Page 28 of Love, Rekindled

“And for charming demons,” he added. Siros had been bewitched.

“But I have no talent for sharing my feelings.”

Azrael resisted the urge to tease her. They were the same. Although she’d been with a clan, she was a loner by nature. It meant that neither of them was a lovey-dovey vampire. They knew how to hunt, kill, and escape. They would never spend their nights curled up on a couch, reciting poetry to each other.

And he was okay with that.

“If you find words difficult, I’m not opposed to you demonstrating your emotions in other ways,” he offered, his voice low and husky.

She sent him a wry smile. “So generous.”

“True,” he agreed. “I’m renowned for my generosity.”

A silence descended as they approached a towering rock formation directly in front of them. The ridge that led to the cave was just on the other side.

“I didn’t want you to die,” Jayla abruptly confessed.

If Azrael had a heart that beat, it would have stopped at her words. The words he’d waited seven hundred years to hear. Still, he ached for more.

“Because?”

“Because it destroyed a part of me.”

“There. That wasn’t so hard, was it?” he teased.

“I’d rather face the dragon,” she groused, climbing over the jagged rock with graceful ease.

Azrael quickly followed behind her, grimacing at the shocking heat that smacked him directly in the face.

“You’re about to get your opportunity,” he said, a shudder racing through him.

He hadn’t forgotten the sensation of being this close to a dragon, but he’d told himself that his memory was an exaggeration. After all, nothing like a near-death experience got the adrenaline pumping. Even for a vampire.

Beside him, Jayla held out her hand as if astonished by the thick air that pulsed against them. “It feels like we’ve entered the netherworld.”

Azrael nodded toward the nearby cave. “It only gets worse.”

Coming to an abrupt halt, Jayla turned to face him. “You stay here.”

Before he realized what he intended to do, Azrael reached out to grasp her arm. “Jayla.”

She sent him a puzzled frown. “I’ll return before you know it. Literally.”

He tightened his grip, unwilling to let her go. “Not yet.”

“The longer we wait, the more danger to both of us.”

She was right. They were close enough that the dragon would sense them if she woke. So why wasn’t he urging her to hurry and retrieve his sword?

Because he was suddenly terrified, he realized with a jolt of surprise. It was easy to concoct the daring plan when he was tucked in his bed, recovering from his injuries. He’d get Jayla up the mountain, and she could stop time and retrieve the sword. In and out. No fuss, no muss, right? Now, standing on the ridge with the savage power threatening to crush them, he couldn’t release his hold on her.

The thought of allowing her to waltz into the den of a dragon…no, not just a dragon, a female dragon protecting her egg…twisted his gut into a knot of sheer terror.

“Are you certain your power will work on a dragon?” he demanded.

She arched her brows as if caught off guard by the question. “There’s only one way to find out.”

“No.” Still holding her arm, he pulled her back toward the rock that blocked the path. “I should never have asked you to come here.”

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