Blood trickled from Sylvia's shoulder, and she pressed a hand to her skin to slow the bleeding. Mark had never once mentioned a psychotic ex. Though, from the sound of it she was never really an ex. Could Sylvia have really been the other woman? Rage boiled in her gut at the thought of Mark cheating on her with this psycho, or worse yet, cheating on this psycho with her!

She watched as Braxton rolled along the stage floor, swiping at the woman. But as he raised a paw, she sliced at his ribs with one of her blades. Then another she sunk into his shoulder.

“Braxton, no!” Sylvia scrambled up from the ground, just as he tumbled off the edge of the stage. The woman jumped down after him, ready to plunge a final blow.

The rage already burning in her veins grew hotter, smoldering inside her until her whole body felt on fire. Loud crunching rang in her ears as her bones realigned in her body, changing, rearranging. She dropped to the ground as searing pain inundated her, and a fiery surge of adrenaline fed her new limbs. She raged as her eyes narrowed to slits and a pair of wings unfurled from her back.

Sylvia pushed herself up from the ground on new legs and charged at the bitch attacking her mate. She tried to tell Braxton she was coming to help him, but only fire roared from her mouth where her voice once did. What the ever-loving hell? She didn't have time to think about it. Right now she needed to save her mate.

Sylvia leaped into the air and flew through the room, as if she'd been flying all her life. She soared into the rafters before circling back around, dive-bombing the woman. Extending her claws, she clutched the woman in her talons and swung her up onto the stage, far away from Braxton. With heavy legs, she landed with a thud, stomping her way toward the raging woman. But Sylvia was beyond rage. She was pissed. Pissed at the psycho, pissed at Mark, and pissed at herself for not seeing all that happened before her eyes. For letting her life be dictated so long by fear, by other people. No longer was she the shut-in, the grieving fiancé. She was Sylvia Schneider, all woman, and a little bit dragon, apparently.

She had so much she wanted to say to the woman, but every time she opened her mouth, fire sprung from it. Instead, Sylvia seethed and smoke puffed from her nostrils. Sylvia growled, stomped forward and huffed a funnel of fire up the back of her throat, ready to rain it down on the bitch. She took another step forward, but the lady cowered, throwing her arms over her head as she screamed. Sylvia swallowed back the fire. She couldn't have killed her anyway. It wasn't who she was. She'd never be able to take a life, human or otherwise. She hoped the psycho was down for the count and turned back around to check on Braxton.

“You're a fucking freak. No wonder why he didn't want you.”

Sylvia spun back around, swinging her tail with her, knocking the woman clear off the stage. Oh shit, she didn't actually mean to do that. She had to learn her new size. But the SWAT team dashed to the woman, checked her for injuries, and then carted her off in handcuffs. A sigh of relief puffed from her chest.

Sylvia flew down to Braxton's side and nudged him with her nose. A whimper echoed from his lips before he shifted back to human form. Sylvia jumped back and let out a fiery scream as Braxton's body lay a sliced up bloody mess before her. She nudged him once more with her nose, willing him to move, to show some sign of life.

His hand brushed across her nose. “You're the sexiest dragon I've ever seen,” he whispered. “You look hot in red. Pun totally intended.”

Sylvia giggled inside, but it came out as little wisps of smoke snorted from her nose. He was alive, and already healing from his wolf blood, as if the wounds were never even there. And he was completely naked.

“Well, this explains the fever this morning. Wolves run hotter than humans, but nothing like you were. Did you even know you were a shifter?”

Sylvia shook her head. She'd been raised as a human. Never once had she even suspected she had any kind of shifter blood in her. But now, things started to make a little more sense. She was taught to be soft, to be gentle, to be quiet. All this time she thought her parents were just reserved, conservative. But she now wondered if they knew from the start and raised her in an environment so she wouldn't shift, wouldn't bring on the change, forcing her to be human instead of what she really was. So many questions.

