The Innocent Mate Of A Dragon

Chapter 5: Bonding

Carissa's POV

Why was I running? I didn't want to run! But what was that feeling?! Why was I running back to him?? I felt so overstimulated, so I ran away. Now I was running back to the cave but now I was completely lost... I was officially scared. In one of my classes, I learned that it usually got dark out a lot earlier in The Dark Forest than it did in The Enchanted Forest. I heard growls, snarls, whimpers, and screams. I ran and ran with my eyes closed shut. When I opened them, I had to stop myself from running off a cliff. I turned around, ran until I tripped on a tree branch, and scraped my knees and elbows. “s**t…”

I pulled my phone out of my pocket, but I had no service past the border. I put my phone away and noticed there were creatures here I had never seen before till now. I hadn’t even learned about them. I stood up and calmed myself down. I heard a loud roar and fumbled down when something landed behind me.

It was a dragon.

Why was he following me? What did he want? I was kind of glad he came for me, plus I was headed back that way. I turned around and my eyes widened when I noticed it was a completely different dragon. I didn't get the same vibes this time. I didn't feel as safe, but I still wasn't scared of the dragon.

"Um hey..." I waved because I wanted to show her that I wasn't scared of her. I was directly in front of her large head. "Do you know the way out or...?"

She snarled loudly. "The way out? I can show you the way out." For some reason, I didn’t think she meant the way out of the forest...

"Uh never mind, I'm okay." I turned around. The dragon tried to attack me, but when I turned back around it was the Dragon from earlier... he saved me.

They were tearing into each other's necks, they roared, and fire shout out each of their mouths but since dragons are fire-resistant it wasn't harming them much. I didn't run. "Run!" The male dragon says to me, but I was locked in place. I wanted to make sure the dragon who saved me was safe.

"I refuse to leave you," I said with a strong voice. I needed to use my magic to help him. Elves are closely connected to nature, so I looked down at a puddle. I used the water to make throwing knives and start throwing the water knives at the female dragon. The Water blades were laced with poison from a nearby plant. The blades cut through the outer layers of the dragon and cause a lot of pain to her, and she fell to the ground.

Scorch's POV

I backed away from the female dragon who was actually a friend, so I was screwed. It took me a second to realize who she was since I wasn't used to seeing her in her dragon form. She's gonna let the whole dragon kingdom know that I was protecting an elf. But at this point I just wanted my mate safe, so I didn’t give a s**t about anything else.

I look at my mate as she walked close to the female dragon. She was crazy. All I could think to myself was how crazy she was at this moment. My friend would probably try to swallow her whole, then throw her up because live meat was disgusting. To my surprise, the elf got on her knees. "You are such a beauty." She says which shocked both me and my friend. She pressed her head to my friend’s giant head.

"What are you doing? Aren't you going to take my wings as a prize? My body is paralyzed." My friend was as confused as I was, but my mate let out an adorable giggle.

"Now why would I do that?" She was clueless. I knew now that my mate didn't know what her species was capable of or what they had done. She was completely innocent compared to the rest.

She pulled out the water blades and healed the wounds. "Okay, so truce?" She smiled which made me die inside, it made me want her more. "I won't hurt you if you don't hurt me."

The female dragon nodded. "Okay..." She looked at me warningly. "I won't say a word to the others... and neither will you Scorch. " She flew off. She didn’t want anyone to know she was beaten then spared by an elf. I shifted into my human form.

Carissa's POV

I stood up and watched the beautiful dragon fly off then I turned to the other dragon who was now in his human form. I bowed to him. "Thank you." She called him by name so, now I knew it was Scorch. "Scorch." Saying his name made my tongue tingle like I was meant to say it.

"No problem I was just around," he said and shrugged, lie. "Anyone would have done it in my position," a modest lie.

I walked to him slowly. "Dragons aren't inherently bad. My Father overreacted." I thought aloud looking away from the gorgeous man.

"You're saying that when one just tried to kill you." He mentioned.

I healed the wounds he got from the fight. "I'm aware. Though one just saved me, risked his life for me then I got the other one’s respect." I smirked while looking up at him.

He smiled lightly. "Suppose so. You should leave. The Dark Forest isn't a place for elves." I guess he sounded somewhat worried.

I wasn’t planning on leaving just yet. "I can handle myself. I am not just any elf." We start walking beside each other. "I am a princess which means I’m brave."

He laughs slightly. "Princess usually means spoiled rotten, not brave," he joked. "Anyways, princess huh? Why are you here then?" he questioned.

I step in front of him and started to walk backward with my hands behind my back. "Because I had to see the famous Dark Forest filled with 'dangerous creatures'. Curiosity I would say." I almost tripped again but he grabbed my lifting me up before I could hit the ground. "Thanks... I'm clumsy."

"I can tell princess,” He mocked then let go and we continue walking beside each other. I yawned. "There's a nearby cave that we can camp out in then I could take you to the border in the morning," he suggested. "We're far from it now."

