“You don’t think we fought?” His father’s harsh voice stung him to the core. “We tried everything we could to defeat the enemy and lost.”
“No father,” he said trying to keep the disappointment from his voice, “as soon as things got hard, you fled. I’m not going to do that. I will face my enemy, protect Megan until I’m nothing more. Then I can face the afterlife of the stars knowing that I did everything in my power to stop anyone else from getting hurt. I will not hide behind the past but I will embrace the future even if that is a moment in time…even if I never get to see Megan again…I will die knowing I fought for what was right and for love. Unlike you, I won’t have any regrets to bury.”
He turned the doorknob when his father’s words echoed in the room.
“Why risk your life for a mere human? She’s probably already dead by now if the Tryn did go after her.”
“You’d better pray she’s still alive or you’ll have a worse enemy than Tryns,” Levx’s voice was low and rumbled in his chest, his dragon though injured, rising to the surface.
“Walk out that door and you’re no longer my son. No longer a Renjerian. We will leave and you’ll have no contact with any of us.” His father straightened his shoulders, stomping closer to him. “Without the connection from your own kind, your dragon-form will wither. You won’t be able to find us either and if you do, we’ll move again and again. I will not risk our people on your fool-hearted fantasy with this human woman when there are millions out there just like her.”
“Not for me.” Levx stifled an ache that hit his chest as he thought about what his father said and about what if he were right about Megan? What if it was too late for her and he was throwing away his family his people for nothing. “If you search your heart, you’ll know that if your love was still alive, you wouldn’t rest until you knew she was safe. That you’d fight with your last breath to protect her. To tell her one more time that you love her. I won’t make your mistakes.”
His father’s face colored dark red. “Go against my orders and you are no longer my son. I disinherit you and any bastards you manage to conceive.”
Inside, his world collapsed but he would not run from his enemy and he would not leave Megan unguarded. “So be it.” Levx stalked out of the room and didn’t look back.