Page 26 of The Power of a Myth

Samuel changed next. His body igniting in flames. Ciaran was the last to demonstrate any sort of power. Molly knew Jessica had stripped the druid of his powerful dark magic when he’d fought with her at Buckingham Palace. The demented druid grew energy balls in his hands.

“We have to do something, or they’ll murder us.” Brayden stepped up to the side of his alpha.

“Selene, Jessica, walk to Emma and get the cubs to safety.”

“I’m staying here,” Jessica countered.

Kas turned his head slightly and growled at her, but she continued to defy him.

“Jane, go with Selene.” Kas finally backed down.

“Take them to the cave,” Ethern ordered.

Molly wasn’t sure where he meant. Her cave?

The two women hurriedly clambered over the destruction of the room and raced to where Emma would be in the nursery.

“What do you plan on doing?” Ethern stepped up to the other side of Kas.

“Staying human as long as possible. Let them be the monsters that we’re not.”

“This is going to hurt.” Scott’s voice was laced with nerves.

“It doesn’t have to,” Hayden responded. Molly felt him behind her as he spoke. She turned her head to look up at him. “I never stopped loving you, Molly,” he told her. “All of you stay in your human form. This is what I was destined for.”

“Hayden, no,” Kas ordered.

“They can’t catch what is mythological.”

“Hayden…” Ethern added, but it was too late. Molly watched as the man she loved stepped out of the crowd and headed to the forefront of the assembled pack.

He turned and looked at her again. Then, closing his eyes, he turned his head back to face Nuka before he allowed them to open again. His eyes were no longer human.

“Please,” Molly whimpered and felt Jessica grab her. She was glad of the support because as she watched Hayden shift, she felt her leg give way.

Hayden’s body grew larger and larger, and scales appeared all over his body. A long green tail extended from his body with a tip of hard spikes. The spikes grew over his spine all the way to the top of his head. His face changed, and she watched in awe as the man she loved became a dragon before her very eyes.

She remembered them talking about it on their first date—about how he dreamed of finding dragon bones. His calling was more powerful than she could ever have imagined, but it had broken her heart. Why hadn’t he come for her? She would have understood. She was no different from him.

“What the fuck?” Nuka’s voice projected into her head.

“You want a fight? You want to scare the humans? Well, we have the weapon to do just that,” Kas shouted out. “You want a war, brother? You’ve got it. We won’t shift because we don’t need to.”

Hayden threw his head back, and letting out an almighty roar, flames erupted from his mouth and into the sky. Molly glanced up to where the helicopter hovered. The cameraman looked like he was about to pass out with shock. The pilot must have sensed the situation wasn’t safe anymore, and he turned the helicopter around and sped away. Sirens wailed in the distance, police racing to their location.

Hayden stomped one of his big taloned feet down onto the ground. Nuka was standing nearby and was sent flying into the air with the force of the movement. His grandfather shifted back into his human form and stared intently at Hayden.

Molly hobbled forward on her walking stick toward Kas and Nuka’s grandfather. Jessica let her go, but the puma shifter sensed a protection spell appear around her from the witch. When the Lincoln’s grandfather had been alive the first time, he was ten years older than Molly. He’d been her mentor and the reason she’d gone to Vietnam. She’d lost her leg in a car accident while fighting for his cause when she’d returned.

“What has my grandson done?” Nuka’s grandfather questioned when she stood in front of him.

“Which one? Nuka has got himself into big trouble, but Kas might just have a way to win the war you’ve started. You never learned. War is not the answer. Maybe you should have come to Vietnam with me. You would have seen it for yourself. It was too painful. Take Nuka and leave Kas’ land. We will solve the issue you’ve caused with the humans our own way.”

“Molly?” the twin brother’s grandfather looked at her. “Did you know about the dragon shifter?”

She shook her head.

“No, I didn’t, I was told Hayden was dead, and it broke my heart.” She turned her body to go back to the pack she wanted to be a part of.

---