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sides somewhere on the floor.
You okay, Rick?
Rick squinted up at the large shadow drilling the torch beam into his face. He
waved his hand in front of the light in a weary attempt to shield his eyes. The voice was
familiar, as was the gargantuan size of the speaking shadow. Yeah, Bruce, he
answered his neighbor. Guess I really need to cut back on the beans, eh?
His neighbor shook his head. Jesus, Hayes, do you ever take anything seriously?
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How to Love Your Dragon
Rick raised his eyebrows. It was a serious fart.
Bruce snorted, though whether from disgust at Rick s flippancy or the situation,
Rick didn t know, nor give a toss. It was low on his care-factor list. The memories of his
Druid self were still trying to undo him as well, and he didn t give a flying fuck about
that either.
He looked over his neighbor s shoulder through the gaping hole that used to be the
side of his house, searching the night sky for Kenna.
Not a sign.
The screaming sirens grew to a deafening pitch out on the street, only to shut off
mid-wail. There was a slamming car door and then another torch beam joined Bruce s
on Rick s face, this one about ten times stronger.
Mind telling me what went on here, sir? a deep, male and thoroughly stern voice
asked.
At Rick s side, Hannibal began to growl, the fur under Rick s hand bristling. Rick
turned his squinted eyes toward the newcomer and his already churning gut churned
some more. Awesome, just what he needed.
He gave the touch-bearer a lopsided grin, caressing his dog s neck in an attempt to
keep Hannibal calm. G day, Officer. Welcome to my humble a
And then Oistin Raghnall s memory of the rest of the ritual pummeled Rick s
already overwhelmed mind, a tsunami of sounds and smells and inescapable images.
And Rick was lost to them.
* * * * *
Kenna had no choice but to steal some clothes. She crouched behind a dense,
unmaintained hedge, studying the back windows and doors of the only house in
streaking distance of the Sydney Harbour National Park to still have clothes hanging
outside on a line.
The deep gash high on her right shoulder throbbed, the wound still weeping blood.
She touched her fingertips to it, biting back a hiss. It had been a while since she d
suffered any kind of serious injury, even longer since the injury had occurred in her
dragon form. She d forgotten how wounds responded during the shift from dragon to
human like metal hooks digging into the torn flesh and ripping it wider. Of course,
she wouldn t be injured now if she d been able to control the shift back at Rick s house,
but no, she had to go and
Stop thinking about it, Kenna. Get the clothes and get home. That s your goal. After you re
home, after you re safe and your wound tended to, then you can think about the lying, deceiving,
murderous
She shut down the mental tirade. It would serve her no good now. The simple fact
she d shifted at all, in the middle of his living room, was enough to make her heart
threaten to smash its way out of her body via her throat. Flying over Sydney, all those
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Lexxie Couper
houses, all those people& what if someone saw her? A white dragon the size of a bus
flying through a moonlit sky wasn t exactly hard to miss. God, she d never been so
petrified.
And excited beyond belief.
She d forgotten the sheer rapture of flying, of soaring through the sky, the wind
streaming over her face, her wings, swirling around her tail. She d forgotten the magic
of her other form, the freedom, the beauty&
Stop it, Kenna. This isn t you anymore. It can t be. Look what happens when you give in to
your dragon side? You get your heart ripped out.
Slight movement behind one of the dark windows made her stiffen. She narrowed
her eyes, crouching a little lower. Since the shift into her dragon form, her senses had
heightened to a preternatural point. She could smell the fleas on the dog sleeping at the
back door of the house two doors away. She could hear the wild owls launching from
the trees in the park in which she d landed two kilometers behind her. She could see the
faintest disturbance of the curtains in the windows of the house before her.
She could taste Rick on her lips, her tongue.
Stop it. Stop it stop it stop it!
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