Page 43 of Fated By Fire

The flatscreen TV that takes up one wall of my apartment is showing a news bulletin, but I’m not really seeing it. My mind is elsewhere, tangled in a web of thoughts I can’t seem to unravel.

The Heartstone’s pulse thrums in my chest, a relentless reminder of the chaos unfolding around me. It’s never been this active, thisalive. Its erratic energy feels like a warning—or a call to action.

I sink into my seat, my eyes fixed on the flickering television screen. The events of the last few hours play on a loop in my head. Elena in the vault. Malakai’s betrayal. The fight. The way she looked at me when I saved her—confused, terrified, but also… something else. Indomitable.

And then there was the kiss.

More than a kiss, asshole

My hands clench into fists at the memory. I don’t know what possessed me to do that. She’s a liability, a woman who’s dug herself into a pit of trouble she doesn’t comprehend. But when she stood there, her eyes blazing with defiance, something in me snapped. Something visceral, possessive. My dragon stirred, not with rage, but with something I’m not familiar with.

How did she get into the vault?

The question keeps nagging at me. Our security is state-of-the-art. And around that vault, it should be impenetrable. Yet she got in without setting off a single alarm. Even if the alarms had been deactivated, she still shouldn’t have been able to bypass the biometrics. There are barely a dozen people whose prints are programmed into the system. As for the retinal scans… It’s only me, Dorian… and Malakai.

Fucking Malakai.

The sound of the door opening pulls me from my thoughts. Dorian strides in, his usual smirk conspicuously absent. He’s dressed in his signature rumpled-chic attire—untucked shirt, scuffed boots—but his posture is tense, his expression serious.

“Hey,” he says, flopping into the chair across from me. “You look like hell.”

“Feel like hell,” I mutter, running a hand through my hair.

Dorian leans forward, his amber eyes—so like mine—locking onto my face. “So, what’s the plan? Malakai’s not going to back down, and the woman… She’s a wildcard. If she starts asking questions—”

“She won’t,” I cut him off, my voice firm. “I’ll handle it.”

“Handle it how?” Dorian raises an eyebrow. “You can’t exactly silence her, Caleb. And even if you could, it wouldn’t solve the bigger problem. The Heartstone’s acting up, and we need to figure out why.”

My jaw tightens, my hands curling into fists. “I know.”

“Then do something about it,” Dorian snaps, his frustration boiling over. “You’re the leader of this clan, Caleb. It’s time you started acting like it.”

“Fuck you!” I bark. “I was leading our clan while you were still wondering which beach to lounge on for your gap year. You think I don’t know what responsibility is?”

“I’m sure you know all about responsibility, brother.” His eyes lock with mine. “What you don’t know about is action.”

We glare at each other for a moment until I look away. I can’t argue with him because I know he’s right. My life has become all about mergers, acquisitions, stock portfolios… I can’t remember when I felt the sun on my face. The wind against my wings.

“While you’ve been watching the bottom line, you’ve lost your edge, Caleb.” He looks at me. “And it’s only a matter of time before someone takes advantage.”

I purse my lips, sinking back against the leather of my seat. “I can’t be everywhere at once, Dorian. And I can’t make everyone happy all of the time.”

“Yeah. But can you makeyourselfhappyanyof the time?” He lifts an eyebrow.

“There are more important things to worry about than my happiness, dammit.”

“There’s nothing more important than your happiness. It’s how we thrive.”

I roll my eyes. “It’s howyouthrive. I’m doing just fine the way I am.”

“Are you, though?” Dorian lifts a foot onto the edge of my glass coffee table. I scowl at it, but he ignores me. “Because at the rate you’re going, we both know how things are going to end up. Dad—”

“Don’t fucking bring Dad into this! What’s happening right now is completely unrelated. I just need time to figure it out.” Iexhale a long breath. Things feel like they’re piling up in a way that’s becoming unmanageable.

“Time is a luxury you don’t have right now. Elena just walked into a room with our most treasured possessions. God knows what else she saw in there, but the Heartstone was enough.”

“For fuck’s sake, Dorian, can you pick a line? One minute, you’re shitting on me about not keeping my eye on the ball; the next, you’re telling me to get a life.”

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