Dragon's Descent Ch 2 (Patreon)

I woke up with the dawn and stretched myself out, blinking because everything was blurry and out of focus.

Did my contacts fall out?

I felt for them and ended up pulling one out to look at it, but then everything became clear.

Blinking, I pulled the other one out and stared at my room in awe. Things were clearer, crisper than they had ever been.

My eyesight was fixed. Insane.

But for all that it was amazing. I needed to get going. Today was Friday, and I had biology. I could start to figure out what was going on once the weekend hit.

Scooping up my clothes, I balled them and hid my nudity as I slipped out into the quiet main room and into the bathroom.

Starting back at me in the mirror was not me enough that I looked over my shoulder.

I reached up and touched my face. It was different, with a squarer jawline and a rugged look between my brows.

My eyesight was fixed, but that was far from the only change that had occurred.

I’d grown several inches, and it was like those pizzas had gone straight to my muscles. It looked like I’d just finished a month long workout boot camp.

Doing a quick spin in the mirror, I couldn’t help but grin. This was amazing, but still things to do. Life didn’t just stop because I miraculously changed over night. I did my normal morning routine, but then a new problem surfaced.

My clothes didn’t fit. I had to rifle through my closet till I came out with a formerly baggy sweatshirt and a pair of old sweatpants.

Only now was what happened last night, and the changes this morning really starting to sink into my pre-coffee brain.

There were supernatural creatures last night. Chad was a werewolf, and she was… my beast had said siren. What that exactly meant in the multitudes of variation in myth was left up to the future.

What was I though?

But in all of that, I was something different. This primal part of me was real and freaking awesome.

I tucked my head and talked to my chest “Beast, are you in there?”.

There was a faint sense of a grouchy grumble and the beast turning over and going back to sleep. Stupid… thing.

I didn’t understand what it was, it just felt powerful. A little smirk turned my lips up. The way I thrashed Chad last night had been something.

Even if I didn’t get a chance with the girl, that had been the highlight of the night.

Leaving my room, I rifled through the kitchen and got the coffee pot going. The smell of my morning pick me up made my stomach growl, as if reminding me I needed more than coffee to survive.

The three pizza boxes from last night were still sitting on the counter. I checked to see in the hopes I didn’t devour a whole three large pizzas last night, but I’d be dead wrong. There was nothing left.

“Zack?” Malinda peeked out of Frank’s room wearing one of his button ups and I hoped something short on underneath.

I decided to ignore her possible nakedness. “Morning Mal. How was your night?” I kept my tone even and casual because I knew it had been a big deal for her to finally hook up with Frank and just wanted to make it seem like nothing had changed for our friend group.

“Uh… good. Is that coffee?”

“Freshly brewed. Grab a cup,” I pointed to a cupboard to her right.

“Thanks…” She trailed off. “This is weird.”

I smirked. She was so focused on what was going on with her, she didn’t even seem to notice I had changed. Then again, I was hiding it under a pretty baggy hoodie and she was distracted.

“I hope it’s okay. Frank and I, that is.” She continues after I was quiet.

The coffee finished, and I gave her the first cup before pouring my own and taking a risky first sip of a piping hot coffee, but it was worth it.

“It was coming for the last few months, surprised it took so long.”

Malinda looked surprised. “Oh. I… didn’t realize you knew.”

“Of course, you two have been sneaking off together.” Don’t get me wrong, Malinda was cute, but she never made my beast growl. Not that I lived by how the beast inside me felt, but now that I knew it was real and after last night, those feelings had a whole new level of importance.

Not to mention she was my best friend’s girl, total non-starter. Frank had been crushing on her since we three started hanging out two years ago in freshmen orientation.

She blew at the top of her coffee a few times before taking a tentative sip. “So, do you guys have any food here? Leftover pizza?” She eyed the pizza boxes.

“I think we are in desperate need of a grocery run. Those boxes are old.” I fibbed.

She wrinkled her nose. “That’s fine I’ll just pick up something on my way home.”

I gave my coffee another tentative sip before deciding it wasn’t going to scorch my mouth to oblivion, because I needed to get going and this was what was going to get me ready. I downed the rest of my cup in a gulp.

It didn’t even tingle on the way down.

“Shit Zack. How did that not hurt?”

“It wasn’t that bad.”

“This coffee is scalding hot.” She gave me a concerned mother look.

I help up my hands and empty cup. “See no problem. I gotta get running to class, I’ll catch you later Mal.” Scooping up my backpack, I booked it out of there before I had to talk to my partially naked best friend in my other best friend’s clothing any longer.

It was okay, just… weird.

But I didn’t let it bother me at all as I swung by the dinning hall for a bagel.

