Page 48 of Fated to the Drakarn Commander (Drakarn Mates 4)

Too late. The leash snapped.

A growl ripped from Khorlar’s chest, a subterranean vibration shaking the air, the rock, my bones. His wings flared wide, powerful muscles bunching, the sharp edges scraping stone, boxing us in further. Scales darkened, shifting like storm clouds gathering for violence. The air grew thick with his scent, sharp ozone and raw, unrestrained fury.

“You knownothing," he snarled, fangs flashing white against black scales in the dimness. "Nothing of our bond. Nothing of what waits beyond these borders. You push her toward death and call it loyalty?"

“We're saving a life!" Vega yelled back, defiant, but her hand trembled near her knife.

“By sacrificing two more?” His voice dropped again, silk over razors, terrifying in its softness. "The Ignarath do not capture, little fool. They erase. And you …" His burning gaze found me again, slicing through Vega’s defiance. The fury underneath bled raw pain. Hurt. Betrayal. "You would throw away everything? Everything we are building? Everything you are to me?"

The harness felt like iron bands now, crushing my ribs, stealing my breath. His gift. His claim. Pressed against my heart while I stood ready to shatter his trust.

"I wasn't …" How could I even say it? Did it even matter? "She's my responsibility. My people."

Something fractured in his gaze then. It shattered like breaking obsidian. "And what am I?"

The question struck like a physical blow, knocking the air from my lungs. Breathless. What was he? Captor. Protector. Ally. Lover. Enemy? The lines blurred into an unbearable knot tightening deep inside me.

"We're wasting time!" Vega hissed, desperate, glancing nervously down the dark corridor behind us. "Kira?—"

Khorlar didn’t look away from me. He didn't blink. He was waiting. Demanding an answer I didn't have. Couldn't give. The silence stretched, suffocating, filled with the weight of everything broken between us.

"Please," I choked out, unsure what I begged for. Mercy? Understanding? Release?

His face became stone. Scales pulled taut over bone. Decision hardening his eyes into impenetrable gold shields.

"You're not going anywhere," he declared, voice absolute. Final. Like rock grinding against rock. "Not alone. Not like this."

Vega tensed beside me, her hand tightening on her knife hilt. She was ready to fight a force of nature.

Fear, cold and sharp, pierced through me. Not for me. For Vega. For him. For the explosion waiting to happen in this suffocatingly small space.

And me, the catalyst, caught in the middle. Torn. Bleeding.

16

KHORLAR

The air thickened with betrayal.It coiled in my gut, hot and corrosive as the lava rivers that cut through Volcaryth. Rage wasn't a strong enough word. This was immolation, a scorching away of everything but the raw, primal wound of seeing her stand there.

My mate.

She was poised for escape in the claustrophobic confines of the tunnel. Weapons barely concealed beneath the harness—my harness, the one I’d fitted to the curve of her waist, the slope of her shoulders. The scent of her, usually a balm to my senses, was now laced with the sharp tang of defiance, of fear, and something else … determination. It scraped against my insides. Beside her, the other human female, Vega, vibrated with a nervous energy that set my teeth on edge, her eyes glittering like shards of ice.

"You will not pass," I repeated. The words were stone, each syllable chipped from the mountain of fury building inside me. The calm in my voice was a thin crust over magma. "Not alone. Not like this."

Vega’s hand spasmed on her blade hilt. It was a pathetic gesture. A piece of sharpened metal against a warrior born of fire and stone? Against me? Nothing stood between me and my mate.

"You don't command us," Vega spat, taking a half-step forward, bristling like a cornered ground-rat. "Kira is out there?—"

"I don't give a molten damn about Kira!" The control snapped. My voice ripped through the confined space. My wings flared, the tips scraping stone, sending showers of grit raining down. The movement was pure territorial aggression. "My concern is her." I jabbed a clawed finger toward Hawk. "My mate. Who apparently thinks nothing of shattering our bond, of walking into the jaws of the Ignarath for a reckless chase!"

Hawk flinched, but her shoulders squared under the harness. That damned harness.

"That's enough," she snapped. She moved then, stepping fluidly between me and Vega. She was always the shield. Even now, when I felt like the one being attacked. "This isn't about us. Kira is missing. Ignarath territory is the most likely place. We have to look."

"And your plan?" The word dripped contempt. "Sneak out like rock-worms tunneling in the dark? Offer yourselves up on Ignarath blades?"

"Vega was going to scout," she insisted, but her gaze slid away for a fraction of a second. Was she lying? If she didn't intend to leave, why was she down here with Vega?

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