She laughed and squeezed my hand. “I’m glad we’re on the same page.”
I steered us toward the path to the Kingston land. “Do you mind walking into the dark?” I asked. “I know this area very well. We’re in no danger.”
She cocked her head at me and smiled. “I trust you.”
My heart swelled as we moved closer and closer to a place that I’d have to put that trust to the test. If the past few minutes were anything to go on, I didn’t have anything to worry about, and Valor agreed. I couldn’t be sure exactly how she’d take it, but I had a feeling it wouldn’t be with terror. I hoped.
We chatted about the different types of paranormal creatures until I was absolutely sure we were on my family’s land. When I smelled the wolves that patrolled the perimeters, I knew we were safe as soon as we found a good spot.
It didn’t take much longer. A clearing opened up off the trail. There was still plenty of daylight left, though the light had waned to something rather romantic. The clearing was scattered with some blue and bright red flowers that nearly glowed in the setting sunlight.
“Come over here,” I said. “We can eat here.”
Kara, after sticking her nose in some of the fragrant flowers, unpacked our sandwiches as I spread a light blanket on the soft grass. Valor hummed inside me, impatient for us to eat so he could reveal himself. I took my time, mulling over the best way to bring it back up.
But there wasn’t really a good way to admit something like that, was there?
“Kara,” I said as soon as we finished. “I have to talk to you about something.”
Worry flashed across her face, but she masked it quickly and looked me in my eyes. “Okay.”
I didn’t know how else to say it but to blurt it out. “Kara, I brought up the subject of paranormal creatures and shifters for a reason. And I want you to know how much I trust you, too.”
She furrowed her brow but didn’t interrupt.
“I’m a shifter, Kara. I’m a dragon.”
17
Kara
“I’m a shifter, Kara. I’m a dragon.” Rico looked like he was going to stand in front of me and cry as he said those words. His expression was both serious and worried.
What was I supposed to think? He was messing with me, for sure. I laughed and shook my head as I packed up our trash. “Okay, Rico. You’re a big scary dragon.” We were in the middle of the woods, just out of sight of the trail, surrounded by romantic flowers. And we had this nice big blanket. I dropped my voice into a sultry tone. “Are you going to shift and bite me?” Role-playing like this would turn me on.
A lot.
If he was into it, that would be the icing on the cake. So far, he’d been everything I could’ve dreamed of, maybe more. If he was into this kind of role play?
My panties moistened at the thought.
“Kara.” Rico took my hand and looked deep into my eyes. “Paranormal creatures are real.”
His eyes flashed red for longer than a split second. I’d thought I’d seen them do that before already, but it was gone so fast I thought I was imagining things.
This time they stayed red for several seconds, plenty long enough for me to realize it wasn’t just a trick of the light, and my jaw dropped. “You’re being serious.”
My heart froze in anticipation, then picked up double-time. Was this really happening? I licked my lips anxiously.
“I haven’t read many romance novels that feature dragon shifters. Well, none, actually. So I don’t know if they get it right. But I can shift into a dragon. He has his own personality separate from mine, yet at the same time, we are one. We don’t always agree, and we argue sometimes, but we are together forever. You have to think of us as a package deal. As one.”
One. Two consciousnesses. I’d read books like that. It was complicated, but nothing that had turned me off.
I was thinking about this as if it was real. “Prove it,” I demanded. “Show me.”
He stood up and stepped away from the blanket. “First, you have to know that Valor, my dragon, would never hurt you in a million years. Neither would I.”
I nodded. The idea that either of them might hurt me hadn’t even crossed my mind, but his reassurance warmed me. “Okay.”
“It’s in our nature to protect what’s ours, and I’m sorry if it sounds wrong, but we think of you as ours.”
My panties got twice as wet. “Okay,” I whispered. I had to swallow a huge lump in my throat before the word would come out.
Rico pulled his shirt over his head. “I have to be naked,” he explained. My eyes lingered over his sculpted chest as he unbuttoned his jeans and slid them down his thighs with his underwear. When he looked up and saw my gaze lingering, his dick twitched and hardened. I hummed appreciatively and pressed my fingertips to my lips to hide the grin.
And then… it happened. I blinked several times as Rico’s body changed, morphing into an enormous black dragon with scales that shone in the almost-gone evening light. “Oh, my goodness.” I scrambled to my feet and gawked at him.
I had to rub my eyes and think back to the day. I hadn’t had a drop to drink. I didn’t feel like I’d been slipped any drugs, no hallucinogens, no sleeping pills or anything. I crossed my arms and pinched myself under the arm where it really hurt to make sure I was fully awake.
I was. And a dragon still stood in front of me, staring at me with big, golden eyes. “Oh.” What was I supposed to say?
Laughter bubbled up my chest. I stared at the ten-foot-long dragon and laughed.
Do I look funny?
Rico’s voice resonated through my head. I choked mid-laugh, and my bubbling delight turned
