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He wracked his brain for anything to absolve himself. No, no, this was impossible, it couldn't have been him. How could it have been him? He'd never have done anything like that. Never. He was above that kind of... behavior. He was a dragon. A creature to bring envy to anyone who looked at him. And anatomically he was far apart enough from humans that he couldn't even say he was capable of the act with what he had. Not a particularly proud fact, but it spared him a reason to get involved in any lewd activities. And that in itself furthered his nobility and purity of rebirth. Before there had been certain things, nagging things, which gave him an opening to lose faith in the idealized world he'd clung to so desperately when he had nothing else left. His rebellion was short-lived because of how stupid it had been for him to try. It made sense now. The security of his life that he only just recovered was so valuable to him that he would let nothing conflict with the many truths he'd learned to embrace as fact.

And if anything it must have been this teen's fault Amaya had been pregnant. Pegging the blame on someone else?

Wonderful. Problem solved. His wings, which he normally kept folded behind him, were being spread slowly, an unconscious gesture of feeling threatened. He tried to regain his composure, going so far as to give the teen a cold stare back the whole time he laughed. Though he knew damn well what Alec meant, he had to ask anyway. "What are you implying?"

He drew his wings apart another foot each. They were nothing more than a pair of humongous, showy, webbed hands and certainly he figured Alec wouldn't be scared off by them as intended, but going through these motions made him feel a little better. It was inexplicable and deeper than conscious feelings.

His nostrils flared a little as he let out a short blast of air from them in the form of an infuriated sigh. What the hell did Alec think he was trying to do? How could this miserable thing even think of accusing him of - of doing that - to Amaya? Not only was he insulted at the very thought, but knowing that someone had done something to Amaya in the first place, he was content to pinpoint Alec as the prime suspect. He didn't really have lips any more, but the flexible and scaly skin lining his mouth was drawn back a little to show the barest hint of teeth.

It was a display, a threat, but an empty one, just like the spreading of his wings and frill. So he had "natural weaponry". What of it? He wouldn't resort to violence any more. He was long past it, above it. Every time he did it only made things worse for himself. He hoped Alec wouldn't see past his bluff and take back the remarks. And own up. "Yeah, I doubt that."

Despite the occasional twinge of pain from nerves less than a month old and spindly bones with their incessant but dull aching, it never felt better to spread his wings. Everything he'd said was with as few movements of his mouth as he could manage. He had to be careful, very careful, or his jaw would go sliding out on him again. He didn't want that. Hell, he didn't know how he'd gotten it back in place the few times it had. So he continued with his icy stare even when the shark avoided it. He wasn't going to let this kind of accusation be taken lightly.

This was evidently no longer a friendly meeting, but Zach could care less. He stayed poised on his strange feet, tail coiling in agitation. Sure, he cared about Amaya, but as she was out of sight, she was almost equally out of mind for the time being. He'd worry about the implications of her and eggs later. This was between him and Alec. "Do you think I can't tell you're trying to blame me for whatever happened to Amaya? What the hell is wrong with you?"

"I don't think this is something to joke about," he snapped. This was disgusting. He still had that laughter ringing in whatever constituted his ears at this point. "I have done nothing with Amaya. I don't know what the hell you're trying to get at. It's not like I'm that much older than you, I know what teenagers are like. And it wouldn't surprise me at all if you're the one who... took advantage of her."

His eyes widened in surprise as the teen suddenly went from angry to predatory. This was one outcome he had not been expecting. There was no way to get away, he was too close, too ******** close! If he'd been just a little more invested in trying to get his balance back, he would have been able to run and escape. Without much thinking on his part he did the only thing that wouldn't send him sprawling if he moved too quickly. Firstly he threw his arms up in self-defense, protecting his head and arched neck. And second, a movement of his wings he'd never made before, one that seemed easy enough and yet he'd never had a reason to. The wingspan was long enough that each of them could be waved in front of him with their second useless layer of protection. There was a random scattering of pain in his muscles and membrane simply from being used. And then a much, much worse pain as sharp teeth ripped into some of the sensitive leathery skin stretched between wing fingers of his right wing.

The howl he made was not human in the least. It sounded much more like a big cat's roar spiked with various high notes, a scattering of broken glass to the ears. Not that he was too aware of it. The adrenaline and the pain shoved his mind into a panic. When the weight of his attacker dragged him down, he dropped immediately to his knees rather than try to wrest the wing away. The other he flapped wildly in his panic, all six feet of its lone span. The roar trailed off into a hiss, and it was all he could do to dig his claws into the grassy ground rather than try to reach around his torn wing to strike a blow. Injuries to parts of him that had been human before were always bad, but to brand-new aspects of his anatomy? It was beyond horrible. He couldn't think over the pain, his instincts nearly had a stranglehold on his conscious thoughts and all were conflicting.