Page 9 of Feathers and Scales

Its head jerked back, and she raced out of Daxton’s Spirit Cavity.

Outside his body, she transformed into a clothed humanoid and fell onto the carpet in a well-lit room. Her cry of pain filled the studio apartment as she grabbed her stinging midsection. The wound still glowed from her blood. To finish the healing process, she needed to stay in a host body. As she thought of staying with Daxton, her stomach twisted. She couldn’t allow a connection with him like that again. The sensation of her spirit melding with his, the potent emotions it brought, was a distraction she couldn’t afford. Her purpose, to collect her feathers and return to Heaven, required a clear, logical mind, free from such attachments.

Heavy steps behind her made her glance over her shoulder with a narrowed, hostile gaze. His intimidating size rose above her, clad in dark denim and a sweat-stained T-shirt.

He rubbed his temples as if in pain and stopped advancing. “What the hell did you attack me with?”

Gasping between words, she said, “Light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation.” At the lost look on his face, she continued, “Or, you know, a laser.”

“Why did you leave? You’re not healed yet.” The veins in his neck protruded as if something choked him from within.

The connection pulled taut, the dragon tugging her back. She dug her fingers into the black plush carpet below her, but she was too weak to solidify her light enough to grasp the fuzzy surface. He might win this spirit tug-of-war.

“Please stop.” She clenched her eyes shut. Would looking at him make it easier for him to drag her back?

“You need to heal,” he said, voice gentle yet stern even as his pull on her lessened.

A tapping knock filled the room.

“Daxton?” said a soft female voice from behind the wooden door in front of them.

“Not now, Sarah.”

Izzy struggled forward on the carpet and yelled, “Help me.”

The door flung open. A curvy woman dressed in scrubs barged into the room and jumped back, hand over her chest.

Izzy’s spirit flesh prickled from an inhuman, yet familiarly charged sensation. Sarah’s round, rosy cheeks glowed youthfully despite her midlength gray hair. Her mature gaze shot from Izzy to Daxton.

Sarah scowled in horror. “You’ve always been a troublemaker, but this—”

Daxton lifted his arms. “It’snot what it looks like.”

Izzy didn’t care if the same creature awaited inside Sarah. She wanted freedom from Daxton and the emotions he incited in her. She couldn’t afford to feel, let alone feel an attachment to someone. The last time had ended in madness.

His dragon pulled at her, leaving her mind in shambles. If she had to choose between the two, Sarah might be the better choice. She exhaled, condensed her spirit into a light orb, and flew into the backpedaling woman.

Another dragon lay within Sarah’s Spirit Cavity. It rose in a flourish of agile movement. Baring its sharp teeth, it emitted a low growl from its throat.

Izzy hesitated.

The dragon towered over her, but she couldn’t gauge how big it would be in a corporeal form. Reflective silver scales covered its body except for its chest and spine where they appeared more like an alligator’s scutes with a thicker, hornlike appearance. It stood hunched, the claws in the center of its wings resting against solid air. Its steel-gray feathers matched Sarah’s eyes.

Daxton’s dragon released its spirit pull on her. Did Sarah stop him, or did he believe Izzy was safe now?She sighed in relief, her grounding logic and confidence returning. She stood tall, staring at Sarah’s creature. Nose flaring, it leaned forward to smell her. Its gaze shifted from weariness to understanding, as if it recognized she wasn’t an enemy.

“Please, help me,”Izzy said and froze when the dragon used its snout to nudge her behind its back as if offering her protection.

Too curious not to listen to their conversation, Izzy concentrated and absorbed herself further into the Spirit Cavity to use Sarah’s senses and feel her emotions.

“What did you do to the poor child?” Sarah’s words resonated with heat inside Izzy. Her protective instinct consumed Izzy, like a loving mother involuntarily required to care for an animal her child broughthome. That compassion explained why Sarah hadn’t immediately attacked when an unknown being had entered her.

“I didn’t do anything,” Daxton said. “She’s been with me healing and just woke up. But then I…I don’t know. We somehow connected—spirit-to-spirit.”

Sarah’s heart raced, creating an echo in Izzy’s chest.

“I need to return home,”Izzy said. The forced communication drained her. Still absorbed into Sarah’s Spirit Cavity, the woman would feel Izzy’s thoughts as if they were her own.

Sarah gasped. Izzy sensed Sarah’s hand covering her chest like she wanted to rip Izzy out.