He flinched like she’d slapped him. “I’m a piece of shit, but I’m not that big of a piece of shit.”
The fight she’d been preparing for left her. Unable to withstand her hunger any longer, she finally grabbed the donut box. She didn’t know how he’d known, but he’d gotten her favorite. She let out a moan as she took the first bite.
“Bree. We need to talk,” Erik said.
She licked her lips, a sudden hesitation turning her blood cold.
Erik stepped up to her. If she lifted her hand, she would have touched his hip. Instead, she kept her empty hand pinned to her side. She didn’t want to give in to the weird voice in her head that wanted to touch him so badly.
“You’re not the same woman anymore,” he said, looking down at her with pity. “I didn’t think it was possible, but I think I changed you.”
Bree wanted to snort and say something snarky, but the truth of what he said gripped her. Nothing had been like before. She couldn’t even put clothes on without ripping them. She’d had to live in sweats and oversized t-shirts for days. They were the only pieces that could withstand her sudden surges of strength.
“I feel like I’ve been pumped with adrenaline for days,” she confessed.
He lifted his sunglasses to the top of his head before touching her cheek. As she met his gaze, she watched his eyes change color. They glowed once more, just like hers had at the bar. She’d watched them turn silver two times since then, so she knew it wasn’t just her mind playing tricks on her.
Erik made a noise in his throat, a sound between pain and frustration. “I hope I didn’t do what I think I did.”
The pain that creased his features almost broke her heart. If she hadn’t been so confused and lost, Bree knew she would have risen to kiss him in an effort to chase away the hurt. Right now, she couldn’t even bear her own feelings, let alone try to ease his.
“I don’t get what all of this means,” she whispered.
She could remember what Erik had said last time she’d seen him. Right after she’d woken up, he’d told her that she was a dragon now. Her mirrors all showed her that she still looked very human. She didn’t know what dragon meant.
“Do you feel like there’s something else living inside you? Like it has its own voice and desires? Are you so hungry you could eat a whole cow? I don’t even have to ask about feeling super strong because…” Erik gestured to the state of her apartment.
“All of that,” she said between her clenched teeth.
Plus, a new desire to inch closer to him. There was a tug behind her sternum that demanded she press herself against him. Erik had become the center of gravity, and she didn’t know how long she could fight it.
“So, it is possible.” He stared at her for far too long, like he was trying to peel away her walls to see the thing now crouched inside her.
“What’s possible?”
“I think…I can’t be sure until you shift, but I think I gave you one of my beasts.”
Bree recoiled. Beasts? One of his beasts? The words made no sense to her. Was that a code for a disease? Or was it a kind of curse? Because she was ready to believe almost anything right now.
He shook his head and took a long step back. Without him in front of her, she found herself able to breathe deep. The desire that’d turned her warm started to fade.
“You should eat and shower,” Erik told her. “Then we need to go out and see what’s actually happened.”
Bree suddenly remembered the donut in her hand. How had she forgotten about food? Her gaze fell on the bags of stuff Erik had brought over. One shopping bag had a rolled blanket and a small stuffed animal. Another bag had a box of frozen fried chicken and microwave popcorn.
He’d brought her everything for a date night.
“Food. Then shower,” she muttered mostly to herself.
Erik smiled, though it looked forced. “If you’ve got too much energy, I could join you for that shower.”
She leveled a glare at him to hide the way his proposition made her core throb. “Do you really think I’m going to fuck you in my shower after everything that’s happened?”
He shrugged, the grin quickly falling away. “It didn’t hurt to try.”
Erik seemed tired. She wanted to throw her arms around him and tell him that everything would be okay. Instead, she shoved two more donuts into her mouth and tried to keep her thoughts to herself. Though she wanted to get to know him better, she wasn’t stupid. The man she’d thought him to be would never align with reality.
After breakfast, she retreated to the shower. Bree couldn’t remember the last time she’d showered. It could have been the one day she went to work. It could have been the previous morning. The days had blurred into one as she tried to sleep off whatever was burning in her system.
On the second day, she’d assumed that acid reflux had struck, but it hadn’t gone away. A steady fire licked along the back of her throat and begged to be released. Part of her was afraid that if she opened her mouth when it was at its worst, she might actually breathe fire, but that was impossible.
She let the water cascade over her face and hair with the hopes that it would wash away everything. The past few days. The uncomfortable dissonance between the man she’d thought she loved and the man actually standing in her kitchen.
When she decided the water and soap wouldn’t do what she really wanted, she rinsed off and stepped out. Wrapped in her soft bathrobe, she went back to the kitchen for more food.
Erik’s attention filled her with electricity. It hummed in her lungs and burned in her lower stomach. She tried not to pay him any attention, but her own desire nearly overwhelmed her good sense.
“Do you regularly walk around in your bathrobe when you have strangers over?” Erik asked, his voice heated.
She didn’t look at him when she spoke. “Considering what you’ve done to me, I wouldn’t call us strangers anymore. We’re more like two idiots who engaged in the worst hook-up of our lives. I can’t even do a walk of shame to escape.”
She heard him move and found him with his hand over his heart like she’d wounded him.
