“Nice art work.” A deep of a man echoed.

  I jumped at the voice.

  Ashara roared in skull.

  “Behind you!”

  I spun so fast I almost tripped over my own feet. My heart launched into my throat.

  A man stood at the end of the alley, half-shadowed, hood pulled low. I couldn’t see his face just the outline of his rather form fitting clothes and tight boots.

  Ashira hissed, her tail snapping against the asphalt. “I’ll—” she froze. Just for a beat.

  Oh shit.

  Is that?

  A dragon!

  It was bigger than Ashira like it could have been at least 120 pounds.

  “We’ve been watching you, Artist!” He announced.

  We’re in the loading dock many places to run if Ashira follows.

  She stood tall chest puffed out.

  “Stay behind me.” Ashira whispered in my skull.

  The dragon next to the man a let a low rumble from its chest.

  It wasn’t a threat—it was a warning.

  “Nice to meet you and your dragon.” His voice was smooth, but there was something coiled beneath it. “She’s on the smaller side, but…” He let the pause stretch just long enough for my skin to crawl. “…Well, mine may be bigger. But we need a rune maker.”

  I blinked. “We?”

  His smile was the kind that didn’t reach his eyes. “You have no idea what you’ve stumbled into, Rune Weaver. You’re valuable. Which means you’re not safe—not from the people looking for you now.”

  Ashira’s tail twitched once, sharp and fast.

  This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

  “He’s a threat that needs to be vanquished!”

  “Well, if you take one more step my dragon will roast you,” I said flatly.

  “Then we stop being strangers.” He took a step forward, his dragon mirroring the movement—silent, predatory, and way too close for comfort. “My name is Kade. This is Vorren. And you made many runes that are breaching runes.”

  He was too calm. Too confident for being this close to “a breach.”

  “Nice to meet you Kade and Vorren. My name is Sketch and this is Ves.” I kept my tone like ice, steady enough to make it clear I wasn’t about to fold.

  Ashira—Ves—snorted, a curl of smoke drifting from her nostrils like punctuation.

  Kade’s eyebrow ticked up, just barely. “A fake name. Interesting choice.”

  “Occupational hazard,” I said.

  He studied me for a moment, as if weighing something I couldn’t see. Then his gaze flicked to the glowing lines still pulsing in my mural. “Those aren’t just ‘tags,’ Sketch.

  They’re breach charges. If someone tries to wash that off they are going to take that wall down and have an explosive accident.”

  My stomach twisted at the fact I could send someone to the moons and back. Not exactly the kind of talent you want to discover in the middle of a dark loading dock with a stranger and his oversized lizard.

  Ashira’s voice was razor-sharp in my head.

  “We’ll talk about your abilities later.”

  He took one step back. “I have a job for you, but first we need you to dispel these runes before someone dies.”

  I blinked.

  “So, you’re going to help me and in exchange you're going to have me make some runs for you am I correct?”

  “Correct all I need is five of those and you will need to come to the job with me.” He said with a smirk.

  Well, I’m damn sure not using my car for this job and Ashira is too small for me to ride. She forty pounds soaking wet.

  He placed his hand on his hip. “Well, you know they can shift sizes right?” He mocked.

  My mouth unhinged at the thought of me riding on Ashira.

  That’s when his dragon grew to the size of a school bus. I looked at my dragon.

  I have to be tripping on mushrooms, LSD, mynth, or have a really weird dream.

  Because there was no way I watched a murder-lizard unfold into the size of public transportation.

  Vorren’s wings stretched wide, the shadows swallowing half the dock. His talons could’ve crushed my entire car like it was a soda can.

  Ashira sniffed, tail curling.

  “Don’t look at me like that. I’m around the size of that car you have, and I want to go back to bed.”

  “Listen here you little shit. He’s giving me an out so go do your growing and I will get you a premium steak cut for breakfast. And on the ride back to the dorm you will get the seat warmer on full blast. Okay” I said in a Stern voice like I was talking to a child.

  Only the gods know if she’s a child.

  She looked up at me those big green eyes, “fine I will, but I want two steaks.” She grumbled trotting to find space to grow.

  Then it happened Ashira’s bones cracked and popped like popcorn. She grew rather quickly, when I looked up to find her taller and longer. She had to be the same size as Vorren or a little bigger.

  My jaw was practically on the ground like a cartoon character. She was well, majestic in all the right ways. Still the main question is, how am I am going to ride her with no saddle?