Page 106 of Claim the Light
I make my choice.
Finally, I decide to shake off the shackles of my old life, the perceptions of strength that plagued me from the day I was born. Finally, I accept that I deserve to be loved and respected and treated with kindness. That I can find happiness in things that don’t cost anything. That I can give love and expect my love to be valued and cherished in return.
Right there and then, I strip off my dress and underwear, since I’ll need them intact later.
I expect Tyler to comment on the fact that I’ve removed my clothing, to make some degrading remark, but it seems he’s fixated on my claim that my power should be feared.
“Your power is nothing.” His lips twist with derision. “Life is weak. It’s fragile. I can crush it in a heartbeat. I can crushyouin a heartbeat.”
He blusters when I don’t react to his taunts, screaming at me. “You’re nothing without me!”
“I’meverythingwithout you,” I say, and then I set my power free.
CHAPTERTHIRTY-NINE
My perspective changes as my body transforms, my line of sight rising higher as the shift consumes me.
Cerulean-blue wings spread at my sides, growing in length and width proportionate to my chest, which expands exponentially. My arms and legs and neck thicken and my tailbone extends, and all of it happens so smoothly that there’s no pain.
Only a blissful release as my body takes the shape of the dragon I want to be.
A full dragon shift.
Tyler stumbles backward. “Impossible! No dragon can shift like that anymore.”
“I can,” I rumble, marveling at the deep growl in my voice as I lower my enormous head and consider his… well… rather puny body.
My claws alone are as large as his forearms and my tail could slap him a mile in any direction.
I consider my scales for a moment. Not quite the color I want…
So I change them, lightening the shade to an icy blue.
At that, freezing air frosts across my back and forms a flurry of snowflakes. They lift around me, sparkling and new, before I warm my breath, breathe out, and turn the snowflakes into rain.
It patters to the marble floor.
Tyler tries once again to rise into the air, frantically beating his wings. Despite his ability to move across the floor, he still can’t fly.
“What the fuckareyou?” he shouts. “How are you doing this?”
“My power isn’t life,” I say, lowering my head to his again and baring my teeth. “It’s evolution.”
He’s shaking his head, a vigorous denial, but I expected nothing less.
My body shivers as I will myself back to my former humanoid shape, but this time, I give myself cerulean-blue hair and a violet-colored dragonfly tattoo on my left shoulder. Just for the hell of it.
I pull my clothing back on, briefly testing my power on it, and confirming that I have no effect on inanimate objects.
“I cried out for change, so that’s what I was given,” I say. “I can change any aspect of myself. I can evolve back and forth according to my whim. But the thing is…”
I narrow my eyes at Tyler, who has regained a little of his bravado now that I’m not a towering dragon anymore. “I believe I can force you to change, too.”
Heading straight toward him, I stretch out my hand.
He backs away, slowly at first, and then faster as my approach pushes him in an arc around the dark space.
“I could give you the ability to fully shift,” I say. “Or the power to breathe fire. Or I could make your heart kind. But I won’t do any of those things because you don’t deserve them. All you deserve is what you chose for yourself: death.”
