Skyborn(3)

His words shocked me, they actually shocked me enough to calm me down  and the scales started to retreat. What he said  …  tipping the hunters  off if I shifted. Oh my God! It made so much sense! Every time I had  shifted to my dragon form, the hunters came! That must be what alerted  them. This was crazy. How did he know about that? I took a deep settling  breath, looked down, and was happy to see the scales fully gone.

The guy still looked like I had sprouted two heads; he was standing there, mouth agape.

"How do you know about the hunters? And shifting?" I asked.

He was shaking his head, looking off into the distance. "It isn't possible. You're not possible."

Great, he was crazy to boot.

Any hope I had that this guy might be able to help me was dashed. I  didn't know how to respond, so I kept my mouth shut. The guy moved with  the grace and speed of a leopard. One minute he was across the room  peering at me like I was the most fascinating thing on earth, and the  next he was in front of my cage, pulling keys out of his pocket.

I scrambled to sit up, excited at the thought that he might let me go.  As he brought the keys into the lock I noticed his black and white  checked flannel shirt was rolled up at the sleeves and he had an  intricate sleeve of tattoos on his left forearm. In this closeness I  could smell him; he smelled of freshly-fallen snow, and earth, of the  woods and a campfire on a cold night. Heat uncoiled deep in my belly,  bringing a pressure with it that had my legs throbbing. What the hell  was going on with my lady parts? This guy was bad news. I needed to get  the heck out of here, not be falling to pieces because I smelled him.

He put the key into the lock and then crouched down to meet my gaze,  bringing more of his man scent with him, and I actually had to clear my  throat to keep from moaning. "My name is Logan," he said. "I'm going to  let you out now, but don't run. We need to talk, okay? I can help you."                       
       
           



       

Sure thing, buddy. Then he unclicked the lock, swinging the barred cage  door wide open, and I gingerly stepped out. My muscles were on fire from  being cramped in that cage for so long, but I didn't think about it. I  just slowly measured how far it was from where I was standing to the  open door. He backed up several steps, seemingly so he wouldn't spook  me, and I met his gaze straight on.

"No one can help me," I said as I bolted for the open door, faster than I  had ever run before. Despite my injuries, I was halfway up the  staircase in seconds before I heard him grunt behind me, then his heavy  footsteps pounded after me. I reached the top of the stairs and had a  moment of confusion as I stepped out into a hallway. I took off to the  left, where I could see sunlight, and fear laced through me as I heard  the guy right behind me.

Reaching an open living room, I was halfway across the space before he took me down.

"Umph!" I fell to the ground in a thud as his massive body crashed on  top of me. His strong arms grasped my shoulders, and in one swift  movement he flipped me over so that we were face to face and he was  straddling me. I whimpered at the pain his hand caused to my shoulder  and he immediately loosened his grip, his face falling.

"I told you not to run!" he ground out in anger. His jaw was clenched,  his face only inches away from mine. Warmth spread throughout my body  and I felt my dragon rustle inside of me. Heat was pulsing from my belly  to my groin and throughout my legs. Jesus, Sloane take a cold shower.  What was going on with my body? I couldn't control it.

Logan paled, his eyes widening as he climbed off of me. What happened?  Did he feel that? Shit. Red colored my cheeks, no doubt rivaling my  crimson hair.

"Just relax or you will get us both killed," he told me as he backed as  far away from me as possible. He hadn't yet tried to kill me, so  …  I  slowly stood, favoring my injured shoulder, and watched as his green  eyes raked leisurely over my body, making the heat inside of me feel  all-consuming.

What the hell was going on? I felt like I was going to start breathing  fire if I didn't cool down. That, or jump this psychopathic stranger  right here on the living room floor. Did he drug me? Oh man. I was  really losing it; it was so warm in here I thought I might die.

"I need air," I managed to say as I started walking to the front door, which was now visible beyond him.

