Page 134 of Dream Reaper

Jerrid strained to find that feeling his dragon described. Togetherness. That sounded rather nice. He thought about the way he felt when he and Echo sailed the skies. The joy of a unified flight, a unified purpose, and unified goals.

We aren’t so different, you know. We want the same things. We want to fly. To protect. To save.

“And Ava,” Jerrid whispered as his body shifted shape and grew, expanding in all the right places to make room for stronger shoulders, a longer spine, a sinewy tail…

Yes.

They needed to save and protect Ava. That’s why they were doing this. That was their goal, their singleness of mind, the shining star in their night sky.

In my night sky.

“My night sky,” Jerrid repeated.

The shift completed, every part of him scale and claw. Every part of him Dragon…and yet every part was still himself. He threw back his head and roared, but not in pain or fury. Instead, his roar echoed with healing and regret.

And peace with his dragon, with himself.

For the first time, he remained in control of his dragon form, not shoved into the corner to watch from the sidelines.

He was the dragon.

He launched from the ground and flung himself through the clawing hands of mist trying to pull him back into this pit, this Helheim. The world opened before him, the sun breaking over the mountains to the east in a blaze of golden glory. And his heart sang the song of morning, of rebirth, of change.

But he wasn’t done yet. This was just the dreamworld. He needed to wake up. Because his body and soul might be unified at long last…

But he’d left his heart behind in the Shadewood.

A part of him was still missing, and she was going to die if he didn’t escape back to the realm of the living.

Roaring, he pierced through the sky, shredding it open, ripping a hole big enough to hurl himself through.

And then he opened his eyes as a giant spear of shadow descended straight toward him.

Hissing between his teeth, Jerrid hurled himself to the side, wrapping his arms around Ava and practically throwing her to the ground. The tentacle smashed down mere inches away, shooting powerful reverberations through his body. Ava scrambled to her feet, her body swaying as she stared at him.

Above their heads, the shadow began to laugh.

There you are, it whispered. I thought you’d given up. I left you cowering in the mist like an injured rabbit. But you’ve come back to play.

“No,” Jerrid said, clenching his teeth and widening his stance. “I’ve come back to destroy you.”

Pathetic human. Weak. Where is your dragon now? Dark laughter dug into his bones. I’ve devoured him.

“No,” Jerrid whispered with a glance toward Ava. “I am Dragon.”

Her eyes snapped wider, mouth opening.

He held out his hand, and scales exploded across his knuckles, rippling across his body in a wild clatter. He arched and roared as the shift took him, the pain brief but natural. He was struck by how easy it was.

How right.

Jerrid bared his teeth, shifting his weight as Ava crept alongside him, her hand against his side. He spread his wing over her and tucked her close. Above them, the shadow coiled into itself before shooting out half a dozen tentacles of darkness. Jerrid knocked two aside and shoved Ava backward as the others slammed into the ground around them.

One tentacle scraped along his left side, ripping away scales, exposing raw, tender flesh.

The shadow laughed as it drew its limbs back into itself. Then the tentacles exploded through the air, rippling like ink in water. Jerrid spat a warning blast of fire at the attack. The shadow dissipated in the heat of his flame but coalesced again almost immediately.

Beside him, Ava lifted her hands and tried to summon her magic, but it sputtered and died before even catching fire.