Page 132 of Centaur Bolt

And the farther away from her I got, the better off I’d be. Because I needed to be free.

But instead, I hugged her close as both my monster and my beast, purred. They wanted me to point my nose for the stars, and start all over again.

I ignored them and dropped lower, until we flew between the mountains, and not over them.

I looked down and met her eyes. The gold of the Jumper was gone. They now gleamed green at the edges, starting to overtake the metallic amber of the Dragona. Having achieved its aim, the Dragon in her was fading.

It shouldn’t matter to me. But it did. I didn’t want her to lose her Dragon. I wanted to fly her to the moon. Over and over again. The concept sent a pulse of pure terror through me. Me, who since Ace’s death, hadn’t been afraid of anything.

“Yous makes flying so easy,” she said. The words were a bit garbled as she adapted to speaking through her beast jaws, but I understood her.

The amber was almost gone from her eyes now. “Dos you wants to fly?” I asked.

“Yes!” Excitement flooded her scaly features.

I rotated her carefully until her back was to my abdomen, keeping our tails entwined. I supported her with my fore-talons around the base of her neck, and my hind around her thighs.

“Spreads your wings,” I said.

She did so, tentatively. While I steadied us with my own, she took a few cautious flaps with hers.

“Thats its,” I encouraged. “Spreads thems to flap, then folds thems. Copy me.”

She craned her neck to watch my wings.

“Don’ts flaps just ups and downs. There’s a twist. See?”

Riley’s eyes widened as she observed. She grasped the concept almost right away. Her flaps became smoother and more confident, and I no longer had to stop us from tilting.

“Hows dos I turns?”

“Folds yours fors a minute.” When she did, I showed her how to tilt them, and bank. “Now you tries.”

She did, her Dragon jaws opening in a toothy grin as we turned. But the yellow of her scales was fading.

“Trys it ons your owns,” I urged. “Justs a little bits of flying, not turns.”

She nodded eagerly. I had to force myself to let her go. Every instinct screamed not to. My tail seemed to have a mind of its own, but I managed to untwist it.

Until she soared alone.

Her eyes, now entirely rimmed in green, glowed. She flapped only feet below me. Beautiful, she was so beautiful.

But then her wings faltered, and bare, human skin appeared through the scales of her back. She dropped fifty feet in a heartbeat. I dove after her and reached to wrap my fore-talons around the base of her wings.

She squirmed. “Wants to flys more,” she objected.

“Times to lands.” I wrapped up her feet and tail and banked us back the way we’d come. I needed somewhere she could find her way to safety.

Preferably without me.

I ignored the clamor that thought initiated within me, set my jaw against both it and her struggles, and took us down.

I spotted the pond glittering in the moonlight. Once she’d recovered, she could Jump herself to wherever she’d taken the Centaur. If I lured the bloody Dragons off her butt, she’d have a chance. That talent of hers was sharding amazing. And now that the mating had taken her off cycle, she should be able to regain inner balance.

Or so I told myself.

I backwinged to a landing close to the old willow tree. As I released her, I saw her bones begin to shift beneath her skin.

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