Fuck.
I fucking wish I was telepathic.
I’m okay! I want to shout. We’re going to be just fine, thanks to you.
I don’t, though.
I just sit there, silently.
Watching.
Waiting.
Praying.
The wolf doesn’t say anything. He just stares at the dragon. They’re both still in their male forms, still looking at one another like they’re starving, like they’re itching for a brutal fight. The dragon looks calm, though. I get the feeling that this is the type of man who is always in control. He’s always in charge.
And he always gets his way.
“Let us be on our way,” he repeats, but the wolf yells in response.
“Never! The human is mine!” He spits toward the dragon, and I see the man standing up straighter. He seems to grow taller. He practically towers over the wolf, and I wonder if the wolf shifter is on some sort of drug. He’s being crazy and wildly brave in a situation where neither one of those is good qualities to have.
Is he just stupid?
Maybe he’s feral from living on his own for too long.
The dragon doesn’t seem to want to fight. Isn’t that curious? When he had me trapped, he couldn’t seem to wait to attack me.
He didn’t, though. Did he?
Maybe he was just trying to scare me.
I push the thought away because the idea of
me hurting an innocent shifter doesn’t sit well with me. I hurt him because I had to escape with Daisy. I had to get her and the kittens to safety, but now I think I’m finally starting to realize that there is no safety. Not anymore. Not in the forest.
“She is not yours,” the dragon says calmly. “Humans are not pets to be owned by another,” he tells the shifter, and my eyes dart up to his. He’s speaking to the wolf, but he’s looking at me, and the words sink into my heart and sit there, settling.
Humans are not pets.
What kind of life has this dragon lived that those are the words he’s chosen to share with the wolf?
“She is mine,” the wolf says again, and then he shifts.
I’ve never seen anything like it before. One second, he’s a man. The next second, he’s an animal. He doesn’t seem to be in any pain from the shift, which is interesting. I suppose I thought it must hurt because it’s such a huge change, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. If anything, the shift seems to give him more energy because he no longer moves slowly and carefully.
Now he darts back and forth, as if he’s gearing up for a fight.
Something tells me he’s about to get one.
“I don’t want to fight you,” the dragon says. “It doesn’t have to be this way.”
I stare at the dragon. Is he serious right now? He doesn’t want to fight? How interesting. I suppose I thought all shifters would be excited for the opportunity to show off their strength and size. Their skills.
Aren’t they all killing machines?
This one is different, though.