Chapter 24
THERON
My Drake is excited to come out and meet her—maybe too excited.
I can feel him pressing at the edges of me, restless and eager in a way that makes my skin itch from the inside out. It’s been a long time since he’s pushed this hard to Shift and I don’t like it. Not one fucking bit.
Easy, I tell him silently, bracing my hands on the edge of the table. You don’t get to rush her. She’s already scared.
He doesn’t care about that—or at least, not in the way I do. What he feels isn’t fear or hesitation—it’s certainty. A deep, instinctive knowing that sets my teeth on edge.
She is ours, he insists.
“Fuck,” I mutter under my breath, scrubbing a hand over my face. “We’ve been over this. She’s not ours—she belongs to herself!”
I turn slightly, glancing back at Elowen. She’s still sitting on the edge of the bed, her hands folded tightly in her lap, her posture tense but determined. Her big blue eyes are fixed on me, wide and uncertain—but she hasn’t run.
That’s something, at least.
Listen to me, I tell him, more firmly this time. She has no interest in breeding. Not with me, not with you, not with anyone.
He pushes back at that, a low ripple of disagreement moving through me.
“She doesn’t,” I say aloud, my voice rough. “The curse she’s under would make her get a big belly immediately the minute male seed is spilled inside her. You understand that? Immediately.”
That gives him pause. I feel it—a flicker of consideration.
And she wouldn’t want you anyway, I go on mentally, because it needs to be said. She’d think it was unnatural. Frightening. So don’t even fucking think about trying to mount her!
That gets a reaction from him—sharp and indignant. The feeling that comes back through the bond is so clear it almost makes me snort despite myself.
I would never mount an unwilling female.
The offense in his tone is unmistakable.
I huff out a breath.
“All right,” I mutter. “Good. Then we’re clear.”
But he’s not finished.
“I want to know her,” he adds, the tone shifting to almost a plea. “Just know her—that’s all.”
I believe him… and that makes this harder.
Because it isn’t just lust driving him. If it was, I could shut it down, push it aside—ignore it like I’ve done a hundred times before. But this…this is something else. Something deeper. And I don’t fully understand it.
I don’t like not understanding it.
Still…he’s not wrong about one thing—she wants to meet him. And if we’re going to take her anywhere—if we’re going to help her with this impossible fucking quest—she needs to know what she’s dealing with.
“Fine,” I say at last under my breath. “But you have to fucking behave. No pushing. No…anything that’s going to scare her.”
A low rumble of agreement answers me. It’s not exactly reassuring but I have to trust him or we’ll never get anywhere.
I take a slow breath and straighten, rolling my shoulders as I prepare to let go.
This is the part I never like. Even after all these years—even after learning to control it, to live with it—Shifting still feels like stepping off a ledge and trusting something else to catch me on the way down.
I glance at Elowen one more time.
“Stay where you are,” I tell her, keeping my voice as steady as I can. “No matter what you see.”
She nods, her throat working as she swallows.
“I will,” she whispers.
I turn away from her then, giving myself a moment…then I let go.
The Shift hits fast—it always does.
My bones start it—stretching, lengthening with a deep, grinding pressure that echoes through my entire frame.
My spine arches as it reshapes—vertebrae shifting one by one in a way that should hurt more than it does.
My shoulders broaden, pulling tight as something pushes outward from within, and I brace my hands against the table as the wood creaks under the sudden strain.
“Fuck—” The word cuts off as my jaw tightens, teeth grinding together while my skull reshapes, my senses sharpening all at once.
Heat floods through me—dragon fire from inside.
It burns through my veins—liquid fire that spreads outward until my skin feels too tight to contain it. I can feel it changing, hardening, the first hint of scales prickling along my arms…my chest…my back.
The room seems to shrink around me as I grow—not to full size—not even close—but enough that I have to hunch slightly to keep from hitting the rafters. My hands are no longer quite hands, my fingers tipped with claws that scrape lightly against the wood as I steady myself.
My breath comes out heavier now…deeper. The air smells different. It’s sharper…richer. My Drake’s nose is more sensitive than mine—all his senses are.
And through it all, I can feel him rising.
He surges forward, filling the space I’ve opened, his presence expanding until it presses against every part of me. It’s like stepping back inside my own body and letting someone else take the reins.
I hate this part—the loss of control. The way my thoughts start to blur at the edges as his instincts bleed into mine, stronger and more certain than anything I can muster.
Careful, I warn, even as my grip on myself starts to slip. Don’t scare her.
I will not, he answers.
I don’t have time to question that because he’s already there—already taking over.
My vision shifts, colors deepening, edges sharpening as I see the world through him instead of myself. The room feels smaller still now—the ceiling too low and the walls too close—but he doesn’t care about that.
He cares about one thing—her.
Elowen.
I feel it the moment he focuses on her. I follow his gaze—because I can’t not follow it—and see her through his eyes.
Elowen is still sitting on the edge of the bed, exactly where I left her. She hasn’t moved but the tension in her small, curvy body has doubled.
Her hands are clenched in her skirts now, her knuckles white, her breathing shallow. Her eyes are huge, even bigger than usual, fixed on me—on him—as she takes in the change.
Fear flickers in the sky-blue depths but she doesn’t run or scream—she just watches.
Something in my chest loosens just a little. Most women seeing a Drake Shift for the first time are scared speechless—they run for the hills. But the curvy little priestess has courage—I’ll give her that.
Good—she’s brave, I think—or maybe it’s him thinking it. It’s hard to tell anymore because I’m not fully in control now—not really.
All I can do is watch and hope to hell my other half remembers what I told him. Because right now he’s the one standing in front of her.
And I’m just along for the ride.