Epilogue
Maksim’s crimson eyes snapped open when Nadya’s life force faded, and he roared with the agony of his loss. He had seen her die. As his love’s eyes closed for the last time, she called his name.
Blind rage burned through him, enhancing the new bloodlust that drove him to destroy and feed. Nadya was dead at the hands of those fucking Therians. They had taken everything from him, as his father and Nadya had said they would.
They had to be stopped if it was the last thing he ever did. Maksim vowed he would personally take down the Therian king who’d murdered his sweet, innocent Nadya. She had only wanted peace and had been forced into eons of bloodshed.
Maksim’s fury boiled over, and he jumped off the bed far faster than he’d been able to move before the change. Hunger burned in his throat. The interior of the home he’d shared with Nadya felt stifling, and he headed outside to breathe fresh air.
His skin felt hot, and his bones ached. He stumbled for a few steps, then collapsed in the snow, burning with fever. Maksim didn’t understand what was happening to him, but after his rebirth and the loss of his true love, he was too tired to fight it.
The pain grew, and Maksim screamed. Steam rose from his skin, and his flesh turned a mottled deep red. Agony almost shattered his mind as his body started to change. His bones broke and reformed without the speed or elegance of a full-blooded Therian. He was powerless to do anything but ride the torment to its conclusion.
Then it was over. Maksim shook himself and sat up, gazing around with new eyes. Shock and confusion washed over him when he realized that his head was thirty feet from the ground. He moved his body, and everything felt different. He twisted his head to examine his new form.
It worked,my love, he told Nadya.
Maksim was a dragon for the first time. His body was the size of a house, and his back was covered with dark spines. His scales were a flat black that absorbed the light, and when he flicked his powerful tail, he discovered it terminated in a wicked-looking spike.
Maksim felt powerful. Deadly. He would avenge his love, but he wouldn’t rush into it. He needed to make a plan that wouldn’t fail.
He launched into the air, using instinct rather than talent. Soaring through the clouds, Maksim turned toward home, filled with a dark new purpose.
THE END