachlan bit out tersely as he moved to stand beside her, his arm almost touching hers.

"You're sure?" the dark-eyed one growled.

"Very," Lachlan confirmed. "Belle, this is my middle brother, Ranulf." He nodded at the green-eyed man before turning to the dark-eyed one. "And our younger brother, Hunter."

"Pleased to meet you both." She stepped forward with her hand politely held out.

Only to come to an abrupt halt, her hand falling back to her side when she heard the soft rumble of what sounded like a dog growling in warning. A glance around the kitchen showed her there was no dog in the room.

"Weird," she muttered under her breath at the same time as she shook her head.

The cold and fear during the long hours of the night before must have gotten to her if she was now hearing growls that couldn't possibly be there.

"We're very pleased to meet you too, Belle." The brother called Hunter grinned, but made no effort to offer to shake her hand.

"Yes," Ranulf confirmed abruptly, his hand now back at his side.

An awkward silence fell over the room. Well, it felt awkward to Belle. The three Drake brothers seemed unaffected, or at least not to notice the underlying tension Belle was feeling as, without actually talking about it, they set about the task of producing dinner.

Ranulf moved to stand in front of the huge range along one wall and lift the lid of the large pot on top of it, immediately releasing more of the delicious aromas that instantly made Belle's empty stomach grumble in appreciation.

Hunter set about laying four places at the table.

Lachlan moved to slice the fresh bread sitting on a board on one of the work surfaces before placing it and butter from the fridge in the center of the scarred table.

To Belle, it looked orchestrated, something the brothers had done dozens of times before, each knowing the part they played without being told.

Having no family of her own, she felt almost envious of their easy familiarity with each other.

"Would you like to serve the venison stew into the bowls while I put out the plates for the bread?" Ranulf invited gruffly after he'd set out the four bowls and a ladle on the worktop beside the range for her to use.

"That's the most I've heard you say for…a while, brother," Hunter stated with approval.

Ranulf didn't answer, but his lips quirked into what wasn't quite a smile, but did succeed in making his features appear less grim.

Belle's mouth literally watered as she served the delicious-smelling stew into the four bowls before placing them on the tablemats at each place setting.

"Would you like something to drink with that?" Lachlan offered.

"Just water, please." She waited until Ranulf and Hunter had taken their seats on one side of the table before pulling out a chair opposite and sitting down. She placed her backpack on her thighs in front of her.

"Please, eat," Lachlan instructed as he placed the requested water on the table in front of her before taking the seat next to her.

The brothers proceeded to eat in silence, as if putting fuel into their bodies was a serious matter and not to be interrupted by conversation.

Despite her hunger, Belle ate more slowly. Firstly, because she didn't want to overload her empty stomach too quickly. Second, because she was still a little unnerved at suddenly finding herself in the company of three such imposing men.

One of whom she was still so very aware of as Lachlan sat beside her.

An awareness she had felt since the moment he stepped into the cave. In a way that made her breasts ache and between her thighs feel swollen and damp. An awareness that had deepened as he held her hand tightly in his while they walked along the passages through the mountain.

In fact, she felt slightly bereft, an emptiness inside her that had nothing to do with hunger, now that she no longer had that physical connection with Lachlan.

Weird.

But then, sitting here, eating venison stew with Lachlan and his two brothers, felt almost surreal. Not just because she'd never eaten venison before, but because she had never met even one man as large and handsome as Lachlan Drake, and now she'd not only met him, but also his two equally as big and handsome brothers.

Lachlan Drake…

The significance of that name, now that Belle was no longer hungry and freezing cold, suddenly hit her.

In Old English, the name would have been Draca.

In Old Norse, it had been Draki.

But both those names translated to dragon.

Belle stilled before slowly turning to surreptitiously study the three brothers.

Tall. Check.

Stern featured. Check.

There were three of them. Check.

What the fu…fudge, she substituted for the word she'd been about to use to describe her obviously ridiculous thoughts, when normally, she was so pragmatic and practical.

She'd had to be to survive after her parents died. She'd been so young that she no longer remembered what they looked like.

Yes, the Drake brothers were tall and large—very large—and equally as imposing.

Yes, their features looked as if they had been hewn out of a rocky crag on the mountain that abutted their home.

And yes, their name in Old English and Old Norse meant dragon.

But none of those things meant they had any connection or were related to the men Sister Agnes had met eight hundred?—

"What do you have in the bag?"

