Page 37 of Payne's Envy

“I beg your pardon?”

While a part of what he said was true, if I was a dragon in heat, then that would explain my arousal. But the part about being claimed?

I was confused. Staring at the hulking dragon before me, a sharp pain snagged my chest. I didn’t get it. If that was who I thought it was, whom I wished it to be,whywasn’t he saying that? Why was speaking so oddly, in a way that terrified me? He must know if I was sure it was him, I’d be happy. So thrilled my body might burst.

After all that searching, Payne finally found the answer he sought.He’s a dragonshifter.

“I don’t understand why you’re speaking so strangely. Do you think by becoming a dragon, my heart wouldn’t sense you? Payne?”

“Of course you recognize me as I do you. We are two halves of a whole. Don’t worry. There will be more pleasure than pain.”

Acid filled my mouth. Was I wrong? That dragon wasn’t my Payne? The dream man and he weren’t the same person after all? Oh, no. If that were the case…

“Who are you?”

“Deathraka.”

All I heard was not Payne.Not Payne. Not Payne. He wasn’t the man I loved.

Chapter Nineteen

Joy

Rushing past him wasn’t easy. Deathraka was massive. With the swish of his tail or head, he could have blocked me, but he didn’t. Instead, his pleased grunt entered my thoughts as I jumped over his giant hand, the talons digging into the rocks as my long and winding body slid around him. My claws pushed against the exit.

I slipped into a bigger part of the cave, but my lower half was near the dragon. He traced a claw over the top of my tail. I shuddered and ran quicker. But outrunning him didn’t seem possible. My body was so long that half of it was still in the other room! Moving it comprised wobbling on four legs instead of two. Strange.

“Where are your wings, mate?”Deathraka asked.

When I looked over my shoulder, I cringed. Despite the low lights hanging in the cave, I was vibrant green. I didn’t look like a dragon at all. Instead, I was a snake with four limbs and no wings. Oh, the irony. I was the cursed sibling of envy with a snake mark. And I ended up resembling a giant snake.

“This will not be a fair conquest without wings,” the dragon murmured. “I shall give you more distance before I begin the chase.”

He was still going on about that?

My lower half of my body responded, though. Desire coiled within me. Deep down, I wanted to curl up because of it. Curl intohim.What an odd instinct! If that heat had taught me anything, it was I’d behave in ways I never would before. All the more reason to run.

I had changed, but not so much that I’d ignore my heart. The organ refused to beat for anyone else but Payne. Freedom was within reach, and more than anything, he filled my thoughts once more.When Derrick abducted me, something was happening to Payne.

You are a fool; I thought.

I had to give him up. If Payne wasn’t the dragon, then… I truly had no choice because my response to the dragon led me to believe I had found my marked mate. If not marked, some sort of soulmate. Was that why I tried to see Payne within the beast? I was so sure. Even the brimstone scent was so similar… A wail escaped my mouth as I trampled through the cave.I stumbled around, disoriented and clumsy.

Where was Payne? I needed him to make that miserable heat go away. But I was a dragon.How could he recognize me? I stopped and relaxed my breathing. I thought of my blonde hair. The way it swayed. My human arms, legs, and face.Change.I tried to pull the image out of me the same way I used my power.

Nothing.

My aggravated screech echoed through the cave.

Would I be like that forever? Changed forever? No, no, no.

The cave started rattling as I heard the steadythump, thump, thump.Deathraka was done waiting. I shivered in response to the cave buckling under the dragon’s impressive mass. I didn’t want him or that! So why…

His piercing roar sent me into motion. My heart raced, but I didn’t dare look back. He already sounded dangerously close, and I wasn’t sure how far the dragon would take it if he caught me.

But he did.

Within a blink, his solid bulk crashed down on me. He sank his claws into my side, pinned me on my stomach, and pressed his snout against my ear. I could feel my body responding to him.

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