“Can you shift back?” Braxton asked as he sat up and did his best to cover himself with his hands from the prying eyes still left in the room, mostly police and a few onlookers from the hall.

Sylvia had no idea how she even shifted in the first place, let alone how to shift back. The rage in her blood, her need to protect Braxton had triggered it. She wondered then why she didn't shift when Mark was killed in the bombing. What made this time different?

The moment she returned her gaze back to Braxton it made sense. He was her mate. Mark never even loved her, and somewhere deep inside she probably knew that in her mind, but never convinced her heart of it until she was shown what real love was.

“It's a little tough the first time. But try and concentrate, think back to your human state. Envision it in your mind, then command your body to take that form.” Braxton ran a hand down her neck with a reassuring touch. Funny how once she thought he towered over her, made her feel small. Now she was the one who towered over him.

She nodded and concentrated on her human form in her mind, down to every curve she never thought she'd ever miss. Bowing her head, she willed herself to change, to morph back to her old self, telling her arms and legs to break, shrink, and reform themselves. What a horrific process when she thought about it, the reconstructing of her body in its entirety.

She forced her focus back to the task at hand, trying her best to ignore the searing pain of her bones and ligaments crunching and tearing, reshaping her. A scream bled from her lips as her dragon legs pulled up from under her, dropping her back to human legs, and she crumbled in a heap on the floor. Braxton dropped to her side.

“Someone get a blanket, or a jacket or something,” Braxton called out.

A SWAT team member trotted over with a blanket for both of them. Braxton draped one of them around her, shielding her from the prying eyes, before wrapping one around his waist like a towel.

“Thank you,” she choked out. Smoke and soot clung to her tongue. What she wouldn't give for some Listerine strips.

“Let's get you back to the room.” Braxton scooped her in his arms and carried her all the way back to the room. A girl could get used to that.

---

Braxton laid her on the bed and climbed in next to her. Words stuck at the back of his throat. He had so many questions, and didn't know where to start. He didn't want to overwhelm her, as he imagined she probably didn't have much in the way of answers herself.

“So, a dragon, huh?” Lame, Braxton, lame. But it was better than ignoring the giant elephant—dragon in the room.

“It would appear.” She curled into a fetal position away from him.

He rolled her back toward him and ran a hand through her hair. “Thank you for saving my life.”

She took a visible swallow and a tear trickled down her nose. “Thank you for continually saving mine. I figured it was the least I could do.”

A chuckle popped from his throat. “So, you just decided to become a dragon shifter to get even?”

“Well, that was definitely a plot twist I didn't see coming. I had no idea, not even a fathom in my mind that I was a shifter. I'm still trying to process it. I don't understand. I'm twenty-eight years old. How have I not shifted before now?”

“Well, you may just have a recessive gene. Somewhere in your lineage there's dragon blood. And it lay dormant until you needed it. Until…”

“Until my mate unlocked it in me, you mean?” Sylvia cupped his cheek.

“It explains a lot. The fever, being in heat, the mating attraction.” Braxton trailed a fingertip along her shoulder blade. “Your dragon blood healed your wound nicely.”

She nodded. “Still, I have so many questions.”

“Maybe we can talk to Gerri, since she's the one who brought us together. It was for a reason.” He curled her tighter in his embrace. His body once again heated for her, ached being near her naked form.

“That's probably a good place to start. Along with my dad, and find out just how far back this dragon thing goes.”

Sweat slicked her skin in a sexy sheen. He brushed a hand along her forehead. She was burning up again. “Sweetie, your fever is returning. You should rest.”

She shook her head. “No, not rest. You. I need you. My fever burns hot because of you. Every time I'm near you, I feel this burning inside me, of desire, passion, and raw heat. It's because you've awakened my true self. It's because, you're my mate.”

Breath caught in his throat at her admission. She finally understood. More so, she chose him and accepted him. “The only thing that will ease that fire, will be the mating ritual. Are you sure you want to do it?”

