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PROLOGUE

EZRA — END OF FREEING NALA

My dragon won’t lie down tonight. He paces under my skin and shoves me toward the window, then the door. He’s worked up and isn’t telling me why, even though he always knows before I do. I’ve tangled my blankets around my legs and stared at the ceiling long enough to give up on sleep.

I kick free and swing my feet to the floor. I might as well walk. The Academy halls are empty this late with most students tucked away in their dorms. Maybe the quiet will calm him down.

I pad barefoot through the dark corridor with him rumbling at every step. I pass the astronomy tower where my father teaches and the cafeteria that still smells like dinner. I’m almost to the library when I catch it—wild berries.

It’s Aya, and my knees nearly buckle. Her scent runs deeper and muskier tonight with her wolf close to the surface. My dragon surges. I have to brace a hand against the wall to stay upright. I feel the certainty in him, plain as day. She knows. She feels us.

I round the corner as Aya comes out of the library with a thick book clutched to her chest. Confusion muddies her scent. She’s walking fast and a little off balance with her eyes unfocused. She hurries past without even seeing me.

I’ve waited years for tonight. I can’t get my hands to quit shaking. Every time I watched her across a crowded room, the mate bond ate at me while she felt nothing at all. My father always told me her wolf would mature one day and recognize what my dragon has known since we were young.

I fall into step behind her without trying to hide. She stiffens when she catches my scent. “Aya,” I call after her.

“Not now, Ezra.” She’s breathing hard and won’t turn around. “Leave me alone.”

Like hell I’m leaving her alone. I want to close the distance and claim what has always been mine. I pick up my pace to match hers.

“What’s wrong?” I ask, though I already know the answer. “You seem… unsettled.”

She walks faster. “I don’t feel well. I need to get to my dorm.”

“Aya, wait.” I go after her. “Stop and talk to me.”

“No.” Her scent sours with panic. “Just leave me alone, Ezra. Please.”

Her please nearly guts me. My mate is running away, and my dragon absolutely will not allow it. Grabbing her is a bad move and I know it, but I grip her arm and haul her toward the janitor’s closet up ahead.

“Ezra!” She stumbles after me and almost drops her book. “What the hell are you doing?”

I yank her inside and kick the door closed. A mop handle bumps my shoulder in the pitch black. I can’t smell the bleach or the dust over her. Her silver eyes glow up at me, wide with shock and want.

“What the hell is your problem?” She shoves at my chest, but I don’t budge. “I just told you I’m not in the mood today.”

She tries to get around me to the door. I step into her path and cage her against the wall with my arms. Her back thumps the concrete. Her book hits the floor at our feet.

My dragon damn near purrs at her soft puppy whimper.

I smirk when she bares her canines and growls at me. She has no clue it only makes us want her more.

“Do you have any idea,” I ask her, “how long I’ve been waiting for you to feel the mate bond, Aya?”

She freezes as I crowd closer. “How agonizing it’s been for me,” I continue, “feeling it so young. Knowing you were mine while you looked right through me.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I smell the lie on her and her arousal under it.

“Oh, but I know. My dragon knows.” I lower my nose to her neck and breathe her in. Her pulse jumps. This close, her scent is thick with her wolf’s musk. “Your wolf knows me. She wants me.”

“No…” Her voice cracks on the word.

I lean in until I feel the heat coming off her skin and my mouth is almost on hers. “I’m going to kiss you,” I tell her. “You better slap my face off if you want to stop me.”

Aya swallows. “No.”

But she doesn’t lift a hand to push me away or try to slip past. She stands there trembling. Her breath comes fast and warm against my lips. I smell her giving in.