“Faye?” Kahl asks, still stroking my neck and jaw, following our line of sight. “You know you don’t have anything to worry about, love,” he assures, completely misinterpreting my laser focus as jealousy.
Rising to my feet, I only make it a step before the guys start shouting, since there’s no way I’m making it through the hallway. Faye tentatively takes a step up before she sees something in my eye, choosing to risk coming closer instead. That alone seems to appease my other half, because what idiot would cometowardus unless they had to, especially one as timid and helpless as this woman?
“Saige, you don’t need to eat her,” Kinsley rushes out, wincing as he pushes himself up, favoring his good leg.
“Dumbass, keep defending another girl and you’re just going to piss her off worse,” Kaiden counters, raking a hand through his already disheveled hair and leaving it sticking up in a haphazard mess before stroking my side. “He didn’t mean it, dark Saige. Go ahead and eat her.”
Faye gets within striking distance, her body noticeably trembling with nerves, but willing to risk it all for just that small possibility of hope. Watching this powerless girl walk right up to us, my dragon and I finally get on the same page about something for once.
Growling a brief warning, my body tenses, lashing out at her. All of the fire that drained out of my dragon so quickly in the face of Kahl’s rejection is reignited with a vengeance, curling our talons around Faye’s body and turning, busting out the front window and the wall surrounding it.
The wintery air assaults me instantly and I flinch, but there’s enough fiery determination pulsing through my veins to keep the cold at bay. I just pray it’s enough.
Chapter 21
Kaiden
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No, no, no.
Fisting my hair, I clench my hand. The stinging helps to ground me in the moment, keeping me from losing my shit and flying off the handle.
She’s gone, and I don’t know if she’s going to be able to come back this time.
The living room is a fucking disaster; the furniture destroyed, blood all over the place, and now snow blowing in through the gaping hole in the wall. Everything is falling apart and I just don’t know how to hold it all together anymore.
“You just had to brush her off, didn’t you?” I spit at Kahl. “Insulting a dragon’s pride, especially one as touchy as Saige’s? Brilliant fucking move.”
Kahl’s helping Kinsley to his feet, and when I get a glimpse of his face, I feel like shit for lobbing blame at him. I’ve seen my brother heartbroken, but I’ve never seen him so absolutely wrecked.
“I didn’t mean it like that,” he pleads, devastated. “I just didn’t want her thinking the second she finally managed to shift, the first thing we were after was to use her to gain the ability. We’ve spent all this time trying to convince her that it didn’t matter either way, that we love her and weren’t just using her. She didn’t even have control over her own goddamn body, and I was supposed to exploit that for a pair of fucking wings?! How was I supposed to sit back and let her, to destroy the damn house too after all that?”
He slaps his palm on the wall in frustration before storming into the hallway, grabbing his coat. “We had to watch it split her goddamn skin apart, not sure if we were ever going to actually see our mate again, and I was supposed to just be fucking happy?” he seethes, voice continuing to rise as he loses the rigid control he’s kept such an iron grip on for the last decade. “She couldn’t care less how much agony she put Saige through, just expected us to ignore our mate’s blood all over her scales for the sake of gaining some abilities?”
I follow after him, yanking Ben off the ground and dragging him with us as soon as I hear the sound of keys getting snatched up. Kinsley limps ahead of me, but it’s not too bad, just favoring his uninjured leg a bit. I grab our jackets while he snatches a scarf on our way out the front door, waiting until he climbs into the SUV to start wrapping his thigh. Chucking Ben in the back with him, I climb in the front, Kahl already starting to pull out of the driveway before I slam my door shut behind me.
