Page 131 of A Trial of War
“Skylar!” A voice detonated inside my void like a burst of mountain air mixed with fresh pine from the balcony of the Summit. I paused, holding my breath as my phoenix sang inside my center, the song carrying me back.
Hands cupped my face, cool and soothing against my fevered skin. Something tugged, no, demanded that I come back into this world. I tried to fight it, but another touch pressed against me, firm, grounding, and impossibly familiar.
“Spitfire… I’m here.”
The haze shredded, and my eyes snapped open.
“Daxton?” His name broke on a shattered breath.
No, this wasn’t real. Hedied. I felt the bond… No.
My eyes widened as I realized that I didn’t feel our bond break. I was too terrified to face that pain, so I shut off my emotions and buried myself in my animal.
“Spitfire,” he breathed, voice shaking as he grasped my chin and tilted my face up. Those silver eyes locked onto mine. “I’m here.”
My heart stopped.
“You’re…” The word crumbled in my throat, lost in the rising emotion threatening to tear me apart. “How? How are you—”
He bent, and his lips crashed into mine, not gentle or soft, but claiming, dragging me out of the abyss with a single, desperate plea. A kiss I thought I would never taste again.
The bond between us ignited, slamming into place with a force that rippled outward in a shockwave across the battle-ridden valley. When Daxton pulled back, our foreheads pressed together, and our breaths mingled in the shimmering heat around us.
“Your fires never harm me, my spitfire. They always part for me.” He smiled, the damn dimple on his cheek appearing as I collapsed into his arms.
I cried into his scorched shirt, trembling as I tried to catch my breath. I rose and captured his lips once more. The scent of a burning fire on the high snow-capped mountains surrounded us in a cloud of bliss. I kissed him like it was my last act in this life.
“I will always find you, Spitfire,” he whispered against my lips.
I trembled, holding him close as I whispered back, “We will always find each other,Daxton.”
Epilogue
Skylar Cathal
(Six Years Later)
The summer sun lingered high above the thick canopy of trees, its warmth a welcome contrast to the cool silver mist drifting from the falls. The spray danced in the rays of peaking sunlight, glittering like diamonds. It felt worlds away from the gentle breeze that swept along my open-sky green sand beach, where we had spent the morning tangled in silence and stories, savoring the quiet while it lasted.
Still, I couldn’t leave without coming here. Couldn’t bear the thought of leaving the mainland without stopping to say a quiet hello to the shifters who raised me as their own.
“Skylar? Skylar?” Daxton’s voice echoed across the rocks with a slight panic.
But I only leaned back and smiled, rolling out an ache along the base of my spine. It had been there for days, and rubbing against this pointed rock was the only thing that seemed to get rid of it.
“There you are,” he said as he came around the bend. “I don’t mean to rush you, Spitfire, but—”
I clicked my teeth and swatted a hand through the air. “I know, I know. I just needed a moment.”
Daxton’s eyes softened as he sat beside me, his fingers replacing the corner of the rock, rubbing the persisting ache.
“Oh, gods,” I moaned. “That… that feels amazing. Please, whatever you do, don’t stop.”
He chuckled.
“What?” I asked, tilting my head.
“I believe it was seductive sounds like that which got you into this predicament in the first place. Along with you wearing my shirt and nothing underneath when you visited me in the garden that evening ten months ago.”
