At some point in the dream, we lost sight of what we were supposed to be doing. Fighting each other, or feeling each other? Breathing in each other’s smells? I wanted her so wholly and completely that it was impossible to untangle myself from her. I couldn’t get close enough to her, not unless… I could be inside her.
That revelation jarred me awake. As a wolf, I coughed and sprawled, my body ejecting me until I had transformed back into a human and lay prone in the dirt. The trees towered over me, their canopies blocking out the evening sun. Breathing hard, I rolled onto my stomach and propped myself up on my elbows, back rising and falling in stricken exhalations. All around me, the forest remained still. The dragons had left me behind.
I slowly sat up on my knees, running my fingers
