Page 90 of Dragon Unleashed

“Paige,” Aries calls, but I don’t answer him.

Inside me, everything quakes and builds until I can’t contain my rage and fear and frustration any longer. The only father I’ve ever known sacrificed himself to save me. Hoc is gone—and with him, all of the secrets he’s kept from me about what I really am.

Unable to contain it any longer, I throw my head back and scream. The shelves around me begin to tremble. Deep in the stacks, thunder booms, and something moans. I ignore it all for the emotion churning inside me like a cyclone.

Aries kneels in front of me, and when my eyes find his, the scream dies in my throat. My chest aches as if the center has been hollowed out.

“Paige, you have to calm down.”

I don’t know what he means. I’ve stopped screaming. Then I realize tears are falling in tracks down my cheeks. But I can’t stop those. “He’s gone.”

“Paige,” Aries roars.

“I can’t—” I close my eyes and take a deep breath, the humming in my ears so damned loud I can hear nothing else.

Something new surges inside of me.

Something that is equal parts terrifying and fascinating.

This is not grief or rage. This is something else entirely.

I shut my eyes, trying like hell to keep my grip on reality while whatever has just woken inside me does its best to convince me to let go.

“Paige,” Aries says my name again, and I grasp onto his voice like a lifeline pulling me back to shore.

Slow to the point of pain, I feel myself coming back to the world.

When I open my eyes again, the library is quiet. It’s also half-destroyed. Bookshelves lay overturned like dominos. From where I stand in the center, I can now see all the way to the far wall in either direction. Books lay strewn on the ground, and, for a moment, I panic, but none of them shake or shudder with the threat of coming open.

They’re still. Too damn still if you ask me. But for now, I’ll take it. The destruction terrifies me, but I can’t find my voice around the emptiness I feel.

There’s a noise behind me, and I whirl, instantly alert.

“Easy,” Aries says quietly.

Blossom and Mag stand there, chests heaving with heavy breaths. Their weapons hang limp at their sides—bloodied from battle. But they both look unharmed. They stare at me like they’ve never seen me before. I want to ask them what the hell has shocked them so badly, but I can’t find words.

Eventually, Aries comes around to stand in front of me. He cups my tear-stained cheeks with his roughened hands. “Say something,” he pleads.

He looks more worried than I’ve ever seen. But all I can think about is how Hoc gave himself up for me. Despite the lies. And despite the fight we just had moments ago. He sacrificed himself so that monster couldn’t have me.

My wrist burns, and I hiss through clenched teeth as I turn over my arm and note the tattoo that just appeared.

A mark appears that differs from the one Mag and Blossom carry, and it can only mean one thing. The library has lost its head librarian. And in the absence of a sacred protector, it has chosen another.

Me.

Which means I can never leave.

“Paige, please say something,” Aries repeats.

So, I do. My heart shatters as I look up at the man I would have walked away from my destiny for. And now, I never can. “He’s gone,” I choke out. “Hoc is gone. Forever. I belong to this place now.”