Chapter 2

Azura POV-

Rattled by the turn of events, I wanted to flee from him. It was one thing for me to feel thrilled to meet my idol, but the emotions that flowed through me weren’t that simple. Unable to comprehend anything at this moment, I took another step back, trying to put more distance between us.

“Do you not recognize me?” Cyran sounded baffled.

Shaking my head repeatedly, I started to make myself dizzy by the sudden movements. Officially I knew who he was, but not enough to let him touch me inappropriately. Okay, maybe he didn’t touch me inappropriately, but he had certainly raided my personal space.  

“This is the first time I have met you.” I took an additional step back, although he hadn’t moved.

“You mean to tell me that preceding now, you have never seen me before?” The expression on his face appeared as if I had afflicted some sort of pain to him by some means.

An image of him flashed in my mind, but it only lasted for a second. It was long enough to show him in different attire, but I thought it was my mind playing tricks on me. I knew for a fact that at no point in my life had I met him before today.

I would have remembered his face. It was beyond attractive. He gave tall, dark, and mysterious a whole new meaning. There was an elegant appeal to him, that also had an air of archaic nature. Almost as if he were from a different era.

His intense blue eyes were magnetic, which gave me the feeling I could get lost in them if I stared too long. With his raven black hair falling over his forehead, shadowing his eyes, it made him appear even more enticing. There was no doubt that he completely captivated me, even if I didn’t understand why.

He seemed well-defined and had a posh demeanor. Not only that but he was tall, and his muscles were taut as if he worked out daily. Overall, there was no way I could easily forget a man that looked like him.

“I would remember if I had.” I admitted and then wanted to slap my mouth for being so transparent.

He scoffed at my words as if he didn’t believe me. For a few minutes he didn’t utter another word, simply stared at me as if studying me. When he walked over to me, I tensed at the proximity. This time he didn’t touch me, but I still felt as if he was tactlessly invading my personal space.

“What are you doing?” I broke the silence, unable to take another second of being examined by him.

When he suddenly stopped in front of me, his eyes appeared volatile. I couldn’t tell if he wanted to kiss me or kill me, but either way, I felt the impulse to get as far away from him as possible. Turning around, I was about to do just that before I remembered I was wearing heels.

My habitual bad luck came rearing up as I lost my footing, by tripping over my own feet. Bracing myself to land face-first into a pile of dog poop that seemed to appear out of thin air, I closed my eyes. Holding my arms out in front of me, I hoped that I could catch myself before turning this into a much bigger disaster than it already was.

When I was suddenly yanked back and spun around, I gasped. Opening my eyes, I was now staring into Cyran’s penetrating eyes. He had one arm wrapped around my waist, while he held one of my wrists in his hand, slightly above his right shoulder.

He held me at an angle, as if we had been dancing and he dipped me down. Even my left leg had managed to tangle itself around his leg. My free hand was currently trapped between our bodies, so I couldn’t push him away.

Yet as I stared up at him, with his face hovering just inches above mine, I suddenly found my eyes dropping to his lips. The compulsion to kiss him was tantalizing and it took everything inside of me to resist.  I didn’t understand why I was feeling the way I was.

He was extremely handsome, but this was on a whole different level. It was like my mind, body, and soul were wanting to be consumed by him. It was strange that his touch was familiar as if I had experienced it for hundreds if not thousands of years.

“What happened to you?” His eyes shifted between mine, taking a second to look at each one.

Even though Cyran asked a question, I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to or if I should answer. His words did break the daze I had been experiencing, allowing me to wiggle my imprisoned hand out from between us. Dropping the leg that was wrapped around his, I pushed him back, while standing up.

Stepping to the side, avoiding the dog poop on the sidewalk, I smoothed my hands over my shirt. Gripping the strap of my computer bag, I made sure it was secure. My need to flee from him was overpowering.

“This was a bad idea. Forgive me for wasting your time.” I took a few steps back, kicking off my heels as I did so.

When I was barefoot, I spun on my feet and started running as fast as I could. Adrenaline pumped through me, fueling me to run faster. On the off chance that he was following me, I turned my head to look over my shoulder.

I saw him standing in the same place I left him. He was running a hand through his hair, looking bewildered. Turning my head forward, I ran a few more yards before looking behind me again.

When I didn’t see him, I thought he decided to let me go and returned to his house. Just as I was turning my head to face forward again, I crashed into something hard. Stunned for a second, I stumbled back, and right before I lost my balance, an arm snaked around me.

Once again, I was in Cyran’s arms. Startled by his sudden appearance, I quickly pushed him away and staggered back a few feet. Looking behind me, I saw the distance that was between me and where we had been standing a few moments ago.

“H-how?” I stuttered when I returned my attention to him.

“You really don’t remember?” He stepped closer, towering over me as if he had become ten feet tall suddenly.

