Chapter 13

THIRTEEN

Aydan

Last night, I slept outside her room. I'd never tell her as much, but I did. I was just so worried that fucking piece of shit, Evander, was going to come knocking at her door at night, and that because of her dragon biology, or whatever, she wouldn't be able to resist him. I left as soon as I sensed she was awake. I didn't need her flipping out at me for being "protective." But it'd been a miserable night. I hadn't slept. My thoughts had been torn between imagining her in bed, maybe sleeping naked, maybe in some little outfit, and imagining her with him.

I've never been the jealous type when it came to anyone but Sam. With her, I'm absolutely insane. It's like she changed something inside me. Like she's pulled something out of a box that I can't get back in. But none of my feelings really matter if she needs a dragon to protect her. I can be many things for her, but a dragon I can't.

Exiting my room, freshly showered, I nearly run into Granger.

He gives me a tired smile, like I wasn't the only one up all night. "How you doing, man?"

I shake my head and run my hands through my hair. "I'm losing my mind. She's going to drive me crazy. Every time I pictured finally telling her how I felt, finally being with her, it wasn't like this. Like me having to battle another guy for her. Like her needing things I couldn't work hard enough to give her."

"It'll be alright. It just might not go the way you think."

"How so?" I ask.

We stop at the elevator and flash our badges, then wait for it to come. He looks like he's trying to pick his words with care, which probably means I won't like what he has to say.

"Sam is an amazing woman."

"The best," I confirm.

"It seems to me that having some of her would be better than having none of her."

"Some of her?" I ask, frowning.

He gives me a look. "Yeah, just think about it."

"I don't think I want to," I say, my words cutting.

Does he actually mean I should let Evander continue being near her? Let him… be with her in some capacity? That would be insane.

The elevator doors open. We stop at the dining hall, where Granger gets off. I want to find Sam, so I go to the lab floor, but find the scientists racing around frantically.

I grab Dr. Griffin's arm as he hurries past. "What's going on?"

He gives me an irritated look. "The power on the perimeter and air security have gone down, and we can't establish a connection with the satellite dishes. We're trying to reestablish everything, and quickly, given the fact that we're sitting ducks out here."

Sam.

"Do you know where Sam is?"

He frowns and shakes his head.

I get back on the elevator and hit the top floor, pulse pumping. She's probably outside, safe and sound. Everything is okay. I'll get her, get her inside, and everything will be okay.

The elevator doors open and I start running for the cliffside. Behind me, the sunrise should be painting the skies in reds and oranges, but the gray clouds hide everything from view. Normally, the lights on the outside of the buildings would add a warm glow to the sidewalks, but the lights are out too.

I increase my pace, practically running for the cliffside where Sam likes to hang out, when I see the figure of a lone woman. The pressure on my chest eases, and I feel better and better as I come closer to her.

"Sam?"

She turns around slowly, and I stop in my tracks, the air rushing from my lungs. She's so impossibly beautiful, she takes my breath away. Her long red has been left loose, and the curly waves cascade over her shoulders. She's wearing a green tank top that matches her eyes and jeans. The clothes hug the perfect lines of her body.

I'm instantly hard, but I force myself to walk toward her. "Get inside. It's not safe out here."

Anger flares in her gaze, and I realize I've already fucked up. "I'm enjoying the cool air. But if you don't think it's safe out here, feel free to go inside."

"Damn it. It's dangerous!" I grab her wrist and pull her closer. "It doesn't have to be like this. You don't have to argue with me about everything."

"Yeah, because you make it so damn easy," she says, her chest heaving with her anger.

I snap my gaze away from her perfect breasts. "All of this is simple. I don't know why you're making it so hard. I love you. You love me. I'm here, ready and willing to cover your scent. You're making Evander a problem in our relationship, but he doesn't have to be. He doesn't have to be anything to either of us."

"You don't understand."

A humorless laugh explodes from my lips. "I understand that he lured you all the way to this base without ever even telling you who he was. The guy is a liar. And a good one. He lied straight to your face, and he's going to keep doing it, because he can't be trusted."

She pulls her wrist out of my grip. "I've been clear with you from the very beginning. Things are complicated between Evander and I. It's–"

"A dragon thing," I finish for her, seething inside. "Something I can't possibly understand."

"I didn't say that," she tells me lamely.

I take a step closer and feel some of my anger disappearing this close to her. Unable to help myself, I run a hand along her cheek, and she leans into my touch, making my heart squeeze. "I can protect you, Sam. I will protect you, no matter what happens. You have to believe me."

She kisses my hand. "I know you'll try. That's what I'm afraid of. You don't know how important you are to me."

"You don't have to worry about me," I say, and I mean it. I'll be fine. I always am.

