Page 49 of Dragon Awakened

Our gazes meet.

And it's lightning. It's wind and rain and the swirling gusts of the hot desert air. It's the crack of thunder and the opening up of the sky.

Brilliant white light suffuses my entire being, and it's like the ground itself is falling away, except it's not.

It's me. I'm rising. Lifting off into the air as magic crackles through my fingertips, and my hair rises in a cloud of billowing purple and black.

The white light shatters into a rainbow as Rafe's crimson and gold and Jianyu's silver and Malik's aquamarine flood my newly formed mate bond. Just like that, there's no more gaping hole in my heart. I'm complete, my mates surrounding me, the overwhelming might of their powers pouring into me.

I stagger, all the air punched out of my lungs.

"Ember," Storm breathes.

And then we're both falling. My feet touch down with a thud as I stand before my new mate. Wonder swirls in his eyes, and he lifts his hand to reach for me.

I lift mine, too.

The air cracks as I slap him right across the cheek.

"Jesus Christ--"

"That's my girl," Rafe says, grinning.

"Is it him?" Malik asks.

I nod, my palm stinging. "It's him."

Storm reels. "What--"

Every fiber of my being is calling for him. My abdomen sucks in, and between my thighs, need blooms, rushing through me. My skin prickles with desire, and my breasts go hot and tender. My very soul cries out to be united with his.

But for the moment, my heart is firmly in control.

"You absolute asshole," I grit out.

He shakes his head, holding his hands up, and I remember what it’s like to be in his shoes. The passion of a fresh mating is overwhelming--and so is the confusion when it doesn't go the way it's supposed to.

My mouth crumples, and I swab at my eyes, furious at the sting of tears. "You let them take me."

His own eyes fall. "I'm so sorry--"

"You said I was nothing." My body sways into his, but I'm not the same swooning, lovesick girl I was the last time I saw him. I push my fist into his chest--not quite a punch but not quite not one, either. My knuckles barely make an impression in the hot, broad muscle beneath his shirt, and tingles of fresh wanting shoot straight to my toes.

"It was a lie," he swears.

"I know." I shudder, dropping my hand from his chest just to push the knuckles of my other hand into his abdomen. I wish I weren't still swaying toward him, those brilliant lines of connection drawing us inexorably together. "And that makes it worse." I jab my fists into him again and again, but it doesn't help. I can't bring myself to hit hard enough to hurt. My vision blurs. "You lying, self-sabotaging, miserable piece of--"

"Should we interfere?" Malik asks quietly.

In my periphery, Jianyu shakes his head. "Give them a moment."

Even as I'm losing my shit on Storm, my other mates' support flows into me.

Storm catches my hands the next time I go to hit him, and I struggle against his hold at the same time that I revel in it. His eyes burn with the love I knew he felt, back all those months ago, but that he destroyed.

And there's this crack in my heart. This weak piece of me that wants to forgive it all, but how can I?

"Ember," he breathes, staring straight into my soul. "You're right. About all of it." His eyes shine. "I was a piece of shit. I betrayed you--and I can rationalize it all I want. I was trying to protect the people I cared about."

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