Nadia
The room is exactly how I left it three days ago. Not my room anymore. I resigned, walked away, stopped being Aurora. But Viktor’s guards brought me here anyway. Guest quarters would have made more sense. Neutral ground. Instead, they put me back in the space I occupied before.
My old bed. My old desk. My old window overlooking the mountain range.
Like I never left.
But everything has shifted. I’m not the same person who walked out of that Council meeting.
I sit on the edge of the bed and stare at nothing. The wolf inside me whines. Confined. Caged. Just like—
I cut the thought off. Can’t think about Jericho, who’s sitting in actual confinement. Can’t think about suppression fields and concrete cells and what they’re doing to him. Can’t think aboutthe fact that watching them take him felt like losing something vital.
My hands clench in my lap. The room feels too small. Too familiar. Too full of memories from before—when Chance was gone, but my purpose was clear, when I knew exactly who I was.
Before my heat cycle flared for a dragon. Before my wolf decided he was our mate. Before I stopped understanding myself.
There’s a knock at the door.
“Nadia?” Mara’s voice. “It’s Ember and me. We’re coming in.”
The door opens before I can respond. Typical Mara—asking permission as a formality, not an actual question. She enters first, Ember right behind her. Both looking at me with expressions I can’t quite read.
Concern. Curiosity. Something else.
“Okay,” Mara says, closing the door and leaning against it. “Everyone’s talking. Half the facility has theories. We want the real story.”
I should have expected this. Aurora’s a small community. News travels fast. Nadia Frost resigned, disappeared, came back with Commander Jericho Allon. And Viktor walked in on— Maybe that part hasn’t done the rounds yet. Viktor is the soul of discretion. Though I’m pretty sure that anyone could see that something had happened between us.
“There’s nothing to tell,” I say, keeping my voice flat. Professional. “The Syndicate attacked the convoy. We survived. I brought him back.”
“That’s the basic report,” Mara says. “What about the rest?”
“There is no rest.”
“Nadia.” Ember moves closer and stops a few feet away. Her nose works slightly—picking up the air. Reading what I can’t hide. Her eyes widen. “You smell like dragon,” she says quietly.
Heat floods my face. “It’s just—we were in close quarters for two days. Of course I—”
“No.” Ember shakes her head. “Not ‘you were near a dragon.’ You smell like dragon. All over you. Under your skin.” Her gaze intensifies. “Intimate.”
Mara pushes off the door. Crosses to stand beside Ember. Studies me with sharp eyes that miss nothing. Then she sees it.
“Is that a bite mark?” She’s staring at my neck. “Nadia, is that abite mark?”
My hand flies up to cover it. Too late. They’ve both seen.
“It’s nothing.”
“That’s not nothing.” Mara’s voice shifts—less teasing, more serious. “That’s a claiming mark. That’s—” She stops. Processing. “You slept with him. You slept with Jericho Allon.”
“No!” The word comes out too fast. Too defensive. “We didn’t… It didn’t get that far.”
“But you wanted to,” Ember says. Not a question.
I can’t answer. Can’t confirm what they already know from my silence.
Mara sinks down to sit beside me on the bed. “Holy shit, Nadia.”