Her gaze meets mine again. "I know you don't want to hear it, but I can't just walk away from Evander."

I wince, trying to ignore the way it hurts when she says his name.

But then I stiffen, and Sam stiffens too. Our breathing stops, and I feel deep inside that something's wrong, even though I don't know what.

"We should go inside," I whisper, even though I don't know why I do.

My head swings slowly around before I lift it, looking into the cloudy sky. There's a flash of green that I barely register before I shove Sam as hard as I can out of the way. The sun is blocked out. Something comes crashing around me, and then I find myself being plucked from the ground, caught in a cage of claws.

The air from his wings beats all around me, and I struggle to rise within the clawed hand, but fall. I look from between the claws to see the ground has disappeared beneath us. There's only clouds around us now, and my stomach sinks. I just hope Sam was smart enough to run away. To go inside, where she'll be safe.

The clawed hand I'm in lifts, sending me flying around inside the little cage. The hand opens near a giant eye, and the green dragon looks down at me. I see it the moment he realizes he got me instead of Sam. Pure fury courses through him. He throws back his head and roars, a deafening sound.

I don't even have time to cover my ears when he tosses me in the air. Wind rushes all around me, but when I look down, I see an enormous mouth filled with sharp teeth. With nothing else to do, I stretch out as far as I can and catch myself on teeth on both sides. He snaps his mouth together, and I jump back, just in time to avoid the teeth.

I land on the top of his head and he shakes, trying to be rid of me, but I hold on, digging my fingers in between his massive scales. He suddenly dives down, and the wind tears at me, trying to pluck me from his head, but I don't let go.

We come slamming into the earth, and I'm thrown from his head and roll across the ground. The air is knocked from my lungs. My bones scream and break. The impact is like being hit by a train. I'm trying to gasp in air, but I can't.

The dragon leaps on top of me. Its claws push down on me, crushing me beneath the weight of the beast.

I taste blood. My vision waivers in and out when I see a red flash of scales between claws.

It takes my brain a second to register what I'm seeing, but then I do. Sam. Sam came for me. Sam is going to try to save me, but she can't take on the dragon. She needs to get out of here. She needs to escape before it kills me and can focus on her.

I try to scream, to tell her to run. But I can't. I'm dying. Being crushed to dust.

My body heats up. Warmth spreads over me, and I'm on fire.

Is the dragon burning me?

Screams catch in my throat, and I feel myself growing. Changing. Becoming something different than before, but something that I've always been.

The claws are gone. I can breathe. I stretch, feeling good, alive.

Sam is on the back of the green dragon, trying to tear his throat out. Her efforts have left him bloody, but it's not enough. The dragon is bigger and stronger. His scales are too tough.

I open my mouth and a roar comes out that shakes the very air around me. Both dragons' heads snap in my direction, and I take a step forward, seeing my leg. My massive leg covered in golden scales.

It all hits me at once. I'm a dragon.

The thought isn't even strange. It feels right. Like I was always a dragon.

In front of me, the green dragon bucks Sam off of him. She hits the ground, and he turns on her. Fire explodes from my lips, and the green dragon's head jerks to me. I run straight at him, and at the last second, he leaps into the air and takes off.

Aydan. Run. Get back to the base. It's Sam's voice in my head, except they aren't words.

I try to think back at her. No, not until he's dead. You won't be safe until then.

Leaping into the sky, I try to fly, but I fall. I don't care. The ground is hard, but I can barely feel it through my scales. I leap again and again, and at last, flapping my wings sends me into the sky. Shooting after the green dragon, I realize that I'm much bigger. This male isn't worthy of Sam. It's almost laughable that he tried to get her in the first place.

He dives at me from the clouds, and I spin to avoid him with ease. The wind feels amazing around me. My muscles feel free, the way they're supposed to feel, I think, in a way I've never felt before.

Then there's a flash of red, and I see Sam in all her glory. She's beautiful in a way that's impossible to explain, and then her scent washes over me, and I feel an uncontrollable need to take her for my own again.

The green dragon dives at her from above, his claws cutting into her shoulders. It snaps me out of the stupor her scent had put me under, and I roar and fly straight at him. He leaps away from her at the last second, and we circle each other.

I can see that Sam is trying to help, but she's too small. Too fragile. Not built for fighting huge males.

Suddenly, a loud explosion comes just near us, and hot pieces of metal disperse through the air. I duck away from it, trying to shield Sam from whatever the hell it is.

Another explosion comes near our side. And then another, and another, until the sky is filled with rockets.

The green dragon moves away from us, watching us from a distance. His low voice rolls through my mind. This isn't over . Then he turns and disappears into the clouds.

He's gone. For now.