Instead, it collapsed. His dragon hissed and tried to yank its wings away from Francine, but its muscles wouldn’t—or couldn’t—obey in time.
Julian felt Francine fall to her knees under the sudden weight of his dragon’s wings. Ithurthim, deep inside, a sudden rush of fear and concern he couldn’t ignore the way he’d been ignoring his physical injuries.
*Francine!* he cried out, and his dragon hissed with terrified concern. It tried to push itself up, but the last of its strength was gone. Its huge sides heaved with pained breaths.
Somewhere under its wings, Francine half stood, then fell again.
Julian went completely still, human and dragon both straining their senses.
*Are you injured? Did the explosion—*Julian cut himself off mid-sentence.
He’d dragged her from an exploding building. Even if the explosion hadn’t harmed her … what if he had?
A final burst of terrified energy flooded his veins. Julian concentrated. A shimmer of light whispered across his scales.
Protect her!his dragon snarled. Pain shot through Julian’s skull.She’s hurt! Help her!
The shimmer surrounding Julian faltered. His claws scrambled in the dirt of the forest floor.
Julian bore down on his dragon, fighting to keep control.
I can’t help her if you don’t let me take human form!he shouted as the shimmer disappeared entirely.Stop fighting me! Remember the tower? Remember what we almost did to Adria’s eggs?
His dragon’s rage shattered. It stopped fighting Julian for control so abruptly that he shifted faster than he’d meant to and fell to his knees, gasping.
I remember, his dragon whispered in his mind, shame shadowing the words.
Julian stumbled to his feet at the same moment Francine did. Night had fallen properly now, and the thin light of the moon barely brushed the clearing they were standing in. Francine took a step forward and stumbled over a root, and Julian rushed to catch her.
She gasped as she fell against his chest, but it was surprise, not pain. He hoped.
“Are you injured?” he asked quickly. He had one arm around her waist and grabbed her hand to steady her with the other. Her hand was sticky with what his nose told him was blood.
Her fingers wrapped around his. “AmIinjured?” Her voice was icy and incredulous. “You just flew out of a—damn it. You shifted back. What have you done?”
“My dragon was too badly injured to—”
“And you left it that way? You shifted back while it was that injured?” Francine’s voice rang like a bell. She hissed in a breathand when she spoke again, it was in a whisper. “Don’t you know what—”
A shout echoed through the night, and she broke off. Julian scanned the surrounding forest, watching for any movement that might suggest they’d been followed. He sent out a psychic search. There was nobody nearby, but…
Francine swallowed. “It’s done now. Look. I’ve got a car about a half-mile away. Can you make it that far?”
“My human form isn’t injured.”
Even the thin sliver of moonlight was enough for him to see the look of worried disbelief in Francine’s eyes.
“Right. Good, then. Let’s go.”
She pulled away, still holding on to his hand. Julian stood his ground. Reminding his dragon of what had happened, or nearly happened, at the tower had made it back down temporarily, but he could still feel it flexing its claws nervously in the back of his mind.
“You didn’t answer my question. Are you hurt?”
“No. Come on.”
“But you’re bleeding.”
Francine let out a frustrated sigh. “It’s your blood, Rouse.”
