“For you protec-”

“Enough!” Draco’s eyes widened at the sound of her raised voice. He felt his heart skip a beat, yet was it out of amazement or surprise? “I am the princess of this kingdom! I have been trained in archery, and swordsmanship! I am no defenseless little child!”

“Yet here you are with a dragon, who you just met, unarmed and unattended!” Draco awaited Warmth’s reply, somewhat in an eager manner. Warmth turned to Draco, their eyes meeting, staying in complete contact, until Draco closed his eyes and kneeled down to the princess.

“This dragon belongs to my kingdom, and is as loyal as you are, sir. I have no fear of him.” Draco looked up at her, finding a kind, generous smile to meet him. “You will keep this a secret Mr.Stipus.”

“What?! My lady, please that is fooli-”

“It is my order. Our encounter is never to be known by another soul. I will continue to meet with Draco,” Draco looked to her, excited that this wouldn’t be the last time they see one another. “And you will be a keeper of that secret as well. If I hear of you telling anyone, I will personally take the whip to you....” She paused and looked back to the stunned guard. “No matter how distasteful the thought.” Draco had to admit, she will be a very powerful and commanding leader. He felt himself smiling widely, licking his lips. Even more enticing! he found himself thinking. He looked to Stipus, awaiting the guard to complain and try the ‘I know all cause I’m like 100 years old’ act he pulled with Draco so many times. But to his surprise, Stipus kneeled down to the princess, bowing his head.

“Yes My Lady.” Warmth walked over to him and placed her hand on his shoulder.

“Thank you sir,” she nudge him to raise, “But please the ‘my lady’ is for my mother. I insist you call me by name.” Stipus rose and bowed his head once again. “And none of that, I may be a princess but I’m not a dictator.”

“As you wish princess Warmth,” Stipus looked over to Draco, whose eyes were still glowing a piercing yellow, as he licked his teeth staring at Warmth.Stipus knew that gaze, it wasn’t an unrevealed stare. He wanted to mount the princess, take her as his, whether or not she wanted to. Stipus put his hand consciously onto his sword, making it very obvious what he would do.

Draco snarled at Stipus. He didn’t know if it was his instincts or a warning to Stipus to step back. Draco stood and walked next to the princess, feeling his heart race as he grabbed her hand. He felt Warmth’s eyes look to him, those bright, strong eyes he could look at for ages. He did not take his eyes off of Stipus though. He saw a threat behind his eyes. If you touch her, right? He thought. Draco chuckled and closed his eyes, releasing a non-violent feeling into the air. Stipus removed his hand from his sword and sigh slightly under his breath. “Come, we must get back to the kingdom.” He began to walk back toward the forest, notifying Draco to follow.

“How did you even get here old man?” Draco asked, walking slowly with the princess, his hand still tightly holding hers.

“How else? I rode my stallion here. It’s the only place I thought you would go.” Draco scoffed. He looked to the edge of the forest and saw Stipus black stallion, grazing the grass slowly, while tied to a branch.

“You’ve been here before?” Warmth asked quietly.

“It’s where he learned to fly in his dragon form,” Stipus answered, sounding mighty proud of himself. Draco rolled his eyes and took his attention back to the stallion. He stopped in his tracks noticing that the horse had rose his head up, his ears perked up with alertness, and his eyes wide with fear. Draco pulled the princess to him closely, putting her head into his chest. Stipus turned to him, a puzzled look on his bald mug. The stallion reared up letting out a feared whinny which was more close to a scream. Stipus quickly looked and ran toward the stallion.

“Draco what’s going on?” Warmth clung to him, fearing the sudden change in atmosphere. Draco looked down to her and shook his head unknowing of what was about to happen.

A thunderous roar rose from the forest, making the trees shake. Draco’s eyes widened, recognizing what they were about to face. He moved Warmth behind him and growled deeply, giving his opponent a strong warning to stay away. Just as Stipus rode over to them, giant black claws emerged from the trees. They were covered in scales and followed by the rest of the threatening creature. It was another dragon, a larger, more threatening creature then Draco was, which sent chills down Draco’s spine. He felt Warmth tense up and freeze behind him. He swiftly grabbed her and propped her onto the back of Stipus saddle. “Get out of here!” He yelled and slapped the butt of the horse. He went back to facing the larger, black dragon, whose eyes were piercing into Draco’s soul. It let out a powerful growl and Draco snarled back.

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It charged toward him quickly, giving Draco no time to change at all. It let down it’s head to bite down onto Draco, who quickly moved away from the attack, but was not prepared for the dragon to swipe it’s claws at him. He let out a grunt as two of the claws caught his skin. Draco fell to his knees, the rival dragon letting out a rough chuckle. Draco growled staring into the scorching yellow eyes that laid on him. Then the dragon arched his neck, ready for the final attack. Draco tried to stand, tried to move, even a little but his torn back stung, and he could feel the blood seep down.