Belle's thoughts came to a screeching halt at Hunter's lightly asked question. She glanced up to see all three brothers looking at her with the same curiosity.

Her arm tightened instinctively about the backpack resting on her thighs. "Just my clothes and toiletries, plus a few books. I brought them with me for my stay at the McGregors' home."

"I sent word to Hamish that you'd found their missing lamb," Hunter told Lachlan dryly.

Sent word when? She and Lachlan had entered the kitchen only a few minutes earlier, and no one had left the room since then.

Lachlan dropped his spoon noisily into his almost empty bowl. "She isn't their missing anything," he snapped, his eyes once again seeming to flare with that inner fire as he glared at his brother across the table, his hands now clenched into huge fists on the tabletop.

Belle's eyes widened in alarm at the sudden tension she sensed in the room.

A fierce and challenging tension as Lachlan continued to glare at his youngest brother.

"Lachlan, Hunter was just being his annoying self," Ranulf quietly interjected into the rising tension between his two brothers.

Belle was Lachlan's, damn it.

His true mate.

His Belle.

His!

Ours, his dragon purred.

"It's okay, Lachlan." Belle placed a soothing hand on top of his. "I'm not in the least offended by what Hunter said."

Lachlan couldn't take his eyes off that small hand voluntarily resting on top of his.

Or, after her down coat had been removed, how slender she was in a fitted blue sweater and black low-rider jeans.

Emphasizing how different their sizes were in human form.

His dragon stood as tall as this house, with fierce eyes and face, a wingspan as wide as a small jet, and razor-sharp teeth that could rip his prey to pieces before he ate it. A terrifying sight at the best of times, but it would probably traumatize a small human female. Even one as brave as his Belle.

"Stay strong, brother," Ranulf soothed. "For all our sakes."

Lachlan's nostrils flared as he drew in several calming breaths. Fate wouldn't be so cruel as to give him a true mate who would be scared of him. In either of his forms.

The fact that Belle was now touching him in his human form, of her own volition, proved that at least half of that was true.

He turned his hand over to grasp her fingers in his. "I do not consider the McGregors to have been caring or considerate hosts toward you."

"To be fair, I don't think Ben was too happy with the way I kicked him out when he came to my bedroom expecting— Ow, Lachlan, that hurts," she protested as his fingers tightened—obviously painfully—about hers.

He eased his grip a little, but his jaw remained clenched. "He came to your bedroom?"

She nodded. "New Year's night. I asked him to leave."

"And did he?" As far as Lachlan was concerned, the McGregors youngest child's life depended on Belle's answer being in the affirmative.

"Yes," she confirmed. "I didn't come to Scotland for that."

"Then why did you come here?"

A low growl rumbled in Lachlan's chest at Hunter's question and the way his brother was looking across at her from between narrowed lids.

"Calm it, big bro," Hunter derided. "I'm just curious."

"How do you do that?" Belle had turned to look at Lachlan with big eyes.

"Do what?" he rasped.

"Growl so convincingly."

"Because he's a grump," Hunter dismissed. "And you, little Belle, are trying to change the subject."

Was she?

Perhaps.

Because she knew, despite her ridiculous thoughts a few minutes ago regarding these three men and the Drake name, that most people would think she was slightly deranged for believing dragons had ever existed, let alone that the Drake brothers might somehow be related to the three Sister Agnes claimed to have seen all those centuries ago.

Belle still wanted to know how Lachlan could growl so low in his throat it literally sounded like a wild animal. Even if that ability didn't mean he knew anything about the dragons Sister Agnes said had once lived in this area.

"Which was?" she now prompted Hunter.

"What's in your backpack that you're clinging to it as if it holds the crown jewels?"

"I'm not," she defended.

"You are a little," Lachlan reasoned.

All three Drake brothers were now watching her with varying degrees of curiosity.

Could she tell them about the journal? About the dragons Sister Agnes claimed to have seen?

If she did, would they politely dismiss it all as superstitious nonsense from centuries ago, maybe even laugh at her? Or would they, like her, want to know more?

None of the Drake brothers looked as if they would be mocking or deliberately cruel.

There was only one way to find out. "Okay," she sighed. "But I think it will be easier if I show you." She unzipped her backpack to look through the contents for Sister Agnes's journal.

To look and look again.

Belle's movements became more and more frantic as she realized the journal was no longer in there.