A Gain Of The Found

Chapter 5

  Above is Floyd when he shifts

Floyd's POV

When I come to, the first thing I notice is the ringing in my ears. My vision is blurry. My wrists are red. I'm lying on the floor. My knife is next to me. Groggily, I rub my eyes. A sharp pain shoot up my arm. I'm used to the feeling by now.

Standing up, I grab my knife and put it in the sink. Putting in the plug, I turn on the water to let it soak. Slowly, I peel off my clothes and step into the shower. Turning on the water, I don't bother setting it to warm.
After a minute or two, I'm a shivering mess. Looking down at the puddle of red, I step out of the shower. I grab a towel and wrap it around my waist. I don't look down, but I know that my many scars have just gained a new friend.

A few days later

"Hey, we're going to go train. You coming?" Sebastian asks me after he knocks on my door.

I slowly stand. Putting on another long sleeve shirt, I open the door and step out.

When we get to the vast training room, I'm glad that we're the only ones here. "Go ahead and shift. Matilda and Lance are on their way," Sebastian tells me.I walk over to the other side of the room so I'm away from the others. Facing away from him I start to shift. First, I let my wings come out. They're huge and I have to fall forward onto my hands and knees so I don't fall backward. I feel my fingers and toes melt together as they harden and form hooves. My arms and legs become longer and more muscular.

My clothes disappear and my neck and chest expand to the size of my horse. I lift my neck and head and make sure I've shifted all the way. Once I'm sure that I'm done, I turn around and walk towards the others. I swish my tail as.... My tail! I forgot my tail. I close my eyes and I feel the hair grow out of my back end. When it finally stops, I can feel the tips touching the floor. Letting out a huff, I continue to walk back to the others.

As I walk back to the others, I see Sebastian in his dragon form. He's humongous, as usual, but this time, I'm bigger as well. Not that it makes much difference next to him. I'm a little smaller than the average dragon shifter. Sebastian is almost twice the size of an average dragon shifter.

Trying not to be nervous, I reach the others and stop walking. Sebastian reaches them as well and stands next to me. I turn my head slightly to look at him. I startle a little when I see that he's already looking at me. I bare my teeth a little in a way of glaring at him. I see Sebastian, Lance, and Matilda's eyes widen when they see my teeth. I realize that they've never seen my teeth before.

My horse has sharp teeth. They're sort of like a saber tooth tigers' teeth. I get this from my dad because he's an elf. Somehow it got passed into my DNA in only my horse form.

I roll my eyes at their faces and gesture with my head for Matilda to climb on. She immediately stands straighter and walks towards me calmly. When she reaches me, she grabs my mane ruffly and jumps on me. When I feel the sudden weight in my back, I instantly balk. She grabs my mane tighter as I kick my hind legs out and toss my head.

As soon as my all of my feet are back on the floor, she jumps off and backs off. Wide-eyed, I skitter to the side and away from her. My horse instincts are definitely taking over and I can barely control my actions anymore. I finally lose it when I see a huge dragon moving. Completely forgetting that I know that dragon, I spook and turn tail. Being the smart person I am, I take flight.

I fly higher and higher until I reach the ceiling. Trying to calm down, I stay at the top of the room and fly in circles. After about fifteen circles I've calmed down enough to overpower my horse instincts so look down at the others. Matilda and lance are having a conversation as they inspect my flight. Sebastian is watching me and preparing for flight.

My mind goes blank as I look at Sebastian again. He's preparing for flight. Shit! If he flies up here, I'm not sure if I'll be able to control my horse. Sebastian opens his wings and pushes off with his hind legs. He flaps his wings and takes flight. As he flies up to my height, I continue to fly in circles. My eyes roll into the back of my head as I get incredibly nervous. Prancing around in the air, I swoop away from Sebastian.

We both hover at the top of the room as far away from each other as possible. Sebastian slowly flies towards me. My wings falter and my nostrils flare. I take a deep breath in and smell roses and ash. I slowly remember that not only is this Sebastian, whom I apparently know won't hurt me, but I'm around dragons all the time. My eyes roll back to normal as I calm down. I gain all of my senses back and I remember that I went to school with dragons. I've never been hurt by a dragon before. Only humans have hurt me. I mean, they could shift into dragons, but when we shifted, I was the bigger one for once.

By the time Sebastian reaches me I'm completely in control and not nervous anymore. He seems to realize this because he stretches his long neck out and nudges my head lightly with his.                         From this small movement, I'm able to admire how much work he's put into being able to control his actions and how much power he uses when he touches things. The touch didn't hurt in the slightest, and that just allows me to relax further.

While I become secure, I hear Sebastian in my mind. "Hey, you okay?" he softly inquires me through our mind technique. I don't even bother to nod my head as I know he can hear my thoughts and is only asking me this to be polite.

"Why don't we head back down. We can talk to Matilda about how you want her to approach you," he says politely.

We swoop down to the floor and I prance over to Matilda and Lance. Sebastian brushes against Lance and Lance starts to talk to Matilda as Sebastian tells Lance how I'm feeling about Matilda riding me. "Sebastian says that Floyd's okay now. He only startled so much because no one has risen him in a really long time. He was just really surprised when you suddenly jumped on him. Sebastian also says that Floyd thinks it's okay for you to get on him."

"Um, okay, I guess," mutters Matilda.

She's not a shifter and she's never been connected to a shifters mind before so she doesn't know the struggle of staying in control. I can tell that she is trying though.

As she approached me, I give her a reassuring look and turn my body so my side is facing her. I stand tall and sturdy as she grabs a fistful of my mane. She hops and pulls herself up using my mane so that she can swing her leg over my broad back. She shifts a little bit trying to find the most comfortable spot on my back.

Matilda smiles for the first time as she says, "I think I got it." A first for me too; my eyes shine with happiness as I take off.