Chapter Five #2
“I’m a dragon shifter,” he declared. Now that the words were coming out, he couldn’t seem to stop them.
“Which means I can turn into a dragon. I’m stronger than most humans, and I’m fire-resistant, which is handy when it comes to being a firefighter.
I don’t get burned, not at my age. I can take more risks than a normal firefighter, which, in turn, means that I can save more people and keep the rest of the team safe.
I promise that I’m not planning anything nefarious and that I’m not dangerous. I would never hurt anyone.”
Taylor blinked. He wasn’t running away screaming, which was a good thing, but that didn’t tell Liam how he felt about his revelation.
“You can turn into a dragon?” Taylor asked.
“I can.”
Taylor slowly nodded. “And I assume you’re not the only person who can turn into a dragon?”
Liam had no idea where this conversation was going. “No. There are plenty of dragon shifters around.”
Taylor took a second to consider that before looking at Ethan. “And you knew? That he could turn into a dragon, I mean?”
Ethan snorted. “Oh, I definitely knew. I’m a shifter, too.”
Liam’s jaw dropped. Ethan had been willing to tell Taylor that he was a shifter, but there had been no need for him to do so. Liam had done it. He’d told Taylor he was a dragon shifter. Ethan had been safe, yet he’d just come out to Taylor anyway.
“I see,” Taylor said. “Are you a dragon, too?”
“No. I’m a chimera shifter.”
Taylor frowned. “I didn’t realize those were real animals.”
“They’re not. But the shifters are real. I’m not quite a dragon like Liam, but I’m partially one.”
“I’m a full dragon, though,” Liam interrupted.
He didn’t want Ethan to regret this. If Taylor was going to explode or say something mean, Liam wanted it directed at him.
“Which is what you saw at the fire. I used my strength to catch that beam and make sure that the woman on the ground wouldn’t get hurt.
That’s all there is to it. I wasn’t going to hurt her or anyone.
The fact that I can turn into a dragon doesn’t mean I’m dangerous. I promise I’m not.”
“I never thought you were dangerous,” Taylor said.
A door slammed open, making all three of them jump.
Liam watched, startled, as Austin and West rushed out of the station.
They looked around, and as soon as Austin spotted Liam and the others, he grabbed West’s arm and pulled him toward them.
Liam groaned. He was glad for the support, but he could feel this becoming a disaster.
He didn’t need anyone else to out themselves as a shifter for Taylor to accept him.
“Don’t fire him,” Austin said when he reached their little group. “He hasn’t hurt anyone. In fact, he’s been using his ability to help people.”
“Austin, shut up,” Liam snapped, hoping he’d be fast enough. He didn’t need Austin to say something he was going to regret. He was glad for the support, even overwhelmed by it, because he didn’t know Austin and West that well yet, but still.
This had been Liam’s mistake. He should be the one paying for it, not Ethan, not Austin, not West. If he was going to be fired or handed over to the authorities, then so be it.
He’d deal with the consequences of his actions.
He wouldn’t regret it because, as Ethan had said, he’d done it to help someone.
It was why he’d become a firefighter, and even though he didn’t like any part of this mess, he was proud of that.
For some reason, Taylor still looked remarkably calm. Ethan and Liam had just told him they could turn into animals, but he was watching West and Austin. “You, too?”
Austin blinked. West stared, his jaw tight. He looked like he’d rather be anywhere but here, but he still nodded. “Yeah, us, too,” he confirmed. “Austin and I are dragon shifters.”
Liam wanted to scream. Why were these people so eager to do this? Why couldn’t they keep their mouths shut?
“I suspected there was something about you two for a while,” Taylor said. “I’m glad to finally find out what it is.”
“We’re not dangerous,” Austin promised. “Just like Liam, we’ve only ever wanted to help people, and we’ve used what we are to our advantage. We’ve made sure that people make it out of fires alive, and we’ve been protecting the team.”
“You could’ve told me sooner. We trust you.
We might have been surprised, but you’re part of this team, this family.
It wouldn’t have mattered. It doesn’t matter.