Draco looked to the dragon, “Come get me!” The dragon shot his head forward only for it to be met by a rock in it’s eye. He let out a painful screech, becoming temporarily blinded. Draco looked to see Warmth, who was covered in dirt, as though she jump off the saddle and ran toward Draco. “What are you doing?!”

Warmth breathed heavily, and Draco could see her knees shake. “I thought you needed some help,” she said nervously.

“I put you on that horse for a reason! Get out of here!” he snapped. But it was wasted, for as it left his lips, a black claw pinned her down. She let out a painful scream, almost bloodcurdling. Draco’s eyes as he saw one claw pinned her shoulder down. Anger filled his chest, he felt it spreading through his body. He looked down at his hand and saw scales forming over it, out of his skin. He smirked and looked up devilishly.  I’m going to Rip You APART!

He let out his most powerful bellow, getting the attention he needed. He spread his wings and snorted, showing he was ready to fight, to defend Warmth.

The rival released Warmth, who laid holding her bleeding shoulder, and they ran at each other. Draco dug into his neck, and moved his claws to his wings, scratching and tearing. The rival used the claws at the end of his wings to try to claw Draco’s eyes, but Draco had taken and pinned him to the ground. Teeth sunk into Draco’s left hind leg and was being pulled, which made him sink his teeth further into the thick neck he held tightly. Draco began to twist, his instincts screaming to crush his rivals windpipe, as though this other dragon was his next prey.

The teeth that held his hind leg moved into his thigh, getting closer and closer to Draco’s tail. Draco could taste the blood pour like molten iron into his mouth. He could feel his rival’s pulse slowing down, this fight was just about over. He moved his claws to the rival’s stomach and tried to disembowel him. He growled loudly, powerfully. He saw the rival’s scales start to fade into skin, as he began to turn. Draco released him as he became fully back to his human form, teeth marks covering his neck and claw marks on his chest, his eyes still brightly yellow. He bolted toward Warmth, dodging Draco’s claws. Draco flew over and landed on top of Warmth, making sure no claws touched her precious body. He let his scales turn back as he hovered over the princess, becoming exposed once again.

The two boys glared at each other, The rival had midnight black hair, and tanned skin, not to mention the wounds he had just got. He had his fist clenched, breathing heavily, either he was close to death or was panicking. “Step away!”

“Make me!” Draco leaned down to Warmth, their bodies getting closer, her scent hypnotizing him. Not right now! He felt himself getting excited, but he controlled himself as much as he could. The other boy chuckled.

“You want to mate with her?! She’s a human ruler. Nothing but filth.” He saw his eyes travel down her body. Draco growled and jumped at him, punching him as hard as he could.

“Watch your mouth scum!” Draco growled at him, still hovering over Warmth. She started to squirm, trying to wake up. Draco brushed her bangs out of her face. He looked at her shoulder, which was spreading blood on the ground. He looked at the rival. “You’re lucky you’re not dead right now, don’t push it.”

“You’ll be killed before I!” he fell to his knees, he was feeling weak. “She’s a human. Their laws state you two shouldn’t even be within wing distance of each other!” Warmth whined, she was in pain, and most likely going into shock. Draco didn’t have time to deal with this low life, he needed to help Warmth. “She’ll be the cause of your death!”

Draco’s heart stopped for a second at those words. Then a tinge of anger filled him. He looked at the rival once again and tried to stand. “Draco...” A hand grabbed his arm and stopped him. “Draco...”

Draco cradled Warmth in his arms as he stood, her shoulder bleeding in his hand. She was his weakness, that was certain, and most likely his downfall. But no matter what, he was going to protect her. Her chest was moving rapidly, yet her breath was faint. How could he stop this? Yes he had some healing abilities, but he was unsure whether they even would work on her, and also with an enemy less than 10 feet away, he didn’t want to use them.

The sound of horse hooves approached them. Stipus? Draco thought. He didn’t want to take his attention away from Warmth, but he had to make sure it wasn’t anymore of the kingdom’s knights. As he looked he was relieved to see a rather bald, old man approach them. Draco looked to the other dragon and smirked as he tried his best to run away. Coward.

Draco’s attention went back to Warmth and the hand that held her shoulder. His eyes turned a brighter yellow as a red glow spread from his hand to her shoulder. It was working. The wound was closing and the blood was stopping. He sighed in relief when he finished and it was gone. He made Warmth look at him and smiled. She looked exhausted and somewhat scared. “You better now?”

“Never.. let me do that again, please.” She smiled. Draco chuckled and placed his head on hers.