Page 5 of Bitten in the Wild

He nodded. His voice barely audible over the flight link. I let go of him and he let out a string of curses that tickled me somewhere deep inside. Mine had a dirty mouth. I watched him plunge toward the tops of the trees. His wings sprang out first with blue and green scales covering them. A second later, therest of his scales came out chasing away the green star on his chest and gobbling it up. He soared upward as he shifted into his proper form. Mine flew right up under me, until his back pressed against my belly, and we flew together like a beast with four wings, two tails, and eight legs. He guided our path navigating the air currents that carried us away from the skin dragons tripping over their tails to munch down the mushies. I wasn’t sure he knew where we were going, but I let him lead the way. I couldn’t get lost out here. I was born not far from where I nested now. The forest knew my name before I hatched, and it would whisper it long after I was gone as it did for the unshifters who passed through their portals of life and death.

We flew for a long time. We flew until my human beast demanded that it was time to let him out. Except the wings belonged to me before they belonged to him, and I wasn’t done flying with Mine yet. The sun began its descent and eventually I had to think about giving in to him. I was unsure of how long Mine could fly without getting tired. The townies didn’t fly the same distances I covered most days for fun. Eventually, I tugged on him over the flight link and led him to the nest. The human beast was right. I had to let him out sooner or later. If I kept him inside for too long his head grew all fuzzy and it was hard for him to interact with skin dragons. It wasn’t fair to take the ability to socialize with his own kind from him. We were the same, but he was the weird part of me that was soft and mostly scaleless. He was the part of me most likely to be gobbled up by something out in the wild. So, I had to protect him. Now, I also had to protect Mine.

***

My head was fuzzy when I came to in the nest. My dragon had made good on finally letting me out. It’d been days sincehe’d taken over. My limbs felt like jelly. The nest smelled different than when I left.

No!

It wasn’t the nest that smelled off!

Mine!

It was my mate who had flown partnered with me the entire route home. Now, he checked my pulse. I kept my eyes closed and focused on his fingers pressed against my wrist. It wasn’t unfamiliar. They taught us to do that in school. I vaguely remembered fighting off the urge to bite the last healer who’d grabbed my wrist for this reason. My inner beast didn’t put up with such nonsense usually. Only, this was our mate. My heart pounded in my ears and my pulse sped up under his fingers.

“You’re awake,” he announced.

“Halfway,” I said, snaking my hand around his wrist and pulling him down onto the soft bed of leaves, grass, and feathers that was the topmost layer of my nest. He laughed and I smiled despite how my head swam. The wind from the sky still echoed inside my ears. He smoothed back my hair from my face. His mind raced with questions over the flight link, but he was civilized enough not to bombard me with them.

“Healer?” I asked, double-checking my instincts.

“Yes, I am,” he nodded.

“I’m not sick. Not in the way townies get sick. I’m recovering from being him for days,” I informed him, still keeping my hold on his wrist so he didn’t squirm away.

“Days?” he asked, sitting back on his heels as if he thought I needed room to breathe.

“Days,” I nodded. “Days and days. He seems to think he’s a human shifter.”

“Well, from his perspective that’s probably what it feels like,” he nodded. “Take all the time you need.”

I took a deep breath and his warm scent wrapped around me. Inside his inner sanctum my dragon paced. The big guy hated my refractory period. I hated it too sometimes, but more than ever right now.

“How are you so calm?” I asked, staring up at the clear sky as Waj sniffed around my feet as if he thought his treats were hidden between my toes.

“I’ve been to war,” he shrugged.

“WAR?” I pushed myself upright on my elbows. “Those still go on?”

I’d read about enough wars in school to last me seventy-thousand lifetimes. Sure, wild dragons fought here and there over territory, food, or mates but never to the level of destruction of the world the Starscale ancestors fled.

“Unfortunately so. Not for a few decades now, but that usually means it’s time for one to roll around again.”

“I don’t think the rules are working where you come from if that’s how it’s going or maybe they’re unfair or something,” I stretched back out.

“Want a ham and cheese sandwich?” he asked me.

“A what and cheese sandwich?” I blinked up at him. “What sort of animal is a ham?”

“It’s part of a pig.”

“Like a parasite inside the pig?” I blinked. “Ummm…. I don’t know if anyone told you this, but do NOT eat parasites, okay?”

He laughed and I blinked. Perhaps the dragons where he came from were immune to such things. His thoughts were distant on the flight link now.

“No, it’s what we call part of the pig where I come from.”

“Are you talking about sandwich pig?” I arched a brow.

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