by Lucinda Dark
Shit, I felt like complete and utter shit.
It’s the change, a deep voice answered.
I froze, my hand on the doorknob. The change?
Yes, he answered. Your body is going through a metamorphosis of sorts. To prepare you to accept my powers, you must be willing to shift.
My lips parted as the air conditioner kicked on, blowing cool air over my heated skin. I didn’t say anything back, but I didn’t need to. The beast was inside me. The medallion burned against the center of my chest—where it had remained since I’d taken it from Esperanza.
You are afraid, the beast said. Not a question. A statement. You need not fear the power I have to give you. You asked for it. Are you no longer willing—
“I am.” The words came out of my mouth, loud in the otherwise silent room. I pressed my lips together and continued on in my head, sure the creature would hear. I am still willing, but not knowing what it will do is … unsettling.
You cannot gain something without first giving something in return. You give up your humanity, and I will give you the power that you seek.
What will it change me into? I asked. It wasn’t that I feared becoming a monster, but after what had happened to Milner and how the reminder often made that same extreme anger rage throughout my body, I didn’t feel like myself anymore. I wanted a warning. I wanted a way to prepare for what I was about to go through.
You are being transformed into a creature worthy of the light, was all the beast said. Instead of giving me a plain answer as I’d hoped, he’d given me yet more riddles. And as soon as he’d said it, I felt him vanish—molding back into the deepest corner of my mind, leaving me empty once more.
My hand clenched on the doorknob and I jerked it open. The hallway was dark. I moved into it, feeling along the wall with the palm of my hand until I reached the top of the stairs before descending as silently as I could manage. I crept through the downstairs, having to avoid the furniture mostly by memory without turning the lights on. I found the backdoor and moved outside, my breath coming in faster pants.
My skin rippled over my spine and I cursed, nearly going down on my knees as pain worked through my bones. “Shit!” I hissed. Something popped inside of me and suddenly, I could smell every fucking thing.
Rich cedar and pine wood. Dirty, matted fur from a nearby animal—something small, with a fast beating heart that I could hear. Engine oil. I closed my eyes and breathed through my mouth, trying to alleviate the abrupt shift of my senses. I didn’t know how long I remained like that, locked in a hunched over position, the medallion hanging from around my neck, dangling in front of my face reminding me that I hadn’t just asked for this—I’d demanded it, and I’d been offered every out before I took it.
After several moments of quiet panting, I managed to work my hand down into my pocket and retrieved my cell. I knew there was a reason I’d brought it with me. I dialed the number by rote memory. I slapped the phone onto the porch floor next to me and let it ring.
The ringing stopped. “What’s wrong?” Torin asked, his tone alert and awake as if it wasn’t—I checked the time in the top right hand corner of my screen—fuck it was fucking three a.m.
I pushed out a rough breath as I felt something move beneath my skin, slithering up my back and around my side until it reached my throat. When I spoke, it was in a voice that wasn’t mine. “Get here,” I said. “Now.” My voice was filled with a scorching rasp—deeper than any I’d heard before.
Thankfully, he didn’t ask any questions. “I’m on my way.” The phone clicked.
Jesus fucking Christ. Sweat poured down my temples. The pain stretched on. It could’ve been ten minutes, it could’ve been two fucking hours. I couldn’t tell. Every second blurred into the next. I lifted my head as the backdoor clicked open, but the scent that reached me wasn’t Torin’s. I knew because it smelled like the same snow breeze shampoo that I knew my mom stocked in the hall bathroom accompanied by a hint of blood. Barbie.
“Go back inside,” I growled without turning around.
“Maverick?” She didn’t listen. Instead, she drew closer. “What’s wrong?” I felt more than saw her bend down at my side. A soft, cool hand touched my brow. “Fuck!” She pulled her hand away. “You’re burning hot. What the hell?”
“I said go inside.”
“Why do you sound like that?” She touched me again. Her hands felt like fucking nirvana as they soothed across my flesh. “This isn’t right,” she muttered. “There’s something wrong with you. We have to get you to a hospital. You shouldn’t be this hot.”
