Chapter 32
LARK
Igape at what used to be Remy.
He’s now at least a couple of stories tall and has massive wings folded against his back. Brown, shimmery scales cover the entirety of his body, with silvery scales decorating his underbelly.
His wings aren’t covered in scales. Instead, they look almost gossamer and delicate between the strong tendons running through them.
Two curving black horns sit on the top of his head, with three smaller horns protruding on either side of his face.
His eyes are a neon light blue that illuminate the dim cave as he watches me with what looks like amusement.
Although I’m not sure, since I’m far from an expert in dragon facial expressions.
That’s not a sentence I ever imagined myself thinking, yet here I am. Every time I think my life can’t possibly get any weirder, it does.
Hal chuckles next to me. “Yep. He’s a dragon. A mud dragon, to be specific.”
“What? How?” I ask, my eyes wide as I look between Hal and Remy. “Dragons aren’t real.”
I should know.
I’ve shifted into pretty much every real creature there is and has been on this earth. I can’t shift into things like dragons or unicorns because they don’t exist. Or, at least, that’s what I’m pretty sure is the reason.
Azrael scoffs behind me. “Shifters aren’t real to humans. A shifter who can change into any animal she pleases isn’t real to shifters. Dragons aren’t real to you but very real to us. Real is relative.”
I mean, the grumpy man has a point. There’s a reason we don’t tell humans what we are. They’d freak out if they knew magic is real, despite all creatures on Earth having some amount of magic.
I’m guessing dragons don’t advertise their existence to avoid the same reaction from regular supernaturals. Accepting that vampires, mages, shifters, and fae exist is easy. But accepting that people can turn into mythical beasts? That’s a bit harder.
“Am I a dragon?” I ask when I process what this means for me. “Are you dragons?”
Hal wraps an arm around me and pulls me close. “All of us are dragons. And you are, wild girl. A very rare type of dragon, if my suspicions are correct.”
I don’t even have the bandwidth to process the part about me being a rare dragon because I’m so transfixed with Remy.
“Can I touch him?” I whisper, still unable to pull my attention away from the magnificent creature in front of me.
Dragon Remy’s head bobs up and down enthusiastically at my question, pulling a giggle from me. He’s such a fierce-looking beast, but Remy’s personality still shines through, making him much less intimidating.
Colt walks over to sit on one of the rocks close to the entrance. “You can touch him, sweetheart. He’s loving having all of your attention on him, so I’m sure he’s over the moon that you want to give him pets.”
Remy narrows eyes on Colt, but they quickly bounce back to me. His slitted pupils dilate as he watches me approach him.
When I’m within a few feet of him, Remy lowers his massive head to the ground, making it easy for me to touch his face.
His warm breath blows over me when I stop right in front of him. The force of his breath almost knocks me back, and he gives me an apologetic look. Another giggle slips out of my mouth at the absurdity of the whole situation.
Taking a fortifying breath, I reach out a shaky hand and rest it on his surprisingly soft snout.
He lets his eyes slip closed as I run my hand along his nose and up to his scales.
I didn’t expect his shimmery scales to be so smooth and soft, and I enjoy trailing my fingers over them for a long moment.
When I’m done feeling up his face, I dart in to hug as much of him as I can reach, which isn’t much. My arms are just splayed wide over his face, which is taller and a lot wider than my whole body.
I crane my neck so I can stare into one of his currently closed eyes. “Just so you know, Remy, you’re the coolest thing I’ve ever seen. And I’ve been able to turn into dinosaurs for years, so that’s saying something.”
His eyes flick open, and his lips pull back in what I’m pretty sure is a grin, but all it does is expose his wickedly sharp teeth. I let my arms fall and back away before I start to walk around him.
I run my fingers along whatever I can reach until I get to his enormous leg and paw that are many times bigger than I am. Or is it claw? I’m not really sure what the proper names for dragon anatomy are.
I reach out to pet one of his massive talons, marveling over how smooth and slick the black surface is. While I’m preoccupied with looking at how gigantic he is, Remy swings his head around and grabs the back of my shirt gently in his mouth.
My eyes go wide as he picks me up and deposits me onto his foot. I don’t have time to figure out how to react to part of me being in a dragon’s mouth because Remy lifts up his leg, hoisting me high in the air.
