The three of them stood in a clearing not far from Molly Smith’s house.
“So this is it, then,” Cadence looked at the wide open space. There was plenty of room to run and jump and, supposedly, fly.
She didn’t have the faintest idea of how to get started.
She had tried so many different ways of getting her body to shift. She had spoken out loud, jumped up and down, and even tried scaring herself into shifting. None of it had worked. All she’d been able to accomplish was wearing herself out.
“Remember that today, we’re taking things slow,” Molly Smith said. “First I’ll show you how I shift, and then you can try it. Okay?”
“Okay.”
Molly Smith slipped out of her clothes and tossed them on the ground. Cadence quickly turned around.
“Mother!” She said. “What on Earth are you doing?”
Liam and Molly both started laughing.
“How am I supposed to shift if I’m wearing clothes?” She asked Cadence. She shook her head. “Modesty is not important on Dragon Isle, love, and it’s something you need to get used to very quickly.”
Cadence turned back around and tried not to blush. This was so awkward and weird, but she seemed to be the only one who thought so.
“Now, when I shift, I like to clear my mind and then just do it. I’ve been shifting for years, though, and it comes easily to me. It’s going to take you awhile to get started, but once you have the hang of it, it’ll be just as simple. Watch.”
Molly Smith strode to the center of the clearing and put her arms out. She took several deep breaths, and then she jumped into the air. Cadence held her breath, waiting for her mother to land on her feet, but she didn’t.
She shifted, and then she was off.
It had happened so quickly that Cadence had no way of determining exactly how her mother had done it. How had she managed to shift so quickly? She was a woman, and then she wasn’t. She was normal, and then she was a beast.
It was incredible.
Her mother was a huge purple dragon, just as Cadence imagined she would be. Her wings were tipped with silver, and her snout was a beautiful teal. The rest of her body was different shades of violet, and Cadence was caught off guard by just how lovely her mother was.
Molly flew in a circle above the clearing.
“See how she controls her movements,” Liam pointed out, coming up beside Cadence. “She’s careful. She calculates exactly how she wants to turn, exactly how she needs to move in order to go where she wants to. When you first shift, make sure you’re cautious. Never just dive in a direction. That’s a fast way to crash.”
She nodded, and leaned against Liam. She needed him now. There was a certain comfort she gained from being close to him that she couldn’t quite explain, but she was lucky because she didn’t have to.
He was her mate.
They both knew it, and he hadn’t thought she was crazy for saying it.
After circling a few more times and doing a couple of flips, Molly landed gently in the clearing. She didn’t shift back to human right away, though. She just stared at Cadence.
“I think…I think she wants me to pet her,” Cadence said.
“Go on,” Liam gently nudged her forward. “It’ll be just fine, Cadence.”
Cadence felt out of place among the dragons. She didn’t know their culture or their social structure. Was it rude to just go and pet another dragon? She didn’t know. She was about to find out, though.
She approached Molly and went to her face.
“Hello,” Cadence said awkwardly. Molly nodded, but didn’t move. This was good, Cadence thought. This was her chance to see what a dragon was like up close. She’d never been around shifters before. At least, she hadn’t been around any she knew of.
Her roommate in college had dated a shifter, but Cadence had never met the guy. He was very private, and her roommate wasn’t even supposed to know what he really was.
“Shifters are private people,” she’d told Cadence. “They can’t trust anyone.”
Now Cadence understood why. It was a safety issue more than anything else. Yeah, the world knew about shifters now, but that didn’t mean humans were trustworthy. Having laws to protect shifters and their communities didn’t mean they no longer faced danger.
Cadence reached for Molly’s snout and pet it softly. She wondered what it had been like for her mother to live in fear for so long. It must have been a difficult decision to give Cadence up for adoption. It must have pained her, hurt her deeply. Cadence wondered if she’d be able to make the same choice. Would she have been loving enough, brave enough, to give up her child to a different family?
She wasn’t sure.
Cadence moved and walked around Molly. She circled her, carefully touching her scales, seeing what they felt like beneath her palm. She’d never done anything like this before. When she was a kid, she’d gone to the zoo, and she’d seen huge animals there: lions and elephants and hippos.
Molly was bigger than all of those.
Mightier.
Stronger.
After a minute, Cadence went back to Molly’s face and pressed a soft kiss to her snout.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “Thank you for helping me. Thank you for teaching me. Thank you for everything you did for me. I don’t know how I can ever repay you.”
Molly shifted back then and looked at Cadence, at her daughter, and smiled.
“All right, baby girl,” she said. “It’s time for you to fly.”
Cadence swallowed hard. She was ready for this, but she was still nervous. Wasn’t that what bravery was all about? Acting fearless when you were scared on the inside?
“First things first,” Molly said. She started to get dressed again. “Take off your clothes.”
“What? Here?” Cadence looked at Liam. His mouth was in a straight line, but his eyes betrayed him. They were twinkling. He thought this was funny.
Well, she’d show him.
She’d been with men before. She’d been naked in front of people before. You didn’t make it through four years of college without someone seeing you naked, after all. Besides, if Liam really was her mate, he’d be seeing her naked soon enough. It might as well be now.
But her mother was there, too, and it was just so embarrassing.
Still, Cadence powered through. If dragons didn’t care about nudity, then she wouldn’t care, either. She stripped off her clothes quickly and efficiently, and tossed them to the side. She pretended not to notice the way Liam’s eyes roamed her body. She pretended not to notice the way it made her feel sexy.
“All right,” Molly said. “Before you can fly, you need to clear your mind. If you’re feeling stressed or nervous or scared, you won’t be able to shift. Dragons can’t shift when fear is present. It’s one of our weaknesses.”
“Really?” Cadence hadn’t known that.
“Unfortunately,” Molly said. “Now, close your eyes, and empty your mind.”
Cadence closed her eyes and slowly, one by one, let each of her worries go. She let go of the anger she’d been feeling toward her adoptive mother, and she let go of the way she was worried about shifting, and she let go of the nervousness she felt around Liam. She took several deep breaths and just breathed. She could do this.
When she opened her eyes, she was ready. She stood in the center of the clearing and she jumped.
This was it.
She was going to shift.
She was going to turn into a big, beautiful, purple dragon.
She was going to fly.
She felt the wind against her face.
This is it, she thought. I’m a dragon.
But then she hit the grass, landing on her rump, and she realized she hadn’t flown at all.
Not even a little bit.