CARLYLE

As soon as I’d finished describing the dream thing to Jai, he and the rest of the guys lapsed into a tangled discussion. I tried to follow it for a few moments, hoping to learn something, but my brain felt fuzzy. Nothing they were saying made sense.

I decided to wait until they puzzled it out and could give me the short version. Feeling hot as balls again, I threw the blanket to the floor and padded out of the room, grouchy and restless. It was like I wanted more rest, but at the same time, my muscles were aching with lack of movement.

Making my way into the kitchen, I put on a strong pot of coffee, then rummaged in the cabinets until I found a package of cookies. I scarfed two immediately, barely tasting them before forcing myself to slow down.

The aroma of the coffee calmed me just as the sugar hit my bloodstream, and my mind began to clear a bit. My skin was still tight and itchy, though, and I was really beginning to regret my morning of sunbathing. I paced into the sunlight and pulled my shirt down off my shoulder, inspecting the burn. I needed some damn aloe.

It looked like I was starting to peel - what the fuck, really? Stupid Florida sun.

Grumbling, I plopped an ice cube into my coffee to cool it faster, then grabbed another cookie. Maybe I needed more than aloe. It was possible the hot bath had irritated my skin even more. Even the softness of my shirt felt rough as it rubbed against the burn. I wanted to take it off, but I wasn’t even wearing a bra.

I was considering taking the rest of the cookies and the whole coffee pot up to my room to get naked in peace, when Kana padded in.

“Damn, girl, you got roasted,” she commented, pulling a glass from the cabinet and filling it with water.

“I know,” I moaned, hating that I felt like a whiny kid. “It itches so much. And look, I’m already peeling!” I pulled the neck of my shirt wide again to display my shoulder. She snickered, but then she did a double take. She darted toward me, and I backed into the counter on reflex. She hovered within an inch of me, examining my bare shoulder.

“Jai,” she bellowed in my ear, and I winced. “Sorry,” she muttered. “Let me see your back.”

I turned, and she yanked up my shirt, running light fingers down my spine.

“Holy fuck,” she whispered.

“What? Why is sunburn ‘holy fuck’?” I demanded. “I just need some aloe.”

Jai stalked into the room, looking more than a little pissed at being summoned again. “What?” he growled.

I tried to pull my shirt back down, but her grip was like iron. I settled for hooking the fabric under my breasts to cover them, at least.

“Calm down,” she commanded, and I wasn’t sure if she was talking to me or Jai. I sensed him join her at my back, and then he gasped as well, muttering something I couldn’t quite make out. I felt something like a fingernail lifting up a section of skin, and I freaked out.

“What the fuck is it?” I demanded, finally ripping my shirt from her hands and turning back to them. Brother and sister were both an intimidating two inches from my face. Jai backed up, but I had to shove at Kana.

“Come into the light,” Jai said, settling his palm on my bare waist and nudging me toward the windows. I breathed in deeply of his red wine and steel fragrance. It was such a wonderful scent, all mixed with the salt of the cold sea. I really should touch him more often.

My thoughts scattered as he pulled me into a pool of sunlight and slipped my shirt up to look at my back again. His palms slid up my spine and across my shoulder blades, and my eyes rolled back in my head.

Forcing myself to focus, I tugged the neckline down over my shoulder and peered down. Ah, shit. The peeling wasn’t actually peeling.

My scales were back, but they were different. Instead of a shimmery illusion slipping around under my skin, these suckers looked real as fuck.

Not only that, but what I’d thought was the shine of a blistering burn had turned into a goddamn, glittery sparkle.

I was gonna be pissed if I turned into a sparkling unicorn after all.

My pale human skin was sloughing away in sections, the angry pinkish-red giving way to a rich garnet. It looked cracked, but there was a definite pattern to it, like the tessellations of snakeskin. Or dragon skin, to be more precise.

“Am I shifting into a dragon?” I whispered, leaning hard into Jai as my knees grew weak. He cradled me to himself in a rare moment of tenderness, and I bit down hard on a moan as my face pressed against the bare skin of his throat.

“No,” Jai murmured into my hair, and I breathed a sigh of relief. I was so not ready for that. He helped me steady myself against the counter, though I missed his close contact immediately.

“Qilin always have their own form, regardless of what species they mate with. They are a combination of the mates they choose. Jack’s scales are regenerative, though,” he reminded me, glancing to Kana.

“Ah, so I could pull one of these suckers out and heal someone?” I pinched a section of skin, trying to grasp the edge of a scale from beneath my tender, pink skin. I wasn’t exactly eager to cut myself open, but having a supply of second-life tokens would be game-changing. My fingernail just scraped across the scale, though, as it resisted my pull.

“Potentially,” Jai said, watching my failure to grip one. “The mating bond must be strengthened before that is possible, I believe. You seem to be in a state of flux.”

Having the ability to bring myself and my friends back from the dead would have been really fucking convenient in a fight with the Ringmaster, not to mention whatever war Kana was convinced was coming.

Mesmerized, I watched my skin shift and change. Half of me hated it, and the other half thought it was cool as shit.

Jai said, “This may be all you ever have of Jack’s form, but it’s more likely the scales will continue to develop over time and become part of your shifted form. Being separated from your mate is unprecedented. The mating ritual normally happens just before a month-long period of seclusion for the bonded pair. They spend that time together learning their bond and sharing their power in whatever ways their bodies allow.”

“Ah, like a honeymoon?” I asked, feeling guilt wash through me like a riptide. Here I was at the beach, having my honeymoon while Jack was trapped in some shitty trailer somewhere. I promised myself, right then and there, that once I got Jack away from the Ringmaster, we’d do things up right. He deserved it.

Kana nodded. “Humans got the idea from us. But it makes sense.” She glanced to Jai. “Your bond with Jack - you being a Qilin - means your body is probably trying to mimic his shifting power. This dream may have triggered it. But since you’re not physically together, your body’s getting confused.”

“Well, then I fucking match. Confused brain, confused body,” I griped, reaching past them to snatch another cookie from the package. My coffee had cooled, and I chugged half of it.

I probably looked like a lunatic, gripping a coffee mug in one hand and a wadded-up shirt in the other, trying to cover my tits and my crazy all in one go.

Jai coughed abruptly and hid his mouth behind his hand.

I groaned. “Really? Out loud?”

Kana just grinned, and Jai’s gaze focused on the floor.

“Is it dangerous, though? This flux?” I asked, more nervous than I wanted to admit.

Jai shook his head. “Just not particularly helpful.”

I sighed in disgust and turned my back on them all to pull my shirt on again. It figured - I would get the most useful power of them all first, then not be able to use it.