Chapter 7 #2
I knew the answer to that, though. He was possibly the sexiest guy I’d ever met.
Not only that, but he seemed smart, charming, and he didn’t hold it against me that I’d kicked him in the balls.
How many guys could a person say that about?
Besides, there was something inherently attractive about the way he was sacrificing everything to save his sister.
I admired that. There was no way I couldn’t.
With everything he was going through, it would be easy to fall apart, but he seemed in control.
As the water in the shower warmed, I skimmed the internet on my phone, reading up on dragons: myths, stories, legends—anything I could come across that might give me a bit of insight into his world.
Every page had more and more information, and I had no clue if any of it was accurate.
Logging as much of it into my memory as I could, I put the phone aside and stepped into the shower.
Halfway through the shower, I was struck by how easily all this had become normal.
Dragon shifters, eggs, wolf shifters, magic.
I’d taken it the same way you took any kind of news.
A day before, I’d have said these kinds of revelations would have blown my mind, and maybe sent me into a catatonic coma.
In hindsight, it really wasn’t as remarkable as it should have been.
But then, I had my own issues to deal with.
The fact that there were magical creatures in the world wouldn’t stop the bank from taking what we’d built—our home and business.
It wouldn’t keep us from being homeless, sleeping on the couches of friends until they got tired of us.
Dad being forced to take work as a cashier at the grocery store or something.
Maybe I’d end up selling foot pics online, or whatever it took, I supposed.
If I helped Jackson with this, all those problems would be gone.
We could pay off the house and still have more than enough left over for the shop.
I could kill two birds with one stone. Save an innocent child and save my family.
With those two things on the line, I didn’t give a shit about anything else.
If someone told me demons, ghosts, and goblins were real next, I’d shrug it off and get back to work.
“Ready?” Jackson asked as I came down the stairs.
He’d been right about the clothes being tight, but they weren’t terrible.
In fact, I kind of liked how the sleeves accentuated my biceps.
I’d never been a girlie girl, which probably had something to do with being raised in a garage my whole life.
I preferred the company of machines and the people who worked on them, and that extended to the gym, where I tended to blow off most of my steam.
“I am.” I chewed my lip, shooting him an apprehensive look. “If I’m honest, I’m a little nervous.”
“Totally understandable.”
Outside, the morning sun shone brightly down through a sky scattered with sparse clouds.
“Uhm, how are we doing this?” I said. “Won’t everyone in Houston call in a dragon sighting? You’re pretty big.”
Jackson nodded, and tilted his face toward the sky. “Remember I told you about the plague? The Vanishing?”
“Yeah,” I said, unsure where he was going with this.
“It was caused when some of my kind got the bright idea to enhance our gifts to gain superiority over the other two dragon races. That gift being our ability to camouflage ourselves to ensure humans and other non-dragons on the ground can’t see us.
We sort of fade into the background, like a chameleon.
The effect doesn’t work on dragon eyes, we can always see through the camouflage, and that goes for drakes and wyrms too. ”
“What did they want to do? Make you totally invisible?” I said, the idea is almost as incredible as shifters themselves.
“Exactly that,” Jackson said, a grim look on his face.
“Something about the magic they used backfired, though. Instead of giving us a gift, they gave us a plague. Instead of being able to vanish on command, we get sick and then…” He drifted off, then snapped his fingers.
“We just vanish. Gone forever. Maybe dead, maybe…” He gave a humorless laugh.
“I don’t know. Another dimension? Reincarnated?
God only knows. All that to say, we won’t be seen. ”
“If you say so.” I didn’t know what else to say after that. The idea that anyone you cared about could disappear in the blink of an eye was terrifying. As awful as death was, at least you knew. You could put a body in a casket, have a funeral, and be sure you knew what happened.
Jackson took a few steps away, giving himself room, and then transformed.
It was so crazy to watch. Even the second time was like the first. The strange morphing, the blurring of man and beast, the increase in size, all of it flying in the face of the known laws of science.
