I helped him away from the puddle and pulled a shattered crateaway to clear a spot for him. The tear itself would have to wait for us to get back. “Can you fly with this?” I asked.
“Yes.” His voice was a hoarse growl. “Once my wings expand, it will be fine.”
I ran my fingers along the membrane to check that the bleeding had actually stopped. He gasped, and the wing twitched beneath my hand. When I moved my fingers to the bone, he shuddered again.
My heart did a funny little jump, and unexpected heat flooded through me. “They certainlyaresensitive,” I murmured.
He inhaled, hard. “If you keep touching them like that, I cannot be held responsible for the consequences.”
The desperate undercurrent to his words had me pulling my hand away. He’d tucked his legs up and had his arms wrapped around them, and I could see how badly they now shook.
I took off my cloak. It was far too small for him to wear, but I tucked its warm folds around him. Then I turned to shove more debris onto the fire, which had started to burn with vigor.
I settled beside him, hunkering close to bring him my warmth. There was enough of a roof left overhead to keep the worst of the rain off us, except for the occasional gust.
He inhaled again, and a muscle jumped in his jaw. “Go to the other side of the fire,” he said. And then he added, “Please.”
I pulled one flap of the cloak over me. “You aren’t in any shape to try any funny business.”
“You—you are hard to resist,” he rumbled.
He turned his head, and suddenly I was drowning in his sapphire gaze.
I think I stopped breathing.
“Are you ensnaring me with your Drake wiles?” I whispered.
“You told Zyair,” he rasped, “that you do not wish to be ensnared.” He blinked, and turned his head away.
My disappointment pierced straight through me. Ihadsaid that. Not in so many words, but dammit, I had.
Yet this man was everything I’d ever dreamed of having, and hadlong ago decided didn’t exist. Strong. Gentle. Intelligent. Compassionate.
He couldn’t be more perfect.
Except, of course, for the fact he wasn’t human.
My heart ached. It, and Fate, were telling me that I was being an idiot. And now that I accepted that the serum wasn’t the cause, I was more inclined to listen.
If I believed him, that is. But then my heart added the final characteristic. Xandros washonest.
He’d called me his true mate, and the word resonated through me. Him, and Zyair. From the first moment I’d laid eyes on them, something deep inside me had wanted them. It was a powerful thing. Was it really Fate? Or was it just lust?
There was no doubt they were sex with wings. But was that the only thing going on here? Because it felt?—
It feltcosmic.
Maybe I did need the hard slap up the back of the head to acknowledge the truth—that it wasn’t just my overzealous sex drive that was smitten by these Drakes.
Xandros swayed, putting out a hand to keep himself sitting upright, and my heart constricted. He was hurt. I didn’t entirely buy his reassurances. When he shivered, I moved closer to him, and dug around in the pack. If I knew my friend as well as I thought I did—I pulled out a couple of ration bars.Thank you, Yani.Peeling them both, I offered one to him.
“You eat them,” he said.
“Look, all that shifting and screaming had to use resources.”
“I did not scream,” he protested.
“Well, moaned then.”
