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CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

CJ

I’ve spent my entire life wondering if this moment will ever arrive. It’s never been closer, but I’m still unsure it will work.

The courtyard isn’t exactly bustling with activity beneath the baleful glow of the Crimson Moon—its light painting everything in shades of blood and shadow—but it’s not empty either.

From our vantage point in the shadows to the west, I can see the entire area.

The stone benches where students normally gather, the ornamental fountain gurgling and bubbling, and the ancient, scorched tree that has seen centuries of magical education.

All of it soon to witness something SilverGate has never seen before.

Or has it? We’ve seen evidence of dragons existing here before. Perhaps not for centuries, but I’m betting at least one fucker on these grounds has seen something like me before, and his name starts with B and ends with cuntface.

“Are you sure about this?” I ask Isolde one last time, my voice tight with tension.

She squeezes my hand, her silver eyes reflecting the crimson light. “No. But this is one way to force everyone out into the open.”

William stands to my right. I can see why they called him the Butcher.

He has a blade in his hand that looks like it could cleave a centaur in half with one fell swoop.

“Once you shift, there’s no going back. Your secret will be out, and every Hunter in existence will know exactly where to find you. ”

“I’m aware,” I mutter. “My parents are going to absolutely lose their shit.”

“Focus on the now and why,” Cassiel advises, his wings half-spread in preparation. “We each have our roles. Yours is to create enough chaos that Blackridge can’t ignore it.”

Isolde moves in front of me, placing her hands on my chest. “Twenty minutes. Then I’m guessing we will be surrounded by Collectors, possibly Damadere, a furious Blackridge and various other distractions that will make your parents pale in comparison.”

“You clearly don’t know my parents,” I say with a half-smile.

“Not yet.”

I nod, leaning down to kiss her fiercely.

She tastes of magic and midnight, and I try not to think that this might be the last time I kiss her as the man I’ve always been.

What if I can’t shift back? What if I stay a dragon forever, and I will have to go and live in my half-sister’s Empire in the Dragon Realms?

“Be careful,” I murmur against her lips.

“You too. But I’ll be okay,” she promises, though we both know it’s a lie. Blackridge seems to know everything before it happens. “He’ll be too busy dealing with a dragon in his courtyard.”

She kisses William and Cassiel quickly, then she slips away, vanishing into the shadows of the main building, heading towards Blackridge’s office while he’s still unaware of our plan.

“We are doing the one thing we said we wouldn’t do,” Cassiel says sternly.

“Leave her alone?” I ask, although I already know the answer.

“Yes.”

“We have to trust she needs us here,” I say slowly, trying to convince myself. “We have to trust ourselves to make enough chaos that Blackridge will be here and not with her.”

“And if we don’t?”

“Then we let Butcher Billy off his leash until Blackridge determines he is a threat worth leaving her for.”

“Oh, don’t,” William says with a smile full of malice. “You’re turning me on, Aquila.”

“Yeah, well keep your dick in your pants until after Isolde is safe from everyone, then you are free to ravage her.”

“I look forward to it. Ready?” William asks, his runes beginning to glow faintly beneath his skin.

“No,” I admit. “But it’s now or never.”

I step out into the courtyard, the Crimson Moon’s light washing over me like warm blood.

Cassiel calls softly from behind me, “Don’t fight the transformation. Let it come naturally.”

Easy for him to say. He’s not about to rip himself apart and rebuild into something a hundred times his size. At least, I hope that’s it. Who the fuck knows what I will shift into at this point?

I move to the middle of the courtyard. Closing my eyes, I focus inward, seeking the part of myself I’ve never met before. The dragon blood that flows alongside my vampire nature, two predators coexisting, with the vampire part dominating me for my whole life.

Until now.

“Come on,” I whisper to myself, feeling the first stirrings of the change. Heat floods my veins, bringing with it a deep, primal hunger for something beyond blood. For freedom. For flight. For fire.

Nothing happens.

A feeling of anxiety that I’ve never experienced before rises up as I stand exposed in the courtyard, trying and failing to trigger this transformation. What if I can’t do it? What if the vampire side has become too dominant?

“Focus on something that makes you angry,” William suggests, sensing my struggle. “Really angry.”

