“Need to fly soon,” my dragon whispers into my mind as I slide out of bed.
“I know, I will find a way to sneak away tonight,” I explain, and I feel her comfort at my words before I take over again. I don’t need anyone seeing my eyes turning silver right now, that will freak them out. I grab my running clothes, after washing up in the bathroom, and then plait my hair without looking at my reflection for too long. I look just like my father, and I keep imagining him, how disappointed he must be in me. What would he say if he was alive? How would he save Dragca? I leave my room, looking at the other five doors down the corridor. I know Jules moved into the room opposite me, leaving the three rooms and the shared bathroom at the end of the corridor for the guys. Her and my room have a bathroom to themselves, which I guess the guys don’t mind sharing. It stings that she is sleeping in Jace’s room now, and I know if I went in there, it wouldn’t be anything like it used to be. His books wouldn’t be littered around, and his guitar wouldn’t be leaning against the messy bed. This house feels like it’s haunting me more than the messed-up dream of Thorne. Even his name annoys me, I hate him so much. I shake my head, moving away from my door and walk down the corridor. Instead of dwelling on the past, or things I can't change, I decide to focus on my plans for the day.
“Good morning!” I say, walking into the kitchen and yawning slightly. Korbin is sat on a stool, and his head lifts up, locking those green eyes with mine. I knew he would be up early. I miss the smiles he used to give me, and even almost miss our runs and his threats to throw fireballs at my ass if I didn't speed up. He doesn’t say anything as he gets up, he just walks over to me and reaches his hand out to get something out of my hair. He pulls back, showing me a little feather.
“It must be the feather duvet I sleep on,” I say, and he smirks, brushing the feather down my cheek slowly and almost seductively, making me shiver all over.
“Maybe you should show it to me,” his husky voice suggests, sending goosebumps up and down my body. Korbin has never spoken to me like this, and part of me doesn’t want him to stop. I trace my eyes over his tight pyjama shirt, and snug shorts that show off his muscular thighs. Who knew thighs could be attractive?
“My duvet?” I ask confused, and he shakes his head, stepping closer to me. We are only a breath apart when he whispers.
“Your bed, doll.” My mouth parts in shock and he steps back, leaving me a little shaky. He picks his phone up off the side and acts like nothing just happened.
“I-I don’t think that’s-” I start to say, stumbling over my words and acting like a timid little girl that’s never spoken to a guy before. Damn it, get it together Isola.
“We could always start off with a date,” he suggests, his deep and husky voice making me just want to listen to him talk forever. I don’t reply to his flirting. I can’t let my hormones control me, not right now, anyway. I need him to be my friend again, we can’t risk anything else. It’s too dangerous. The fact they don’t know about their dragons doesn’t mean a thing, they would lose their dragons permanently by falling for me. Or me for them. I don’t really know specifics on how the curse works, but I’m not going to test it. Not only would they hate me forever, but I'd hate myself.
“Do you run? I like to run every morning,” I say, lying my ass off. I spent most of the night reading about how to jog someone’s memory. One of the most successful recommendations is to get them back into their routine. That means running, oh god, running.
“I usually run in the evenings, but a pretty little doll like you shouldn’t be running on your own,” he says, walking past me and towards the stairs, “get us some water while I get changed.”
“Alright,” I reply, and he runs up the stairs. I walk to the fridge, pulling out two bottles of water. I head for the door, putting the water down to pull on my trainers. I turn when I hear steps on the staircase and see Jules coming down. She has jeans and a long tunic shirt on today, and her hair is down. She looks happy, although slightly shocked.
“Wow…I didn’t expect to see you down here already. Are you feeling okay?” she asks, knowing I don’t like mornings. I usually roll out of bed with half an hour to spare, and still spend most of that time reading, before dragging my ass to the bus stop.
“I decided I need to be healthier. I’m going to run every morning with Korbin,” I explain, and she chuckles.
“I bet seeing than boy in tight workout clothes and dripping with sweat has nothing to do with your need to be healthy and wake up earlier?” she says, making me choke on thin air, again, as she keeps laughing.
“I used to be young once, I’ll have you know. I would have done more than run every morning to get close to a body like that,” she teases, winking at me. She walks into the kitchen as I just stare after her in shock. Thankfully, Korbin comes running down the stairs, distracting me from thoughts of what Jules was like when she was younger. With all these comments lately, I'd bet she was a wild one. I try to not appreciate how amazing Korbin looks in his tight running shorts and loose shirt, but I majorly fail. Holy crap on a cracker, he looks hot. I trail my eyes over him shamelessly, and when I finally look into his eyes, he knows I've been checking him out. Thankfully, he doesn't call me on it. I have no excuse.
“Ready?” he asks gruffly, and I hand him his water as he gets closer.
“Yep,” I respond. I need to use this time alone with him to make him remember, though I'm not sure how.
“Do you know a good route with a path?” he asks when we get outside, the cold morning air making me shiver. It’s freezing out. The sun is just rising in the sky, but I know running will warm us up until the sun is fully out. Our house is in the middle of the woods, with a private driveway that leads down from a secluded road. There aren’t any other houses for miles, and the only vehicle that comes this way is the school bus. The woods have a track I used to walk with Jace sometimes.
“Yeah, see over there,” I point at the post in between the trees to the right, “there’s a path all the way around the land and back,” I explain.
“We should race. If I win, I get a date with you. If I lose,” he pauses, “well, what would you like?”
“Nothing, I’m not taking that bet. We can’t date,” I say.
“Boyfriend? I should have guessed,” he asks, disappointed.
“No boyfriend,” I say, and he grins, his green eyes shining with the reflection of the sunrise.
“Then you best think of something you want to win, not that you really need to worry. You won't win anyway...I want that date," he tells me and takes off running. I run after him, cursing him with his green eyes and sexy voice for distracting me.
“It’s cheating to have a head start!” I shout, and he looks back at me for a second, still keeping up his fast pace.