Free A Dragon's Dream of Love (Song of the Sídhí Series #2) by Jodie B. Cooper

sack.
    Peals of laughter erupted as Leah
watched him dance around the campsite as he tried to untangle the snake vine
from his ankle. The harmless purple vine had scales like a snake and grew in
the tops of the tallest trees in a bid to reach the sunlight.
    The thought of her climbing that high
sent shivers of fear down his back, but one look at her grinning face and he
couldn't be upset with her, not when he'd played the same trick on his sister
the year before.
    They stopped for lunch near a
multi-tiered waterfall. The natural layers of rock and vegetation towered
twenty feet high and had water streaming down moss covered rocks.
    Leah silently accepted a cold hot dog.
Not for the first time, he was glad for the fairy sack that kept food ice cold
for months at a time. He briefly wondered how mundanes managed to eat on long
camping expeditions.
    “What's it like to change shape?” Leah
asked, her eyes reflected genuine curiosity.
    He exhaled a sigh and relief flowed
through him. He had wanted to show her his other shape, but feared it would
freak her out.
    “It's the most awesome experience you
could ever imagine. When I shift, I see and hear and smell things I never
notice when I'm in my human form.”
    She smiled, encouraging him to
continue.
    “In Haven, we don't think anything
about shifting at the drop of a hat since about fifty percent of the population
are shifters,” he said, grinning at her gasp of surprise.
    “Does it hurt?” Her lips twisted in a
grimace and he wondered why she looked so fearful.
    “No, not even the first time,” he said,
trying to reassure her, but she didn't look convinced. “I can show you.”
    Her face brightened with a wide smile.
“I've wondered what type of shifter you are, but some races are so odd about
what they think is rude.”
     “Had you asked anyone else, it would
have been the ultimate rudeness.” He chuckled, rolling his shoulders. “But I
don't mind if you ask me.”
    “Okay, so what are you?” Her eyes
sparkled, turning deep purple as she looked up at him.
    He didn't answer her; at least not
verbally. He focused inward, centering his mind on shifting his human form into
four feet with fur. Heat flowed through him, warm and welcome. Instantly, the
transformation tingled through every cell in his body as the synth crystal
shifted under his direction.
    Her mouth dropped open in shock.
    He grinned, revealing a mouthful of
deadly teeth. His tail flicked back and forth as excitement flowed through his
body.
    Rushing forward, he butted his head
against her raised knee. OMG! She smelled good enough to eat.
    ~ ~ ~
    When they stopped for lunch in a
beautiful glade, Leah couldn't relax enough to enjoy the beauty of the giant
mound of moss covered rocks. Her birthday loomed and still no dragon in sight.
Last night she wondered if she should turn around and head back to camp, but
she knew it was too late. For better or worse, she was stuck in the middle of a
forest without a dragon anywhere near, and she didn't want to dump her mess in
Derek's lap.
    She knew something was happening within
her body. It started yesterday. Every few hours she became flushed, growing hot
and tingling from the inside out. Earlier that morning it grew worse,
tremendously worse as her body ached and her muscles spasmed each time a hot
flash hit her.
    She had a really bad feeling the pain
would grow a lot worse before it got better. If her mom's cryptic remark was
anything to go by, she'd be dead.
    She sighed, trying to yank her mind
from such a morbid thought, but reality loomed ever bigger and closer. She
needed to warn Derek. She should have disappeared into the forest, but she had
a feeling he would hunt her down if she did.
     Talking to Derek about shifting into
another form was her only other option. She had argued with herself for most of
the night, but arrived at the same answer every time.
    Yeah, she also needed to warn him, she
might drop dead any minute. She was sure he'd love hearing