“Is this about what happened in San Diego?”

Last week, they’d followed a lead to San Diego. They’d been chasing ghosts. Literally. The ghosts had disappeared as soon as they’d gotten close. Alden was playing games with them.

“Maybe. But this is different. This time I saw Alden. I saw Kai. They’re there.” She tossed her empty bottle into the garbage can. “And we’re just wasting time. We should be acting, not waiting around.”

“And you should get some sleep. You’ve been up for two days.”

“I don’t sleep anymore, Riley. Not really. When I close my eyes, there are only nightmares waiting for me.”

Riley gave her look drenched in sympathy. That hurt almost as much as losing Kai.

Sighing, she headed for the stairs and climbed the levels until she reached the room she shared with Kai. It felt so empty now, so dead. She wasn’t really living. Not anymore. She was only surviving, chasing the strings that Alden put out to keep her busy. She fought and ate and slept. And when she slept, she saw only death. Despite this, she fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

Sera stood atop a rocky ridge, the wind whipping her hair all around her. The sun was just setting on the desert below. Heat steaming up from the cracked ground. Hands closed on her shoulders, massaging them.

She didn’t turn. She sighed, leaning back. “I miss you.”

“I’m still here,” Kai said. “I will always be here.”

A tear slid down her face. “Don’t talk like that. Don’t ever talk like that. That’s how people talk when they’re sure they’re going to die. Not you. Not now. I forbid it.”

He laughed softly. His arms wrapped around her, hugging her to his chest. “I love you, Sera.”

She swallowed hard. “I love you. Promise me you’ll keep fighting. You have to.”

“It’s hard.” His voice sounded so weak, so defeated.

“Well, suck it up. You’re a dragon, not a butterfly. Fight back.”

He lowered his mouth to her shoulder and kissed it.

She folded her arms over his, holding onto him. “I was so stupid.”

“You are never stupid, Sera.”

“I was,” she said. “And stubborn.”

“A fantastic trait in a dragon.”

Tears fell freely from her eyes. “I was afraid of giving up any control. I was holding on so hard to my life, but all I wanted was for it to be our life. When I heard you talking to Tony, you saying you wanted to marry me…”

He chuckled. “Eavesdropping, Sera?”

“I should have said something. I should have told you I felt the same way.”

“Do you even know what you want?”

She sighed. “Maybe not. I’m not good at that. Not like you. You always know what you want. Well, this experience has forever cured me of my indecisiveness. I know what I want now. But what if it’s too late? What if I never get the chance to tell you?”

“You’re telling me now,” he pointed out.

“My inner delusions don’t count.”

She tightened her arms over his. He felt so real. His skin burned with a pleasant heat that warmed her cold, shivering body. He made her feel alive again. She didn’t even care that it wasn’t real.

“You have to fight, Kai. I’m coming for you. We are going to have this conversation outside of my own imagination.”

Kai intertwined his fingers with hers. “I’m going to hold you to that promise, sweetheart.”

Then he faded away, his warmth disappearing with him, replaced by a cold laugh that sent chills down her spine. She turned to find Alden standing there, his laughter echoing on the wind.

“You’re not welcome here,” she growled.

“Banish me then.”

She tried to push him out of her mind, but he remained.

“I’m still here for a reason, Sera.”

“Because you don’t know how to take a hint and leave when you’re not wanted,” she snapped.

He smiled. “No, I’m here because you need me.”

“You’re not real. The magic in the rocks around me repels magic from the outside. Even yours.”

“Be that as it may—whether I’m real or just a figment of your imagination—I am here. This is your head. You could repel me from it if you wished. The fact that I remain can mean only one thing: you want me here.”

She tried to strike him, but her fists passed right through him.

“You know the solution to your problem,” he said. “You know how to get your sweetheart back.”

“Yeah, I’m going to come kick your ass and take him back. That’s how.”

He laughed. “No, Sera, that hasn’t worked the last twenty times. Or was it thirty? Forty? How many dead ends have you chased to find me? How many times have you failed? And yet the solution has been there all along. I have been here all along. Right in front of you.”

“You aren’t really here.”

“No. But you know how to find me. You know what you need to do.”

He waved his hand and Kai appeared behind him, pinned by magic to the rocks. The chains of magic were locked around his hands and feet, steaming, burning into his skin. He wore only a pair of torn shorts, his body smudged in dirt and sweat. Cuts covered half of his body. He pushed against the chains, jangling them, but they didn’t budge. A vampire with a whip lashed Kai’s back in punishment. Kai roared, a cry of fury and anguish. Sera ran for him, but he disappeared before she could get to him. Sera spun around and glared at Alden.