“Woo!” Varis laughed as Ghreid took an updraft and led their flight. Shifted half-formed draconic males surrounded him, three to one side, three to the other, with Galatan flying above, watching with an almost-tangible fear. Circe had taken the leap after her first shift, and though they never spoke it aloud, she did not spread her wings; the gesture intentional. She wished to die. Varis wished to live.
Joy, as tangible as Galatan’s fear, wept from Varis’s heart, sparking in new magic that welled beneath his skin.
“He’s multitoned, indigo based!” Slath cheered from Ghreid’s left as he stared at what little of Varis he could make out, his freckles still glowing in the waning light while dark, almost-purple scales stretched in a spread over his shoulders, up his neck and cheeks.
“I’m…” Varis cried out as he held his hand out before him, watching scales travel along the planes of his flesh. “I’m… I’m really a dragon!”
“I suppose we’re cutting the flight short!” Ghreid roared, the sound strained from his human throat, a cry of possession and joy.
“We’ll continue our flight once we escort you back. We wish to shift.” Rath echoed a roar of joy.
“Why wait? We can go to the stacks!” Ghreid banked and aimed their flight path toward the stacks where he’d first spied Varis.
The path they took wove them over troubled waters, the muddy surface marginally cleaner than it had been since Ghreid had arrived. Cleanup crews had left for the evening, but their work grew more apparent by the day. And the construction on the kilns couldn’t come fast enough. But that could wait a little longer, Ghreid’s mind focusing on his mate as they landed one by one atop the stacks, spread out as his brothers shed their clothes and stowed them in carried packs that would settle around their necks as they shifted.
One by one, they stretched their true forms to the skies, great beasts in pearl and royal blue, soft as sky, violet, green, a glimmering light red, almost mauve, and chromic black that shifted to the lightest copper at the edges, all-consuming in the night sky.
Ghreid carefully set Varis on unsteady feet and shifted, his great form towering above the small male, his draconic shift in its infancy. Ghreid wished he could admire his own body in that form, instead of the bits and bobs of gold he could see of his form. Varis reached his scaling arms toward him and Ghreid plucked his mate into his front arms, but Varis swung around to mount Ghreid’s neck. A squeeze of strong thighs and the tiny prick of fingers gripping onto his spines told Ghreid all he needed to know. Varis preferred to ride.
Ghreid might one day test that desire in other ways.
His blood brothers took off into the night as Asha waited, lovely tail curling in wait for Ghreid to take off. He glanced over toward his brother by law and made a nudging gesture of his snout with a slight lilt. They could speak through theirminds, but Asha’s voice, internally, was still feral and rather like shouting. He gestured toward Varis then the lighthouse and snorted, a lick of flame curling about. A clear intent to escort them back.
Ghreid beckoned him.Come.
Asha nodded, and they took off, Varis whooping with delight, his body trembling.
He’d be weak. He’d have needs. Ghreid would hold him close and take liberties without end.
Chapter Seventeen
Varis
In the bath of their chambers, Varis soaked, his breath coming out in short, panting huffs. A pale hand reached out to daub a soft rag over his temples. The bitter ichor of poppy milk still lingered on his tongue. “I’m sure I’ll be fine.”
“I’m sure you will be. Ghreid will sate your needs after this, but you need to let the change take you.” Jeron, Asha’s attendant, offered Varis a sweet smile before combing through his hair with widespread fingers.
“I feel great, honestly!” Varis tensed and adjusted his body beneath the water. Every inch of his body itched fiercely. “Jeron gave me medicine. Asha told me what to expect. It’s not too bad.”
Varis breathed with a hiss and relished the sensation of his head aching, scalp stinging. Ghreid stood in the doorway of the bath, arms crossed, the scent of arousal thick and fierce. Asha shot him an annoyed glance, but otherwise remained silent about it. “We’ll be out of here the moment we’re certain he’s stable. Then you two can defile your nest.”
“Been there, done that.” Varis laughed, the drunken flow of poppy milk swimming in his head.
“Many times, in fact.” Ghreid’s hungry voice from the other side of the room earned a glance from Varis and a blown kiss. Jeron nodded in approval as Asha did his best to look away and clear his throat.
“Oh, play coy all you like, new brother. You’re as amorous as I for your partner.” Varis sighed and twisted in discomfort, his spine aching and twisting, but the pain was dulled, like an echo of pain, a bruise. “Not the pain in my ass I wished for!”
Jeron aided Varis in turning over, folding his arms over the edge of the tub. The sharp pains growing made Varis hiss andsnarl, but Jeron showed no fear, even when Varis’s jaw ached and sharp points pricked his tongue and lips, new teeth growing from the ones that existed prior. “F- fuck, that stings!”
“Once the wings come, that’ll be closer to the end… It’s… Not the most fun part.” Asha’s voice grew distant, and Varis snarled, his back searing as if he were being lashed, bearable, but unwelcome. “So that’s what that looks like… I wish the first shift was closer to what it’s like to glamor and obscure.”
“It’s because glamor only changes your appearance. Your greater form requires much energy, and the lowest energy state for a dragon is somewhere more reptilian than human, but small.” Jeron did something to Varis’s hair and worked on washing the limp strands, his scalp stinging.
“Even with the blood gone…” Asha cooed gently and slid from the edge of the tub to walk toward Ghreid. “Red horns.”
“He’s a spectral.” Jeron pulled away from Varis. Ghreid nodded from the doorway. “Slath will have a joyous time painting him.”
“Be honest, my mate. Am I attractive?” Varis locked his blurred gaze upon Ghreid and found hesitant wonder in his gold eyes, a glassine sheen.
