A sudden sensation of pure joy flooded through her. Not her own.
Yes, my golden one. It was real.Tyrez’s voice—not in her ears. In her mind. How was that possible?
But—what does it mean?Ash, sounding as confused as she was.
Tyrez’s reply rang through her.
It means that you are mine. And I am yours.
It hadn’t been a dream to them. It had been real. And it could only mean they were mate bonded.
No, Dragons didn’t do that. They weresoulbonded.
But why could she hear them, too?
Dani dropped her face into her hands. Because she was cursed, that’s why. Cursed to forever touch the men—yes, plural—she just might love. But to never do more than that.
It was the story of her life. She was always close. Close to success. Close to triumph. Close to living the life she wanted.
Close. But never close enough.
* * *
Tyrez strode through the tunnels, but although his eyes registered where he was going, his mind was totally focused on Ash.
And Ash was in full retreat.
He’d bolted the moment he realized the dream had implications that spilled over into the real world. Tyrez caught flashes of the tunnels the Dragon chose as he wound his way deeper into the mountain.
You can’t run from this,Tyrez told him.We were meant to be together.
No, we weren’t.
Tyrez pushed with his mind—or tried to. He had no idea what he was doing. But Ash was holding something back. Every time he communicated, there was a wall that Tyrez couldn’t push past. It didn’t feel very solid. He had the impression of something flaring and subsiding.
He tried again.The living dreams are one thing, but the telepathic link is the final clue.
Clue to what?It was a cry of denial.
A soulbond.
Dammit, Tyrez. You don’t want that with me. I’m damaged goods.
Yes, I want you. Have from the moment I first caught your scent in Rindek’s cave. Did you know I’ve had the scales I found there glued on to my wrists?
Silence, but he sensed Ash’s panic. If it had just been a personal, I-can’t-cope kind of thing, he would have backed off. But that wasn’t what he sensed.
Ash didn’t think he was worthy of Tyrez.
Ash, this was meant to be,Tyrez pushed harder, determined to prove he was right.
Suddenly, Ash’s fear morphed to anger.You think you want me? You have no idea what you are getting.And he tore down the wall.
In an instant, Tyrez was flooded with images. It disoriented him to such an extent that he crashed into the side of the tunnel. Hands spread against the stone as he gasped, lost in an instant to the maelstrom.
It was a random, disconnected wave of visual information. It wasn’t until he saw himself entering the fortress in the mountains that he realized some were memories from the past.
Not memories,hissed Ash in his brain.Some are the past. Some the present. And some the future. I used to know which was which. But since Demeti blasted apart my brain, I can no longer control any of it.
