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The wind picked up at that moment and Elliot turned his massive head to stare down at us.
Up to that point, he’d been focused on the woods, not really paying attention to what we were doing. Now, though, he glared down at us, tension in his form, nostrils flaring wide. He inhaled deeply, which caused his sides to bellow out, and expelled the air with a big huff.
Thankfully, noflames made an appearance. However, two winding, dark, curls of smoke snaked down from his nostrils.
I froze at the sight, and in that moment, with a rasping, sawing roar, my leopard broke free.
CHAPTER 4
Despite having waitedmy entire lifetime for my leopard to make an appearance, there were many reasons I hadn’t allowed her to come out yet. Those reasons all boiled down to one emotion: fear.
I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to control her and that Mikaela-Leopard would take over, leaving Mikaela-Witch lost forever.
Basically, I was afraid I’d completely lose myself in the shift, and frankly, it pissed me off to be so afraid all the time.
The Mikaela from before the attack never had these kinds of fears. Even though she’d given Jasmine a hard time about signing up for this course,shewould have been just as eager as these other students to touch and eventually,ridea dragon.
The Mikaela who I was now, though, knew exactly what dangers a dragon could pose and because she knew those dangers first-hand, she lived in a constant state of both rage and fear.
As it turns out, those fears were at least somewhat justified.
Mikaela-Leopard was a truly scary badass, and what she was willing to do when given herfreedom wasa lot,includingattacking a dragon who was about a thousand times heavier than us and whose fire might actually burn us,despite our own fire powers.
The good news was that I didn’t get lost in the shift. Mikaela-Witch was still present and aware.
The bad news? I had zero control.
Mikaela-Leopard was definitely in charge.
All I could do was bear witness to the insanity and hope she wore herself out soon,withoutgetting us killed.
I don’t know what set her off in the beginning, but I have a feeling it was the smoke Elliot blew from his nostrils. Smoke that in a weird way, mirrored how the shadows had moved when they’d attacked us.
One moment, my leopard was justbackground noise, the occasional growl rumbling through the undercurrents of my mind, and the next, she was an explosion of movement, literally ripping from my human body so fast, I had no chance of stopping her.
Landing on all fours, we raced through the other students and leapt for the giant freaking dragon.
I don’t actually know what she was trying to accomplish because he was huge compared to us, but whatever it was, she gave it her all.
She focused her attack on his right foreleg and used her claws to launch us higher, almost as if she was climbing a tree trunk.
Elliot let out a roar and lifted his leg, shaking it, probably in an attempt to dislodge us, but we’dalready moved on, landing on his shoulder and from there, his back, right between two incredible wings.
What the hell are you doing?I shrieked in my mind, finally shaking off my shock enough to try and talk some sense into the crazy leopard who was now in charge of our body.
Elliot, to my surprise, other than that initial roar and shaking of his leg, hadn’t moved a single inch since we’d landed on his back. Maybe he was frozen in shock like I’d been.
“Ms. Mitchell, what do you think you’re doing up there?” Professor Vesely shouted, shocking me that he even knew my name.
Jasmine and Kasi were standing beside him, staring up at me with worried looks on their faces. I assumedthey told him who I was and I couldn’t really blame them. EvenIthought this was insane.
“Get down here right now!” Professor Vesely stared up at us, hands on hips, then gestured to the ground as ifthatwould have any impact on my leopard.
I glared down at him through eyes that had gone slightly weird. Not entirely black and white, but the colors of the world were definitely muted. Did he really think I hadanycontrol over this situation?
Mikaela-Leopard,I tried in a cajoling voice,would you please take us back down now? I really don’t want to be on this dragon when he decides to take off.
Miki,my leopard replied.
