She turned to her fine-looking Sidhe lord. His gaze was locked on the doorway, silver sparks dancing in their depths. Silver light danced around him, his powers leeching through his iron-willed control. Her eyebrows shot up in alarm.

This was the most animation she’d seen from her fiancé since the day he’d swept her into his limousine and ridden off with her into the sunset. “Duncan. We need to talk.”

“About?” Those silver-flecked eyes landed on her, full of intent.

Suddenly she could barely breathe. All of the pent-up need that had lain dormant in Jaden’s absence came surging to the fore. “Um. Jaden.”

His head tilted to the side. “No. I don’t think so.”

“What?” The expression on his face was almost frightening in its intensity. Whatever had held him back from Claiming her fully was gone now. Feral heat lit him from within. She had a good idea just what had set off this little display of lust.

Moira gulped. “Oh, hell.” Moira wasn’t a virgin, thank the Lady. From the look Duncan was giving her she had the feeling she was going to be very grateful for that fact in about two seconds.

The slow, sexy curl of his lips had her stomach doing flip-flops. The glazed, sleepy look in his eyes had her nerves screaming to run. “It’s time.”

A part of her wanted this, wanted the Claiming, the Vow and the Binding. She wanted what her parents had, what Leo had so recently found in Ruby.

But there was something Duncan needed to hear, for both their sakes. For all their sakes. She held out her hand, hoping to stave off the inevitable. “Wait. I need to tell you something.”

“You do?” He began stalking her around the desk, his movements languid, his expression amused. It was like, after two months of hiding, the man she’d met in the limo was back and horny as hell. Duncan turned the corner and she could see the bulge of his erection beneath the fly of his slacks.

Oh, glory. “I spoke with my mother.”

“How is Aileen?” Duncan’s gaze darted to the office door. He stepped over and locked it before continuing his pursuit of her.

“She knows what’s wrong with you.” With us, but I don’t have time to go into that now.

Duncan stopped, the heat in his eyes chilling. “Wrong with me?”

Uh-oh. Perhaps she could have phrased that better. “She knows why you haven’t felt the urge to complete the bond.”

“Why would that be?”

She took a deep breath. He was starting to edge toward snarky, which was better than depressed, she supposed. “I need you to trust me. Okay?”

“Of course. You’re my mate.”

“So is Jaden.”

Everything about him stilled, except the erection in his pants. That she saw pulse just once against the restraint of his zipper. “No.”

“My mother thinks the blood bond the two of you share masked the symptoms of the unfinished Claiming.” She walked toward him warily and placed a hand on his chest. “You have…no, we have been pining for our other mate.”

His jaw worked, his brow furrowed. “No. I would have known.”

“Not necessarily. The two of you were rarely apart for longer than a week or two. It’s been two months since you’ve been in contact, and now all of a sudden it’s like you’ve finally woken up. Think, Duncan! You haven’t been able to finish Claiming me because you never started Claiming Jaden.”

“That’s not possible. I would have known.”

“Duncan. Look at me.” Dazed silver eyes met hers. “Do you want me?”

“Gods, yes.”

“Did you before Jaden came back?”

His hands circled her upper arms, his expression full of regret. “Yes, but…”

“But you couldn’t bring yourself to make love to me. Half your heart was missing.”

“No.”

“Yes. Because half of mine has been missing, too.”

His expression completely blanked. “What?”

“I’m half Sidhe, remember? I know both you and Jaden are meant to be mine.”

His jaw dropped, but the tension in his body was slowly easing, changing into something else, something more accepting of what she was trying to tell him. “But, how? How could I have missed something like that?”

“The blood bond? Or perhaps it needed all three of us before you could feel it?”

He blinked rapidly. “Mate sickness. I was suffering from mate sickness this whole time?”

She nodded. “My mother went through the same thing when her family tried to force her into the marriage with you. She’d found her true bond and they’d been separated.” He stared at her and she grimaced. “Sorry, forgot for a moment you were there. Anyway, when I described what was happening to both of us she realized what was going on almost immediately. Since I haven’t left your side since you took me it had to be Jaden who was causing it.”

He shook his head. “That can’t be true.”

“Have you never had the urge to kiss him? To take him into your arms and make love to him?”

Duncan’s hands tightened on her arms before he abruptly turned from her. “Yes. Damn it, yes.”

She sighed. This was going easier than she’d first thought. “Once the true bond is completed with both of us you’ll never suffer like this again.”

He turned back to her, his expression full of determination. “He won’t agree to this.”

“He doesn’t like men that way?” Moira hid her own unease. Once she’d spoken to her mother she’d looked up some books. She’d read some romances where men and women made love to one another regardless of gender. Some she liked, some she didn’t, but the thought of watching Duncan’s golden head bent over Jaden’s dark body while she watched was anything but repugnant. She wriggled, the sudden need spiraling through her.

“Oh, he does. It’s just. Damn it. He’s so damn noble.” Duncan growled, his frustration obvious.

Moira laughed. “Of course he is. He’s a Malmayne.”

“He thinks he’s still a Blackthorn.” Duncan tapped his fingers on the desk with a worried frown. “And to him that makes all the difference.”

Akane pulled her car over a few miles from the Malmayne estate. “Nebraska.” She stepped out, her high-heeled Prada boot sinking into the dirt road. “Yee-haw.” She pulled the heavy wool coat closer around her and studied the rapidly darkening sky.

“Fine. Let’s see what we’ve got here.” She settled herself cross-legged on the cooling hood of her metallic blue Porsche Boxster and allowed her inner eye to open. The star in the center of her iris expand, letting her see things beyond the ken of mortal man. “Okay, Jaden. What the hell is going on?”

The first thing she saw made her squirm in embarrassment. “Oh, Robin. You so owe me for this.”

Jaden took his time in the shower, unsure why he was uneasy. He’d sensed something down in that office, something that left him on edge. Had he played it wrong? Maybe he shouldn’t have tried to be so cool. Duncan now suspected something was wrong, something more than what was happening in the Malmayne clan. He’d have to throw him a bone, give him something to sink that intellect into.

He dragged the washcloth down his body, pausing by his cock. The fucker had been rock hard since his first glimpse of Duncan. It had begun weeping the moment Moira appeared.

He sighed and began stroking, bringing up images of the two of them loving one another. Fucking one another. Slick bodies intertwined in a knot of hot, sweaty sex until you couldn’t tell where one ended and the other began. He imagined Moira’s head bowed back in a throaty moan, Duncan’s lips toying with the sensitive juncture of neck and shoulder. Right where Jaden’s kiss had once been.

Hell, he let his imagination go even further. What it would be like to have the taste of both of them on his tongue at the same time, that sparkling effervescence that was Duncan, the dark, earthy taste of Moira? His hand moved faster, his cock jerking in his hand. He could picture it, his cock buried deep inside Moira, her red gold hair fanned out beneath her, writhing in ecstasy. He could almost feel Duncan deep inside his body, taking him until he throbbed with the need to come. They’d surround him, love him, bring him to an ecstasy he’d never dared to dream of.