Cat and Mouse.

Dylan

It’s early morning, and I haven’t slept for shit. I’ve been tossing and turning for hours, my dragon pacing inside me like a caged animal. He keeps growling one word over and over like a broken record: Mate.

I’d love nothing more than to leap out the window and start sniffing the wind like a lunatic, but that’s not how this works. She's long gone by now, whoever she was. Just a whiff of apple pie and sunshine, gone as quickly as she came. Still, I can’t shake the feeling in my chest, that low thrum of energy that hasn’t stopped since yesterday. It's like something woke up inside me, and now that it's stirring, it won’t shut up.

You missed her, my dragon snarls. You let her go.

“Yeah, thanks for the reminder, dickhead,” I mutter, punching my pillow.

I close my eyes and try to drift off, but it’s no use. My thoughts keep looping. What if I never find her again? What if that was it, my one shot at happiness, gone before I even got her name? I’ve waited over a hundred years. I've fought wars, lived through centuries of politics, suffered through boring council meetings for this? One chance, missed, and now I’m supposed to go back to pretending? Gods. I might actually lose my mind and then it hits me. That scent. Warm. Sweet. Like golden-brown crust straight out of the oven, filled with spiced apples and caramel. I inhale again, sharply. My eyes flash gold as my dragon surges to the surface.

She’s here.

I sit bolt upright, adrenaline rushing like wildfire through my veins. There’s no mistaking it this time. That is her. Not a dream. Not a hallucination. That is the unmistakable scent of my mate and it’s coming from inside my house. I smirk, barely suppressing the giddy, childish urge to fist-pump the air. She came to me. Maybe not intentionally, but she's here. That’s fate, right? Or the Moon Goddess finally throwing me a bone. I slip out of bed, silently padding to the door. My senses are razor-sharp now, dragon fully alert as I press my nose against the slight crack in the frame. Her scent is stronger now. Closer. Almost directly outside. She's sneaking around my house. My mate is trying to sneak. That’s adorable. I wait, barely breathing. The doorknob jiggles gently. She’s trying to open it slowly, quietly. I grin. My little minx. I love this already. Just as the door eases open a crack, I strike. I reach out, grab the hand on the knob, and yank her inside in one smooth motion. A delicious jolt shoots up my arm the moment we touch. Sparks. Literal ones. I spin her around, pressing her against the wall with my body, bracing her there as I gently close the door behind us.

“Caught you, little mate,” I whisper with a grin so wide it practically splits my face in two and that’s when all hell breaks loose. Before I can even blink, she launches herself at me with a fierce growl, catching me completely off guard. She slams me backward, and I land flat on my ass, stunned, as she scrambles on top of me like some kind of feral cat. She straddles my waist, dagger already out, her body blazing with magic and fury. My brain short-circuits.

“What are you?!” I gasp, staring up at her in utter awe.

She’s tiny, barely half my size, but radiating so much power I actually forget how to move. Her long blonde hair is pulled back in a no-nonsense ponytail, her eyes glowing with iridescent flecks of pinks, blues, and purples like a literal storm in a gemstone. A spattering of freckles dusts her button nose. She’s wearing a camo tank top that hugs her just right and pants to match, every inch of her a deadly little soldier.

“You’re so bloody cute,” I murmur, unable to help myself as I reach up and boop her nose.

She scowls, nose wrinkling in irritation. Gods help me, I think I just fell harder.

“I’m a fairy,” she spits, holding her dagger steady at my throat. “The last of my kind. I’m not all rainbow wings and fairy dust. I am chaos and mayhem. Blood and death. I am here for revenge!”

The words leave her mouth like a war cry. She’s trembling slightly, whether from rage or adrenaline, I don’t know, but she looks like a vengeful goddess, beautiful and terrifying and I am so into it.

“Fuck, that’s hot, baby doll,” I say, utterly sincere as my dragon begins to purr inside me.

She scoffs, pressing the dagger harder into my throat. I can feel the edge of it, just barely breaking skin, and I let out a soft, delighted chuckle. This one’s got bite. I move quickly, grabbing her wrist and flipping us so that I’m on top, pressing her into the floor with my body. She gasps in surprise, but I don’t disarm her. She still has the knife pressed to my throat and gods, it’s kind of kinky.

“I could be down for that,” I murmur, leaning closer, our faces just inches apart.

Her breathing stutters for a second. She’s flustered, just a little. I can smell it. She might want to stab me, but she also wants me. That scent doesn’t lie. I’m just about to lean in, to kiss those pouty lips and see if she tastes like sunshine and war, when...

“DYLAN?!”

My mother’s shriek echoes through the house like a banshee wailing. I freeze. My mate’s eyes widen and then...WHAM! She kicks me square in the balls. The pain rockets through me like lightning. I groan and roll to the side, careful not to crush her under my much larger frame. She uses the moment to shove me away completely and bolt for the door. She’s fast. So fast. The door slams behind her. I’m still curled up on the floor, groaning through the pain, blinking back tears as my dragon howls in indignation but I’m smiling because my mate just tried to assassinate me and I’ve never been more in love.

“Run, little mate,” I whisper under my breath as I finally pull myself up, one hand over my groin, the other pressed to the wall for balance. “I’m coming for you.”

Because I don’t care if she’s here to kill me. I don’t care if she wants to burn this entire house down. She’s mine now and I’m going to win her over. Even if it kills me.