Thornhill Academy (By Sheridan Hartin) novel Chapter 49

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I’m laughing harder inside her head, shoulders shaking with it. If this is what being a dragon means, then I’ll take every awkward crash with a smile. Evander is already shifting before the dust even settles. One heartbeat, he’s a creature of molten bronze, the next, he’s human again, bare skin flashing gold under the canopy as he runs toward us. Naked…so fucking naked. Concern is etched across his face, fierce, protective, like he thought I might break.

Goddess has blessed us, my dragon purrs deep in our chest as his scent hits us.

“Ally? Are you okay?” he calls, voice rough but warm. My dragon’s tail flicks lazily, a satisfied growl humming out of her throat. The

sound makes him chuckle, a low rumble that hits something inside me. He reaches us, pats our massive head as if we’re some giant cat

instead of a fledgling dragon, and the gesture is so absurdly tender it makes my chest ache.

“Can you shift back for me?” he asks gently.

I tilt our head at him, confused. And how the fuck would I do that? I think before I can stop myself. He laughs again, softer this time.

His voice threads into my mind like smoke. Imagine your human body. Imagine the shift. Really want it and it will happen.

Oh, I think in return, the sound in my head small and startled.

I close my dragon’s golden eyes and force the image of my human self into the dark. Every imperfect, breakable piece of me. I focus on it

hard enough that my teeth ache, willing myself into bones that aren’t wings, into a body that can’t soar. The pain hits me, and it’s just as brutal as the shift into my dragon. I choke on a sound between a scream and a sob as the last of her coils into me, locking down tight in

my chest. My knees slam into the dirt, hands trembling where they plant against the ground. I can still feel her, though, humming under my skin, alive, awake, coiled and content. Mate, she whispers one more time before sinking into quiet.

“Ally,” Evander breathes. He’s right there, crouched in the dirt, his hand hovering like he wants to touch but doesn’t want to scare me. His golden eyes are wide, still a little too bright with his dragon. I’m too wrung out to move, too raw to fight.

“That hurt like a bitch.”

Evander finally, finally, he wraps his arms around me, warm and solid, holding me like I might fly apart again.

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12:47 Tue, Dec 30

Thornhill Academy.

The Truth Will Set You Free

Evander

:

A73

Her weight in my arms felt like the most fragile, most sacred thing I’d ever held. Her skin was still warm from the shift, flushed gold under the fading light. Her body trembled faintly against mine-exhaustion, shock, dragon fire still running under her human skin-and yet she tilted her face up to me like she wasn’t afraid. Like she trusted me. I swallowed hard. This was it. The moment I’d been trying to get to since the change rooms, since before the sparring field. My chest burned with all the words that had been clawing to get out.

“Allison…” My voice came out rough, too honest. “I knew you were my mate. My dragon knew. From the moment we found you in the forest. I didn’t want to kiss you without telling you first. Not that I didn’t want to kiss you-” I gave a small, helpless laugh. “I did. Gods, I

did. But I thought you should know first. You should have the choice. You should-”

Her head lifted with the last of her energy, eyes heavy-lidded but sure. And then she cut off my words, the only way that could matter: her lips collided with mine. The world dropped out from under me. Every nerve lit like lightning. Sparks shot down my spine, across my ribs, my dragon roaring so loud in my skull I could barely hear my own heartbeat. Her taste was wild and warm, like river water and heat, and something wholly her own. It wasn’t gentle. It wasn’t polite. It was a collision, a claiming, an answer I hadn’t dared hope for. My arms tightened around her automatically, holding her closer, careful of her weakness but unable to let her go. Her fingers fisted in my hair. Sparks, actual, tangible sparks, jumped between our mouths like live wire. My dragon’s voice rumbled through both of us, a deep,

satisfied thunder: Mate.

Everything else melted away. The forest. The school. The council. The future. All that existed was this moment, her lips, my heartbeat, our dragons purring under our skins, two halves locking together.

The kiss broke on a shared breath, our foreheads leaning together, her skin still hot under my palms. My dragon purred so loud it vibrated through my ribs, whole and fireless, protective in a way that felt like a vow etched into bone. I brushed my thumbs along her jaw, steadying her even as her body trembled.

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