His Breath of Fire

Chapter Eight

    The men’s eyes flew to me and I shot them another smile.

    “Wait, so you’re part wolf?” Lucas asked, doubt coloring his tone, and I nodded in answer. “Why don’t you smell like one then?”

    “The scent of my other shifter form overpowers the scent of my wolf, effectively hiding me from wolven noses,” I answer, taking care to let my mother break the news of our dragon heritage. “Though I am from Lycan heritage, my other form is more powerful since it’s heritage is stronger.”

    “So what is your other shifter form?” Paul asks, looking back at my mother. 

    “We’ve been on the run ever since, having to pick up and move every three or so months because Bren’s father would be close on our tails,” my mother continued, choosing to ignore Paul’s question at the moment. “Though one night, about two months ago, I had a vision that I was blessed with a second-chance mate.” The mated pair locked gazes at that moment, seeming to forget the conversation at hand as they gazed lovingly at each other.

    I cleared my throat, regaining the attention of my mother. Smiling sheepishly, she continued, “It took some time to pinpoint your location, but once I found you I knew this was the next place we needed to move to. For my safety and for Bren’s. Both of our mates are here.”

    “You know who your mate is?” Lucas asked, probably worried it’s him.

    “Yes,” I simply state, but give him a reassuring shake that it isn’t him. He relaxes in his chair, relieved. Yeah, that’d be an awkward family tree.

    “That is the story of how we got here and why I haven’t told you this beforehand,” My mother says, looking at Paul. “I’m sorry not to tell you this beforehand, but out of fear for my daughter’s life, I had to be careful, and I hope as a parent you can understand why I took the measures I did.”

    Paul’s expression was unreadable, and I knew he was guarding himself from what he expected to be the worst. I grabbed my mother’s hand and held out my free one, causing my mother to do the same. Both men stared at us confused, but looked at our outstretched palms in expectation. I snapped my fingers and a small ball of flames hovered above my palm, earning a gasp from the spectators. Having not been able to play with fire recently, I enjoyed the feeling of warmth it exuded from the ball of flames, bouncing it and weaving it through my fingers and around my hand. I could feel the heat from my mother’s ball but kept my concentration on my own. Deciding to up the ante, I made the ball bigger, engulfing my hand all the way up to my elbow in flames only to retreat the heat to the tip of my index finger. I snuffed out the flame and looked at my mother who repeated my actions.

    “What…” Paul started, but trailed off, unable to form sentences as his mind tried to wrap around what he just witnessed. “Are you...witches?”

    “No,” my mother chuckled, glancing at me, “though since we’re in our human form I can see why you would think that.”

    “It might be easier if we showed you,” I say, repeating Paul’s words back to him. With that, my mother and I got up from our chairs and walked away from the seated men.

    I felt my powers flowing through me, coming to life at my command. I opened my eyes knowing they now glowed opal as the powers flowed around myself and my mother, charming our clothes to return to normal after we shifted. My mother kept her gaze on her mate, who looked at me in both fear and awe. Once the spell was cast I nodded to my mother. On cue, we started to shift.

    Shifting to our dragon form was much different than shifting to my wolf form. The process was smoother, faster, and didn’t hurt as much. It was also much easier to control partial changes, making it so we could bring our wings out and fly without having to change into our full dragon form if needed. Much like how wolf’s fur is the same color as their human’s hair, dragon’s scales reflect the color of our hair as well. Meaning, my wolf and dragon form both have silvery coloring, though my dragon form’s coloring reflects the color of the protective dome. Light reflects off the silvery scales, seeming to make me appear brighter and more colorful than other dragons.

    Once standing at full height, we are as tall as the two story house we find ourselves residing in. My mother folds herself down, curling into a ball to put her head near her mate. Contrary to my opal eyes, most dragon’s eyes are fire orange, indicative of their fire breathing powers. It’s the one difference you can tell between my mother and I’s dragon form. Horns protrude from just above where our eyebrows would be with spikes falling down from the tops of our heads to the base of our neck, leading down to the tips of our tails. On each front leg, there are spikes from protruding from the joint, providing another weapon to use besides our fire and claws.

