Page 69 of Malcroix Bones Academy

“Well. No one else can. Just like no one can see your true primal. Understand?”

I thought about that, then shook my head. “No.”

His jaw visibly clenched. “Are you simple-minded? Did your mixed blood make you an idiot? What I said was perfectly clear.”

I stared up at those gold eyes. What in the hell was wrong with him? Why was he so bloodyangryabout this? Why was he acting like I’ddonesomething to him, when I was honestly excited about the fact that we were actuallytalkingabout?

“You can see me.” He still sounded irritated, or maybe frustrated. “I knew that, after the tea shop. Then I find out last night, you can also deal with my magic.”

When he didn’t go on, I felt my patience fraying.

“How are you so bad at this?” I asked, annoyed. “What in the gods?”

“Just let me try something,” he cut in. “Can I bloody welltrysomething? I don’t think it will hurt you. It didn’t last night.”

“Hurt me?” Alarm reached my voice.

He was already gliding closer.

That time, he backed me up to the wall of the cramped utility room. I stood there against it, my jaw tilted up, and forced myself to hold his gaze. Up close, he didn’t look angry exactly, or particularly aggressive, but something in his eyes made menervous. That same something was mirrored in the eyes of his dragon primal, which didn’t exactly reassure me.

There was a strange light there, an eagerness mixed with a sparking charge that looked slightly out of control. Reckless, anyway.

Like he knew what he was about to do wasn’t a good idea.

“Wait?” I began.

“Just… please.” His voice grew rough. “Gods. Do you always think this loud?”

Before I could make up my mind whether to answer that, or to push back for real, his hand and those long fingers wrapped lightly around my throat. He moved so quickly, I jerked my head back. In the process, I managed to smack it against the wall.

“Ouch,” I complained.

“Just fucking relax!” he growled. “You’re going to give yourself a bloody concussion! I’ve already said I won’t hurt you… I’m not going tohurtyou, all right?”

I glared up at him. “Whatareyou going to do, then?”

“What I did last night.” He cleared his throat, stepping closer. “More or less.”

“What’s the more part?”

“Can I do it?” He frowned. “Or not?”

I stared at him in disbelief. He’d wrapped his hand around my throat, andnowhe was asking my permission? Still, some part of me wanted to know what he meant to do. Like the night before, his fingers didn’t hurt. They were tense, taut, but he didn’t squeeze. If anything, he seemed to be holding me carefully, as if afraid to bruise the skin more than it already was. But he was standing uncomfortably close, and I still felt that reckless thing all over him.

“I’m going to do it now,” he said. “If it hurts, I’ll stop. All right?”

I stared at his eyes, still having competing feelings about this.

“Can I?” he repeated. “Say yes, Shadow. Or say no.”

“Yes.” I blurted it without thought.

I considered asking him more?

?when something hot and liquid flowed like an open faucet into my throat.

I gasped, half-choking on it, but my lungs only opened in the gasp, taking in a deep breath that drew that heat further into me. I stared down at his arm, then at his chest, directly in front of me, which appeared to be glowing through his shirt. His dragon primal’s eyes sparked a brighter black, writhing with living fire.