I seethed, wanting to attack, to Shift to my true form and rend the human to little pieces, then char those pieces to ash. My dragon howled, violent and enraged, wanting to set something on fire. The soldier was now too far away, and on guard for an attack. I turned my anger on Ember, instead.

“What am I doing?” Spinning around, I yanked my arm from her grasp and glared down furiously. “What the hell are you doing, Firebrand? I leave for an hour, one hour, and come back to find you…” My voice caught on the words, and I curled my lip in disgust. “He’s a human,” I spat. “And not only that, a soldier of St. George. A dragon killer! I thought you were done with this idiocy when we left Crescent Beach.”

Her eyes flashed, and she lifted her chin to face me. “You have no right, Riley—”

“You’re a dragon,” I interrupted, making her scowl. “Have you forgotten that part? Never mind that he was part of St. George. Let’s ignore the fact that he’s killed who knows how many dragons before his miraculous change of heart. Let’s not ask how many hatchlings he’s shot in the back, while they were running away.” I sneered at the human before turning on Ember again. She stared me down, defiant; I growled and turned us away from the soldier, lowering my voice.

“Listen to me, Firebrand,” I said, attempting to calm my anger, though my dragon still raged up and down my veins, wanting retribution. “You’re not thinking straight. He’s a human, with a human life span. How long do you think he’s going to stick around? Where do you think you’ll be sixty years from now? A hundred years from now? Have you even thought about that?”

“Of course not!” Ember snarled. “Right now I’m still trying to keep up with the present. Right now, staying alive and getting Dante out of Talon is keeping me pretty occupied. What about you?” Ember challenged, glaring up at me. “Have you thought about the future at all?”

“Every single day,” I retorted, making her blink. “Every day, I wake up thinking about my safe houses, if they’re secure, if the hatchlings I get out of Talon will survive another year. What will happen to them if I bite the dust, because I don’t know how long I can keep getting lucky. But this isn’t about me.” I shot another glance at the human, wondering if he could hear us, then deciding I didn’t care if he did. “Humans and dragons aren’t supposed to be together,” I insisted. “Their lives are a heartbeat compared to ours. What kind of future do you think you could ever have?”