“Hey, I haven’t seen you around before.” A cute girl in line gave me an obvious once over.

“Uh, okay.” I had no idea what to do with that. The beast inside of me gave a content rumble at the compliment, telling me to push forward. “See you later, I gotta run.”

I gotta run. Stupid, she was flirting with you.

The whole way to the biology building I was beating myself up over being surprised in the moment and not jumping on that chance. She was totally flirting with me.

The beast just grumbled at a missed chance, like they were a dime a dozen, and slipped back into sleep.

Now that I knew it was a real thing, I’d been paying more attention to the beast inside of me. It felt huge, like there was this pressure inside of me ready to burst out.

I also felt the best I had ever in my entire life.

That’s when I slipped into biology and the class hadn’t started that I nearly dropped my jaw. Had I really made it halfway across campus in five minutes?

I double checked the time, but I’d really gone that fast.

Class settled in as professor Vandal played some odd reggae music that didn’t fit her buttoned up appearance while she waited for everyone to filter in.

I was actually majoring in business, but you can never seem to escape a well-rounded education, and here I was in what was supposed to be one of the easier science credits.

The back of my neck prickled, and I slowly turned to see none other than the princess herself from last night, only this time she was wearing tight leather pants and a green top.

She was staring dead at me and my turning only seemed to encourage her as she walked down the aisle turning more than a few heads, only to stop at the seat next to me.

“Mind if I sit here?” In a voice that was both natural yet melodic.

I snorted. “Of course, your majesty. How could I bar one such as you.” My voice dripping with snark.

“At least you know your place today.”

I choked on my own tongue at that. “Excuse me?”

She looked genuinely surprised. “Oh. That was a joke, wasn’t it?”

“It’s not quite as funny when you have to say it’s a joke. Sit down, don’t make a scene.” People were starting to turn and look at us.

“You don’t command me.” She sat down anyway. “I must apologize again. I’m having Chad reprimanded. Not how I hoped my first night with him would go.”

“You two just started going out?” My beast perked up.

She scowled at the question. “Our families just engaged us more like. Further consolidation of power by my father.” A heavy sigh punctuated that statement.

“Eww. Sorry you’re stuck with him, he has a bad rap around here.”

“Oh? I hadn’t heard much before I came yesterday. Besides his altercation with you, he seemed alright. Cocky, but that’s par for the course with an alpha wolf.”

The dude had problems with aggression, and last night hadn’t been the best way to meet. But if anything, I felt sorry for her now that I knew it was an arranged marriage.

I didn’t know how to break it to her, but I guess someone did. “Supposedly he’s hurt a few guys.”

She just waved that away. “As an alpha yourself, you must have broken a few bones, no?”

“I’m not quite sure what you think I am, but I’m not a wolf.” There’s no way both the way the beast spoke and how it felt inside of me that I was a werewolf.

“Of course not. The way your trounced Chad, I’d guess a bear or tiger.” She gave me a small smile. “Chad is going to have to adjust not being the alpha on campus.”

I tried to poke my beast and ask if I was a tiger or a bear. All I got in return was a derisive snort and it going back to sleep. If I wasn’t either of those, what was I?

“Not a tiger or a bear. Think bigger.” I tried to tease out what other supernatural creatures there were.

She squinted at me as if it would help her figure out what I was. “Bigger? There isn’t much bigger, unless we step out of the shifter category and into other things. Troll? No, you 're in college I haven’t heard of one of those that passed high school.”

Jadelyn drummed her fingers on her pink lips in thought. “Not a vamp, you don’t have that geeky, broody vibe.” She hummed again before shrugging. “I give up, tell me.”

Oh shit.

That wasn’t supposed to be an option. “Uh…” I didn’t know what to say.

Her eyes scanned mine, finding something in them. “You don’t even know.”

Crap, I was made.

Her eyes darted around before she leaning in and hissed. “Did you even know about the supernatural before last night?”

My dumbfounded look must have been answer enough, because she leaned back and pressed a hand to her forehead. But what came next surprised me most.

“I’m terribly, terribly sorry. Last night was not the introduction you deserved. Had I known you were a lost one…” She sighed. “Please accept my most sincere condolences. It has been over fifty years but we are still finding lost ones so often.”

“Uh. Okay.” I said. She seemed truly distraught and more than a little angry at herself.

She let out a heavy breath. “Then let me be the first to welcome you back into the fold. Everything that goes bump in the night in the stories is real. We…” She paused for a moment to point between me and her for emphasis. “…are real.”

“Alright. Today we are going over mitochondria.” Professor Vandal said, overly enthusiastically.

“And I’m actually a student and need a degree, so we can talk after class.” Jadelyn said, turning back to give the professor her attention.