The Dragon Legion Collection(53)

“Would you say that to another Pyr who saved you from danger?”

Damien was visibly startled. “Of course not, but they’re not women...”

“And they’re not Earthdaughters,” Petra replied, interrupting an argument that wouldn’t do anything to improve her mood. “We had an opportunity to work together, Damien, to create something wonderful, but you were too afraid to take a chance.”

“It’s not the same. A Pyr must defend his mate, as the most precious jewel in his hoard...”

As much as Petra liked his choice of language, she had to get to the bottom of this. “And if she has the ability to defend him, she should let him die?”

He was apparently so startled by this idea that he didn’t know what to say.

“Your powers have abandoned you in this realm,” Petra reminded him. “Your ability to influence me will fade. When your blood dries, we will lose the ability to communicate, and you may lose your chance to leave this place. If you let any substance cross your lips, you will be trapped here forever.”

“Stories,” Damien said, glancing about himself with obvious concern.

“They carry the grain of truth. Your skin is changing color. You are fading.”

Damien scanned himself in alarm.

“Damien, we have a chance to change the future. We always did have that chance, but your darkfire is making it possible again. The key lies in trust.”

Damien nodded and she loved how he listened to her. “You believed in the firestorm’s promise, right from the beginning.”

“I was waiting for a man like you.” Petra smiled. “The Pyr aren’t the only ones with prophecies, you know.”

“The firestorm is just about creating more Pyr...”

“Then why did you stay three months?”

Damien exhaled. “I didn’t intend to,” he admitted, his eyes lighting. “But you were unlike any woman I’d ever known.”

“And now you know why.” He parted his lips to ask for more but Petra held up a finger in warning. It was time for him to choose. “We need to find our way out of here, but I need to know that you will try again.”

“How?”

“What I want is partnership with you, otherwise my son stays here with me. Decide now.”



* * *



Damien considered Petra and weighed his options. What she was suggesting was much like the relationships the Pyr in the future formed with their mates. He thought of their conviction that the whole was greater than the sum of the parts. He remembered their certainty that a Pyr couldn’t really be complete without his mate by his side.

He thought of how they healed their scales—and why they lost a scale in the first place.

Being with Petra reminded him how powerful their time together had been—and made Damien realize he’d missed her.

Maybe his relentless pursuit of women ever since had been an attempt to regain what he’d lost.

No wonder that was so dissatisfying. There was no one else like Petra.

Could he trust her, without knowing all of her abilities?

When he didn’t answer her immediately, she began to turn away, her disappointment clear. He didn’t blame her, but he didn’t want her to go either.

“Is it too late to ask what you can do?” he asked, halfway expecting her to ignore him.

But Petra never was vengeful, no matter how angry she was. She paused and glanced back at him, a tantalizing smile curving her lips. “It’s never too late to ask,” she whispered. The look in her eyes pierced Damien’s heart like an arrow, and he took a step closer without even realizing what he’d done. “It’s never too late to forgive, and it’s never too late to try again.”

Damien smiled. “That sounds like part of a story.”

Petra smiled and the sight of her pleasure made him realize everything he’d risked and lost.

“Then, show me,” he said, knowing he’d beg if he had to. “Please.”

“You mean it,” she said, with undisguised delight.

Damien nodded and Petra immediately tipped her head back.

She was beautiful, so strong and feminine. It made sense for her to use her powers to defend him, just as he used his to defend her. It was different from his expectations, but was logical when he considered it.

Did they have more in common than he’d imagined? Was that why she captivated him so thoroughly?

It was an enticing possibility. Damien knew that no woman had ever challenged him as much as Petra—and none had ever satisfied him so well either.

As he watched, a rosy glow rolled over Petra’s body, like the sunrise touching the lip of the earth, and his heart skipped. Her body looked firmer and more solid, and her movements became impossibly slow. She breathed only once for each dozen breaths he took and he could almost have believed that she’d turned to stone. Her eyes opened slowly, their brown color replaced by the simmering orange of a volcano’s heat, and the glow around her body brightened. She looked so fearsome and powerful that Damien fought the urge to take a step back.

It was when the snakes began to erupt from beneath her feet that he remembered he’d lost his ability to become a dragon.


He was powerless in a strange realm and he knew it.

But Damien was resolute. There could be no greater test of his trust in Petra, and he was determined not to sacrifice the firestorm’s promise again.