Chapter 35 Chance
Chance
By the time sunlight sliced through the trees and started cooking off the last bits of fog, Tash had gone deadweight in my arms. The bond thrummed under my skin, still shiny, still raw, but her breathing was even, the kind of sleep that comes after trauma and total transformation.
I wasn’t about to wake her. The woman had just spun her whole DNA sideways. Suffice it to say, she needed a moment.
I scooped her up easily, letting her head loll on my shoulder. She didn’t flinch.
The walk to the truck was nothing. She weighed less than a sack of flour, and the adrenaline running in my blood made me reckless. Every step, Caden purred. Actual, bone deep contentment.
I eased the door open, set her in the passenger seat with the jacket draped over her, then cranked the heat and peeled out of there before the hunters could even think about a rematch. No more half-measures. No more letting them get within a mile of her again.
The climb up to the high ridge was a blur. Caden itched to fly, but I kept us grounded until we hit the plateau just below the safe house. Nobody but family ever came this high up onto our land.
I killed the engine. The world outside was blinding, brighter than midday already, with the frost melting off rocks and the river down below flashing like a mirror. Tash didn’t even blink in her sleep, but the minute I went to unbuckle her, she stirred.
She blinked up at me, brown eyes wide and wild. For a second she was confused, then the mate bond kicked in, and her whole focus narrowed to me.
“Hey,” she whispered.
“Hey yourself.” I tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “How’s the brain? Still scrambled?”
She sat up, wincing at the sunlight. “Feels like I downed half a bottle of whiskey last night, but I’m good. Where are we?”
I jerked my chin toward the clearing. “High ridge. No cameras, no prying eyes. Figured you’d want to learn without an audience.”
She made a face, but her lips twitched. “Good call. I don’t want witnesses when I crash.”
I snorted. “You’ll crush it. Most people take days before they’re this sharp. But you’ve got Taryn now.” The name felt right coming from me.
Tash absorbed that, rolled her shoulders, and let the fire seep back into her posture. “All right. What’s first, then?”
“First, we get you standing. Then we help you shift.”
I hopped out of the cab, jogged around, and helped her down. Her feet wobbled at first, but she gained confidence in no time.
The air smelled pure up here. Clean. I steered us to a flat patch ringed by boulders and grass slick with dew, the perfect arena. We could see the full valley from up here, mountain lines wavering blue and green in the distance.
She squared up like it was an exam. “What do I do?”
“Breathe with me. In to four, hold two, out to six. Feel for the heat along your spine, not your chest.”
She nodded, determined.
We started slowly. “In, two, three, four. Hold, one, two. Now out, two, three, four, five, six.”
I felt the magic in her catch on the first cycle, but she shook it off. Wanted control, wanted to not fuck it up in front of me.
“Again,” I murmured. “This time, call her by name. Taryn, come on, girl. Get literal if you need to.”
She huffed out a laugh. “You’re ridiculous.”
I nudged her hip. “I’m right, though.”
She reset. “Okay. In two, three, four. Hold, one, two. Out, two, three, four, five, six. Taryn, come on, girl. Let’s do this.”
On the second cycle, her posture softened. Her shoulders got heavy, and heat bloomed across her neck.
On her third breath, she went stiff. There was a ripple, a shiver, and then scales rolled up her forearms, copper and gold and, holy shit. Her scales were all different colors. An incandescent rainbow. It was subtle, at first, more shimmer than armor, but the effect made Caden want to howl.
She glanced down at herself, awed and smug at the same time. “Holy shit. Is that normal?”
I grinned. “You’re already ahead of where most dragons get in their first month. Want to try partials?”
She flexed her hands. The scales retreated, then flared again. She blinked at her fingers, then at me.
“Claws?”
“Go for it. Breathe, just like before. It's all about intent.”
She stared and focused. Slowly, her hands sprouted talons, black-tipped, sharp enough to make a grown man wet himself. She wiggled her fingers, then made a fist and watched them retract.
She flashed me a look, one part “fuck yeah,” one part “I dare you to act unimpressed.”
I matched it. “Now your eyes. Pick a spot on that oak tree and focus. Make every cell want to see it, dragon-style.”
