Page 37 of The Dragon's Perfect Omega
The whole procedure didn't take longer than half a minute, really.
When I opened my eyes again, the world looked different. It wasn't that my senses were especially heightened in this form or anything, it was simply that dragon-me chose to focus on different things than human-me. To the mind of my inner beast, everything was clean-cut and simple. It focused on thehere and nowmuch more than the more human part of me ever did. It cared about food sources and treasure, and right now, the biggest treasure I'd ever find was right in front of me, staring at me in awe.
My pride swelled.
As did my desire to be alone with my mate.
Zim reached his hand out to me, as if quietly asking for permission to touch. Silly. Didn't he know he never had to ask? I was going to make that clear to him later, when I made him mine. For now, I gave him a short nod. When his hand made contact with my scales, I felt as if all the fire in my lungs spread through the rest of my body. There was no doubt; he was the one for me.
And tonight, I was going to make him see that.
19
Zim
Ridingon the back of a dragon was an amazing experience. Riding onLowen'sback was an experience beyond words. My fear of heights didn't flare up even once. My dragon had told me he'd never let anything happen to me, and I believed him. It wasn't blind trust. Iknewthat what he said was true in the same way that I knew the moon wasn't going to fall from the sky. Lowen was going to protect me. It was a universal truth. I feltsafewith him. Way too safe to be afraid of silly things like falling.
With the fear eradicated from my mind, I was free to enjoy the moment with all my senses. Hear the wind whoosh by my ears and feel it tousle my hair, smell the night air around us, watch the fires burn below us. The main event of the solstice was clearly centered around the volcano, but it appeared the whole island was celebrating in some way. When I breathed in, the air tasted faintly of smoke.
I was almost disappointed when Lowen landed only a few minutes after we'd taken to the sky.
"We should do that again sometime," I told him after I'd jumped off his back and he'd shifted back to his human form.
"You enjoyed yourself?" he asked, but the knowing grin on his face told me that he already knew.
"It was nice," I downplayed my excitement, even though he could probably see it in the 'colors' surrounding me. Seriously, he was such a cheater. "What color am I?" I asked, needing to know how I appeared to him. The thought that I could never hide my emotions from him was a bit unsettling, to be honest. I'd spent so much of my life hiding how I felt.
"Bright red base note with swirling neons." Lowen smiled. "You look a little like a Christmas tree on crack."
"A Christmas tree on crack?" I repeated. The statement was so unexpected I didn't even know whether to be offended or not.
"I'm only messing with you. I've never been able to openly talk about the auras I see before. You have no idea how many times I've wanted to make jokes like that, but I had to keep them in."
"So you've seen lots of people who look like me?"
"Nope." He took a step forward, resting his hands on my hips as he gazed into my eyes. "No one who looks like you."
I decided not to be offended after all.
"You shine brighter than everyone else," Lowen continued. "When you let yourself."
"When I let myself?" What did that mean?
Lowen licked his lips and I had to stop myself from leaning up to chase his tongue with my own. After all, I still wanted to hear the reply to my question. "There's moments," Lowen started, "that your colors appear muted. Like you've somehow turned down the brightness and saturation, afraid that someone might see you for who you are."
I swallowed. How could this dragon know so much about me already? Because he was right. He was so right that I didn't know how to react. Thankfully, Lowen didn'tneeda reaction from me.
"It's all right," he said, simply. Such a short sentence, and yet it meant so much. That he knew the kind of baggage I was carrying, and he didn't mind. That he would help me carry it, but only when I was ready to accept that kind of help. That he would wait for that to happen. Wait until maybe one day I could shine brightly all the time.
"Thank you," I whispered.
He only nodded. "Want to head inside?"
I blinked. For a moment there, I'd completely forgotten where we were, in front of Lowen's house. I hadn't even looked at it. To be fair, it was dark, and even when I directed my gaze at the building, I couldn't make out many details. What stood out to me was howlargeit was in comparison to the cramped buildings I'd seen in town. When I looked around, it seemed that we weren't in town anymore, though. At least, I couldn't see any other buildings nearby.
"So your family's well off?" I asked.
He glanced at the house and then back at me. "We do okay. My father's an ambassador. But I didn't bring you here to talk about my family's finances."
