Arietta's husband comes back different after the accident.
He leaves the house a loving, gentle man and returns a dragon.
The doctors tell her that some changes to his personality are expected. If he is taller and broader, that's normal too. She should also get used how his kisses are harsher and his touches rougher. He embraces her like he is afraid she would run if he doesn't, claws digging into her arms, his exhales like fire thrumming through her body as he marks her as his, not just in the safety of their home, but outside of it- in hidden corners of the theater where she works and by the side of the road because he can't stand another minute without his lips on hers.
Her husband loves her.
Her husband terrifies her.
When she is kidnapped by men whom her mother owes money to, she should be terrified, but she has been in a perpetual state of fear since her husband returned a dragon. If he finds her- when he finds her, she knows there will be hell to pay.
~~~~~ Excerpt ~~~~~
It was dawning on her that she might have made a mistake, not for being kidnapped, but for not running away once she was out of his sight. She should have kept going until she passed the next state, until the roads started to feel different, until the scent of her skin was no longer anywhere. There was a darkness behind his gaze that could rend muscle from bone and she felt herself shrinking to keep from getting cut.
"Danny, I-"
"Shh... You smell like strangers now, darling. I need to fix that before I bring you home, okay?" A growl again, dug right out of the bottom of his chest. "Stick that tongue out for me, love. Let's get my fingers nice and wet."
She couldn't choke back her groan when he untangled his hand from her hair to push two fingers past her lips.
