A man with white hair stood next to Alex, waving his arms around as if he were talking, but no sound came out.
“Of course,” Carissa answered the silent man.
Terra turned her attention to the woman.
“Michael is right,” Carissa said as she stood up, releasing her hold on Terra. “We’re going about this the wrong way.” She held her hand down for Terra to take. “By now, I should be used to dealing with a newly transformed dragon.” Carissa shot Michael a warm smile before turning back to Terra. “Shall we try this again?”
Dragon? The thought bounced around Terra’s head as she looked at the woman. She wanted to ask what she meant, but words were eluding her. Something was wrong, but she just couldn’t understand it. Slowly, Terra placed her hand in Carissa’s.
Carissa pulled her into a sitting position. She looked across the bed at Alex. “Hold her.”
It took no time for Alex to find a seat on the bed behind Terra and pull her in against him. His arms wrapped protectively around her.
Whatever was inside Terra relaxed into Alex’s warmth. She leaned back, savoring the feel of him against her skin. Skin to skin. Realization hit her, and she tensed in his arms. Her bare back was pressed into his bare front as the hospital gown she was wearing gaped open. It clung to one shoulder, but the snaps on the other side had been torn open in her struggles. She tried to shift away from him so she could fix her gown, but he wouldn’t let her go. Slowly, she relaxed back into his hold as he cooed reassuring noises at her. The thing inside her wanted to be as close to him as possible.
A thing. That was the only way she could describe the ball of feelings bouncing around in her. It was need, desire, pain, and fear, all rolled into one terrifying package. And it was all separate from her own feelings, yet it controlled her body as much as she did.
The thing chirped at her, and she had an uncontrollable desire to snuggle into Alex. She pressed back against him as his arms tightened around her. Apparently, the thing felt safe there. The fear and tension drained from Terra, leaving her limp in his arms. Unable to draw up the energy to be afraid, she turned languid eyes towards Carissa. Her vision was still off, and it made the already gorgeous woman even more beautiful. A primal note of jealousy hit Terra, and she clenched her fingers into Alex’s arms to keep him away from the other woman.
Alex shushed her softly and stroked his fingers over her skin, calming her.
Carissa studied the pair on the bed before sitting down on its edge. “Do you remember what happened?”
Terra’s thoughts were slow in moving, but she could remember. “Two men came looking for Alex.” Her words came out slurred as she spoke. There was a slight hiss to them. Terra stretched her jaw, trying to pop it. It felt like it wasn’t in the right place.
“Yes,” Carissa continued. “Do you remember them giving you an injection?”
There was no way she could forget the sting of that needle or the way the serum burned along her veins. “Yessss.” There was that odd hiss again. Terra could feel Carissa’s eyes run over her. The thing inside of her stirred for a second before calming down again.
“We think those men were trying to turn you into a dragon.”
This time, when the thing brushed against her mind, it felt like the rough caress of scales under her skin. Terra swallowed hard. How could they turn her into a dragon?
“How?”
Carissa let out a long sigh. “We’re not sure, but you show all the classic signs of a dragon in distress.” She paused for a moment before continuing. “Normally, it’s a mental issue that can be addressed once we’ve forced the dragon into a single state, but that doesn’t look to be the case here.”
Terra considered her words. “What do you mean?”
“Well,” Carissa began, “your form wants to go to dragon, but it can’t get there.” She glanced up at her brother before looking back at Terra. “Not even with our help.”
Terra looked at her, confused.
“Somehow, your dragon is incomplete,” Kyle explained. “It gets most of the way there, and then stops.”
“But I’m not a dragon,” Terra protested. She didn’t know much about dragons, but she did know you had to be born a dragon. You couldn’t make someone into a dragon. Could you?
Terra shivered as the thing inside of her moved. Could that be a dragon? It purred a positive note. Yes, whatever was inside of her was a dragon. But it’s not whole. She didn’t understand how she knew this, but she did. She looked up at Carissa. “Can you get it out?” The dragon in her roared in protest. The sound came out as a soft growl.
Carissa gave her an apologetic smile. “We aren’t sure how they turned you into a dragon, so reversing the process is impossible.” She took a long breath before continuing. “Other than the original myths, there’s only been one case where a human has been turned into a dragon—” Carissa’s eyes flipped up to the white-haired man for a moment. “—and that’s Michael.”
He smiled at her and mouthed something that made her smile in return.
Terra glanced between the two. They’re mates. She paused as she tried to figure out how she knew that. The bit of dragon inside of her stretched itself. It knew. The fact that it had supplied her with the information surprised her.
“How?” she asked.
A wry smile crept across Carissa’s face as she looked back down at Terra. “That’s a long story. But that’s not important right now. What does matter are you and your dragon.”
Terra waited as Carissa paused, trying to gather her thoughts.
“I’ve been reading through the old texts, and I think there might be a way to fix what’s wrong.”
Hope radiated through Terra. Now that she knew what was curled up inside of her, she could separate it from her own feelings. The poor thing was confused and scared. That made Terra’s heart ache. “How?”
“Someone will have to share a part of their dragon with you,” Carissa said very carefully.
Alex’s arms tightened around Terra, squishing her against her chest. “How?” he asked.
Carissa looked up at him. “She already has part of a dragon’s essence in her. It shouldn’t take much to complete what’s already there. A scale from a bonded mate should do the trick.”
Terra felt Alex draw in a deep breath as he considered Carissa’s words.
“Use mine.” The answer rumbled out of him.
A strange sense of contentment rolled through Terra at his words. Even as messed up as she was, he wanted her.
He’s only doing it because he got you into this mess. The nagging thought popped into her brain. Terra wasn’t sure if it came from her psyche or the damaged dragon, but it did have a point. Was he doing this out of duty? Or was there more there?
“I think we should leave that choice up to her.” Carissa turned her attention back to Terra. “Do you understand what it means to be a bonded mate?”
A bonded mate? Terra thought about that for a moment. Alex had explained that dragons mated for life, but they hadn’t had much time to talk about what it really meant.
“No,” she answered. She needed to know what was asked of her before agreeing to something that was permanent.