A wretched, weak human!
Its skin is pressed against mine. Its hands touch my ancient and powerful hide. Its puny, glinting eyes stare back at me in fear. Horror and rage crash through me.
The only creature, besides my own, that can fell a dragon. The only creature that can steal our immortality and mate bond with us.
“Human,” I utter with malevolence in ancient dragon tongue, my voice thick and guttural. The human’s lips part. “Do you know what you have done?”
I fling my tail away, unable to bear the sight of my destruction, not caring if the wretch dies in the process, and raise my head once more to the sky.
A roar unlike ever before blasts from my throat—cursing the comet, the blood moon, the human I am now bound to—as I feel my body, limbs, innards, and all twist and change.
And all I can think of, as pain shreds my senses, is vengeance.
8
The Dragon Turns
The momentmy hands and arms wrapped around the dragon’s tail, I knew Aida was right, that the messenger told Aida the truth.
A force I can’t deny makes my limbs heavy upon the dragon’s body, preventing me from letting go. Iwantto remain, even if it means death, to stay upon the dragon and soak up the immediate satisfaction pulsing inside.
Warmth like I’ve never known pushes away my fears, and to my embarrassment, lust—arousal for this giant, terrifying beast that could so easily smite me—clouds every other feeling in my body.
But I lose my hold on the dragon’s tail and tumble across the ground, over plants and leafy grass. The tail drops next to me as I come to a stop and scurry back, expecting it to rise up and strike me dead.
The most terrible, fury-filled bellow erupts from the dragon, and my gaze shoots to it. I wince and cover my ears as the roar goes on and on, filling me with dread, replacing the warmth from before. The dragon’s raging, seething ferocity into the air.
My thoughts scatter, knowing I caused it.
It’s roaring because of me.
Every fiber of my being urges me to run, to flee and never look back, but I can’t find the desire to do so.
Something is happening to the dragon, and I can sense it changing, morphing, shifting into another form.
Into a man…
A man. The thought takes over everything else.A man!I drag my eyes back to the giant beast fighting an invisible force. Water splashes my face as his tail draws back into the river, flopping before rising up and slamming back and forth, striking trees on either side. They crack and snap, and I roll away from the falling branches.
Moving to a safer place, I watch with horror and awe.
Scales fall, teeth fall from its gaping mouth, and the spikes on his back shorten like they’re being sucked into his spine. The horns on his head pull in the same way.
He’s getting smaller.
My throat squeezes shut at the painful bellows the dragon emits. I didn’t think of what would happenaftertouching a dragon—only the idea, the hope. As if it couldn’t get worse, his body begins to warp, contract. I grip the plants nearby and wrench them. Will he survive?
My brow wrinkles as I gasp in a breath.Please survive.
I’ll never forgive myself if I kill such a great creature, especially knowing it meant me no harm before I disturbed it.
His tail melts into itself, his skin folds inward. His bones split apart, and I can see them even in the waning light. Crying out, I crawl as close as I can without being in harm’s way.
The waves lessen around him as his body gets smaller and smaller. And before I know it, unsure if it has been moments or minutes, it’s over. The last of him drops below the river line and all I’m left with is the sound of falling leaves and stilling water.
Perching right on the edge of the shore, I watch for his reappearance. His body floats to the top.
Pop.Like the bubbles from before. My mouth drops as a large man, floating face down, fills my eyes.
