He forced himself to release the bear and Tammy yanked him back and slapped him. “Come back to me, Tawk!” she shrieked, and he could see it—the fear in her eyes. The confusion.
“What…” He staggered a few feet away from the still bear and stared down at his hands, then glanced up into the sky. He was just flying though. He was devouring ashes. But his mouth didn’t taste like ashes. The tree that had destroyed the SUV was still standing strong and tall, and the SUV…the SUV…
It was angled in the middle of the road fifty yards away. Misty and Samuel were standing beside the open driver’s side door and were looking at something behind him with such horror in their eyes.
The delicious scent of magic was thicker than he’d ever felt it, and the air was electric with something he had only felt once in his lifetime—the night he’d devoured the cursed necklace.
He turned slowly to find Jess standing leaning against his truck in the street. Her eyes were glowing strangely, and there was an intensity there that he’d never seen before.
Connor’s animal retreated from his body, and as he Changed to his human form, he gasped desperately for air. He scrambled unsteadily toward the battered SUV where Samuel and Misty were yelling for him to run.
Wreck and all of his fire were nowhere to be seen. Only Jess.
“Tawk,” Tammy whispered shakily.
“Tammy broke it,” Jess said easily, lifting her chin. “Interesting.”
“Broke what?” Tawk gritted out.
A slow smile stretched across Jess’s face. “She broke the illusion.”
With a frown, he looked at where Connor was sprinting toward the SUV, then back to Jess. Slowly, Tawk moved Tammy behind him. Jess was different now. She was filling the entire neighborhood with dark and unfamiliar magic.
“You’ve been practicing things you should not,” he said carefully.
Jess’s emotionless smile grew wider. “You like it?”
“No.” He shook his head and said it again, softer. “No. You used my dragon. That was a long way from putting my animal to sleep, Jess. You made my body do something I didn’t fucking sign up for! I would’ve killed him.”
Jess shrugged up a shoulder. “The world would be better without Connor Edge.”
Part of him understood. Part of him could see where she was coming from. Connor had forced their pairing, and then hunted her down here. He knew Connor’s intentions included revenge on Jess. But still…If Tawk was to protect anyone in that way, he didn’t want to be pushed into it.
“My dragon is mine,” he said.
Jess shook her head slowly, and the smile faded from her lips. “No Tawk. If you stay here and pledge fealty to Wreck’s Mountains, your dragon belongs to the mountains. He belongs to Wreck. He belongs to Damon, and he belongs to the food source.”
Tawk huffed a dark laugh and shook his head, pissed. “You mean my dragon belongs to you.”
“And my powers will benefit you.”
“This is fucked up, Jess.”
“This is the reality of Sentry Dragon and Witch relationships. You’ll do what the mountains need.”
“I called Wreck,” Tammy said from behind him.
“Wreck sent me,” Jess said. “Kade is on his way too.”
“How did you get here so fast?” Tawk asked, needing to know how far she had stretched and warped her powers.
The smile was back. Jess disappeared into a poof of orange smoke. Her whispered words surrounded them. “Who says I’m here at all?”
Chills rippled up Tawk’s spine as the whisper disappeared and the scent of magic faded to nothing.
“What the hell just happened?” Tammy murmured.
His wings had retracted sometime during Jess’s mind control. He hadn’t Changed, but right now, his dragon was clawing at his skin to escape. “I need to Change,” he rumbled. Even his voice couldn’t pass as human.
