And then Ren was sitting at her side, speaking to her in a voice too low for even Vee to make out, judging by the way she craned her neck forward. Mira listened, her expression shifting from frustration to curiosity, then to something else entirely… something Conrad couldn’t read, in the flickering firelight. But her golden eyes lit on him for a long moment… and then she nodded, new resolution in her movements as she rose to her feet and moved away from them into the dark field. Conrad watched, almost holding his breath.
For the longest time, it seemed like this attempt would end like all the others—a protracted, tense silence, then a slump of defeat. But the silence stretched, and stretched, and stretched. Was he imagining it, the buzz of magic under his skin? His dragon was suddenly still and watchful, alert, the way he felt when his instincts told him that something was about to happen. It was the way he’d felt just before the portal had opened, the unspoken force that had driven him through the portal and into Mira’s world despite all the protests of his rational mind…
A great rush of air, and a yelp of surprise from beside him. Conrad stared at the huge, dark shape in the paddock before him, heart pounding … and then a smile broke out across his face as a pair of enormous wings spread, a little shaky, moonlight glistening through the semi-translucent wingsails. It was her, he knew as he moved towards her. It was Mira… he’d know those golden eyes anywhere, even though they were set in the scaly face of a dragon. She lowered her head to him, her sinuous neck uncoiling, and he smiled back at her, so full of joy that he felt the unexpected sting of tears behind his eyes.
Behind him, the wolves were both yelping with delight, leaping from paw to paw and capering in the circle of flattened grass that surrounded the fire—they’d both transformed right after Mira had, and their silver eyes were bright points in the gloom. What was he still doing down here, his impatient dragon demanded? He glanced up at the house, not so far from where they stood, his hesitation giving way. It was far too late now to worry about Heather seeing what was going on down here. Two wolves and a dragon already… what was one more added to the number?
Conrad spread his wings once he’d shifted, knowing instinctively what the next step had to be. Without waiting for Mira, he sprang aloft, his wings powering him upwards. A flicker of concern over what she’d told him about humans and their technology… would they be detected out here? He didn’t care. For the first time in her life, Mira was finally in touch with the other side of herself… and he could not in good conscience allow that experience to remain earthbound. It would be a betrayal to everything he was … to everything they both were.
Below him, he could hear the wolves howling, their voices echoing with an eerie beauty across the valley. So much for keeping a low profile, he thought with some amusement. Would the local farmers worry about their flocks? It didn’t seem to matter now… not with the sky stretching out above him. He reached out to Mira with his mind, not wanting to overwhelm her with telepathic contact… just a subtle brush of consciousness, some encouragement to join him.
Conrad?! I can’t. I don’t know how.
He didn’t respond—simply kept rising. She’d find a way to follow him, his dragon assured him lazily. She just needed to get out of her own way. He traced a few circles at a low altitude. Below him, the paddock was a dark stretch of ground lit only by the glow of their little campfire. Conrad waited, circling. She could do it. He knew she could.
Another burst of howls from the wolves, triumphant, joyous—he’d never thought he’d find such joy in a sound like that. Because Mira was airborne, wings flapping frantically, her body rising erratically but quickly through the night air… and the absolute panic he could feel in her was quickly giving way to exultation as she realized that she wasn’t imagining it. She was flying. It wasn’t something a dragon ever forgot.
He rumbled laughter when she reached his altitude and promptly kept rising, barely sparing him a backward glance. It was like that, was it? He sped after her, exulting in the burn of his wing muscles. Strange as this new world was, everything below them seemed to have melted away, leaving only the ever-familiar feeling of wind and sky beneath his wings. The low, patchy cloud cover was quickly pierced by their bodies as they rose and rose, Mira’s scales glimmering in the moonlight. He took the opportunity to study her closely, wondering whether dragons from this world were any different from those from his own. She looked just like him and his fellows, Conrad realized… a few subtle personal distinctions, of course, but clearly the same kind of dragon. Not for the first time, he wondered how that was possible. Their worlds were so different in so many ways, but the similarities were even more puzzling.
But those concerns quickly faded into the background. The world below could wait, for the time being. Mira had a pair of wings to break in… and right now, all Conrad cared about was dancing with her in the moonlight above the clouds.
Chapter 23 - Mira
Mira was breathing hard when they finally, reluctantly, returned to solid ground below the clouds. Exhilarating as it was, flying took a lot out of you—just one of a whole host of fascinating new discoveries she’d made tonight. Conrad was by her side like a shadow. She marveled at his easy grace in the air. Now that she had firsthand experience, she could recognize the skill it took to exert such control, the expertise with which he maneuvered his way into land beside her. She’d gouged great holes in the soil when she’d landed, tearing up chunks of grass and making a mess. Conrad, by contrast, settled into the grass like a raincloud.
