“Oh, good. I like strategy. What are we strategizing about?”

Drake pulled me down onto his lap. Before he could answer, Kostya, who had been standing with his hands behind his back, looking out the high, round window that graced Drake’s hidden room, turned and said something in what I assumed was Hungarian.

“We will not speak Magyar in front of Aisling,” Drake answered, his hands warm on my belly. “And there is no question of not allowing her to remain. What we are discussing is not sept business; if she wishes to participate, then I welcome her input.”

I wanted to kiss him for such support, but Drake had rather old-fashioned notions about propriety in front of his sept members, so I contented myself with giving his thigh an unobtrusive squeeze. “I take it we’re planning the theft?”

“Yes. I feel certain that Fiat’s hoard is in Italy, in a house that is heavily protected. We must find our way through his defenses and into his treasure room.”

“Sounds good. When do we leave?”

“We?” Kostya asked, frowning as he paced past me. “You will not be going with us, Aisling.”

“Oh, man,” Jim said, shaking its head. “He didn’t just do that, did he?”

“He did,” Pál said, also shaking his head.

I stared at Kostya in disbelief for a few seconds before asking Drake, “Did he just order me around?”

Drake nodded.

“And I thought you were the bossiest of all the dragons. He’s got some nerve thinking he can tell me what to do.”

“He has been isolated for over a century,” Drake explained, the very corners of his mouth tilting up. “It is to be expected.”

“Expected my Aunt Fanny. It’s just another sign of dragon arrogance.”

“This is the way you manage your woman?” Kostya asked, stalking across the small room only to turn and pace back to the window. “You allow her to dictate to you, brother?”

My hackles went up at that. “Hey! I am not a wayward sheep to be managed—” I started to say, but Drake interrupted.

“Aisling is my mate in all senses of the word. She has experience in matters that are beyond ours, and I value her insight. There is no question of managing her or allowing her to rule my life. I admit it has taken me a bit of time to realize the value in a partnership, but that is what we have, and it will not change.”

“If I wasn’t already madly in love with you, that speech would have done it,” I told him, giving his ear a quick kiss.

“She carries your child!” Kostya said, his frown almost identical to Drake’s, although on him, it wasn’t even remotely attractive. “You would allow her to endanger herself and your son?”

“Clear the decks,” Jim said, backing up into a corner. “Fire in the hole!”

“Right, now you’re getting on my nerves,” I said, pushing myself off Drake’s lap. He made a grab for me, but I slipped away and marched over to where Kostya had taken up a pose, poking him in the chest as I clued him in to a few points. “I was prepared to like you because you’re Drake’s brother and part of my family now, but this is way over the line. You’re insulting and degrading, and I won’t stand for it!”

Kostya looked shocked, shooting Drake outraged looks that demanded he do something. A little puff of smoke escaped from his mouth as he sputtered, “You speak to me thusly?”

“Damn straight I do. This is my house, and you just insulted my husband-to-be.”

“I would not insult my brother—”

“You just did, you annoyingly arrogant dragon! Do you seriously think that Drake would allow harm to come to me? He’d die first—not that I’d let him—but you insult him and me both by saying either one of us would endanger our child.”

Flames leaped across the floor. Jim yelped and scooted even farther back.

“Control your anger,” Drake said, frowning at the fire as István leaped up to stamp it out.

Kostya seethed, turning again to Drake. “You have nothing to say about this abominable treatment by your woman?”

“If you had asked me that two months ago, I would have had much to say on the subject of women who do not know their place,” he answered, his eyes lit with amusement. “But I have since learned that there is one woman for whom that place is at my side, and I would not have her anywhere else.”

“You”—I pointed at Drake—“are the most adorable man on the face of the earth. You”—I turned to glare at Kostya—“are almost as annoying as he was when I first met him. The sooner you get over yourself, the happier everyone will be.”

“I will not be spoken to in that insolent manner!” Kostya all but yelled.

A ring of fire broke out around him. I clenched my fists and struggled to keep from drawing a silencing ward on him.

“Do not yell at Aisling,” Drake said, leaping to his feet. He pulled me behind him in his usual dominating way, facing his brother with a dangerous look. “I will not allow you to speak to her in that way any more than I would allow our mother to do so. She is my mate. You will respect her as you do me.”

“You take much upon yourself, little brother!” Kostya answered, a warning in his voice. “Do not forget who you are speaking to!”

Drake’s eyes went pure dragon. Pál and István jumped up, immediately taking a position behind Kostya. The fire ring around Kostya grew higher. “I have not forgotten who or what you are,” Drake answered in a soft voice that sent shivers down my back. “But you, it seems, have forgotten what you owe to Aisling.”

Kostya looked like he wanted to burst, but he managed to rein in his emotions and give Drake a curt nod before spinning around and resuming his abrupt pacing.

The tension in the small room eased. Pál and István sat back down. Jim pursed its lips and whistled a tuneless song.

Drake pulled me back down onto his lap and said somewhat wearily, “Let us stick to less inflammatory subjects. Pál?”

I grumbled under my breath, but listened with interest as Pál pulled up a report on his laptop and read off what information they had about Fiat’s house in Italy. It was detailed enough for me to speculate that the green dragons had done a little spying on Fiat, which made me wonder if the other septs were doing the same to us. A half hour later, a basic plan had been agreed upon…except for one vital point.