Talon (Talon 1)

He nodded. “I know. My trainer said the same.”

“Doesn’t that bother you?” I gestured vaguely down the hall, out the front door. “I mean, we’re living with two humans, all our friends are human, and we talk to humans every single day. Sure, Liam and Sarah are working for Talon, but I wouldn’t consider them fodder.

That just sounds so…heartless. You don’t think that way about Lexi and Calvin and the others, do you?”

“No.” Dante immediately shook his head, and I relaxed. “But we have to accept the fact that we’re not one of them, Ember. We’re not human. We live in their world, exist among them, but we’ll always be separate. Our trainers are right. We can’t get too attached to humans, ever.”

I pouted. That wasn’t what I wanted to hear. “Why not?”

“Ember.” Dante gave me a strange look. “Because we’re dragons.

Humans are…well, they’re not inferior, but they are lower on the food chain. We’re stronger, smarter, and we live a thousand times longer than they do. All of our human friends—Lexi, Calvin, Kristin, everyone—they’re going to grow old and die, and our lives will barely have started. We’re just not in the same league, sis. You have to have realized that.”

My spirits sank even lower. That clinched it. I was definitely not telling him anything about me and Garret. He probably wouldn’t hunt the human down and eat him, but if I mentioned that I’d kissed a boy, he would want to know why. And I wouldn’t be able to tell him. I wasn’t even sure, myself.

“Yeah,” I sighed. “I know.” Dante continued to watch me, worry and puzzlement shining from his eyes, but I had to be alone to think.

“I’m gonna crash for a couple hours,” I sighed, ducking past him into my room. “If I’m not up in time for dinner, come kick my wall or something, okay?”

“Hang on,” Dante said, putting a hand on the door as I started to close it. “Kristin’s called four or five times,” he announced as I looked back. “She wants to know if you’re coming to her party tomorrow night.”

“That’s tomorrow?” Wow, the days rushed by fast. I hadn’t even realized it was the weekend already. A small thrill coursed through me. Weekends were the only times where I didn’t have to get up and meet my instructor. For the next two days, I was free.

Dante nodded, raising an eyebrow. “We’re still planning to go, I take it.”

“Of course.”

“And I suppose you’re going to lose track of the time while we’re at this party, and I’m going to have to come up with a believable excuse as to why we’re out past midnight.”

I beamed at him. “That’s why you’re the smart twin.”

“Uh-huh. And which are you?”

“The pretty one.”

He sighed. “Fine. I’ll take care of it. As usual.” He shook his head and gave me a wry grin. “Only for you, Tweedle Dee.”

After Dante left, I padded to my room and flopped on my bed, staring at the ceiling. Well that had been less than satisfying. I couldn’t talk to Dante about my troubles, it seemed. He was my brother, but he was also a dragon. These feelings were as alien to him as they were to me. Strange as it sounded, I needed someone who really understood what I was going through. I needed a human.

I needed…a friend.

Rolling over, I dug out my phone, and scrolled to a familiar name on my contacts list.

“Hey, Lex,” I sighed when she picked up. “Are you busy?”

“Ohmygod, Ember!” came the voice on the other end. “No, of course not. Meet me at the Smoothie Hut in fifteen. You still have to tell me everything that happened with hottie Garret!”

“Yeah,” I muttered, as my stomach twirled again with the memory. “I’ll be right there.”

Twenty minutes later, I sat at one of the outdoor picnic tables, two smoothies melting on the table, as Lexi slid into the seat across from me with an eager look.

“Well?” she said by way of greeting, snatching one of the Styrofoam cups, clamping down on the straw like she wanted to bite it in half. “I’m mad at you, Em,” she announced without waiting for a reply. “You have me pick you up and drive you to the cove to meet Garret, and then you don’t even call to tell me how it went. I’ve been sitting on pins and needles for hours. So come on, Em. Spill…” she knocked on the table. “You and Garret were in the cove by yourselves, all afternoon. What happened? Anything fun?” She leaned in, smiling like a conspirator. “Did you show him how to skinny dip?”

“What? No!” I made a face at her, feeling my cheeks redden. “Get your brain out of the sewer, gutter snipe. Nothing like that happened.”

“But something happened, right?” Lexi watched me carefully, searching my face for the truth. Suddenly self conscious, I shrugged, and she frowned. “Ember, please. I saw you two at the mall yesterday.

I know there’s something there. As my best friend, you are obligated to tell me everything in your life that deals with or around gorgeous boys. That’s part of the deal.”

“I don’t remember signing that contract,” I mumbled.

“Read the fine print, darling. Did he kiss you?”

My pulse jumped, but I shook my head. “No.”

“Did you kiss him?”

“…um.”

Lexi shrieked. I shushed her, frowning, and she lowered her voice, grinning like a loon. “I knew it! I knew there was something between you two.” She regarded me triumphantly. “Say it! Say I was right.”

“All right, yes! Fine, I kissed him. You were right.”

“Thank you. See, that wasn’t hard.” Lexi smiled sagely, and settled back to hear the rest of it. “So, what happened after you kissed him?”

“Nothing.” Now that I’d confessed, I couldn’t keep the sadness from my voice, the regret of what had followed. “I guess I freaked out a little. I had him take me home after that. We didn’t even talk.”

Sighing, I picked moodily at the table. “I called you just a few minutes after he dropped me off. He probably hates me now, or at least thinks I’m an absolute freak.”

“I seriously doubt that.” When I didn’t answer, she drummed her fingers on the wood, impatient. “You are going to see him again, right? Tell me you’re going to see him again.”