“That tongue serves the worst lashing I’ve ever had in my life. I can promise you that if we were to hook-up, you would not be disappointed.” His sly smile returned and made her heart thump.
“That’s what all the women at the bar say, but I don’t like to do what everyone else is doing.” She fought back the smile that tried to lift the corners of her mouth.
“You are utterly devious,” Erik said through a forced smile. “My clan will love you. They’re going to want to keep you around just to watch you wound me every day.”
She paused. “Clan?”
His expression fell, the playfulness gone. “There’s a lot to teach you, isn’t there?”
“It would seem so. You’re probably going to have to convince me every step of the way, too. I hope you understand how absolutely nuts this all is.”
Erik fought back a smile. After thirty seconds, he lost the war with himself. “I can show you absolutely nuts.”
She groaned. “Keep your junk in your pants for now.”
“For now? Does that mean you might want to hop on this ride in the future?” He popped a candy-coated chocolate into his mouth.
“You’re not a roller coaster,” she said. “You’re a fun house full of broken mirrors and depressed clowns.”
He hopped to his feet. “Go get dressed. We need to teach you everything so I can take you home and watch you talk to Gavin like that. He’s going to lose his shit.”
Bree narrowed her eyes at Erik but didn’t ask questions. She went to do as he asked. Since stiff fabrics had become an issue with her newfound strength, she opted for a pair of leggings with soft, gray flowers and a loose, scoop-neck t-shirt that fluttered over her sports bra.
Even though she had her wet hair in a bun, Erik watched her like she’d stepped off the runway. His attention made her feel…stronger? Better? She couldn’t deci
pher the sensation flooding her veins. Maybe that was because she wasn’t ready.
With everything upside down lately, she didn’t know if she could approach her feelings for Erik yet. Their banter in the kitchen had put her at ease. They flung snark back and forth as if they’d been practicing with each other for years. She craved more of the easy comfort they were establishing.
Until she got outside and saw his truck. She stopped dead in her tracks and slid an incredulous glance at Erik.
“This is what you drive?” She looked the rust bucket up and down and considered heading over to the clinic for a preemptive tetanus shot.
“She gets me from point A to point B with no problem,” he said. “The guys and I have been working on replacing almost everything under the hood. I promise you, only the body looks like that.”
“If my body looked that bad, I’d know there was something wrong underneath it.” She pursed her lips.
Erik sighed and rolled his eyes. “Do you want to fly instead? We’d have to walk out of town first.”
“Fly?” Her voice cracked as she lifted both brows.
A wicked grin split Erik’s lips. He dropped his sunglasses back over his eyes and did an about face. Bree had to scramble to catch up to him as he walked away.
“You’re screwing with me,” she said, eyes narrowed. “You have to be.”
He didn’t pause, didn’t flinch. Bree could find no tell that gave away his lie. Surely, Erik didn’t think he could actually fly. His conviction blew her mind. Either, Erik was the best actor she’d ever met, or he was certifiably insane.
Bree crossed her arms over her chest and followed. She told herself she tagged along only to figure out where this farce would go, but with everything strange in her life right now, she kind of believed him. Erik had mentioned dragons. Didn’t dragons have wings?
She couldn’t believe she was seriously starting to believe him. They left the town proper behind and stepped off the road to cut between trees until they found a small field. Erik walked to the center and asked her if she was ready.
Bree wasn’t, but she still wanted to see what would happen.
“Do you think you’re ready for your first shift?” he asked.
“What?” she snapped. She crossed her arms over her chest.
He tongued the inside of his cheek as a sly smile wormed its way onto the corners of his mouth. “Oh, I see how this is going to go. You don’t actually believe me. Stand back and watch. This is what we are.”
Erik shed his sunglasses, then his shirt, then his pants. Bree wanted to cover her face out of embarrassment, but kept her fingers parted to watch this odd display. Once Erik was down to nothing but the sky as clothing, he threw his arms wide. The air around him rippled.
Bree’s jaw dropped. The distortion in the air masked some of her view, but she could no longer ignore the truth. Erik’s human form grew and grew until he wasn’t human. His shape became reptilian and as big as a house. When the air settled, a pale blue dragon looked back at her.
Erik tossed his head and stretched his wings.
Her stomach hit the ground.
Is that…Can I…?
She never once thought this was what Erik meant when he said dragon. Her brain hadn’t even bothered to translate it so literally. What should have been a myth stood before her. She took a few tentative steps forward and held out one hand.
Erik ducked his head and pressed his nose into her palm. His scales weren’t cold, like she’d assumed. Instead, they were warm to the touch.
Dragon fire, she realized.
Did that mean the burning she’d felt in her own throat was dragon fire as well? She jerked back, startled by her revelation.
Erik watched her. He barely moved, so still that she could have convinced herself he was a disabled animatronic machine had she not watched him change forms only a minute ago. She clutched her hand to her chest and held the warmth inside her palm.
“I don’t know how to do…” she gestured to his form. “What if I can’t do this?”
He shook himself, like a dog coming in from the rain. His wings stretched wide and eclipsed the sunlight. In the shadow of his body, he held out his giant clawed hand. This was what he’d meant when he said fly.
