Page 9 of Dark Dragon’s Wolf

He wished he’d succeeded in healing her, in bringing out her dragon. So she’d be safe, and protected, and able to do anything she wanted.

He wanted to give her back the stars, and her ability to fly.

She reached up and touched his face, running her fingers lightly down his temple, his cheek.

He saw a flash of light, and with breathtaking suddenness he was somewhere else.

A cave. Dark and shadowy, so he could hardly see even with his wolf vision. And then something moved, and there were twin green lanterns hanging in the air not ten feet away from him.

No, not lanterns.

Eyes.

Bright green eyes with slits for pupils. Dragon eyes.

They stared at each other.

He knew immediately what—who—it was.

Mayah’s dragon. He just didn’t know where or how.

All this time, him tracking neural pathways in her brain, Brock Reilly trying to talk to her dragon, coax it out, and nothing.

Now, just like that, Tristan was inside her head. Or somewhere. The place where the dragon lived.

Cautiously, he glanced around. He didn’t know much about dragons, but he knew you didn’t come into their lairs uninvited. That led to flames and probable death.

She might not be able to hurt him here. But he didn’t want to bank on it.

And he couldn’t waste this opportunity to talk to the dragon directly. Ask her to come out, or find out why she wouldn’t.

He could see the cave mouth—a slightly lighter patch. With bars on it, he realized. Like a cage door. Was she locked in? And what were the dark, shadowy shapes piled around the edges of the cave?

Not a hoard. There was no gleam of gold or jewels, just lumpy dark forms that seemed to move in the periphery of his vision, but stilled when he looked directly at them.

Like that wasn’t creepy at all.

“Um, hello?” he said.

He heard the answering voice in his mind rather than with his ears.

Mayah’s wolf? What the hell did that mean?

“I don’t know,” Tristan said. “I just ended up here.”

“Neither do you.” Crap. That just slipped out. But the dragon didn’t seem offended.

Okay. It seemed she felt at home here. “Um, so that cage door is locked from the inside?”

The eyes blinked slowly. He could feel her hesitation.

“Yeah, but Mayah’s out there,” Tristan said. “She’s not safe. Not without you.” Dragons liked flattery. Whether they liked logic was something else again, but he decided to try. “And if something happens to Mayah, you won’t exist either.”