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I looked down at my hands, as if they might have sprouted scales and talons. Nope, those still looked like perfectly normal humanfingers.
Had I ever shifted myself? I couldn’t remember. Couldn’t dredge up any fragments of my past other than the ones that had floated into my dreams. Aaron had suggested it’d have been more difficult when I was younger, and I’d only been five when Mom had locked those parts of meaway.
Why had she done that? Why couldn’t she have trusted me? At least before she’d wandered off wherever she’dgone...
Anger hit me, biting into my chest. But another ache closed around it. I missed her. So goddamn much. Not just the Mom I remembered clearly, either. The one I’d glimpsed, wild and powerful and more thanhuman.
Was I ever going to get herback?
That question felt too big to sit with on my own. Especially when I’d apparently wasted half a day recovering from yesterday’s revelations. I crawled out of the bed, stretched, and looked down at myself. I’d been wearing this tee and jeans for almost two days now. They were getting a little grimyfeeling.
Marco had commented that he had lots of spare clothes around. I eased open the drawers of the dresser and found one full of lady-type clothing, although fancier than the stuff I’d normally have put on. I settled on a silky violet blouse and decided my jeans could hold up to another wearing as long as I got the rest of myselfclean.
I’d seen a bathroom while searching for this bedroom yesterday. I crept down the hall and ducked inside. To my relief, there was a lock on the insideknob.
Tension seeped out of me as the shower streamed into my hair and down my back. I rubbed my hands over my body, letting the hot water carry away two days of sweat anduncertainty.
I was a dragon shifter. I still didn’t totally understand what that entailed, but there were four guys waiting here in the house to help me figure it out. I wasready.
I dried myself with a towel so fluffy I was tempted to bury myself in it and never come out. The silk shirt clung to my figure a little more than I liked, but at least the scooped neckline showed minimal cleavage. I was having enough trouble keeping my hands off of Marco—and, let’s be real, Nate too—without wearing clothes that screamedDome.
Combing my fingers through my still-damp hair, I padded down the staircase to the first floor. A buttery smell was wafting from what I assumed was the direction of thekitchen.
Hunger twanged through my stomach. My last meal of sausage and eggs might as well have been a year ago. My feet pushed me faster of their own accord. I dashed around the bend in the staircase and careened over the edge of the nextstep.
Anyone looking on would have thought I’d slipped and fallen. I guessed I sort of had. But the tumble gave me a jolt of excitement, not fear. I opened my arms as if to embrace the sensation—and brought them down to help me catch my landing at the base of the stairs. My knee jarred against the floor with a thump, but I hardly felt the impact. My spirit was stillsoaring.
Like the dragon in my memory. The dragon who’d been mymother.
Was that why I got off so much on jumps and falls? I’d always thought it was some random daredevil impulse, but maybe the part of me deep down that had never completely forgotten simply missed the feeling offlight.
A figure appeared in the hall. Stocky, muscular, with a golden shine in his pale hair—Aaron. He was wearing a linen tunic with a slit neck that gave a glimpse of his impressive tanned chest. His expression relaxed when he saw me straighteningup.
“I heard a thud,” he said. “Did you falldown?”
I shrugged, smiling at him. I hadn’t talked one-on-one with Aaron yet, but I appreciated the thoughtful approach he’d taken to my situation. Out of the four alphas who’d come to find me, he was the only one who didn’t seem to have any specific expectations of who I’d be or what I’d do. He preferred to observe who I actuallywas.
“I’ve had worse,” I said. I nodded to the spatula in his hand. “Are you the onecooking?”
He smiled back. “Hungry? No one’s up yet, not even Marco’s chef. I didn’t want to hassle anyone else on my behalf. Most shifters are more on the nocturnal side, but I’m a bit of an early bird.” His grin widened as if daring me tolaugh.
“Ha, ha, Mr. Eagle. I just hope you’re not cookingeggs.”
He brandished the spatula. “Pancakes. Come on. I’d better get back to them before theyburn.”
“I definitely cannot be responsible for massacring yourpancakes.”
I followed Aaron into the kitchen. He strode straight to the stove where a huge frying pan was sizzling and grabbed another plate from a cupboard. I stopped on the threshold,gaping.
“Wow.” The kitchen was as big as the entire open-concept common space in the apartment I was sharing with Kylie, with stainless steel appliances as far as the eye could see. “Now that’s akitchen.”
“I don’t think Marco knows how to do anything halfway,” Aaron said. “It’s all-out-luxury, or forget about it.” He flipped the pancakes, sending a fresh waft of that buttery doughy smell to mynose.
My mouth started watering. I ambled up beside him to check whether his handiwork was close todone.
Aaron looked over at me. “Are you feeling more settled now that you’ve had time to think all this through?” His voice came out a little softer than usual, but still with that appealing rasp. My awareness of his presence snapped into focus with a warmth all down my side. We were standing close enough that I could smell him, a salty aquatic scent that reminded me of the ocean. I wanted to lick it off hisskin.
Down, girl. Mind out of thegutter.
