Page 3 of The Dragon’s Emberlinked Mate (Dragon Flight Academy #3)

Emmen

I awoke in a cold sweat, bolting upright in bed, breathing hard as if I had just run a marathon.

Had a nightmare woken me? What was it about?

For years after the war, I’d had nightmares.

And I had them again when we went through the period of time where dragons were hunted by humans, but that had been centuries ago. And this wasn’t like any of that.

I hadn’t been dreaming, at least I didn’t think I had. But something had caused me to awaken with this sense of dread and anxiety.

In a panic, I grabbed my phone, checking to see if any of my alarms had gone off around the perimeter.

All of the cameras came up empty. No intruders, not that I ever really worried about those.

These stupid alarms were something Malric insisted on as a way to show me the new ways were fabulous, too.

So far they had proven to be nothing but an annoying nuisance.

I laid back down, trying to calm my racing heart. It was as if my body was on high alert to some threat, only I didn’t know what that threat was. But also, not a threat. It was more anxiety wrapped up in a sense of potential loss. It was like nothing I’d ever experienced before.

After thirty minutes of tossing and turning, I gave up and got out of bed. I went to the kitchen and put the kettle on. I wasn’t much of a tea drinker, but this felt like a tea-drinking moment. If I had any hope of going back to bed, it was for sure not a coffee time.

My heart continued to pound in my chest, my body reacting as if there was something to be hyper-worried about, but I had no idea what it was. Was this what a panic attack felt like? I wasn’t sure. Did dragons even have them or was that a human medical condition?

It had been a lot of years since my body had been put under this kind of stress, but in the past, I’d always known exactly what was causing it. The only other time it had been this bad had been during the war when I was young. But nothing else in my long lifespan came even close to this.

My dragon rumbled his discontent and scales erupted on my arms. I always had good control over my beast. It was rare he gave me a hard time, and partially shifting like this… The only other time it had ever happened was when I’d been injured.

Once my tea was ready, I sat down in the sitting room, sipping the warm liquid. Why I thought it might magically calm me down, I wasn’t sure. It didn’t work. Instead, I found myself pacing like a wild animal in captivity.

I jumped when my phone rang, the time stamp telling me that I’d been awake and pacing for over two hours. How could that even be? Eryx’s number flashed on the caller ID. Of all my friends to phone me in the middle of the night, he would be the last I expected.

“Hello,” I said, controlling my voice the best I could.

“Emmen, I’m sorry to wake you up.”

“It’s no problem. I was awake.” Not that I wanted to be.

“Good. I’ve got, well… I’ve got a weird request.”

“Is everything all right?” It was the middle of the night. Of course it wasn’t, but I fell right into polite platitudes anyway.

“Yeah, no, not really.” He let out a long breath. “Not at all, actually.”

Fuck. What had happened? Were we under attack? No. That was crazy. Dragons hadn’t gone to war in centuries. But also, that would explain tonight.

“My son Rhythe was in an accident. As far as we can figure out, he didn’t realize where he was going and flew straight into the side of Stonewash Mountain.”

I shivered at that. It wasn’t a large mountain, but it had a very rocky cliff face. Flying into it at any speed would cause serious damage.

“Is he all right?”

“He will be… maybe. The doctor doesn't like how slowly he’s healing and, well… he keeps asking for you, Emmen.”

“What? Me?” As far as I knew I’d never met Rhythe. I had seen his twin Pip from afar but rarely interacted with him. I only knew of them because of Valen’s relationship to them. Why would he call for me of all people?

My dragon roared to the surface, demanding that I go to this person. Though I had never met Rhythe, nothing sounded more right than going to his side.

“Where is he? I’ll be right there.”

“Is there something you’re not telling me, Emmen? Have you met Rhythe before?”

“No,” I said. “Not that I recall, but if I can help, I need to be there.”

“All right. It’s just—he’s acting quite strange. Almost like…”

“Almost like what?” I asked.

“Never mind. Just—Rhythe’s at the hospital.” The fact that an injured dragon was healing at a hospital and not at his own home was alarming. We were incredibly hard to seriously injure.

“I’ll be right there. I’m on my way.” I didn’t even question whether or not I would fly there. I simply stepped outside and shifted to my dragon form, letting my cell phone fall to the ground.

When I arrived at the hospital, I had no way to communicate with Eryx to figure out where Rhythe was, nor did I have clothes. The nurse at the front station yelped when she saw me. Thankfully, this was a predominantly shifter hospital and she was a wolf shifter herself.

“You all can’t just barge in here without clothes. You have to bring clothes with you.” She tossed an extra pair of scrubs at me, and I slipped them on. “No one wants to see that.”

“Right. Sorry.” What other response was there? “Can you tell me where Rhythe is?”

“Oh, that poor dear. He has a long road to recovery.” Her formerly cheerful face took on a look of sadness, and she clutched a hand to her chest.

I stiffened at that. A long road to recovery for a shifter was serious. Just how bad were his injuries?

“He’s on the third floor, the west wing. The trauma unit.”

This was a hospital that catered primarily to shifters. I knew the trauma unit didn’t actually get a lot of traffic. The occasional human that was mated to a shifter might come in. But even human mates had enhanced healing abilities. They could heal more quickly than your average human.

I opted to take the stairs rather than the elevator, not wanting to wait for the car to arrive.

I took them two at a time as I ran up all three flights.

I didn’t know what it was that was driving me to get to Rhythe’s side, but I needed to be there.

I needed to see him and look into his eyes. He had to be all right.

I didn’t bother to check in at the nurses’ station. Instead, I bolted straight to his room and pushed open the door. I dared them to stop me. I’d fought off entire armies, there was no way a few nurses would be able to keep me at bay.

It was like walking into a horror move. There were multiple beeping sounds, buzzing, and swishing.

And that all hit me after the scents of antiseptic, burnt flesh, fresh blood, and healing wounds all assaulted me at once.

And the lights, they were an orangy yellow that reminded me of the morning after a long battle, when the soot still filled the air.

His family and staff surrounded him, but they faded into the background. My attention was focused solely on him.

“Rhythe,” I said, nearly falling to my knees when I saw the battered body on the table.

Rhythe was a young dragon, full of life and with the world ahead of him. The man on the table was… broken. There were wires coming out of everywhere, all connected to human machines. Were they what was keeping him alive? I’d known it was going to be bad, but this? This was so much worse.

“Emmen, you came.” His voice was barely a whisper. “You’re here. Thank the goddess.”

I was shocked to hear his voice in his condition, and even more so that my name came from his lips. But beyond that was my own body’s reaction to it.

Mate, my dragon screamed.

“Mate,” I said out loud, not able nor wanting to hold it in.

“Yes,” he breathed. Light flared in his eyes, but only for a moment.

Then all the beeping stopped, and instead, a consistent flatline pulse burst through the air.

Rhythe was gone.

I’d only just found him.