You could have heard a feather drop in the silence that followed. Every single pair of eyes but Cyrene’s turned to me.

I groaned to myself and thought seriously of murdering my twin.

‘‘She . . . doesn’t?’’ Gabriel asked, disbelief rife in his voice.

‘‘No, she doesn’t. She told me so herself. But you know that she’s my twin, yes? My identical twin? An exact copy of me? So perhaps I’m the real mate, and you just got confused because May is so much like me.’’

Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

‘‘So let me get this straight—May’s a virgin lesbian doppelganger wyvern’s mate?’’ Jim pursed its lips as it looked me over before turning to its demon lord. ‘‘I think she’s got even you beat, Ash.’’

I had finally had enough. I stood up and looked sternly at everyone present, but mostly at the man standing next to me. ‘‘I am not a virgin, nor a lesbian! I am a doppelganger, but the wyvern’s mate question is not proven.’’

‘‘You drank the dragon’s blood without any ill effect,’’ Drake mused, his arm around his wife.

‘‘I’m immortal. It can’t kill me like it could a mortal,’’ I pointed out.

‘‘Yes, but you kissed Gabriel without any problem,’’ Aisling said. ‘‘Even an immortal would have been affected if she wasn’t a mate. I’m afraid that’s a pretty good indicator.’’

Hrmph. ‘‘Do you mean to say that no other woman has ever survived a kiss from you?’’ I asked Gabriel, disbelief dripping from my voice.

‘‘On the contrary, I’ve never killed a woman I’ve kissed.’’ He leaned closer to me, his eyes blazing like sunlight off a polished mirror. ‘‘But there have been a few close calls.’’

Gods, but he smelled good. My body went into a full-fledged battle with my mind, the former wanting to grab his head and kiss that knowing half smile right off his face, the latter pointing out that one kiss could hardly be decisive.

‘‘You’re right,’’ he said, almost against my lips. ‘‘More is definitely better in this case.’’

‘‘Stop reading my mind,’’ I whispered, groaning to myself when his lips curved into a smile.

‘‘No woman has ever taken my fire,’’ he murmured as I stared into those glorious eyes. I teetered on the brink of indecision, wanting more than anything else at that moment to taste him again, to feel his body pressed against mine, to revel in his closeness, but the sane corner of my mind worried that if I gave in, I’d have to face facts that I’d be much better off avoiding. ‘‘Tell me you want it.’’