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Turning away briskly, Erin continued and disappeared inside her home.
My wings drooped, and I resigned myself to a lonely fate. Which shouldn’t be hard, given all the resigning I’d done in the past couple of months.
A bitter taste filled my mouth, because the old me wouldn’t have given up so easily.
And just like that, something snapped in me. I took to the air as an inner voice roared.
Enough giving up. Enough giving in. Enough being a shadow of who you used to be.
I flew at breakneck speed, trying to shake away that dull cloud that always hung over me. Then, laying my ears flat against my head, I dove. Using the footpath as my runway, I landed with a couple of noisy thumps, ready to roar. At Angelina. At fate. At everything keeping Erin from me.
The screen door opened with a creak, and I froze. Hesitantly at first, then a little more boldly, Erin paced across the porch and onto the top step, eyes locked on me.
Puffs of condensed breath rose from my nostrils, and I gulped.
You lied to me,I imagined her yelling.You let me believe you’re a wolf shifter, and now you’re huffing and puffing outside my cabin. How dare you?
I held my breath, preparing for her verbal assault.
She opened her mouth, then closed it again, and finally let out a weary sigh.
“Good morning.”
I bent my neck slowly, giving her a little bow in reply. A better alternative to boomingGood morningin my dragon voice.
She cocked her head. “Have you been up all night?”
I hunched my wings in a dragon shrug. Yes, I had been.
What about you?I wanted to ask.Have you been up all night too?
She must have caught the gist, because she yawned. “I’m not sure anyone got much sleep last night, except Roscoe and Claire.”
For another long, quiet minute, we stood there, staring at each other. Then she moved. Or — oops. I was the one who’d moved, unconsciously stretching my neck toward her.
Her eyes went wide, but she held her ground.
A puff of hot air escaped my nostrils, and I winced, afraid of spooking her.
I’m sorry,I willed her to understand.I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I’m sorry about a lot of things.
I cursed myself, because why should she forgive me? Not just for the dragon thing, but for so much more. For being closed off. For my past. Worst of all, for getting involved with Angelina.
My wings drooped.
But instead of rejecting me, Erin raised her hand slowly, palm up, and held it out the way she would greet a dog.
Not the best image for my ego, but I wasn’t about to nitpick. I stretched a little more, then cursed. I’d misjudged, stopping a few inches too far from the porch. Short of dislocating a vertebra, there was no way I would reach her hand. I inched a tiny bit closer, cursing silently. Dragons were made for gliding gracefully through the air, not waddling along the ground.Notthe look I was going for.
But Erin inched forward too, and a moment later, my snout touched her hand.
“Oh,” she exclaimed at my warm breath. Slowly, she cupped my chin with both hands, muttering. “Dragon, huh?”
I gulped. Um, yes. Yes, I was. And I was really, really sorry.
Not that I managed to get a single word out.
Erin rubbed her thumbs along my tough, bronze-colored hide, then murmured. “Wow.”
