ZOHR

Emma and I watch the skies that night, long after the others have gone to sleep. We stay with Kael and his mate in their tower, but on the floor above. Emma wants us to have privacy, and I agree. We do not mind the cool night air or the high wind…but we did not think we would see another dragon try to fly to the Rift this night, either.

“Another female,” Emma murmurs, her gaze locked to the skies. I can feel the dismay and fear churning through her mind. “Think she will make it?”

I hold my mate tightly against me, my arms wrapped around her shoulders. I regard the female as she struggles upward. There are no thoughts, no mental images accompanying her. She is a shell, and a struggling one. Her wings beat frantically and she bobs, trying to gain altitude. It fills me with a deep sense of regret. I do not think she will.

As if the female can hear my words, she flutters hard in the skies and then plummets, dropping like a stone toward the ground far below. Emma turns away, burying her face against my skin. “I can’t watch.”

I do. Someone must see. Someone must remember. I try to imprint the image of the female’s death-fall into my mind, hoping that even if my memory is stolen again, I will remember this. I will remember how it felt to watch one of my drakoni people fall to her death and know she is not even aware of it. That another, a stranger, has stolen what little she had and used her for his own ends.

The female disappears from sight. I strain my thoughts, almost hoping for some sort of acknowledgment of her death—or her recovery—but there is nothing but echoing silence. Even Azar has stolen this. I stroke Emma’s hair, holding her tight against me, breathing in her scent. My mate is safe here in my arms. I will not let Azar harm her. It is over, I tell her.

Emma lifts her head, shuddering. “She didn’t make it?”

No. I do not think any female will. They are smaller than males, built for speed. She does not have the power in her wings that a male does.

“And yet he still keeps trying to send them to the Rift,” she says bitterly. “What a douchebag.” She shakes her head and gazes out at the night sky, her soft mouth in a hard line. “But he keeps sending females because that’s all he’s got. He must have figured out how to lure females. He can’t get a male without a woman. A young, unmated woman.” She glances up at me. “Which is why our plan should work. Do you think badly of me for being eager to take this bastard out?”

No. Should I?

“I think the others are a little worried that I’m eager for revenge. And I think that’s part of it. I think about my brother sometimes. I think what would have happened to him if he hadn’t gotten mixed up with someone like Azar. Boyd was no angel, but he wasn’t very ambitious, either. He probably would have slid along on his own for a long time, going town to town and being kind of shiftless and shitty, but mostly harmless. Azar made him into a problem. I can’t help but blame Azar for that. And yet at the same time, that’s not why I want to take him out.”

Because he hurt me, I guess.

Emma nods, and her eyes gleam in the darkness. “Because he hurt you and he didn’t care how much he’d destroy by holding you captive. Because he doesn’t care how many people he ruins—yours or mine—just to see if he can cross back through the Rift. He doesn’t give a shit about anyone’s life, and while he’s around, we’re never going to be safe. We’re never going to be free, and I want to know that you can sleep at night and not worry that someone’s going to take over your dreams. I want you to have a good life here, even if you can’t go back. I want you to be able to take your time and let your wings recover. I want you to be able to live a good life. You deserve that after what you’ve been through.”

I do have a good life, I tell her. My mind is whole. My belly is full. I have a mate who is beautiful beyond thought and is clever and strong. I can ask for nothing more.

“You could ask for your memories,” she whispers. “You could ask for your home.”

My home is here with you, I tell her simply, brushing her hair back from her face. And I will make new memories with my mate at my side.

She tilts her face up to me, a silent request for a kiss. I brush my mouth across hers, gently. She clings to me, clearly troubled, and after a moment, whispers, “Are we doing the right thing?”

Do you feel it is the right thing? I ask her.

Emma nods.

Then that is all that matters. I caress her jaw, tracing the delicate bones. Your heart is a good one. Never doubt that.

“My heart may be good, but it’s because I have an amazing mate,” she murmurs, and her hand slides lower to caress my cock. “Let’s go to bed.”

I know my mate well enough to know exactly what she wants. It is not sleeping she is thinking of, and I growl low in my throat with pleasure at the realization. I tangle my claws in her thick hair, holding her against me. You will have to be silent while we mate, or else you will wake your friends.

I can be silent, she sends to me, mischief and need in her eyes. Are you telling me I’m noisy?

Yes, you are, I reply, and pick her up in my arms, carrying her over to the blankets we have set up for our sleep this night. Every time I spear you with my cock, you scream as if you are wounded.

She muffles her laughter behind her hand. Lies. All lies. I’m quiet. It’s you that’s the noisy one. You grunt and bellow and make so much noise you drown me out.

We shall see who is noisy, then, when I put my mouth on your cunt.

Her eyes flare with promise. I won’t be noisy if you give me something to suck on.

And now I am the one that groans with need.