“What happened?”he asked, sounding genuinely concerned.
I couldn’t answer at first, not with so many emotions soaring inside me, twining with my dragon’s growing despair.
“You were right,” I admitted with a bitter taste on my tongue.“I should have been spending time with Bria, not thinking about business this week.I screwed up.”I raised my hands to my temples and stared at the floor.“She’s my mate and I messed up everything.”
Before he could respond, I walked away, desperately needing to get away from everyone so I could think.Air.I needed air.
Shoving the door open, I stepped out onto the pool deck, and the cool breeze rushed over my skin.I gulped, inhaling the salty taste of the sea.The moon hovered in the distance with a faint glow.I yearned for the sky, to break free into it with my wings soaring.
My dragon was barely contained by the time I ascended to the Gargoyle’s Perch.I shrugged out of my clothes and stashed them while memories of my last time here soaring with Bria tumbled through my brain.
Bria…
The shift rippled through me in a burst of scales and claws.As soon as my claws pawed the deck, I ran forward and burst into the sky as my dragon unfurled his wings.
The sky welcomed us into the cool, dark night.My dragon beat his wings and we ascended as the ship’s lights appeared smaller over the silvery waves.An ache followed.
Although flight usually brought me solace, now it drew me farther from my mate.Flashes of soaring with her from the island came to me, alternating between bringing me comfort and pain.
I’d built my empire on being analytical, sharp, and in control.On being patient and waiting for the perfect opportunity.But waiting had cost me.And now nothing else mattered but her.All I cared about was the woman who’d set my entire being on fire.
My dragon released a low wail.Let’s go back to her.
His yearning to return to Bria mirrored my own.I ached to be near the woman whose pained eyes had told me how much I’d hurt her.Agony sliced like turning a sword in my gut.
Yes.For once, we were of the same mind.
I’d do whatever it took to win her heart.I had to find a way to make it right.Tell her how I truly felt.I should have told her right away when she’d confronted me talking to Cedric.Now she was somewhere on the ship, and I was haunting the skies, trying to get a grip on my emotions.Forget all that.
Forget pretend.Forget the deal.Something else was far more important.
My mate.
CHAPTERTHIRTEEN
BRIA
Iwoke up cold, alone, in my bed.
Not in the arms of my dragon, greeted by the vast view of the sun twinkling over the sea from his balcony windows.
Nope, just a dark interior tiny room, which felt even more claustrophobic as I was trapped with my thoughts.My questions.My regret.
What a way to start the day before Christmas.
The air felt colder than it should have—stale and too quiet without the soothing ocean breeze from Darius’s balcony.
I sat up and inhaled deeply, trying to dislodge some of the tightness around my heart.
Had I overreacted last night?
Of course you did,my panther hissed before curling tighter into a ball.
But it did it to protect us.It’s better this way,I protested.Why didn’t I feel any better then?
Because he’s our mate,my panther reminded me with impatience.
Great.She wouldn’t let me forget it.As if I didn’t already have doubts of my own creeping in.
