He watched me with wide eyes. “Good landing, mate.”
I let the tailspike drop to the roof. I wouldn’t be needing it. “Landing is the most difficult thing about flying.”
“I would have thought it would be the flying bit.” Then he tilted his head. “But then, jets more often crash during takeoff and landing.”
The man did love to babble. “Jets?”
“Flying machines in the human realm.”
“Remind me to not ever fly in them.”
Matt’s eyes fell to the tailspike. “Does that turn to dust, too?”
“Yes. Takes a while, though.”
His eyes narrowed. “How long?”
“Depends on a few things, like the surrounding crystal energy, but anywhere from a week to two.”
Through the link, I caught images of a Bellati horn, before he spoke again. “Any of that blood yours?”
I looked down at myself.
“Quite a bit of it,” I admitted.
His eyes rose to mine. “You good for this?”
“Of course.” I hadn’t bothered putting away my wings, and now I spread them. “Let’s see what you’ve got, Dire.”
He snorted and stood, but the link between us betrayed him. Matt might put up a brave front, but he was nervous about this shift.
“How Dragon are you?” I asked.
“Dunno,” he admitted. “Been different every time I shift.”
I supposed if that were the case, I’d be nervous too. I’d always been a Dragon. What if I was like him, and each shift changed me into something else?
“Just try to relax,” I told Matt. “If I see something going awry, I’ll let you know.”
He nodded and closed his eyes.
His wings were the first thing to erupt. I’d never seen that combination of chocolate, bronze, and gold before in a Dragon—his hair color was echoing through the scales. They chased down the wing bones and membranes, and across his shoulders—which then sprouted fur.
I stifled my alarm before he could pick up on it. His face lengthened, his jaws not quite as long as a full Dragon’s, but much longer than a Dire’s. His neck arched again, thicker than my own, flowing into furry shoulders that gave way to scales and Dragon hands. His tail was pure Dragon and lashed back and forth as the scales finished forming on his hind legs.
“Interesting,” I said. Because it was. He was a fraction of my beast’s size, but that could still change.
He frowned at me. “I’ms a bleedings mess, is whats I am.”
“No, you’re mostly Dragon. Just a bit of fur on your body, and a little thicker everywhere. Are you taking crystal dust?”
He nodded. “Justs started, though.”
“It will give you more size, and smooth the transitions.”
He spread his wings and craned his neck to look at them. “Ares theys big enough?”
“Can you expand them more?” I asked, gaging their size relative to his body.
