Free Their Mating Rituals [Paranormal Protection Unit 4] (Siren Publishing Classic) by Honor James

eventually. He’ll know I’ve gotten a bond-mate. Well, he already knows I do, he just has no idea who it is, sweetheart. But he will want to meet you at some point. If you can’t handle that then maybe you don’t want this as much as I do. I honestly don’t care if you ever speak to him, love, but I care about you. I love you, and want to have everything with you.”
    Taking a deep breath, she nodded. “And I love you, too, Aiden. I never, ever dreamed that I would have that emotion for a man, but I do, with you. I love you so very much that it staggers my mind.” It humbled her. “Should we meet him first?” She knew she was tossing cold water on their previously hot, hot, hot feelings just moments earlier, but she needed help choosing a direction. “You know him. You know how he would react. What are your thoughts?”
    “You want to meet your father before we bond?” he asked and started to laugh. He couldn’t help it. “You really do want him to gut me, don’t you?” he teased with a grin. Pressing a kiss to her cheek, he sighed. “Talon is…” How did he explain it? “He’s King of the Dragons, darling. If he orders me put on the rack and tortured it will be done without question. And while he might eventually let up because I’m his only daughter’s bond-mate, it will leave marks.” Serious ones. “On the other hand, if we bond and then go see him and he finds out we all knew ahead of time”—or rather he and his brother—“we could be in for a shit storm, too. I can give you the odds and some information, love, but in the end it has to be your choice what we do and where we go from here.”
    “I want whatever you feel would be better in the end, Aiden,” she admitted. “I want to do whatever might cause you the least crap in the end, so you tell me.” She wanted Aiden. God, her whole body was like a live wire in its need for him.
    Staring at her, he nodded. “We bond first,” he said softly. “While he’ll be bent we kept you a secret and I bonded with you before letting you and him meet, he’ll get over it in time.” Talon would also likely take him to task, but that was fine. He’d survive. “It’s the strongest hand that will keep me from getting my ass handed to me, so I think we should do it that way. Plus I really, really want to make love to you before you meet your father.” His balls would likely take a vacation up north if he did it after and would be less than effective.
    “I would like that,” she admitted. “I very much would like to be able to spend every possible moment that I can with you. I want to do as much as we can before he comes hunting for us, because when he does…” She licked her lips. “God, when he does find out, he’s going to be seriously, seriously peeved off at you, isn’t he?” she asked quietly. “But I will be at your side. I will never, ever let him do anything that will cause you pain. I mean it. If, and this is such a massive if , he wants to even have a small part in my life and doesn’t just shun me completely like I figure that he will, then he wouldn’t want my feelings hurt, and hurting you would definitely hurt me.”
    Pressing a kiss to her lips, he let out a small breath of relief. “I love you, Talina,” he whispered softly. “Talon will very definitely want to be a part of your life. You are his baby girl. Dragons are extremely possessive beings and great nurturers. He’s missed out on a lot of your life already, sweet. He’ll want days with you to just get him caught up and then to spend time with you as often as you’ll allow.”
    “It’s just so hard to believe,” she said, stroking a hand over his chest. “Let’s get food and we will continue to talk.” She needed him to eat, wanted to make sure that he was well fed. “Come on, darling. Time to feed you, my Dragon.”
    “Naked?” he asked hopefully with a smile. “Pretty please?” he murmured. “With a cherry on top? I’ll even throw in whipped