Captured By The Dragon
Episode 50

Patara

My lips parted when I saw him. Our eyes locked and it was like time slowed all around us. He looked—furious.

I knew he couldn’t have been happy with me for leaving, but I suddenly worried if he was about to kill me because of it. When I first took his hand, he swore to me that he would hunt me down and make me pay if I had ever left him. Was that time now?

He stepped up to the door and tried at the handle but it was locked. He leaned down in a slow, eerie way and knocked his knuckles against the glass three times.

“Open up, sweetheart. I’ve come to take you home.”

His voice frightened me. Everything about him made me shiver and I knew that there was no way I would open the door when he looked at me like that. In my mind, I saw this going differently. In my mind, he was happy to see me.

“What? Worried I’ll take you from your boyfriend?” He snarled.

My brows knitted in confusion. Boyfriend?

It dawned on me. He meant Malcom… had he been watching me? All night?

“He’s not my boyfriend! You don’t understand!”

He slammed his palm against the glass to rattle me. I gasped and clenched my phone against my chest. A smart girl would have already called the police—but apparently all my brain cells were absent when it came to Dylan.

“Open the door, Patara. I will not say it again.”

“I won’t! Not until you calm down!”

Dylan threw his head back and laughed. It sounded sinister and wrong—what happened to him? Perhaps my leaving really had driven him off the edge.

Another familiar face came out of the shadows and grabbed Dylan by his shoulder to shove him back. “Hey—“

Dylan gripped his friend and sent him flying across the parking lot before he turned back to me.

“I won’t hurt you. Open the door or I will tear it off.”

I gazed in horror at his friend who moved to pick himself back up. I’d never seen anyone throw someone like that before. His inhuman strength was… startling.

“As you wish.”

Dylan gripped the door handle and yanked it open in one pull. I gasped and scrambled to the drivers seat but he was quicker. He grabbed me by my legs and forced me out of the car until I was pressed against him.

“It’s nice to see you haven’t thought about me at all.” He said against my ear before he picked me up and laid me down against the hood. “Already have a new boyfriend? I didn’t take you for the type to sneak out and meet your lover but I suppose you’re full of surprises.”

I clenched his hands that had a hold of me and tried to breathe as he held me against the hood. I don’t think I had ever seen him this angry. Even when he was tearing through those men in the forest.

“Dylan… please listen to me.” I begged. I regretted the seconds where I hesitated to call Malcom. He would have been out here with his gun and—

No… he was angry because he was jealous. I had to make him understand that there was nothing to be jealous of—

“He’s not my boyfriend… He’s helping me find out what happened to our baby!”

All at once, the anger drained from his face as if it was leaking out. His grip on me loosened and his rage was replaced with…confusion.

“What are you talking about?” Dylan helped me sit up and suddenly his touches were gentle. I wiped my tears and glanced at the hospital across the parking lot.

“I… I was pregnant with your baby and…” I glanced back at him just to watch all his emotions flash across his face. He couldn’t seem to decide which one he wanted to feel but they all wanted to come out.

“And what?” He finally said. His voice was so soft, I almost thought I imagined the harsher version that I just saw. How long had he been holding onto that rage?

“And I was told he died when I gave birth…” I said gently. His face immediately turned to sorrow and a far away regret. “But I don’t believe that, Dylan. I feel as if he’s still alive and Malcom is investigating it—that’s the only reason why I’m here. I swear it.”

“He?” He whispered. I nodded slowly.

Dylan watched me for a long moment as if he was trying to read all the thoughts in my mind.

“I didn’t realize you were…” He touched my jaw and lifted my chin to look up at him. “I should have been with you.”

I was about to respond when he suddenly pulled me off the hood of the car and gripped my hand. “What—“

“Let’s go see if we can find out what happened…”

“Dylan, no. If Malcom sees you, he will think you’re trying to kidnap me and shoot you. You can’t go in there!”

Dylan turned and took my face in his hands. “If you’re telling me that our baby might still be alive and they’re holding him, I’m going to find where he is.”

I felt my stomach flip when he touched me. I wanted to lean against him and let him remind me that everything was okay now that he was here.

It would be okay… wouldn’t it?

“We have to find another way. The hospital has guards on every floor. If Malcom comes out and tells me what they said, maybe we will get a lead on where he could be.”

“I’m not letting that man take you—“

“Dylan, he’s not taking me! He will tell me what he heard and take me straight home.” I hesitated as an idea formed in my mind. I could taste it on the tip of my tongue. “I know you must have been watching me. Do you know where I live?”

Dylan dropped his hands and nodded. He didn’t look the least bit guilty about it either.

“Then meet me tonight after he is gone. I will leave the gate a little open for you to come around to the back. My window is by the larger trees.”

“Do you have cameras?” He asked.

“No, we did but my father never fixed them from the last storm we had. They’re still out.” I glanced at the hospital. “I just hope he doesn’t notice the dent in his door.”

“He won’t tonight.” Dylan said with a curve of his l*p. I couldn’t take another second of it, there was so much I had to tell him. I wrapped my arms around his neck and he caught me in an embrace.

I could say nothing. If I did, too much would pour out of me at once. Instead, I kissed him and he kissed me. The world tilted under us and I felt as if we were on a cloud when his lips moved against mine.

Just when I was about to melt into him, he pulled away.

“He’s coming.”