Page 9 of Dragon Awakened

"You can't--" Jianyu starts.

Malik asks, steadily, "Are you sure?"

"Yes." I nod, more tears coming more readily now. "My--my parents... I saw them."

"They're alive?" Jianyu asks.

"No. But their spirits." A shiver racks me. "They were trapped, and I was able to find them. I freed them."

I stare down at my own hands, and the air crackles with invisible violet energy, the memory of what I did reverberating through me. I touched the Soul Spheres and released my parents' ghosts, and they told me everything.

"They weren't trying to create an heir. They just fell in love." I laugh, and it's hollow, but for the first time in a decade, my insides feel full. "My mother had the blood of all four dragon kingdoms running through her veins, and my father was a descendant of Shadow Dragon royalty." I blink rapidly against the continuing flow of tears leaking down my cheeks. "I met my uncle, even--he's still in the Shadow King's court. He confirmed everything."

Lord Rook, that intimidating, regal figure.

I don't know what happened to him. He tried to buy me time--tried to help me escape.

Lord Rook, Mariutza, Delaynie. All the Shadow Dragons who aided me. I don't know if any of them are even alive.

They went up against my captors willingly. Was I worth the sacrifice?

And now. Here. Surrounded by my mates...

Am I worth the risk?

I swab at my eyes, darting my gaze from one man to the next, searching them for any reaction. Our bond crackles with static, and it's unbearable.

I've been rejected so many times in my life. For years, I thought my parents abandoned me. Storm cast me aside like I was garbage.

None of them had any reason to throw me away.

But my mates? Now? Knowing who and what I truly am?

"Not all Shadow Dragons are evil," I promise, babbling now. I'm not evil--or at least I don't think I am. "There are other kinds of Shadow Magic. It's not all manipulation and subversion. There's light within the darkness, and I know I can figure out how to tap into that kind of power..."

"You already have," Jianyu says, and a bright point of silver-white light breaks into the cloud of darkness in my heart. "Protection magic. Portals."

"You should have seen the burst of light when you took down the tower of the Citadel," Rafe marvels. "It looked like the sun."

Golden threads of connection wind themselves through my chest.

I look to Malik, and he softly smiles. His aquamarine light swirls its way through me, and I could cry for the relief. "There was nothing evil or dark about that," he promises.

Another sob escapes me, only this time, it's born of pure relief.

They believe in me. It's a miracle--honestly, there's a part of me that didn't believe in myself. Hiccupping, I scrub at my eyes again, laughing hoarsely through the last of my tears.

As I do, these three incredible men gather closer around me. Malik rubs at my palm with his thumb, sending waves of warmth rushing through me. Jianyu's feet tangle with mine beneath the table, and Rafe finally comes over. Standing beside me, he puts his hand on my shoulder, and I lean into him, soaking in his closeness.

A shudder of desire hums along my skin as I experience the touch of all three of my mates at once. I'm rested and clean and fed, and one of the worst confessions I had to make is finally out there in the air. All I want to do is press myself into my mates and feel their heat and their strength. Our connection crackles with life, and deep within me, lush, wet need begins to bloom.

But I try to keep myself focused. We're not done here.

They still haven't rejected me, but I feel like I need to give them at least one more chance to get out.

"I know none of you signed up for a half-Shadow Dragon mate," I tell them.

Wryly, Rafe rolls his eyes and rubs my neck. "We didn't sign up for any of this." He glances around at my other mates, shaking his head. "But I wouldn't trade it for the world."

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