Page 96 of Edge of Darkness

Connie was practically vibrating with excitement. So was Kit.

Connie stumbled to a halt, dropped Kit’s hand, and turned around. Lunging forward, he plastered his lips against Kit’s. The kiss was a little desperate and didn’t last long.

“Please don’t be afraid,” Connie begged quietly against Kit’s mouth. “Please.”

“I might be a little scared, but I’m more excited. Just keep in mind I’ve never seen a real dragon, okay? It’s a lot. But I want to see you. I mean him. Just… show me.”

Connie nodded his head frantically.

“We need to move. He’s going to need room,” Hudson said, taking Kit’s hand and moving backward as Connie stripped.

“Okay, yeah. Back. Got it.” Kit followed Hudson to what he assumed was a safe distance. His heart was pounding from nerves and excitement. He barely noticed Hudson still held his hand.

How Kit wished he was close enough to see all that naked skin of Connie’s.

Connie, bathed in the bright moonlight, stared straight at them. Intrigued, Kit watched. How did this work? Was it like those werewolf movies with breaking bones, painful screams, and hideous sounds? Did he actually shift? Or was it something completely different?

Between one heartbeat and the next, Kit got his answer. Connie’s figure blurred. It was like reality glitched for just a moment and time kinda froze. What was once clear and distinct was now hazy. Indistinct. Then reality snapped back into place and Connie was nowhere to be found.

In his place was a rapidly expanding… animal… that stood on four legs and had a tail and a long neck. And when Kit said rapidly expanding, he wasn’t joking.

Within seconds the creature was as big as a large-size SUV, then as big as an eighteen-wheeler… and he just kept expanding and growing.

Kit stopped breathing, unable to make sense of what he was seeing. A dragon. A real fucking dragon. And he was big. As tall as a modern two-story house—maybe sixteen feet tall and thirty feet long from nose to tail now that he’d stopped growing. He also had a tail that ended in the shape of an arrow.

“M-mother of all,” Kit whispered. “A dragon.”

Kit could hear the reverence in his voice. Was he scared? Shit, yes. The animal standing in the middle of the field was as tall as a damn huge ass dinosaur and twice as scary looking. Kit was in awe of him.

“Doing okay?” Hudson asked.

“He’s a dragon,” Kit choked out. “A beautiful, terrifying dragon, and holy shit, my knees are weak. That’s a damn dragon there.”

Hudson chuckled. “Do I need to help you sit down?”

“No. No, no. I’m good!”

“You are indeed very good. Most people, paranormals included, panic when they see us in our true form. I’m very proud of how well you are handling this, Kit.”

“Trust me, if you weren’t here, I probably would’ve fainted. My hindbrain is a blithering mess, but I am awestruck. Can we get closer? Is that okay?”

“Connie would love for you to get closer. And you can touch him if you want. He won’t mind. In fact, he’d probably love it,” Hudson said. “Do you want to do that?”

“You better believe it. Just… keep holding my hand? My heart is pounding.”

Hudson calmly took Kit’s hand and kissed his knuckles. “You’re safe. Remember that. Shall we go?”

Kit wasn’t ashamed to admit it took a couple of fortifying breaths before he could take the first step toward Connie.

Holy shit, Connie was freaking huge.

In his dragon form, Connie had a muscular, long body with an elongated neck. His short, beefy limbs were powerful-looking and had three digits on each foot that ended in sharp claws. Sharp, deadly claws that Kit could imagine ripping through flesh quite easily.

He gulped.

Connie stood calmly. They were close enough now Kit could hear each breath Connie took. They stood in front of Connie, and Kit noticed there were tiny nostrils located on either side of his snout—a snout that was full of gnarly teeth.

He tried not to think about those teeth in action. There was also a set of horns that extended from the jaw upward.

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