Page 146 of Phoenix Rise


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We walked mostly in silence. The forest closed around us, and Matt reached a long arm to pull me close.

“I want to see the new, improved you,” I said.

He tensed. “Improved has yet to be confirmed. And I’m still a work in progress.”

“Show me.”

His eyes flared uneasily as he led me off the path and into the woods.

“Shy, now, are you?” I teased.

“Most don’t know, and I’d like to keep it that way.”

“Why?” I asked.

He didn’t answer right away. “When you’re born one way, you aren’t meant to go another.”

I snorted. “That is hogwash. People change all the time.”

A muscle jumped in his jaw. “If most of my mates back home knew I was now a mutant—”

“They’d what? Are your mates a bunch of racist bushpigs?”

“What? No!”

“Then why would they be upset that you are now part Dragon?”

His eyes flared. “You don’t understand.”

“What don’t I understand? What it’s like to wake up one morning as one thing, and go to bed as another?” I raised a brow at him. “I think I understand that pretty damned well.”

He stared at me. “Yeah. I guess you do.”

“Okay. So, let’s see it.”

He stripped off his tee shirt, and then his sweatpants. Right away, I noticed that scales had popped up everywhere on him—but it was nothing, yet, that could truly be called clothing. It left far too much revealed. And yet, not enough.

“It’s a good look,” I said approvingly.

He growled at me. “If I ever get a bloody grip on it, you are so going to regret that comment.”

I tweaked a brow at him, and he dropped to a crouch, his head hanging. And then he began to change.

At first, I didn’t see clear differences. But I watched, fascinated, as the new creature emerged from the Dire. His hands and feet adopted the Dragon’s long fingers, complete with wicked, curved, thick talons. The scales altered partway up his arms to his dense, golden fur. But the tail, when it emerged, was Dragon. And when he raised his head, his face lengthened beyond that of a Dire. His neck was thicker than a Dragon’s but long, and his fur gave way once again to scales.

Trix tilted her head, and then moved forward to sniff him carefully before wagging her tail, as if to say,it’s just Matt.

The scales were a mix of tones, from dark-chocolate brown through bronze. The wings that burst from his back glimmered with the mixture of them all—the smaller scales glinted a deep gold in the sunlight. His beast, overall, was much larger than his Dire had been, about the size of a draft horse.

“Whats dos I looks likes?” he asked me.

I opened my mind so he could see through my eyes, and immediately felt his dismay.

I’m more Dragon than I was.

Did Lucas say you were still changing?

Yes.