    Paul walks up to my mother, hesitantly but full of awe and love as he holds his hand out. My mother’s dragon watches him, head laid on the ground, still larger than he is standing and he’s around six foot two. He gently places a hand on her snout and my mother blinks at the sparks flying at the contact. “You’re so beautiful,” he whispers, but everyone heard him. Because dragons are so tall our hearing is enhanced much like wolves, only slightly more in order to hear what a human is saying from the ground.

    I felt tears starting to swell in my dragon eyes and I shifted back into my human form, clothes remaining intact and the same as before. Even though I believed Paul would accept the two of us for who we were, there was still a small part of me that doubted him. To see him be so in awe and in love with my mother and her second form, I couldn’t have been happier. The Moon Goddess and Tiamat did an amazing job choosing both their second-chance mates. Now if only they had chosen a better mate for myself…

    “Never would I have imagined this day going like it did,” Lucas mumbled, hesitantly approaching me.

    I laughed, shaking my head at him. “I can also adjust my size too, but what you saw is our normal height.”

    “What do you mean, ‘adjust your size?’” Paul asked, walking over to us with my now human sized mother.

    “Not all dragons can do it, but if I wanted to I could change the size of my dragon to fit whatever the scenario calls for,” I answered. “So say, I needed to enter a tunnel but I was too big, I could adjust the size of my dragon’s body and wings in order to fit.”

    “Can you do that too?” Paul asked, looking at my mother.

    “No,” she answered, shaking her head. “I believe Bren has more magical abilities than most dragons due to the fact that she is a hybrid.”

    “That’s right you’re part Lycan!” Lucas exclaims, excitement evident in his eyes. “Can we see your wolf too?”

    “Sure,” I say, and move to stand a few feet away from them. Since the spell has about thirty minutes left I knew my clothes would return after I shifted back. Shifting to the wolven form always hurts a little more, but as every wolf says, they slowly get used to the pain the more they shift to where they don’t even feel it anymore. Before long, Blaidd stands proud and strong in front of Paul and Lucas, standing taller than most Alphas in their shifter state and I exude more power than most Alphas due to my Lycan lineage. Blaidd’s fur is silver like my hair and my mint eyes shine behind the messy fur.

    “Wow, coming from Lycan lineage must give you perks,” Lucas states after I shift back into my human form. I can’t help but laugh at his words, and my mother leads us back into the house for snacks and more conversation.

    Paul and Lucas ask us questions about being dragons, and ask more about my mother fleeing from my father. Paul gets visibly angry about the topic, but it needs to be said so he and Lucas can understand the full scale of how dangerous my father is. Paul promises to protect us both, but we would have to inform both the former and future Alpha of our forms in order to get the full pack’s support.

    I tense at the mention of the Alpha Junior and my mother glances at me in silent question. Since the Alpha Junior is my mate, telling him would be up to me, and since my chest still hurts every time I think about him and that other woman, I haven’t made a decision about what to do with him yet. I could reject him, and now since my mother found her mate it wouldn’t be too far out there to pretend I now know I have the choice of rejecting him. 

    But would I want to? Should I reject a gift given by two goddesses just because I’m hurt? But most importantly, are they both trustworthy? I’d have to do more research, meaning reading their auras, but that means I’d have to be around the traitor to know. God, look at me, calling him a traitor even though he didn’t know I’d be there. But still, wouldn’t he have waited for his mate? That then brings up the question: does he want a mate?

    The thought of Easton not wanting a mate kills my other forms because we’ve waited and longed for our mate before we even knew what he looked like. If our mate is supposed to be our other half, perfect for us in every way, why would the goddesses give us one that didn’t view mates in the same way? I can’t help but feel slightly cheated, especially after seeing the way Paul treats my mother. 

    After saying I’d think about it the rest of the evening went by fairly smoothly. Paul and Lucas accepted our other forms, promising to keep it a secret until we are ready to tell the rest of the pack. Another part of me wonders why my mother’s and my mate would be in the same pack—the biggest and strongest pack in the U.S. Would my father go to war with this pack just to get us back? If that’s the case, was it the best thing to tell Paul?

    Looking at my mother and Paul together, I can’t doubt that I made the right choice. They look freer, happier, and more in love now that there’s no secrets between them. I can only pray to the goddesses that they knew what they were doing and that everything will be alright in the end.