I let out a high-pitched squeal, followed by genuine laughter at the move. I know I’m making a fool of myself, but I can’t bring myself to care as Remy stomps around the cave with me clutching on to his leg.
He lets out snorts and chuffs, clearly enjoying his shenanigans as much as I am.
“All right, Remy,” Colt calls after a few minutes. “That’s enough. Change back. I’m sure Lark has a lot of questions for us.”
He’s not wrong about me having questions, but I’m really enjoying goofing off with Remy. It’s nice just being silly for a bit and not having to think about all the heavy stuff. It feels like I rarely get a break from all the bad in life, so Remy’s antics offer a welcome distraction.
Remy huffs, breath puffing out of his nostrils, but complies. He starts transforming back when I’m still on his foot that’s hovering a ways off the ground. A scream gets trapped in my throat as I start free-falling.
Before I can shift or react in any way, I land with an oomph in Remy’s outstretched arms. He grins down at me, genuine joy shining in his now icy blue eyes. I smile up at him and get lost in his gaze and how happy a simple thing like this makes him.
“Are you two done yet? None of us want to see Remington’s dick any longer than we have to,” Azrael grouses.
My cheeks flush as I realize a very naked Remy is holding me right now. His grin widens, and he waggles his eyebrows.
I laugh and squirm to be put down. With a loud sigh, Remy sets me down, facing away from him. I’m not sure whether I’m relieved or disappointed I don’t get a chance to stare at his naked form more.
“You can head over to the others,” Remy whispers in my ear, his husky voice sending shivers down my spine. “I’ll get dressed and join you in a second.”
I nod, not trusting my voice to stay steady. I don’t know how something as simple as his raspy voice can cause heat to pool in my core, but here we are.
Shaking my head at myself, I make my way over to the rest of the guys. I pause briefly to stare into the gently glowing pond, feeling myself get lost in it for a moment. Something about the water calls to me, but I don’t have time to examine it too closely right now.
I have many more important questions to get answered.
Once I reach the rest of the guys, Remy is fully dressed and jogging over to us.
“So, what’s a mud dragon?” I ask when Remy comes to stand next to me.
Before he can answer, Azrael cuts in. “Let’s talk as we walk. I don’t want to spend any more time here than necessary.”
Not waiting for my response, Azrael starts making his way out of the cavern and back down the long hallway.
I hustle to catch up with him. “Why?”
Azrael doesn’t answer me, but Rook does.
“Our dragons are used to shifting here. It’s one of the few places we can shift safely.
The longer we’re here with you, the more eager our dragons are to come out.
If we stay here too long, you’re going to be surrounded by an entire flight of enthusiastic dragons, which will be chaotic. ”
“What’s a flight?” I feel like a toddler, asking why to everything. But there’s so much I don’t know about them and myself.
I’m apparently a dragon shifter, but I didn’t grow up around other dragons. So I’m super behind with understanding our kind compared to other people my age. It makes me feel insecure, and I want to learn everything I can to catch up.
“It’s a grouping of dragons. Valors are equivalent to packs or streaks or prides or whatever to regular shifters. Flights are usually three to seven dragons who will eventually form mate groups. Members of a flight fight together, live together, and do most things together.”
My heart squeezes painfully at the mention of their mate. “So you all share the same mate?”
I’ve been trying not to think too hard about the fact that all of us have a mate or mates out there somewhere. And I’m pretty sure I’m not theirs, so that means I’ll eventually lose them.
I know it’s a bad sign when my heart feels like it’s breaking at the mere thought of losing the five of them to another woman. I suck at this whole not-getting-attached thing.
Rook gets a weird look in his eyes and avoids meeting my gaze. “Yeah, we do.”
We exit the corridor into the original cavern as Rook and I talk. Azrael walks over to the wall and slices his palm before pressing it to the same place he did earlier. The doorway groans open once the rock is smeared in his blood.
I’m not sure why the cave demands blood for entrance and exit, but it definitely lends itself to the air of mystery surrounding it.
When we step out into the midday sunlight, I ask, “Do female dragons have flights?”
I know for most shifters, males outnumber females pretty significantly. Women tend to have more than one mate because of this imbalance, while men share a mate with others. Everything could be different with dragons, though.
Rook shakes his head. “Not until they find their mates.”
Well, I guess at least one thing is similar between what I know of shifters and dragons. That means I should still have multiple mates.