Soul Bound

Chapter 48

A cool breeze hummed through the cove. A soft caress ran over Grayson's shoulder-

He woke up in a flash, sitting upright and brandishing his dagger. With one quick sweep of his surroundings, he quickly realised there was no one around him. The tent flap had woken him up. He sucked in a deep breath, steadying his racing heart, before he woke Eva up...

He peered inside the tent, at the suspicious human-sized lump on Eva's bedroll. At first glance, anyone would have mistaken it as Eva sleeping, but Grayson knew for a fact she had way too much hair to not have at least a slither of it out in the pale moonlight. He ripped the blanket off the pile of pillows and growled.

I'm going to kill her. Gods! He could wrap his hands around her pretty little throat and squeeze the life out of her!

"Who's murder are we planning?" Eran asked sleepily. Grayson was so angry, the flood of emotion woke his dragon up. Just as well, because Grayson was grabbing his saddle and heading straight for him.

"Eva. She and Arkon took off." He didn't need to look around to know that they were already gone and where they were heading.

Eran emerged from the dragon cave silently, despite his large frame. His scales grated against rock as he lumbered over to his rider, but the waves crashing against the cliff face were louder and angrier. "I thought you were keeping an eye on her."

"I was asleep outside of her fucking tent!"

Eran set a droll glare on him. "You underestimated her. She's a hunter, Gray. Stealth is a key part in being a successful hunter."

"What was I supposed to do--sleep on the same bedroll? Hogtie her?"

"Yes."

Grayson gritted his teeth then swung into the saddle. "I'm done arguing about this. Let's catch up to them before she does something stupid."

"You mean more stupid than doing exactly what Darius wants her to do?" Eran didn't waste any more time and took to the skies. Grayson thought they had flown fast to get to the Desert Lands in good time; it was nothing compared to the lengths Eran pushed himself to catch up to Eva. Grayson barely had the strength to keep himself seated and had to use his legs to pin him down in the saddle. Eran's size, while usually a detriment in combat, was an asset to cut through the wind currents. It helped that he wasn't impeded by the cooler temperatures like Arkon and Aster were. They could close the gap between them quickly.

Grayson prayed to every god that would listen to him that they could catch Eva in time. He knew exactly what his brother would do to her if she handed herself over. He had to stop it. Thinking about a world without Eva was bad enough, but to live in a world where she had been broken down to nothing but a husk of herself, to have her light snuffed out...

"I can't believe Arkon agreed to this plan," Eran's indignant huff cut through Grayson's thoughts.

Grayson thought back to the time he stood on the balcony in Kain Castle with Eva. A simpler time. She had asked him if he was as affected by Eran as she was by Arkon. The Bond went both ways. If they hadn't set their boundaries yet, Arkon could just as easily be affected by her emotions.

"Jacob is the only family Eva has left. Do you think if Syran was in trouble Arkon would stand by and do nothing?"

"Arkon is a storm dragon and has had centuries of experience."

"Eva is a stubborn, tenacious force, who beat my time on Big Bertha in two weeks and has been training with Anna and Sasha--the two most powerful warriors I know."