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My knees buckled, but Elijah held fast to me.
“It’s all right,” he reassured me, but the fire in his eyes told me that things were definitely not all right.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, shaking my head.
“Don’t be,” my mate told me firmly, drawing me closer. “We know now that Orson can’t be sensible. War is the only solution.”
I pulled out of his arms and gaped at him.
“War?” I echoed. “How? You—I mean, there’s four of you, Elijah!”
His eyes narrowed. “So what?”
I inhaled and stopped myself from rousing his anger any more than it already was. His emotions were running hot, and telling him that he was outnumbered was not the right play.
“Why don’t you arrange a meeting with him—” I started to suggest.
“The way he did?!” Elijah hissed. “I had no intention of attacking or even blindsiding him. He’s the one who went on the offensive!”
Biting on my lower lip, I saw that I wasn’t going to get through to him, not when he was like this.
“Please,” I begged. “Don’t do anything rash, at least not until I get back.”
Elijah’s bare, muscled arms fell to the side, gleaming almond in the pale moonlight. For the first time, I realized he was shirtless, his button-fly jeans undone to show off his fit waistline.
“Where are you going? If he came for me, he might come for you, too.”
I shook my head. “He would have done that if that’s what his intentions were,” I exhaled. “Are you sure it was Orson who sent them?”
It was difficult for me to reconcile that he would be so reckless, but if Elijah had been right all along, and Orson had plotted to overtake his territory, it did make perfect sense.
“You should stay here with me, where it’s safe.”
I stepped back and shook my tangled waves, running a hand through them nervously.
“I will be back,” I promised him. “But you have to swear you won’t stage an attack.”
“I can’t promise you that,” he growled.
“Elijah,” I begged. “I’m only asking for a few hours before this gets way out of hand for everyone. Please, let me try.”
His jaw twitched as he ground his teeth.
“Fine,” he spat. “But if he comes at me again, all bets are off.”
I nodded, gulping back the stone of apprehension in my throat.
“Okay,” I agreed, praying silently that Orson wouldn’t be so careless twice in one evening. I had to find him and make him see that.
“Draven, go with her,” Elijah said, turning to the stone-faced dragon shifter.
Draven. That was his name.
“No,” I said sharply as Draven stepped forward. “I don’t need him—or anyone else with me.”
The dragon shifter eyed Elijah, but when my mate glanced back at me, he read the stubbornness there.
“I need to do this alone, Elijah. If he comes, it’ll only cause more friction.”
