Page 23 of The Edge of Dawn

What’s it to you, anyway?

Contrary voices fought for supremacy in his mind.

It was time to leave.

Her fear and confusion threatened to swamp him.

No. He would not allow it.

Definitely time to leave. He had to regain the consciousness that bastard Ashrael had stolen from him.

Unshackled from his mental control, he felt her move; she ambled through the rocky tunnel with great difficulty, pain shooting through her foot.

How difficult it all was for her. For the first time in his existence, he was able to appreciate the ease at which he moved through the Universe. Compared to humans, he was immensely strong, fast, and agile.

He almost—almost—felt a sliver of sympathy for her.

“I’ll be fine,” she said aloud, gritting her teeth. “You can go now.”

Very well.

He cast his ka’qui wide, searching for the familiar draw of his own body, hoping he’d recovered enough from Ashrael’s sneak attack to regain consciousness.

But before he was able to locate his own form and anchor himself, he was viciously yanked away by a greater force. For a heartbeat, it felt as if the Universe itself was being ripped apart at the seams.

There was a roar inside his head, like the rush of an atmospheric storm against the fallible walls of a ship.

Dragek? What are you..?

And the last thing he knew before he was swept away was the sound of her calling after him…

As if he was already someone familiar to her.

NINE

Dragek’s eyes fluttered open. He felt like shit. He had a pounding headache, and his right arm was numb.

The rest of him hurt all over, but he didn’t mind that so much.

It was the fog that bothered him: the disorientation, the loss of control.

The momentary fucking helplessness.

How he hated being rendered useless at the hands of another.

Just now… what did you do?

And there was Ashrael, pinning him to the floor with one hand, his normally unreadable features twisted by hostility.

Of course, he had every right to be suspicious.

“Get out of my head,” Dragek snarled, baring his fangs as his lips curved into a vicious smile. “And then I might consider telling you.” After dwelling inside the human’s head—and having to deal with all the terrible emotions that came with her existence—he didn’t feel like having one of the most lethal of his kind pollute his thoughts with mindspeech.

The ability to speak was a newfound gift.

He might as well use it.

“Get off me, too. I’m not going to attack you. We both know there’s no point.”

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