Page 62 of Destiny of the Dragons

The thought made warmth course through her, her core clenching.

She could rip his shirt open, undo the tie…Mia frowned. Jace never wore a tie.

“You’re wearing a tie?”

Jace frowned. “Yeah? And this is your business how?”

Smoke shot Jace a glare.

Mia blinked, feeling like she’d been slapped. “It’s not.”

He wasn’t reminiscing about old times. He was annoyed, ready to get this over with.

“Just like it’s none of your business trying to scare off Cross.”

“You can’t actually want to marry that creep.”

“Of course not,” she snapped. She didn’t bother hiding her disgust.

It was all too much. Them being here, remembering what they’d had for a brief moment in time.

“He’s a murderer,” Smoke said quietly. “You’re not safe around him.”

Mia pinched the bridge of her nose. “And you two decide to care all of a sudden?”

“I told Smoke to leave you to your choices,” Jace said, glaring at her. He’d perfected his arrogant look in the time apart and now he was looking at her like she was a lowly secretary who hadn’t made the coffee quickly enough. “Clearly I was right.”

She would have said almost anything to disagree with Jace at that moment. “If you kill him, it gets traced back to me.”

“Which is why we didn’t kill him,” Jace said like she was slow. “We just scared him.”

Mia laughed. “As if. You just pissed him off.”

“We’ll get the message across.” Jace waved her off. “And then you won’t have to deal with him.”

“He thinks you’re just jealous lovers.”

Jace looked at her. She couldn’t read his expression, didn’t even try.

“What did you tell him?”

“The truth.” Mia kept her glare. It was like a shield against all the emotions inside her. Maybe there was a way for them to work through their differences. “I hadn’t seen you two in months.”

“Tell him we’ll make him regret bothering you, and you’ll be free of this farce of an engagement.”

“Sure,” Mia said. “Easy as pie. Except for the part where he doesn’t know who you two are—“

“I told him the Ruby Dragon Clan wasn’t happy with him.” Jace exhaled smoke. “That should be enough.”

“Cross doesn’t care about that,” Mia said. “You didn’t do any research.”

“I did,” Smoke said quietly, watching the two of them volley back and forth. “He’s bad news.”

“I know,” Mia snapped. They weren’t listening. Just like before, Jace thought he would just do what he wanted and she should be grateful. “He’s a terrible person. But I don’t have a choice.”

“You always have a choice.”

“Says the man who threw away his Treasure to go back to his clan.”

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