Crown of Dahlias

Intruder

Kieren sat stunned for a moment on the couch.

"What?"

"Kieren, I know this is hard to understand but, I believe in my heart of hearts that what I feel, what you are, is a Drakain."

"I, what, a Drakain? Is that a dragon?"

"It's the only mate a Drake has ever had. They are very, very rare since our kind is waning. A Drakain is able to bear offspring. Their scales are like refined gems when they could shift long ago. Shining and glittering. Beautiful. The exact opposite of a Drake's scales. They have sinewy bodies, are agile, elegant, and very fast. They are smaller than Drakes, but can be almost equal in size to a beta when they could shift."

"Val, I'm, that's-" Kieren feeling his heart beat double time in his chest.

"The fire under your skin, the sparks, the urges, the longing. Has there never been anything that made you doubt being human?"

"I..." Kieren's mind running in circles, stopping on the question Val asked. Kieren's shoulders began to droop, tears brimming his eyes.

"The village I lived most of my life in... they called me a demon," Kieren whispered, Val sitting ramrod straight at those words, "they said I was bad luck. A calamity if they let me go free."

"What!?" Val letting out a vicious snarl, Kieren seeing fangs start to elongate and dig into Val's bottom lip, Val's grip becoming like iron around his hand.

"Ezra was my only friend there. They would call us hideous, ugly things. Monsters in human skin. They hurt us so badly. Made us their servants. Ezra gave me the chance to get free. I don't even know if he is alive, I don't-" Kieren letting a sob leave him, Val holding him crushingly against his chest.

"Is that why you cloak yourself? The only skin I have ever seen was of your hands and the unhidden parts of your cheeks."

"It is, yes. But... Val, I'm scared," Kieren whispered, Val holding both of Kieren's hands in his, their bodies pressed together as much as sitting would allow.

"I'm scared that you will see me as hideous too. That you won't want me once you see..." Kieren trying to beat back the tears that were stinging the back of his throat.

"You've let me touch your face you know? Trusted me enough to do so without removing your hood. You have small features, delicate. A button nose, defined cheeks, a cute chin. Long eyelashes that brushed my thumbs. I think you are gorgeous beneath that hood and I haven't even seen you. And even if you don't think you're beautiful, no matter what you look like, you were meant for me. I've already accepted all that you are, Kieren, my little thief."

Kieren couldn't help the softest hiccupping laugh, Val rumbling happily.

"A little thief that makes adorable sounds."

Kieren brushed at his eyes from the tears that still clung to his lashes.

"What else is there that makes someone a Drakain?" Kieren asked suddenly, "besides the attraction you and I have for each other, even though you haven't seen me."

"Kieren, you don't actually think that a human could get past not just one of my best dragon warriors, but every other dragon that is in the citadel, do you?"

Kieren had to blink at that quickly, cocking his head to the side.

"Kieren, a dragon has to be so quiet that other dragons can not pick up the sound. Humans are unable to be that quiet. Remember when I said that Bellion had scented someone of Jasmine?" Val breathing in deeply underneath Kieren's jaw, Kieren letting a small whimper out that he couldn't hold back for the life of him.