She turned on the water in the tub and added some of the deliciously scented bubble bath. Bubbles rose to fill the surface as she returned to the sink. She studied her reflection in the mirror, searching for any sign the potion was wearing off and she was changing.
She looked the same as yesterday, except the shadows under her eyes were a little darker. Her fangs were the same, as was her eye color and everything else about her.
Still, she leaned closer and turned her head back and forth as she searched for something… anything that may prove what her dad and Sahira said was true.
If she was different, then she couldn’t tell. She wasn’t sure if this relieved or disappointed her.
She lifted one of the two toothbrushes from the sink, opened the silver wrapping around it, and put on a small dab of toothpaste from the bottle beside it. The toothbrush was made of smooth wood, and she wasn’t sure what the bristles were, but it felt fantastic to scrub her teeth.
When she finished, she turned off the water in the tub and climbed into it. The warm water helped ease some of the lingering soreness from her muscles, and she was sure that whatever was in the bubble bath helped too. She used a small, yellow, unbelievably soft cloth to clean her skin before washing her hair and shaving.
The water was starting to cool by the time she climbed out, enveloped herself in a plush towel, and left the bathroom. Her feet were noiseless against the wooden floor as she strode over to the window. She pulled aside a corner of a curtain to peer at the yard below.
Saddled horses were tied to the posts in front of the inn. They munched on the lush grass beneath their feet while wild horses grazed on the land in the meadow beyond. She was glad to see they’d returned after hiding from the dragon.
She heard voices outside but didn’t see anyone. Lexi was about to let the curtain fall back into place but froze when she saw her fingertips.
In the rays of the sun spilling across them, little currents of what looked like golden electricity danced across her fingers. The breath she didn’t realize she was holding started to burn in her lungs, and she released it on a loud “puh.”
That golden light illuminated the curtain, and she managed to react enough to release it before she set it on fire. Lifting her hand before her, she studied it as the rays fell over her hand and down her forearm.
The golden light continued to emanate from her fingers, but she realized it wasn’t like electricity; instead, it was an actual light radiating out of her. When she touched the tips of her fingers to her other arm, she didn’t get a zap as she would from electricity.
It didn’t hurt at all.
But the movement drew her attention to her forearms and the silver markings on them. Her mouth went so dry her tongue stuck to the roof of it.
The marks ran from her fingertips almost to her elbows, and they emerged everywhere the sun touched her skin. As she examined them more closely, she realized they looked like…
Dragon scales!
The knowledge hit her so hard that she felt like someone had hammered a fist into her gut. She labored to breathe as she twisted her arm before her.
The light on her fingers grew brighter. She glanced down at her other arm, the one still hidden in the shadows, to discover it remained normal.
Taking a deep breath, she tried to steady the tremor in her fingers as she lifted her other arm toward the light. The second the sun touched her skin, that light flared to life at the ends of her fingers, and the scale-like pattern emerged on her flesh.
Breath coming faster, Lexi was nearly panting as she twisted her arms before her in awe. She may not have seen any changes in the bathroom mirror, but she couldn’t deny them now.
And she couldn’t deny what she was.
It wasn’t until then she realized that she hadn’t quite believed her dad or Sahira. Or not so much as she didn’t believe them; it was more like she was sure they had to be wrong somehow. But they weren’t wrong, and she couldn’t live in denial.
She was not what she’d always believed herself to be.
And her already complicated life was about to get a whole lot more so.
Chapter Fifty-Two
Cole shifted his hold on the tray to slip the key into the lock and turn it. He opened the door and froze when he spotted Lexi with her hands raised in front of her.
The golden glow emanating from her hands highlighted the dark spill of wet hair tumbling down her back, as well as the sun-kissed hue of her skin.
It also revealed the markings on her arms and the golden aura radiating from her fingertips. He’d never seen anything so beautiful, but even as he stood there, admiring the power she emanated, terror crept into his bones.
The potion was wearing off, her arach powers were starting to reveal themselves, and no one was entirely sure what that would bring. He was certain what was happening to her would put the biggest target on her back.
Fuck!
He’d known this was coming after what Del revealed—well, not this exactly, as he never could have imagined the glow or what looked like scales on her arms—but he’d expected more time.
Although, he hadn’t expected to chase a dragon through the Gloaming or for her abilities to break through so soon. Now that they were, Lexi would have to go into hiding until she could get her powers under control.
And then, he realized she was standing in front of the window and the door was still open. With a muttered curse, he stepped into the room and kicked the door shut behind him.
Lexi’s head turned toward him as he set the food tray down on the dresser and crossed to her. His step faltered when he saw her eyes. Those beautiful, magnificent, and, he had to admit, a little eerie, eyes gazed up at him in awe.
For a second, he forgot that anyone could look up and see her as his eyes searched hers. Gone was the lovely green he’d come to know and love so well.
In its place was a shade of gold so deep it rivaled any metal pulled from this or any other land. And in the center of all that gold was a slitted pupil…
Just like those of the dragons.
That pupil told him more about the arach powers than anything he’d ever heard before. Turning away from her, he pulled the curtain from her hand and tugged it snuggly into place.
“Get away from the window,” he commanded.
Lexi kept her hands up as she backed away from the window. He pulled the curtain back a little bit to peer outside. Thankfully, he didn’t see anyone out there. That didn’t mean someone hadn’t seen her.
Gritting his teeth, he turned toward her. He wanted to yell at her, “What were you thinking? What were you doing?” But the words clogged in his throat.
Those questions would only be his panic talking, and that was not what she needed. She needed to be protected and given time to grow into what she would become; yelling at her wouldn’t help with that.
The lycan part of him didn’t agree, but thankfully, the more logical, dark fae part of him was in charge right now.
She’d been standing there, absorbing the sun’s rays, with the curtain open, because she was fascinated by what was happening to her. She wasn’t doing it to put herself in danger purposely; she’d just never seen anything like it before.
Neither had he, and he couldn’t deny he’d wanted to do the same thing as her.
But if anyone saw her, the Lord would unleash hell on them. They weren’t prepared for a battle against him yet. They had to learn what she could do first and if she could bring the dragons to their side.