The hand… it touched me. I could still feel the icy cold brush against my cheek, making me shudder. The action made Rudy’s large wolf form pull me tighter against him, and a heavy leg draped over mine, locking me in place. I sighed happily and hunkered into his hold. With each dream I’d had, it had gotten closer, and this time, it actually touched me. It felt so real that it was hard to shake.
But here… in the embrace of a beast, I felt safe, as if I were unreachable by the hand of shadows. Somehow, in this cold, empty room, I felt at home in a way that surprised the hell out of me. Though it had more to do with the body at my back than the room I was in.
The huffing breaths of a predator in my ear should be unnerving, but I found it incredibly comforting, especially when the huffs slowed and turned into snores. I lay there, enveloped by a huge creature who snored louder than anything I’d heard before, and I couldn’t stop the smile from stretching across my face. Eventually, the excitement and thrill wore off, and I found myself relaxing against him.
For the second time, I’d slept deeply and without nightmares in the presence of the being beside me. First with the shy man on the couch, and now with the bold werewolf who wouldn’t let me go, no matter how loudly he snored.
When I woke later, without any sense of time in the windowless room, I was no longer tucked against the chest of a werewolf. In fact, I was under him. Only Rudy wasn’t in his wolf form, but his human one. A very large human who lay fully on top of me, pressing me into the mattress.
If I had to choose ways to die, being smothered beneath a rock-hard body seemed a pretty good way to go. Rudy’s hair tickled my nose as his head was buried in the crook of my neck. I didn’t feel as small as I did in the wolf’s embrace, but he still was nearly twicemy size. The weight of him on top of me did all kinds of things to my body, heating me internally as well as externally. It would be so tempting to wake him and show him what he did to me, but I had no idea how he was affected by his transformation. If he needed to sleep, I was going to let him.
From my position, with a heavy body on top of me, staring up at the ceiling, I couldn’t do much, though. I lifted a hand to stroke Rudy’s hair, and he nuzzled his cheek against mine. God, he was so fucking sweet. I loved the way he reacted to my touch.
Running my hand through his hair, enjoying the light humming sounds he made, I decided I could stay like this forever, even with the struggle to get a full breath under his weight. A shuffling sound made me freeze, my heart lodged in my chest. I listened carefully, trying to decide if it was something that needed attention or if I was hearing things. Rudy only snored, which was a slight reassurance. He would alert to danger, wouldn’t he?
Feeling slightly ridiculous, I whispered, “Hello?”
Rudy stirred but didn’t wake, and I continued to pet his head. A thud on the bed had my heart jumping into my throat. “Rudy, was that you?” I wasn’t sure how it could be, but nothing else made sense. He rolled off me, but pulled me against his chest once more. At least I felt like I could dosomethingif it came to it, instead of being helplessly pinned beneath him.
A face appeared before me, making me flinch back into the man behind me, but a soft laugh huffed out of me when it came into focus. A flat, rounded face with large eyes and golden scales covering its head stood on the bed and blinked, tilting its head as it took me in. A strange sensation scratched at the inside of my mind, but I pushed it aside to admire the creature in front of me.
“Oh, hello, beautiful. Who are you?” I asked quietly, trying not to disturb Rudy now that I knew the danger was gone.
“You can hear me, yes?”
My eyes rounded, and I stared at the lizard before me. The voice didn’t come from it or any sound that it made. The voice came from…insidemy head. “What?”
Rudy wriggled beside me, making me realize I’d said that louder than I meant to.
“So it’s true.” The voice sounded again—definitely in my head; I was not making that up. Reptiles were interesting communicators, typically with clicks or hisses, quieter than most species unless in distress, but the lizard in front of me wasn’t making any sound at all.
“Yeah, I can hear you. How are you doing that?”
“Hmm?” Rudy mumbled.
“Shh. Sorry, big guy, go back to sleep.” I rubbed a hand over his arm, trying to help him relax.
“This is wonderful. I haven’t met one of your kind in many years.” The creature did a little happy foot stomp with her front feet.
I didn’t know which part of this whole thing was more confusing. The fact that this golden lizard could speak in my head, or the fact that she seemed to have met one of my kind. What did that even mean?
“I don’t understand,” I whispered.
“I imagine not. Let’s start with introductions, shall we?”
I bobbed my head. “I’m Bowen.”
“Yes. You are. I am Aurelia.” The lizard wiggled her body, and with the motion, wings unfurled from her back. I drew a sharp breath at the sight.
“Holy shit!”
Rudy sat straight up behind me with a snarl. “What? What happened?”
His eyes landed on the creature in front of me, and a sleepy smile stretched across his face. “Hey, girl. Good morning, Ellie. Did you finally decide to meet my Bowen?”
He reached out his large hand, and the lizard nudged her head against it, closing her eyes. I didn’t miss the part where he saidmyBowen, although he had already claimed me as his in front of the entire staff, but I couldn’t focus on that now.
“Ellie… uh, Aurelia, she’s a dragon. You have a dragon?” I looked between Rudy and the golden beastie.
