Page 157 of Dragon 7

Why the fuck is he mad at me?

Chapter twenty-five

The Silence

Nyomi

I stepped back against the wall, continuing to confirm that Kenji was near. His cold rage poured through the air like winter finding every crack in a house, thickening each breath until the room felt carved from ice. But that rage was only the surface of it.

Underneath it, his hot, lusty wanting moved like volcano magma traveling under a massive glacier—hidden, patient, yet capable of swallowing mountains while the world above believed everything was frozen.

My flesh forgot whether it had been made to survive him. . .or surrender.

The fabric of my shirt became unbearable against my nipples. Between my thighs, heat gathered and slicked. My pulse lost whatever rhythm it had once possessed, battering against my ribs as though desperate to escape me.

And then, cutting clean through all of that warmth, this cold fear slipped down my spine.

Then the wall across from me darkened.

What’s that? What’s happening to the wall?

Coils of black smoke seeped through the plaster, carrying the memory of fire.

One thin wispy ribbon.

Then another.

And another.

Until the wall could no longer hold whatever lived behind it. Hundreds of smoky ribbons bled through every crack at once and slithered through the air, twisting and turning like a nest of living serpents.

What the fuck?

Soon, those dark coils gathered and circled one another. They braided, knotted, and thickened into a darkness so dense it no longer resembled smoke.

The dragon-shadow. . .

He began to form right in front of me. He was bigger than I’d ever seen him. His massive head emerged from the swarm of hissing, coiling smoke with large horns carved from darkness. Whiskers unfurled into the air like ink poured into water.

Suddenly, his golden eyes ignited inside the darkness. Looking at them almost felt like staring into the sun.

His neck followed.

Longer.

Wider.

Higher.

Then, the rest of his body poured upward. Smoke folded over smoke. Scales shimmered. And this colossal dragon occupied the entire ceiling of the large space.

Oh. My. God.

The fluorescent lights flickered.

The bed frames hummed low against the floor.

Every IV line trembled.