Bree should have turned around and gone home. She should have pinched herself to wake up. She did neither of those things, instead choosing to step into Erik’s clutches. His talons closed around her and his wings began to beat at the air. She was grateful she’d thought to put her hair in a bun before leaving as the wind buffeted her face.
The ground below dropped away inch by inch, then yard by yard until she found herself far above the town she’d called home for years.
She tried to curse, but the wind ripped the sound away. She kept her eyes downcast to avoid the wind and enjoyed the sight below. While she should have been afraid, that new voice living inside her didn’t seem bothered. If anything, Bree felt a twinge of excitement coming from it.
Then her skin started to ache. She felt stretched from the inside, like something wanted out. The worry that she wouldn’t be able to do what Erik did fled and was replaced by a fear of his change. The idea of her human body becoming a dragon frightened her more than she’d anticipated.
When they landed in a valley, she stumbled away from Erik’s claws and fell to her knees. Panic clutched her lungs and held them tight. She could barely breathe. Thoughts of what a panic attack was and what signs she should look out for flitted through her mind only to be drowned out by the voice booming inside her head.
Let me stretch my wings with him.
Bree groaned and covered her face with her hands. Erik’s scent, like fresh cut wood and blueberries, calmed her. Human hands touched her. He tugged at her wrists until she gave way. When she looked up at him, his lips were in a grim line. They softened like he didn’t want to show her his concern.
“This is…a lot to take in,” she said raggedly.
“I’m a bit of a mess myself,” he said. “I don’t know if that should comfort you because I’ve learned how to deal or if you should be wary of letting me be your teacher.”
Erik started to pull away, but she clung to him. She held his wrist and slowly pulled him back until his warmth reached her once more. He wrapped his arms around her and held on tight while she calmed her breathing.
Bree no longer had a choice. The decision had been made for her the night in the men’s restroom. She could look back and regret what she’d done, but that would always keep her from moving forward. The voice in her demanded shape. She didn’t think she could hold it back forever.
No matter how afraid she was, she could only move forward.
Right?
She wasn’t so sure. The idea came to her so easily, like a mantra she could repeat all day. Yet, she couldn’t bring herself to stand and take charge. Her limbs locked themselves until she thought she would start to shake.
“I should get Dillon,” Erik muttered.
“No!” Bree said quickly. “I mean, I want you.”
Her cheeks warmed when she realized how that could be taken. She quickly added that she wanted him to be the one to teach her, but she didn’t feel any better about the words. She couldn’t escape the chemistry that hovered between them. Or, the chemistry that she’d imagined.
Though she faced an entirely different Erik than the one she’d imagined while serving at the bar, she couldn’t help when she fell back on her old vision of him. Her heart thumped when he was too near. The feel of his arms around her eased the knot in her chest. Erik shouldn’t have been able to soothe her so easily. Her crush on him added a new dimension to their relationship that she hadn’t anticipated.
Erik stood and offered a hand down to her. Bree considered picking herself up, but she took his hand and let him pull her to her feet. She teetered toward him and braced herself against his chest. Without his sunglasses, Erik’s eyes flashed with emotion she couldn’t yet decipher.
Her face warmed when she
realized she’d put her hand against bare skin. Without thinking, she let her gaze slide down over his body. He had the kind of chiseled chest that made for a perfect V on his lower abdomen. Her breath hitched when she saw just what he was packing between his legs.
Bree caught herself staring and shook her head.
“Like what you see?” Erik asked, his voice husky.
She didn’t know her face could get any hotter, but it did. She felt like the sun had descended so it could hover just above her cheeks. Erik’s hand grazed hers. His touch was feather light, but it was enough to send an electrical response up her arm and into her chest.
She pulled her hands back and wiped them on her leggings as she did her best not to look at the very hot, very naked man in front of her. “Where do we start?”
“This is going to be something we both have to figure out. I wasn’t changed, like you. This is how I was born…” He paused and shadows slithered over his bright eyes. When he began again, he smiled, but it couldn’t quite reach his eyes. “Since you’ve broken almost everything in your apartment, let’s start with controlling your strength.”
She grunted, annoyed that some of her favorite clothing pieces were now tatters. Once Erik put clothing back on, he spent the next hour showing her how to throw a measured punch. In the beginning, when she struck him too hard, she’d rear back with regret. Erik staggered back a few times, but he followed it with a laugh each time.
“You hit almost as hard as some of the guys,” Erik said, shaking his hand like he could get rid of the pain that way.
Bree learned to pull her punches and how to use that control when doing everyday tasks. Surrounded by nothing but nature, they could be themselves without fear. Erik warned her that she would always need to be careful among the company of others. Since humanity didn’t know about her existence, she would have to find clever ways to explain her strength or her fire when her control slipped.
She chewed the inside of her cheek. While she felt like she’d made some progress, she wasn’t sure she would ever be able to catch up. The possibility of falling into old habits and forgetting new rules loomed over her head like a bad omen. What would happen when she inevitably screwed up? Would there be a witch hunt? People looking for photos the way they tried to track the Loch Ness Monster or Big Foot?
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