I knew it. I knew he’d tortured her, but to hear her say it, to hear Eliane sobbing with the memory of what must have been unimaginable pain….I couldn’t take hearing anymore. I’d been right outside her door, listening in. I don’t care if she doesn’t want me to hear. She’s my mate. I need to know what I can do to help her. But hearing that, hearing her break down, it nearly broke me. I raced outside, barely making it before my dragon ripped through me. I leaped into the air roaring my anger and frustration. Elio and Ajax are the first to join me, the other dragons joining close behind. “Please, I just want to be alone,” I tell them. It takes a moment, then they all fall away. All but one. I turn and look at my best friend. “Alone means by myself, Jax,” I tell him. “I know. I’m just f