I watch Everett and Fenian walk inside before turning back.
“He’ll figure it out eventually, Kaylani,” Kenna says kindly.
“I doubt it,” I say, turning to her. “What brings you to the school? Registering for classes?” I ask, smiling.
She growls at me, but I just look at her. She needs to be here as much as anyone else. Yhendorn will as well once she’s old enough.
“Given the waitlist you already have, I think that’s a good idea, Kenna,” Yhendorn says to her.
“You can’t be serious,” she snaps at him. Fire dragon and Lycan. She’s a powerful hybrid and in her current youthfulness, I lot of that burns as fiery emotions.
Her mate, however, not only loves her fire, but seems to know how to stoke her flames without allowing them to burn him to ash.
“I want to be a good mate to you, Kenna. Always. There are many things that I don’t know about you and that you don’t know about me. We have time, but sometimes the expectation of what is to come becomes overwhelming the closer you get. I don’t want you becoming skittish and I know you’ll give me one hell of a fight when the time comes, so I want to be as prepared as possible to claim you in a way that limits the damage and pain that I cause you and to ensure that I know exactly what I need to do so you never feel like you’ve been forced to comply with my will. You aren’t the only one that will need to take classes here, my love. When the time comes, I will too.”
And just like that, Yhendorn has turned Kenna’s burning fire into a molten lava of goo puddling at his feet.
She huffs. “Fine.”
“Thank you, my beautiful fire dragon,” he says, kissing the top of her head.
I can only imagine how strange it is for her to be an adult in one body and a child in the other. I’m surprised that she doesn’t spend more time in her dragon body, but maybe that limits her ability to be near her mate too much. Coming to school here will be a test of her ability to be away from Yhendorn.
“What’s up with Ancalagon?” she asks me.
“UGH!” I say, rolling my eyes and turning to Naida, who is still in her dragon form.
“He’s getting closer to shifting and with each day he’s becoming more and more difficult. Everett thinks that there is something else going on with him, but you know that he is not going to willingly let Everett run tests on him, at least not in his current state.
Kenna turns to where Ancalagon flew off with the other dragons.
“Did you feel it? His Alpha call?” she asks me, and I can tell she didn’t like feeling a pull to someone other than Yhendorn.
“Yes, but he’s not yet strong enough to rule over pure dragons. It’s only a matter of time though. He’s the Alpha of Alphas. He was meant to rule us all. I just hope that when the time comes, that he’s past this temperamental stage of his growth. Did his call pull you?”
She nods, turning to look back at me.
Now it’s my turn to look out to where Ancalagon flew off. “With your Alpha genes, I’m surprised you felt it more than I did. Eventually, he’ll overrule you, but because of who you are, you were able to resist, unlike Naida here,” I say, still stroking her snout.
“Sorry Naida. Grumpy Ancalagon forced your shift, didn’t he?” Kenna coos at her, coming over to stroke her snout. “I haven’t seen you shifted yet. Can I have a look?”
I step back and let Naida strut a bit, showing off her dragon’s body.
“Your color is a bit lighter than Kaylani’s but still every bit the water dragon’s coloring. You’re beautiful.”
Naida begins crooning at Kenna’s words.
“See, I told you that it was okay that our colors weren’t exactly the same. Everyone will still know that you are a water dragon,” I tell her.
“I’m not the same ruby color as my mother, but I’m still a dark red, so everyone knows I’m a fire dragon. Trust me, no one will doubt that you are Kaylani’s daughter.”
I smile at my adopted daughter. She’s so special to me for so many reasons. Not only does she have my DNA, truly making her my daughter, but she also has been through so much that I’m thankful that she has remained a kind soul through it all.
“We need to talk to Everett. We want an update on his patient and to see what’s happening with the hybrids.”
“I’ll call Zephyr and have Ishir come over. He, Avani, and Cedric have been taking turns going out to search. I do know they found another shed skin,” I tell them.
“Has Everett gotten anything out of the new one?” Yhendorn asks.
“The same as before. It has the same DNA structure as Ancalagon.”
“Thanks, Kaylani. Good to see you, Naida,” Kenna says as the two of them walk inside following after Everett.
I turn back to Naida. “Since you’re shifted, do you want to work on strengthening your wings so you can fly?” I ask her.
“YES!” she bugles.
I chuckle. “Okay, but I don’t have long. I have a class to run this morning.”
