CHAPTER 5
Sula’s heart was thumping so hard against her chest that she was convinced it would burst through her ribs at any moment and land on the floor right at Damian’s feet. It had been doing this since the moment she had been caught waist deep in the fridge with her face planted in the chocolate cake.
She had been convinced the moment he knew she was the “parrot,” he would ask her to leave, not just for stealing his cake but for in essence lying to him about what she was.
Only instead of doing that he did the complete opposite. Now he sat on the floor amongst the chocolate frosting watching her, talking to her, and once again making her feel the safest she had ever felt in her entire existence.
Seeing him now from her human form, she was far more aware of the fact that he was a large, powerful male. Yet he had done nothing but show her kindness. His introduction pulled at her heart. When he had held out his hand, she had zero control over her own as it lifted to meet it.
The feel of that large paw as it engulfed her own felt right. It felt perfect, and there was nothing more she would like than to crawl the few feet and curl up in his lap.
“Thank you,” Sula managed to whisper. There was so much more she wanted to say, more than just a simple thank you, but those words were lodged in her throat.
How would she say thank you to someone for saving her life? How could she put that into words that would convey how grateful she actually was.
“You’re welcome.” He inclined his head as he spoke, still watching her with that keen gaze. That was one thing she’d learned about him while she’d been hiding out in his apartment in disguise. He was far more intelligent than she had at first assumed given his size and build.
“Do you want to talk?” he asked. “Tell me what happened to you?”
Sula loved his voice, loved how its tone flowed over and under her skin, loved how it settled her bird. His question did the opposite. Could she talk about how she had been locked in a cage for the majority of her life. Could she admit that she had been plucked, burned, cut and anything else her owners had fancied to do.
As she looked into Damian’s dark eyes, she felt things fall into place and realized that if she was to tell anyone her story, this male would listen and wouldn’t judge her.
“It’s a long story,” she admitted, her voice louder, and she became more confident in his presence. That urge to move into his lap was getting stronger, and as she had found out with the chocolate cake, she had zero willpower.
Even sitting on the floor, he towered over her, but that had never scared her. It made her feel protected and safe. Sula removed her hand from his grasp and before she had time to chicken out or give him chance to stop her, she moved.
Sula quickly crawled toward Damian and onto his lap, moving his hands out of the way until she was settled and then pulled his arms around her.
“I was captured when I was just months out of my egg,” Sula began, relaxing as he tightened his hold and settled her against his chest like he did when she was in bird form. It wasn’t quite the same, though, not when he was wearing clothes. The feminine part of her pouted and wanted to demand he remove it, but… she continued talking instead.
“They came in the night, as all bad men do. They took my mother first. My family had decided to spend the first few months after my hatching in their bird form as it helped with my growth.” Sula sighed as she recalled the night she had been taken. Barbs of pain hit her heart but she continued.
“Only we had been betrayed by someone my parents had thought was a friend. They took my mother before they returned and tried to take my father. Only he had shifted and tried to stop them. They killed him.”
Sula let the tears fall freely. Damian didn’t know their worth yet, but there was no way she could hold them in. Not now.
“Then they took me. I never saw my mother again. I was placed into a cage, and that’s where I stayed until they wanted something from me. I was allowed to shift now and again but they preferred me to be in my bird form.”
Sula sniffed and turned her head into Damian’s chest. They had defiled her in nearly every single way. What male would want her knowing how broken she was.
“I’m broken,” Sula whispered against the cotton of his t-shirt.
“Shhh. You’re not.” He held her carefully and she was sure his body heat had increased. He felt like a furnace against her chilled skin and she nestled closer. “You survived, and that… that can be the hardest thing of all.”
He was silent for a moment, and then he moved, keeping her in his lap but leaning back to strip his shirt off. She was struck dumb for a moment, wanting to run her hands all over the solidly muscled male flesh on display, but then he took her hand and did it for her, placing her hand on a silvery scar over his chest.
“I was three when they came,” he said softly. “I’m a black. My parents weren’t, so they couldn’t fight off the men who’d decided they could make money from me. They died trying to keep me safe, but they couldn’t. The men took me. They beat me, caged me, tried to make me shift more times than I can remember.”
Sula stroked her palm over the silver scar, reveling in the feel of his bare skin under her hands. The heat was addictive. His words made her ache—for the child that was taken from his family, robbed of a life that should never have had violence or pain in it. She tilted her chin and looked up at his proud profile.
“What’s a black?” Sula asked. She was ignorant when it came to anything in the world of shifters, or anything to do with the world. She only knew what she had briefly seen on the TV if it had been on in the same room as her.
“I have scars too,” she admitted when he didn’t answer her question straight away.
“A black?” he looked at her in surprise, and then realization filtered into his gorgeous eyes. “A black dragon, love. We’re the biggest and baddest of the lot.” He winked, treating her to a devastating smile. “So if those assholes think they can take you again, they’ve another think coming.”
Sula squeaked. A dragon! She had heard the men in the office discuss dragons, how much they were worth and how the scales could be used. She had also heard of the violence of dragons. She believed him when he said the biggest and baddest. Sula didn’t fight the smile that answered his own. He was beautiful, if a male could be called that.
“You won’t eat me. Will you?” Sula asked.
His smile turned a little wicked as he gathered her closer. “Only if you ask nicely, little bird.”
