I know it the moment the words leave my mouth.
I don’t take them back, though.
But I bite my tongue and hold my ground.
He was the one who drew a firm line between us the other night when he chose not to sleep at all rather than to share the furs with me.
I’m just solidifying the boundaries.
The door between us is slammed shut tight. Locked and bolted.
I can see him searching for the right words to say. I beat him to it. “We should go our separate ways. You’re a distraction for me. I don’t need a distraction. I’m going to track the dragon to her den by myself.”
Jax eyes me for a heartbeat. Then he shakes his head and says, “Fine.”
A muscle in his jaw ticks.
“Do it your way,General.”
Him addressing me with the cold, controlled “General” lands hard.
I don’t show it, though.
Instead, I whirl on my heel and head the direction where the dragon flew.
Just as I reach the edge of the forest, my steps halt. I don’t glance back, but I know Jax is still standing there, watching me.
For a second, I almost turn back.
Almost say, “I’m sorry.”
But in the end, I don’t.
I keep walking.
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
PHOENIX
Imarch through the forest without looking back.
Anger keeps me warm. It burns hot and bright in my chest, a living thing with claws and teeth. It feeds on humiliation and shame, the image of the dragon flying away from me without so much as a second glance.
My boots crush fallen leaves and twigs beneath me as I storm deeper between the trees, following the direction she took.
I move fast. Too fast, driven less by reason than by the need to put as much distance between me and the rejection at the feeding grounds as possible.
She didn’t choose me.
I grit my teeth and shove that thought aside. Just because she flew away doesn’t mean she rejected me. She didn’t, not truly. I approached her in the feeding grounds, like a fool.
Elder Arcon warned me not to. The trackers warned me. I knew the protocol, and yet…
I made a mistake. That’s all.
Mistakes can be corrected. It’s not too late.
The forest thickens around me, dense and old. The deeper I get, the quieter it becomes. Birdsong fades. Wind no longer stirs the branches overhead. Even the insects retreat into silence.
