Page 11 of Dragon Blood
He watched Queen Regina talking animatedly with Heidi Brandt and Lirikai.
And then there’s me. An eternal outsider on all accounts.
Dragon shifter, but not pure enough for the tribes, or even the right gender for his mother’s clan. Tiger shifter, but not devoted enough to a tribe that didn’t fully accept him, either.
Both abided within him. Each a part of him, but also separate from each other.
The tiger and the dragon eternally circling within him.
At the threshold of the beach, primal musk, sounds of laughter, and dishes clanking fell away, buffered by the winds pushing them back toward the house.
Drawing a deep breath, Kai’s shoulders eased, allowing the overwhelming desire to feel the sand under his feet to take over.
I haven’t been on a beach since the last time Red and I were together.
In fact, he’d stayed firmly inland and as far from the sea as possible, until recently.
He swallowed the sudden rise of loss, shrugging out of his dinner jacket, laying it on the stone banister at the foot of the steps. His tie, shoes, and socks quickly followed. He then rolled up his pant legs and shirtsleeves as he stepped forward, unbuttoning the collar so that he could breathe better.
With a final glance toward the house, Kai strode along the beach, cool sand sprinkling the tops of his feet.
The house and terrace full of guests disappeared as he followed the beach around a bend of leaning trees, where the manicured green ended at the edge of island wilderness.
Within moments, surrounded by the darker shadows of the trees, Kai’s senses and body relaxed, his tiger more at ease with the primal surroundings, urging him to strip down, shift, and go for a long run.
Now probably isn’t the appropriate time for that, with an island full of political guests.
If he were to shift at all, they would be expecting another dragon, as the son of an Aeleftherian. Not an unfamiliar tiger. Though his mother wouldn’t be surprised.
Does Kymri also have the tiger?
Probably not.
Not in the ways that mattered, given the strict rules of Aeleftherian society, he doubted she’d have been so
accepted—and set to marry a dragon king, if she bore hybrid blood like Kai.
“Fuck it.”
Kai stripped down, leaving the rest of his clothing on an overhanging branch, and shifted.
Hands and feet elongated into powerful white paws. Muscle and bone bunched and slid into new positions as white fur with distinct striations sprouted from his pores. Tail swishing back and forth, Kai lifted his head, ears perked, nose scenting, as the wind tickled his whiskers. The ocean air carried with it as many stories as the stars did.
He stretched, extending his claws, feeling the sand between the pads of his toes as he released the tension from his back.
Ready, he sprang into a run.
Moonlight flashed off his pale forelegs, bright in the darkness. Adrenaline pumped through his veins, bringing with it a sense of inherent freedom from social expectation. He ran, observing the subtle changes in the winds and constellation positions as he made his way around the circumference of the island until the small harbor came into view and scents alerted him he was no longer alone.
Slowing to a trot, he analyzed the information. Pairs of guests broke away from the dinner, enjoying the night along the beach, as he was. Some disappeared into the dense inland greenery.
Distracted, and with the wind at his back, he was too late to notice Red sitting on a boulder nearby, watching him with a distinct blue bottle in hand. Her dress draped and pooled around her, looking like a goddess from ancient times.
Fuck.
“Didn’t expect to see you here.” Astred drew a long swallow from the bottle, turning her gaze back toward her ship at anchor in the distance. She waved a hand at him. “But here you are.”
Like any of this is my fault.
