“I am so, so very sorry I gave you that idea. I would never willingly hurt you. Even if we go our separate ways, I will let you go with a hug and a smile. Even with what you know about us.”
She smiled, her teeth gleaming in the dash lights. “I know that now. You could have left me to die. You didn’t. You risked being seen by flying me to the hospital. Am I right?”
“Yes.”
“If you had murder on your mind, you would have just flown away.”
“Driven away.” I grinned. “I wouldn’t have abandoned my truck with the body of my employee lying nearby, shot dead.”
“Ah, yes.”
“Or risked witnesses seeing me drive away with my dead employee behind me. We weren’t the only ones there.”
“Is that where we’re going now?”
“No. We’re going home.”
“That’s why you chose such an expensive place to live, isn’t it?”
“And don’t forget private. There’s no one there to see a dragon take flight.”
I parked the truck in my driveway, then reclaimed Hayley’s hand. Without going into the house, we walked through the darkness toward the beach and the restless ocean beyond. She walked beside me with confidence as though we headed for a swim. I dared hope she’d keep her wits about her when I shifted, and not let her instinctive fears get the better of her.
On the beach, I asked, “Ready?”
“Yes.”
I strode away from her, toward the water to give myself room. Before I shifted, I glanced back. “Here be a dragon.”
I shifted.
I braced myself for Hayley’s panic. It didn’t come.
She stood where I’d left her, staring up with her mouth open. My dragon’s senses were far keener than my two-legged form’s, thus I saw her clearly in the dark. I heard her indrawn breath, heard her whisper, “Holy shit.”
I stretched my wings, chuckling. “Well? What do you think?”
“I think I’m glad you don’t want to kill me.”
Crouching, I put my muzzle on her level, eye to eye with her. “We don’t kill unless we must. We fly, we breathe fire hot enough to melt steel, but we treasure peace, not death.”
I saw no tremble in her hand as she reached up to touch my jaw. “Your skin. It’s so warm. And yet hard.”
“We’re fire proof, but not bullet proof. We can be killed with guns or rockets, which is one of many reasons we don’t want humans to know about us.”
“We’ll kill you. Won’t we?”
“Most likely. We’re a threat to humanity, despite our peaceful way of life. Humans can’t kill what they don’t know about.”
“Why do I suddenly hate being a human?”
“Because you’re a good person.”
Hayley smiled. “Are you going to fly?”
“I’d like to. If you don’t mind.”
“I want to see it.”
