XXVIII. The dragon and the fly

Cara

I was sat on the couch using my laptop, checking college admissions, so far I had gotten three, none of which I really wanted. To be honest, I had only applied to them in case I did not get into the one I really wanted, Balor.

Balor was my dream school and I really wanted to get in. Sadly the application process was a whole thing. First you send in your credentials followed by a few assigned essays and then an interview.

All I had to do was attend the interview on Saturday. Saturday because they like to see if the applicant is serious enough to attend an interview on a weekend. A good way to weed off the jokers.

Dad was at work and my friends had left after breakfast that morning.

Hanging out with them had been nice but Liza had been a bit off. It was probably because of what had happened the night. Maybe a hangover. A hangover was nothing the girl could not handle so I did not worry too much about the issue.

The house was pretty much empty. I liked the peace and quiet.

There was a knock at the door and I nearly jumped off the couch, startled by the sudden noise. I knew who it was.

Ivan

I had sensed that he would be coming by. Honestly, I had been anxious to see him again since last night when he left after escorting my friends and I back to the house.

I ran to the door, my heart skipping a beat, knowing just who stood on the other side of the door. I felt his air. I had always been able to tell when he was close by.

Ignoring the house rule of looking through the peep hole before opening the door, I answered the knock.

There he stood.

In the bright daylight, Ivan stood at my doorstep, tall and handsome as ever. He had clad himself in dark pants and a thick navy blue long sleeved shirt with black shoes. The roundneck shirt clung to his biceps tightly making his look tantalizingly sexy.

Shamelessly gawking, I studied him from the shiny black shoes he wore to his curly black mane.

Sizing me up, he drank me in with hard gaze. I felt neither nervous nor fearful as his steely gaze raked through my form. The way he looked at me, it made me feel satisfied and complete in a way. It felt good to be looked at in the way he did me.

"Ivan," I said breathlessly.

"I have come see you..." he looked behind me." May I come in?"

Months ago I would not have hesitated to let him into my house. Now things were different. I had to be cautious. He had proven himself dangerous and I needed to know his motives.

What would he want with me?

I was only a human, small and weak compared to what he was. He was a dragon :I was a fly.

"I'd prefer if you did not."

Disappointment was clear in his eyes.

"I understand. Come outside then," he said. It was more of an order than a plea. He spoke so dominantly that I had no choice but to obey.

I came outside and closed the door behind me. He made way for me.

"What do you want from me?" I questioned him quickly. Now that I knew what he was, it puzzled me more than ever what he could have wanted from me.

"I don't want anything from you. I only want you. "

"Why? Why do you want me?" I snapped. My breathe caught when I saw his steely orbs darken suddenly. He stepped towards me. I stepped back.

My mind knew he was danger and it told my body to prepare to run. But something else, something inside me told me to stay put, convinced me that he meant no harm, he was safety.

"Because I'm selfish..." He admitted.

He tucked a loose strand of my hair behind my ear. I shivered at his touch. It felt like electric currents dancing on my skin and I liked it. It made me feel alive again...like I had months ago when he had been in my life.

"Possibly the most selfish man in the world...I don't deserve you, but I want you more that anything. I want you to myself."

The power in his voice struck me.

He continued.

"Your heart is kind and big. You're generous...curious -insanely, stupidly so - and smart. Nothing about you is what I expected. You have enchanted me, Volshebnitsa. " The foreign word he spoke made me shudder.

"We are poles apart... but I simply cannot stay away."

Then why did you leave me?

"T-Then why did you never come back?" I said with a crack in my voice, allowing my heart to break just a bit more . It had been broken since the last time I saw him. I had felt abandoned and it had torn me apart. " Y-You left me," I stuttered.

A hot wetness streamed down my cheeks and I realized that I was crying.

Ivan was quick as he moved to me, cupping both sides of my face in his eyes. He forced my head up, looking deep into my eyes, his own sparkling with deep emotion.

"I never left you and I never will. As long as I breath I will be with you, hell, not even death can keep me away from you," he declared sharply as if he was reprimanding me for even imagining that he was ever away from me.

With his soft lips, he kissed my cheeks, not letting go of me as the tears I had held in for months flowed.

***

The sky darkened as the sun sunk into the horizon. The clouds appeared orange as the fading sunlight shown on them. It was beautiful to watch.

I was curled up next to Ivan on the sofa on the porch. My head rested on his muscled chest, my hand laying on his sculpted torso feeling his abs.

I had no worries then. I had not seen him in months but it felt like it had before, like that time had never passed, as if the clock had just paused and now that he was here, holding me, the seconds ticked on again.

