Either choice put Jilly in danger. Garrison’s lust hung on the air like cloying mist. Whatever Ari did, Garrison wasn’t going to just roll over and show him his belly.
So we can be together?
Ari stumbled to a halt as Jilly’s voice whispered through his mind, an image of a smiling Garrison accompanying it.
He pressed his palms to his knees, head spinning. The image of Garrison wobbled, as if Ari saw it through a puddle of muddy water. The man said something he didn’t hear, lips moving slowly.
I promise, he heard Jilly say, her voice a fragile whisper barely there in his head.
Promise what? What was she—
The sensation of something coarse snaked over Ari’s wrists, followed by the warmth of a hand cupping the side of his face.
And then it vanished. Gone.
Leaving him with nothing but the stench of rotting animal and the faintest scent of Jilly in his nose.
Ari closed his eyes. Rage rushed through him.
He was going to fucking kill Garrison when he got inside—
Something heavy smashed into what sounded like furniture inside the warehouse. A man cried out in pain. A woman did the same.
Jilly.
Ari snapped open his eyes and ran for the closest entry point—a window covered in boards and sheets of metal.
Inside the warehouse, Garrison shouted again, pain and shock in the cry.
More sounds of breaking furniture crashed into the air, and then Jilly screamed, high and scared. And furious.
Ari hooked his fingers beneath the edge of one of the sheets of metal and pulled. It didn’t budge. Pain pierced through his injured shoulder.
Jilly screamed again, the sound cut dead a heartbeat later.
Silence.
Ari’s blood turned to ice.
Without thought, without hesitation, he drew on his croi and blasted the sheets of wood and metal with a stream of concentrated flameless heat from his mouth.
The wood erupted in flames. The metal turned to liquid.
He threw himself through the burning, melting barriers, shutting out the excruciating pain razing his human skin.
But not the potent scent of Jilly flooding into his lungs.
Her body, her fear, her anger…
He ran to her, led by her scent through the darkness toward what looked like an office space in the middle of the building.
Get…off…me!
Jilly’s snarl lashed at him just as he reached the outside wall of the interior enclosure. He ground his teeth and smashed his shoulder into the door. Wood splintered.
Garrison’s scream shattered the air.
Ari’s stare fixed on the man straddling a writhing Jilly on the floor, terror on his bleeding, bruised face as he gaped up at Ari.
“Ari!” Jilly cried. Garrison’s hands were wrapped around her wrists as she bucked and fought against him.
“No!” the druid shouted, hate blazing in his wide eyes. “She’s mine! She’s—”
Ari slammed into him. Driving him off Jilly.
They smashed into an overturned table, a fallen filing cabinet, the wall. Ari dug his shoulder into Garrison’s gut, pummeling punch after punch into the man’s side.
Garrison struggled against him, lashing out with feet and flailing fists. “You can’t,” the druid gasped, “have her!”
He smashed his forehead into Ari’s nose.
Pain detonated through Ari’s head, white and blinding.
“Ari!” Jilly screamed. “Watch out! He’s got—”
The world turned blue. Everything slowed down. Stopped. Ari grew cold, so cold. His vision blurred. Sound did the same. He tried to move, to blink. He couldn’t do either.
“She’s mine, dragon,” Garrison’s voice sank into the frozen world. “I’m going to fuck the memory of you right out of her head! Right here in front of you, and there’s nothing you can do to stop—”
Ari shifted.
From human form to dragon.
Agony tore through his body. His bones split apart and reformed. His skin ripped and reknitted. The fabricated walls and wooden frame of the office rained down on him as his dragon form destroyed the internal structure.
And then, stare locking onto Garrison, he screeched and smacked the wailing druid across the room with a swift swipe of his tail.
Garrison hit the brick wall with a crunch and, limp and lifeless, fell to the floor.
Ari prowled toward his motionless form, an inferno building in his lungs, the need to incinerate Garrison, to destroy him, to end him, a driving force he could barely control.
One breath. One blast. That’s all it would take. One exhalation—
“Ari?” Jilly’s whisper flayed at his slipping control. “Oh my God. Oh my God, it’s real. It’s…it’s all real!”
A raw sob choked the last word.
Heart slamming up into his throat, he tore his stare from Garrison. Turned to her.
She stood a few feet away, her hair a tangled mess, the green dress she wore torn at the neck. Scratches and bruises marred her creamy flesh. Blood trickled from some of them.
Staying completely still, he regarded her. She needing to see him. As a dragon. To see his wings, his tail, his scales…his teeth and talons.
She stared at him, eyes wide. Did she know she was shaking her head?
Because of him, because of what he was? Or because of the nightmare situation she’d found herself in?
Heart racing, he extended his neck, bringing his head, his muzzle closer to her.
Dropping her gaze to it, she half raised her hand as if to touch him. And then shook her head again, arms cinching around her chest. “I don’t…” She hugged herself tighter. “I don’t know what to think.”
Pulling away from her a little, he drew in a slow, deep breath and willed his body back into human form.
The cold air in the warehouse licked over his naked, feverish skin.
He ignored it, keeping his focus on Jilly.
Disbelief and fear fought each other on her face. “You really are a dragon,” she whispered.
He nodded, letting his lips curl into a lopsided smile. “I am. I’m your dragon, Jilly. Until the end of time.”
She shook her head again, shoulders hunching. “I don’t…”
Forcing himself to be calm, he stepped toward her. “It’s okay.” He kept his voice low and soothing. “He won’t hurt you again.”
She took a step back, eyes wide. Confusion flared
