Page 108 of Centaur Bolt

Changing into a Dragon? Yes.Iskar sounded both mystified and fascinated.

The transformation had paused at her arms with only minor changes to her face. A Dragon? Riley wasn’t a Dragon. Was she? How could she have hidden that from me all this time?

She couldn’t have. She hadn’t even known Dragons existed until I’d shown her. But had she somehow been exposed to the Dragon virus?

She isn’t a typical Dragon, that’s for certainIskar seemed just as confused as me. A confused ex-Gryphon scholar who lived inside my head. Great. No one needed that.

Riley stirred against me, uttering a tiny sigh, and something deep within me responded.

Touching her is not a good idea.The words were laced with tension.Find somewhere to put her down.

I didn’t want to put her down. For her safety, and my own, it was likely for the best. When I turned to carry her out of the pond, a hulking form awaited us on the bank.

“Who the fucking hell is that?” Havoc demanded. His copper eyes widened when he spotted the scales. “A Dragona?”

“A—friend,” I stated. She certainly was a lot more if all my instincts were correct. Although, I wasn’t about to tell him that. “She’s a Jumper.”

His brows lowered. “Well, she threw enough energy around that the Bellatis with Brock’s pinions might have sensed it, even through the crystal haze. We’ve got to get out of here, like, now.”

“It’s still daylight.”

His lip lifted in a grimace. “True. But her arrival would have drawn attention. We gotta go.”

He’s right. Put her down—I’m going to have my hands full growing your hair rather than scales.

Dammit. I walked past the Dragon to the old tree, but stood there with her cradled against me. Because her transformation was reversing. In moments, she was back to the woman I knew.

Or thought I’d known.

She showed no signs of immediate revival. I glanced to where Havoc stood. “I’ll need to carry her once I’ve transformed,” I said.

He seemed more transfixed by her now that she’d lost the scales. “Who is she?”

My mate, I wanted to scream. Iskar had his hands full with the thing that was insisting on it. Instead, I said, “Her name is Riley.”

His mouth pulled into a grim line. “We need you on four legs. Now.”

I stifled the surge of rage and resentment. He wasn’t wrong. Before I writhed my torturous way back to horse, however, I needed to make something crystal clear.

“She comes with us,” I insisted.

“Why?” he growled. Then he met my gaze and stiffened. “Your eyes have gone dark.”

I knew it. Could feel it inside me, trying to push past Iskar. Much as I’d longed to see Riley again, her arrival was causing issues.

Stating what she meant to me would get me nowhere. It had to be an advantage for Havoc. “Because once she recovers, she can Jump us anywhere we need to go.”

He assessed that. “Shift. Or I’m leaving you both.”

“She comes with us,” I repeated.

“Didn’t I just say that?”

He hadn’t, but whatever. When he moved close, and held out his arms, I couldn’t help the snarl that escaped me.

Mine.She was mine.

His eyes locked on my own, and something powerful within them answered my challenge.

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