I search for that anger, digging past surface irritations to find the molten core of rage I keep buried. Images flash through my mind—Hunters pursuing my family, my mother’s capture years ago, my father’s grief and fury.

But it’s not enough. The transformation remains locked away.

“Blackridge,” Cassiel murmurs. “Think about Isolde feeding from him. Think about his wicked thoughts as she drank his blood.”

“Oh, fuck no,” I growl. That strikes closer to the bone. I picture Blackridge’s eyes closed in ecstasy as Isolde swallows his blood, knowing the pleasure that brings to me.

“He’s going to win,” William says, his voice cold and deliberate. “While you stand here failing, he’s going to corner her and force his dick in her, ruining her, destroying her, breaking her… And we’ll all be discarded once he’s done with her.”

“Erm,” Cassiel says. “I think you went a bit too far.”

“Did I?” William asks.

No. He went just far enough. The rage rises higher, as my vision tints red. The markings beneath my skin burn like molten metal, and I feel something shift inside me. Gleaming, black crystal scales form on the surface of my skin.

“He touched her,” William continues mercilessly. “His blood flows in her veins now. Part of him lives inside her, whispering, guiding, controlling, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

My bones snap. The pain is exquisite, a burning agony that steals my breath.

I fall to my knees, a grunt tearing from my throat that shifts midway into a bestial roar. My bones shatter and reform, my jaw extending, teeth multiplying and growing into razor-sharp fangs. My skull reshapes itself, horns erupting from my temples, curving back over my elongating neck.

The world grows smaller as I expand, muscle and bone and scale stretching me beyond human-like proportions. My hands and feet crack and reform into massive claws, each talon a black crystal dagger capable of shredding stone.

Wings burst from my back in a spray of blood that evaporates instantly in the heat of my transformation. They unfurl, vast membranes supported by crystal-scaled spines, spreading wide enough to cast the entire courtyard in shadow from the Crimson Moon above.

The pain recedes as the transformation completes, replaced by a rush of sensations so intense I nearly lose myself in them. Scents I never knew existed flood my nostrils. Sounds beyond vampire hearing reach my ears. My vision sharpens, colours taking on dimensions I lack words to describe.

And the power. Gods, the power.

Magic flows through my draconic form like electricity until I feel I could tear SilverGate apart with a thought.

I rise to my full height, towering over the courtyard, at least fifty feet tall.

Black crystal scales cover every inch of my massive body, catching the crimson light and reflecting it in facets of deep purple and midnight blue.

Steam rises from my nostrils as I exhale, the air around me warping with heat.

William and Cassiel stare up at me, momentarily stunned despite knowing what was coming. From this height, they look so fragile, so small. The dragon instincts that flood my mind suggest how easily I could crush this Academy to dust.

A scream echoes around the courtyard. Then another. And another. Within moments, the entire academy erupts with shouts of terror and alarm. Lights flare to life in windows across SilverGate as students and staff are roused by the commotion.

William steps forward, shoving the blade in the back of his pants for now, his runes blazing beneath his skin as he raises his hands.

Dark energy crackles between his fingers, and with a sharp gesture, he sends a bolt of destructive magic slamming into the fountain.

Stone explodes, water spraying in all directions as the ancient sculpture shatters.

“What the hell?” he shouts, his voice carrying across the courtyard with magical enhancement. “SilverGate is under attack!”

Cassiel takes to the air, his black wings carrying him in sweeping arcs around the courtyard. He releases his power, bolts of uncelestial light striking the ground in random patterns.

The chaos we wanted has definitely kicked off.

Students gather around, some running away, the ones looking for a fight run towards us, all wide-eyed as they spot the massive dragon dominating their courtyard. Professors emerge moments later, magic already gathering around their hands as they assess the threat.

My thoughts are coherent in this form, as I expected them to be. Slightly more bloodthirsty, which is a surprise because I didn’t think I could get any more violent. But I guess there is always room.

I roar, the sound shaking the foundations of SilverGate. Windows rattle in their frames, stone cracks, and several students collapse to their knees, hands clapped over their ears. The raw power in that sound vibrates through my massive chest and echoes across the academy grounds.

Professor Winters is the first to attack, launching a barrage of ice spears toward my flank. I swipe them from the air with one massive, clawed hand, the ice shattering against my crystal scales without leaving so much as a scratch.