Page 70 of Bully Billionaire Dragon

Carnelian swipes his wings out and barely misses me, causing my dragon to take a step back and snap a chair.

“Ah, there you are.”

Carnelian pounces on me and a claw goes down my back.

My dragon roars as I rear back and headbutt him.

We scrap around the backyard for what feels like hours, but I know is only a handful of minutes.

It isn’t until we almost knock down the Montgomerys' fence that a thought hits me.

How is this going to end?

With one of us dying?

What about Taylor?

“Enough!” I snarl at Carnelian’s dragon as I toss him to the side. “You won’t win this.”

Carnelian's jaw snaps at me as he tries to bite me, but I side-step easily as I’m still invisible.

His gaze fixes behind me to Taylor, who is standing with what appears to be a hoe in her hand.

“I won’t allow you to hurt a single hair on her head.”

Carnelian doesn’t listen and jumps at her. I tackle him, and as we hit the ground, Taylor rears the hoe back and jams it into Carnelian’s side.

He lets out a pained screech before he flees, but not before knocking Taylor over with his tail.

Taylor and I stare as Carnelian flies away, but I don’t look long before I rush to her side, back in human form.

“Are you okay?”

Taylor looks at me with her watery big green eyes.

“What is going on? What are you?”

If she can ask all these questions, she has to be feeling okay, I reassure myself.

“I’ll explain everything, but we should go inside.”

Taylor nods and takes my hand, but she stops as she looks at the backyard.

“How am I going to explain this?”

“We’ll figure it out, together.”’

***

Taylor sits on her bed with a cup of hot tea in her lap as she stares at me.

I look right back from the desk chair.

“What’s going through your mind right now?” I ask her after moments of silence.

Taylor takes a deep sip before answering, “What are you?”

I take a deep breath. “I’m a dragon shifter.”

---