Page 36 of Shifting Desire
I snort.“That last one sounds useful.”
“It is.”
We stand there like that for a long time, drinking each other in.The sun creeps higher.The bond thrums quietly beneath my skin, no longer screaming—just waiting.I don’t know if I’m ready to claim it.But I want to be.
I’m ready to stop running and that’s a start.
After breakfast, which he cooked, surprisingly well, I sit on the edge of my windowsill and look down at the street.There’s movement, fast and too quick for a human eye.A shadow at the edge of the building across the street.It’s gone before I can blink, but the magic it leaves behind is unmistakable.
Ravik’s watching.I should be afraid.Instead, I smile.Because I know something he doesn’t.
I’m not unclaimed anymore.Not weak.Not breakable.I’m the fated mate of the most feared dragon in the world.And I’m done pretending otherwise.
Chapter Sixteen
Malichai
The Sky Burns
Ismell blood beforethe call comes.It’s not much and it doesn’t belong to her.But it’s wrong.A scent like torn magic.Like dark power scraped across something pure.
My phone buzzes.Tavian.I already know why he is calling.
“Say it,” I growl down the line.
“She’s gone.”His words are soft but final.
Everything in me stills.It doesn’t explode like I expect it to, and I don’t feel any panic.Because the kind of rage I feel right now doesn’t burn fast, it burns endlessly.
“Where?”
He ends the call and walks into my office.“From her apartment.The window was shattered.No one saw him come or go.But all the wards were shredded.The only trace left behind was a single feather.”
A feather.Fucking Ravik.He’s showy, smug motherfucker, and he can’t help pushing my fucking buttons.He’s hoping I will retaliate, and I will.My dragon lunges beneath my skin.The shift claws at my bones.My hands flex, already sparking with heat I’ve spent the last thousand years learning to control.
I’m done controlling it.