He silently followed me, watching me, his body stiff and alert as if he  was ready to pounce if I ran again. I flung the large door open, and as I  stepped outside my face was blasted with frigid, wonderful, snowy air.  Taking huge lungfuls of air, I felt that heat inside of me cool a tiny  bit. Thank the heavens. Taking stock of my surroundings, I saw that I  was on a beautiful, heavily-treed lot, with only a few cabins visible  nearby. It was secluded and the roads were covered in freshly-fallen  snow.

It also looked like a house where you would have to scream really loud for someone to hear you.

I spun around to face Logan and noticed the porch I stood on was  mammoth, wrapping all the way around to the back of the large two-story  cabin. But I could easily jump over the railing if needed.

"Start talking," I told him. "Because I'm going to lose my shit. I don't  appreciate being caged and experimented on." So far, he hadn't tried to  kill me, so I didn't think he was a hunter, but that didn't mean he was  a good guy.

He looked offended, his eyebrows shooting upwards into his messy dark hair. "Experiment on you?"

I pointed to the bruise on my arm where I had ripped the IV out.

He sighed and shook his head, giving me an eye roll as if I was a child  having a tantrum and he needed to talk me down. "That was my blood. I  was trying to expedite your healing. Something is wrong with you. I  don't know why you don't heal."

He wasn't the first guy to tell me something was wrong with me and  probably wouldn't be the last, but it still stung. I was starting to put  things together, and it sent fear and hope through me. "And why would  your blood help me?" This creep better not have STDs or anything strange  that he just gave me.

He puffed out air and shook his head. "Where do I begin?"

I frowned. "How about with the girl who was a wolf but then … " I let my words trail off.

"Nadine  …  a wolf shifter," he said as if it was no big deal.

My mouth dropped open. "Like a werewolf? But … " Okay. Fair enough. I was a  dragon shifter, so I guess wolf shifters could be real. I was going to  go with the flow, because anything more threatened to take my sanity  completely.

"And that's what you are?" I questioned him, assuming now that he was  some big bad alpha wolf with magic healing blood or something, but he  just shook his head.                       
       
           



       

"No. The other animals  …  work for me."

"Work for you? What do you do?" Please don't say you capture dragons and  eat them. I took a step back in case that was his answer.

He stood there for forever, unmoving, unbreathing, those piercing green  eyes just boring into me. I was about to ask him again when he finally  spoke.

"I am a skyborn. A dragon shifter. The last of my kind  …  until you."

Skyborn?

He stepped closer and his words slammed into me; heat flared to life  like nothing I had ever experienced before. I tried so badly to push it  down but I couldn't. It consumed me and I fell to my knees, sweating,  hair stuck to my forehead, leaving me panting for breath.

"What's happening to me?" I whimpered as his hand came gently to rest on  my shoulder. A throbbing hit my groin with the force of a bullet. I  couldn't help the moan that escaped me.

He cleared his throat and I looked up to meet his eyes. They were nearly  glowing and the pupils were slits. Dragon eyes. He tried to hide it but  I saw desire flare in his face. "It's been a while but I think you're  …   in heat." His voice was so gruff it made my toes curl as embarrassment  flushed through me.

"What?" I shrieked, as my body inched closer to him. Oh my God. My  period was about two weeks ago, right around when I had the fall, so I  could be ovulating, but since when did that do this?! Kill me now. My  eyes fell on his lips, examining them. They were thick and glistening,  just waiting to be kissed. I licked my lips then as the fire exploded  inside of me and I felt the familiar tingle along my skin as scales  began to tighten on my arms.

Logan's eyes bugged.

"Your dragon has no control, and being near me in heat will make it  worse." He sounded panicked, like the thought of sleeping with me  repulsed him. That should make me move away, back off-clearly, I was  unwanted. But my body only tightened. I moved closer to him, my hips  pressing against his side. I whimpered, unable to stop whatever was  happening. I only wanted to put out this fire and I wanted to do it with  him.