Page 73 of Burdened Bonds

Where am I?I hear her laugh though the bond, vibrant and wild and carefree.I’m flying on the back of a dragon.

I stare at Azlan. Yeah, I don’t get this girl at all.

A dragon … sweetheart?Has she lost her senses? Has that bastard hurt her so badly she’s lost her mind?

The next few sentences come flying across in a speedy blur of excitement. She was climbing in the mountains, trying to get back to Los Magicos, to us. She found a dragon. An injured dragon. She healed the dragon and now she’s flying it.

I rub my temples.

“What?” Azlan says anxiously. “What’s wrong? Where is she?”

I shake my head at him and press my finger to my lips. He scowls at me but I don’t care. I’m trying to make sense of this.

Why are you in the mountains?There’s a pause in our communication.Rhi? Rhi?

There are people hunting me, Stone.

I know sweetheart. They’re hunting us too.

Over the mountains seemed the safest route.

The safest route? She has lost her senses, that confirms it. It’s winter. The mountains are treacherous at the best of times but in the heart of winter? What the hell is she thinking?

I tried to reach you.There’s sadness in her tone now.I’ve been trying for days.

So have we, Rhi. So have we. But we’re going to come andfind you now. Right now.Although how we’re going to find her in the fucking mountains, I have no clue at all.Just give me a landmark, a reference and we’ll be there.

There’s more silence. Is she thinking? I go to check if she’s still there and then she answers.

Crow’s Peak, she says.We’ll meet you at Crow’s Peak.

And then, although I can still feel her, far more strongly than before, the communication connection breaks.

I stare straight ahead of me, stroking my fingers through my beard.

“Phoenix!” Azlan snaps. “What the fuck?”

“She’s not alone,” I tell him, eyes flicking to him.

“Barone,” he says, his face darkening.

“Barone,” I repeat.

29

Tristan

I sitat the desk in my old room, legs jiggling, staring down into the open drawer. Fuck, I want a joint. Fuck, I want one so badly. But I need to keep my head clear. Getting high right now, while it might calm all this raging anxiety in my body, may soothe the pain in my gut, is not going to help me think. And I need to think.

I rake my fingers through my hair.

I need to find my mate. I need to know she’s safe. I need her with me. And not because of the unbearable pain in my gut, but because of the fucking ache in my heart.

But she’s not the only one I need to find.

Was Summer talking bullshit? A load of crap simply to push my buttons? I’ve only been back in the academy 24 hours and the girl is worse than ever. Like she owns the school and everyone in it. And fuck, maybe she does,because it’s not only Johnson kissing her ass now, all the fucking teachers are, including York herself. In fact, if I didn’t know better, I’d suspect they’re afraid of her.

I don’t know what kind of pact she’s made with my father, what bargain she made, but she obviously thinks it’s a good one. One that gives her power over even me.