This time, when he came around, he was alone. It took him a while to regain his name. As the wind howled and the waves sent salty spray over his shivering body, his ability supplied him with the past and filled in for his destroyed memories.
He was Ash. Enslaved Dragon and Oracle.
It didn’t surprise him that his past wasn’t any more tolerable than his present. But what of the future?
If he didn’t control his talent, it could drive him mad. Now, he used the pain to help focus it. He closed his eyes, and cast for the future.
And found a Dragon.
A huge Dragon that glittered turquoise in the rays of the rising sun. He was coiled around a vivid-red female as the two plunged toward the mountains far below.
Ash’s heart accelerated as their scent enveloped him. Lust, raw and primal, as they spiraled ever closer to their doom.
A stab pierced him—not a physical thing, but an emotional one. He recognized this Dragon.
It was the one from his dreams. Mating with another.
His shattered memories offered the power of the arms that had encircled him, holding him close and saving him from a lethal plummet into the cliffs. Along with the sense ofrightnessthat had engulfed Ash, warming his beleaguered heart.
He held that with a desperation borne upon a single fact. That it hadn’t been merely a dream. He’d woken up from it with an ache in his chest that had nothing to do with his heart.
The muscles that serviced his Dragon wings had been sore as hell. As though the wind had torn them.
The dream might have been real.
Ash had no clear explanation for it. But this was different, this was his ability showing him a piece of a possible future. And in this future, the Dragon didn’t belong to him.
He sighed and opened his eyes again. Perhaps it was best to stay away from the future. It was entirely possible he didn’t have one. At least, not for long.
Just like Mother.
His mother. That information came to him now, from the past. She lay among the cliffs far above him. A mother he had never known.
Ash laid his head back against the stone. He’d thought he might be able to affect the future. To guide it to where the Archmage would make a mistake. To where his people could kill Rindek.
To where his gorgeous turquoise Dragon would find Ash, and save him.
But could he, instead, be the vessel for their possible destruction? The future timelines were a dark jumble that his damaged brain could no longer decipher.
Perhaps it was time, finally, for him to die.
* * *
Dani lay on the bed in Sirki’s spare room and pulled the blanket up to her chin.
Sirki had kept her up for hours. Tyrez’s sister was a bubbly teenager who was obviously delighted at having an impromptu roomie. By the time Dani finally begged off due to an exhaustion that was not entirely feigned, it was early morning.
Despite being tired, Dani couldn’t drop off to sleep. Tyrez’s attitude toward his mate unsettled her. He seemed so bound by honor and tradition—yet every time the topic of Aranta came up, he acted as though he’d rather not even think about her.
If he didn’t like Aranta—and having met the Dragona, she could sympathize with that sentiment—why take her as his mate? Was it an arranged thing? It sure didn’t seem like he had any affection for the red Dragon.
Even though she wasn’t privy to the circumstances behind their union, his obvious lack of connection to his mate both bothered Dani and, strangely, relieved her. Why the relief? There was little doubt that Tyrez fit her “no testicles” rule. Yet he was so damned attractive...
No. She’d help him save Ash. She owed the captive Dragon shifter that much. Then she was off to build herself a new life. Minus any male entanglements.
Outside Sirki’s bedroom ledge—all Dragon quarters must have them—the first rays of dawn lightened the indigo sky. When a flash of brilliant red shot across it, Dani sat up. Was that...
She wrapped the blanket around her and crept to the opening. A Dragon the color of fire spiraled through the clouds. As Dani watched, a shriek carried to where she stood. A shrill cry of invitation.
