Julie Kagawa

At least I know the truth,_ I gritted back. ____ not the one who__ being lied to._ His brow furrowed, and I spat the truth at him.

My heart seemed to stop. Garret paused, as if gathering his thoughts, or his courage, then took a deep breath. __ know I__e made mistakes,_ he continued, shaking his head. __ut there__ still the chance for me to fix them. I shouldn__ have walked out that night._ His brow creased, a flicker of pain and regret going through his eyes. __mber, I know you can__ feel what I do,_ he said. __ get that. But_I want to be with you. And if that__ not possible, I__l be content just to be close. Fighting Talon with you and Riley, helping people, saving other dragons from the Order-there is nothing I want more. And nowhere else I want to be.

A ruse. That's all it was. Pretend to like this girl. Pretend to have feelings, to pursue some kind of relationship. Earn her friendship and trust, knowing I might have to destroy it, and her, in the end.

I__ sorry,_ I whispered. __ never wanted this for you. This life_I knew it was going to kill me in the end. I wish you didn__ have to be here when it finally caught up.

But I would not break. I would not give up Ember__ location, or Riley__ underground. The next few hours might have me wishing I was dead, but I would not betray the girl I loved to the organization. They would have to kill me.

Our enemies-my enemies-wouldn__ win. The demon lizards had hurt me for the last time. Now, they had a new foe, and I would make sure they remembered my name when I destroyed them on the battlefield. I would work hard. I would excel. I would become the perfect soldier.

Those eyes. I felt like they pierced right through me; that if I didn't break away now, they would peel me open to see what lay beneath. Deep within, the dragon stirred, growling. She didn't like this human, I realized. Maybe he scared her, or the intensity of his gaze reminded her of a predator. Or maybe she felt that, if I stared at him much longer, I would lose myself in those stormy eyes and forget all about a certain golden-eyed rogue, waiting for me in the darkness.

I felt like he was hiding so much, that I wasn't even seeing the real Garret at all, and the more I hung out with him, the more I would learn.Also being with him did strange, twisty things to my insides. My dragon instincts did not approve; they still didn't like this human with his amazing reflexes and bright, intense eyes. The eyes of a predator. But there was another part of me that just couldn't resist.

Kissing her in the ocean and feeling my entire world stop. Wishing I could be normal, if only to be with her. Because she hadn't just taught me how to surf and shoot zombies and to scream while plunging down a roller-coaster drop. She had shown me how to live.

So that left me. To save my hatchlings and my underground, even if I couldn't be there anymore.

But I remember the strange dragon's eyes, the look on his face as he stared it me, the way my blood had warmed at the sight of him. I remembered the heat of his gaze, the instant awakening of something fierce and primal inside me when our eyes met. The rogue dragon was trouble. Plain and simple. And I was intrigued.

There are a dozen St. George soldiers hiding in that maze,_ my trainer said. __ll hunting you. All looking to kill you. Welcome to Phase Two of your training, hatchling.

His fingertips came to rest against the back of my hand, sending a zip of current through my whole body. ____ done hiding,_ he whispered. __othing has changed. I know we might not have a lot of time, but what we do have, I want to spend right here.

Helpless, I clenched my fists against my back, well aware that every mile, every minute that ticked by, took me ever farther from getting to them in time and closer to losing the red dragon forever.

I sighed again, tipping my head back. My skin was still flushed, whether from anger or adrenaline or both, and my dragon crackled and snapped in myriad different directions. I needed to calm down. I wished I had my board. It was impossible to stay tense while floating on the surface of the ocean, its cold, dark depths lulling you to sleep. The sea was fascinating. It always amazed me how calm and peaceful it was one moment, only to bear down on you a moment later with the power and savagery of a hurricane.

Tonight, Garret the soldier didn't exist.

Godzilla was coming...

Why haven't they killed us yet?""Our lives aren't important. For some reason, it's always been about her.