She hesitated, then locked on a gnarled branch. For a second, nothing. Then her pupils went slits, full gold ringed in copper. She whistled at the clarity. “It’s like a zoom lens.”
“Exactly. Now bring it back. Drop the magic.”
She blinked, and her eyes went brown again, but the shimmer lingered.
I clapped her shoulder. “Precision is power. You don’t always have to go full beast, sometimes just a flash is enough to scare off a threat.”
She flexed her hands again, claws in and out, then grinned broadly.
“How about a full shift?”
Shrugging, I stepped back to give her room. “Only one way to find out. Do the same breathing as before, but on the out, let everything go. Don’t fight it. Tell Taryn what you want but trust her to handle the rest.”
She inhaled and exhaled, face serene for the first time since the woods.
Then, bam.
Light exploded off her skin. Scales surged, tracing her jaw, shimmered along her thighs and back. Her limbs went heavy, almost banded with color, and then Taryn snapped out, Tash's full dragon, iridescence brighter than any gemstone.
She was showstopper material.
She stretched, testing the new body, her tail lashing at the grass. Her wings flicked open, the membrane so clear the sun nearly burned right through.
For a second, she froze, like she was scared she’d break.
I shifted with her, Caden coming out quickly.
The relief was real, no more splitting between man and beast, just pure instinct. Caden roared, smug as you please, ready to put Taryn through her paces.
I circled her, tail flicking, wings fanned wide.
First lesson, flying.
Caden and I ducked low beside her, pressing our shoulder to theirs.
Watch and repeat.
Tash, or Taryn, hunched, every muscle coiled. I jogged forward, calling in her head, Stride, stride, stride, lift.
We bounded together, three heavy lunges, wings gathering air, and on the fourth Taryn flared hers and caught the updraft perfect. For a split second she hovered, weightless, then shot up, clean as a hawk.
Caden roared his pleasure. The lady had guts.
We did it again, only this time she got cocky, added a spin, banked tight, then whooped so loud it echoed across the ridge.
I took to the air, showed her how to circle without losing altitude, then angled down toward a flat-topped boulder bigger than a truck.
Landings are tricky, I warned. Pick your mark, that flat boulder. Steady. Flare wings at two dragon-lengths out, hind feet first, then foreclaws. Slow and steady beats crash-and-burn every time.
She lined up, eyes on the rock.
Her first landing was too hard.She bounced off with a thud. Not bad, no injuries, but her pride took a hit.
On her second try she overshot, skidded in the grass, and nearly rolled.
I could see the determination coil in her muscles.
For the third go-round, she nailed it, with her wings flared, back paws down, then foreclaws, perfection. She braced herself, used her tail for balance, and then threw her head back and howled.
I dropped in beside her, rumbling approval.
She butted my shoulder excitedly. Did you see that?
Would’ve given it a nine-point-five, but you stuck the landing, so ten.
Taryn preened, and I never wanted to look away.
We went harder and tried hovering. Hovering isn't easy, wings burn, muscles scream, and you have to balance heat and gravity with every micro-move.
But Taryn was fearless. She jumped right in, wobbling at first, then steadying. After five seconds, she improvised, twisted, spun, and even flared her tail for show.
Caden lost his composure entirely. We circled her, showing off, but she out-did us in agility every time.
I shifted back, rolling to human and watched her.
Taryn followed, her new scaly body shrinking into to her regular curves and brown eyes. She staggered at first. Dragon magic burns calories faster than running a marathon, but she shook it off.
I tossed her the half-empty water bottle from the truck and handed over two protein bars.
She ripped into one like the animal she was. “That was nuts,” she breathed. “I can’t believe how good it feels.”
I eyed the gorgeous woman in front of me. My mate. How had I gotten so lucky? “You were meant for this. Seriously.”
She grinned, chocolate on her lip. “Try to keep up.”
We sat, breathing, letting the world slow down.
I studied her, the lines of energy under her skin, the way she’d already started owning every inch of her new self and ducked in close, pressing my forehead to hers.
“You’re lethal and beautiful,” I murmured. “I couldn’t ask for a better mate.”
I fired up the burner phone and shot a text to my mother. One word.
Incoming.