Page 47 of Sass Me

That would teach her to think she could ignore what the universe had predetermined her life would be.

The image of a gorgeous mother-nature diva, white flowing robes, dark hair, and plump soft curves formed before her.

For the briefest moment, she saw a reflection in the woman’s eyes, of herself, but instead of her own olive skin, she saw white scales.

The woman pointed toward the tunnel in the rock Fleur had come through before. The roots had opened a new path that angled up to the surface. “Dammit, girl. Screw destiny. Run.”

She had said it. Now she was truly going to do it.

Screw. Stupid. Destiny.

She wanted to live.

The floor shook again, but this time the falling rock uncovered more roots. The tree she’d coaxed into helping her had continued to swell and fill the cavern with its roots. The leafy part of the tree must be huge above the ground.

She scrambled onto the nearest root and encouraged more growth, jumping across from sprout to sprout across the cracks in the ground and the bubbling lava.

Her muscles were on fire and she vowed to start doing squats if her legs would get her out of here in one piece. The room was collapsing before her eyes.

She put on one final burst of speed. The white-robed woman drifted alongside of her, waving her hands and whispering foreign words.

A tremor grabbed Fleur’s heart, pushing out, shimmering over her entire body. One second she was running and the next, she flew into the tunnel, the earth falling in a tidal wave of dirt and rock behind her.

Flying. Holy smokes, literally flying. She clawed at the rock to make room for her and her big ole white wings. A ginormous crack in the earth opened before her and she jumped into the air, dodging falling rocks and hot water spilling from above.

“Steele? Are you there? Can you hear me?”

“Fleur? We found your dragon tree. I’m coming.”

She didn’t know what a dragon tree was, but she could feel Steele, he was close.

“I’m flying up through a crack in the ground.”

He was silent for a moment. “Did you say flying?”

“Yeah, thanks to the woman in white with me.” Or, she was. The woman wasn’t beside her anymore. There wasn’t a whole lot of room though, so maybe she’d fallen behind.

The night sky with the moon and stars were visible above. Almost there. Almost back to Steele.

A great roar came from behind her and the crack widened. Fleur looked over her shoulder and saw the Black Dragon hot on her tail.

Between them was the woman in white.

“Go, little daughter. Hurry. I’ve muddled the dragon’s sight. Kur-jara can not see this part of you. Get to the surface and shift into your human form.”

Go, go, go. Hopefully Steele would know how to help her shift, because she didn’t have a clue.

She burst out of the ground and into the sky. Several dragons were circling the biggest tree in the forest. It towered above all the others, and its branches stretched out like the wings of dragon.

She’d made a great big green dragon tree.

It was beautiful and amazing. But, not as incredible as the sight of her own big green dragon pacing beneath it. “Steele.”

She swooped down and skidded across the ground. Her body shimmered and her feet transformed, then her legs, and torso, and arms, which she wrapped around Steele and held him tight.

He shifted instantly into his human form and held her tight against his chest with one arm. “Thank the first dragon. I failed you, my love. Forgive me.”

First, she would kiss him, making sure his lips and tongue, teeth and tonsils, knew how much she missed them. Then she’d set him straight on the whole fail forgive thing.

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