Chapter 8 - Kaius

I know rationally that I need to go back. I should fight them. Even outnumbered, it's not that I don't think I can beat them that has me taking to the sky. I need to get her away from them. It's not a choice at this point but something instinctual and raw driving my reaction. Julie is squirming in my arms, which is making it difficult to avoid hurting her.

"Be still," I grumble as I push higher to the west. With the snow falling heavier, the flight is plenty challenging as it is.

"Go back, you have to help my uncle," she yells over the sound of the air rushing past us.

"No," I snap as I shift my arm carefully to hold her tighter without letting my claws near her. She's squirming and smacking at my chest. "Stop it, let me just think for a minute. Stop squirming your ass against me like that before I smack it."

There's more squirming and then a sharp connection with the soft, sensitive underside of my groin. It feels as if my balls have recoiled up into my throat, and pain riots through my brain. I stop thinking, and my wings falter. She gasps and scrambles at my arms as I loosen my grip, and we fall fast toward the ground.

Shit.

I try to stop the fall, but the trees are rushing up quickly, too fast. Between trying to carefully adjust my grip on her and course correct, it's a losing battle. I try to flare my wings out to coast, but my grip on her loosens. I turn at the last second into a roll as a tree races toward us. I wrap her into my chest at the last minute as the tree snaps brutally against my right wing.

I can't extend it fully at all. Now we're definitely falling. I pull her close and use my other arm to reach out and grab the tree, claws sinking hard into the trunk as I try to use it to slow our fall, leaving massive tears in the wood behind me. It's working, and as we near the ground, I'm at least able to brace for the last few feet of the fall, catching us on my legs as I sink into several feet of snow.

The snow is up past my hips, which puts it almost chest level with Julie as she tries to push herself away from me. She falls out of my arm and sinks deep into the snow.

"Shit!" She's struggling to move and looks up at me with a bewildered look but then starts up a renewed attempt to flail at the snowdrift.

I reach for her, and she squirms and flails again, causing the pain from my wing to scream for my attention. I groan and pull her carefully up out of the snow and lift her up into my arms.

"Put me down!"

"You want back in the snowdrift? Fine."

I unceremoniously plop her into a massive snow drift to my left, intentionally letting her fall on her butt instead of her feet. She sinks into the drift with a little gasp and disappears into the powder. I lean back against a tree carefully as I watch her hands and feet struggle with the snow for a few minutes before she finally stops.

"Ugh, fine."

"Fine, what?" I ask with that deeper grumble that comes naturally with my shifted form.

"Will you help me get out of the snow?"

I wait another moment, rather enjoying her admitting that she needs me. I hear an exasperated sigh from her little snow mound.

"Please?"

I push myself back up and step over to where I dropped her, looking down at the little hole I'd made by dropping her into it. Her green eyes are glaring up at me, but I swear, wrapped in the white of the snow, she looks even more gorgeous than usual. It makes her pale skin look like porcelain and lights up her emerald eyes.

I reach down and carefully slide my hands underneath Julie and lift her up and out of the snowdrift. The effort to keep her lifted out of the snow isn't bad, but the bending motion causes that same pain to rip through my shoulder and wing.

"Take us back," Julie demands as a shiver runs through her, but she at least stops all her squirming this time as I hold her to my chest.

"About that…" I try to flex and extend my wings out all the way but my right wing shakes with the effort about a third of the way open. Pain burns through it. I don't even know what I did to it at this point. I know I won't be airborne on it tonight. The snow is falling heavily and wet around us, and the visibility is dropping.

"You've got to be kidding me. You can't just fly us out of here?"

"Not tonight. Have you ever tried to paddle a boat on just one side? Flying is a little worse. We won't even get in the air like this."

She swears and starts turning and looking around us as another violent shiver racks her body. She's got a winter coat on, but her jeans won't offer much insulation from the cold, and I doubt her coat will help out here for this long.

"I think I know where we are, but… If that's true, we're miles from Uncle Merl's. Too far to be in the dark in this. I'll freeze. Do you have a phone on you?"

"Where exactly do you propose I keep a phone?" I arch my longer neck back and turn one large hazel eye to stare down at her. It's the closest I can do as a dragon to raise an eyebrow. She scoffs and shoves at me lightly.

"How do you think you know where we are?" I ask as she rolls her eyes, apparently understanding my silly reptilian attempt at humor.

"When you were falling, where the canyon is, we should be close to our family's old hunting cabin. The ridge of the canyon is just over there, and the cabin is right along that. There's a radio there, but it'll be a toss-up if it works with the snow."

She gestures off toward the large shadowy canyon wall. I trudge through the deep snow, my legs burning with the effort after a few minutes, but at least we're making progress. The trees are thin as we near the wall of the canyon, and she points off to my right, where a small trail is visible, leading up to the door of a small, rustic cabin.

I set her down on the step, which is sheltered from the snow by a small awning. Julie runs a hand down the side of the doorframe, looking for something, and comes back with a key. She fumbles with icy hands at the door but eventually gets it open. She steps in and then turns back, expecting me to come in behind her.