“What exactly is the mating ritual? Remember, this is all brand new to me. I've been raised as human my whole life. I have no idea the ways of the shifter side of things.”

“If you take me as your mate, I'll have a whole lifetime to show you.”

“I want to. I need to. You are the missing piece of my soul. You complete my broken heart.”

Braxton swallowed hard and took her hand in his. “We must make love, join our bodies as one. And at the climax of our union, as my seed spills inside you, I must mark you, claim you, stake you as mine and mine alone.”

“Just how do you mark me?”

“I place a series of marks along your neck.”

“With?”

“My teeth.”

“So, you bite me.”

“But it's a good bite. And it's while you orgasm so it's the whole pleasure-pain principle.”

“Explain it as you may, you're still going to sink your teeth into my flesh.” She quirked a brow with a sexy smirked he ached to kiss off her lips.

“You make it sound so primitive.”

“It is.”

He took her hand in his and kissed her ring finger. “Well, we can always have a formal wedding ceremony after, if that's more your style. For your human side. But your dragon side knows it has to be done the primitive way, the preternatural way.”

“Don't I get to bite you, too? I'm a shifter now.”

“If you bit me, you'd probably take my head off like a praying mantis after she mates. You're a dragon, and a whole lot bigger than me,” he laughed.

“I'd have to do it in dragon form?” Her eyes widened.

“Well, it's more of a quasi-shift. With our fangs. We don't fully shift while mating, just enough to be able to puncture the flesh with our mark.”

“I guess I'll leave the biting to you then,” she whispered with a smile across her beautiful lips.

“Is that a yes?” Braxton's heart swelled, along with his cock.

“Yes. I want to be with you. You're my mate, Braxton. My heart and soul. I want you to claim me.”

Braxton crushed his lips to hers, feeling the heat of her feverish mouth. Her permission tasted delicious on his tongue, and he deepened the kiss while unwrapping her from the blanket.

He roamed her body with his hands, learning and relearning every curve. Her legs fell open and he draped his hand over her mound, cupping it before slipping a finger between the folds. That sweet scent of her arousal hit him as it drenched his fingers, and it only hardened his cock even more. He shot off the bed, yanked her by the hips to the edge, and dropped to his knees to feast upon her.

He lapped at her, slicking his lips and tongue with each swipe across her clit. Loud moans rang out in the room, not the same shy Sylvia from the first time they made love. But the new, feisty, fiery, dragon hot with passion, desire, need, want, unafraid to give into it. She rocked her hips over his face, and he ran his tongue in circles over her core, spiraling her into her first orgasm. She gripped his head, holding it while she rode her climax.

When her breathing slowed, he picked her up by the hips and slammed her back against the wall. Her legs wrapped around his waist, and his cock pressed at her entrance.

“I need you inside me, Braxton. Please, don't stop.” Her words rode a gasp from her lungs and he honored her request by driving up into her.

Gripping her by the hips, he bounced her up and down on his cock. He would never get over the feeling of pushing up inside he. Every thrust her walls pressed against him, clenched around him, milked him. She dug her nails into his back, hanging on as her breathing sped, signaling her climax was again near. He took her hands and slammed them above her head, pinning her to the wall as he quickened his strides, rocking his hips against hers. His balls clenched as the spiral of his own orgasm took hold.

“I love you, Sylvia,” he whispered as he dove to her neck and pressed his lips against her skin. “You are mine, and I claim you as my mate.”

“I love you, too, Braxton. I give myself to you as your mate.” A moan followed her words as he thrust one more time, balls deep inside her and his teeth sunk into the supple skin of her neck. His wolf growled, low in his belly, as his orgasm spread through his body, dumping seed into her, and his claim marked her flesh.

She clung to him, panting and moaning as her body shuddered in his hold. He retracted his fangs and pulled back enough to swipe his tongue over her puncture wounds, healing them. Now she officially bore his mark. And hopefully one day, his cubs.