A dragon shifter novel Chapter 46

Fate Given

Her eyes change. One heartbeat, they are that stormy, denant blue. The next, they blaze molten gold, a mirror of my dragon’s own. My breath catches, my chest locking as heat rolls off her skin in waves. My palms burn where they touch her, though fire could never touch me. For anyone else, it would blister. For me, it is proof. Proof of something I should not even be seeing. “Fuck,” I whisper, stumbling back, my hands falling away like I’ve been caught trespassing. She pushes up onto all fours, every muscle trembling as if she is fighting her own skin. The grass sears under her palms, smoke curling faintly where her fingers dig in. Her whole body shakes, wracked with something bigger, older, primal. Gods. Is she… shifting? My dragon goes silent in my head. I drop to one knee, keeping just enough distance not to overwhelm her, close enough that I can act if she loses control. My heart pounds like war drums, but my voice comes out steady and low, the way you speak to a spooked creature. “Ally… Ally, breathe.” Her head snaps up. Golden eyes blaze at me like suns, and my throat goes dry. I hold my ground, raising my palms in surrender. “Don’t fight it. Just breathe, okay? Let your body do what it needs to. Don’t force it. Don’t hold it back.” Her voice is a strangled sound, breathy and vulnerable. “Evander… get me out of here. No one can know…”

That is all I need. I do not hesitate. I do not ask questions. I move. Her body is hot against mine, heat bleeding through my arms until it feels like I am cradling live fire, but my dragon purrs with savage satisfaction, crooning, safe, safe, mine. Shifter speed tears us out of the field, out of sight, into the cover of trees. Branches whip past, dirt tears under my boots. I keep running, deeper and deeper, until po voices carry, until even the academy walls disappear. Only then, in a small hollow of shadow and moss, do I set her down. Her body convulses the moment she touches the ground. Claws burst through her fingertips and curl into the soil. Her back arches, spine snapping and reshaping with wet, brutal cracks that make my own bones ache in sympathy. She screams, a raw, guttural sound, half human, half beast, and her skin ripples with heat. For a split second, scales shimmer over her arms. They’re gold, blinding and impossibly familiar. Then they vanish again beneath flesh. My breath stutters. She is shifting. Gods.

“Ally,” I say, dropping to my knees, close enough that she can hear me, not so close that I startle her–my dragon paces inside me, thrashing, howling recognition. “Breathe. Let it happen. Don’t fight the pain, it’s part of it. You’re stronger than it, but you don’t have to be. Just let it take you.” Her bones crack again; her shoulders widen; her body lengthens. Her cry transforms into something more, something primal, and the earth trembles in response. She collapses forward on her hands, legs warping and reforming, skin hardening into scales, each one flashing molten gold…Like mine. No. Like hers. It is agonisingly slow, like the first shift I ever endured as a boy, but this is different. She is not a child; she is grown, but this is unmistakably her first shift. “Shit,” I whisper, awe flooding through me. Why now? Why so late? My dragon’s question thunders inside me. Hybrid?

The shift tears her apart and rebuilds her in front of me. Her tail lashes the ground, leaving scorched furrows in the dirt. Wings tear free in a spray of golden sparks, massive and trembling, still slick with newness. Finally, her head lifts, now huge, horned and radiant. Golden eyes meet mine, and my chest locks. She lowers herself, the great golden weight of her body dipping, until her nose presses against my sternum. Heat rushes into me, around me, through me. Her inhale is deep and shaking, as if she is memorising the scent of my soul. Then, inside my mind, I hear the word… It’s not hers, it’s not human, it’s

her dragon’s recognition. Mate.

It crashes through my skull, a soul–deep declaration, binding and absolute. My beast roars in answer, surging free, and before I cán second–guess it, I am shifting too. Scales split my skin. My body cracks and warps. Wings tear free as I give myself to the primal urge. Moments later, we stand as two golden dragons facing each other, the forest alight with our fire. Her head tilts as she repeats into my mind. Mate. My own dragon rumbles back, shaking the trees,

setting my chest alight. Mate.

The bond rings between us like a struck bell, vibrating through every scale, every bone, every beat of my heart. She is still trembling, wings awkward in their new span, but gods, she is magnificent, Golden light shimmers across her scales, brighter and newer than my own, like her whole body is still raw flame poured fresh from the forge. Her eyes track me, wary and wild, until instinct shoves her forward and she circles. Her massive tail sweeps the ground, scattering dirt and leaves, while her head dips low, nostrils flaring as she presses into my side. My dragon growls, deep and pleased, and I return the gesture, pressing my jaw along the ridge of her neck, leaving my scent there. Claim. She huffs back, nosing under my chest, scenting me like she needs every part memorised. Then she nips, a sharp, playful snap at my shoulder, testing and teasing. Smoke curls from my teeth as I snap back, catching only the edge of her scales, enough to spark her eyes brighter. We circle again. Our flanks rub, necks brush, tails tangle, until every inch of her carries me, and every inch of me carries her. My dragon thrums, purring, pressing into her like the world has finally righted itself. For one dizzying heartbeat, I forget the council, the

festival and the rules. I forget everything but her–the golden heat of her scales under mine. The sound of her low growl vibrates through the earth. The way

her wings stretch wide as she wants tests the sky for the first time. She is mine. Not the way the laws say, nor the way fate usually reveals, but she is mine.

I know this with every ounce of my soul. She curls her massive body around mine, laying her head against my chest, and my dragon rumbles one word again,

with a certainty that burns hotter than fire itself. Mate. Now I am sure. I do not doubt it, not one bit. This, right here, is my fate given. My goddess blessed,

mate.

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1:33 pm

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