I was falling for her.

No. Furious at myself now, I leaned my head back, closing my eyes.

This couldn’t happen. I was a soldier. I could not let this become personal. Emotions could not ever be a part of the mission. they complicated things, screwed up priorities. If Ember was a human, I’d vanish from her life without a trace, leaving whatever feelings she might have for me broken and shattered in the dust. But if she was our target…I opened my eyes, just in time to see the stranger slip his hand into her pocket. My trained eye caught the brief flash of paper, tiny as it was, and the urge to leap up and smash his head through the window was almost overwhelming.

Pushing myself from the wall, I fled outside.

Ember

“Garret!”

Shoving my way through crowds of people, I followed him through the living room, across the foyer, and out the front door “Garret, wait!”

The party had spilled outside. Groups of people clustered together on the steps and the long, sandy driveway, milling around and talking. Several boys hung around a pickup with an open cooler on the tailgate, drinking from cans and bottles. My dragon growled a warning as I passed them, but I was too focused on reaching the retreating figure ahead and didn’t give them a second thought. Garret was leaving, and I had the sudden, panicked sense that if he got away this time, I’d never see him again.

“Hey! Dammit, Garret, hold up.”

He finally turned, and for a moment, his expression was tormented, like seeing me was more than he could bear. Only a moment, however, before a wall slammed down across his features, his eyes going empty and cold.

I faced that chilling look, stifling the growl that rose up within.

The dragon, baring her fangs in self-preservation. “Where are you going?” I demanded.

“It doesn’t matter.” Garret’s voice was flat, a far cry from the sweet, vulnerable human I had danced with just minutes ago. That icy tone cut into me, making me cringe and bristle all at once. “We’re done, Ember. Go back inside and forget about me. You won’t see me again.”

“Why?” I glared at him, torn between anger and desperation. “Just because I danced with Riley? He’s a friend, Garret. That’s all.” The dragon hissed at such an obvious lie, but I ignored her. “Are you really that jealous?”

“Yes,” he answered, startling me. “And…that’s the problem. I shouldn’t care. This shouldn’t affect me at all…but it does. You affect me.” His metallic, gunmetal eyes narrowed slightly in my direction, accusing. Though I still caught a break in his mask, a tiny flicker of confusion and uncertainty, even as he turned away. “This is wrong,” he muttered, his voice almost too soft to hear. “I can’t do this. To either of us.”

If I hadn’t seen that brief flash of emotion, I probably wouldn’t have had the courage to do what I did next. But I took a deep breath, and stepped up to him, reaching out to take his hand. He flinched, but didn’t yank it back, his eyes flicking to my face.

“It scares me, too,” I admitted softly. “ When I’m with you, I can’t think of anything else, and sometimes I think it’s making me crazy.

I don’t know whether to keep going or run away as fast as I can.”

He didn’t respond, but I caught something in his expression that hinted that he was feeling the same. “So, yeah, I’m a little freaked out,” I went on, determined not to let him go now. “I have no idea what’s going to happen here. But being afraid is a piss-poor excuse not to do something, don’t you think?” I thought of Scary Talon Lady, of the organization, of my rapidly disappearing summer, and my resolve grew. “So, if you’re going to stand there and tell me we’re done, because Heaven forbid you actually feel something, then I’m afraid I’m going to have to call bullshit.”

He blinked, his blank mask cracking a little more, and I stepped closer, meeting his eyes. “Garret, if you really want to go, I’m not stopping you. But I thought you were braver then that. I thought someone who could surf giant waves and shoot zombies and kick the crap out of three brainless ogres wouldn’t be afraid that someone else…really liked that about him. And that he wouldn’t need to feel jealous or afraid, because she’s right here. She’s standing right in front of you.”

His gaze grew dark, smoldering. “Ember…”

“Well, look who it is.”

We turned, and my dragon instincts—the ones I should’ve listened to earlier—rose up with a snarl, bristling and ready for a fight. The boys clustered around the pickup had come forward, and Colin’s familiar, leering face was out in front. Behind him, I saw his two pals, Drew and Travis, but also another trio of drunk looking frat boys, all coming toward us with evil smirks. Six of them. All itching for trouble. The dragon growled, and I bit my lip to keep her in check.

“It’s the little slut and her boyfriend,” Colin went on, sneering at me and Garret. “Fancy running into you again. I still owe you one, bitch. But I’ll get to you after we take care of this tool here.” He leered at Garret, who faced the group calmly, his expression now blank.

Colin’s grin grew more taunting. “Where’s your friend now, punk?”

he asked sweetly. “Not here to rescue you this time? Hope he doesn’t mind if we beat your ass into the ground.”

“Coward,” I snarled at him. “Afraid to take him on alone? have to have your buddies back you up for everything?”

He shot me an evil look. “You got a big mouth, little bitch. I hope there’s enough to go around.”

“Touch my sister, and I’ll kill you all,” said a voice behind them.

Colin jerked as Dante stepped out from a different cluster of people, his eyes hard as he came to stand beside me. “Oh, hey, there’s two of them,” Colin sneered. “I thought I was seeing double.”

Smirking, he swaggered forward. Dante stood his ground, as did Garret, moving me behind him even as my dragon snarled in protest, wanting to fight. “Why don’t you step away now, pretty boy?”

the big human told my brother, whose jaw tightened dangerously.

“Or you can stay and get your head stomped in, I don’t really care.

Two on six doesn’t look too good for you, does it?”

“God, do they ever stop talking?” came yet another voice from behind Colin. He whirled to face Riley, who gave him a lazy grin.