Claimed By The Last Kind

Flight To The Unknown

Chapter 3: Flight to the Unknown

Drake's POV

The journey back to my den was longer than usual. Not because the distance had been extended, but because something about the human in my claws unsettled me. I held him tight in my claws, his body hanging limp, but I could sense the steady rhythm of his breathing. He wasn't struggling. He wasn't screaming. Even when the wind lashed past us and the harsh, open sky stretched out endlessly above, he didn't stir.

Humans always reacted the same when they were abducted by a dragon. They fought, cried, screamed, or pleaded. But this one—this prince—was not like that. He lay in my grasp as if he belonged there, his heat against my hide. It irked me, though I did not understand why.

I tightened my grasp a bit, enough to get him to squirm. He should have struggled, maybe whined. But he did something I did not anticipate.

He laughed.

A low, laughing sound that barely registered above the wind but somehow managed to reach my ears. I rolled my head an inch to glance at him, but his expression was impassive. My irritation increased.

It would not matter. When I led him to my lair, he would understand. He would be afraid. He would beg me to return him.

I would see to it.

The lair was vacant when I went down, the sound of my wings folding against my back echoing through the cavernous area. Lava churned lazily in the distance, casting a warm, crimson glow over the rocky walls. This was my home. My solitude.

I let him go roughly, anticipating him to stumble, to fall onto the ground in exhaustion or fear. He did not. He righted himself, smoothed out his clothes, and looked about with a curious gaze.

"Amazing," he said softly, his voice charged with admiration rather than the anticipated fear.

I narrowed my eyes. "You should be frightened."

He regarded me with something close to amusement. "Why?

I advanced, towered over his thin human frame. "Because you've been taken by a dragon. An entity so mighty they could level your kingdom with fire." I growled my words, using a low menacing tone to intimidate him.

And yet, he merely tilted his head, upturned the edges of his mouth in a smile. "And yet, you haven't slain me."

I clenched my teeth. "Not yet."

The prince smiled, and before I could even shift, he stepped closer.

I stiffened, expecting him to bolt. But he didn't.

Rather, his fingers swept over my chest—warm, soft fingers over hardened scales. And then, without hesitation, he leaned in and kissed me.

A kiss.

A human—this delicate creature—was kissing me.

My thoughts cleared out. My body froze. I had been bracing myself for fear, for fighting, or for resistance.

I had expected fear, resistance, or defiance. But this?

This was a first for me.

His lips felt soft, warm on mine, holding an unspoken promise that radiated an odd sensation through me. A strange heat pulsed in my chest, something deeper than the flames in my body. I could have killed him instantly, torn him apart like any other dumb human who dared to come near me.

And I didn't.

I stood still, braced, my claws shivering at my legs. His aroma wafted up into my nostrils—earth, man, with a hint of something sugary. It was intoxicating, dangerously so. My head screamed at me to turn him away, to halt this craziness before it was too late.

I did just that.

I growled and shoved him back, watching him stumble several steps before finding his balance. My wings unfolded slightly in threat, my tail thudding on the cavern floor hard enough to send the vibrations through the ground.

"Don't ever do that again." My voice was low and growling, my anger barely in check.

The prince didn't even blink, though. His lips curled into a sneer, as if he had known this was coming all along.

"Why?" he asked indolently, tilting his head to one side. "You didn't seem to hate it."

A growl of snarling threatened to burst in my chest. "You are a fool."

He took another slow step forward, not deterred by my hostility. "And you are alone," he spoke softly now, his tone almost a whisper. "A dragon, feared by all… but do you ever tire of it?"

I bristled.

The question caught me off guard in a way I didn't like.

Weary?

Naturally not. My life had been inscribed into fate itself—I was the last of my kind, the last dragon to tread these shores. I needed no friends, no foolish attachments. Humans were fleeting, frail creatures. I had nothing to gain from them.

And yet…

I had brought him. Not because I was hungry, or because of war, but to make the king hurt. To strike where he would hurt most.

But here, with this man who was supposed to be quaking with terror and was not, something else emerged instead.

Annoyance.

Curiosity.

Something that lay in perilous proximity to intrigue.

I took a deep breath and stepped back. "You will not address me in that tone again," I threatened. "You are my captive, nothing more."

He shrugged. "If you insist."

I spun around, unwilling to indulge this further. The heat of his lips still rested on mine, an unwelcome memory I would soon forget.

But as I retreated back into the shadows of my lair, I couldn't help but have a dark sense of irony that, for the first time in centuries, I had been caught off guard.

And I didn't know how to deal with it.