Yes, they'd be naked at the end of it, but she didn't care. She'd never seen anyone shift before, nor even had the chance to ask about it.
Did it hurt? How often could they do it? Could they ever get stuck in one form or the other?
But now, it was possible. Or, at the very least, soon would be.
Of course, that reminded her of the dragonman next to her. Somehow tearing her gaze away from the mismatched cabins, houses, and taller buildings of indiscriminate nature, she asked, "Will you show me your dragon form soon?"
Jose grunted an affirmative. "Yes, once we get settled. Believe me, my inner beast is anxious to come out and even threatening to shift right now."
The ADDA employee spoke up from the driver's seat. "I'd rather not have my car turn into a crushed pile of metal, thank you very much." Ashley pulled in front of one of the larger buildings that had four or five stories. It could've been a store or a sort of central government building, if Victoria had to guess. Did dragon-shifters have such things? The book had been about British dragon clans, not American ones. And there were bound to be differences.
Ashley turned off the engine and added, "We're here. Now before you two run off to get into trouble, we have a few things to settle first. And I'm sure your clan leader wouldn't appreciate you ditching him before introducing his latest resident, Jose."
Victoria didn't know much about the clan leader, apart from the fact his name was Wes Dalton. "We won't run off. Yet."
Jose snorted. "Wes isn't as fussy as ADDA. As long as you're with me, Tori, he probably won't care."
Ashley sniffed. "Probably being the operative word. Regardless, I don't want him chewing out my ass to my boss." She opened her door. "Now are you going to stick with me or do I have to call a few of the Protectors to make sure you do?"
Protectors were a type of security guard for dragon-shifters, that much she knew from the official ADDA website. Although they often trained with the US Army Reserves and were much more than an average rent-a-cop. Victoria knew she'd never want to meet a dragon warrior in the sky, or even on the ground. Their super senses alone would win them most any fight.
Victoria answered before Jose. "We'll stick with you, Ashley. I'm curious to meet the clan leader anyway."
Especially since he will ultimately be the one to decide if I stay here after the baby is born or not.
They disembarked the car. Jose took her hand again and they followed Ashley into the building.
Victoria did her best not to gape, but failed. A lot of men and even a few women walked around in T-shirts, their dark, inked dragon tattoos on their arms identical. Every single one of them had to be at least six feet tall, even the women. And they all had more muscle than she'd ever seen in one room before, even when she'd attempted to join a gym for a few weeks.
She felt somewhat powerless among them all, too. They all had super senses to augment their strength.
Victoria just needed to make sure she never pissed anyone off she couldn't handle in the end.
A few of the dragon-shifters nodded at Jose, and he grunted back. There were so many faces, she wondered how long it'd take her to learn them all. Because even if they tried to ignore her, Victoria would learn their names. Before she'd become an online teacher, she'd been one with a real-life classroom. And learning everyone's names as soon as possible had been a huge help, her making the effort at least scoring a few points with the students.
Ashley stopped in front of a door. "And here we are. Wes and a few other prominent clan members will be inside. Ready, Victoria? Or do you need a minute?"
Doing her best to ignore her pounding heart—she wanted to meet the clan leader but was still a little nervous since her experience with dragon-shifters was limited to one—she nodded. "I'm ready."
"Then let's get this over with," the other human woman stated.
Ashley entered the room and walked in as if she owned it, her head and shoulders high, her gait determined. Victoria had to give the woman credit—she didn't let much stronger, taller, and faster beings intimidate her. Maybe she could learn something from the ADDA employee.
Once inside, Victoria spotted a slightly older, mildly tanned auburn-haired man with the universal American dragon-shifter tattoo on his arm, leaning back in his chair. To his right was another man, with dark hair, skin, and the same tattoo, as well as a dark-haired female with light brown skin to the center man's left. However, since the woman wore a long-sleeved shirt, Victoria had no idea if she was a dragon-shifter or not.
Then her pupils flashed to slits. Yep, a dragon-shifter.
Ashley nodded to the auburn-haired man. "Dalton."
So he was Wes Dalton, the clan leader.
He motioned for them all to sit. "A pleasure, as always, Ms. Swift." His brown-eyed gaze moved to Victoria. "And you must be Victoria."
Even as they sat, Jose placed a possessive arm around her shoulders. She wanted to frown at him, but she didn't want to be rude to the clan leader. "Yes, that's me. Nice to meet you, Mr. Dalton."
The woman across from her snorted. "So polite."
Wes frowned at the dragonwoman. "Behave, Cris. Her safety is your concern now." Before Victoria could ask what he meant, Wes waved at the woman. "This is Cristina Juarez, our head Protector. She's in charge of clan security."