Chosen By The Dragon by Imogen Taylor Read Free Book Online Page A

pathetic.”
    “I’ll show you pathetic!”
    “I’m offering this once: leave. Go now. Never return. Live in banishment without anything living and beautiful, but live.”
    “I hear your proposal,” Tristan said, “and I reject it. Allow me to counter-offer.”
    Then, right before Wendy’s eyes, Tristan began changing. He lurched forward, falling to his hands. His neck jutted out, and as it did, his face stretched and grew.
    “In front of a human? You’re despicable!” Jacob shouted, looking disgusted. Wendy tried to ask what was going on but the rag muffled her words. “I’m sorry,” Jacob said to her.
    Before she could say anything, he pulled his arms back and shouted to the sky. Jacob’s chest swelled near to bursting, his arms and legs growing. Scales covered both Tristan’s flesh and Jacob’s. In moments, they became full dragons. Dragons!
    Wendy was ready to pass out from the shock of it, but the two beasts crashed into one another. Tristan was a blood color, Jacob a deep blue. Claws slashed at one another, gripping at arms, tails, whatever they could reach.
    The combat was furious and brutal, but when Tristan made the mistake of clamping his jaws on Jacob’s arm, it was over. In one smooth motion, Jacob flipped Tristan onto his back and crashed the back of his skull against the stone mountainside. Twice, three times and Tristan’s body went limp. Roaring his fury, Jacob lifted the limp dragon into the air, and then threw him off the side of the cliff.
    The dragon stood, watching as his enemy disappeared. Jacob slowly turned back into a human, his face filled with worry as he turned to look at Wendy. She couldn’t believe it. Even now, her mind reeled with possible explanations as to what had just happened. Jacob came and knelt in front of her. Grabbing the corner of the duct tape, he looked her in the eye.
    “One, two, three…”
    The tape stung as he tore it free, but it was still minor in the face of everything she’d just experienced. Jacob reached two fingers into her mouth and removed the rag. She coughed; part of the corner had worked its way down her windpipe and it scratched as he pulled it out.
    “What the hell?” she asked.
    “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I said it was over, and then this happens. I’m sorry.” He went behind her and began trying to free her hands.
    “Jacob, you’re not responsible for what he did, but what the hell was that? Did that really just happen?”
    “That was technically against our laws, so if anyone asks, you didn’t see anything. But… yes. What you saw did actually happen.” After ripping the tape from her hands, he helped her to her feet. “I’m here meeting with other dragons from the major areas of the world. Our clans run things. We manage the world. I should never have dragged you into this, but my feelings for you… I couldn’t ignore how I felt. I’m sorry.”
    Wendy looked past him to the cliff face where Tristan had disappeared, then back to Jacob. He was a dragon. Strangely, alarmingly, Wendy found she was okay with it. “No matter what you are, you came for me. You stood up for me, rescued me, and were there for me when I needed it. I don’t care what you are, because you are the kindest, most amazing man I’ve ever come across in my life.”
    Jacob took her hands in his and held them to his chest. “Stay with me. Be with me. I’ll take care of you and your sweet mother, and I promise I’ll never let anyone harm you again.”
    In lieu of an answer, she put her arms over his shoulders and pulled him in for a kiss. He held her close to him in the sweetest embrace, and, for the first time, Wendy felt like she was in the safest arms that could ever be.

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