Dragon's Claim

Chapter 1

Stranded on a deserted island meant highly inadequate living conditions for a being like Catriona. She was used to being pampered, her whole kind was. Being a nymph was not without its benefits. Loved by everybody and hated by none, she was precious and highly valued, even among the legends. She supposed that had something to do with the fact that recently their numbers had been dwindling. With more and more dark nymphe being born, their species was endangered.

She still remembered the screams of terror. Those terrible sounds of pain escaping the dark nymphe who were being brutally murdered by their own kind. No one could say that those murderers were the same people who would laugh and play with children during the day. But everyone behaved as if beheading one of their own was a routine matter. She, for one, always found it extremely daunting and was scarred forever by those terrified screams.

But, never in her entire existence had she thought that she would be one of those dark nymphe. It was only when she had seen the butcher's knife in her father's hand, had she realized the frightening fact that she was one of them.

Realizing that it was her own father who was about to kill her and that he would carry out the deed without flinching had changed her. She knew she had to survive, she had no other option. From then till now, it had been three months and time had flown by.

Trying not to get murdered would do that, she mused. But now, an impossible task confronted her. Getting off the island. In these three months, wherever she had been, someone had been coming after her with a dagger, so she had made a plan.

She would go back to where she had lived was eighteen years of her life. She refused to call that home, had realized it a little too late that it had never been. 

When she got there, she would hide in the Wyvern Forest. No one would ever think to look for her there, assuming her to be on the run in some far away place.

As she gazed out at the never ending  sea, shudders ran down her spine. She had been suffering from withdrawal symptoms. As a nymphe, she was dependent on s****l pleasure for nourishment, and she had been deprived of that for three months, since the night when her father realized that she was not what they had all wanted her to be.  Even though lack of s*x wouldn't kill her like it would a succubus, she would be weakened and distracted all the time as the events in the recent weeks have confirmed.

A few weeks back, when she had been running through the streets of Melbourne,  she had looked at a vampire longingly. Utter blasphemy as her mother would have said it while her siblings would have laughed in the background. And now, even a human looked good to her. The sane part of her cringed at the hurl-worthy idea. 

Desperate for respite, she decided to look for a way out of the island instead of staring out into nothingness. Her arms folded across her chest, she started to go deeper in the island once again, dreading all the insects and other fauna. Just then, the sound of mighty roars from the sky fell on her ears.

Dragons. Wyvern Dragons to be specific. She breathed with bewildering realization as she turned to take in the mosaic that they painted on the sky. They were coming from some distant place and were probably here only to rest before continuing with their journey. 

If only she could get one of them to take her along...

Hurrying over to where she supposed they would land, she prayed to all the gods for her plan to work. Because if it didn't, she would be dead before she could utter a single morpheme. 

Panting and struggling against the overflowing vegetation of the island, she cursed under her breath. In her weakened state, she was more vulnerable than ever before, and the plants and trees around her seem to have sensed it as they were relentless in their abuse.  

She wanted to give up, to curl up in a ball and cry her heart out, but she knew she couldn't do that. She had to survive, had to prove everybody wrong, had to win against all odds and if that meant that she would have to sleep with the dragon who rescued her from here, she would do it. 

'It most likely wouldn't come to that,' she thought to herself and then scoffed at the idea. Of course, it would. No one is that kind, not in her world at least.  But then, a smirk made its way to her face. If she gave into their demands of sleeping with her, she would be cursing them to die. Just as that thought crossed her mind, another took its place. 

' I am proving my kind right. I really am evil,'  she thought, upset at the idea. But if that is what it took for her to live, she would be evil, she contended.

As she stumbled upon the clearing where the troupe of dragons was lounging, she braced herself for what could be one of the most catastrophic decisions of her life. 

'Catastrophic but necessary,' she asserted. 

Detecting her presence, one of the troupe turned around to investigate. Surprise flickered on his face, as he realized that a nymph was staring back at him. Then, he fell down to his knees and seemed to be thanking the heavens. 

"A treasure on this forsaken island!" She vaguely heard him say and was taken aback by his bizarre behavior. Seriously contemplating her choice of seeking the troupe out, which eventually led her to contemplate all her life choices, she started backing away slowly, sure that they would try to force her into submission. And with the dragons being the strongest species, that wouldn't be too hard an endeavor.

However, an authoritative voice halted her descent, making her freeze on her position. 

"Who are you?"

She looked towards the source, only to encounter the most mesmerizing pair of eyes she had ever seem. With the color of gun-metal, they were beautiful enough to make her gasp, her need for s****l release turning immense.   

The owner of those eyes didn't fail to do them justice. He was, arguably, the most desirable male with his olive skin tone, golden blond hair and muscular build. His being shirtless also helped  raise his appeal.

Struggling to control her surging desires, she rasped out, "I am called Catriona. I am stranded on this island and I would request you to help me leave this place."

He lifted an eyebrow at that, his lips curling fleetingly. Perching up on a rock, he folded his arms across his chest, making his biceps bulge, and said, "Oh, is that right? Go ahead then. Request." 

Admittedly, his behavior did dampen his appeal a little. Struggling not to reply with a snide comment, she did what she had to do. 

"Please, would you be so kind as to take me off this island?" She asked in an overly polite manner, and he, not appreciating her mocking him, frowned. Seeming to have decided against calling her out on it, he turned away  to discuss something with the other members of his troupe.

Feeling dejected, she frowned and concluded that she would not be on the receiving end of any kind of help from them. She sighed and turned away to look for another escape route. However, another call from the same male halted her in her tracks yet again. 

"Where do you think you are going?" He asked, confusion clear in his voice.

Feeling exasperated, she turned to face him once more, ready to give him a piece of her mind but his next words made her forget everything.

"You would be coming with us. Pack if you have to." He said the last line sarcastically and turned to ignore her once again. Feeling relieved, she was too surprised that her plan actually worked, to be bothered by his sarcasm. 

She hadn't realized just how much she was in need of this mercy till now and only after it had been granted to her, had she understood the gravity of it. For so long, she had been trying to survive on her own but now this aid had been presented to her. Overwhelmed with emotion, she turned to face the other side and allowed the tears free rein. As one fat tear rolled down after another, she slid down with her back against a red oak tree and thanked the gods for this blessing. 

Taking to  the shadows, she drifted off in a fitful sleep where demons of her past were on the hunt again, ravenous for her blood. The last conscious emotion that she had felt was gratitude, unaware that even more perilous events and situations waited for her, yearned for her.