Page 25 of Not a Gift

I laugh at his threat.“You know I won’t complain about that, but I do have patients to see.”

“Fine.”He sighs dramatically.“Leave me here in this big house all alone.I’ll be here waiting when you get back.”

He follows me as I make my way downstairs, walking me out to my car.We still need to sort through all the cars in the garage to make space for mine, but we have been taking care of more important things.

My heart drops when I step out of the house to find Thomas glaring at me from the round driveway.He is exactly as I remember him, dressed in an expensive three-piece suit, his salt-and-pepper hair slicked back.He is an older version of Malichai.

Malichai moves in front of me, glaring at his father.“I thought you understood not to come back here.”

“This is my home,” his father challenges.“Everything here was built by me from the ground up!”

Malichai laughs, a dark dangerous sound.“You aren’t even a Black.You took my mother’s last name.”Thomas balks, his face going red at his son’s words.“Clearly, the beating I gave you didn’t knock any sense into your thick fucking skull.”

“You are my greatest disappointment,” Thomas says with a glare as he approaches us.“You’re throwing away your future for some subpar omega pussy.”

“Leave!”Malichai roars.“Or I will kill you and end this for good.”

“We will see who dies today.”

In the blink of an eye, they are shifted into their dragon forms and on each other.Roars shake the ground as they fight one another.Malachai’s forest green dragon is fierce and fast, quickly slashing out at Thomas’s older black dragon.Flames erupt as Thomas tries to burn his son.

My heart rate is through the roof, and I feel like I am in the center of the inferno, not watching from the outside.My heart stops beating as I watch Thomas lashing out at his son’s bad leg, using his injury to his advantage.Rage fills me, boiling over.

In an instant, the wind is roaring past my ears before I pin the black dragon to the ground.My mind is a whirl of confusion, but I know two things for sure.Malichai is my mate, and Thomas needs to die before he can hurt either of us ever again.I open my mouth and allow the heat inside me to make its way out.Electricity crackles in the air before slamming into the black dragon.

The scent of burning flesh fills my nostrils as I watch him writhe in pain.For long moments all I do is stare as his eyes roll back in his head.Beneath my weight I feel him stop breathing as his heart ceases to beat.I fall back on my ass, staring at the destruction I have wrought but never should have been able to accomplish.

Malichai stands before me in his human form, nude.His hands are raised in the air as he eyes me warily.

“Princess, calm down,” he says softly.His voice is calm but there is something underneath I can’t place.“I need you to shift back.”Fear.That’s the emotion he is trying to hide from me.Why would he ever be fearful of me?Nothing is making sense right now.

Shift?I tilt my head to the side assessing my mate.Mate?I breathe deeply, taking a moment to assess the situation.I look down at my body to see powder blue scales.Fuck me, I’m a dragon.I look back to Malichai, fear and confusion coursing through me.What the hell is going on?

“It’s okay, Princess,” he says with a smile.“You’re the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.The most exquisite blue dragon.”I shake my head.“I know, it’s confusing but we can work through this together.”

He steps forward and his injured leg collapses.It’s all I need to shift back to my human form.I run to him where he curses on the gravel path, glaring at his leg.The moment my hand touches him he pulls me against his chest, holding me tightly.

****

Malichai

“Fuck, Princess.I have never been more scared, proud, and aroused at the same moment.”

“You and me both,” she says with a chuckle.“What now?”

“We call the Council.They need to know about my father and your dragon,” I say, touching her everywhere to make sure she is okay.“I’ve only heard about two other females being able to shift after finding their fated mates, but it seems it may be becoming a more regular occurrence.”

“Fated mates?Isn’t that just a story mothers tell their daughters at bedtime?A fairy tale?”she asks with a frown.

“That’s what the entire realm thought but it seems to be changing rapidly...”

“My ...my dragon knew you were our mate,” she says softly.

“Mine has known for years,” I say with a sigh.“I just never believed him.I’ve wasted all these years.”

She cups my face in her hands and kisses me.“Then let’s not waste any more.We can contact the Council in a bit but first I want to check your leg.”

She slips from my lap, standing gracefully before helping me up.We slowly make our way back into the house where she forces me to sit on the couch.She stretches out my leg, touching my hip and thigh to assess for any new damage my father might have caused during our fight.But my leg feels fine, and I know if I shift another time or two the new twinges will be gone.It’s nothing to do with my old injury or the bone but the muscle, and that will heal soon enough.But I don’t say anything.

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