Page 91 of Feathers and Scales

His heart skipped against his chest. There was no way she believed that. He crossed the room with fast strides and angled her head up with a finger under her chin until the sincerity in her eyes crushed him. He may have fought his dragon about how he felt about her, but the truth was—he still wanted her, and he always would. But he didn’t know if he could take another ride on her rollercoaster, especially if the link was already gone between them.

Spirit energy hummed in his mind as if knocking against his thoughts. The energy that carried Izzy’s signature had always been there, but the link lay buried. When she saved him, he’d felt its presence. And the answer to fixing it lay in the guardedness reflected in the way she stood stock still. He’d have to push through that wall if theywere to make it. And after the spark of passion she set between them, Daxton had to try.

“I’m not the answer to your feeling lost,” he said.

She stepped back from him. “What do you mean?”

“You’re not letting go.”

“Go of what?”

“It’s whom you need to let go of.”

Her face paled before flashing red. “You think I haven’t grieved Fotios? That’s preposterous. I laid that man to rest.”

“Have you, Izzy? You said you cried for him, but he showed up on your doorstep. He’s been with you every step of the way. Is that really letting him go?”

Recognition crossed her face, as if he wasn’t the first one to tell her so.

“Oh, please do tell me how I’m supposed to grieve him properly, Daxton.” She threw her hands up and paced away from him. “Especially now that he’s a walking corpse.”

“Tell me how seeing him again has made you feel.”

She stopped pacing. After one heated glance in his direction, she headed for the exit. Daxton slapped a hand on the door just as she opened it.

“Please,” he murmured into her ear, knowing her anger was the right step toward grieving.

Heat radiated from her skin as she breathed deeply. After a few tense seconds, her shoulders drooped. She walked away from him again. Daxton pressed his back against the door.

“Fotios always believed emotions clouded an analytical mind, but he was once so compassionate. The Fotios in Boston isn’t the same man I spent years with. We would talk through our problems. He would say that even if he held a Remnant of my energy, he cherished our time together. I tried to remember when he changed, and I thinkit was after I healed him in a camp of soldiers during the Persian wars. They held me captive and tortured me because of my abilities.”

The sad tale was a reminder of how long ago her history went.

“After Fotios rescued me, I think that’s when the dark changes started in him. His beliefs took on a new meaning. We were so distant from each other, distracted. He became obsessed with his work and turned into something dark. He lied to me when he said he’d quit his research. And now, he’s festered into this being I don’t recognize. I should have talked to him. What if I had helped him earlier? Would he have become an Archfiend?”

A tear escaped her lashes, squeezing his heart. He walked to her side and cradled her face to wipe the wetness from her cheek.

“You can’t change the past. But we can help free him from the evil he has become.”

She nodded, and a sob shook her body. Daxton wrapped her in his arms, and she fell into him.

A static charge waved between them. The link pushed free of the darkness until it bolstered into a strong energy band once more. Her anguish became his, ravaging his spirit, and he held onto her as she wept.

When he found his voice, he soothed her with words of reassurance and kisses to her forehead, temples, and wet eyelashes. After a while, her sobs subsided, and she slumped, her curves relaxing into him.

“How did you know?” she asked hoarsely.

“I didn’t, but I could feel that the link was buried. That you were holding yourself back from me.”

She stroked his beard and croaked, “I missed you.”

He sucked air into his burning lungs and bunched her hair into his hand. “I missed you, too.”

His heart ached and felt full at the same time. Staring into her gold eyes, he pulled her close until their lips merged. He musteredall his remaining energy and moved his lips in a lazy yet fevered way, mimicking the steady heat growing in his groin.

Her breasts pressed into his chest, and his hands slipped to the skin of her hips where her shirt rode up. He licked the seam of her lips, wanting to drown in the warm taste of her. She opened to him and coiled her fingers around his neck. She rocked against him, sending shocks up his shaft.

Need to move to the bed.