Dani trailed after him, keeping a careful distance between them. But when he reached to pull down the waistband of his sweats, she froze.
“Hey! What are you doing?”
His hands paused and his brows lowered. “Stripping.”
“I can see that. But don’t.”
His eyes gleamed. but she wasn’t sure if it was with amusement or anger. “I’d rather not shift form through these sweats. I just bought them.”
Shift form? Dani’s gaze flicked to the opening. “You’re flying to the meeting?”
“We’reflying to the meeting.”
“No, we are most definitely not. I can run using my own four feet.”
Now the anger was unmistakable. “Even as a Dire, it would take you an hour to follow the corridors down to the ground, and nine hours overland to reach the gate we are using.”
“I’m up for a run.”
His lips peeled back from teeth suddenly gone very sharp. “You only have two choices here. Either you climb up and ride me, or I carry you in my foretalons. I imagine the riding would be much more comfortable.”
Dani kept her expression stoic with difficulty—her heart hammered at the thought of riding him. “Dream on, Dragon dude.”
A muscle jumped in his jaw as Tyrez tugged the sweats down past his hips. “I rarely dream,” he growled.
Dani had to wrench her eyes away. He’d clothed his lower half in scales as well, but as usual, they didn’t hide much. In fact, they seemed to emphasize—
He started the shift before the cloth hit the floor. She stared as the wings burst free from his back—the emergence continued to fascinate her. Where the hell did those wings hide under there? In moments, the human had been superseded by the Dragon. Not full-sized, but still large and crouched in his living room. He moved out onto the ledge, rearing up on his hind legs as he expanded.
His scales glowed with intense blues and greens in the evening light. He was freakingbeautiful. Like something out of her dreams. And there was no way in hell that she’deveradmit that.
His triangular head was almost as long as she was tall. It swiveled on the graceful neck, and his long jaws opened.
“Yours choice,” he said.
Ride a Dragon? Absolutely out of the question. But what were her choices? He’d have trouble chasing her down in the apartment at full size, but the smaller version would have no issues. And she had no doubt he could outmuscle her, even as a Dire.
“Do people ever fall off?”
He snorted. “Rarely.”
“That isn’t a no.”
“It’ss the besst I cans offer.” He arched his neck. “If yous ssit between the spikess, theys will offers you handholdss and a backresst.
His Dragon jaws dropped s’s in weird spots. It was surprisingly endearing. Her eyes traced the double rows of sharp spikes that ran along the midline of his neck and back. Could she fit between them? Dragon travel did not cater to larger people, it seemed.
But there was one major problem with riding him. Well, more than one. She’d beridinghim. And that meanttouchinghim.
Her eyes dropped to his foretalons. They weren’t paws like a Dire’s, but had four long, articulated fingers and a thumb, all ending in wicked, foot-long talons. The fingers looked as though they could wrap around her waist. But how could that be comfortable? And it still didn’t get around the touch thing.
He watched her, and she swore that the gaze reflected a degree of sympathy.
“I promisse I won’t lets you falls,” he said. As deep as his voice was when human, his Dragon voice resonated right through her.
For a reason she couldn’t possibly define, Dani believed him. She swallowed and stepped closer. “If you do, I’ll be right pissed.”
He snorted again, and lowered his front half closer to the cold stone, extending a foreleg as a step for her to climb aboard. Swallowing her terror, Dani reached to touch the shiny scales.
