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She’s right.

As much as I hate this bitch and don’t want to give her anything, I know that she’s right because I can see him changing before my very eyes. The dragon shifts into a man, and he’s naked on the ground.

“He’s a prick anyway,” she grumbles. “They all are.”

“Not another word,” I say.

I have to figure out what I’m going to do. I’ve got her pinned and her weapons are gone, but I have to figure out a way to tie her up or otherwise incapacitate her. I’m no killer. I’m not going to hurt her. Not like that.

I do need to figure out how to help this guy, though, because he looks like he’s in some serious pain.

“Oh, stop being such a baby,” Nicole says. “The pain isn’t that bad.”

“What did you do?” I ask again, pulling on her hair.

“Ouch!”

“Tell. Me.”

She sighs loudly, as if I’m being completely dramatic. “If you must know,” she says. “I just gave him something to keep him from shifting. He’ll be human now, at least until he’s due for another dose.”

“How long does the medicine last?”

She looks at me sideways. “Long enough for us to call for backup. He’s going to need help from my team.”

I dig my knee into her bag and slide my backpack off. I’ve got rope in there, and I pull it out. I might be a huge fucking nerd, but I can tie more knots than I know what to do with. Thanks to my time camping as a teen. I was in this girls group that focused on outdoor skills and learning to tie knots for a variety of reasons.

The man groans. He doesn’t seem to be aware of his surroundings anymore. I don’t know how I can help him, but I’m going to do my fucking best as soon as I tie up this bitch. I secure Nicole’s arms behind her back. I go full BDSM-style and tie the rope up to her elbows. I’ve never tried that before, myself, but my roommate into college was a Domme and she taught me a few things about ropes. I make sure I don’t do anything too tight. I’m interested in keeping her in place: not damaging her body.

Once I know she can’t move her arms, I secure her legs.

“This hurts,” she complains. “Why are you doing this? This is a mistake. There’s been some sort of misunderstanding.” I ignore her and finish tying her. When I’m finished, Nicole is lying on her side, and I move to the man. I feel completely uncomfortable attending to a naked man that kind of just fell into my life in the middle of the woods, but hey, I’m not going to just leave him to be hurt here. Not alone. Not on my watch.

I move to the man. Now that I’m looking at him up close, I’m surprised by just how...normal...he looks. I don’t suppose I’ve ever spent much time thinking about dragon shifters and whether they’re real or not. Here he is, though. In the flesh. Here’s a real-life dragon and he’s...yeah, he’s just super naked right now.

He groan

s as I near him, but he doesn’t speak.

“Are you okay?” I ask.

“He can’t talk,” Nicole says.

The man is very still on the grass now. He can’t be comfortable. Before I cover him with a blanket or anything like that, I need to make sure he’s actually not really injured. I can see the spot where she shot him. The dart is still sticking out of his skin. I pull it free and he almost whimpers, but I try to ignore his noises and I examine the dart. There’s nothing visible on it. I’m not a scientist. I don’t know anything about poison or darts or weapons or how any of that works.

I do, however, know that if it has poison in it, the dart could be giving him more and more. Removing it was the proper choice. He’s not bleeding and he appears otherwise unharmed.

“Do you want a drink of water?” I whisper.

His eyes are closed, but he makes a grunting noise. I pull a water bottle from my bag and come back to him. I’m not sure how to make this not-weird. No matter what I do, it’s going to be awkward, and I hate that. That’s me: awkward penguin for the win. No matter what I do, no matter where I go, I can never seem to escape the reality.

So I just ignore it.

I ignore that he’s naked and I carefully lift his head. I bring the water bottle to his lips and he drinks.

“Thank you,” he whispers.

“What’s your name?”


Tags: Sophie Stern The Fablestone Clan Fantasy