Free Hunted (Book 2) by Megg Jensen

blue. If Tressa and
Jarrett’s story was accurate, Stacia was the only adult female blue dragon,
which meant all the eggs were hers. He didn’t want to connect the missing
piece. So if Connor claimed one was his… Bastian shook his head, trying to force
the thought out. No. Stacia had tried to kill Connor. She hadn’t used him as a
mate.
    Connor tossed a stick to Fotia, letting her fetch and
return it. He waved his hands above her head. She jumped, mouth wide open,
teeth bared, attempting to grab a hold of him. It was too similar to the way
Connor had played with his own boys back in Hutton’s Bridge.
    Something, or someone, had stolen Connor’s memory. Bastian needed
to find a way to restore his friend to the man he’d known since boyhood.
    “Connor, wait
for me." Bastian followed the dragon’s mewling through the dense trees,
ducking under branches and stepping through wet piles of decaying leaves. He’d
been so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he’d lost track of them. Fotia’s
high-pitched whine still echoed in the forest, but Connor had gone silent.
    Bastian spied Fotia through the drooping branches of the
willows closest to the river. She played on the edge of the water. Dipping a
leg in, then pulling it back. Connor stood next to her, naked. He lay supine on
the ground, splaying his arms and legs out to the side. Fotia jumped over him,
flapping her little wings. She didn’t gain any more air than the jump allowed.
Her wings flapped uselessly in the light breeze.
    Connor’s body began to twitch. First, his legs, then his
arms. His back jolted up and down, slamming against the ground in a frenzy. If
it weren’t for the blissful smile on his face, Bastian would have barreled
through the vegetation to help him. And Connor’s smile only grew wider as his
arms and legs began to change.
    His limbs contorted and stretched. Elbows and knees turned
out. His light skin sprouted blue scales. His sandy hair sank into his skin as
his head grew as his nose and mouth merged into a long snout.
    Bastian trembled. Every inch of his entire body shuddered
over and over like the little waves lapping on the shore of the river. Bastian
held back a wave of nausea, swallowing the bile and memories of his dear friend
from home. Simple Connor. Not this...this thing in front of him.
    Connor morphed into a dragon, taller than the highest
branches, wider than a copse of trees. His jaw dropped, and a plume of
controlled fire followed a great roar.
    Bastian stumbled backward, his arse hitting a tree trunk.
His arms reached behind him, holding onto the tree. Sweat pooled at his
eyebrows, threatening to drip into his eyes.
    His best friend. A dragon. And not just any dragon. It was
the same one who’d helped Tressa and Jarrett fight Stacia.
    “Bastian!” It came from behind. Elinor. She’d come back.
    “Go,” Bastian yelled over his shoulder, afraid to take his
eyes off the beast that was now splashing in the river, grabbing fish in his
teeth, and flinging them into Fotia’s eager, open mouth. “Run away. Don’t look
back.”
    “No, I’m not going anywhere,” Elinor said. She laid a soft
hand on Bastian’s forearm. “You can relax. He’s not going to hurt you.”
    “How would you know?” Bastian asked, still holding tight to
the tree. “He’s nothing like the friend I grew up with. He’s changed
into…something else. I don’t even know what. How can a human be a dragon? How
can they change?"
    “In my order, we know ancient things. Some of them are
fact, others just theory. For a long time, we attempted to discover the nature
of the dragons. Where they came from, how they reproduced. It was important for
us to know in case we were ever called on to heal one of the ruler’s beasts.”
She tugged on Bastian’s arm until it dropped to his side. “The people of my
order came up with strange hypotheses, none of which we’d ever been able to
test.” She let out a small breath. “Until now.”
    Bastian forgot his