“Barbie?”
“Thank fuck,” I groaned as Torin’s voice sounded at the edge of the back porch.
“Torin?” Barbie’s hands left me and I sagged against the wooden planks, breathing out roughly. “What are you doing here?” she asked.
“Come away from him,” he said instead of answering.
“What?” She scoffed. “I can’t do that, he’s burning up. He needs—”
“I know what he needs.” Torin was at my side in a flash, but I was too consumed in the agonizing pain clenching through my system to start at how fast he moved. He eased Barbie back and reached for me.
His skin, too, when it touched me felt like a cool balm. He hefted one of my arms over his shoulders and helped me stand. “If you fucking … pick me up…” I let the threat drift off as a groan was ripped out of my throat.
“Don’t worry,” Torin said with a quiet chuckle. “I didn’t think your masculinity could handle that. I brought my car.” He helped me down the back porch steps.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” A little blur of blonde appeared before us. “He needs a damn hospital, Torin. You—”
The muscles in my legs spasmed, locking up tight and then releasing all at once. I bit out another curse, sagging against Torin’s side. Had he not been holding me up, I would’ve fallen to a heap on the ground. My sweats drooped against my hips, my abdomen rippling. I looked up and caught Barbie’s look of confusion and suspicion.
“What are you hiding?” she demanded, focusing her sole attention on me.
“I can’t—” I broke off, panting as I closed my eyes. “Not now.” I shook my head, droplets of sweat sliding down my jawline.
“Let him be, Sweetheart,” Torin said, his tone soft. “He’ll tell you when he’s ready.”
A scent wafted from his body that nearly sent me into a frenzy. Arousal. I growled low in my throat, the sound vibrating through my chest as I opened my eyes into slits. A golden haze descended over my vision just before everything went to black and white. Torin glanced down at me and blinked in shock.
I knew it had to be bad when he hissed, “Shit” and shook his head. “I know you said not to, man, but there’s no getting around it.” I didn’t have to ask what he was fucking talking about because, in the next second, he whipped me in his arms, threw me over his shoulder and took off. Wind shot through my hair—a nice reprieve from the volcanic heat.
We stopped in an instant and he all but threw me into the back of his car before climbing into the driver’s seat. I arched against the leather interior. “Fuck!” I screamed. “What the fuck is happening to me?”
Torin’s scent changed, growing bitter with worry. I gritted my teeth as he replied. “I think—” the car swerved as my arm shot forward, through the two front seats, longer than ever with a mass of golden scales crawling up the forearm, “you’re going through a first shift,” he finished, the car returned to its smooth gait, but the speed picked up.
Time was a construct that I could no longer separate into tiny bits. There were no seconds or minutes, only long endless drags. When the car pulled to a stop, my arm had returned to normal, but the heat had only increased. I felt like my skin was melting off.
The backdoor popped open and Torin dragged me out. “Where are we?” I panted.
“A field,” he replied, helping me stumble through the tall grass until finally, he decided we’d gone
far enough and he deposited me on the ground.
Laying on my side, I fisted large clumps of dirt and breathed through my nose. “Barbie’s gonna be pissed,” I muttered.
He laughed, but it held no amusement. “That’s for sure,” he agreed.
He grew quiet. It was time. My bones broke—shattered as if dozens of hammers came down on my joints all at once. I screamed through the pain. My spine bowed as a new form grew—stretching, ripping through human skin. My face elongated. Talons shredded my nail beds. I didn’t know how long it lasted, only that halfway through, it became too much.
A wall of black descended and when I opened my eyes once more, I stared at Torin through thin slits and all I could see was black and white. No color at all.
Torin backed up, appearing much smaller than he had before. He gaped up at me. “Holy shit, Mav…” He shook his head. “You’re a dragon.”
