Page 103 of Dragon’s Rebel

Of course. She hadn’t done enough. Everything she’d tried to do in her life, and it was never enough. Fuck.

“What do I have to do?” She glared at him suspiciously. “This isn’t about the giant dragon dick, is it?”

She felt the rumble of his laughter.

Then his tone grew more serious.

“How would I do it?”

The what? “What the hell is a Ki-rin?”

She sat down on a nearby boulder, thoughts running through her head. This wasn’t falling in love. No one could do that on command. This was about making a commitment.

Rebel didn’t do commitments. One job at a time. One date at a time.

But it was Thorne. And she did love him. She loved his strength and his sense of humor. She loved the way he held her, made love to her, respected her, believed in her.

She loved the way he made her feel safe and cared for. She loved taking care of him.

She loved his dragon. She even loved his grumpiness.

So what was holding her back?

Fear. Fear of being trapped. No exit strategy. No Plan B. Forever.

And forever was a long time, to a dragon.

But he was dying. And if Thorne died, she’d lose something precious and irreplaceable.

There was really only one choice.

“I’ll do it,” she said.

The minute she said the words, the world changed around her. She was in a huge cavern, bigger than the Batcave, surrounded by dark creatures whose wings rustled in the shadowy darkness.

Horses, she realized. Winged black horses, with long sinuous necks and dragon heads. Their eyes, like Thorne’s but silver instead of blue, glowed all around her.

There had to be at least a dozen. Maybe more. And though they weren’t threatening in any way, she sensed immense power surrounding her.

A voice came out of the darkness, into her mind. You are standing before the Council of the Ki-rin, it said. What are you prepared to sacrifice?