Her Forbidden Threeway

“I’d be your prisoner any day,” Reade joked, much to Scott’s grinning amusement. “Just take me.”

“I’ve been thinking about this since yesterday,” Scott replied with his mouth pressed against her forehead, his chest sweaty and arms protectively covering her. “It’s nice to get what I want for a change.”

Reade lifted her head to look at him. “Opposed to what?”

“Opposed to Jackson getting what I want.”

His name brought a dull ache to the lower half of Reade’s stomach, and for a moment she felt pity for him. After all, they’d kissed, and the look on his face the day before was enough to tell that he was hurt, and maybe a little jealous. Reade wanted to go further into the topic, to tell Scott that unfortunately, she loved them both.

The word ‘love’ sent a grin to her face, though she forced it down. Her father had told her that she came from a line of hunters and she still wasn’t sure if the love she was feeling was actually some form of hatred.

She was the enemy they had been preparing themselves for. That much she knew and the thought caused her stomach to churn.

Scott released a long sigh, and she propped herself up on her elbow, frowning. “What’s wrong?”

“Jackson. Talking about him has reminded me of something,” he said.

“What’s the matter with him?” Reade asked, worry coating her tone.

“He’s acting strange,” Scott replied. “Ever since I took that book from your purse. “

Reade had forgotten all about the book both of the brothers seemed so hungry for and in that moment, all she could do was think about her father. She owed it to him.

“What do you mean?”

Scott shook his head before he pulled from the bed. His defined muscles of his back moved as he got dressed and Reade found the rippling hypnotizing.

“The book we stole was split into three halves. The first being ‘How To Destroy’, the second ‘How To Become’, and the third ‘How To Improve’,” Scott explained, his back facing Reade. “It’s a how-to-manual, instructions on how to make dragons, how to destroy them—” He paused, bowing his head. “And how to make them stronger.”

“I still don’t understand what you mean, Scott.”

“Don’t you see, Reade?” He said, eventually turning to face her. “He’s trying to become stronger; he’s trying to make himself the ultimate.”

Then she understood.

“How is he trying to improve himself?”

Scott shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know. I’m guessing it’s some type of elixir, a digestive potion.”

Reade took a minute to relax against the comfort of her bedding as she went over all the possible motives as to why Jackson would want to do such a thing. He seemed to hate his dragon side more than anything. It was obvious there would be some type of consequence; Reade knew there were consequences to everything and with magic; it always tended to be drastic.

“We have to stop him before he does something irrational.”

Scott nodded with agreement. “I’ll get the car.”

* * * *

The windows of Drakon were smashed open and a sea of glass covered the shop floor as if it had been broken into. Reade looked around in astonishment as glass crunched beneath her feet.

“It doesn’t look like anything has been stolen,” Scott said as his fingers brushed over dream catchers and jars of water preserved animals. Reade kept herself close to Scott’s side and his hand never left the small of her back. She wanted to call out Jackson’s name, though she opted against it when she realized he was the issue and not the hero. “Not from what I can see.”

“Marnie?” Reade spluttered in shock as she spotted a crumbled body lying behind the counter. “Is that you?”

Scott was there in an instant, salvaging her up from the floor like a broken doll in his arms. Her skin was a sickening shade of white and looked lifeless next to the body of her grandson.

“Is she dead?” Reade asked, finding herself afraid of the response she would get.

Scott shook his head. “No, but she’s paralyzed.”

Reade pulled her brows inward and emitted a heavy sigh. She knew the brothers were mighty in the millions that they had, but the store didn’t look like anything more than a quirky tourist attraction. It was hard for her to think of who could do something so terrible. Anyone who would attempt to break in would know the store didn’t indicate big money.

“Unless they knew what stood between the walls,” Reade thought to herself.

“It was Jackson,” Marnie said suddenly, capturing the attention of both Scott and Reade. “He… he isn’t himself.”

Reade and Scott moved to huddle around Marnie once again. Reade’s features contorted painfully as she watched the way her thin lips joined together without words, only mouthing and whispering sentences that could barely be heard.

“Where is he? Why did he do this?” Scott questioned his grandmother, her eyelids fluttering back just briefly, a laziness to the way she looked at him.

“I told him… to stop… taking it.”

Reade and Scott glanced at each other when they realized that their suspicions had been answered. Jackson had been concocting some type of elixir that would give him strength and it was a recipe in the book that led him to making it.

“He needs to be stopped, Scott,” Reade said aloud, much to his agreement. “Before he hurts himself or someone else. Again.”

“Do I now?” Jackson’s questioning voice resonated.

His shadow was large as it loomed in the doorway and his footsteps crunched the glass that scattered and swamped the floor from visibility. Reade gave him a look of disappointment, but he ignored her. He focused only on his brother, his blood, his twin and there was hatred catapulted across his face.

“You could have left them both out of this, Jackson,” Scott said. “Marnie, Reade. They didn’t need to be a part in our feud.”

Jackson’s lip curled in disgust. “They have everything to do with our feud, brother. Especially her.”

His accusing finger stabbed in Reade’s direction, much to her confusion.

“Me?” She asked. “Why me?”