Tanner then stepped back and shifted. He inhaled the clear, cold air. “I can see why people live here. It is gorgeous.”
“Plux has many benefits too,” she said and then smiled.
The fact that Ella enjoyed his home town was too good to be true. “Where do we start this transformation?”
“While I love to ski, I thought it would be fun to run down the hill in our snow leopard form.” She pointed to a leveled off area. “Once we reach that ridge, maybe you can give me some pointers on being a dragon, and we can fly back up here!”
“It would be my pleasure, but first you have to give me some guidance.” It wasn’t as if Tanner hadn’t shifted thousands of times into a dragon, but then again, shifting into a leopard might be different.
“Guidance? I just tell myself to shift, and I do.”
“You aren’t any help.”
“Okay. How’s this? I’ll shift into my leopard form and take off down the mountain. Seeing my form, your body should just change.”
He was willing to give it a try. Worse case, he’d become a dragon and follow her down. “Go.”
Ella shifted and took off at top speed. Before she raced too far ahead, he focused on her shape and started running after her. He slipped and fell, face first. Before he ate snow though, he’d miraculously transformed. Holy goddess, he’d shifted! Being this low to the ground was a bit disconcerting until he moved his legs—all four of them—faster and faster. His speed was incredible. He’d been told that leopards were fast for short bursts, but his stamina didn’t seem to be waning. That was either because he was going downhill or because his dragon strength added to the leopard’s speed.
Snow flew in his face. Had his feet not sunk so far into the powered snow, he could have run faster. The thrill of it all was unlike anything he’d experienced.
Ella reached the plateau before he did. Not wanting to propel off the side of the mountain, Tanner slowed. “That was incredible,” he telepathed.
Ella shifted into her human form and grinned. “I’m glad you liked it. Now we’ll fly to the top and come down again.”
“Sounds good.” He moved back and focused on his dragon form. Don’t fail me now, he told his dragon.
Never. I’m jealous enough of your other form.
One minute, snow was tickling his chest, and the next he was fifteen feet tall. Ella clapped.
“That was impressive,” she said with joy in her eyes.
“You try it. Focus on my form,” he telepathed.
“Okay. Here goes.”
Chapter Thirteen
Ella closed her eyes and pictured Tanner’s beautiful green scales with the intermittent gold ones, in the hopes of waking up the dragon inside her. She shifted, but it was into her snow leopard.
Really? she asked her animal.
I’m stronger than that new thing inside me, her snow leopard shot back.
Ella shifted into her human form. Please don’t fight me on this.
Tanner shifted and jogged over to her. “What happened?”
She explained the best she could. “My leopard is jealous.”
He laughed. “Sorry, it’s not funny, but at least we know the dragon is in there.”
A sudden blast of heat filled her stomach. “I think someone is letting me know they are ready.”
Tanner cupped her cheeks. “What do you feel?”
His worried tone was a bit disheartening. “Heat?”
He grinned. “It’s clear your dragon needs a bit of coaxing.”
She liked where he was headed with that thought. “And how do you plan to do that? And don’t ask me to get naked and have sex with you.”
He frowned. “You would deny your mate?”
She punched him in the chest. “I may be a snow leopard, but that doesn’t mean I want to roll naked in the snow.”
“Fine. Then how about I coax your dragon out another way?”
Before she could ask what that was, he leaned over and kissed her. They’d kissed many times before, but now that they were mates, every touch and taste was heightened. He delved into her mouth and dominated the dance. It was as if his dragon had come out to play, coaxing and urging the animal inside of her to demand to be seen. More heat built inside her, and all she wanted to do was grab his crotch. To hell with the cold. Grab it she did.
Tanner broke the kiss. “If I don’t stop, you will be naked.”
“I’d love nothing more, but how about we save it until we’re in front of a roaring fire.”
“Deal, but only if you shift for me. Otherwise, I’ll have to mate with you all over again.”
He was only kidding, or so she believed. She was happy to mate with him again and again, but almost anywhere other than a field of snow.
Ella stepped back. “Okay. Here goes nothing.”
She’d seen dragons fly many, many times, so the mechanics of it all should be easy to duplicate. Come on, dragon.
Ella stretched out her arms and waved them up and down. She even started running, hoping that would help, but still no dragon appeared. This was unacceptable. Ella could almost hear her leopard taunting her dragon. There was only one thing to do.
Ella opened her eyes and faced Tanner. “It’s not working, but I want to try one more thing.”
“What’s that?”
“I’m going to shift into my leopard and then run right off that cliff. That should prompt my dragon to step up to the plate.”
Tanner was on her in a flash. “Are you crazy?”
She smiled sweetly. “Maybe, but I thought you might want to be next to me when I jump, just in case it doesn’t work.”
He said nothing for a few seconds. “You are something else. I will be happy to catch a falling leopard if need be, but are you sure you want to do this?”
“If you can shift into a leopard, then I should be able to shift into a dragon. I might be reckless and crazy, but when I ski off of ramps, I’m
