Skyborn (Dragons & Druids #1)(7)

I shifted slowly and saw that Logan was leaning in the entryway, his eyes thin slits as he watched me. He wore dark-wash denim jeans and a vintage tight t-shirt, and I could smell his wood essence from here.

He cleared his throat. “Did you find the sandwich?”

I nodded, motioning to the empty plate in the sink as he crossed the room over to the counter I was leaning on and pulled out a barstool.

“I will answer any questions you have to the best of my abilities, but first you need to answer a few of mine.”

I shrugged. “Fair enough.”

He nodded. “First. What’s your name?”

His question surprised me, it was so normal. I hadn’t realized until now that I had never told him my name.

“Sloane. Sloane Murphy.”

Something crossed his face, an emotion I couldn’t read, and then it was gone. He extended his left tattooed hand. “Logan Sharp.”

I took his hand in mine and immediately the heat coiled in my belly, throbbing. Yanking my hand back, I played with the texture of my jeans to distract myself.

Logan looked tense, muscles tight and features drawn. He looked … like he was in pain.

“Are you okay?” I asked tentatively. Maybe me pulling my hand back so abruptly offended him. I didn’t know what dragon shifter greeting protocol was.

Inhaling, he took a deep breath and looked more relaxed. “Fine,” he grumbled. “Just usually more in control of my dragon.”

I nodded, because I understood. I had zero control over mine.

“Speaking of dragons…” He pinned me with a stare. “How the hell are you one?”

I recoiled. “What? You’re supposed to tell me that!”

He opened his arms as if to say he was as in the dark as I was. Great. I groaned. This guy was supposed to have all of my answers.

“I have no idea,” I told him. “One second I’m a human hiking along the rim of the Grand Canyon, and the next I’m falling—my body rips in two and becomes a dragon freak show.” My dragon stirred at that and I got the sense she didn’t like me calling her a freak show. Were we separate? It felt like we were. Kind of. Wow. Sounded like a multiple personality disorder. Maybe this was all a part of a massive paranoid delusion? I thought I was a dragon and now I was having delusions that I met another hot male dragon. Yikes, I needed to be committed for sure.

Logan stood quickly and began pacing. “Hold on. You were a human for twenty-one years and only recently transformed for the first time?” His voice was coated in shock.

I threw my arms up. “Either that or I’m having paranoid delusions!”

He stopped pacing and gave me a look filled with pity. “You’re not crazy. I saw your dragon with my own two eyes … but it’s not possible. When dragons are born, they transform right after hatching. They flit between human and dragon a dozen times a day in their first year as a youngling. The hunters would have gotten to you then.”

At some point I must have grabbed my head, because I was massaging my temples.

“I was born in a hospital, as a baby. A human baby. I have pictures and all that. Like I told you, I just recently turned, or whatever you call it.”

He was pacing madly around the kitchen, chewing a fingernail and wafting his yummy scent at me as he passed. “Who’s your mother?” he asked suddenly.

A pang of sadness went through me at the random question. “She’s … dead. Died of breast cancer when I was sixteen.”

He stopped pacing and gave me a look that you would find at the pound right before an animal was euthanized. “I’m sorry to hear that. She was … your real mother?”

I snapped my head back, offended. “Yes! Red hair and all!” I tossed a lock of my crimson hair up in the air.

He put up his hands in defense. “Right. Sorry. And your dad?”

I chewed my bottom lip. This guy was getting awfully personal when he had yet to answer any of my questions, but I could see where he was going with this. “He died before I was born. But my mom never mentioned he was a dragon,” I added sarcastically.

Logan chewed on another nail. I wasn’t sure he would have any left by the time this conversation was over.

“Even if your father was a dragon, it wouldn’t explain why you never transformed for over twenty years. And it sure as hell wouldn’t be possible without a female dragon to mate with.”

I shrugged and stood as well. I didn’t like being looked down on. How was I expected to answer all of these questions? I knew nothing about this new and terrifying world.

“Now you answer some questions for me,” I ordered.

He seemed to snap out of whatever thoughts had him captivated, and looked at me with those deep emerald eyes.

“Okay. What do you want to know?” His body turned towards me and I tried not to remember what he looked like with his shirt off. I don’t care what he smelled, my dragon was still in heat, because these thoughts weren’t mine.

“Who are the hunters and why do they want to kill me?” I folded my arms and my red mane fell in a curtain around my face.

Logan seemed to be considering what to tell me. His eyes had narrowed and he wasn’t speaking, he was just … looking at me.

“And don’t lie!” I jabbed a finger in his direction and was rewarded with a devastatingly handsome smile.