The Dragon's Fate - Roxie Ray Page 0,57
in. “Stay in the truck if you want to, but listen to me now, okay?”
I nodded and paid attention.
“I’m going to turn into a dragon. An actual, like from mythology, dragon. But I still have my mind when I’m shifted. I will not hurt you. Okay?”
I nodded. As soon as he was far enough away from the truck, I was scooting over and driving the fuck out of here.
Jace backed into the middle of the clearing with his eyes on me. He nodded, and I figured he was far enough away, so I swung my leg over the console on the floor and scooted over into the driver’s seat.
When I looked back up, a dragon stood in the middle of the clearing.
A dragon.
An actual dragon. Holy shit. A dragon.
I gaped out of the front window of the truck, fear coursing through me, and reminded myself that he’d promised he wasn’t dangerous. And Skye said to trust him. I pulled my phone out and glanced at it just long enough to dial Skye before bringing my gaze back to Jace’s big scaly form.
She answered on the first ring this time. “Did he show you?”
“There’s a dragon outside the truck,” I whispered.
“Well, go touch him!” she exclaimed. “This is the coolest thing ever, and we’re in the tiny, select group of people who are allowed to know. Go enjoy it and forgive me for not telling you!”
She hung up on me. My heart tried to thump straight out of my chest, but I set my phone down and opened the truck door.
Jace shifted on his feet, and I froze.
He lowered to his belly and put his head on the ground. He was trying to show me that he was submissive and wasn’t dangerous. I highly doubted he was actually submissive, but I got what he was doing.
Jace was a dragon.
“Holy shit,” I breathed, and walked forward to see the dragon, my fated mate.
20
Jace
Bri’s shock and fear were like a living and breathing thing. It permeated the air. She didn’t seem to be able to speak for a moment. I ducked down and put my head on the ground. I didn’t know how else to remind her that she had nothing to fear from me.
“Holy shit,” she whispered, and finally walked forward. I chuffed at her and she froze again. Inching forward, I looked up at her and rolled onto my side, showing my belly. It would’ve been an incredibly submissive move in front of another dragon, but now, it was perfect.
Briana burst out laughing, then clapped her hand over her mouth. I rolled back to my feet and turned, showing her my tail. I thumped it on the ground a few times.
“Are you showing me how impressive your tail is?” she asked. The fear in the air thinned and amusement and wonder slowly overtook it.
I walked in a circle, then moved closer. As quietly as I could, I growled while looking at Bri.
She raised her eyebrows. I backed away and ducked my head, then did it again, backing and ducking.
“You want me to stay here?” she asked.
I nodded my head up and down, then raised my head toward the sky.
Drawing on my natural water reserves—the going theory was that we took water out of the air—I sprayed the clearing with a stream of water.
Briana gasped. “It’s not fire!” she exclaimed.
I figured she had enough questions to ask me by now. Shifting back, I walked toward her across the clearing. “See? I’m still me.” Bri’s blank face concerned me a little. She stared at me, blinking rapidly. Her expression slowly gained meaning as she processed the fact that she’d just seen me shift into a dragon and back. Confusion, awe, fear, and a bit of anger flashed in rapid succession. It helped that being near her and her being my mate, even though we weren’t bonded, meant I could read her emotions, though not strongly, not like I would be able to once we’d bonded.
She shook her head and met me in the middle with her hands in front of her to keep some distance between us. “Why did it take you so long to tell me? All this time…” As Briana looked at me, her face went from full of wonder to looking a bit crushed.
“What is it? It’s new and different, I know, but it’s not a bad thing,” I held out my hands, hoping she’d take them, but she backed up a step.
“Have you thought about the way my life