Page 42 of New Nebraska Home

Doing a few laps in the forest looking for prey was the perfect excuse. The second I was beyond the tree line, safe from prying eyes, I stripped and shifted into my dragon form.

I was bigger than before, now closer to the size of a car. My shoulders ached because my wings were too big to be unfurled. I wondered if they were now strong enough to let me actually fly instead of just a glide from tree to tree.

I wondered if Liz would like to ride me. Suppose I could take her on my back and soar between the clouds. Would she let me? Would she be scared or excited?

It didn’t matter, not now. I would want to take her flying, not just gliding and hoping for a smooth landing. A dragon should be her chariot in the clouds, not a three-minute roller coaster.

The trees in this area were too closely packed for me to really stretch out, so I moved deeper into the woods.

My senses seemed sharper, especially my sense of smell. It had never been the sense that I leaned on. I could often hear or sense someone close to me long before I could smell them. But now I felt like I could smell the differences in the surrounding trees, the scents of their wood and leaves varying slightly. Some sweeter, some more earthy. I could even smell the fat little squirrel’s fur as he darted above me and the nuttiness of the acorn he had in his chubby cheeks.

Moving through the trees at a gallop and then a dead run, Iwas amazed at how easy it was to move my new large body gracefully and how I instinctively used my massive tail to counterbalance my new weight. Finally, I found a clearing with enough room. I jumped on a boulder and shot my body up into the air, spreading my wings, and flew! Really flew!

I beat my wings and lifted my body into the air, enjoying the slightly cooler air. It was liberating, even more freeing than riding miles of open road on my bike.

I could take Liz flying and help her beat the midday heat by chasing the clouds. Maybe watch the sunset from the top of the world. Then I would take her down to a private place in the trees where no one could find us. I would spoil her with the most lavish picnic she had ever seen, then ravish her body for hours.

Would she want that? Would she want me?

After a few seconds, I headed back down to the trees, not wanting to be spotted.

I could only imagine what kind of assholes would try to hunt me down if they saw me. For a moment, I wished I could be smaller again, and I really needed to practice changing my size like I figured out I could do now. Sneaking around had its benefits, not to mention being able to rest on Liz’s shoulder.

Before I landed back on the rock, my body started tingling, and I shrank back down to my normal cat-like size.

This was going to be awesome!

I willed myself a little bigger again and started running and jumping through the trees, leaping branch to branch, then deciding to fly between them and zooming throughout the forest.

My body felt light, and I couldn’t help the grin that pulled at my scaled snout and no doubt showed off my fangs.

When I landed, I let out a roar of victory. It just felt good. The torrent of white-hot flames that shot from my mouth scared the hell out of me. The most I could ever muster was a tiny spit of fire. Now I was a pyro’s wet dream. The fire felt cool, rising from my gut until it passed through my teeth. Then I felt the brush of its heat against my face as I accidentally caught a small tree on fire.

Fuck.

This was bad. I shifted back to my human form and tried to figure out what to do. My clothes were lying on a low-hanging branch not too far away. I grabbed them, trying to get dressed as I figured out what excuse I would give Liz for destroying the forest. I felt awful.

Somehow I doubted ‘I’m sorry I got carried away, but I was daydreaming about taking you flying,’ was going to cut it.

“Hubba, Hubba,” Brock said, walking into the forest just as I yanked up my boxer briefs. I would have been mad or offended, but he wasn’t looking me up and down. In fact, he looked disinterested entirely and was just giving me shit. I could live with that.

“I need your help.”

“Sure.”

“But aren’t you supposed to be monitoring the kid with the Fae chick?”

“No, she got a little too close, and I think Cal was about to kill her. So, I left him to watch over Leif’s lessons. I was sent to check the area with you. I had no idea I would be walking in on a show.”

“I just shifted back, but hurry—”

“Is that smoke I smell?”

“I had a slip up…”I took him to the tree that was now completely engulfed in flames. A few leaves floated towards other trees, glowing with bright red embers.

“Stand back,” Brock said, and he raised his hands to the sky, his eyes closed and a bead of sweat running over his brow. The air around me wasn’t as stifling, and it took me a moment to realize he was pulling the water out of it.

A cloud formed above the tree, and it started to rain.

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