A dragon.
A fuckingwhite, enormous dragon coils above us, casting a shadow so massive it swallows the alley whole.
I stop breathing.
Just for a second.
Then it roars—a sound so loud it shakes the street—and a scream tears from my throat. I stumble, nearly faceplant, but catch myself and bolt.
No. No. No. NO.
This can’t be happening.
I think I’m going to faint.
I’ve never run so fast in my life, but I don’t feel my legs. I just keep going, tearing through the street, desperate to get anywhere—anywherethat doesn’t have dragons and glowing haunted bodies.
I don’t stop to figure out if it’s my sickness or real—it lookedtoodamn real to me, and I’m not doing this shit.
I keep running, glancing back every few steps just to make sure that beast staysfarbehind.
But when I finally look again—it’s gone.
I can’t see it anymore.
Only then, when I’m far enough, do I stop in my tracks to catch my breath.
Only to lose it again a second later…
…as everything goes black.
Malec
“How the hell did you let this happen?”
My voice cracks through the alley like a thunderclap, and Onyx flinches, shrinking into Bay’s arms.
“It’s not her fault. She can’t control Morvakar yet,” Bay says, stepping between us. But I don’t care who’s in front of me. The rage is already clawing up my spine, hot and visible now, dancing under my skin in glowing pulses.
My glare snaps to my aunt. “And you just unleashed Myko right in front of her?”
Her jaw tightens. “I don’t control him too sometimes—”
“I don’t fucking care.”
My voice growls out from a place deeper than fury. “The men scoured every corner, and she’s gone. We have nothing. And she’sgone.”
I drag in a breath. Another. It’s no use. Bay’s glow surges now, and it forces me to stumble back as Myko rises above us, towering like judgment itself.
I brace for more bullshit—some stupid lecture about my tone with my aunt—but his tail coils around me instead, lifting me just slightly off the ground. I don’t fight him.
The glow fades into his scales, and I lean into the curve of his body, eyes locked on Bay and Onyx in his hold—rage still burning behind mine, but caged for now.
“Thanks,”I mutter, jaw tight.“I’ve got better control now, though.”
“Not when you hear the rest,”Myko says quietly.“They lost Novax, too.”
I snap upright. “What?”
