Page 30 of Dark Dragon’s Wolf

She nodded. “Because that would definitely suck.”

Chapter 13

Mayah Changed to dragon so she could fly Tristan back to the castle. He stared up at her dragon form, awe and delight in his eyes.

“You are the most beautiful dragon in all the worlds,” he said, putting his hand on the side of her neck as if he were touching a rare treasure.

The look in his eyes sent warmth flooding through her. She wanted him to love her dragon. Hell, she still couldn’t believe he loved her.

her dragon pointed out to him. Killjoy.

Tristan smiled. “I still know you’re the most beautiful.”

That seemed to please the dragon. Then she spoiled it by adding,

Worthy of what? Mayah asked.

Never mind, said Tristan and her dragon together.

Huh. She wondered what that was about.

She dipped her wing so Tristan could climb on her back, and then jumped into the air, beating her wings to get off the ground.

The storm had moved off and the stars were out. She circled beneath them, reveling in the feeling of the air under her wings. She could feel Tristan soaking in the night and the starlight, wanting to feel the way it felt for her.

He wanted to understand why she loved it.

Finally she turned and headed back toward the castle. About half a mile before they got there was a rock formation that held the portal they used to go back and forth to Earth. A bulky rectangular shape was moving away from the portal, along the path to the castle, and behind it she caught a glimpse of red light.

Dragon eyes.

Mayah felt something cold in the pit of her stomach. Intruders? More Gen-X?

Tristan, she said inside his mind. Do you see that?

Yeah.

She circled around and came in for a silent landing. As soon they got near the ground, she saw who it was. Zakerek.

He froze when her dark form dropped out of the night, his eyes still glowing dragon, though the rest of him was human.

“Emon!” he said. “Um. I didn’t expect to see Your Majesty—”

He looked closer. “You’re not Emon,” he said in a whisper. She felt him preparing to Change.

“Nope,” Mayah said, Changing to human. “But I can still kick your ass, Zakerek. What are you doing, smuggling shit into the castle in the dead of night?”

The bulky rectangular shape was covered in cloth wrappings. What the hell was that?

“Mayah!” Zakerek said. “I mean, Esteemed Princess.”

Suck-up. She waited.

“I didn’t know your dragon was… ahh…” Zakerek shifted from foot to foot, looking uncomfortable. “Yeah. Anyway. I don’t suppose we could keep this whole thing…” he gestured, “between us?”

“Depends what it is,” Tristan said. “If you’re doing anything to hurt Mayah or Emon, or the people in this domain…” His voice grew low and threatening.

“Um.” Zakerek shifted his eyes to the side, towards the bulky object. “Can we clarify? Like, are we talking only physical harm? Or would running up Emon’s Earth credit card balance fall into that category? Hypothetically? I’m thinking that’s not really harm, per se, but maybe I could get your thoughts on that?”