Chapter 158 Seraphine
The moment Dante and Lucian both agreed Stephen could stay, something inside me snapped tighter instead of loosening.
I didn’t argue.
Didn’t shout.
Didn’t even look at Stephen again.
Because if I did, I was almost certain I would rip him apart.
The urge hadn’t gone away. If anything, it had gotten worse. It was sitting just beneath my skin, vibrating there like a blade pressed too tightly against bone.
So instead of saying another word, I turned and stomped down the hallway toward the bedroom Dante and I had been sharing.
My tail lashed once behind me, knocking into the wall hard enough to leave a dent.
Behind me, I heard Amara whisper, “Oh… that’s not good.”
A second later the bedroom door shut behind me with enough force to rattle the hinges.
I paced once across the room, claws scraping lightly across the hardwood floor. My breathing was too fast. My heart was pounding like I’d just run a mile.
The urge was still there.
Kill him.
My dragon’s voice was low and furious inside my mind.
Wrong. Something is wrong with him.
“It’s my brother,” I muttered under my breath.
She didn’t care.
A knock came a second later before the door cracked open.
Amara slipped inside quickly and shut it behind her.
“You okay?” she asked carefully.
I laughed once, sharp and humorless.
“No.”
She stepped closer.
“Is it Stephen?”
“Yes!” I snapped, pacing again. “I don’t know what the hell is happening but every instinct in my body wants to rip him apart.”
Amara blinked.
“That seems… excessive.”
“You think?” I shot back.
I dragged a hand through my hair. “I know he’s a screwup. I know he sold information. But this—this feels different. It’s like my dragon wants him dead.”
Amara frowned.
“That’s weird.”
“No kidding.”
I turned to say something else—
And then it hit.
Hard.
My dragon surged forward without warning.
Heat exploded through my chest like someone had shoved molten iron down my throat.
I gasped.
Amara froze.
“Seraphine?”
My bones started to move.
Not subtly.
Not gradually.
Violently.
I doubled over with a sharp cry as my spine cracked and lengthened, vertebrae popping one after another. My shoulders widened suddenly, muscles tearing and rebuilding themselves under my skin.
“OH—SHIT,” I snarled.
My claws lengthened involuntarily, gouging deep grooves into the floorboards as scales began erupting across my arms and neck.
The pain hit next.
White-hot.
Every nerve in my body screamed as my rib cage expanded outward like something inside me was forcing space for itself.
Amara stumbled backward.
“Seraphine—what’s happening?!”
“I—DON’T—KNOW!” I gasped.
My dragon was no longer just present.
She was pushing through.
My horns grew larger, curling higher from my skull. My jaw lengthened painfully as my teeth sharpened, fire building deep in my throat like a living thing clawing its way upward.
My back arched violently.
Scales spread across my body like black armor, my tail smashing through the side of the bed frame as my body grew bigger.
And bigger.
And bigger.
Amara’s eyes widened in absolute horror.
“Oh—OH NO.”
My dragon snarled inside my skull.
OUT.
My body surged again—
And the change didn’t stop.
Not halfway.
Not like before.
This time—
It finished.
In the span of seconds the bedroom was no longer big enough to hold me comfortably.
My wings slammed against the walls as I collapsed into a full dragon form, scales gleaming black and red in the dim lighting, claws gouging through the floorboards.
The entire apartment shook.
Amara screamed.
“DANTE! LUCIAN!”
She bolted from the room like her life depended on it.
Honestly?
It probably did.
I couldn’t control anything anymore.
My dragon’s instincts were fully awake now, her growl rumbling through the room like distant thunder.
And the moment Stephen appeared in the doorway—
I lunged.
Fire roared up my throat and blasted outward in a violent stream.
Stephen yelped.
“WHAT THE HELL—”
Lucian shoved him sideways just in time.
The flames slammed into the hallway wall instead, scorching black marks across the plaster as heat exploded through the apartment.
“What the hell happened?!” Dante shouted.
He grabbed Amara and yanked her backward as the edge of the fire blast nearly caught her hair.
Lucian was already pushing Stephen toward the door.
“She’s targeting him!” Lucian barked.
“Why?!”
“I don’t know!”
My dragon snarled again, smoke curling from my nostrils as I stalked forward across the ruined bedroom.
Lucian shoved Stephen toward the living room.
“Dante!” he shouted. “You’re going to have to change!”
Dante froze.
“What?”
“You heard me!” Lucian snapped. “You’re the only one who can handle her like this!”
Dante hesitated, his eyes flicking toward me.
“What if I can’t change back?” he said quietly.
The memory hung there between them.
Last time.
Lucian didn’t hesitate.
“We’ll figure it out,” he said firmly.
Then he grabbed Amara’s arm and shoved Stephen toward the front door.
“I’m locking the apartment down. Getting them out just in case.”
Stephen stumbled as he was dragged away.
“JUST IN CASE?!”
Lucian ignored him.
Within seconds the hallway cleared as he hauled both of them out of the danger zone.
The bedroom doorframe cracked as my wings shifted.
My eyes locked onto the retreating shape of Stephen—
And I lunged again.
Dante stepped directly in front of me.
“Seraphine!”
My dragon snarled, fire building again.
Whatever the hell Stephen is, he set her off, I forced out through the bond.
Dante frowned.
“That doesn’t make sense,” he said. “Stephen’s human.”
My dragon growled louder.
No.
And then Dante’s body began to change.
The shift hit him hard.
His spine arched violently as horns tore from his skull, fire exploding outward along his shoulders. Bones cracked and reshaped as his body expanded rapidly, muscles tearing and rebuilding as scales erupted across his skin.
The transformation wasn’t graceful.
It was brutal.
Painful.
Dante dropped to one knee with a grunt as his wings burst free from his back, shredding through the seams of his shirt.
Seconds later...
There were two fire dragons in a bedroom that was suddenly way too small for either of us.
The walls creaked ominously.
Smoke curled along the ceiling.
And my dragon bared her teeth.
Because whatever this was, it was about to get messy.