It couldn’t be real. I was dreaming that I heard my sister’s voice outside. I had just taken a shower and drifted off while watching something stupid on TV for the sake of having background noise in the room when banging on the door slammed me back into consciousness. It even sounded like her. I couldn’t help but get up and see if she was real.

She was. And she threw herself at me. It was impossible, all of it, but it had to be true. I could feel her and smell her shampoo, and there was Smoke, standing in the doorway, watching the two of us.

I wanted to reach out for him, but he didn’t make a move in my direction. I held back and focused on Jasmine.

“How did you find me? How did you even know I ran away?”

I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when my sister almost tackled me to the floor. So, I did both—so did she.

“Didn’t you hear me?” She loosened her grip just enough to pull back and look at me. Tears flowed down her cheeks, matching mine.

“Just now? Yeah, you woke me up.”

“I don’t mean then. I mean early this morning, when you tried to…”

I did remember. That voice. It stopped me in my tracks and made me wonder who was watching from the woods. But I had never seen anybody out there, had I? Because there was nobody there.

“It was you. Your voice.”

“And it stopped you?” she whispered.

“You were the only thing that stopped me,” I wept. “I would’ve gone through with it if you hadn’t seen me. I was ready to go. I really was.” I closed my eyes and cried even harder, all the shame and pain coming back at once. Jasmine fell against me, and we held each other for a long time.

“Who did that to you?” Smoke’s voice was dangerously tight.

I opened my eyes to look at him through my tears.

“Who did what?”

It was the closest he had come to a greeting—granted, Jasmine jumped in before he could say or do anything, but he hadn’t so much as said hello. His question seemed out of place.

“Your face.” He touched his own jaw and cheeks to explain.

I blushed furiously in embarrassment before I asked myself just why I was blushing. Nothing that had happened to me was my fault. Even so, knowing that other people could see the results filled me with shame.

Jasmine looked to see what he was talking about. “Oh, Alina. How could anyone hurt you like this?”

She sat me on the bed. Smoke stood by the door, arms folded over his chest.

“It’s not worth talking about,” I said, wiping my tears away.

She was there. They both were. I was safe, finally. He wouldn’t let anything happen to me. I knew it without having to be told.

“I want to hear it,” he replied in a deep growl I had never heard from him before.

The dragon was closer to the surface than I had ever seen, I realized. I could practically feel its presence in the room with us—and it wasn’t happy. Smoke never took his eyes off my bruises.

“Bradley did it,” I admitted, looking down at my lap.

“Bradley?” Jasmine gasped. “I didn’t know him that well, but I never would’ve guessed he had it in him.”

“Trust me. He has a lot in him that none of us have ever seen. I shudder to think about anybody who’s seen his true nature. Any women. I’ve wondered a lot about him since I left home. He blends in so well with the human world—so many of us can’t, but he does. I can just imagine the number of women he’s hurt.”

“He hurt you. That’s reason enough for me to want to kill him.” Smoke was deadly serious, too. His eyes had gone dark with fury.

“Let’s save that for later,” Jasmine suggested.

She was getting used to calming dragons, I figured. Pierce’s attitude ran pretty hot most of the time. She was the voice of reason.

“Don’t tell me how to react to this,” he warned.

“Alina’s safe. She’s here with us. Nobody’s hurting her right now. Let’s keep that in mind.” She turned back to me with the tiniest eye roll. “Why did he do this? How did the two of you even end up crossing paths?”

“Uncle George.”

“Oh, no. I should’ve known he would have something to do with you getting hurt.”

I nodded miserably. “He wanted me to marry Bradley in your place.”

Her gasp was sharp. “You’re kidding. I had no idea! That pig!”

“When I said I wouldn’t, that’s when Bradley gave me these.” I looked down at my arm and the memory of him twisting it behind my back was fresh and clear. My stomach turned.

“You stood up for yourself, though. I’m proud of you.”

Smoke remained ominously silent.

“It got worse from there, if you can believe that.” I tucked my hair behind my ears, more uncomfortable than ever. “George was going to have my memories read. Because he knew I was lying about you.”

“He knew?” Jasmine sounded anguished.

“How did he know?” Smoke practically barked the question out.

“Calm down!” Jasmine hissed. “Do you want to attract attention?”

He ignored her. “The one condition of your leaving was that you’d be sure to convince them.”

“Stop, please.” I closed my eyes. I couldn’t stand seeing him look at me that way. He hated me. I should’ve known. “I did my best. I had my stories straight. But he’s known us our entire lives. He knew how uncomfortable I am with lying. He was ready to use Jasmine to blackmail me into marrying Bradley, all so our family would join with his. Heck, for all I know, he wasn’t sure I was lying until he threatened me with mind reading. I’m sure the way I fell in line after that confirmed what he suspected.”

“It’s all right, sweetheart.” Jasmine enfolded me in a hug. “This was never fair to you. We put too much on your shoulders. I blame myself, more than anything else. We sent you back and didn’t consider what might happen even if you convinced everybody else.”

I rested my head on her shoulder and wished it was Smoke’s shoulder. “It wasn’t your fault. I always knew George was a jerk and a creep, but I didn’t know he was that ruthless.”

“I want him dead. I want them both dead,” Smoke snarled.

“Yes, I’m sure you do,” Jasmine replied, placating him. “But now’s not the time for that. It might not ever be the time. You know just as well as I do how dangerous that would be. Don’t lose your common sense now. We need it.”

I dared to look over at him, still leaning against the door. He was breathing heavily through his nose, nostrils flaring. His handsome face was downright scary when he glowered the way he was right now.

“Did anybody see you leave?” he asked.

“No. I went through an unused tunnel.” I looked at Jasmine. “Remember? The one we would sneak out through whenever we wanted to play in the old outbuildings?”

