Page 67 of Twilight of Embers
Cáel let out a grunt that I knew was his version of a laugh.
“That was playing with fire,” Maddox accused. “She doesn’t know what she’s getting into. It isn’t fair.”
Fire was exactly the right word. My Little Flame had burned me in a way that would leave permanent scars. And I loved every second of it.
“Whether she knows it or not, the truth remains the same,” I growled. Hayden was ours. She was a dragon. It didn’t matter that she was unaware. She felt the same pull that we all did.
It killed me that it confused her. I could see the guilt playing across her face as her body responded to mine. She felt like she was betraying Knox, even though there’d been no promises made there.
Hayden’s heart was all goodness, loyalty, and kindness. She was exactly the kind of mate I’d dreamed of but never thought I would find.
“We need to tell her. Soon. This is too hard on her.”
Maddox’s eyes flashed gold. “Too hard on her or too hard on you?”
I shoved him back, sending him falling onto the leather couch. “You didn’t see her. She’s feeling incredibly guilty for being pulled toward all of us. It’s tearing her up inside.”
Cáel stiffened at that. “She’s hurting?”
I glanced at him. “Yes. She’s all goodness and light. She doesn’t understand that what she’s feeling is perfectly normal.”
“We need to tell her. Now,” Cáel demanded.
He wouldn’t be able to handle Hayden in any sort of pain, physical or emotional. He’d do whatever it took to stop it.
“Both of you need to get a grip. What do you think is going to happen when we tell her? She’s going to freak and run to the cops,” Maddox snarled.
Cáel shook his head roughly. “She wouldn’t.”
Maddox glared at him. “You’ve known her for two-point-five seconds. You have no idea what she’ll do. We need time to get her to trust us. Then we tell her.”
Cáel bared his teeth at Maddox. “I know Hayden. She’s my mate. She trusts me.”
Maddox let out a huff as if to say, idiot.
“Once one of us shifts for her, she’ll believe. And once Easton has skin-to-skin contact with her, her own path to transformation will begin,” I said, trying to bring some control back to my voice.
When a dragon shifter was traumatized at a young age, it could take the presence of his or her bond to bring out their dragon. Sometimes, there was too much damage for the dragon to emerge, but I knew Hayden was stronger than that. Her dragon, too.
Maddox’s jaw worked back and forth. “And are you going to force Easton to do that, Alpha?”
A growl gathered in my throat. “You know I’m not that kind of leader.” I’d never force a member of my horde to do something that went against their wishes.
“Well, he’s not going to do it of his own free will,” Maddox snapped.
I wasn’t so sure. As much as Easton wanted to keep his distance from Hayden, I saw those walls starting to crumble. He wasn’t immune to her effect.
“We need to give her the choice,” Cáel said quietly. “And that means telling her everything. I don’t feel right about hiding all of this from her.”
My gut churned at that. He was right. The longer the secrets remained, the more betrayed Hayden would feel when we finally told her. We needed to find a way to tell her the truth, soon.
“You’re both idiots,” Maddox grumbled.
But I wondered just how much of this was Maddox’s fear of exposure and how much of it was his fear of breaking. Once Hayden knew the truth, he’d have one less wall between them. It would only be his position with the university holding him back from her. And I didn’t think Maddox was ready to let himself fall.
My phone buzzed in my back pocket, and I pulled it out. The name James flashed across the screen, and a lead weight settled in my gut. I tapped the screen. “What?”
“We have a problem, Alpha.”
