The Last Dragon Shifter (Shifter World - Book Eleven) (Series of 13 Short Stories)
Chapter Ten: Changes

Dustin got to his mate just as she tore out the throat of the man she had tackled to the ground. The others around her were too shocked that she wasn’t human, to stop her.

“Sharissa!” He hollered as he rushed to her side.

“Hey. You’re supposed to be dead. I shot you!” One of the men said, shock and fear in his eyes.

Dustin growled at him, making him back away. “You’re the one who kidnapped my mate.” He said, then launched at the man.

“Dustin! Kneel!”

Dustin hollered as he fell to his knees.

“Great trick.” The man Dustin had tried to strangle said as he held his hand to his throat.

“It’s not a trick.” Daryl said with a growl. “Dylan, Dominic, Rolando, get your mates!”

The guys didn’t have to be told twice. They scrambled into the almost empty van and lifted their mates into their arms and slid out of the van. Dominic and Rolando set their mates down on the ground and untied them. Once the girls were untied, they leaped into their mate’s arms.

“Why is Pearl still unconscious?” Dylan asked as he sat on the ground with his mate in his arms and untied her feet, then turned her so he could untie her hands.

“They used more on her than they had on us. When they’d killed you, it took two of them to hold her down.” Maddy said as she watched Dylan rock his mate, a smile forming on his handsome face.

Sebastian moved to stand next to his best friend. His mate seemed to be doing fine. She was standing over the man she’d ripped the throat out of, seething. Then something happened that had every single one of them taking a step back.

“What the fuck?” Shar hissed as she watched the man’s throat close and the skin heal around what used to be teeth marks from her Cougar’s teeth.

“I think I know what’s going on.” Kota said as he appeared beside Dustin and Sebastian.

“Care to enlighten us?” Dustin asked with a sneer.

“He was healed by a Dark Witch. They brought him back to life and cursed him. Well, I guess he wouldn’t consider it a curse. He can’t die.”

“No.” Shar said with a shake of her head. “This can’t be happening. I thought we were through with him!”

“Is there a way to end the curse?” Dustin asked as he watched the man pull air into his lungs.

Kota shrugged. “I guess there is. But it would be hard to come by.” He said with a grin.

“Stop grinning, that’s creeping me out.” Sebastian said as he looked at Kota.

Kota chuckled.

“Well, well, well.” The man said as he got to his feet and rotated his neck. “So, you killed me again, huh Sharissa?” He asked as he glared at her.

“Why are you separating humans from their Shifter husbands?” Sharissa asked as she glared at the man, she wished she had never met, let alone dated.

He laughed. “Because Shifters are an abomination! And now you’re one of them! They will change all of our women into one of them!”

Shar snarled. “I’m the only one that that has or will ever happen to.”

“Good to know.” He said, then held up his hand.

All of his men stepped forward with automatic weapons pointed at them.

Kota scoffed as he raised his hand and flicked his wrist. The guns flew out of the men’s hands, and horrible sounds came from every man, as their necks broke, and they fell to the ground.

“What the fuck?”

“Not so easy to take us out, Vega.” Dustin said with a growl.

Johnny Vega tilted his head back and laughed. “I’m immortal now. Nothing can stop me!”

“Oh, by the way, the one way to stop him, is Dragon’s fire.” Kota said, then disappeared.

Shar and Dustin grinned at each other.

Vega continued to laugh. “Dragon’s fire? There’s no such thing!”

“Did someone say, Dragon’s fire?!”

Everyone looked up at Bridget on Zephyrus’s back and laughed.

Vega stared at the Dragon in shock and fear. “It can’t be!” He practically screamed.

Bridget grinned. “Because I have a shit load, right here.” She said as she patted the Dragon’s neck.

Zephyrus opened his mouth and blew flames at the undead man.

The Shifters jumped back as the crazed man caught fire and screamed as his body burned. When the flames burned out, there was nothing left, but bone-ash.

“I hope this is the last we will see of that fucker.” Dustin said with a growl.

“Dustin!” Shar hollered as she jumped at her mate.

Dustin chuckled as he caught her and held her. He took a deep breath of her peach scent and sighed.

“Look.” Sebastian said as he pointed at the bone-ash. “It’s trying to form into a human again.”

“Fuck!” Dustin hollered. “Why can’t we get rid of the stupid fucker?!”

A loud whipping sound had the ground vibrating, and everyone staring as the large Dragon landed on Vega’s black body and watched as the ashes floated into the air.

Shar started to giggle, then buried her face in her mate as she started to laugh harder.

