Page 21 of Dark Dragon’s Wolf

She landed silently, almost invisible in the dark. We’ve still got it, she said to her dragon. God, she’d missed flying.

She’d dressed herself when she Changed, embracing the badass with full black leather.

Tristan noticed her as soon as she landed. The white wolf stopped tearing at the deer carcass and growled at her. She could see his eyes, pure gold and churning.

“Tristan?” she said. But she already knew he’d disappeared inside the wolf, hidden in a dark corner of his mind.

“You’re not chasing me off,” she told him. “Forget it. We’re having this out, right here and now.”

The growl turned to a snarl. He was big—his head would come up past her waist. Tough. Scarred. Heavily muscled.

His fangs were huge.

He bared them at her, his snarl growing. She saw his hindquarters bunch, and knew he was going to attack.

She could have done a stasis spell. Or a shield. She could have protected herself. But she didn’t.

She braced herself with her dragon strength, and opened her arms.

He was on her in moments. Hot breath, sharp teeth, nails that gouged at her skin and her leather clothes. He tore through the sleeve of her leather jacket and bit into her arm.

Fuck. That hurt like fire. Blood gushed down her arm, but she held on.

She let him take her to the ground, wrapping her free arm around him.

He loosed her bloody arm and snapped at her neck, but she’d at least had sense enough to give herself a spiked collar.

He howled in frustration.

Mayah wrapped her arms and legs around the wolf, holding him to her with all her strength. He writhed, trying to bite her again, and she managed to get one hand clamped around his jaw.

He fought.

And she talked.

“I love you,” she whispered into his scarred white ear. “You’re a good man. A good wolf. You’ve saved lots of people.”

She got nothing but growls in response.

She kept talking. “You saved me. When Grange and Johnson were trying to take me back through the portal to Gen-X. You couldn’t get to me, so you attacked them with the only thing you had—your mind. Even though it hurt you. You did that for me.”

His struggles grew less.

“And you saved me even before that. When I was sitting in my room all alone. When everything in my head was going crazy, and I couldn’t find my way out of the darkness. You were there.”

The growls grew less vicious. He stopped struggling.

“You were there. You came and held my hands, and you looked into my eyes and walked into the dark shadows in my mind and you didn’t even flinch.”

She stroked his fur, trying to loosen the tension from his muscles, soothe away the growls. “You’re not a killer. You’re a beautiful, brave, strong protector.”

She stroked his head, smoothed the hackles on the back of his neck.

“You’re hurting now because of me. Because you hurt yourself trying to save me. So I’m not leaving you alone. We’re going to face down the ghosts and memories together, you and me.”

The growls stopped. He lay still in her arms, panting.

After a moment, Mayah loosened her grip, and he struggled to his feet. Now was the moment of truth. She couldn’t hold him forever. He had to make up his own mind.