The more often a dragon shed, the more their form grew, and a shed could take months, isolating themselves in their hoard to slough the scales and grow their form. I had no interest in growing larger, and I knew why—my mate would be small.
I pressed my nose into Whisper’s chest, sniffing once more as I took in the scent of him, not as feline as the feline scents he’d been unable to scrub from his body—shedding and burning through his first shift would do that. A dragon, born from an egg, knew flame from their conception. A dragon born of shifters was drawn to flame, but until they met another dragon and knew true flame, they’d remain a throwback.
And even still, we never knew what most throwbacks were—a creature long lost to time trying to reawaken? But we could at least tell a dragon apart.
As I nuzzled into Whisper’s chest, he stared at all of us without fear. A child with a broken voice, unable to breathe flame or speak. I headbutted him gently and nuzzled up, freezing as he kissed the tip of my snout.
“What we spoke about, boy. Are you ready to taste his fire?” Morris crossed his arms and huffed. A flick of flame shot from his nose as he snarled and entered the chambers, shifting to billow out into his enormous draconic form, dark scales shimmering with multifaceted sheens of blue.Take his fire.
I wasn’t sure what to do at first, but my dragon did, huffing as I built up flame in my throat. It started gently, a caress offlame that whipped around Whisper, tousling his newly cut hair. He held his head high as he tilted his face to soak in my warmth.
The gentle flame wasn’t enough. My dragon billowed toward Whisper while two new dragons watched. Brae with red scales and Aster, pink as a summer sunrise.
It began as a kiss, Whisper tilting his head up, lips to the tip of my snout. My dragon had no way to reciprocate, but Whisper had his instinct. He breathed, inhaled my fire like air as it swelled in his core. And between one breath and the next, he opened pink eyes that burned back at me with slitted pupils.Stop.My dragon snorted in my mind as he ceased his fire and watched.
Whisper coughed, flame sputtering from his lips as he reached to his throat and coughed again. Scales traversed his arms, white and pearlescent, and he sighed as his body stretched, the form of his flesh melding and twisting bit by bit until white scales, razor claws, and the smoothest crested head I’d ever seen rose.I am…
The words on his dragon’s mind echoed around us, telepathy rushing forth where words never had before. He stared at his claws, staggering back before his slender feet splashed in the shallow water.I can shift. I am not a bobcat.
The words his dragon made came in halting pauses, from a mind that had never accustomed itself to speaking. He stared at his claws and touched himself, maneuvering his slender form, smaller than my own, or any others, aside from Nula, who scampered across the floor and leaped, fluttering little wings to latch onto Whisper’s head with a purr of delight.Friend!
Whisper froze, entire body trembling as Aster approached, nipping the little one by the scruff of his neck.
I have sharps. My claws. They are. Cannot touch Nula.
Dragon hides are remarkably resilient, but that is a good instinct to have,Brae said, laughing as Nula struggled in Aster’s maw.
What is?Whisper reached a slender arm to pat his chest, claws clacking clumsily.
Dragon,I couldn’t help but answer as I approached, nuzzling along his jaw.My mate. You are a dragon.
Whisper shook his head and coughed, fire spitting along the ground as embers and sparks cascaded across the floor like a firework, crackling away.
Bathe. Go to your hoard. Shed with your mate, Marcus. Show him what good touch is.
I would. I would show him so many kinds of good touches, and as I inhaled his scent, my dragon rumbled, purring as I rubbed my jaw along his, sniffing along his face and body as we turned with one another, yin and yang sniffing and nuzzling.
I must… Sorry. I cannot.Whisper shook his head, coughing sparks again as he slung his head against mine, maw opened wide. It was barely a thought in my mind, an instinct and pure delight as Whisper bit my neck, sinking new fangs into my flesh with huffing breaths and burning saliva.Mine.
Yours.My dragon returned the bite, sinking teeth into the nape of his neck to leave my brand of burning teeth. I snarled with pleasure, sensing nothing else on Whisper, for fire and magic had burned away all things.
Our dragons nuzzled and we lost our forms, the shift leaving us as we fell into one another’s arms. Hot flames circled us, coming from all sides as a coppery-chocolate-colored dragon with white patches slunk into the chamber with a miserable expression on his face. Still, he had joy for us to give.
Bathed in fire by my clan, our union sealed, and I held my mate so tight. “Mine.”
Whisper didn’t say it back, only nuzzled into my neck with a nod. In a small voice in the back of my mind, his dragon spoke to me for him.Yours. We are yours.
Chapter Ten
Whisper
It felt like a dream, the shift of my body, stretching out with magic, a form I’d dreamed of my entire life, slender, long. My reflection in the soaking pools showed me white like pearls and diamonds and when Marcus kissed me, the other dragons one by one shifted back, having given us a blessing I couldn’t understand.
I wasn’t no bobcat at all. I was a dragon.
It felt like some sort of grand ceremony as everyone approached us in bare human form, save for little Nula who watched at the shoreline, chubby tail swishing. A bowl filled with water from Morris’s hands, stone heavy and dark, worn from ages. He tilted it over my head, and the rich minerals breathed into me, my flesh tingling. And so too did he douse Marcus. One by one, they passed the bowl, filling it and dumping it over us until Morris spoke. “And with this water, you will shed your skin. As thousands of years before, our kind has always done. And all those who came before, all blighted memories and unwanted touch, it washes away. No mark will remain.”
Morris said this as he stared at me, knowing in his forever-deep eyes. “You are a dragon’s treasure, now, and belong to no other. Kill those who would defile your mate’s treasure. Protect his hoard as you will protect your young.”