Dustin chuckled as he kissed the top of her head.

“Looks like he’s, gone with the wind.” Sebastian said with a smirk.

Everyone looked at him, then burst into laughter.

“Wait. You’re human because you drank Dragon’s blood?” Shar asked Bridget, shocked at what she was hearing.

“Yep.” Bridget said with a grin as she leaned against her mate’s side.

They had gotten home an hour ago, and Bridget and Zephyrus have been telling them their story since they walked in the door.

“This is so cool.” Lyvia said with a grin. “You’re going to be a Shifter, like us.”

Bridget grinned. “Yeah.”

“So, you did this, so you can have his…what did you call it?” Dustin asked as he watched the ex-Vampire.

“Hatchling.” Zephyrus said with a smile.

Daryl studied the Dragon. “So, you accept us as your pack?”

Zephyrus turned to the Alpha and grinned. “I accepted it, the moment I accepted Bridget as my mate.”

Daryl grinned. “That’s good to hear.”

“What all do you need for the ceremony?” Shar asked as she watched the new couple.

“Just a few powerful witches, and you guys.” Zephyrus said with a grin.

“This is so exciting!” Maddy said as she jumped up and down.

“Has Tate gotten back yet?” Shar asked as she turned to Chelsea.

“I’m here, little mama.”

Everyone turned to the Vampire and smiled.

“How are the Shifters and their Humans?” Shar asked as she studied the only Vampire left in their pack. Well, except for his adorable little girl, who had fangs, just like her daddy.

“The six Shifters are alive, and I talked to each couple. They agree that times are getting harder. It wasn’t the first time someone has tried to tear them apart. But it is the closest they have come to actually doing it. They would like to talk to the two Alphas. They all said that being a part of a pack again would make their lives easier.”

Shar smiled as she looked at Pearl. Who had awoken, during the ride home. Shar and Dustin had told her everything that had happened.

“Do you think you could get us more land?” Shar asked the Witch.

Pearl nodded. “You can count on it.”

It took them three weeks to relocate the Shifters and their wives, and another week after that to finish the cave system under Bridget and Zephyrus’s house. It was beautifully done, and Pearl even cast a spell to turn the dirt to cave stone, that looked just like his old cave’s walls.

Pearl and her brother cast a spell that relocated the Dragon’s treasure, and everyone laughed when the Dragon roared his approval.

The day of the ceremony couldn’t come soon enough, for Bridget. She couldn’t wait to be a Dragon, like her mate. And be able to carry his hatchlings.

On the day of the ceremony, everyone gathered in the wildflower field, close to Zephyrus’s old caves.

Bridget stood in the middle of the field, while Pearl, Kota, and Kristoph, formed a circle around her. They didn’t trust anyone else to do the ritual right. If this went wrong, they would lose one of their Fated Mates, forever.

“Are you ready?” Pearl asked as she smiled at Bridget.

Bridget nodded, then closed her eyes and tilted her head back.

Pearl and her brother started chanting as they done the same. Kristoph raised his arms in the air and prayed the Goddesses would give them the power to transform this Human, to a fierce Dragon Shifter.

The wind whipped around them, and Bridget sucked in a breath when it lifted her into the air and spun her in a circle.

Kristoph smiled. “They accept her.”

“Of course, we do, Kristoph.”

Everyone looked at the beautiful Goddess, who floated in the air, above Bridget.

Kristoph smiled at her. “Biason, I ask that you bless this human, with Dragon’s blood, and Dragon’s fire.”

Biason smiled. “Prayer. Answered.” She said, then nodded to them and disappeared.

Bridget took in a deep breath as she was lowered back to the ground.

“Now what?” Shar asked as she watched everything with awe.

“Now, my mate shifts for the first time.” Zephyrus said with a smile.

Bridget looked at her mate. “You mean, that was it?”

Zephyrus laughed as he walked over to her. “That was it.”

“But it was so simple.” She said as she looked around them.

Pearl snorted. “You try pulling a Goddess out of her realm.”

Bridget looked at the Witch, then her father and brother and smiled. “Thank you.”

“Anything for the Fated Mates.” Kristoph said, then disappeared.

“Got to go, Sis.” Kota said, then leaned over and kissed her cheek before he too, disappeared.

“Come on Bridget!” Maddy said as she ran up to her guardian. “I want to see you shift!”

Bridget smiled as she backed away from them. “Are you sure?”

Zephyrus grinned as he nodded to her. “I can smell your Dragon. Go on, get to know her.”

