Chapter 13

THIRTEEN

Samantha

The ground drops away as I rise in the creature's claws, soaring so high that should it drop me, I'll be smashed to bits and pieces. My pulse is crazy. It feels like an animal thrashing inside me. The beating fills my ears, my body… my soul. And then, I'm hot. Hot all over.

I'm screaming again, twisting in the beast's claws, so hot that I feel like I'm melting into nothing. Is the creature doing this to me? I don't know, but only my sobs break up the terrible screaming as I begin to rake my skin with my nails, trying to escape my skin, which suddenly feels too tight.

Then the beast releases me, and I'm falling, screaming, burning, dying.

Falling.

My heartbeat is racing.

My skin is burning.

It's too tight.

I'm dying.

And then I feel myself falling away, and my body grows. Suddenly, I'm something else. Something I've always been but never known. Wings… My wings… They flap uselessly around me, slowing my fall, but I don't know how to use them. I don't know anything at all except that I've become what I was supposed to become.

The ground rushes at me. My red scales flash around me. I try to slow my fall, try to flap harder, and then I crash, smashing into trees and sliding across the ground until I come to a stop just before a drop off. I lie on the ground, panting, hurt. My body is huge, strong, and protected by hard scales, but it wasn't enough.

I try to curl into myself, but my big body feels strange. I want to be myself again, and just as I have the thought, I feel myself changing again. Shrinking. My hard scales fading away, replaced by skin that's battered, torn, and bruised.

Sobbing, I lie, unable to even raise my head. Every part of me hurts, and I'm also confused as hell. That thing… the reptile with wings. It looked like a dragon, but dragons aren't real. They're creatures of fantasy, aren't they?

And did I become one? I sob again, not knowing.

Suddenly, air rushes over me, and I manage to lift my head in time to watch the creature — the dragon, because that's what I'm sure it is now — land. It tangles in the trees on either side of me, roaring as it does so. And a scent comes over me, like rotted flesh and burnt eggs. It makes my nose wrinkle and my throat ache. Then the dragon changes, snapping my attention away from the smell. He grows smaller and smaller until a human man stands in front of me.

A. Human. Man. What the hell?

And he's sniffing the air like a hungry dog as he zeros in on me.

The naked man has dark hair and dark eyes filled with such intensity that it steals my breath. And not just intensity. Cruelty. I find the strength to sit up and scoot away from him. My heart's in my throat as I drag myself backwards. Then I remember the cliff. I want to turn and look, see how close the edge is, but I don't dare. Not with him coming toward me.

His gaze runs over my body as he continues to sniff, and I shiver, glancing down at myself. My clothes are torn and covered in blood, but they still cover enough of my body, and yet, it doesn't feel like enough. He stalks toward me, his erection making it clear what he wants, and bile rises in my throat.

No, just no. I'm not going to let this happen. I don't care what happens to me.

"Back off!" I shout at him.

He cocks his head in an oddly bird-like gesture, then says, "No," his voice gravely as if from misuse.

Goosebumps erupt on my skin. He can talk? Fucking hell, what is this?

It doesn't matter. He's not getting anywhere near me with that thing. "Yes! Leave me alone!"

He doesn't slow as he stalks toward me, but again he says, "No."

My mind starts turning as he comes closer and closer. I'm trapped. I can't be trapped. I have to get out of here. I can't let this happen. I glance behind me, see how far the cliff edge is from me, and then look back at him. There's only one way I can see getting out of this, and it's crazy, but this whole thing has been crazy, so I have to try.

It's my only hope.

When he gets close enough to touch me, his mouth curls into a smile and that smell of rotted flesh and burnt eggs grows so strong that bile rises in the back of my throat. He begins to sniff even harder, looking excited as he leans over me. That erection of his is far too close to me.

I strike, kicking him hard in the balls. His eyes widen, and he screams. I leap to my feet, body crying out in pain as I do so, and I poke him in the eyes. As he grabs his face, shouting nonsense, I take a deep breath and jump over the edge of the cliff.

Air rushes around me as I center myself, knowing I need to act fast. Plan Number One had been to find a place to hide down here, if it wasn't a sheer drop. Since it is, I go to Plan Number Two. A plan that unfolds far easier than I imagined as a familiar heat races over my skin, and I feel myself shifting into the dragon creature once more. This time, I beat my wings harder, not feeling as lost. I've seen what this body looks like and how it works, and now I'm actually rising rather than falling.

I look down and see that the man has shifted again into a dragon, but he's tangled in the trees and branches. Lucky me. I race away from him in the sky, strangely at home in the air. The air tearing past me as I get further from him in the sky. Yet, I can't just keep going. The plan. I can't be distracted from the plan just because I'm a dragon. A dragon who can fly.

I can't stay here for long. This is his territory, so I search the ground for my escape, surprised by just how good my vision is. After a time, I see the road on the mountain, and I swoop lower.

Up ahead, there's a truck abandoned on the side of the road. The door still open, and even from afar, I can smell the engine running. This could be my escape. I slow clumsily, then swoop down and land on the road with all the grace of a fat dog. It takes me one minute to think about being myself again, and I feel my body shift.

Then I'm me again, and I'm running. I dart right into the truck, close the door, then take several deep breaths. I'm not crazy. I don't think this truck will save me from the dragon, but there are lots of cars, trucks, and people. He shouldn't be able to find me now.

At least not right away.

I clutch the steering wheel and hear the metal groan. Pulling back, I see marks where my fingers had gripped the steering wheel, subtle, but definitely there. So… I'm really strong now. That's good to know.

As I put the truck into drive, my hands touch wetness, and an intense smell hits me so hard that it makes me want to hurl, makes me wonder how I didn't notice it right away. I look around the truck, spot broken glass, and what looks to be the contents of a bag all over the seat. Sniffing again, I wince.

Cologne. Definitely cheap cologne.

Oh well . I can handle cheap cologne a hell of a lot better than a horny dragon. I start driving, deciding to head for the small town on the mountain. From there, I can call the Phoenix Institute and check on my friends and find a hiding place.

It's hard not to turn around and head for Aydan and Granger back at the institute, but the truth is that I don't know if that thing is going to keep following me, and I don't want to risk my best friends being hurt. What's more, I don't know what I am, or how any of this is possible. Is the… dragon contagious? Did it spread to me, and that's why I'm one too? Or is this something else?

I don't know, but I floor it down the mountain road. The truth is that I won't feel good again until I hear from them. Until I know Granger wasn't left in that shaft with another dragon that could potentially have eaten him. Or maybe something simpler, but equally awful, could have happened to him. He'd thrown himself around me during the earthquake. I'd never forgive myself if his injuries ended up being worse than they seemed.

And Aydan. He'd been outside the mountain shaft when the earthquake had hit. Is he safe? The thought that he might be hurt too makes my stomach turn.

A shadow passes overhead, and I spot the dragon. My hands are sweaty on the wheel as I watch it, but it continues on… searching the mountain, hopefully, for something other than me.

The town isn't far away. I just need to hurry.

I just hope that Granger and Aydan are okay.