I followed, muscles fizzing with magic. The cold night slapped me the second I hit the porch.
That's when Taryn really started to push. It was different this time. There was no hesitation,just a tidal wave of need, the dragon practically drooling at the chance to crush our enemies.
Chance angled me toward the back yard, where the meadow cut off into darkness. "Ready?" he asked.
Taryn howled bloody murder.
My hands shook, so I balled them tight and focused on the breathing drills he'd drilled into me, four in, two hold, six out. Each breath fanned the flames higher. At the edge of the clearing nothing but starlight painted the grass.
Chance's body shimmered, scales flickering like oil on water as the change rolled over him.
My clothes, thank god for Maeve, went light as second skin, shifting as I shifted.
Taryn ripped to the surface.
I didn't ease in.
I let her take the wheel.
Heat blasted out of my chest, the spark so sharp it nearly blinded me. My arms shimmered, first the hands, then the forearms, then everything. Scales burst into existence, every color at once, like sunlight through a prism. It hurt, but only in the way sprinting hurts, like maybe I was built for it.
My legs warped, my feet clawed the dirt. My vision snapped wider, clearer, every edge razor-bright. Thetail, fuck, the tail, lashed behind me, balanced, ready to whip the world in half if it came too close.
Our wings exploded out, the membrane iridescent, each ripple pulsing with Taryn's urgency.
I bellowed, just to hear the sound. It shook the yard. Somewhere behind, Fifi howled back. In human form, but loud enough for the stars.
Chance watched, his eyes narrowed in pride. He whipped his wings once, then shot up into the sky, a black arrow between the trees.
Taryn wanted to catch him. No, she wanted to outpace him. Prove that she belonged. I flexed, dug in, and launched.
This was nothing like the practice runs. The urgency, the need to get there first, to prove I could protect what was ours, doubled everything.
I caught the wind, air battering my scales, but it felt absolutely perfect.
Up above, Chance glided in slow circles, waiting.
I joined him, my wings flexing wide, rainbow glow reflecting off his shadow. For a moment, we hovered, side by side, dragons in full glory, nothing holding us back.
Chance banked left, toward the distant glimmer of headlights on the far ridge, his body slicing the nightopen. I followed, Taryn surging with every muscle fiber, not out of fear but anger.
Below, the safe house shrank to a toy. The woods ignited with the sound of our wings, the old world left behind.
The world from a dragon's view was almost too much. Every detail popped, like somebody had jacked the contrast all the way up. The woods were a rumble of shadow and glint, nothing subtle about how we tore through the clouds. Beside me, Chance's wings gulped the wind, black, terrible, and beautiful, while Taryn flooded our veins with a wild "oh yeah, let's break things" energy.
We followed Xavier and Damon. The hunters' cabin waited below, tucked halfway down a gravel switchback, lights out, a dead thing already.
Chance tucked and veered. I followed, and together we spiraled down.
The destruction was insane. The grass was torn up, furrows crisscrossing like a herd of angry wild boar had staged a mutiny. The old porch was cracked, one rail gone, the steps broken and splintered. Scorch marks licked up the siding, black, crusted streaks that went all the way to the roofline.
But thebodies.
Jesus.
Two men were crumpled near the porch, one with his arm cocked at an angle that screamed "never getting back up." The other sprawled out on his back, mouth open, eyes wide, like he'd seen God and wasn't thrilled about it.
At the cabin's side, a black SUV was caved in against the exterior logs, metal accordion-folded, both side mirrors snapped like twigs. If you'd told me a dragon had used it as a soccer ball, I'd have believed you.