Sula smiled again. She knew there was another meaning to his answer, but her naive mind couldn’t quite grasp it. The only thing that mattered to her right now was being safe and protected in his arms.
“So you can fly?” Sula asked again. She wanted to know more about him, more about this scary yet exciting world she was now a part of. Damian had said that those men would never take her again, and she believed him. For once she believed that someone wanted to keep her safe and not because they wanted something from her.
“I’ve never flown. What’s it like?” she asked again, her voice now strong and clear. “Does it hurt? How fast do you go?”
He shook his head. “It doesn’t hurt. And fast… faster than a bird for sure.” He lifted a hand and booped her on the nose gently. “We can go flying if you want. But you’ll need to clean some of that cake off first. And we need to wrap you up.”
DAMIAN WAITED outside his bedroom like a cat on a hot tin roof as Sula changed clothes. His shirt would never do if they were to go flying. She’d freeze to death. Leaning back against the wall, he rested his head against the painted plaster and blew out a breath.
She was beautiful. Delicate, fragile… yes, scarred and scared… but utterly beautiful. And all this time she’d been right here under his nose.
Closing his eyes, he ran a hand through his hair. He’d thought he’d scented a female in here, the tantalizing scent teasing him as he awoke. He’d put it down to the fading remnants of a dream he couldn’t remember… but it wasn’t. It was her.
His eyes snapped open.
She’d been shifting at night. The dreams he’d had of a soft female body curled up next to him, the one with the scent that made his dragon purr, hadn’t been a dream at all. It had been her.
Ourrrrrsssss, his dragon chose that moment to add, making Damian shake his head. Everything male in him ached to take her in his arms and claim her. But he couldn’t, not yet, not with how scared and nervous she was.
The door opened and out walked Sula. He would have laughed, but the look on her face made him stop. She was dressed in his clothes, each item burying her in the material. The jogging bottoms had been rolled up until they didn’t drag on the floor and the belt of his robe had been used to keep them up on her small hips. Instead of his shirt, she now wore his black hoodie, the one he usually wore when he went jogging. Both items he would now always associate with this moment. She looked so damn adorable he again fought the need to take her in his arms. The only thing that wasn’t covered was her head, the random tufts of hair sticking out. Instead of looking strange, they only added to her appeal.
“You are going to need a hat, dot… I don’t want you catching a chill.”
He fussed about her, pulling a beanie hat from the closet by the front door and making sure it covered her ears. Then he pulled the hoodie up to cover the hat. Just to be sure. All the time she watched him with the same wide eyes she had in bird form. A bird shifter. Who’d have thought it? They were rare, but not unheard of. And not that valuable. Why had they kept her for so long?
“Ready?” he asked, holding out a hand as they stood in front of the large folding doors that made up one wall of his living room. Beyond it was a large patio, big enough even for him to shift and take off.
Her hand tightened in his, squeezing as hard as she could, but she nodded that she was ready. The wind whipped across the open area and she closed her eyes. At first he thought it was fear, but when she opened them again, excitement and joy filled the orbs to the point that a small tear trickled down her cheek. She smiled at him, a smile of pure happiness before she lifted her face to the sun.
She looked so happy he wanted to freeze time and just look at her. Saving the memory away in his mind, he lifted her hand and kissed her knuckles before letting them go to step away. Dropping the barrier between himself and his dragon, he let the change rip through him. His frame contorted, the bones that made up his skeleton popping and changing size and shape. His skin stretched and scales pushed through as his wings exploded from his back. Between one heartbeat and the next, his vision shifted from that of a man to the dragon, and he looked down at her.
Ourrrrrrsssss, his dragon purred again in happiness. The man was the passenger in his mind as he lowered himself to the sun-warmed patio like a lounging cat to watch her watch him. She had squealed when he had first shifted. The curse of “holy sugar” had made him snort. With his head low to the ground, he waited and watched until she gently reached out a hand and placed it on top of his head. Her hands were soft and gentle as she traced his scales.
“Wow, you are beautiful!” Her voice was filled with awe and made him proud of being a black. Proud of his size and strength that would be used to protect her.
“Are you sure you are not going to eat me?” she asked with a laugh.
Talking was out of the question in this form, but instinct had him reaching out mentally, a quick query to push against her mind. To his surprise and delight, she opened to him immediately, her mental presence wrapping around his with a light touch. Mind to mind contact between dragons was common, but it wasn’t as easy between dragons and other species.
Not going to eat you, promissssssse. He lifted the corners of his lips in a lizardy smile, trying not to reveal his teeth. Those would send her running for sure.
She smiled in response and whispered, “Thank you,” before bending down and kissing his snout. She then moved to walk down his body all the while sweeping her fingertips over his scales. The uncertainty she had initially shown around him had now vanished, replaced with a contentment and happiness that moved him. She surprised him at every turn, not dwelling in her past but taking hold of the future with both hands. Hands that now gripped the spines on the back of his neck as she climbed onto his back.
A rumble of happiness in the back of his throat, he waited until she was securely settled and then stood.
Hold on tight, he warned, walking to the edge of the patio. The city spread out beneath them and he took a moment for her to get used to the view before he stepped off the edge. He heard her gasp as they fell. Then he snapped his wings out, catching the air, and with two beats, they were aloft.