She smiled fondly. “Of course. Papa never did understand how we managed to get outside even when he had eyes watching us all over the house. What a relief that you remembered them.”

“You’re telling me. I felt like you were right there with me, just like you were when I was standing at the window.”

It was hard to believe that I had ever been that desperate for a way out, desperate enough that I would consider jumping. It was easy to forget when I had Jasmine and Smoke with me.

“I wish I could’ve be there with you for real. I hate that you went through this all alone.”

“I wasn’t alone.”

She smiled through her tears. “I missed you.”

“Not half as much as I missed you.”

“We should get out of here. The sooner, the better,” Smoke decided.

“Wait. What?” I was too glad to see them to think about the immediate future, so his sudden announcement came as a surprise. “You plan on going back so soon?”

“Would you rather wait around here for somebody from your clan to discover us?” he countered.

“I was only hoping…” I choked up when everything hit me at once. My head was a mess. “I hoped you two would stay around just a little while longer. You just got here.”

They both blinked and stared at me.

“Hang on. You thought we were going to leave without you? Did you think we spent all day looking for you just to check in and say hi?” Jasmine chuckled and shook her head.

“You… want me to go with you?” I was afraid to believe it. My chin quivered.

“That was the idea.” She stroked my hair and patted my back.

Smoke, meanwhile, was quiet. What was he thinking? Did he want me with them, or was he going along with Jasmine? If he didn’t want me, he wouldn’t stand there and passively accept what she said. That thought sparked a glimmer of hope.

He looked out the window. “The rain’s picking up out there. I don’t love the idea of driving around the mountain in the rain, especially not this late at night.”

Jasmine jumped up. “I’ll go to the office and see if I can get the room next to this one. I could use some sleep before we get back on the road, anyway. Maybe the clerk is finally finished with his break.”

“Yeah. Me, too. I can go with you, if you want.” Why was I so uncomfortable with the idea of being alone with Smoke? He had been the only thing on my mind for days, even before I ran away.

“It’s okay. I’ll manage.” She winked just before closing the door behind her.

Terrific. She thinks something’s going to happen in here. It made me wonder what the two of them talked about while they were looking for me.

I had to say something. The silence would crush me if I didn’t. “Thank you for coming all this way to get me.”

“It wasn’t all that far—more a matter of going from place to place,” he explained. “Your sister was frantic.”

“Wasn’t it dangerous?” I picked at the stitching on the bedspread rather than look at him.

I couldn’t stand the anger coming from him, especially when I didn’t know who he was angry with. Bradley and George, sure. What about me? He’d sounded pretty furious when I admitted George didn’t believe I never found Jasmine.

“It didn’t start raining until just a little while ago. Otherwise, it was an easy drive.”

Was he deliberately avoiding what I was trying to say? “That’s still a lot of driving around, looking. And that’s not what I meant. Isn’t it dangerous for you to leave the caves for so long?”

“I doubt it. Not that it matters, either way.”

My heart swelled, and I warned myself not let my emotions run away with me. “Why doesn’t it matter?” I asked in a choked whisper. I almost didn’t want to hear the answer, in case he wasn’t thinking along the lines I was.

He turned from the window and looked at me, surprise on his face. “You don’t know?”

“I’m… not sure that I do.”

“I’m really no good at this, am I?” He dropped the curtain and came to me, pulling me to my feet.

He reached out, sinking his hands into my hair. I was sure it was a dream. It couldn’t be real. It was all too good, too right, and just what my aching heart needed most.

I could barely catch my breath enough to whisper, and the sound of my racing pulse blocked out almost everything else. “I’m so afraid I’ll wake up and find out this isn’t real.”

“This is real.” He leaned down slowly, closing in inch by inch, until his lips touched mine with almost heartbreaking tenderness.

Fireworks went off in my head at the feather-light pressure and sent tingles down my spine. He caught my bottom lip between his and sucked gently, making my toes curl.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” he whispered, planting kisses on my cheeks, along my jaw. Healing me.

“You could never hurt me,” I whispered as I closed my eyes and let my head fall back in abandon.

His arms slid around my waist and held me fast while he explored the sensitive skin of my throat—his chuckle vibrated there.

“I wouldn’t bet on it, if I were you.” The grip around my waist tightened, like a warning. “I would never want to hurt you. Let’s put it that way. I’d never hurt you on purpose, and I’ll do everything I can to be sure I never do it accidentally.”

I kissed him with a smile—it was bliss, perfection, exactly the way we were meant to be. In each other’s arms, touching and smiling and kissing, just us. Our little world.

“I trust you.”

“It’s not me I’m worried about.”

“The dragon.”

He nodded. “Mm-hm.”

“You seem pretty well in control right now.” In my heart of hearts, I wouldn’t have minded if he let go a little. I wanted to see how far he could take me. Take us.

He winced. “I’m holding on by the skin of my teeth.”

And something flashed behind his eyes, something I had never seen before. The dragon was in there, seething, straining to be free.

My breath caught. Goosebumps covered my skin.

He was only keeping the dragon at bay for my sake. I wondered what would happen if he let it have what it wanted…

A knock on the door put those thoughts on hold, and Smoke groaned. “I’ve been waiting weeks for this…”

I chuckled. “We can wait a little while longer, right?”

The knock turned into a bang.

That got my attention.

Smoke’s, too. He sat me on the bed and motioned for me to stay put.

“Yes?” he called out, deep and gruff.

“Housekeeping.”

Only it wasn’t housekeeping. I recognized the deep, angry voice.

Smoke closed his eyes and sighed, tilting his head back.

“Son of a bitch, how did you find us?” He swung the door open to reveal Pierce’s furious glare.

Gate was behind him.

“You’ve got a lot of explaining to do,” Pierce growled.