If I was going to be any help to her, I needed to get through this. I bent and peeled off my sweats, setting them aside.
“With any luck, you won’t be needing those again,” Lucas said.
“You think I’ll be able to grow scales as clothing?” I asked.
“Depends on how far along you are. When were you bitten?”
“It’s been less than a week.”
“And you have wings already? That’s pretty fast. Xumi bit you?”
“Uh, not exactly,” I hedged.
Lucas’s eyes gleamed at me. “It wasn’t Xumi?”
I gritted my teeth. “She forced Talakai to do it.”
“The virus effects are amplified if it is between mates,” Lucas made the statement calmly, very matter-of-fact. “But you might not be fully hybridized yet. So shall we have a look?”
His tone helped to steady me, and I nodded as I embraced the change.
Right away, the differences hammered at me. The talons instead of claws, the length through the back and width across the shoulders. My sleek body built to run was ruined, adapted instead to—what?
“Focus, Matt. You are something in between, at the moment. Let it come out, but guide it.”
Guide it? I had no idea what was going on.
“Don’t fight it. You are trying to battle it into something you know, but this is unique. You have to let it come.”
Ithurt. More than it had ever hurt before. The wings erupted from my back, but I looked down at my regular furry arms—they ended not in swift running Dire paws, but in long Dragon fingers with wicked, curved talons.
Finally, I crouched, panting, on the rooftop. Lucas walked around me, which was when I realized I was much, much larger than I’d ever been.
“I don’t think this is your final form,” Lucas stated. “Your head and body are still largely Dire, and in Dani’s case, she ended up mostly Dragon. The only real Dire component that stayed was her furry body, and her smaller size compared to a normal Dragon.”
I looked down at my Dragon fingers. “Wills I always bes like this? Or cans I guide it to bes mostly Dire?”
“You aren’t a Morph. Wherever the Dragon virus takes you, it will be a permanent thing. No going back. Are you taking crystal dust?”
My head spun as I struggled to absorb what he was telling me. “Noo. Xumi feds it too me, but I haven’t hads any since gettings back.” I stiffened at the slurred “s’s” in my speech, in addition to the “o’s.”
“You have to start. The Dragon in you requires it. It could be what is holding you back.”
“If I doon’t takes it, will I stays mostly Dire?”
Lucas stopped directly in front of me. “If you don’t take it, you might die. It is now a necessary part of who you are. Don’t mess with this, Matt. I mean it.” He stepped in close. “You are part of a team, and that team will need everything you can bring to the table. Believe me when I tell you, this will amplify that. Not diminish it.”
When I eyed him doubtfully, he reached out and grabbed me by my chin.
“Anna will need you,” he said.
“Ookay, I get it.” I pulled free from his grip.
Which, apparently, was her cue. Because her voice, completely panicked, shot into my head.
Matt, I’m in trouble here.
Every fiber of me went rigid.Where are you, Angel?
