Dare to Believe

Duncan had Moira up in his arms and in the limo before she could even form a protest. Jaden watched, torn between amusement, envy and jealousy. His Lordship wasn’t even going to give her a chance to say no. Nope, he just packed her in the car and got ready to drive off with her.

Which, admittedly, was what Jaden had planned to do too. Wasn’t it nice to know his plan would have worked?

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Leo’s voice was partly stunned, partly amused.

Duncan beamed back at Dunne, his expression lighter than Jaden could ever remember seeing it.

Damn it. “Claiming my mate.” He climbed into the limo and gestured for Jaden to join him.

Jaden shook his head, making sure the amusement was all Duncan would see. He couldn’t afford for Duncan to feel exactly what Jaden was going through. “Nah.” He took a deep breath. He could do this.

“There’s some unfinished business here that needs tending to. I’ll meet up with you later. Besides, you two need some alone time.” He gave Duncan his best leer and tried to mask his true emotions.

No way in hell could he watch the two of them together. He was happy for them both, but damn. He wasn’t really into masochism. And seeing what he couldn’t be a part of would kill something inside him.

Some of Duncan’s happiness dimmed. “But, Jaden—”

He shut the door to the limo without even looking, cutting Duncan off mid-protest, and strode towards the Dunne’s. He ignored Duncan’s call in his mind, pushing him away as gently as he could. Moira’s link was weak enough that he shut her out without too much effort. They needed to be alone, and he needed to keep his nose, and his freaky vampire brain, out of it. Three’s a crowd, right?

Blech. I hate being noble. He so desperately wanted to climb into that limo, rip both their clothes off and have some fun, but he couldn’t. Not only had Duncan never indicated any interest in the male of the species, he’d just begun to claim his mate. And Jaden loved them both enough to want them happy.

Still, this sucks big moose dick.

He patted the hood of the limo and nodded to the driver before turning and walking away. “Evening, folks. I understand you have some questions.” He grinned as wickedly as he knew how, throwing every ounce of cockiness he had left into it. “Lucky me. I have answers.”

He tried to ignore the crack in his heart as the limo pulled away, taking with it the only people he’d ever loved.

About the Author

Dana Marie Bell wrote her first short story when she was thirteen years old. She attended the High School for Creative and Performing Arts for creative writing, where freedom of expression was the order of the day. When her parents moved out of the city and placed her in a Catholic high school for her senior year she tried desperately to get away, but the nuns held fast, and she graduated with honors despite herself.

Dana has lived primarily in the Northeast (Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, to be precise), with a brief stint on the US Virgin Island of St. Croix. She lives with her soul-mate and husband Dusty, their two maniacal children, an evil ice-cream stealing cat and a bull terrier that thinks it’s a Pekinese.

You can learn more about Dana at: www.danamariebell.com