Page 17 of Beast of Blood and Ash (Drakarn Mates #6)

REIKA

The confession hung in the air between us, heavy and suffocating.

You are the only one.

It wasn’t sweet. It was obsession. Possession. Another name for a chain, and the air in his quarters suddenly felt too thin to breathe. The stone walls pressed in, a solid weight against my ribs until my lungs ached with the effort of fighting them.

What the fuck had I gotten myself into?

Claustrophobia, sharp and familiar, clawed its way up my throat. I scrambled back, my feet shuffling desperately on stone to put distance between myself and the heat rolling off his body.

Away from the crushing weight of his confession.

“I have to get out of here.” The words were a ragged gasp. If I stayed another second, I might just crumble into dust.

A wound opened in his gold eyes, a flicker of pain that punched me in the gut. His hands, which had been hanging loose at his sides, curled into fists, the knuckles straining, white as if he were physically stopping himself from reaching for me. He took a single, predatory step forward.

“It’s not safe.” His voice was a low rumble, an attempt at reason that still vibrated with command.

“Nothing is fucking safe!” The words tore from me, sharp and brittle. “Don’t you get that? Are you going to keep me here like some prized pet? Like one of them?”

My accusation struck him harder than a physical blow.

The war on his face was stark, a battle between the possessive beast that wanted to cage me and the male who was bleeding from the wounds my words inflicted.

He lowered his head, a gesture of submission so utterly alien to his nature that it left me breathless all over again.

Then, he stepped aside, clearing the path to the door.

An open cage.

I bolted.

The path to the river was a blur of stone and shadow. I couldn’t go back to my usual spot, the memory of the acolytes and their slick, hateful voices tainting it forever. But the banks were vast.

I found a new place, a small alcove carved into the rock face that felt almost private, almost hidden. The air was colder there, cutting through the thin fabric of my shirt with a clean, sharp bite.

I sank to the ground. My knees came up to my chest, my satchel resting uselessly at my side.

His words replayed in my head. You are the only one.

A terrifying restriction and a dangerously seductive promise. It was a blanket woven from fire and steel, offering warmth that would either protect me or burn me alive. I replayed the feel of his arms, the terrifying gentleness that was at war with the monster I knew his kind could be.

He was a cage I might actually want to stay in, and that thought scared me more than Ignarath’s whips.

A shadow was the only warning I got.

Vyne landed without a sound. Silent. Effortless. His green scales seemed to absorb the light of the cavern, making him a void in the shape of a Drakarn. He didn’t look at me. He just stood sentinel several feet away, his powerful presence an unspoken statement.

Omvar’s long, protective shadow.

Moments later, a softer sound. Selene. She approached not as a warrior, but as a friend, her steps careful on the uneven stone.

She sat beside me, leaving a thoughtful sliver of space between us, a quiet offering of solidarity that I hadn’t realized I was starving for.

The steady rush of the river filled the silence until the frantic trembling in my limbs began to subside.

“Did he send you?” I whispered. Anything louder felt like a violation of the fragile peace.

Selene nodded, her gaze kind but unnervingly clear. “He’s worried.” She paused, letting the words settle. “What are you running from, Reika? Ignarath? Or him?”

The question landed hard, knocking the air from my lungs. The shame of it twisted through me like jagged glass. I wanted to scream that I was running from the monsters, from the memories, from the scent of blood and the clang of cage doors. But it wasn’t the whole truth. It wasn’t even close.

My throat felt tight. “I don’t know what I want.” It was the most honest thing I had said in months.

“Don’t you?” Selene’s voice was soft, but it held no pity, only a quiet challenge. “I think there’s a big part of you that isn’t scared. A part that’s tired of being a victim.”

I squeezed my eyes shut, the truth of her words a brand against my heart. Running hadn’t given me peace. It had just left me exhausted and alone, chasing a phantom of safety that I could never catch. I could keep running until I faded into nothing.

Or I could turn and face the one thing that scared me more than any monster.

Hope.

“I’m so tired of being fucking weak,” I finally whispered, the admission cracking something open deep inside me. I looked up, meeting Selene’s steady gaze.

A small, proud smile touched her lips before she gave me a sharp nod of encouragement. She stood, a fluid motion of grace and strength, and signaled to the silent shadow that was Vyne. She stepped into his arms, and he wrapped his wings around her, launching them both into the air.

I stood, my legs shaking but holding me up. I took a deep breath of the cold, clean air, letting it fill my lungs, letting it scour the last of the panic from my blood. I didn’t know exactly what I was walking toward.

A cage or a sanctuary. A beast or a savior.

But I knew, deep in my bones, that I was done running.