An abundant amount of fear engulfed me, causing me to start gasping for air. Holding my hands out in front of me, I tried to ward him off as he continued to approach me. Running away was now pointless because his speed was too accelerated for a normal human.

The simple fact that I wrote fantasy novels, my first thought was that he wasn’t human. If it weren’t for my inability to believe in something too outrageous, I would have continued with that theory. Instead, I tried to find a realistic explanation for it.

Perhaps I had been too freaked out to be able to differentiate between what was real and what wasn’t. As hard as I tried, I couldn’t viably think of a way he could have gotten in front of me without me noticing. My head felt as if it were about to explode if I kept pondering it.

“What are you?” I forfeited, hoping that his answer was human, even if I couldn’t fathom how a human could move so briskly.

“Dragon.” His answer was direct.

Shaking my head, I refused to believe that what he said was true. Possibly I was simply dreaming after reading one of his books. After all, it was too bizarre that he happened to live so close to me. I might be cursed with an abundance of bad luck, but this was too insane to be real.

Knowing it was pointless to try to run again, I knew I had to at least try. Spinning around, I made another dash away from him, except in the direction of his house. This time I didn’t look over my shoulder to see if he was following me. Barely a second later, he was standing in front of me, but I managed to stop before running into him again.

“Look, I don’t know who you are or what you want from me, but if you don’t let me go, it won’t be long before my friends start looking for me.” The lie came out easily, but my voice shook with each word.

“You might be able to fool others, but I am not someone that is that gullible. One ability that Dragon Shifters have is that we are excellent lie detectors. We can smell a lie. Not to mention I can hear your heart beating rapidly. I can tell you are afraid but trust me I am the only one you will never have to fear.”

Oddly enough, I believed his words about not fearing him, but that was easier said than done. I still didn’t believe he was a Dragon because the concept alone was too preposterous. The fact that he stared at me with frigid eyes also made me believe that I wasn’t safe with him either.

“I am warning you, don’t come near me!” I shouted as I took a few steps back, trying to think of a way that I could escape.

He moved forward with each step I took back, his gaze boring into me as if he were stalking his prey. Walking backward, while barefoot, I stepped on something that felt like glass. Wincing from the pain, I stumbled faintly but continued to back away from him.

Keeping my attention on him, I noticed that his nostrils flared slightly, and his eyes darted to the left, where a small patch of trees was standing. I didn’t dare to follow his gaze, but I took that moment to take off running again. I should have known that it was useless, as not even a second later, he grabbed me from behind and placed his hand over my mouth.

“If you want to live, I need you to trust me. There are far worst dangers out there than me.” His voice was low, and his breath was hot against my ear.

The warning in his voice had me tensing as my eyes darted toward the tree line, he had looked at earlier. Just then, a group of men walked out and there was something sinister in the way that they looked at me. Cyran removed his hand from my mouth and then stepped around me, placing himself between me and them.

His arm stretched behind him, wrapping around me as if he were trying to keep me in place. Instead of resisting him, I placed my hands on his back and gripped his shirt. As I looked at the men that were slowly approaching us, I felt that Cyran was my safest option.

“You may be the Dragon King, but we want the Precious Stone.” One of the men growled.

There was a total of seven of them, three of whom I recognized. One was my neighbor, who had always seemed friendly every time I stepped outside. He had always smiled and waved at me. Another was the mechanic I had trusted with my car. The last one was the mailman that delivered my mail and always put a rose in the newspaper he delivered to me on Sundays.

“Over my dead body.” Cyran’s voice roared, and it no longer sounded human.

“That can be arranged. You aren’t as strong as you were without the bond of your mate.”

Precious Stone? Mate? I didn’t know what they were talking about, but it was clear that they were here for me. When one of the men lunged at Cyran, I took that opening to flee. Cyran might be able to catch me, but I highly doubt that the others would.  

Even if I believed that Cyran was a Dragon, I didn’t think it was possible that the others were. Running as fast as my feet would carry me, I unclipped the strap of my laptop, as it was slowing me down. Before dropping the bag, I fished out my car keys.

I wasn’t worried about my laptop or wallet, as I could always replace them. If I could get to my car and with any luck it would start, I could get as far away from this town as possible. After all these years of living here, I didn’t know I lived around a bunch of maniacs.

Managing to run a few blocks, I thought I was in the clear. For an instant, I felt guilty about leaving Cyran to deal with the men, but I quickly pushed it away. He was the main one I wanted to escape from. When I saw my car in the distance a fleeting time later, I felt relieved.

Less than a block away from my car, someone abruptly appeared in front of me. I didn’t have time to stop before I was grabbed and felt a throbbing pain behind my head as if I were hit was something. Right before blacking out, I regretted that it wasn’t Cyran that had appeared in front of me this time.