Page 53 of Dragon Awakened

Wasted.

I lurch to my feet and reach for her, glancing around. I have no idea where we are, but there has to be someplace private we can go.

A big, hulking form rises from the grass and puts a hand to my chest, and it's all I can do to keep my beast from flaying them alive.

"Whoa there, lover boy," a deep voice growls.

And it's the man from the Fire Kingdom. The one with the red-gold mane.

I shake my head, my chest rumbling and my dragon breathing ash. "Do not get between me and my mate."

The dark-skinned man who was with them in the garage pinches the bridge of his nose. Bright turquoise tattoos ripple with light on his exposed forearms, and something pings in the back of my brain, but I'm deaf to reason right now.

"Let's all calm down," the other man from the Fire Kingdom says--the one with the Asian features and the short, black hair.

My throat rumbles all over again, and the desert wind picks up. My magic has never felt as alive as it does right now. I could summon a tornado--could whip them all into the skies and let them fall helplessly to the ground.

But Ember puts a hand on the arm of the man standing in front of me. My vision focuses in, laser-like, on that point of contact.

I want to rip the man apart.

But all I feel from Ember is love.

For him.

I take a single, staggering step backward.

Fondness I could understand. The gods alone know what she's been through while we've been apart. Clearly, she's traveled with these men for some time.

But love?

I check my feelings, searching for a crack in the bright band of our mating bond, but there's none. What we've just forged together is real.

Her eyes gleam and her voice wobbles as she carefully, pointedly curls an arm around the man who's literally come between us. "Like I said." She shrugs. "A lot has happened since I've been gone."

EMBER

For better or worse, at this point, I'm basically an expert at calming down confused men who are shocked to discover that I have more than one mate.

Somehow, the stakes feel higher than ever right now. While Jianyu is calm and Malik is annoyed, Rafe is a ball of righteous anger.

And Storm?

Storm is utterly adrift.

A petty voice inside of me says, Good. He deserves to know what it feels like to have his legs cut out from under him. His heart torn apart and his world turned upside down.

But no. No one deserves that. I didn't deserve it then, and he--asshole that he may be--doesn't deserve it now.

I glance at Malik and Jianyu before gently nudging Rafe aside. He hesitates, but I push as much confidence as I can muster into our connection.

Reluctantly, Rafe backs off. I meet Storm's gaze with my head held high.

"What is going on?" he asks, voice low but urgent.

"Storm." I inhale deeply before exhaling. I look around and meet Brynn's wide eyes and the even wider eyes of her new boyfriend. "Brynn, Jimmy." I gesture around expansively, trying to appear calm when I'm a raging tempest inside. "Meet my mates." I tip my head at them each in turn. "Malik. Jianyu. And Rafe."

"Wait." Brynn shakes her head. Putting a hard emphasis on the plural part, she asks, "Mates?"

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