Chapter 20
TARIAN
“ O h, she is going to be pissed when you do whatever it is you’re gonna do right now,” Rocky said, dancing around between their feet.
“I know,” Tarian told the dog, taking his pants off again.
If he transitioned into his dragon wearing them, they’d be torn, and then where would he be? But it wasn’t safe for either of them here. He’d pick her and the dog up and fly them both against the edge of the coast, until he found a cave where he could protect them.
“Get back,” he warned the dog, and Rocky did so, racing back as Tarian let his inner dragon unfurl.
In an instant, he was a magnificent deep-red scaled creature, half as high as a young redwood tree—and he’d taken out several of them with his transition, like he knew he would—but he’d made sure they’d all fallen away from her.
The small, delicate, obstinate human who he loved.
He couldn’t talk to her, not with his dragon’s jaw, but his dragon’s finer senses reveled at recognizing her again, lowering his head to breathe her in deeply.
Her eyes were shut because of his magic, but she wasn’t restrained, so she backed up, as if sensing him before reaching forward inquisitively, and he recoiled.
He didn’t want her to touch him like this yet, but he had no choice—he had to touch her. His massive clawed forepaw curled around her, pinning her arms at her sides as she let out a startled yelp, then he picked his pants up with the other forepaw and held the paw open for Rocky to jump inside.
The little dog bravely did so, and he caged his scaled fingers around the dog to keep him safe before launching himself into the sky.