Page 49 of Dragon’s Rebel

She lowered herself slowly into the grass next to him. She hesitated a minute, then reached out and put her hand over his.

“He’s gone,” Thorne said.

“Who?” she asked softly. But she knew.

“My dragon. My dragon is gone.” The devastation in his voice tore at her heart.

She rested her forehead against his shoulder. “Maybe he’s not gone for good,” she said. “Lots of other shifters who took the serum got their animals back.”

He nodded. “I know.” He went quiet again, and she waited. “I thought I prepared myself,” he said. “I thought I was being so brave. But I didn’t know it would feel like this.”

Rebel’s heart wanted to break, and as always when she felt that way, she took refuge in snarkiness. “You are brave, Lizard,” she said. “You took me on, and I’m fucking scary.”

To her surprise, it seemed to be the right thing to say. A tiny smile quirked the corner of his mouth, just for a second.

“That’s true, you are,” he said. But he tilted his head to rest it against hers.

“He’s coming back,” she said, trying to sound as confident as she could.

“How do you know?”

Was that a tiny bit of hope she heard?

“He told me.”

He pulled back and turned toward her. “When?”

“In the spirit world. He said he had to go for a while, because fighting to keep him was killing you. But he said he’d be there. Waiting.”

“In the spirit world?” Thorne’s voice grew thoughtful.

Rebel nodded. Thorne didn’t say what they were both thinking—just because the dragon didn’t know he was dying, didn’t mean he wasn’t.

Rebel stroked the bracelet on her left wrist. She could still feel life in the scales, as though part of Thorne’s dragon was there with her still.

Not a dead memorial, but part of his spirit.

“We’ll get him back,” she promised recklessly. “You can’t give up. You don’t give up. You’re Thorne Greystone. We’re going to kick Vyrkos’ ass, and then we’re going to get your dragon back, and everyone’s going to live happily ever after.”

She didn’t know how they were going to make all that happen, but she got her reward. Thorne nodded and got to his feet. “Okay. Then let’s do it.”

The first thing was to get Thorne inside and into the shower. He was weak and dizzy, despite—or maybe because of—the mind-blowing sex they’d had earlier. She could see how much of a toll the serum had taken on his body.

That should have drawn them closer, but now that the crisis was over she felt strange and awkward with him. This Thorne was a stranger to her.

While he was showering, she managed to find a t-shirt and sweats in her closet that would fit him, just in case his dragon clothes-conjuring trick wasn’t working either.

Then she got out a small leather bag embroidered with magical symbols, and carefully put the dragon scales inside it. They felt important, though she didn’t know why.

Thorne came out of she shower with a towel wrapped around him, looking mouth-wateringly gorgeous and just a little lost and uncertain.

Her heart lurched. “Here, I found these for you,” she said, thrusting the clothes at him. “Put them on, and let’s get going back to the lair. I know what you need.”