Twenty-One
Barbie
I was beyond pissed. Fucking furious. Ready to rip someone apart. I had no clue where Torin or Maverick had disappeared to, but it was clear that they were, in fact, keeping secrets from me. The only thing that stopped me from searching every nearby hospital or waking Beth and Jon was the fact that when Maverick had looked up at me just before Torin had picked him up and vanished around the side of the house, his eyes had looked decidedly not human.
Satrina? I called my demon as I went back into the house and got dressed. There was a moment of quiet before she responded, as if she'd been doing something when I'd interrupted her.
What? she snapped.
My eyebrows shot to my hairline as I stopped halfway across my room, but I decided to ignore the attitude, instead, choosing to focus on my question. What supernatural creature can have slitted eyes?
Another pause, then in a careful tone, she spoke. There are many types of shifters with slitted eyes.
I jerked my tank top over my head and replaced it with a t-shirt before reaching for a pair of jeans. I slid them up and buttoned them in record time. Are there a lot of shifters with golden eyes?
She paused. There are shifters with golden eyes, she answered. And there are shifters with slitted eyes. There are … few with both.
I snatched my car keys up before remembering that my car was blocked in—having been rarely used—by Maverick’s truck. I cursed and threw them down. I stormed out into the hallway after grabbing a pair of shoes and slipping them on. I went directly to Mav’s room and pushed inside. Thankfully, I found the keys to his truck sitting on his nightstand. I pocketed them and headed out.
Climbing into Maverick’s truck on the driver’s side felt weird. I had to scoot the seat up almost a full foot before my legs reached the pedals. I cursed the entire time, shoving my phone into the center console and dialing Torin’s phone on repeat. There was no answer.
I had no clue where to start looking for them, so I drove straight to Torin’s estate. Finding the main estate empty along with the guesthouse left me with little other recourse than to fucking wait. I got out of Mav’s truck and slammed the driver’s side door as I went into the guesthouse, finding the spare key under a potted plant near the front door. It was kind of weird how normal that was considering this was a vampire’s house. Sorta.
Standing inside the living room without either of the guys made the place seem empty. I hesitated for a moment between the couch and coffee table, glancing around. Blowing out a breath, I collapsed onto the cushions and checked my phone again. Still nothing from Torin. Or from Maverick.
I closed my eyes. What the fuck was going on?
I left the lights off. So when the sun began to peek up over the horizon hours later, the flash of headlights came through the front windows as clear as day. I crossed my arms over my chest and waited—just as I had been.
The front door opened. "Take a shower," Torin was saying quietly. "You need to wash the dirt and blood off. You're damn lucky I had my gym bag in the trunk."
"Thanks." Maverick's voice sounded like gravel. As they crossed through the entryway, I stood.
"Where the fuck have you been?" My eyes lit on Maverick's form and I froze. "What the..." I shot across the room until I was right in front of him. Gone were his sweats, instead all he wore was a pair of ill-fitting basketball shorts and the medallion I'd seen hanging around his neck. His skin was streaked with black marks. Blood ran down his abdomen and arms, but there were no wounds. I sniffed. He smelled like ash and wind. "What happened?" I demanded, finally looking up into eyes that were their normal autumn brown. Maverick gritted his teeth and turned his cheek, but that wasn't going to stop me. My hand shot up and gripped his chin, turning him back to face me. "Maverick," I said quietly, dangerously.
Torin coughed, clearing his throat before he spoke. "I'm going to go get you some more clothes to put on after your shower," he said, stepping around us and disappearing down the hall. I knew the words and action for what they were. An excuse to give us time alone. Maverick's head came down and he rested his forehead against my shoulder. My hand fell away from his face.
"I..." he started. "I made a deal with Esperanza." The confession shouldn't have been as shocking as it was.
I swallowed. "What did you do?"
He reached between us and I glanced down as his hand closed around the medallion hovering between us. "I made a deal," he repeated. "In exchange for the power to protect you."
I pulled away and looked at him as my brows drew down low. "Mav..." I didn't know what to say. I never wanted this. "Why would you—"
"Because Torin's not the only one who gives a fuck about you, Barbie," he said, standing up straight. He moved around me, taking several steps before stopping with his back turned to me. "I knew if I stayed human, I'd just get you killed."
