I’m curled on a bed of gold coins, close to slumber, when the next warrior tries to plunder my cave.
This one isn’t as stupid as the last. He tiptoes into the darkness without a torch or lantern. When he draws his sword, blue light glows along the steel. Wonderful. Yet another enchantment, probably an overpriced dragonslaying gimmick he bought from the merchants in town. They’re making a pretty penny, and I can’t begrudge them for it.
The warrior edges through the gloom, his boots scraping the stone. Smoke drifts from my nose, but no more than a snuffed candle. His toes nudge a heap of treasure, knocking down a ruby as big as an egg. It chimes on the gold and rolls across to my claws.
Damn, now I can’t pretend to be sleeping.
Uncoiling to my full height, I snap open my wings and unleash a roar. Too late, I hope he hasn’t pissed himself. The last adventurer soiled his armor, and I couldn’t get the stink out of my cave for a week.
“Dragon!” he shouts. “Your reign of tyranny is at an end.”
“Tyranny?” I force out a scathing laugh. “I have done nothing but fill my belly and protect my gold.”
“You have robbed our kingdom. Slaughtered sheep and men alike.”
“True, you do taste alike.” That’s a lie, since I haven’t eaten a man. Yet.
The warrior grips his sword’s hilt in both fists. “You killed my brother, you scaly bitch!”
“Which one was he? That muscle-bound fool with the shiny ax? Or last month’s coward, who died in a puddle of his own piss?”
His face twists. “You die tonight.”
“Must have been the coward.”
When the warrior charges me, his sword raised, I slither into the shadows. His filthy boots trample my treasure. My heartbeat pounds in my throat, and fear tastes like metal in my mouth.
I don’t know what enchantment imbues his blade. Could be nothing more than a pretty glow. Could be a curse nasty enough to kill a dragon shifter. Even one as powerful as me.
Heat simmers in my chest, building, boiling in my blood. He swings the sword at my neck, aiming to cut off my head. I rear back and take a deep breath. The warrior lunges.
I exhale.
Flames rush from my jaws and billow across the cave. They devour the warrior, cooking him in his armor. The burnt-meat smell turns my stomach. When he sucks in air to scream, the blaze scorches his throat and burns his lungs. He falls, dead, to the floor.
Only dragons can breathe fire.
I can’t leave his charred corpse there, smoldering, in my home. I grip a fistful of chain mail in my claws and drag him out of the cave. Outside, on the cliff, twilight deepens the lake below to sapphire. I push the dragonslayer over, then stare at the fractured reflections of stars.
Will they always send men to kill me? Will I never find peace?
For a time, when I was young and stupid, I thought I could live among them as a human woman without powers, but the dragon conquered me. It always does. I can’t deny who I am.
Monstrous.
My throat aches as I return to my cave. Treasure glimmers dimly in the gloom, my only companion.
“Impressive.”
A man’s voice, gravel-rough, comes from the darkness.
I whip around, searching the shadows. “Who are you?”
I hear nothing. Not even a footfall.
When did he creep into my cave? I can see in the dark, but I can’t see where he’s hiding. I skulk between mountains of gold and gemstones, my tail lashing behind me, betraying my agitation.
“I thought he came alone,” I say.
“So did he.” The man is behind me.
My fangs bared, I spin to face him. A golden chain whips from the shadows and wraps around one of my hind legs. It stings. I growl. Another chain curls around my neck. I claw at the gold tightening at my throat, while the pain deepens to a sickening throb in my bones.
No. Not gold. Aellurium.
An alloy with the magic to force a dragon shifter into human form.
From the shadows, a man walks, the chains glinting around his fists. His eyes burn like embers. Wicked horns, jet-black, curl from his silver hair. His skin is a darker silver, the color of a tarnished coin.
Of course. He has demon blood.
Demons can see in the dark. Demons have a chance of killing a dragon.
“Change,” he commands.
“No.” My voice catches on the word.
I drag on the chains, but the muscles in his arms bunch and he holds me there. Stronger than I expected. Despite his pale hair, he’s a young man with undeniable virility. When his red eyes lock with mine, a thrill jolts me in the pit of my stomach. I forget to breathe for a moment. Tension thickens the air between us.
Why does this feel like recognition? I’ve never seen him before. No, deeper than that, this feels like a realignment of the stars.
Mine.
I want him.
What the fuck is wrong with me? Stronger than lust, a yearning to claim him aches in the marrow of my bones. It’s yet another way he has power over me. I refuse to let him know that he brings out such weakness in me.
“Change,” he says, “and it will hurt less.”
The aellurium bends my skeleton out of shape, but I fight the transformation, unwilling to surrender to the enchantment.
“Fuck you,” I spit the words.
He blinks with mild surprise, then yanks the chains tighter.
Gritting my teeth against a scream, I double over as a cramp rips through my gut. Crimson scales vanish into skin. My wings and claws retreat. The sleek, armored angles of my body melt into the soft shape of a woman. Trembling, I hug myself. Naked. Weak. Chains cling to my neck and one of my thighs. I’m smaller as a woman, so the chains must have tightened around me as part of the enchantment.
The demon-blooded man grunts. “Red.” He’s staring at my hair.
I glare at him, my eyes blurry with unshed tears. “I’m a red fucking dragon. Surprised?”
“No.”
With aellurium binding me, my magic lurks out of reach. I’m a shifter without the power to shift. Pain lingers, even though I’m not fighting anymore. I pry my nails under the chain at my neck, failing to free myself. The enchanted metal bites into my skin.
Panic closes my throat. I start to choke.
“Stop,” he says, as if I would follow orders from him.
Still clutching the chains, he advances on me. He takes a collar from his belt. It’s also aellurium, no doubt, twisted into a golden torque with two snarling dragons at the ends. It’s beautiful, but I’m sure it’s imbued with evil magic designed to enslave me.
“What do you want?” I ask, hoarsely. “To leash me like a dog?”
“Well.” He tilts his head as if considering. “To keep you from incinerating me alive.”
I breathe through my fear and fake a smile. “I can be good. Promise.”
“You’re baring your teeth at me.”
“I’m smiling, you bastard.”
He raises his eyebrows. “That’s a terrifying smile.”
But clearly, he isn’t terrified. Who the hell is he?
