Captured By The Dragon
Episode 37

Patara

A silent war brewed in the house and all I could do was stay in my room. The morning sickness had gotten worse and more violent at times. I had to crawl back to my bed before I would pass out from the dizziness again. Would it always be this bad? I didn’t have a mother to answer that at the moment.

It wasn’t too late to reconsider—I knew I could change my mind and go through with the abortion but…

Dylan’s face flashed in my mind. His lopsided smile and sinister looks that made me want something that was bad for me. I tried for days to stop thinking of him. I begged my mind to let him go and allow me to move on—but I saw him every time I closed my eyes.

My mark didn’t burn or tingle like it did whenever he was near. It felt like an old scar on my body that never healed. Occasionally I would feel a pulse but I never knew what it meant. It only forced Dylan back in my mind as if he was right next to me and I felt weak to those thoughts.

I… I shouldn’t think of him. That mysterious yet handsome bad boy that had more beneath the surface. There were plenty of men in the human world to consider—why did my mind keep replaying his smile over and over when I knew it was poison?

I didn’t want to sound foolish to myself to believe that there was more beneath the surface when it came to Dylan—there were probably hundreds of sides that I hadn’t yet seen of him.

My heart thumped slowly in my chest. I closed my eyes and there he was again. Did I… miss him?

No! Don’t be such an idiot. He wanted to own me like all the other men had before that took me there. He was no better.. .but that wasn’t true. I knew he was better than them and I would have taken his hand a hundred times over if I was put back in that van.

I forced myself from bed and wandered down the stairs. Each small creak was a betrayal, I didn’t want to give myself away but the house couldn’t seem to help it.

I peeked into the living room to see my family watching some old movie together. The sets looked just like the world I had just escaped from, part of me wished I could have seen more of it while the other part of me was glad to be free of it.

My father and mother sat close together, I could see her stiffness from here. My body begged me to run and fall at my knees for her. I wanted to ask for her forgiveness and her love and pray it could be restored to full.

She hadn’t spoken to me once since I told her I didn’t want the abortion. She yanked me out of school and made me do everything online. Apparently even my appearance was too shameful to her.

It didn’t matter. I didn’t have many friends and not one person seemed to notice I was gone anyway.

My father brought me my meals and I felt like a prisoner all over again. He was always quiet and loving, but he also always took my mother’s side because he would rather not be on the side that gave wrath and coldness. I couldn’t blame him.

I thought that she would have missed me after what happened to me. The moment I emerged from the forest, I hoped that she would have wanted this to bring us closer together. I used to pray to get one more night with her just so I could hear her voice.

It seemed that she never felt the same. My return was crucial to her reputation only, not to her heart.

I carried myself back upstairs and tried to ignore the pains inside. The doctor told me it might be different from a normal pregnancy, it might hurt more and make me sicker.

I felt so hollow inside, I couldn’t even bring myself to care.

Dylan

She was everywhere at once until she became no where at all.

I couldn’t follow her where she went. It would be basically bringing a war into the human realm and my people weren’t ready for that. I couldn’t make them fight for me when I knew it was a losing battle.

Besides, it would all be to bring back a girl that didn’t want to be here in the first place.

I didn’t need my guards to remind me that she must have tipped off someone of her location. Patara desperately wanted to be free of me and she was now. There was nothing I could do about it—she was gone.

Still, I ached for her. I woke up in my villa and reached through the bond to touch her but nothing ever came of it. I knew she must not have felt it at all.

My darker side wanted to force her back at my side. He wanted to find where she lived and break through the doors and everything else that tried to keep her from me.. When those thoughts came, I was glad she was far from my reach. Few things were strong enough to resist my wrath when it was unleashed.

I had nothing left from the old house except memories and scars. I took them with me when I moved into my father’s villa up the countryside. It was brighter than I liked and hadn’t been used in years. Where the old house was darkness, this was the brightness in the land.

Almost everything was white and the walls stretched twice as high. It was too big for my taste, but it was all I had left. I had no time to mourn over what I lost.

I had no time to miss a girl that was probably relieved to be away from me. I was the monster that kept her from returning home. I should have been her savior, but I made the mistake when I tried to be both.

“Dylan.” A voice said from the door. I watched as Celine entered the room with a sway that resembled the way a cat moved. Her heels clicked against the floor until she stopped in front of me. “Where did you go? I’ve been calling you.”

She went to caress my cheek, I grabbed her hand and lowered it. I wasn’t an idiot.

“I’ve been thinking about the war, is all.” I said as I dropped her hand. She smirked a little before she walked around the large room towards the fireplace.

“Tell me you’ve forgotten that human and you aren’t still moping around? We have things to do.”

“I know.” I grumbled and raked my fingers through my hair.

“Oh do you?” She purred. I looked away when she tried to catch me in one of her gazes. “Then snap out of it and act like a man before someone comes to blow this house up too. It’s time to protect your name before it gets dragged through the mud.”