The night was approaching and I did not mind it.

My father was away at work and he would be till late, it was his trend. He'd told me that he was working on something big at work. I knew he would not be home for a long time. Hopefully, someday he would meet Ivan. I wondered what that would be like.

A cold wind blew by, blowing my hair over my face. The temperatures were lower that evening but I was not cold, Ivan's body provided all the warmth I needed.

"It's cold. You're cold," he said brushing his hand over my bicep.

"I'm not," I told him. "You're warm enough for the both of us."

He smiled and my chest warmed up. He had a nice smile but rarely showed it, rarely gifted the world with the sight. Only he could make such a mundane gesture look so angelic.

"You have a nice smile," I complemented him, running the pads of my fingers over his stubble. The hairs were a little rough and I liked it. It was powerfully masculine and it took my breath away. "You should smile more."

"With you around that task will be very easy."

I was reminded of his earlier words, as long as I breath I will be with you, hell, not even death can keep me away from you...

It was promise. Sure there was a lot I did not know about him but I knew he meant what he said. He would never leave me, not like my mother had.

He was dangerous, being around him tripled the chances that you would die before the end of the day. I had seen it myself but I felt safer with him than I did anywhere else. He was my safe haven.

"What are you thinking?" He asked, his eyes gleaming with strong emotion.

"About what you said, that you will never leave me..." I answered, my voice coming out in only a whisper. I felt truly vulnerable when he looked at me the way he was. He made me weaker and stronger at the same time.

"I meant it, every word I speak to you is true. I will forever be with you."

My breath hitched.

A while later, a question popped up in my mind, it was among many others but those were for another time. "You never came to see me. Why?"

"Candidly, answer me this, would you have wanted to see me? After what I did?" His words were like a slap in the face, difficult to answer.

Had he shown up weeks before, knocked on my door and asked to see me, to spend time with me like we used to, would I have let him in?

"I don't know..."I muttered. Looking down at his chest, avoiding his gaze.

"You needed time, I gave you just that. We have nothing but time and I want to be patient with you. You make that so hard..."

I frowned. He smiled at me, continuing, " a compliment, malen'kiy. You test my patience each and every day. You make me want to rip off your clothes and ravage you right here and now."

There was a hitch in my breath.

"But I don't want to rush you. So I must be patient. I have waited for you for what seems to be a thousand eternities and I will continue to wait for you. I will always wait for you. "

Fully comprehending what he was speaking of, a heat rushed up my body. It was good to know that he wanted me as much as I wanted him.

I decided to change the topic, taking advantage of his current openness. It was rare for Ivan to open up like this and I would not waste my chance to have all my questions answered."Why did you not tell me? What you are?"

"I was afraid."

"You don't look like you fear anything," I said, my hands running up and down his shirt,my fingers playing with the buttons. His muscles flexed under my touch. We were closer now that we ever had been.

"I forgot fear a long time ago but when I met you...It all came back. I was fearful, a coward. I was afraid that once you found out, you would leave me...hate me."

"I could never hate you. I guess I reacted the way most humans would," I told him. " But I never hated you."

"Never?"

"Never. In fact...thank you...for saving me." I leaned into him, listening to the rhythm of his heartbeat.

We were silent again. My body rested in his, my curves fitting perfectly into his sculpted ones.

I was so curious about his kind and he was right there.

"So you're a werewolf?" I began, my tone nonchalant.

"Sort of. I am what they Volk."

"Volk?"

"Its another language. The Old Language...ancient really but the word itself has both Russian and German roots. It means a deadly wolf person. Volk are related to werewolves, believed to be their ancestors."

Having seen him in action, deadly wolf person sounded about right.

"Were you born that way?"

"I was," he said. There was a sadness in tone.

"You like it?"

He answered my question with a question." Do you like being human?"

"I've never thought about it really. It's not like I can change."

"I feel the same. I did, until I met you. The fear of losing you made we want to give up what I am...just to be with you."

It was made clear to me that he worried I would reject him. And I had. For a while. But he needed to know that what he was, had never affected my feeling for him. Even when I feared him most I still felt like he was the only right thing in my life.

"Well, I don't mind what you are. I will not make you change," I was shocked by my own words. I felt that I needed to reassure him, to comfort him. I knew it hurt him that I had feared him, that I made him hate himself, that he did.

I wanted him to feel better, to prove to him that he was not the monster he believed he was, so as the sun disappeared completely, I rose up from where he held me. Climbing courageously onto him, I pressed a soft, chaste kiss on his lips.

He had promised not to leave me so with the kiss I made a promise too.

I trust you...