Blotches of colored light throbbed within my line of sight, multiple small zigzags chopping up the image of Nyfain turning and crouching down beside me. My heart warmed, adding to the furnace in my middle, and prickles of pain turned into knife strikes, washing over my body and digging into my shoulders, head, and legs.
“Finley,” Nyfain said, and hearing that deep, rough voice was like coming home. When had that started?
His power swept through me, a tidal wave quickly overcoming me and threatening to pull me under. The searing agony covering my flesh bit in deeper, and the inferno within struggled to get out.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Nyfain said, strain evident in his voice.
“Couldn’t…work…that sword,” I struggled to say, my animal trying to kick me out of the way and take over. “Need…tutor after…all.”
That was when I felt it. The strong, sure pulse beckoning my animal closer. Asking her to join hearts and minds and souls.
Nyfain’s dragon was intent on protecting us. On dominating and claiming us. He called to my animal, and she was struggling against me to answer.
“She can’t shift, you colossal prick,” Nyfain said, picking me up and hugging me close. He bent and retrieved the sword as well. After a beat, he said, “No, I will not fucking shift with you in this state. You’ll kill her. She can’t shift with this curse! Stop calling to her animal!”
I wrapped my arms around his neck and pressed my cheek to his stubble, looking over his shoulder as he jogged. I squeezed my eyes shut and gritted my teeth against the pain. I didn’t know where he was going, but it didn’t matter. I trusted him.
Nyfain turned his head just a little, his lips brushing the shell of my ear. My animal purred in delight even as butterflies swarmed my stomach.
“Don’t give in, Finley,” he said softly, holding me tightly. “Don’t give in to your animal. The first shift needs to be done in the best conditions, when the shifter is at peak power and in the presence of a guiding influence. This is the worst possible time for it. Talk to your creature. Pull her off my dragon’s scent.”
I squeezed my arms tighter around him. My heart beat strongly, and somehow it seemed like it was echoing through him before coming back to me. Like I used it, lent it to him, then got it back. One heart keeping us both going.
I slid my hand across his bare shoulder and up the side of his neck, to his strong jaw with prickly stubble. He stopped in his walk, suddenly silenced.
I turned my face just a little. Desire lazily crawled across my flesh and then soaked down through tissue to bone. It merged with the fire raging in my blood and calmed it, slow and syrupy, languid and delicious. All I knew was his touch. His heat. The feeling of that heart, bouncing back and forth.
“Nyfain,” I whispered, needing something but not quite sure what. My animal goaded me. I was so tired of resisting her, of resisting him. “Nyfain…”
“No, Finley,” he murmured, pained. His arms tight around me. His lips brushing the corner of mine. “Don’t give in.”
“Will you stop me?” I forced his face a little closer to me. We were on the trail, yes, but we had darkness for cover. People’s fear of the beast for protection.
“I won’t be able to. Please, Finley, resist. You deserve better than me. You deserve the world at your feet, and I don’t have anything to offer you. I’m an uncrowned king of ruin. I am a prince of destruction. I am your worst nightmare. Please, resist and wait for someone better.”
A sudden swell of power stole my breath. It rose within me, caught by my animal and held. More came, then more still—so much power, as though the two beasts were working together to create a storm. A rush of energy felt like it ate through my flesh. A command pulsed within me, all around.
Shift.
My animal wrestled me for control, eager to follow the command. Eager to get to his dragon.
No! You heard Nyfain. We can’t! I don’t know how!
We belong with them. You feel it. We all feel it. If you won’t bond him as you ought, then I will push you aside, find my form, and do it for us. I am tired of the games of the two legs. It’s time to bond. Stop being a set of saggy balls and help me!
Fire crackled across his skin—actual fire!—and seared across mine. The flame bit down, spreading tiny points of agony all over, Nyfain’s dragon clearly helping push the issue.
My vision blackened further. My head grew light. With the dragon’s help, my animal was winning. She was internally clawing me out of the way.
“You’ll kill her!” Nyfain yelled. “You must stop!”