“Then prove it,” she insisted. But he just kept splashing through puddles without comment.
Can we change to Gryphon?I asked Iskar.
He hesitated, before saying,I’d rather keep that in reserve.
“I can be carried in his talons,” I sighed. “I’ve done it before.”
“For hours and hours?” she asked.
“Uh—no.”
“Better to ride me. You’ll be sore enough doing that.”
I had done a fair amount of cursing with the previous experience. So I merely nodded as we followed the asshole Dragon along the road.
And wondered what it would be like to sprout my own wings, without losing my freking mind.
27
Riley
Lucas had done remarkably well, scoring us some meatrolls and fresh fruit.
But sitting at the diminutive table with him, I found I didn’t have much of an appetite. Which was odd, really. In the past, I’d eaten like a horse after Jumping.
“It’s the crystal dust,” Lucas diagnosed when I mentioned it. “Your body only wants one thing. It’s no longer interested in food.”
I eyed him. “Was your stepmother like that?”
He looked out the window, which was now cranked wide open. It took him a moment to reply. “Yes.”
“Did she get over it?”
He shrugged uncomfortably. “She—died.”
My stomach clenched. I could die? “I’m sorry,” I managed.
He saw my expression. “It wasn’t the dust, although it would have done so eventually. Nikolai killed her.”
My eyes widened, and he hurried to add, “She betrayed me, and he killed her by accident. His power isn’t easy to control.”
I made a mental note to never betray Lucas. But I wasn’t entirely convinced addiction was my problem. “I was bitten by Havoc. I think it could be the virus that’s causing it.”
His eyes met my own. “I did get a fever with my Dragon bite. But I wasn’t as sick as you.”
“You aren’t me,” I pointed out.
“I don’t know how being only part Morph will affect it,” he agreed. “Your talent is different from mine. You can tap into the animal halves of shifters without touching them directly.”
My brows lifted. “You can’t?”
He shook his head. “I change to whatever I’ve touched. If I touch their animal side, that’s what I become. But if I haven’t touched their human—I don’t know what they look like, you see? And vice versa. I need to visualize, to become something.” His gaze was troubled. “You are shifting without that visualization, and that is damned dangerous. I don’t know how you are doing it.”
“So—you can’t just change into whatever you’ve touched?”
“No. You said something about changing into a male?”
My already-warm skin flushed. “It was—embarrassing.”
