Page 87 of Daman
It happened so fast. Warrin’s body quaked, scales formed across his pale skin, and then his bones and muscles snapped. That’s what it sounded like anyway as his back arched, twisted, and he fell to his knees. Other shifters I’d met explained the transformation process as uncomfortable but not necessarily painful. If Warrinwasin pain, he didn’t make any indication of it. He barely made a sound.
Seconds later, his body exploded outward. The Warrin I knew was gone, and in his place was a white dragon that had to be fifty meters or more. Blue hues shone in his scales, along with lighter shades of silver and soft white. Just like an arctic glacier. As the sun hit him, he glistened like ice.
My breath caught as he moved his massive head toward me. Air puffed in front of him as he exhaled through his nostrils. His eyes were the same shade of blue I’d stared into countless times.
“War.” My voice shook. Tears stung my eyes as I placed my hand on his snout. “You’re beautiful.”
He closed his eyes and bumped his head against me. I smiled and smoothed a hand along the side of his face, then over to his neck. Just like when he was in his hybrid form, blue horns curved back from his head. He swished his long tail in the snow behind him and nuzzled me.
“Get on my back.” The deep voice surprised me. It had a similar cadence to his human one but was several octaves deeper. Huskier. “I want to show you the sky.”
“I have wings too, you know. I’ve seen the sky.”
“Not like this, you haven’t.”
Excitement bubbled up inside of me. “I’ve always wanted to ride a dragon.”
“You’ve ridden me many times.” Warrin gently nudged me again with his head.
“Damn right I have.” Chuckling, I stepped over to his shoulder and admired his large silver wings. Each one had four sky blue claws, one at the top arch of the wing and three at the ends. “Has anyone else done this before?”
“No. For a dragon to allow a rider on his back, trust must exist between them.”
“And you trust me?”
“Yes.”
I trust you too, I wanted to say. But I had felt cursed for a majority of my life. Nothing had ever gone right. Would speaking the words into existence—admitting that I trusted him—backfire? Asa wanted to sink his claws into my husband. And a small part of me worried he’d win.
Warrin bent forward, and I hopped up onto his back, sitting between his shoulder blades. Smaller horns feathered down the back of his neck, a combination of silver and blue.
“Hold on tight,” he said before rising up on all fours. I wobbled a bit before steadying. He made a throaty sound that I thought was a laugh but wasn’t sure.
He spread his wings, and the heavy flapping of them caused snow to fly from the branches of nearby trees. And then he lifted us into the air. I’d flown thousands of times in my life, but he was right. It had never been like this.
Physically, he was different, but my soul recognized him just the same. I grabbed the horns at his nape and leaned forward as he took us higher in the air. Cold wind whipped at my face, and an exhilarated yelp left me as he dipped lower, then shot back up into the sky.
As we soared amongst the clouds, my worries started to lift. The looming war with Asa retreated to the back of my mind, as did my doubts. Only Warrin and I existed right then. I rubbed the side of his neck and smiled as his body rumbled under me, like he was purring.
Higher he took us, so high the air began to thin, and then he dipped back down. My face was numb from the cold air, but I didn’t care. We flew over the frozen lake, and the reflection of his body rippled along the ice. My cheeks ached with how much I was smiling.
I’m happy.
Before marrying Warrin, Envy said I wasn’t meant to find love, that my whole marriage was a joke compared to Castor and Galen.
“You were wrong,”I told my sin.“So fucking wrong.”
My relationship with Warrin might’ve started as an arranged marriage between strangers, but we were building something solid, brick by brick, kiss by kiss.
No one could take that from me. Not even myself.
Too soon, Warrin took us back to the meadow. I slid off his back and walked around to his head. His nostrils flared with a heavy exhale, and his big blue eyes fell closed. I rubbed his large snout and kissed his scales. They were cool beneath my lips.
“Thanks for the ride. Is it weird that I still find you hot as fuck in this form?”
“I’m not starring in your monster porn,” he responded in that deep, raspy voice.
I snorted and pressed my face against him. “Your dick is way too big like this anyway. You’d rip me in half. And I like my ass exactly as it is, thanks.”
