“Not enough for me.” A faint smile. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
He was already moving toward the entrance, his strides too quick, too tense. Something was wrong—she felt it in the tight cord of their bond, in the way he wouldn’t quite meet her eyes.
What just happened?
“Are you all right?” Attor asked her, checking the roast.
Ash forced a smile and sat on the stone seat. “I am. Just thinking about what’s coming.”
“Indeed,” he murmured. “No one knows how this will turn out. All our previous attempts failed, the lives lost, but now…”
Now, Race is here.All hope rested on one person.The pressure he must feel.
No matter, she would be there alongside him. Needing to hear his voice, she mind-linked with him again.Race?
I am well, heart-fire. Eat and rest. I’ll be back once I’ve hunted.
He sounded fine, yet she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off.
Ash lay on her parka, staring at the cave’s ceiling, unable to sleep. Race had been gone far longer than the usual hour-long hunts she’d come to expect.
Her meal over, the fire crackled softly after Attor had attended to it. Now he waited outside, keeping watch. Race’s warmth within her remained steady, but anxiety gathered momentum and tightened her chest like a bloody garrote.
Race?She reached out again?—
The cave air stirred, and he took form.
Relief flooded her so fast, she shot upright. “I was worried. You’ve been gone a while.”
“My pardon, heart-fire.” He strolled over, looking so calm, maybe she’d imagined that punch of darkness. “I flew a wide circle, making sure all was clear before hunting. A Guardian’s duty remains ingrained no matter where I am.” He sat next to her, his scent of burnt embers and ice soothing her.
She bit back a sigh and rubbed her temples.
“Why are you awake and fretting, hmm?”
“Maybe because I like my mate next to me when I fall off to sleep,” she muttered.
A smile tugged at the corner of his tempting mouth, then his eyebrows collided. “I don’t like you sleeping on the cold ground. Do you want to go to Talonhold? We can leave now.”
She almost said no, then hesitated. “Will that be better for everyone?”
“I’m not interested in everyone, just you.”
Her gaze flickered over his tight features, and her worry resurfaced. “Are you all right?”
He smiled, his eyes deepening to burgundy. “I’m fine, my heart. There’s much at stake with what’s ahead.”
With him being the last of his bloodline,everythinghung on him, putting his very life at risk.
Her stomach churned at the cold truth.
“I don’t want anything to happen to you.” She wrapped her arms around him, holding on tight. “Once we’re back in Duskscale, everything begins. Here, it still feels like we have time.”
“Nothing is going to happen to me,” he murmured, gently rubbing her back. “The night’s turning colder. Let me shift, I’ll keep you warm that way.”
Race stood, kicked off his boots, and undressed. Ash automatically took his clothes and set them on her backpack, her heartbeat quickening.
Tall, naked, and so darn tempting, he moved away from her, the firelight brushing his lightly tanned skin to a deeper gold. His entire being shifted and sort of folded into itself, and an enormous dragon unfurled, the firelight sliding off scales like obsidian glass.
