The Dragon King and His Human Mate

10. If It Isn't Obvious

Anastasia

I walked towards the waterfall while my heart hovered inside my chest crazily. What was wrong with me? Why was I looking forward to meet him that much? It was true he didn't come out to be that terrible, evil dragon-man I thought he was, but this didn't mean I'd have to act like this. I was being like a silly girl waiting to meet her long time crush.

I hadn't expected to find him relaxing under the water, and I definitely hadn't expected for his body to look like that when he made some steps towards me and the water was now reaching his waist, his chest and abs completely exposed.

I gulped when he raised his brows at me, amused, satisfied that he had caught me openly staring and admiring his body. As if I had another choice when he looked like that.

"Good... morning," I murmured, sitting down on the ground, with my legs into the water.

His eyes bore into mine as he approached me slowly, almost positioning himself between my naked legs. That act was extremely intimate and turning on that my breath got stuck on my throat, and I felt my heartbeat racing.

"Swim with me," he almost whispered, something between a request and an order.

A buried deep down, wild part of me that was coming to the surface wanted to do that and much more, but the more reasonable one told me that this was extremely dangerous.

I shook my head. "It's still early. I'll be cold for the rest of the day," was my stupid excuse.

"I can keep you warm," he said, still looking firmly at me, and now I felt my cheeks burning after his comment. "I'm a dragon, if you happened to forget." And with that, I felt my cheeks burn even more at how stupid I was to think he meant it in another way.

As he saw me almost convinced, he shamelessly placed his hands on my hips, lifting me as if I was a little child and putting me down the water in front of him. It sent shivers through my whole body. The water was actually cold, but I was too lost in his light blue irises to notice.

"You'll need some other clothes," he pointed out, getting me out of the daydreaming I was having while being lost in him.

I nodded, admitting he was right. I was in this torn dirty red dress for days already, I'd literally give everything for a pair of soft pajamas or a really big blanket. Anything to keep me warm.

"I have a wolf's fur in my house. You should go and get it when the sun sets." 

I furrowed my brows. "Why did you need the wolf's fur?" I asked.

He looked away, after a while of intensely looking at me. "I..." he hesitated, "made it for you."

I frowned, shocked and confused. "You killed a wolf to get the fur for me?!"

He ran his fingers through his beautiful long hair, apparently a habit of his. "I didn't kill it for you," he stated, in such a serious voice. "I killed it because it was about to enter your cave and attack you while you were sleeping." The words coming from his mouth left me dumbstruck. Was he... trying to take care of me? To protect me? Over and over again?

The another idea popped in my head suddenly; how did he always have this perfect timing to be there when I needed him, even at night when I was sleeping? Was he keeping an eye on me all night long just in case wild animals would try to harm me?

I looked deep in his as I tried to find the answers there. Did he, somehow, deep down, cared about me? Or was it only that I was now stuck with him here and he'd choose to have some sort of company instead of being all alone again?

"Vladimir..." I breathed out, not knowing how to thank him. A 'thank you' would be enough, right? I was so lost that I couldn't say even that.

I could see his bluest eyes darkening a shade when he heard his name leaving my mouth. Did I have such an effect on him?

Vladimir made some torturous steps towards me and stopped only when he was just some inches away from me. If I would only reach a bit forward I could touch my lips with his.

And oh, how tempting that idea was.

But I tried to get it out of my head, failing in the process.

The tension in the air was too much to handle, along with his intense gaze penetrating my skin and his breath sending shivers down my spine. I felt hot, burning everywhere. Never in my life I had felt like that. It was so strange that I didn't know how to react, what to say or where to look. I only knew I needed him to kiss me.

When he reached just a little forward and raised his hand to touch me front hair, I half-closed my eyes and shivered. I knew he noticed, just by the way his eyes darkened a shade again.

I brushed my arms with my hands to warm up a little, even though I knew damn well this wasn't caused by the cold water.

But as I waited for his lips to crash into mines, I almost disappointingly felt him him doing something to my hair on my left side. When I opened my eyes, it took me one to two seconds to realize that that something was a lotus. Vladimir had just put a lotus on my hair and he was observing me like I was the most beautiful creature to ever exist.

It warmed my heart and in the same time it made me want him even more.

"You're gorgeous..." he whispered, "if it isn't obvious." That only took my breath away even more.

But before I was able to say something, it's like some thought hit in his head and he realized what he was exactly doing as he immediately made some steps back, putting some distance between us.

I couldn't understand what was going on his mind. How could you understand what was going on on someone's who had spent the last century in an island alone mind?

Nonetheless, it didn't stop me from wanting to ease his pain buried down in his eyes, no matter the source of it. For just a short moment, it felt like I had come here for just that purpose only.

This only before I got that idea out of my head. I wasn't here to heal him, I wasn't his mate after all. Besides, it wasn't my life purpose to heal some man I didn't know. I was being ridiculous, I was better than that. I was a strong woman, instead of being silly I should've started thinking of a way to get out of here.

"I should probably get out, I'm freezing," I informed him as I didn't wait a second for a confirmation.

Curled like a ball, I sat down on the ground and looked at the beautiful waterfall, only so I could get my mind off Vladimir walking around finding woods, completely naked. Did he always have to do that?

He sat down not too far away from me, adjusted the woods as I waited for him to try and light the fire by creating some friction between two stones or two woods. Never in my life did I expect for him to breath fire from his throat in his human form.

I jumped up and opened my eyes widely in surprise as he chuckled a little from my reaction. Only after some seconds getting used to the idea, I realized that was actually a bit cool. Weird, still, but cool.

"How did you do that?" I asked as I sat down and tried to dry my long red hair.

"Easy. Just triggering the dragon inside me a little. Plus, I've been in my dragon form for most of the past century to the point I had gotten some of those instincts to my human form too," he explained. "No different from an animal, right?" he asked after realizing how surprised I was still.

I shook my head immediately. "Not at all," I sincerely answered. "It's actually... interesting."

He shrugged his shoulders, as saying, it's not like I have another choice.

Silence fell as we both kept looking at the fire and not each other. I had a lot to ask him, but I didn't feel comfortable enough. Not knowing he wasn't comfortable with me.

The sun was rising and by the look in his face, I realized he'd have to go in the next minutes.

If only he could stay in his human form always...

Then I wondered, how much more than me he wished it? How had he made it for this long?