Page 28 of Ancient Promises

She inhaled and exhaled a few times, rolling her neck and trying to calm her flying pulse.

It was then that she realized she was alone.

She looked to the side where Eivross had lain next to her, a comforting arm around her shoulder, but he was gone.

Touching the space, she found it cold, and her beasts let out a worried sound.

“Eivross?” she called.

Something in the pit of her stomach told her that it was foolish to call for him, because she’d expected this…expected him to leave. That’s what people did.

Even though she’d known they had lots to talk about, she’d still fallen asleep with the foolish hope that he’d be there when she woke.

Muttering under her breath, she grabbed her clothes and dressed, then turned on the bedroom light. She searched for a note from him, even though she was certain she wouldn’t find one.

He’d gotten what he wanted from her and taken off, just like she’d expected. Was this a worse hell than what had been before, when he hadn’t spoken a word to her, just been an annoying presence in the bookstore, guarding but never speaking?

Yes. Yes, it was worse. By leaps and bounds because she’d started to fall for him while they’d been in the throes of passion.

There was no note, and her phone didn’t reveal any texts or calls.

He’d simply left her in the middle of the night.

Stalking out to the front room, she checked everywhere just to be sure, because her foolish heart wouldn’t allow her to simply assume he hadn’t left her a note. He hadn’t even used her eyeliner to scrawl a note on the mirror.

Her eyes stung with tears but she refused to cry, and not just because it would be admitting that he’d fooled her. She’d been so overwhelmed when he’d come to her bedroom hours earlier, and she’d wanted him so much.

Who was she kidding? She’d never have been able to turn him down, no matter how much time she’d had to think. Her beasts craved the attention of their mate, and the part of her that kneweveryone left, wasn’t yelling as loud as the part of her that wanted to know what it was like to love her truemate, and to be loved back.

Sighing, she sat on the couch.

“What’s wrong, babe?” Arely asked, her voice low.

“I…” Diem started to say what had happened, but grief rose up inside her and she just started to cry.

Arely sat on the couch and put her arm around Diem. “I got home late from the bar and I knew there was a male here, but I didn’t hear you talking, so I figured you were asleep. What happened?”

“I don’t know. He’s gone.”

“Shit. Did he leave a note?”

Diem shook her head.

“That asshole!”

She smiled, which only made more tears spill onto her cheeks.

They were both quiet, Arely’s comforting arm around Diem, both of their beasts growling unhappily.

The silence was shattered by a roar.

Diem straightened and went to the window, peering up into the dark sky. She couldn’t see anything, but she could hear an answering roar.

There were dragons in the sky. If one of them was Eivross, who were the others?

* * *

Eivross raced outside and looked into the sky. He didn’t see anything in the darkness, but he could hear the distant flapping of wings. A warning roar was emitted, followed by the sound of a blast of fire, a traditional notification from dragons.