Not for the first time, it occurred to her that she had a lot to learn from this man.
The wolves were waiting by the fire, and when Mira regained her human shape, it was only a few seconds before Vee had all but tackled her, nearly knocking her off balance as she pulled her into a tight hug and whooped with celebration. It was strange to look into the young woman’s silver eyes and see a shadow of the great wolf she’d met earlier, to know that she was only seeing a fragment of the picture when she looked at her.
“I knew you could do it, I knew it, I knew it. How was the sky? How’s flying?”
“Amazing,” she said faintly, her voice cracking with wonder. “It—it’s amazing.” A pause. “I’m starving.”
That won a laugh from Conrad, human-shaped again and barely out of breath as he regarded her from where he stood, for all the world as though the two of them hadn’t just been playing tag in the sky.
“That was amazing,” she told him, switching language. He nodded, that smile much wider than she’d ever seen it. “Probably old news for you, I guess.”
But he shook his head. “It’s always like that,” he said simply. “Every time, the same joy. Never wears off.” His eyes kept drifting skyward, and she tilted her head curiously. “The stars here,” he said thoughtfully. “I could be wrong, but… I swear they’re the same as the ones back home.” He shook himself briskly. “Not important right now. Mira—I think we can safely conclude that you’re a dragon.”
“Yeah,” she said faintly. “Yeah, I think that might be the case.” They headed back to the fire, which Ren had built up to a roaring little blaze while she and Conrad had been exploring the sky. How long had they been up there, anyway? It could have been anything from five minutes to five hours. She’d never felt so completely alive, so at one with herself… with a body that felt simultaneously brand new and completely familiar. It was like… a jolt of realization hit her, drawing a curious glance from Conrad.
“I’ve never done that before, but it still felt so familiar,” she said, still breathless. “It… it felt like meeting you, Conrad.”
Across the fire from her, she saw Ren smile—just a quick flash of teeth, and then his head was lowered again, poking at the fire. Conrad followed her gaze, and she could sense his curiosity warring with his politeness. For once, curiosity won.
“What did he say to you?” he asked quietly, nodding across the campfire to Ren. “It seemed to help more than anything Vee and I suggested.”
Mira felt a blush rise to her cheeks and hoped that the warm light of the fire hid it. But out here, under the stars, with the giddy rush of flight still warming her veins like quicksilver, it felt somehow ridiculous not to just answer the question. “He told me shifting feels like being with the one he loves,” she said, meeting Conrad’s eyes squarely as she said it. The surprise on his face was gratifying, as was his visible struggle to regain his composure… and she grinned down at the fire, feeling even more warmth in the pit of her stomach.
And then, sitting out there under the stars, she talked. It took a while to say everything she had to say, especially with the need to swap back and forth between languages to keep Conrad in the loop as well as the wolves, but there was a strange, easy calm in her that felt at once brand new and familiar as breathing. It was her dragon, she realized, a shiver of delight running down her spine as the recognition hit her. It had always been with her, that wild part of her spirit… but now, at last, it was awake. Strange, how clear it made her mind feel. Part of her had expected to be transformed into someone entirely new when she shifted. Instead, she felt more like herself than she ever had before… as though the night air had cleared away a thick layer of dust and shown her who she’d actually been all along.
And who she was, right now, was a woman with a plan. A plan to deal with the man in the shed, a plan to deal with Vee and Ren’s missing packmates, a plan to make sure Heather was never bothered again… and a plan that, all things going well, would get to the bottom of what had happened to her mother all those years ago, once and for all.
There was a long silence when she’d finished speaking. The wolves had a few questions, but she was surprised by how readily they accepted her suggestions, by how willing they were to follow her. She’d always thought that she wasn’t cut out to lead, given how vulnerable it made her feel… but now, having stepped into that vulnerability with an open heart, she realized that vulnerability was what made a good leader. Then she turned to Conrad, taking a deep breath as she readied herself for his criticisms. It was too dangerous, there were too many potential risks, it involved trusting the wolves too much… she was ready for it, whatever it was.
But Conrad only met her gaze, steady as a rock. “It’s a good plan,” he said softly. “I’m with you, Mira.”
She wanted, very much, to kiss him right then and there… but the wolves sitting on the other side of the fire made her feel too self-conscious. Hoping he could read her gratitude in her eyes, she smiled instead. The four of them sat a while longer under the stars as the fire burned itself down to embers. Then Ren stamped out the last of them with his great boots, eyes downcast.