"I would've—"
"What?" He pivoted, shooting me with an intense look that cut through my words. "Protected me? I'm not that kind of man," he snapped.
I shook my head, pressing a palm to my temple. "This was never supposed to happen," I said as my chest clenched. "You were never supposed to—"
His legs ate up the distance between us as he came at me with all the fury of a wild beast. His fingers closed around my upper arms and he turned, pressing me to the wall, coming down against me in a split second that left me gasping in shock. "I made this decision," he whispered harshly, his mouth mere inches from my own. "Me. Not you."
"Maverick—" He crushed his lips to mine, cutting me off. I froze as his tongue licked into my mouth, stealing my breath. Maverick's warm hand cupped my cheek and kept me still for his kiss. I didn't fight it. I just let it happen. I couldn't deny him this connection any more than I could deny the very blood in my veins. I inched my hands up alongside his hips until I couldn't resist pressing myself closer to him. “I’m sorry,” I said. “I’m so sorry.”
“I’m not,” he rasped. Maverick lowered his arms, his fingers gripping me under my thighs. He lifted until I wrapped my legs around his hips, turning and striding through an open doorway—one of the guest bedrooms. Without looking back, he kicked the door shut and pressed me against it. “I’m not sorry at all,” he confessed, kissing me again. Once, twice, three times until I was dizzy from lack of air. Dhampire-demon hybrids still needed to breathe after all. His chest, streaked with blood and dirt and I didn’t want to know what else, rubbed against mine.
“Maverick…” I said his name, but he simply pressed another kiss to my lips until I opened for him with a groan.
White-hot tingles raced through my system where his skin brushed against mine. His fingers found the hem of my shirt. “I need a shower,” he said, pulling it up. The material covered my face for a moment, blocking my view, and then it was gone. He flicked the back hooks of my bra and I felt it sag against my chest. That, too, was stripped away and thrown somewhere else in the room. He turned, keeping me locked tight to his body.
“What about Torin?” I asked. “He has to know—” He had to know what we were doing.
Maverick strode, ca
rrying me the entire way, into the adjoining bathroom and flipped on the light. “Don’t worry about Torin,” he said, dropping me down so that my ass rested on the edge of the sink countertop. Keeping his eyes locked with mine, he leaned over and turned the handles of the shower before he came back and began to unbutton my jeans.
I didn’t stop him—found that I couldn’t. But he at least needed to know about everything else. “You know that I,” I started, “that Torin and I—we…” Jesus, fuck! Why was this so hard?
Thankfully, Maverick interrupted me. “I know,” he said, stripping my underwear and jeans down my legs before he moved to the waistband of his borrowed shorts.
“You know?” I repeated, watching as he stripped the basketball shorts down his long, muscular legs.
"Did you think I was blind?" he asked as he lifted me once again, cradling me against his chest as he stepped into the shower. I wasn't used to anyone carrying me around at all, much less with such ease.
My fangs itched to descend, my vampire liking the feeling of Maverick's skin against mine as he dropped me down to my feet. Warm water cascaded down across my back and then my side as he turned me and pressed me into the tiled wall. "No," I answered. "Did he—"
"He didn't need to," he interrupted me. Soil rich brown eyes stared down at me, swallowing me up and making everything else disappear until it was just him and me. Until there was nothing in the world more important than being where I was, with him. "I see the way he looks at you, Princess."
"How?" I asked. "How does he look at me?"
A smirk lifted the corner of his mouth. "He looks at you the same way that I do," he professed. "Like you're the fucking moon and stars. He loves you."
I pressed my hands to his chest, stopping him from leaning down when he would have stolen another kiss. My head was a swarm of buzzing. What the fuck was I doing? "If you know that," I said, "then why are you here, in the shower—naked—with me?"
He didn't hesitate. The answer just rolled off his tongue as if there was no thought between my question and the truth in his soul. "Because I love you, too."