” Taylor looked at Liam, too, as he continued.
“The team trusts you, which is why we never said anything, but we all suspected there was something. Now I find out there are four of you.”
Ethan laughed. “Four?”
Taylor paled a little. “More than four?”
“We have a whole community out there,” Ethan said.
“People who can turn into dragons, wolves, lions, anything you can think of. You can’t tell just by looking at them, which means that anyone could be a shifter, from your neighbor to the woman staring at you in the grocery store.
The thing is, most of us just want to live our lives like you do.
We have families, communities, people we care about and want to protect.
We’re just like you, except we can turn into animals.
It’s not a bad thing. Sometimes, it’s even a good thing.
Just look at what Austin and West have accomplished.
They’ve been using their abilities as dragon shifters to save people, and it’s something they should be proud of.
I understand why they need to hide it, much better than most people and shifters, but you just said that your team is a family.
Maybe now, they can finally be themselves around the people they care about.
It all depends on what you’re going to do, though. ”
Liam groaned. He wanted to know, too, but maybe it would have been a better idea not to push Taylor right now. He had no idea how his captain would react, and it scared him.
He wasn’t only scared for himself now. He was scared for Austin and West because these people had been their family long before Liam had arrived. The firehouse was their second home, and it had been for years.
And they might be about to lose it.
* * * *
ETHAN WASN’T SURPRISED by how shocked Taylor looked.
It was a little endearing because he kept looking from Liam to Austin to West, almost as if he expected them to shift in front of him.
He didn’t look afraid. He never had—not when Ethan had told him what he was, not when Liam, Austin, and West had done the same.
His presence was still steady, but it was clear he had more questions.
Ethan would say that this was going well.
He knew that Liam was still freaking out, though.
He could feel it in the way Liam was squeezing his fingers.
Ethan wasn’t quite sure how he felt. This was the first time he’d told someone what he was without overthinking it.
He’d decided he wanted to take the heat off Liam, and he thought that this would be the best way to do it.
Clearly, he hadn’t been the only one, and now Taylor had to deal with four people coming out as shifters to him at once.
He probably didn’t care much about what Ethan was, but the other three?
He saw them every day. He’d probably spent more time with them than he did with his family.
He had to trust them with his life, and they’d just revealed something massive to him.
“So the three of you have been shifting at fires,” Taylor said.
“We don’t usually shift,” Austin told him. “That hasn’t happened often. We’re too big to shift without destroying the building we’re in. Being more resistant to fire has helped tremendously, though, as has our strength.”
Taylor looked at Liam. “Which I saw the other day.”
“Yes, that was me using my dragon shifter strength,” Liam confirmed. “I wasn’t going to let that woman get squashed by a beam.”
“And Margaret is a shifter, too,” Ethan added, grinning when Taylor’s expression told him that his brain had broken just a little more.
Ethan hadn’t been kidding when he’d said that shifters were everywhere.
He was pretty sure that Taylor was going to wonder if everyone he met from then on was a shifter.
It wouldn’t be a bad thing. He seemed like the kind of person who would be cautious with that knowledge, but also who would want to know more.
He hadn’t run away screaming, and while Liam was still terrified, Ethan didn’t think he had anything to worry about.
Taylor wasn’t perfect because no one was, but he was a good friend and boss, and Liam being a shifter wouldn’t change that.
He’d probably have a lot of questions and might be hesitant for a while, but he’d eventually realize that the three dragon shifters were still the same people they’d been before he found out about it.
Then he’d go back to treating them like he treated everyone else.
He’d probably want to take advantage of what they could do, which wouldn’t be a bad thing.
Ethan didn’t hate being a shifter, not even a chimera shifter.
What he hated was the way other shifters looked at him and behaved when they found out what he was.
A lot of shifters were wary of dragon shifters, too, but Liam had never experienced that, considering the way he’d been raised.
Ethan hoped he wouldn’t now that he’d found a small group of people who’d welcomed him with open arms and treated him like family.
Ethan had no doubt that Liam would have to deal with some wariness on the job, but in his personal life, he was set, and that was a good thing.