Page 105 of Born in Fire

“It felt real.” I shiver despite the blanket. “It felt inevitable.”

He cups my face, his palm warm against my cheek. “Nothing’s inevitable. Now that we know, we can prevent it.”

I lean into his touch, drawing strength from his certainty. “There’s something else you should know.” I hesitate, the words feeling too big for this fragile moment. “In my vision, when I saw them hurting you, I felt… I can’t explain it. Like my soul was being torn apart.”

His thumb traces my lower lip. “We had something special, Juno. Even before all this. I know you can’t remember, but—”

“You loved me,” I finish. Not a question.

He nods, vulnerability naked in his eyes. “Yes, I loved you. Still do. Always will.”

The words should feel foreign, impossible, given my blank memory. But they don’t. They feel like truth—bone-deep and certain.

“I love you too,” I whisper, surprised by the conviction in my voice. Warmth spreads through me, not just emotional but physical—a gentle heat emanating from deep inside me.

He stares at me, wonder and hesitation warring in his expression. “You can’t know that. Not really. Your memories—”

“Aren’t everything,” I interrupt. “My body knows you. My heart knows you. Isn’t that enough?”

Before he can answer, his phone rings—a harsh intrusion into our bubble of intimacy. He grimaces, reaching for it on the nightstand.

“It’s Caleb,” he says to me, then answers. “This better be important.”

I watch his expression shift as he listens—from irritation to sharp attention. His posture straightens, the relaxed lover replaced by something more dangerous.

“When?” he asks, then, “Are you sure?” A pause. “We’ll be there in twenty.”

He ends the call, already moving. “We need to go.”

“What’s happened?” I ask, scrambling from the bed.

“Elena’s found something about the Shard.” He tosses me fresh clothes—his own, but smaller items that might fit better than what I wore earlier. Which is a tall order because the man is huge. “Caleb wants us at his place immediately.”

“Us?” I pull on a soft Henley that smells like him. “He wants me there too?”

Dorian’s mouth quirks. “Not exactly. But I’m not leaving you alone.”

I’m glad when he says this because after what I just saw, I’m not happy letting him out of my sight. He may have been my source of safety since my return but right now, I’m certain that he needs me just as much.

Yeah. Because you’d be able to protect him from monsters. Right.

We dress quickly, the intimacy of moments before replaced by urgent purpose. As I pull on a pair of his sweatpants, cinching them tight at the waist, a thought occurs to me.

“Dorian, how does Elena fit into all of this? Isn’t she human?”

“She’s Caleb’s… partner. We dragons would call her his mate. She’s a private investigator with her own connection to all this.” He grabs his keys. “She’s from the Rossewyn bloodline—witches who’ve been bound to the Heartstone for centuries.”

“Witches,” I repeat, testing the word. It should sound ridiculous. It doesn’t.

“This world gets stranger by the minute,” he says, leading me toward the door. “You’re coping remarkably well for someone who can’t remember anything.”

“Maybe that’s why,” I suggest. “I have no normal to compare it to.”

His Jaguar waits in the private garage beneath the warehouse. As we drive through evening streets, my unease grows.The vision hovers at the edges of my consciousness—Dorian captured, bleeding, in pain.

“Do you think my vision is connected to what Elena found?” I ask.

He glances at me, then back at the road. “I don’t know. But the timing is suspicious.”

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