Seed of the Dragon: A Paranormal Dragon Shifter Romance Read Online Free PDF Page B

agreed.
    “I can’t wait to find out what kind of shifter I am,” I said with excitement.
    “Well you might be a snake because of the scales there,” my mother said while putting down the apples in front of me.
    “Scales!? Where!?” I exclaimed.
    “Right there!” my mother pointed to my face.
    I felt the rigid things on my cheek and smiled largely. “I’m a snake!” I said.
    “Or a lizard!” my mother said, “You won’t know for sure until you can fully shift.”
    I felt my cheeks hurt as I smiled wider. I was so excited to finally figure out what I was. Unlike the other kids, I was a late bloomer and hadn’t fully shifted yet. There were signs sure, high body temperature, scales, two pronged tongue, double eyelids, but nothing was for sure until the full transformation. All the kids my age already knew what they were and had started their training. I too started training, to be an assassin like my mother and father, since all had assumed I’d be a snake like my father because of the scales.
    Of course that wasn’t to be, and no one had realized until my transformation happened.
    It was a hard day at training. I was getting angry and frustrated since I wasn’t allowed to fully immerse myself in the art of killing until I was able to fully shift. I was already 10 years old and hadn’t fully transformed. Most kids started around 4-5 years and I was already years behind them. It felt as if I was a failure; I wasn’t worth the time and effort my teachers put in on me.
    I was good at everything I had done so far: knife training, martial arts, and stealth classes, but something was missing. At this point in my life, people stopped saying I was a late bloomer and started saying that maybe I was a rare breed that could never fully shift. I couldn’t take it anymore, so I exploded.
    “I WILL SHIFT EVENTUALLY,” I screamed at my teacher who was trying to explain the rare disease that most assumed I had.
    “Shawn, please calm down,” my teacher tried to soothe me.
    Rain and hail started pelting at the windows hard. Winds howled and I felt my breath grow hot. I felt heat pool in my stomach until I felt the need to let it out, and I did. Out of my throat came a beam of fire that roasted the chalkboard and desks. I felt myself half shift like usual out of excitement; I had claws for hands and felt my scales come out from underneath my skin.
    Then I felt something different, my bones started to break and mend themselves. My form began to grow larger and larger, engulfing the classroom with my scaled flesh. I stretched myself and broke through the roof, revealing the storm that raged above us. I let loose the fire in my belly on the sky and screamed in rage.
    “My god,” my teacher said, awed.  “He’s a dragon.”
                                                                                    *   *   *
    “Rachel”
    Shawn stroked my cheek as we lay together. His eyes were a glowing gold that seemed to hypnotize me. He was saying something, his lips moving, but instead of words, it was the sound of his voice washing over me, completely engulfing me. The feeling was warm and inviting, as if I was home. Shawn stopped speaking and smiled at me. He seemed so at peace, as was I. It felt like in that moment I was complete, like everything I had ever wanted was now mine.
    The cold greeted me in the morning. I groaned at the memory of my wonderful dream. The sun filtered through my blinds as I stretched my tired body. I felt a shiver run up my spine as the duvet fell off my torso. I yawned and slid out of bed, leaving the warm comfort behind me.
    I made my way to the bathroom and started to brush my teeth in a lethargic fashion. As I walked around my apartment while brushing, I looked at the blaring red numbers of my alarm clock that read 5:56 am. It would go off in another four minutes. Returning to the bathroom, I spat out the