Rhuron's Bride (Crystal Glass Dragons 1)

I hated repeating myself, but it was necessary.

“He said he was going to surprise his girlfriend but didn’t know where she lived.” His voice trailed off. There wasn’t much of a crime rate in Crystal Glass, but even I knew that sounded suspicious. “He asked where Heather Broms lives, a-and I told him.”

“Where is that?”

“Down this street, take a left.” He motioned out of the alleyway. “It’s a big dark-green house with a red door, you can’t miss it.”

“When did you see him?”

“About twenty minutes ago, he stopped me at my mailbox.”

I let him go and immediately started running. I glanced over my shoulder to see the man resuming his previous course, surely to sell that jacket before he was grabbed again.

Please let her be safe, let him have stopped.

Maybe he was just going to court her. Maybe it wasn’t anything nearly as bad as I’d worried. The sun was quickly getting higher in the sky; it must have taken him a while to find someone who would answer him.

I felt this deep urge to shift, to hurry and fly through these streets, but the attention that would garner would just slow me down.

People weren’t used to dragon shifters.

I shouldn’t press my luck.

The green house came into view, and I ran a little faster. Its front door was open, leaning on its hinges, and the inside of the house was pitch black. I walked in cautiously, listening for any glimpse of trouble. It was a mess: scratches on the floor, pictures everywhere and broken flowerpots on the table. A man was unconscious and face down on the floor. He was still alive, but something huge had obviously come through here. Tierner had shifted.

Only a few days ago, this had been me.

I had grabbed Izzy and just fucking flew to get out of there.

Didn’t ask if she wanted to go, didn’t care.

Our bond wasn’t strong enough at that time for me to see her how I did now. Without the bond she would have probably already tried to run away back to Ember Abyss.

A bang, and then screaming, sounded from above and I sprinted up the stairs.

I had to protect her to make up for the shit I’d done to Izzy.