“Fine.” Doc gathered himself. Then he shrugged off his clothes and walked out the front door, reaching inward for the spark of flame.
The shift was as natural as breathing. The flames spread through his body; his face lengthened into a snout and wings sprouted from his back, his body growing in size. He checked that the folded contract was still in his paw. Then he took off into the sky, smiling a little when Hijinks cheered after him.
“Ho ho ho,” the butler said right before he fell out of earshot. “That last line was genius.”
Doc frowned as the buildings grew smaller beneath him.
What last line?
Doc’s mansionwas located on the outskirts of Cartfalls. Because dragon hunters still existed, albeit in smaller numbers these days, it was safer for him to avoid light sources in his dragon shape.
He flew high above the city, scanning the streets below. Nah. Too risky to land in full view of the night crowd. Instead, Doc followed the highway.
Titan’s bakery sat between Cartfalls and the nearest small town, with some homes clustered around Twin Buns and its neighboring shops. Beyond that was a stretch of pack territory, then Washerville.
He wouldn’t find any lost, wandering souls on pack territory. But perhaps there might be someone in Washerville?
Doc flew slowly above the moonlit trees, listening to the wolves howling. The forest stretched for miles around him.
Then he found a dark speck on the highway. A person?
Doc blinked. The speck was still there. It had two stick-like legs carrying it along the road.
He flew closer and squinted. The speck seemed to be a tiny man with a limp, hurrying along. Whenever a car rumbled, the man scurried off the asphalt and ducked into the trees.
Huh. Was he an omega? He sure looked like one.
Bring him home,Doc’s instincts said.
The beast in his heart roared.
He couldn’t approach slowly; the man might hear his wings and dive into the forest. Doc wasn’t agile enough in his dragon shape to chase the man in there. And he sure as hell wasn’t chasing him down as a naked man.
So Doc took the other approach. He beat his wings harder, tipping into a dive.
The omega went still and stopped walking.
Doc saw him consider running.
He plummeted toward the omega. At the last moment, he twisted himself around and threw out his wings, beating them hard to slow his fall.
His feet hit the asphalt. It was a perfect landing. Doc spread his wings to display the majesty of his dragon shape.
The omega squawked.
“Hello,” Doc said. “I’m going to steal you for my hoard.”
Instead of saying hello, the omega leaped back and whipped out a tiny white square, raising it like a shield between them.
It looked like a spell sheet.
Fuck!
Doc leaped back too, yelping when a stream of fire billowed out of the white square.
“Don’t hex me!” he said. The fire wouldn’t hurt him. But it was eating into the kidnap contract in his paw. He hurriedly smacked out the flames.
When the contract was no longer burning, Doc exhaled, looking up at the omega.