I step away from her and strip down, shifting into my dragon that is much larger than hers. I lean down and croon at her, encouraging and bonding with her in our dragon form.
Tesha walks up, watching us.
“Would you like to join us, Tesha?” I ask her.
Tesha was one of the poorly constructed hybrids that shifted before we found her. Her original DNA was Lycan and polar bear, neither of which bond with her human DNA. So, her shift turned her into a deformed creature, and it nearly killed her. She still has the scars from that first shift, and she always wears long sleeves and pants to cover them.
Once we found her, my mate was able to add Tana’s DNA, since we know that the Lycan DNA came from her son. Dragon DNA attaches well to human and other shifter DNA, so Everett was not only able to save her life, but she’s able to shift. Unfortunately, she doesn’t shift cleanly. Unlike most of the hybrids, Tesha can shift into one of two species, Lycan or dragon. The problem is, the other DNA is blended too deeply into the first, so she either shifts into a scaly Lycan or a furry dragon. Because she’s a fire dragon, the fire and fur do not go well together.
I know she’s extremely self-conscious of the way she looks in her shifted form. Zephyr and I have been working closely with her to help her come to terms with her new body or, in her case, bodies. With the DNA she has, she’s not only an apex predator, but she’s also an Alpha, a leader. She has the temperament to lead and Zephyr and I are trying to help her become the confident leader she is meant to be.
“No, thank you,” she says. “But can I watch?”
I look at Naida. “Sure, just don’t laugh," she says.
“I won’t laugh,” Tesha says, sitting down nearby to watch as I work to help Naida lift off the ground.
After a few minutes, Aithlin, one of the elves, comes over. Naida is very well liked by the males in the school and I’ve already noticed that there is some fighting for her attention among the different factions.
“Naida, I can put a little wind under your wings to help you lift off,” Aithlin says.
“Aith, sit down. Naida doesn’t need any help. She just needs practice,” Tesha says.
“How would you know?” he snaps.
Tesha just gives him a look, but Naida turns and growls at him. She and Tesha have started creating a friendship even though they are about three years apart in age.
“Sorry, Naida,” he says, making her huff. He doesn’t seem to realize that he apologized to the wrong person.
“As you all know, this is Eric, a 12 or 13-year-old male, found by Ishir and Zephyr in the laboratory where the hybrids escaped. He was the only survivor still in the laboratory. Zephyr found him having already shifted and we quickly identified that he had been injected with polar bear and kamado dragon DNA. The kamado dragon DNA is the biggest problem, being that his human and polar bear DNA are both warm blooded animals. I added Kaylani’s DNA, and it has bonded to his human DNA, allowing him to shift back. The polar bear DNA also bonded to Kaylani’s DNA, but the kamado dragon DNA is still a problem. Until I can figure out how to bond that DNA to the others, I’m keeping him sedated.”“What about elf DNA?” Fenian asks. “From everything I’ve learned so far, it seems that elf DNA is the best bonding agent of DNA.”“In general, you’re correct, Fenian. But we already have one hybrid that can shift into two different animals, not including her human form. I’m concerned about giving Eric to
I work with Naida until I have to shift and get ready for class. I’m an animal, I’m used to being naked. The elves, however, are not as used to nudity and I find them staring, not just at me, but at all of the shifters when they shift. Being the mother of a teenage daughter, I find it uncomfortable that teenage elvish boys are staring at my naked daughter when she shifts. I need to talk to Yhendorn about that while he’s here.I wait for Naida to shift and watch as Aithlin openly stares. I growl at him, just as Tesha smacks him in his chest.“Get lost, perv. Naida doesn't want you gawking at her naked body.”Naida turns to look at Aithlin who has turned an uncomplimentary shade of red. He drops his gaze and races off. I hand her my clothes to put on since hers shredded when her dragon answered Ancalagon’s call.As we walk inside, I send Naida to her room and I head to mine, quickly getting dressed before heading out to my classroom. Because today's class is Elemental Manipulation and t
After Kaylani leaves, I check on Eric again, just to make sure that he’s settled for the night. Usually, I sleep in here with him. It’s easier to sleep on a cot in a medical room than it is to sleep in my own bed without Kaylani. Nothing feels more empty or alone than my bed when I sleep without her. Not that I let myself sleep with her often. I have no willpower when I do, so I try, so hard, so stay away. But I know it’s hard for her too and that’s what ultimately breaks down my walls. A beautiful dragon shouldn’t look tired or sad.I set up the alarms, in case something should happen overnight, but he’s been in this coma for so long that I feel confident that I can leave him for one night. Then, I head to my room.I can smell the food before I get there. Kaylani has brought up what used to be my favorite dish, chicken parmesan. However, now, because I know how much she loves nearly raw meat, I enjoy eating steak with her. That’s my new favorite, because I get to watch her enjoy her
