Page 29 of The Lost Nation

He smiled. “Thad." His gaze broke from mine, frowning at the horizon. "The drakens are approaching the shore. The witches have realized what has happened. I must go.”

His turned away, and the utter sense of loss I felt was equaled only by the thought of all of those angry, unmated drakens rushing back to the island. Both thoughts filled me with panic and fear.

“Take me with you.” I blurted.

Thad froze, and slowly turned back to face me.“What?”

My words tumbled out of my mouth in a rush. “I know you rejected Wren’s mate bond, but I’m not looking for a mate. I just ... I’m sick of being treated like I’m made of glass. I was—Iama draken warrior! I can’t heal around all these unmated drakens, and the sad eyes of the other females ... and they expect me to remember all of draken lore and teach the queen ... I can’t take it anymore!”

Thad exhaled a puff of air heavily from his nose, pinching the bridge of his nose with his fingers. “Has it escaped your notice that I’malsoan unmated draken?”

He leaned in close to me, his hand twirling a stray piece of hair close to my face. I closed my eyes, relishing the feel of a kind touch against my skin.

Wait.

I realized with a thrill that I wasn’t afraid of him. Five minutes with him, and already I no longer flinched at his touch. Whoever this male was, I could heal around him. I could get better. I couldliveagain.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and jumped, forcing him to catch me in his arms. My white wings flared and folded around us, even as he stumbled in shock.

“Please.Please. Take me with you.”

To say he was alarmed would be an understatement. He tried to put me down, but I only held onto him harder. He tried to reason with me.“You can’t be serious about wanting to go back to the place where you were held prisoner. Where you weretortured!”

I leaned my head back to take in his gaze seriously. “Why? Were you planning to let it happen again?”

His grip around me tightened, and a possessive flare sparked in his eyes.“Of course not!”

I nuzzled into his neck, sniffing him even as he froze. Fierce loyalty, imposter syndrome, andloneliness.I could work with that.I pushed back, and met that dark gaze.

“Please.”

Thad’s face was torn, but his hand was forced by the sudden appearance of seventy drakens on the cliffs above us, followed by hysterical witches. The last thing I saw before Thad shifted us away was Wren’s tortured expression.

Chapter 14

Wren

We didn’t realize what had happened until it was too late. The witches stood with me on the high cliffs, dropping our minds into the wards to monitor them for attacks. We felt a slight pressure, but figured it was due to the stress of the situation.It was there for a moment, and then gone. Everything seemed fine.

Astrid turned towards me.“You seem surprised yourfriendattacked Aldur.”

I closed my eyes, praying for strength.I know she held no love at all for Thad. No one here did, despite the fact that he hadn’t actuallydoneanything to any of them. Hehadhelped me kill Severn, and take revenge for all the witches and drakens he’d tortured over the years.

“It doesn’t make sense." I argued. "Thad isn’t a bad person. He’s not like them.”

My argument sounded weak, even to my own ears.

Astrid snorted. “He enslaved you again, did he not? He allowed Severn to beat you and he paraded you around like a prize.”

My eyes narrowed to slits. “So did Benedict at first, yet no one here seems to wanthishead on a spike.”

Astrid shot me a look. “Benedict is not ademon-born.”

Her logic made no sense, and I let her know it. “Thad is no more inherently evil than the half-breed children on this island. You just—”

“ASTRID! THEY’RE GONE!”

An air witch came flying over the plains on her broom, her face wide with shock.

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