Page 2 of A Sun Scorched Bloom

Gray moved a strand of Lea’s hair from in front of her eyes. "Danger awaits us on the other side of this tunnel, Little Flower. Youwilllisten to my direction. If I tell you to run, yourun. Do you understand? I won’t be able to focus on the success of this mission if I’m not confident you’ll be safe."

Lea nodded, reaching up to cup his cheek, and Gray felt her sincerity through their bond. "I’ll run. I swear. But only if you promise to be right behind me." She smiled at him, and Gray’s breath was sucked from his lungs at the beauty of it.

"I love you. Desperately." Gray ran a thumb along Lea’s jaw. "Please," he begged, "follow directions this time." Leaning down, he kissed her quickly but fiercely, a promise of what was to come, before pulling back.

Gray didn’t even have to search the bond to notice the way Lea’s face fell and how her heart thumped wildly in her chest at the loss of his lips from hers. He leaned down, his rough, gravelly whisper brushing against her skin. "The only reason I can pull my mouth from your sweet lips is because if it is on you another second, we will be doing something very different than leading an army away from Auropera."

Lea’s face warmed against Gray’s cheek as Emma disappeared into the tunnel. Six minutes left.

"It’s time." Gray pulled back to look into his mate's beautiful, worried eyes, "Lea, your magic, I need you to—"

"Be careful. Don’t use it. I know," she cut him off, pressing her lips together and wringing her hands, nervous energy radiating from her skin.

"No, Little Flower. You are the Queen of Sun and Shadows," Gray rumbled as his own shadows trailed up Lea’s body, caressing her neck as they pushed her long hair behind her shoulders. "If you are threatened, I want you to destroy them all."

Chapter 2

Lea

ErikcaughtLea’sarmto steady her as she plunged through the hole and into darkness. Dirt and rocks crunched beneath Lea’s boots, and a shiver ran across her skin at the chill coming from the bleak stone tunnel ahead of her. The cold seeped straight into her bones causing bumps to break out across the skin of her neck. It felt like an omen. How had Gray planned all this without her even having any idea? She was completely at a loss for how she had missed so much. He’d promised her he would show her who he truly was, and she’d been too blind, or stupid, to see it.

Gray was beside her in an instant, his hand finding her lower back as if it was a magnet pulling her from Erik’s grip. His touch calmed her instantly, and her heart rate slowed.

"Erik, run ahead and help Vincent. We’ll find you," Gray ordered, and they clasped each other's forearms, nodding solemnly before Erik turned to Lea.

"Listen to Gray this time, Sunshine." He gave her one of his signature smiles and a wink before turning and disappearing into the darkness.

Just feet away, Janelle and Emma waited, their eyes wide with fear. Lea’s mouth cracked open as she prepared to tell them they didn’t have to come, that she didn’t expect them to follow her blindly into danger once again, but her words got stuck on her tongue when Janelle turned her head and pinned her with a stare.

"I’m going to stop you right there." Janelle stabbed a finger at Lea. "If you try to get me to stay behind,again, I’ll stab you. I will actuallyfuckingstab you. I’m coming. Fucking deal with it," Janelle said with a tone so angry it made Lea flinch.

Emma cleared her throat, giving Lea a contrite smile. "Um… I’m coming, too."

"We’re all going, and we’re goingnow," Gray pointed down the tunnel, and without argument, Janelle and Emma turned and ran. With a hand on Lea’s lower back, Gray urged her forward into the black passage, steadying her as he matched her pace. After a couple breathless minutes, the tunnel sloped upward, the steep incline bringing them back toward the surface of the earth, causing Lea’s legs to ache and her lungs to burn.

"Where will we go?" Lea asked through ragged breaths as they sprinted forward, torches illuminating the ground about every thirty feet, just enough so they could see several steps in front of them and no more.

"The resistance is going to Bearswillow, to the cavern. But you and I will go south to Calir. The first step to defeating my father is to find Eudora." The tunnel curved left, the floor becoming more uneven.

"Eudora?" Lea asked breathlessly, struggling to get enough oxygen into her lungs.

"The witch who granted the spell that prevents my family from killing anyone in our bloodline. If we can’t convince her to undo it—" The tunnel rumbled, bits of rock tumbling from above their heads. "Fuck!" Gray cursed. "Faster!"

Lea stumbled on an errant rock and Gray caught her elbow, lifting her into his arms in one fluid motion. She felt a tug in her chest, and she searched out the bond to feel what was happening in Gray’s mind.

Cool relief butted up against fiery anger and intense urgency. She could sense gratefulness, almost like a warm blanket wrapping around her shoulders, mixed with anticipation that caused her heart to pick up its pace. Her head spun with all the emotions flooding into her chest, too many to possibly sort through at once.

Gray’s gravelly timbre broke through her moment of introspection as they reached the tunnel exit, a freshly dug hole with a makeshift ladder leading back aboveground. A crash sounded behind them, reminding Lea of a rockslide that had once destroyed the shepherd’s cottage back in Bearswillow. The earth shook as pebbles and dirt rained down on their heads. "Read my mind later!" he shouted before pushing her halfway up the ladder. "Move! Now!"

Lea grabbed the rungs, her sweaty hands slipping as she scurried up, and Janelle and Emma clamored to the surface just behind her. The moment Gray cleared the tunnel, the ground shook with a fierceness that made Lea’s stomach lodge in her throat. Had Gray known how close they’d been to being buried alive? Lea’s eyes watered and she coughed, covering her mouth with her sleeve to protect her from the dust floating up in an enormous plume from the collapsed tunnel.

Without taking any time to catch his breath, Gray ushered them to where the air was cleaner, then pointed to the crumbling stone on the outside of the castle. "We’ll circle around the bailey. Stay close to it. The king doesn’t know about the passageway, so they’ll likely think we’re escaping through the western gate we destroyed in the explosion."

Emma twisted her fingers, picking at her nails with shaking hands. "Should we wait to see if anyone else comes?" Her eyes darted nervously back to the exit of the tunnel.

Lea’s heart sank. "Elise…" she whispered.

Gray shook his head. "My men will be closing the gates soon. I’m sorry, Emma, but we have to go."

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