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“Okay, because I feel like there were several important steps missing if that's where this was going.”

“Ash.”

Something in my voice stopped him, and the humor disappeared from his face.

I took one last look at the man I loved while I was still standing in front of him as something he understood, then finally let go.

The shift had never hurt. Humans always assumed it must, if they knew enough to imagine it at all, but pain wasn't part of the transformation. It was pressure and heat, a rush of power beneath my skin as my body surrendered one shape for another.

The world expanded with me as my senses sharpened, the damp earth beneath my feet becoming a thousand separate scents while the breeze carried information I couldn't process in human form. My body followed, bones and muscle rearranging as scales replaced skin and wings unfurled into the open space behind me.

The transformation took only seconds, although with Ash watching, I felt every one of them.

When it was over, I lowered my head and found him standing exactly where I'd left him. For one horrifying moment, I couldn't make myself move either.

I knew what he’d see. My dragon was a metallic gray, my wings deepening to a gray-blue color. But his face had lost every trace of color, and with my dragon's hearing I could pick out the frantic rhythm of his heart even above the wind moving through the trees.

Every instinct demanded I go to him and reassure him, to somehow make him understand that I was still Max, but one look at the difference in our size stopped me. I was large enough that moving toward him without warning could turn astonishment into terror, and whatever Ash decided to do next had to belong to him.

So I waited.

His mouth opened, closed, and then opened again. “Holy fucking shit.”

Relief hit me so hard that a thin curl of smoke escaped my nostrils.

Ash jumped, and I immediately jerked my head back, furious with myself, but he only stared at the smoke dissipating between us before doing something I hadn't expected.

He laughed.

It wasn't particularly steady, but it was unmistakably Ash.

“Okay.” He dragged one hand over his face while staring at me. “Okay. You're a dragon.”

I lowered my head slightly.

“You're an actual fucking dragon.”

There were several responses I intended to make about that later, but for now, I settled for watching him as his gaze traveled over me, following the span of my wings before dropping toward my claws and moving along the length of my body. There was still shock in his expression, certainly, but wonder had begun replacing the initial fear as he tried to take in something that shouldn't have existed outside books and movies.

Finally, his gaze returned to my face.

“Jesus Christ, Max. You're enormous.”

There were considerably more responses I intended to make about that.

When Ash took one step forward, my entire body went still, and from the way his gaze sharpened, I knew he'd noticed.

He studied me differently now, no longer simply looking at a dragon. I could almost see him searching for something familiar beneath the scales and wings until his gaze finally settled on my eyes.

Something changed in his expression.

“Max?”

I lowered my head another few inches.

Ash swallowed before taking another step, and although my dragon wanted him closer with a force that was almost painful, for once there was no conflict between us. He understood what I needed as completely as I did.

Ash had to choose the distance.