I had a long vivid dream about this story, where I actually saw the characters going through it like I was watching a show; my mind is a wondrous thing, really.

Also, chocolate covered coffee beans are a real thing, and they smell and taste really bittersweet, and I like, assigned this word to Connor Murphy's entire character, so…

1. Πρόλογος

Everyone could shift, the wide majority of the world's population shifted into wolves, some shifted into smaller animals, but generally canines; there was the odd feline every once in a while, but it was rare; dragons were rarer.

Dragons weren't rare for the reason felines were rare, a case of growing in just the right conditions, they were rare because people who could shift into them had been born with the ability. See, most humans weren't able to shift until a certain age, but dragons were different because of how they were born, wolves and humans were both mammals, dragons were rare because they were dangerous.

Evan tried not to think about the countless of tales about the dangers of dragons, or how hunting them down had been justified, or about the fact that it still was; but it wasn't, because dragons weren't actually dangerous, or they were but not all the time, because they were still people in their core, even if they possessed the abilities of giant flying lizards capable of spitting destructive substances. Evan, for example, could breathe a weird sort of acidic mist that could melt metal but did nothing to plants, mainly because he was a forest dragon, yeah, Evan was a dragon, the details of it were head-ache inducing, and really, being able to shift into a dragon only added to the list of reasons why Evan was an outcast.

Ok, so, nobody actually knew about him being a dragon other than his mom, and probably his dad too, but it was included in the list because Evan couldn't tell anyone, unless he was looking to give his life an extremely painful end. Because he knew that the only real reason dragons weren't hunted anymore was that there weren't any of them left to hunt, and if there were, they all learned to hide themselves.

So Evan kept his head low, pretends like there's a different reason why he doesn't shift in front of others, why no one knows his animal; he can't pretend he doesn't have one, so he tells Jared he's a fox and doesn't want people to think badly of him for it, it's a solid pick because being that small was a problem for an omega such as Evan, considering no alpha would want to be with someone who couldn't carry their pups due to size. Jared made fun of Evan, loudly as per usual, which meant people heard and the fact that Evan was a fox spread out; people stopped looking at him weird for not shifting, there was no point to it when the animal was that small.

.-. - ...- / -.-. ... .- -. -. .

Connor was somewhat lucky, lucky that his mom had known how to hide his true nature from the rest of the family, lucky that slit pupils were easily mistakable for cat eyes, lucky that he got a shape shifting dragon out of all the kinds.

Back when he was a kid he just shifted to match his mom, who turned into a leopard, and actually believed that was his animal, and since Larry and Zoe were both tigers, he didn't have a reason not to believe it. The only reason he found out was because he got lost in the orchard once, and in a panic, shifted into a bird to get out of the trees; he was lucky Cynthia was the one to find him and calm him down into being human, but his mom couldn't keep the ruse after that.

Shape shifting dragons could breathe anything other dragons could, so Connor found himself going to the orchard after it closed down to practice; that's how he found her.

Maybe it was a dragon thing, a survival method ingrained into them after being hunted for so long, being able to find others like you, and feeling responsible for them. Her mom had left a note, in case she couldn't come back in time, that her name was Tera, and that she had used extra caution to make sure only dragons could find her.

Connor knew the make-shift nest was well hidden, because he had been coming back here for a year now. The first month the nest had smelt like ash and grilled meat, nowadays it smelled like ash and Connor, like chocolate covered coffee beans, which kept animals away; and was hidden so you wouldn't see it unless you knew it was there, or had the ability to fly at just the right height.

Technically, the flight thing meant birds could see it, but Tera liked to shift into her dragon form and hunt them; Connor had no idea how to lie about taking baby food to an abandoned orchard, but he could teach the pup how to get her own food without running into danger.

He'll admit he's grown fond of Tera, the little girl is charming as hell, she's a fire drake, which explains why she reeks of ash, and probably a future alpha given how strong her scent was. He'd do anything to keep her safe, that included keeping her a secret until she was old enough to control her shifting; she wouldn't be able to do what Connor did, but there were other ways to hide something.

The only problem was that Connor couldn't always calm her down, as he lacked the experience, or the instincts, he once read omegas could easily soothe any baby because of their nature, but Connor was an alpha. Still, being unable to ask for help in fear that she would be taken because of her status as a dragon; Connor did what he could.