The mist begins to form, then dissipates. Her frustration spikes.
"You're thinking too much." I move behind her, hands on her shoulders. "You're a scientist. You want to understand the mechanics before you attempt the execution. But shifting isn't rational. It's instinct."
"Then how do I?—"
"Stop trying to control it. Let the dragon rise." I lean closer, voice dropping. "Feel what I feel. How the shift moves through me. The surrender required."
A breath. An exhale. Her consciousness brushes against mine. Senses the dragon waiting beneath my skin. Learns the shape of the transformation without words.
This time when she reaches for it, the mist responds. Thicker. Charged with potential.
"Good." My hands drop from her shoulders as the transformation begins. "Now let it finish."
It takes her fast—faster than the first time. Muscle memory building even after a single transformation. Thunder cracks as woman becomes dragon, scales gleaming in the cave's dim light.
She holds the form for a heartbeat, two, then shifts back. The return is rougher, and she staggers when human legs reform beneath her.
I catch her before she falls. "Again. You need to be able to shift mid-combat without losing your footing."
"How many times?" Her breathing comes hard, exhaustion bleeding across the link.
"Until you can do it without thinking." I steady her, then step back. "Until your body knows the rhythm as well as your heartbeat. We have all night."
Her mind works. Analyzing variables. Forming strategies. She approaches the problem the way she'd approach any scientific challenge.
Can you fight tomorrow?I send the thought through the bond, needing to know if she understands what she's offering.
Her response comes immediately, fierce with determination that burns as bright as dragon fire.
I'm a dragon now. I can do anything.
But we both know the truth underneath the bravado. She's untested. Barely transformed. And we have less than a day before the attack comes.
The storm rages outside. Thunder shakes the cave walls. Lightning illuminates Lila's face, showing exhaustion and determination in equal measure.
Tomorrow, we go to war. Tonight, I teach my newly made dragon how to survive.
CHAPTER 12
LILA
Iwake to predawn gray and the scent of dragon.
My body registers the changes before my mind catches up. Stronger. Faster. Every sense amplified to the point where I can hear Finn's heartbeat beneath my ear, count the individual drops of rain hitting stone outside, smell the mineral composition of the cave walls mixing with salt water and sex and smoke.
The claiming bite on my shoulder throbs with pleasant heat. I move slightly and muscles respond with a fluidity that shouldn't be possible. The transformation rewrote me at the cellular level. Dragon fire burning through human limitations, leaving something new in its wake.
I'm wrapped around Finn like he's the only solid thing in the universe. One leg thrown over his hips, arm across his chest, face pressed into the curve of his neck. He's awake. I can sense it—alert awareness humming beneath his stillness.
"How long have you been watching me sleep?" The question comes out rougher than intended, my voice carrying an edge I don't recognize.
"Long enough." His hand finds the claiming bite, thumb brushing over the mark. "Your body kept trying to shift. Instinct overriding exhaustion."
"Unconsciously?"
"You shifted twice while you slept. Full transformations." He pulls me closer, possessive even now. "Dragon, then back. Your body learning the rhythm while your mind rested."
The bond pulses between us. The satisfaction at having marked me, claimed me, made me his. And beneath that, concern he won't voice aloud about the timeline we're facing.
