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Kodi shakes his head. “Inside with Raiden trying to put the fire out.”
Torin curses and growls. “Of fucking course she is.” There’s a scuff of his boot against the pavement as he turns to run, and Kodi calls, “When you find her, tell her Amara’s with me and to fill in her brother. Raiden and Stone’s phones are toast, and she's the only one that can reach them at this point without incinerating.”
With a grunt of agreement, Kodiak returns the full weight of his attention onto me, and what I see on his face is heartbreaking. “No more. No more going anywhere without one of us, my heart can't take it.”
His lips crash against mine, bruising and fierce. There’s no probing to take it any deeper, just desperation and fear emanating off of him in such thick waves, I’m not surprised when the taste of his pain dances across my tongue, adding another layer to my discomfort.
I don’t ever want to experience it again. Kodiak deserves better than living in this constant state of terror; we all do.
In full agreement, I tighten my grip on him and half-heartedly joke, “Bright side, I could probably restart your heart if it gave out.” Lifting up a hand, I manage a single spark before it dies, and I let my hand fall back to my side, trying not to wallow in self-pity over my shortcomings. “Sorry about your building.”
He kisses the top of my head, resituating us so that I’m sitting on his lap. “I’m not. I was the one to ask you to show me what you’ve got, and damn, beautiful, you delivered.”
Scrunching up my face, I peer up at him. “What are you talking about? I crawled around like a mouse in a maze, and Torin did all of the heavy lifting. The most impressive thing I did was keep my shit together long enough to not die.”
He matches my confusion, furrowing his brow. “Unless there’s another lightning dragon around here, you’re the one that took out the top floor and started the fire, Amara.”
Chapter 18
Kodiak
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The air’s thinner thishigh in the mountains, but I’m hoping it’ll help Amara let her guard down enough to breathe freely for once. In a world where dragons are forced to go against their nature and hide because of humans, too many miss out on the sense of inner peace that comes from a change in perspective.
Standing on top of the world makes all of your problems seem so much smaller in the grand scheme of things.
Raiden sets Amara on her feet, and she joins me at the edge of the cliff. I grab her hand automatically, tightening it as a few pebbles begin the several thousand foot tumble to the ground.
“I didn’t realize how huge Khalida really is,” she whispers. “You guys really saved all of these people?”
Raiden sets a hand on her hip, urging her back a step from the ledge. “Not at all. Most of them saved themselves, we just gave them somewhere to start over. They’re the ones that put in the work to make this place feel like home. You can offer someone a bed and food to recover, and they can let their past turn them bitter and cruel, leaving the place nothing more than a wayward station.Theykeep the spirit of Khalida alive and make the name stand for something.”
Clearing her throat, she takes another step back, turning to where Stone has dropped a satchel and is setting up the small machine on top of a flat boulder. “So now we see if the training center was a fluke, or if I’m a threat to burn everything you’ve built to the ground.”
