Page 61

Her skin flickered again. And again. Under the glow, she grew pale.

I eased forward, one arm outstretched. “Chloe, you don’t understand how this gift of yours works. Let me—”

“I heard you!” she cried suddenly, and the power around her flared like a light bulb in an electrical surge. “You said it doesn’t matter if I’m human. You only care that I’m fertile.” She swung anguished eyes to Lachlan. “You said it would be a while before you could touch me.”

My stomach dropped. She’d overheard us talking. But she didn’t know the context, and she’d interpreted our conversation in the worst way possible.

Lachlan drew a deep breath. “Chloe, you heard Andrei call you a donum. It’s an extraordinarily rare gift, especially among humans. The mechanics are complicated, but the easiest explanation is that you’re a magical battery.”

She stared, frowning but clearly listening.

“A donum absorbs the gifts of any magical being in close proximity. You store power, but you also feed it back to them. As that loop gets stronger, a donum can actually display the gifts of the magical beings they’ve siphoned from.”

I slid a look at Lachlan. Where was he going with this? Magic 101 could wait. We needed Chloe to trust us before she fried the circuits in her brain.

“It’s very hard to lie to a dragon,” he said. “You’re flush with our power, lass. Use it. Caste out your senses and test the truth of what we’re telling you.”

I exhaled, torn between admiring his intelligence and being annoyed that mine was obviously inferior.

“We don’t care that you’re human,” he told her. “But no dragon pair can take a female mate without permission from the king.”

“He’s old,” I said. “Possibly older than dirt. Cormac is the last full-blooded dragon on Earth, and he was born in a time when dragons ruled it. Over his long lifespan, he’s seen our numbers dwindle to almost nothing.”

“And all he cares about,” Lachlan said, “is seeing them rise again. He’s… Well, full-blooded dragons are intense.”

“That’s putting it mildly,” I muttered. Volcanoes and hurricanes were intense. I’d rather snuggle with one of those bastards than spend any amount of time in Cormac’s presence.

Lachlan held Chloe’s gaze. “Our king is the most powerful being alive, but Alec and I would risk his wrath to mate you.” His throat bobbed as he swallowed. “And I would die before I hurt you. When I saw that blood on your thigh…”

Inside the bubble of power, Chloe’s eyes filled with tears. She flickered again, the flash revealing her bones under her skin.

“Lass,” I said gently, “you’ll burn yourself up. You have to release that power, sweetheart.”

“I…don’t think I know how.”

I smiled. “It’s easy. Just picture your hand holding a wire. Then let it go.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it.”

Her eyes drifted shut. A second later, the power boomed outward in a wave and dissipated. She staggered back.

Lachlan and I were already there to steady her.

“Whoa,” she breathed, sandwiched between us. “That was really weird.”

“The weirdest,” I agreed.

“Can I do that all the time?”

“I sure as hell hope not.”

Lachlan smoothed her hair back from her forehead. “How do you feel? Are you hurting anywhere?”

She smiled, and love shone from her eyes, turning them bluer than I’d ever seen them. “Not at all. In fact, I’ve never felt better.”

Chapter Nineteen