Chapter 17 - TJ

"That was amazing," I say to Taylor, now fully clothed, as we make our way to her deck.

"It was, but we should talk."

Those are the words any man hates to hear.

I do know we need to talk, but I just want to revel in the moment a little longer. Craving her sass, I start to talk back.

"Talk about wh—"

Thick talons dig into my shoulders, and I am thrown backwards with the force of a bull.

I hit the ground with a thud as the wind is knocked out of me. I can hardly breathe, and stars form behind my eyelids before I see a dark force flying up above me.

A loud, girlish scream sounds, and I know that it is Taylor.

I scramble to my feet and realize that Carnelian's dragon is flying above us.

His silver-gray eyes are almost black, and I can feel the hatred and anger coming off of him in waves.

"What are you doing here?" I stutter out, still trying to catch my breath.

Carnelian roars at me.

"Run!" Taylor calls out as she tries to get inside, but Carnelian flies in between her and the door.

I know now what I must do, and I hate that this is the way Taylor is going to find out about me.

Knowing that my skin will turn me invisible, I shift. My bones crack, and slight pain fills me before my dragon is fully out.

My dragon roars, drawing Carnelian's attention to me, but he looks around, confused.

"Where are you hiding?" Carnelian calls out in his dragon voice, but I stay silent.

His dragon is bigger than mine but smaller than Lex's, so I know I can take him physically, but mentally, he is crazed.

"I bet if I hurt your girl, you'll come out."

Carnelian turns back toward Taylor, who is huddled up against the side of the house, crying.

Seeing the fear in her eyes causes me to lose it.

I run at Carnelian and claw at him.

He cries out as I gouge a chunk of his scales with my claws.

He turns back towards me with slitted lids.

"You coward," he roars. "Show yourself."

I know he wants a fair fight, but I use my invisibility to my advantage. I fly into the sky and then shoot down and tackle Carnelian to the ground.

At the impact, he turns back into his human form.

He screams up at me as I hold him down with my claws.

"What do you want?" I roar into his face and Carnelian just smiles at me.

"I can't understand you," he sing-songs into my face.

Shifting back into human form, I hold Carnelian down by the throat.

"What do you want?" I scream.

Carnelian looks me up and down as best he can from his angle.

"I have to stop you two from mating. It is thy will."

I frown before Carnelian tosses me off of him, and I hit the deck at a weird angle.

Stunned from the pressure, I gasp out.

The pain is sharp, but not as bad as getting the wind knocked out of me. It will surely bruise, but I try and get up.

"Don't hurt him," Taylor yells out as she runs at Carnelian, hitting him over the head with a deck chair.

Carnelian hisses as he falls, and I turn back into my dragon form. There is slight pain, but I'm not focused on that as I run at Carnelian. I am a step away from him before he shifts as well and we collide.

We claw and fight one another, battling in the yard.

Carnelian swipes his wings out and barely misses me, causing my dragon to take a step back and snap a chair.

"Ah, there you are."

Carnelian pounces on me and a claw goes down my back.

My dragon roars as I rear back and headbutt him.

We scrap around the backyard for what feels like hours, but I know is only a handful of minutes.

It isn't until we almost knock down the Montgomerys' fence that a thought hits me.

How is this going to end?

With one of us dying?

What about Taylor?

"Enough!" I snarl at Carnelian's dragon as I toss him to the side. "You won't win this."

Carnelian's jaw snaps at me as he tries to bite me, but I side-step easily as I'm still invisible.

His gaze fixes behind me to Taylor, who is standing with what appears to be a hoe in her hand.

"I won't allow you to hurt a single hair on her head."

Carnelian doesn't listen and jumps at her. I tackle him, and as we hit the ground, Taylor rears the hoe back and jams it into Carnelian's side.

He lets out a pained screech before he flees, but not before knocking Taylor over with his tail.

Taylor and I stare as Carnelian flies away, but I don't look long before I rush to her side, back in human form.

"Are you okay?"

Taylor looks at me with her watery big green eyes.

"What is going on? What are you?"

If she can ask all these questions, she has to be feeling okay, I reassure myself.

"I'll explain everything, but we should go inside."

Taylor nods and takes my hand, but she stops as she looks at the backyard.

"How am I going to explain this?"

"We'll figure it out, together."'

***

Taylor sits on her bed with a cup of hot tea in her lap as she stares at me.

I look right back from the desk chair.

"What's going through your mind right now?" I ask her after moments of silence.

Taylor takes a deep sip before answering, "What are you?"

I take a deep breath. "I'm a dragon shifter."

She nods.

"You are a dragon that can turn invisible?"

"Not exactly," I start. "See this wetsuit?"

Taylor nods again.

"This wetsuit makes me invisible."

"You're wearing it now? Why aren't you invisible?"

I try not to roll my eyes as I continue to explain, "When I shift into my dragon form, it turns me invisible. As a human, it looks like your average wetsuit. It even has a pocket to hold my clothes."

I pull out the suit I wore to the courthouse from the small pouch to show her.

"I'm terrified yet amused by all of this," Taylor confesses.

My heart aches for her, wishing I could have told her under better circumstances, but at least now she knows and doesn't seem too scared.

"What terrifies you?"

"All of this. You being a dragon—"

"Dragon shifter," I correct. "I am not an actual dragon, but I do have one inside me that I can shift into."

Taylor shakes her head, "Whatever. The point is, I don't understand how any of this is possible, but I witnessed it with my own eyes, so I know it is real, and that scares me. If dragons are real, what other scary creatures are out there?"

I want to pull her into my arms and give her comfort, but I'm afraid of making her even more scared.

"And that dragon who attacked us, who is that?"

"Carnelian. He is a dragon shifter who lost his mate and went insane."

"Mate? He said that I was your mate. What does that mean?"

I swallow, trying to prepare myself to say this as simply as possible.

"Every dragon shifter has a mate or soulmate. It's the one person who is made specifically for them and is who they are destined to be with."

"And he thinks that we mated?"

"Yes."

"Have we?"

I shake my head.

"We haven't completed the mating ceremony, so no, we are not mated yet."

"Yet?"

I pause, looking dead into Taylor's eyes. "Carnelian isn't the only one who thinks you're my mate. My dragon does too."

"And what do you think?" Taylor asks, eyebrows raised.

I have no clue what answer she is expecting, but I just know I have to be honest.

"I love you and know that you are my mate."