As soon as he completed his transformation, I let out a laugh of delight.
“This is either the longest and weirdest dream of my life, or the world really is more mysterious than I ever thought,” I said, slowly walking toward him.
The massive head swung toward me, and I had to force myself not to flinch. Those strange eyes locked on mine again. I reached out, hesitant, and brushed my fingers across his snout and forehead, the skin beneath rigid but smooth. Looking at the dilated pupil again, I smirked at him.
“I’m going to ask about that at some point,” I said, tracing the ridges above that eye. “Makes you look like David Bowie.”
A heavy snort chuffed out of his huge nostrils, and Jackson rolled his dragon eyes at me before twisting and lowering his shoulder, folding his wing to allow me to climb up.
For a few panicked seconds, I stared at the spot on his back where he wanted me to climb onto.
Was I really doing this? How many times had I seen this in movies, TV shows, and read it in books.
Was I actually going to be a dragon rider?
Taking a steadying breath, I finally made my decision.
“Fuck it,” I grunted. Before I could chicken out, I climbed up onto his back.
He was incredibly warm, the heat of his body radiating up through my inner thighs and crotch. That was good, though, since I assumed it would get really chilly up in the air.
Settling in, I glanced around, unsure what to hold onto. Then I spotted two bony protrusions near the base of Jackson’s neck. Reaching out, I took hold of the horny projections.
“Okay,” I called, and I was happy to hear my voice was steady and calm. “I’m ready.”
Jackson rose, and the first flash of vertigo hit me.
It was the same feeling you might have when riding a horse—moving, but not under your own power.
And God, the sheer power of him was astounding.
It made it less surprising that he’d been able to fly so far with a massive sports car clutched in his claws.
Squeezing the horns and clamping my thighs tight, I prepared for the liftoff.
Jackson jumped upward, my stomach flipping as he did.
We ascended nearly twenty feet from only the explosive power of his legs, his wings unfurling and flapping.
Jaw open and eyes wide, I had to force myself to breathe as the first few strokes of his wings did nothing, and we lowered toward the ground.
Then on the third flap, they caught the air, and we rose at a rapid speed that boggled my mind, going from twenty feet to a hundred in less than two seconds.
The strength of his wings was terrifying.
Once we rose above the treetops, I discovered what he’d been talking about with camouflage.
His black serpentine skin shimmered and became a weird mix of greens and browns.
I had the sense that if I’d been high above and looking down, he’d blend right into the ground below, and if I looked up, I had no doubt his stomach and legs would probably have blue and white hues that would be at home in a partly cloudy morning sky.
I chuckled as the wind buffeted my hair. “Magic,” I whispered.
Awe, unlike anything I’d ever experienced, filled me as my fear gave way to wonder.
This was more visceral, more fantastic than the flight the night before.
Then, I’d been huddled in a vehicle, my inner mind tricking me into believing I was still in the real world.
Now? Now, I was fully in the realm of fantasy—a fantasy that was tangible and material.
My heart soared. After living twenty-nine years, it was only then, at that very moment, that I realized how much people hungered for this.
How humans desired the unbelievable. How fervently we prayed that Santa or the Easter Bunny was real, even as doubt slowly crept in.
How we gravitated to books and movies and games about wizards, monsters, and magic.
Somewhere, deep inside, we all knew this was real, but we were far enough removed that it existed as nothing but myth and dream.
Here, sitting atop a dragon and flying through the warm morning air, I felt like I’d discovered something I’d been searching for my entire life.
As we rose higher and higher, I took in a deep, cleansing breath, enjoying the exhilaration of it all.
After getting comfortable, I ventured a glance over the side at the ground below.
My heart thudded hard when I saw how high we were, but the steady strength of Jackson below me gave a sense of security that made it less terrifying.
I even took a chance and released the bony ridges I’d been grasping.
Sitting up tall, I extended my arms out at my side.