her way. She found the flashlight and clenched it tightly.
Cora paused outside the door leading down to the basement. Her instinct told her to go back upstairs. Stig had ordered her to stay out of there.
But the dream…
She opened the door and flicked on the flashlight. Trembling with trepidation, Cora took that first ominous step. Each progressive one came easier and easier as her bravery increased. The closer she got to the door, the more she wanted to see what was on the other side. She needed to know what Stig really was.
The flashlight beam settled on the keypad. The right numbers somehow popped into her head. Had her dream lover—Stig, she felt sure—planted them there during their rendezvous? Her fingers moved over the keys, punching in the correct number combination. A satisfying series of beeps and clicks echoed in the darkness.
Cora’s hand grasped the door handle. Once she opened this door, it would all be over. She would know everything. There would be no turning back, no forgetting.
It was now or never.
Cora yanked on the door and prepared to face her destiny.
Chapter Four
Cora stood just outside the door to Stig’s holding cell, and he vibrated with awareness. It seemed with each dream rendezvous their connection grew stronger. He had actually felt her moving through the house, drawing closer with each step. It terrified him. The last thing he’d ever wanted was to form such an attachment to her. Cora couldn’t possibly understand what was happening to her through the dreams. Honestly, Stig wasn’t quite sure himself. In the past, he’d shared dreams with other humans but the connection had never been this strong or vibrant.
How much control did he now have over Cora? While Stig wouldn’t dare manipulate the growing bond for his benefit, his inner beast was a different story. Even though he fought the dragon’s control, the beast coaxed Cora through the door. Her scent slammed into him, a mixture of breezy summer scents and the musk of sex. Apparently his dream self had done quite a job arousing her. Cora’s cries of ecstasy still rang in his ears.
Though her bare feet touched the cold wet stone with such softness there was hardly a whisper of sound, the footsteps echoed like hammer falls in Stig’s dragon ears. His heart raced with anxiety and fear. Any second now she’d catch sight of him. Would she scream with revulsion? Run away in disgust?
A sharp gasp marked her first glimpse. Humiliation soured his stomach. He kept his gaze locked on the floor. He couldn’t bear to see the expression of horror surely fixed on her sweet face.
“Stig?” Cora’s gentle voice seemed so out of place in the damp, dank cell. She belonged in the beauty of the sunlight, not hidden here in the darkness.
“Go away.” His words were garbled and thick, his tongue moving awkwardly in his mouth. He rarely spoke while in dragon form. “Please.”
“No.” She spoke firmly and took a bold step forward. “I’m not afraid.”
Her voice never wavered. She meant it. She truly wasn’t afraid of him.
Stig reluctantly lifted his head and met her curious gaze. She studied his new form. He could only imagine what a shock it must have been for her to come down here and discover a dragon chained to the wall. Cora slowly bent and put down the flashlight, flicking off the beam before placing it on the floor. There was no need for the handheld torch in the lighted cell. The hem of her thin cotton nightgown bunched around her thighs and revealed a swath of tantalizing skin.
Lust flared in his lower belly. His groin tightened. Stig swallowed hard and tried to get a grip. In his mind, he was all human at the moment. In reality, he was a dragon with the wings, scales, and talons of a beast. Cora lacked the ability to shift, so there would be no mating tonight or any other during his phase.
“You’ve seen what you came to see, Cora. You need to go back upstairs.” He had to get her out of here. His control over his baser instincts threatened to break at any moment. He hoped the chains he’d designed really were as strong as he’d intended.
Cora shook her head. She guardedly crossed the distance between them. Her scent and heat filtered through him in waves. The memory of her taste blossomed on his tongue, the potent mix of salty and sweet filling him with the need to lick that delicious pussy again, only for real this time. He wanted to hear his name spill from her lips as he sucked and lapped her into climax after climax.
Stig’s cock hardened and he shifted with embarrassment. What would she think of him? One look at his penis in its current state and she’d run screaming from the room, probably calling him a pervert.
“May I touch you?” Before he could say no, Cora brushed her fingertips over his scaled chest. His breath seized in his throat. He watched her carefully, waiting for any sign of repulsion on her face but there was only curiosity and awe. “You feel like leather and metal and— Oh! Look!”
Stig glanced down to where her fingers rested against his scales. Quite unexpectedly, the greenish black hue of his dragon hide slowly transformed to a reddish orange color. The texture seemed to change too.
“It’s smooth like normal skin.” Cora petted him. “I wonder….” She placed a second hand on his chest and the same thing happened. Her surprised gaze moved to his face. “Does this always happen?”
“No.” Stig’s voice had changed too. No longer was it garbled by the forced transformation of his throat and vocal cords. As he tried to process what was happening, a tremor of pain rolled along his back. Snapping and crunching ensued as his dragon characteristics, the snout and curved spine, talons and more, melted away as they normally did at sunrise.
When it was all done, Stig stood in his human body with the bizarre orange and red mottled skin. His black wings remained folded against his back. His head spun. What had Cora done? How had she done it? Could it be that they were bound?
“Did…did I do this?” Cora kept her hands firmly planted on his chest, seemingly afraid she’d hurt him if she took them away.
He nodded, still in shock from the transformation to this new form. “How do I look?”
“You’re you, the human you, but with an orange tint and yellow eyes. Oh and wings.” She lifted a hand and started to touch them but stopped. She turned questioning eyes toward him. “May I?”
Stig flexed his shoulders. His wings exploded in a burst of black with brilliant orange streaks. That was also new. They used to be acid green and black.
“Wow,” Cora breathed in wonder. “They’re gorgeous.”
“Thank you.”
With one hand firmly on his chest, she stroked the reptilian membranes stretched between the bony supports. Her head moved from side to side in absolute fascination. “This is wild.”
Stig couldn’t hold back the laugh her remark elicited. It came out on a wave of relief. All this time he’d feared her reaction, feared she’d run away from him in horror, when in reality she was fascinated and accepting of him. Perhaps all along she’d been destined to be his.
“So you’re what? A dragon?” She sought confirmation for her deduction.
Stig nodded. “Yes.”
“And you’re immortal.”
“Yes.”
“How did you hide this while you were in the military?”
“I only experience this uncontrollable and forced transformation when I’m in heat. The rest of the time I’m in complete control of my beast. I can shift fully into dragon form or I can tap into his—our—power whenever I need it in human form.”
Her fingers traced the orange in his wings. “What kind of powers?”
“As a dragon, I can fly and breathe fire. In my human form, I can use my night vision, enhanced hearing, and healing capabilities.”
“Fire?” She seemed impressed.
“My breed is known for fire breathing.”
“There are other breeds?”
