Page 51 of Daughter of Garnet

"Why? You don't like me, Ray."

"I don't know. But you're supposed to stay."

I extricate myself from his grip and slowly face him. "Supposed to? Who are you to tell me what I'm supposed to do?"

"It's not me telling you. It's Oren." He taps the side of his head. "They're in my head, telling me that I can't let you leave."

Does his God talk to him as well? I thought that was just me. I've never heard of others talking to their Gods.

"Oren speaks to you?"

"Apparently. They never did before now." His body looks tightly coiled, and his chest heaves. "Screams at me is more accurate. And someone yelling at you in your mind is awful. I'd prefer it if you stay so they don't do that again."

"Ilota, why does Oren want me to stay?" I prefer talking to her out loud, but I can't do that without alerting Ray to what I am.

After a brief pause, her voice fills my mind. Again, it sounds far away and weaker than before. "Perhaps they have guidance."

"What kind of guidance?"

She doesn't answer, not that I'm surprised.

I take a step back from Ray and nod. "Fine. I'll stay."

Relief drips from his body. "Thank you. You don't owe me anything, but I appreciate your help all the same." He reaches for the buttons on his shirt before pausing. "Did you want to see my shifted form?"

This feels intimate, like something he doesn't offer up to just anyone. I'm not sure how common it is to shift in front of others, especially Betas. It could be something that they do all the time, no big deal, but this feels like he's placing a lot of trust in me. I don't want to turn him down.

"Okay, yeah, sure."

It's possible that his God is still talking to him, because he seems distracted. "Sure, sure, sure." He mumbles the word over and over as he removes his shirt and slides his pants down.

Ray's body is fit, with broad shoulders and a thin, tapered waist, and his arms are corded with muscles. There's no hair on his torso or stomach, save for a small amount poking out of the top of his briefs that I cannot drag my eyes away from.

"I, uh, need to take my underwear off." He gestures at his crotch, and my face heats.

I can't look him in the eye, not now. "Right, sorry."

A few seconds after I give him my back, a shadow blocks out the sun from its spot above the horizon. Since Ray didn't cry out in pain as I did during my first shift, I felt more than heard the transition. I take a fortifying breath and turn around, only to stumble backward.

Where the handsome Alpha stood is the largest bird I've ever seen. Calling it a bird does not encapsulate the creature, but it's the only word I have for the winged, feathered beast. I'm looking at something that went extinct so long ago that time has nearly forgotten it, and the weight of that is obvious.

He's about the same height as he was as a man, but his arms have been replaced with wings that stretch an easy twenty feet wide, and he's covered with grey, black, and brown feathers.

The Argentavis Alpha is terrifying, with a hooked beak that looks hard enough to break a diamond and feet with curling talons bigger than my hand.

My dragon stirs inside me, wanting to come out and play, but I shove her down. I can't show that side of me to Ray. This isn't enough for me to rely on his discretion about my own form.

But he is beautiful in a macabre way. Gods, he must've taken some eyes out with those wings when he shifted during his ceremony.

The Argentavis takes a slow, measured step toward me and ducks its head, resting it in the air right over my shoulder. I can feel the tension coiled inside it, threatening to strike if I make a wrong move.

The heat beneath my skin that I've come to realize is my dragon is fighting me for control. Does she want to fly with him? It would make sense, since I haven't been able to take to the sky yet for fear of being discovered.

Shifted, Ray's peppery scent is so much stronger, and it's dizzying. I feel like if I were to move, my knees would give out.

"You're enormous." I raise a shaky hand and press it to the side of his beak, marveling at how solid it is. I've never touched a rhinoserous horn before, but I imagine they're quite similar. "No wonder you needed to come all the way out here to stretch your wings."

I don't know how long I can hold my dragon back from bursting through my skin, so I take a few steps back and steady my breathing. Shifting right now would feel amazing, but the consequences aren't worth it.