Page 17 of Betrayed By Dragons

As it is, High Priestess Fang was right. The earth seems to bend before me. The stone steps down out of the palace are less steep than I remember, the path into the forest clearer. The handful of times I hesitate, unsure which way to go, a beam of sunlight floating through the canopy alights on glittering rock. The need to be with my mate drives me forward.

Before I know it, I'm emerging out beyond the cover of the trees.

Where I stop, frozen in my tracks.

The last time I saw Jianyu in his dragon form, he was a stranger to me. Leading the delegation from the Stone Kingdom toward the peace summit in Unity, he was a specimen, with gleaming silver scales and a sinewy grace that captivated me, even from afar.

Up close, the raw power in his enormous, serpentine frame takes my breath away. He's beautiful, almost glowing with magic and light.

Before my eyes, his sleek hide ripples and twists, golden skin erupting from between the scales. His wings shrink, and his tail and claws fade away until he's more man than beast. His platinum dress uniform shivers into place, but it looks wrong on him. Like it doesn't fit.

Throwing his arms back, he turns toward the river and lifts his face to the sky.

The ground beneath our feet trembles with the ferocity of his roar. I lift my hand in front of my face as if to shield it, but there's no danger here.

There's only his impossible fury.

His cry echoes off the mountains and back to us again and again before finally being carried off by the wind. He's facing away from me, but I can imagine his tortured expression. His shoulders heave, and in a fit of rage, he tears open his jacket and yanks at the sleeves. He tosses the offending garment aside, leaving him in a white A-shirt that shows off his lean, sculpted musculature. Tremors rack his frame, and I swallow hard.

My instincts scream at me to go to him. The rock I'm standing on shimmers with energy, as if to continue to guide me forward toward my mate, but it suddenly hits me how badly I'm intruding here.

You don't fly to an isolated outcrop on the bank of a river because you want company. I'm violating his privacy, staring at him like this, but how can I look away? Much less walk away?

My stomach clenches, but before I can make up my mind about how to stay or go or at least just make my presence known, he turns his head ever so slightly to the side.

He lets out a shuddering breath. "I know you're there, Ember."

My chest tightens. Well, that settles that.

Stepping farther out from under the tree cover, I shrug, fiddling with my knuckles. "I wasn't sure."

"It's funny," he says, returning his gaze to some point far off in the distance. "I didn't really tell my dragon where to go. I just let it take over. This spot, here, near the temple...it's always called to me."

I approach carefully, closing the distance only bit by bit. "I've never been here before. But you're right. There's something special about it."

We're standing on ancient rock. Above us, the sun burns in the sky. The river flows freely, and a fresh breeze blows in from the west. A dragon from any of the four kingdoms could feel at home. Hell, there's even the shade created by the nearby trees, if any Shadow Dragons wanted to feel at peace.

"I felt you." His voice is barely audible over the rushing of the river. "The moment I flew over the temple. It was as if you were reaching out to me."

"I was." Coming to stand beside him, I lift my gaze to study his troubled features. Tentatively, I reach out, placing my hand on his arm. "I could feel you, too."

The trembling in my voice betrays exactly what it was that I could feel. The pain and rage.

He sucks in a rough breath and flexes his jaw. His arm is steel beneath my palm.

"You don't have to stay."

I fight not to flinch. "Do you...want me to go?"

The very idea of it hurts. My mate needs me, and I need to be with him.

But I've gotten things so wrong before. I thought I was meant to be with Storm, but the instant things became difficult, he cast me aside.

Silently, I pray to the gods that that's not what's happening now.

Jianyu lets out a laugh that's pained and raw. "Of course I want you here." He puts his hand over mine, and I soak in the comfort of his willing touch, but I can still sense this conflict inside of him. Like he's fighting himself. Then suddenly, out of nowhere, something in his stoic expression cracks wide open. "Just--you shouldn't--"

He looks away, and I can't stand it anymore.

---