Bridget smiled as she closed her eyes.

Hello?

‘About time you acknowledge me.’

Bridget scowled. But I just got you.

‘I have been here for hundreds of years.’

Bridget opened her eyes and looked at her mate.

“Everything okay?” He asked as he walked up to her. “Is your Dragon there?”

She nodded and told him what her Dragon had said.

He laughed, then leaned forward and whispered into her ear, just for her Dragon.

Bridget heard her Dragon purr and grinned.

‘Very well.’

Are you angry with me?

‘Mate says you did not know I was here, then you did not know I was here. Now, when are you going to let me free?’

Bridget chuckled. Her Dragon was the total opposite of Zephyrus’ Dragon. She wondered if they were going to clash.

‘We will not clash. But he may annoy me.’

Bridget heard the smile in her Dragon’s voice and grinned. She has her own Dragon!

“Come on, Mafilia. Let’s see your Dragon.” Zephyrus said with a grin.

Bridget nodded, then took a deep breath and closed her eyes again.

‘Ah, finally. Free!’

Bridget let her Dragon take control and felt her body fly off into the skies, though her feet were still on the ground.

“Look at that.” Shar said with a gasp as they watched Bridget shift.

Bridget’s skin turned a beautiful shade of blue, then red, as scales popped up on her skin. Blue flames licked at her skin; then red sparks flew off her body as the flames turned the darkest red, they had ever seen. Her body burst into flames, then with a roar, her Dragon broke free.

“Oh, my Goddess.” Lyvia whispered.

“She’s perfect.” Zephyrus said with a grin. “There hadn’t been one of her kind, for hundreds of years, before I was born.”

“She’s beautiful.” Shar said, mesmerized by the blue and white Dragon.

Bridget looked down at herself and squealed with joy. She’s so pretty, she wanted to take pictures of herself. Her scales were sky blue, with a bit darker blue around the edges. And her stomach was the purest, puffy cloud white.

And her wings… She spread out her wings and purred. Just like her mate’s wings, the border was blue, with white in the flaps. She was sure she wasn’t as big as her mate, but she was still huge. Her family was so far away, as she stood on her hind legs to look at herself.

With a loud roar, Zephyrus shifted and moved over to her. She smiled, as best a Dragon could smile.

“Let’s get out of here.” He said, then took to the sky.

With a huff, she spread her wings again, and let her Dragon take control, for the moment. It shouldn’t take her long to learn to fly.

They flew away from their family. After a while of flying, they finally landed by a large river.

“You are so breathtaking.” Zephyrus said as he walked around her, admiring her color.

‘Get it over with, already.’ Bridget’s Dragon said, impatiently.

Are you always this impatient? Bridget asked.

‘Only when I’m in heat, and my mate is circling me like I’m his next meal.’

Bridget chuckled.

“Something funny?” Zephyrus asked.

“My Dragon want’s you to mount her. She’s in heat and impatient.”

Zephyrus laughed. “Patience, Mafilia. Patience.”

‘Patience went out the window when you brought me here. I can smell your Dragon.’

“Uhm, Zeph. She has no patience. She can smell your Dragon and knows he wants her.

‘See, I told you, mate needs me.’

Zephyrus grumbled.

Bridget moved over to her mate and rubbed her head against his neck. “What are you waiting for?”

He turned his long neck and looked at her. “Your Dragon is a virgin.”

She stared at him for a moment, then chuckled. “So is yours.”

He blinked at her, then gave her a toothy grin. “Well, then let’s let them out to play.”

Bridget nodded her large head as she let her Dragon come to the front.

‘Raspberry!’

‘Call me that again, and I will not be responsible for my actions.’

Zephyrus’s Dragon pouted.

Ah, come on, don’t be so hard on him. We smell like raspberries to him.

‘Fine.’ Bridget’s Dragon looked at her mate, then smiled. ‘I guess you can call me Berry.’

‘Berrylicious.’

Bridget chuckled as her Dragon roared with annoyance.

Stop annoying her! Zephyrus growled at his Dragon.

‘But it’s fun. She’s so beautiful, I want to mate her.’

Then do it, just stop annoying her.

‘Fine.’ He said with a huff.

‘I am waiting.’ Bridget’s dragon said impatiently.

Bridget chuckled. You are a very impatient Dragon.

Zephyrus’s Dragon moved over to his mate and rubbed his head against her neck. Bridget smiled when her Dragon purred.

Zephyrus moved behind Bridget and stood up on his hind legs, then leaned over the blue Dragon and pushed inside her.

‘Mine.’