I grabbed his collar and, much to his surprise, pulled his lips down to mine. I kissed him, soft and tender but without reservation. For an instant, I let myself go and showed him an intimacy of the moment. To let him know I meant my words and that also he meant something to me.
My dragon roared its agreement at the move. It liked being close to him. Pressed against him. On top of him.
My jaw abruptly tightened mid-kiss with unexplained tension. I pulled away sharply, my mouth open in shock.
“Uhhh,” I mumbled under the scrutiny of his furrowed brow. “Sorry about that. That’s never happened to me. My dragon must have really enjoyed the kiss.”
I ran a finger over my partially descended fangs as I spoke. Caz, meanwhile, wiped a single drip of blood away from where I had poked the skin.
“Mine too,” he growled, smiling broadly to show his own pointed teeth.
“I’ve never had fangs before,” I said in a tinyvoice. “How do I make them go away?”
Caz chuckled. “Just calm yourself. Maybe shake your head, sometimes that helps to clear things up. When your dragon subsides, they will too.”
I did as he said, and after a few moments, they slid back up. I ran a finger over my teeth. They were smooth once more. But that didn’t change what had happened. I had fangs now.
“That’s going to take some getting used to,” I said, focusing hard to stay on topic and not be distracted by the changes happening to me. “But I’m still going with you, Caz.”
He nodded. “I’m gathering that.”
His eyes darted all over the place but never quite met mine. Meanwhile, he was rocking slightly from side to side.
“Yes?” I prompted.
“How?” he asked, clearly uncomfortable. “You, ah, you can’t …”
“Shift?” I asked, sparing him the embarrassment, as much fun as it might have been to see him wallow in it for a bit longer.
He shrugged.
I laughed. “Caz, I know what I am. I know my limitations. You aren’t hiding some big secret from me by whispering about it.”
“I know that,” he grunted before looking away again. “I’m still learning how to say it right. I never want you to think I’m doing it from anegative or judgmental place. I don’t want to hurt your feelings by saying it wrong.”
“Oh, Caz,” I said, half melting into him at the sincerity in his voice. “You don’t have to worry about that. I’m tougher than that.”
“I know.”
“Do you?” I peered up him. “Do you really? I don’t have any memories from before twenty-three years ago. I don’t know how old I am. I woke up in a ditch, and since then, I’ve been hunted nonstop, running from a life of being some elite’s slave, or worse. No peace. No safety.Ever. Then I was rejected by you in the middle of a slave market. Trust me when I say I can handle the truth. I know what I am.”
I’d meant the jab about the market to be lighthearted, to ease things as I spoke, but it had the opposite effect. Caz’s face tightened and dark green thunderclouds grew in his eyes.
“I know you’re trying to brush that off, to make a lighthearted comment,” he said. “But I am going to undo that, Anna. I will show you, prove to you on every level, that I care. That I will do anything for you, give you anything I can. I don’t care what it takes. Iwilldo that.”
His eyes started glowing silver-green as his dragon echoed the sentiment.
“But I’ll do thatafterwe go get your friend back.”
Twenty-Four
Anna
Our journeysouth from Kylma under the darkening light was swift and uneventful, outside one pocket of unexpected turbulence.
“That was amazing,” I said as we began to descend, a dreamy smile on my face as the wisps of clouds trailed past, so close I could almost reach out and touch them.
“Good,” Caz rumbled under me, the warm silvery-white scales vibrating away happily.
