Page 29 of Waking Her Dragon

Then, the chain rattled. A horrific, grating sound of metal against stone.

Garrett moved. It was an agonizingly slow, excruciatingly painful tilt of his head. He dragged his chin up off his chest, and his eyes– once a brilliant, striking silver, now bloodshot, clouded with agony, and completely unfocused– blinked through the heavy mist.

He searched the darkness. And then… his gaze found hers.

The entire universe ground to a halt. No villainous laughter, no sudden attacks, no cosmic prophecies. Only a broken man and a shattered woman looking at one another across a blood-soaked cavern floor.

“Garrett,” Sydney whispered.

At the sound of her voice, she felt his soul violently react. Garrett's pure White Dragon Magic flared, giving one single, desperate, weak pulse. The Mating Bond, starved and suppressed for so long, slammed violently through both of them like an electric current.

From deep within Garrett's fractured consciousness, Syd heard King Aodhan give a fierce, echoing roar. Kara answered instantly, her presence flaring bright. King recognized Queen. The ancient souls knew exactly who stood before them.

Sadly, Garrett didn’t.

His heavy brow furrowed. His unfocused lavender eyes drifted over her face. Her skin warmed everywhere he visually touched. As he studied the curve of her jaw, she felt a brush of the back of his hand. When he looked at the blond hair falling over her shoulders, it was as if his fingers were softly winding the curls around his fingers. But there was no recognition. He looked at her as if she were a beautiful ghost he couldn't quite place.

The realization hit Sydney before he even parted his cracked, bleeding lips. Her stomach dropped into a bottomless pit. “He doesn't remember me.”

The physical torture Leviathan had inflicted was monstrous, but this? It hurt worse than any blade or dark spell she had ever encountered. It was a clean, agonizing slice right through her heart.

Garrett’s jaw worked, his throat swallowing hard before he finally managed to rasp out a single syllable. “Sydney.”

Her breath caught in her throat. He didn't remember her face. He didn't remember their Bond, but he knew her name. The Magic of his soul had saved that much.

Wiping a tear from her cheek, she took a frantic step forward. “Garrett, I’m here. We’re going to…”

“No!” Garrett suddenly gasped, his voice cracking with a raw, unexpected panic that made the chains rattle violently.

Sydney froze mid-stride, her hands hovering in the air. “Garrett…?”

“You have to go,” he wheezed, his lavender eyes wide with terrifying clarity as he tried to pull against the chains, ignoring the way his dislocated shoulder groaned. “Get out of here. You have to leave. Now.”

Sydney stood completely still as the weight of his words wrecked her, shattering whatever pieces of her heart were left.

Her man was broken. He was chained, bleeding, and entirely tortured. He couldn't even remember who she was to him. Yet, faced with her presence in this nightmare realm, his very first instinct wasn't to beg for rescue or ask for help.

His very first instinct was to protect her from the trap.

Ignoring his panic, Sydney took another determined step across the blood-stained rock.

“I told you to run,” Garrett wheezed, his lavender eyes flashing with a desperate, fractured authority.

Stopping dead in her tracks, Syd’s mouth dropped open as a memory from weeks ago slammed into her mind. “That was you?” The phantom command that had echoed in her head during her darkest hour… The one she hadn't been sure had come from a broken bond or a dying mind… had been his.

Garrett blinked, looking thoroughly confused by her reaction. He swallowed hard, his raspy voice dropping an octave. “You didn't listen.”

“You're gonna learn something about me real fast, Dragon Man,” Sydney said, a watery, fiercely protective smile breaking through her tears. “I'm a terrible listener.”

Deep within his chest, Aodhan let out a low, appreciative rumble.

“I like him,” Kara chimed in, her magnificent presence finally warming.

“Not now,” Sydney shot back.

Closing the distance until she was standing directly in front of him, she was close enough to feel the feverish heat radiating from his broken body. Slowly, she reached her hand toward his face, intending to brush a blood-matted dark curl from his forehead.

Garrett flinched.