I was hoping we were far from it, and I got the feeling he did too. "So, I get to spend the night with you, lucky me," I joked. I think he took my joke the wrong way because he was looking at me with eyes of satisfaction. I looked away and didn't say anything.

He led me to a cave, and we walked in. "It's dark out, but it isn't very late so let's just talk." He smiled and we both sat down on the ground. "Why aren't you afraid of us?" It must have been what he wanted to know the most.

I look away from him and out of the cave at the stars. "I don't understand your question, I'm sorry. I guess I can try to answer it anyway." I started to think. "Okay, so I just do not get it. What reason do I have to fear you all? There are bad dragons and good dragons just like there are good elves and bad elves. Good humans and bad humans." I answered. “I’ll fear you individually when you do something worth my fear.”

I felt like my words relieved him in some way. "Thoughts on the war?"

I laughed a bit. "I don't really know because I wasn't there. How could I have thoughts on something I wasn't around or a part of? I only know one side. Apparently, your species started attacking our villages and cities, so we decided it was time to fight back." After hundreds of years, I wasn’t sure how accurate our textbooks were.

He held back a growl. "Not true. One of us fell asleep while flying and crashed down." That wasn't a narrative I ever heard before, but I didn't doubt it.

I raised an eyebrow. "Casualties?"

He hung his head. "A few..." He answered. "He was killed for his mistake." He clenched his fists. "So why did so many of our species die for it? Some races of dragons were completely wiped out." He looked so passionate about his people, and I liked that. It was attractive, to say the least.

I put my hand on his shoulder to comfort him. "You guys didn't deserve that..."

He moved my hand and looked at me in wonder. “We should probably talk about something else.”

I wanted to know everything about him. “What’s your passion?”

Scorch laughed. “That’s a loaded question. I guess I have a passion for traveling and picking up new skills.”

I knew dragons weren’t all that different. “Where have you traveled?”

Scorch laid on his back and stared up. “Around The Dragon Forest.”

“Wait, so you’ve never left? You’ve never traveled?” I asked.

Scorch cracked a smile. “How could I without elves trying to kill me?” I frowned because there were plenty of places, he could have gone that aren’t elven kingdoms. “I’ve been to the human realm and the demon realm but in this realm, the magical realm I’ve only been here.”

I heard nothing but bad things about the demon realm as well. If dragons shifters were fine people, I’m sure demons might be too. “What do you do for work?”

Scorch glanced at me. “It’s my turn to ask a question princess. What’s your passion?”

My passion was something I had been thinking about a lot lately. “Well, I have a passion for peace and leadership, I guess. I want to lead my people into an era of peace.” I glared at him when he laughed. “What’s funny?”

“You’re gonna have to do a lot of work to makes Elves a peaceful people.” I stood up. “Hey, where are you going?” He sat up.

“To the other side of the cave since I’m not very good at being peaceful.”

He extended his hand out to me. “I was just teasing, with a good monarch I’m sure elves can be peaceful.” He was implying my father wasn’t a good one. I guess my father wasn’t the peaceful type, but he was good at protecting his people. I look up to my father for many other things.

I took his hand and he pulled me down next to him, I was closer than I was before. “Okay answer my last question.” I pouted.

“I take temp jobs,” He answered. “It’s cool because I learn new skills every time I take a new job.” I smiled at his answer. I thought it was really interesting that he took temporary jobs for a living.

I stared out the cave at the forest. “It’s nice here.” I closed my eyes.

“You really think so? It used to be beautiful ten years ago. When I was younger it had so much more life. It was as beautiful as The Enchanted Forest.” I wish I could have seen it. “My parents would take me out here to fly. The goblins and ogres were a lot more friendly, and the plant life was a lot more thriving,” he described. “I’m glad you can enjoy what it’s sadly become. I still find comfort in it so I guess I can understand why you like it.”

I leaned my side and head against him. “Maybe one day it’ll be like that again.”

“You’re very hopeful huh?”

I chuckled. “Everyone should have a little hope, don’t you have hope?”

Scorch sighed before responding, “No.”

Morning

I woke up with Scorch in his dragon form wrapped around me, he kept me warm. I didn't fall asleep like this, but it was nice. I yawned as I remembered that we talked for hours before going to sleep. We talked about our passions and fears. We got so close as friends in one night.

This creature.

This creature that my people are afraid of made me feel safe. At first, he was cold on the outside but nice and gentle secretly. I knew we had only known each other for a day but I felt like I had known him forever. I got this feeling of being completed when I was with him.

Love? No, it couldn’t be because I barely knew him. I let out a chuckle at my thoughts. Love, that's not it... it's something a lot deeper than that. I couldn’t really say I have romantic feelings for him, but it's like when you listen to a song for the first time ever and you already know it's gonna be your favorite. I mean you haven't listened to the song enough for it to be your favorite, but you know it will be with time. That's how I felt. I felt like in time I was going to be desperately in love with this dragon shifter.

But I wasn't aware of what awaited me.