Shit.

"What are you waiting for, it is fucking freezing, get in here? Can't you just… Um… Not be this now?"

"This? I mean, yes, that's what I'm standing here debating. But you may want to turn around," I grumble. Ideally, not shifting would be better for the healing on my wing, but from the size of the cabin, that's not really workable. I'm pretty sure my wings wouldn't even fit through this door frame, and I'd have to crouch down two feet lower than I am just to be inside there.

"Just come on," she snaps as she flicks a propane lantern on. Her little irritable tantrums seem to spark some deep part of me that wants to put her in her place.

In a breath, I let the ripple of energy shift over my body, and my scales recede. My bones and muscles shrink back to their normal size, and my claws retract. I step into the cabin and directly into her space, naked and freezing my nuts off.

"Happy?"

Her eyes are wide, but they dip ever so slowly down the length of my body, moving the lantern with them. A slight satisfied smile pulls at the edge of her lips.

"Aren't they supposed to be smaller in the cold?"

"It is," I quip back and enjoy the little O-shape that her mouth drops into. A shiver hits me now as the cold starts to settle in, and it causes my shoulder blade to burn. I wince and turn to try to look at it.

"Where are your clothes?"

"They don't really make it through a transformation. And I don't know where we are, so I don't have any stashed nearby."

"Don't you carry some on you? Seems silly to end up stranded and naked," she mutters as she turns and moves further into the cabin.

"What, do you propose I fly around with them in a damn fanny pack? I don't think they even make them in a size that would fit."

She tosses an old quilt in my direction before crossing over to a small shelf. She flips a couple switches but shakes her head.

"Radio is out."

There is a part of me that is slightly looking forward to having this moment with her away from Eclipse and whatever they have planned. At least, here with me, I know she's safe. Julie grabs the lantern and turns for the opposite side of the room.

"Right, so what are you anyway?" Julie asks over her shoulder as she bends and pulls out some logs from the large stack to the side of the small fireplace that's the focal point of the room. She sinks to her knees and stacks them and some twigs and kindling next to the base before igniting it with a long lighter.

"Freezing," I quip back as I wrap the quilt around my body, attempting to cover as much of it as possible, but apparently, the quilt was made for a toddler.

"Always with the jokes. You know what I meant. Start talking."

The fire catches, and she sits back, dropping onto her butt and folding herself into another small blanket that seems plenty big enough for her smaller body. Her green eyes are studying me. I would love to know what she's thinking right now, but I'm not sure how much of a sharing mood she's in.

I cross the small room in a couple steps and fold myself into a seated position, giving up on the quilt being wrapped around and throw it over my lap after I sit. Her eyes are lingering again, and I wait patiently for them to move once the quilt is there. Eventually, they make their way back up to mine, and she flushes a little, catching me staring back.

"What the fuck are you?" Julie repeats slowly.

"What do you think I am? Other than a well-endowed asshole."

"You aren't funny right now. I just watched you change. And there were those other things, and one was spitting fire. Oh God, Uncle Merl. Why the hell did you leave?"

I close my eyes and take a slow breath. I don't want to explain why I left, so I hope I can at least keep her distracted with the details of magical creatures.

"Okay, okay," I start as another shiver rolls through me. I scoot closer to her and the warmth of the fire. "I am a dragon. Technically, a shapeshifter. But the other creatures you saw were also dragons. They're a different clan than mine, though."

"Clan?"

"Yeah, we have several, some are based on family, others just on power. Cyrus, he's the leader of ours."

"So not a cult. But a family?" The word stings as it slips from her lips, and I clamp down on the dark thought that's trying to work its way into my mind.

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Does Lena know?"

"Of course. Sarah, too, actually. We had a whole ordeal back when we first got here because that clan and this other creature, a Naga, were after Lena. We thought they still were, but lately, they seem to have shifted their focus onto you and your family."

"A Naga?"

"We actually didn't know there were any of them left. They're another kind of shifter but much older and ancient. They're kind of like a snake dragon. Remember Dr. Tom? That was him."

"This can't be real."

"I mean, do you have a better explanation for what you've seen this evening."

"No, no, this can't be."

I take a slow, steadying breath and let a partial shift take over just my left arm between us. The scales, in blue, green, and brown, ripple down in a wave as my muscles and claws extend. I hold it out to her, watching as her eyes go wide again. Her fingers reach out tentatively and trace along the mottled pattern of my scales. Another shiver runs through me, but it's an entirely different kind.

Julie scoots closer, sitting up on her knees to get a closer look, bending forward to look at the scales up close. She rotates my wrist gently, drawing a finger along the lighter pale green scales that run down the underside of my arm.

"So, you can just turn one part of you?" Her eyebrow arches up as she looks up at me. I don't think she means it as anything but pure curiosity, but I can't help the comment teasing my mind.

"Takes a lot of self-control but yes, have a special request in mind? I mean, you seemed more than impressed with my human form, so I'm a little surprised you think you're up for the challenge."