The Dragon’s Revenge

Chapter Two – Drake’s POV

The moment I landed in my lair, I dropped him.

Fred hit the cold stone floor with a soft thud, his silver tunic pooling around him as he pushed himself up. The heat from the molten rivers flowing through the cavern cast an eerie glow, illuminating the jagged rock formations and the massive piles of gold and jewels behind me. My treasure hoard.

He was an intruder. A human who didn’t belong here.

And yet, he looked around, not with fear, but with something far more dangerous. Curiosity.

I folded my wings, my golden eyes narrowing as I loomed over him. Why wasn’t he trembling?

Did he not understand what had just happened? He had been stolen, ripped from his kingdom, taken by the last dragon in existence—a creature his kind had spent centuries hunting to extinction. And now, he was trapped in my domain, alone.

His father would never reach him here. And still… he wasn’t afraid.

Fred ran his fingers over a stone wall, tilting his head. “Your home is beautiful,” he mused, as if he were an invited guest.

I let out a slow breath through my nose, the heat making the air shimmer. “You think this is a home?” My voice was low, dangerous. “This is a tomb.”

“For whom?” he asked, turning to face me.

I didn’t answer.

Because he didn’t need to know.

He was just a tool—my leverage against his father, the man who had put a bounty on my head. A reward for anyone who could kill me.

They had tried for years.

Now, I would make the king pay.

My claws scraped against the stone as I took a step toward him, towering over his small, delicate frame. “You should be screaming.”

His lips curved. “Why? Would that please you?”

I scowled. “It would be natural.”

“Well,” he said, brushing off his tunic, “I’ve never been good at doing what’s expected of me.”

Foolish boy.

A growl rumbled in my chest, echoing through the cavern. I leaned in, lowering my face just inches from his. “You don’t understand what you’ve done, human. I am not your savior. I am not your protector.” My claws dug into the stone, cracking it. “I am the last of my kind. And if I wished it, I could turn you to ash with a single breath.”

He didn’t move.

Didn’t even flinch.

And then, to my utter surprise, he smiled.

“Then why haven’t you?”

The words struck deep, raw.

I should have. I should have burned him the moment I claimed him. Instead, I had brought him here.

Instead, I was warning him.

Fred inched closer, his head craned up to my eyes, completely ignoring the threat gathering about him. “You brought me to hurt my father,” he said to me. “To hurt him. But what do you do when you discover I am not as powerless as you suppose?”

I pinched my eyes shut. “You are human. Your life is fragile. You are nothing.”

His mouth parted slightly, and then—

He kissed me.

It was so sudden, so unthinkable, that my entire body went rigid.

I stiffened for the first time in centuries.

His mouth was warm, his lips soft on mine. Too warm. Not with fear, but something other. Something wild.

The moment shattered.

A growl ripped from my throat as I wrapped my claws around his wrist, pulling him back with enough strength to make him stumble. Before he could catch himself, I slammed him against the nearest wall, pinning him there with my claws encircling his throat. Not hard enough to kill. But hard enough to remind him exactly what I was.

My wings unfolded, shadows deepening on the walls. “Don’t ever do that again.”

Fred leaned his head back. “Why not?”

I pulled him closer. “Because I am not a man to be touched.”

He should have been quaking in fear.

But he smiled instead.

This boy is going to be a nuisance.

I pushed in closer, spreading the hot breath on his skin, and he flushed with the heat. “You are inviting trouble,” I snarled.

He maintained his focus on mine, unflinching. “I like the flame.”

I pursed my lips into a pressed line.

I was not pleased.

I let him go, stepping back hard. “Enough.” I turned on my heel, my claws clenching into fists. “You will not be leaving here. You will not speak unless spoken to. And you will know your place.”

“And what place is that?” he asked, crossing his arms.

I blew out a breath, flames dancing at my lips. “A prisoner.”

Fred looked around the cavern again, then at me.

And smiled.

“Then I’ve had worse cages.”

I looked at him.

Then, for the first time in a very long time, I wasn’t sure who had really caught whom.