I wake up, having slept better than I have since, well, since the last time I slept with Everett. I reach out and feel that the bed is warm but empty, just before the sounds of the shower reach my ears.I know that as soon as we walk out of this room, all of Everett’s walls will go back up. I know that he will push me away and try to keep his distance. But I also know that every time he breaks and spends the night with me, there is less time before the next time.The first time we were together, I thought he had finally given in, finally agreed to be my mate. I was so hurt when he went back to acting normal the next day. I know he loves me, he’s told me, but only when he thought I was dead, when I was paralyzed during an attack on the scientist’s lab. He has never said the words to me in the throes of passion or just because he wants me to know how he feels.After the second time we were together, I realized that he can’t resist me. No matter how hard he tries, he can’t push me away f
As soon as Amne shifts, I scoop her off the ground.“I’ve got you, Amne. It’s me, Doc Everett. I’m going to take care of you,” I tell her, not sure if she can hear me or not.Her body seems to have lost all muscle control and she’s flopping around in my arms until I get her settled so her head is against my chest, and I have her securely in my arms.One thing I realized very quickly is that dragons may look like humans, but their bones continue to be very dense, even in their human form. So they weigh nearly double what you’d expect them to weigh just by looking at them. Amne, like the other dragon females, is tall and lean, looking modelesque in her stature but weighing somewhere around 250 pounds.A year ago, I wouldn’t have been able to lift Amne and hold her like I am, but when you spend lots of time with shifters, it makes you stronger, faster. They don’t realize how fast they are, how strong they are, or how you, as a human, aren’t as capable of carrying heavy objects. So, while
I watch amazed, as I always am when there’s a crisis and my mate takes charge, facing off against Ancalagon or anyone who gets in the way of him helping those who are injured, directing others to get him the information he needs, and continuing to look after his patient while keeping up with everything that’s going on around him. As usual, I’m utterly in awe of this man.To watch him, to listen to him, you’d never know that he was worried sick about losing his patient. But then, he’ll reach out to me, need to touch me to help keep him grounded. I know that’s the reason because I need it to. He may not recognize the mate bond the way I do, but he definitely feels the impact of our mate bond.“How long before we know for sure if Amne is going to be okay?” I ask him.“I need to run more tests and I’ll need to stay with her today to make sure she stays stable,” he says.I look at the clock. “You have class today, Everett. I’ll stay with her. Take her blood and get the tests started. If an
I love teaching. It’s the best thing that I do next to helping these hybrids and dragons. If you had asked me a few years ago what my life was going to be like in the next five years, I never would have imagined that it would be this. I’ve always been enamored with dragons and to find out that they are real and that I could become a permanent part of their life, was incredible. Getting to know them, work with them, save them, and now teach them, has been a dream that I never thought would become a reality, but here I am.That doesn’t mean there aren’t pitfalls. I’m in love with a dragon, the most beautiful dragon of all of them if you ask me, but I wasn’t born to claim a dragon. Every time I take Cedric’s sword-wielding class, I’m reminded of how utterly weak I am compared to these shifters. I walk out of that class, my entire body feeling like I’ve been beaten up. And while the others may walk out that way too, by dinner they are all healed, while I am still sore at the next class.M
We’re not supposed to leave the school grounds, but sometimes, I just need to get away. In a school of freaks, I’m the freakiest. I’m the only one who can shift into two different types of shifters, which might be really cool if they were normal, but they’re not. My DNA got so screwed up by the scientists that no matter what form I take, I’m a freak of nature, a scaly Lycan or a furry dragon.That may change if Eric ever wakes up. I may not be the only one that can shift into two animals. I heard that Doc Everett had to give him a fourth DNA, elf DNA, to try to get the others to merge. We’re still waiting to see if Eric wakes up. He has Komodo dragon, polar bear, water dragon and now elf. If he’s like me, he’ll shift into something like a furry lizard or a scaly elf. Neither of those options is positive. Sometimes, I wonder if it wouldn’t have been better if they had left me to die.As I walk through the woods surrounding the school, I catch a strange scent, a scent I’ve caught severa