What the hell did she mean, there was something different about them?
Could other people see this strangeness, or was it only Zoey? And did she see it because she was his mate?
“You all seem slightly…otherworldly,” Zoey said in answer to his unasked question. “So large and muscular, and yet there’s an aura that says you’re even bigger than you appear. Larger and more powerful than anything I’ve ever known or seen before,” she added curiously.
Well, she wasn’t wrong. But it was the first time Hunter had heard the dragons the three brothers carried inside them being described in quite that way. It was the first time anyone had said they couldsensethe power they kept tightly leashed so that they could fit into the human world.
Perhaps his dragon was closer to the surface, and so detectable, now that he was in the presence of and breathing in his mate’s distinctive scent?
Mine, his dragon confirmed.
Zoey gave a self-conscious laugh at Hunter’s continued silence. “Just ignore me. Of course there’s no such thing as vampires. Put it down to my artistic temperament.” She grimaced. “Speaking of which, I would love to paint the three of you. Or just you,” she amended after Hunter was unable to completely suppress the growl that escaped from deep inside him.
An irrepressible growl of jealousy merely at thethoughtof Zoey painting or being alone with his brothers. Not that he thought either of his brothers would ever treat Zoey as anything other than Hunter’s mate. It was more the thought of any male who wasn’t Hunter being near her.
“You’re an artist?” He didn’t take his eyes off her as he swallowed down the unsweetened black coffee before placing the empty cup back on the tray.
She nodded. “It’s what I’m studying at university. I’m also currently applying to galleries to see if they’ll take some of my paintings,” she explained. “I’m pretty sure a painting of you and your brothers would help in that endeavor.”
Hunter believed that financial backing from her wealthy “uncle” would achieve the same effect. Except, as Hunter knew from his observations over the past few days, Edgar Wallis was only interested in what he wanted.
Besides, all three of the Drake brothers would need to agree to being painted, whether that painting was of all of them or just him. An agreement Hunter doubted his brothers would give.
It had become more difficult to avoid having photographs taken of them in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, when those photographs could be taken on increasingly smaller devices and then displayed instantly to the world on social media.
But as much as they were able, the Drake brothers preferred there not to be any photographic evidence of their existence, either as men or dragons.
A painting was so much more than a photograph, which could be erased if necessary. Besides which, Hunter knew he would never be able to bring himself to destroy anything that Zoey had created.
“I did not confirm, nor did I deny, that I have two brothers called Lachlan and Ranulf,” he reminded.
“Oh, I think your lengthy silence on the subject did that for you.” She sat back on the couch, coffee cup in hand, as she stared across at him with those beautiful, deep green eyes. “So, what are you doing in Cornwall?”
CHAPTER FOUR
Zoey knewshe could still be mistaken and that the handsome and broodingly charismatic man whose car had broken down nearby could just be what he said he was: a random stranger asking to use the telephone to call for help.
If he was, then he must now be thinkingshewas the one who was different, and in an odd way rather than a special one.
Okay, she admitted talking about vampires had been a little out there, but she knew she wasn’t imagining the powerful aura that surrounded this man and the two men she had met in the Highlands who she still believed were his brothers. Nor had she imagined seeing that silver flame in the depths of this man’s dark eyes a few minutes ago.
She was also convinced there was more to him, whether he was Hunter Drake or otherwise, than was visible to the naked eye. Something dark and primal Zoey couldfeellurking beneath all that raw masculinity.
Something that called to Zoey on a visceral level she hadn’t even realized she possessed until now.
He was a little old for her, being in his early thirties to her twenty. His clothing, although casual, looked expensive and probably designer label—it might even have been made specifically for him, considering his size—whereas Zoey could only afford to dress like the student she was.
Despite those differences, Zoey knew that a part of herrecognizedthis man as somehow being an important part of her future.
Quite what that meant, she had no idea.
Or maybe she was just allowing her imagination—that artistic temperament—to run away with her after all.
“I can, however, confirm there is no such thing as vampires,” he dismissed.
She gave a self-conscious laugh. She really did feel silly for having said something so outlandish out loud. Imagination was one thing, but that had been a paranormal fantasy. “Well, that’s a relief,” she said, making light of the subject.
“Yes.”
