Page 102 of Awakened Ash and Alchemy

And the dragon inside him roared.

The staves on his armor flared and rippled in bold oranges and reds, blazing against his black leather, ready to kill.

Every soldier stopped mid-strike and dropped their eyes to the floor as the flames danced across the surface of his armor. Red sparks floated into the air like embers, as a primal power rolled off him in waves, in a warning that rippled like a territorial menace through the room.

Mine. The word clawed at his throat, forcing him to clench his jaw tight to not say it.

All because she was livid and the dragon wanted to defend her—even though he had no idea why she was so angry.

Helviti.

Was he about to get his face slapped again? The last time she’d let her temper loose, he’d deserved it.

This time?

Yeah. He probably did, too.

Which meant… She knows.

“Go,” Martar said quietly. “I’ll take over.”

Ice curled from Martar’s fingers in thin, waif-like wisps, ready to douse the flames if Zarek lost control. They’d been paired for centuries for exactly this reason.

“Quick,” Martar added, “before you do something you’ll regret.”

Zarek stormed toward the main doors where Angela waited, her mismatched eyes locked on his.

“Okay, ingrates, back to it!” Martar barked out to the soldiers, and the doors slammed shut.

Zarek met Angela in the corridor. “You shouldn’t be here.”

She crossed her arms, radiating fury. “I needed answers. And you said I could seek you out at any time.” Her bitter voice dropped. “Or is that a lie, too?”

“I said that.” He sighed, resigned to the internal anguish that this cursed Claiming kept dragging him through. “But I was going to see you later.”

“What for?” The anger simmered along the edge of her words.

If only he could be so lucky that her logic would temper the rage.

“Through here.” He guided her down the corridor to a small library and closed the door behind them. “Please. Take a seat.”

She did, which surprised him. Angela was a free spirit who did what she wanted and said what she thought. He hadn’t met anyone like her.

He took a deep breath. Alone with her; the staves had stopped glowing on his uniform, even though he still had to squeeze his fists to contain the power of that inner dragon. “We may have a solution to your nightmares that will help us find out what power you have.”

“Oh. Right.” She sighed heavily with disappointment. “The need to search and control my power, right?” In jerky irritated moves, she swung one leg over the other and briskly brushed some dried grass off her gown’s long skirt. “Go on.”

“It may be a way to rid yourself of the nightmares. To sleep in peace.”

“Sleep is good.”

Although sex would be better.

He didn’t hear the thought—he’d never been able to read her mind—but he felt it. The heat. The want.

The question though, was it him, her, or the Claiming misreading her anger?

“How do they do this?” she asked.