“He is a dragon,” I tell her with a nod. “You’re right. Have you seen his mate?”

“I don’t think he has one.”

“How is it possible that he’s not crazy if he doesn’t have a mate?” That goes against everything I’ve learned about dragons.

“There aren’t many women traveling with this bunch. I’m the only one under the age of menopause.” She twitches, nervous. “And if I don’t start putting out for someone soon, it doesn’t matter that I’m Boyd’s sister. They’re going to get rid of me for not playing nice.”

“Emma, I’m so sorry.” I twist my hands in the cuffs, frustrated. “They know about the scent disguising.”

Her smile is brittle. “I know. Boyd. That fucker.”

I shake my head, trying to focus. I need to think about Azar. “He has to have a mate. What about…what about guys? Is there a particular man he might be involved with? If dragons can have female mates, surely they can also have male ones.”

“No, that’s just it. I don’t think he’s close to anyone. Azar’s always alone.”

Well shit. “What do we do?”

“It gets worse,” she tells me, a look of despair on her face. “They have another dragon.”

I stare at her in horror. “They…what?”

“I know.” She bites her lip, her face haunted. “He’s shifted into his human form and they have him all rigged up in these special chains so he can’t change back. He’s totally crazed, Sasha. We have to help him.”

“How are we going to help anyone?” I jerk at my cuffs, then wince at the shot of pain that rolls up my arms. “And what does this guy want with a dragon?”

“I don’t know. I worry he’s going to attack the nearest fort and take it over. Isn’t that what every power-mad idiot wants? More power?”

“He can have the fort,” I tell her, shifting uncomfortably once more. “I don’t want anything to do with them.”

“I can’t just let him take over. Who knows how many more people he’s going to kill?”

I think of Tate and shudder. Of the families still living there. No, I guess I talk a big game, but I don’t want them to die, either. “What do we do, then?”

“I don’t know,” she admits. “But as long as I’m ‘with them—’” she makes quotes with her hands “—they let me work with prisoners and do shitty jobs around here. I found out about that Tate dickhead yesterday. They’d been messing with him for a while now, making him act as their slave, doing shit jobs for them, all kinds of unpleasant stuff. The moment I joined them, I found out he’s been blabbing about dragons and you, and then the next thing I know, we’re heading in your direction and Azar has a plan. I don’t know what the plan is, but he’s really excited about it. My brother says this is the most excited he’s seen Azar since he met him.”

“What do you think it could be?”

“Something with Dakh,” she tells me ominously. “If you hear from him, you need to tell him to stay away. That’s why they kidnapped you. They want to bring him in and use him.”

“Use him? No one can use a dragon.”

“Azar thinks he can,” she says. “And that’s the part that scares me the most.”

Me, too.

We talk for a bit longer, but Emma has to go before the others start to suspect our friendship. She bandages my wrists with a bit of fabric so the cuffs don’t cut into my flesh, replaces my blindfold and leaves it high enough so I can see a bit underneath, and apologizes over and over again.

“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” she promises as she leads me back out to the couch. “Until then, just hang tight.”

“We have to get out of here,” I tell her, worried. “Please. You have to help me.”

“I know. I will, I promise. I just have to figure out the best way to get us both out of here without getting killed.”

“Tell me where we are and I can direct Dakh. I can have him come in and start flaming—”

“And get captured like the other dragon?” She shakes her head. “If he’s got a way to capture one dragon, he’ll capture yours, too. And then he’ll have two dragons at his beck and call and no one will be able to stand in his way. I’ve learned enough about Azar to realize that he’s not interested in what’s good for the common people, Sasha. He’s out for Azar and Azar alone.”

“Then what do you suggest?”

She thinks for a moment. “The best thing we can do right now is figure out a way to get you out of here and back to him, and he can fly us both the fuck out of Dodge.”

I nod. “I’m trusting you.”

She moves me back to the couch and helps me sit down, then picks up the bowl. “You don’t know me,” she whispers. “I’m just the girl that serves you soup.” Then louder, she holds up a spoon. “Open wide. Let’s make this feeding quick or you’re going to be wearing this stuff.”

45

DAKH

The ravens are my companions as I wheel about in the skies, endlessly searching for my mate. I never realized until now how big this world is, how much land there is to cover.

How small one human female can be in all this.

It has been an eternity since I felt her thoughts, and with every moment that passes, my despair grows and the ravens fly thicker. Already they cry terrible things, encouraging me to flame this building as I pass, or to destroy this barricade. Turn this tree to ash, that field to dust.

But the field is full of flowers, and I know my Sasha loves them, so I land there and wait, hoping against hope that her mind will connect with mine. That I have just somehow missed her and she is there, waiting for me. That she is safe.

That she is not hurt, or in pain.

I know she is not dead. The tenuous thread of her mind is there, and I have followed it as closely as I can, trying to make it grow larger, to increase the connection. To hear her thoughts pour into my head. So far, there has been nothing.

I am failing her, I realize with despair. Failing my sweet mate, who I should have protected. SASHA, I call again, my thoughts raging. I pump all that I am into the thrust of my mind and force it forward like a bolt. SASHA, I AM HERE.