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“I don’t know if I’d have called what we were getting up to yesterdayfunny,” he drawled. Amusement and heat mixed in his gaze. The memory of our kiss stirred the embers of desire inside me. I swallowed and raised my handsdefensively.
That desire had worked in my favor yesterday. If there was some way I could combine that with Aaron’s clear-headedness and my anger at last night’sattackers...
Marco came at me with a quick feint and a swing of his fist. I dodged to the side and managed to land a kick to his knee. “Oh, you’re not getting away with that,” he said, his indigo eyes gleaming, and caught me around the waist. I managed to yank out of his arms, spinning around, my heart beatingfaster.
As he circled me, I reached back to last night’s assault. The searing of the rogue wolf’s teeth and claws slashing into my flesh. They couldn’t have sliced into scales. I could have towered over him, set himaflame.
Next time I would. Nexttime.
I held onto that thought, whipping a fist toward Marco and darting out of his reach. Tension started to tighten my chest, but I breathed into it, willing it to release. I wasn’t going to force my dragon. I was going to let it come over me naturally. Because it was who I was. Because those beasts had threatened me and the people I cared about, and I wasnotgoing to let thatstand.
From the corner of my eye, I saw Aaron motion to Nate. “Let’s mix things up a bit.” Nate shucked off his clothes in a couple of smooth movements. Before I’d quite processed what was happening, he was loping toward me in bear form. Marco veered to the side, chuckling under hisbreath.
Nate bared his teeth at me, but his grizzly face managed to look apologetic at the same time. “It’s fine,” I said to him. “Come and getme.”
He bounded closer and loomed over me on his rear legs. One enormous paw swung at myhead.
I ducked under it, my pulse racing through my veins. The gleam of claws and the massive animalistic presence brought back more flashes of last night. And more of last night’s terror. The sealed cuts on my arms and torsoprickled.
I was stronger than that. Iwas. I threw myself at Nate’s furred legs, trying to tip him off-balance. He swayed and dropped down over me, but I rolled to the side just in time. My feet seemed to bite into the ground as I shoved myself upright. Power coiled through my thighs. An ashen taste crept up mythroat.
Yes. He lunged at me, and I leapt to the side, faster than before. My haunches were bunching and expanding, unused muscles unfurling their strength. The armor of scales tingled over my skin from knees to waist. An itch formed in the middle of my back where my wings shouldform.
Let it come. Let it come. But as the sensation swept higher, my lungs expanding, a jolt of panic shot throughme.
What was I doing? I couldn’t control it, couldn’t feel where it wouldstop.
I’d lost so goddamn much. I couldn’t lose myselftoo.
The thoughts didn’t make much sense, but they jarred against my shift. I stumbled and fell to my knees. Knees that were pale and human, peeking through the tears in mysweatpants.
Ihadstarted to shift. My pants were hanging right off me where my legs had swelled to closer to dragon size. I grasped the tatters, peering at the skin beneath as if I could will the scales toreturn.
I’d gotten closer. So close I could still taste the fire in the back of mymouth.
“You know, Sparks, I’m starting to thinkyouwant this to work less than anyone,” West said from the edge of the clearing. My head jerked up, my cheeksflaming.
Nate growled, shifting back into human form as he strode toward West. “Could you shut up for once?” he snapped. “I’d like to see how well you handled the shift if you’d gone sixteen years without the chance totry.”
“Nate,” Aaron said, and the bigger guy halted. The eagle-shifter turned to West. “I agree with him, though. If you’re going to just stand there griping, we don’t need youhere.”
West scowled. The tension in the air wrenched at me. This was my fault too, the clashing between the alphas. Because I couldn’t do the thing I’d been born to do. Damnit!
Marco cocked his head. “Company arriving,” he said. “Come here,princess.”
He offered his hand to help me up. I clutched at my ruined pants, holding the larger scraps of fabric over my crotch. Marco smirked, leaning in for a second as I stood. “Nothing I won’t see soon enough.” His sly voice sent a shiver of anticipation through me despite my churningemotions.
A squad of shifters appeared at the edge of the clearing. West’s people—I was learning to read the signs. Canine shifters tended toward the lean and lanky, cool and wary. The red-headed one who looked like she was barely twenty-one herself I’d bet was afox.
West stalked over to meet them. “Report?” hesaid.
“No sign of the rogues in a twenty-mile radius,” the man at the fore of the group said. “We didn’t even scent them. However they got here, they’re gonenow.”
“Not too far gone, I’m sure,” West muttered. He turned back toward the rest of us. “If we’re going, we should get out of here while we know the immediate area is clear. Less chance that they’ll be watching closely enough to see where we’re headed. I want to hear the details, and then I’ll be ready to go. Sparks, get some new pants in themeantime.”
* * *
My bag packedand my legs re-covered by pants I hadn’t mangled, I went in to see Kyliealone.
