Page 38 of Dragon Awakened

And there's that freaking mistiness again. I blink hard, trying to clear my vision, but it's a losing battle.

Rafe curses under his breath.

Tentatively, Jianyu offers, "We don't have to do this. Not if you aren't fully committed."

I shake my head hard. "No, we do. I'm just having a really hard time reconciling myself to it."

"Who do you hope it will be?" Malik asks, his eyes warm and sympathetic.

"Neither of them, obviously." I sniffle and rub at my eyes.

"I mean, we could go sneak in and kill them both before you get there," Rafe suggests.

I manage a weak chuckle. "Tempting..."

Only it's not.

Who the hell knows how any of this works, but fate clearly has plans for me. Considering how powerfully it's worked to put me on my path so far, I'm pretty hesitant to mess with it.

Sighing, I scrub at my eyes once more.

"If I had to choose..."

I have a little mental war myself for a minute. The idea of connecting on a soul-deep level with Fury makes my skin crawl. All I can see in my head is the smug, sneering look in his eyes as he made it his job to put me in my place as the defective reject. How could I open my heart to a guy like that?

How could I let him touch me?

But then I imagine having to face Storm again, and my entire body rebels. I gave him everything, and he gave me nothing but heartache. He made me keep what we had together secret for years, and then at the first obstacle, he threw me away like garbage. He told me I was nothing.

And the worst part of it all?

There was a part of me that believed it.

Over the past couple of months, have I indulged the odd fantasy about him throwing himself at my feet and groveling for my forgiveness? Sure.

But it was just that--a fantasy. What we had is broken, because he tore it apart. I can't even let myself think about him being my soulmate now.

"Fury," I blurt out, and something in my heart shutters.

With no judgment in his gaze, Malik nods. "Then that's who we'll seek out first."

Chapter

Eleven

EMBER

“Okay." The next night, I'm standing in Rhiannon's living room, the locket warm and gently pulsing in my hand, my bracer hot around my arm. "So I just open the locket and...think about the place where I want to go?"

Rhiannon nods. "The magic to create the portal should be at your command."

I don't love the word should in that sentence, but this is untested magic. We're all operating on a certain amount of guesswork here.

"You ready?" Rafe asks. He raises a brow.

"Not even close," I admit. The best I can, I smile. "But let's do it anyway."

Rafe's smirking grin is so sexy I can hardly stand it. "That's my girl."

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