Read Online Core by Teshelle Combs - Free Book Online

honesty.
    Ava sat up in the bed and faced him. She looked like she’d been up for longer than Cale had been. He was still blinking the sleep away, though his mind was already active. He sat up as well, wincing when the skin around his scar tightened. He’d forgotten all about it.
    “It hurts?” Ava asked, guilt eating at her, though she refused to let it show.
    “Not much,” Cale said. “It fades with time. The pain, I mean. Not the scar.”
    Ava rubbed her temples, her eyes cast down.  Get it over with.  She took a deep breath. “Look, I’m so sorry, man. I’m sorry I’m in your room, which is super weird. I have no idea what I was thinking. And I’m sorry you got your guts spilled out trying to behead those siren things and I’m sorry you have that awful-looking scar and –”
    Cale interrupted her. He reached out and touched the back of her hand. “I don’t think I can explain to you how awesome it is that you’re here and not running for it.” He said it slowly, as if hoping she’d understand. “I wish you could just switch places with me and feel it for yourself.”
    But Ava didn’t smile like Cale did, and it made him want to fix all her problems, right then.   I’m already making her unhappy and we haven’t even started.  “Ava, if you don’t want to be here, if you don’t want to be my rider, I understand. You must be scared out of your mind after last night.”
    She shook her head. “Actually, not scared at all. You were incredible. I just….” She furrowed her brow as she looked at him. “How did you know to call me?”
    He tapped his abdomen. “I felt it. It’s like a stomach ache. Usually it tells me when I’m in trouble. I’ve never had it happen with someone else before.”
    “Do all… dragons …do that?”
    “Some.”
    She bit her lip as she searched for words. “I’ve never had anyone do something like that for me. Stick up for me like you did.”
    Cale already knew that about her. He could tell by the distrust in her eyes when he first met her. She deserved more. She deserved everything. “Ava, I would die for you. I would be honored. A nd anyone who thinks otherwise…I’ll snap them in half if you want me to.”
    Ava smiled. A real one. She couldn’t help it, not with Cale being so upset on her behalf. “That was chivalrous,” she joked.
    “It’s not because you’re a girl. It’s because you’re mine.”
    Ava stopped at that and studied the beds of her fingernails, anything so she didn’t have to look Cale right in the eye until she was sure of the decision she’d spent half the night making. When she did look at him, his eyes were golden slivers set in black, like snake eyes, locked on to her.
    “You should ask me now,” she said, a little breathless.
    “Ask you?”
    “Ask me so I can give you my answer. Isn’t that how it works?”
    Cale didn’t want to. What he wanted was more time, more time to convince her, to show her that he wasn’t all bad, that he could be a good dragon for her. But she’d commanded. So he obeyed.
    “Ava Johnson, will you be my rider?”
    He wanted to throw up. His mountaintop felt so far way, he wasn’t sure if he’d ever been on it at all. If Ava said no, if she rejected him, he would go his entire life without being able to change, without his rider, just like his father had, and his father before him. He wasn’t breathing, wasn’t moving, as if doing any of that would sway her answer.
    “ Okay.”
    Cale blinked. “What did you just say?”
    Ava couldn’t help but smile, just a little. “Cale, I would be honored to be your rider.”
    He still didn’t take in any oxygen. His eyes grew bigger than Ava thought was healthy, then he reached forward and wrapped his arms around her. There was no part of her that wanted him to pull away. It was the most genuine touch she’d ever felt.
    Cale released her, studying her face again. “Are you sure?”
    She scowled, crossing her arms. “Are you trying to make me