Odessa

"Excuse me?" I leaned away from him, closer to the door. Daine's adoring look turned to mischief as he looked at his mother.

"That is it right? She is in love with him, is she not? That is what the pink powder means?" His mother pressed her lips together, shaking her head at her son's pushiness.

"You will have to forgive my son," Glinda picked up the saucers of tea, taking them to the sink. "He does not know when he speaks out of turn." Daine scoffed, his eyes glittering with excitement. "He's your mate then?" There was that word again.

"What is a mate?" The teacups in the sink crashed together, causing them to shatter. Glinda paused, looking at her own mess before stepping away to dry her hands. Her hand went to rub her mouth as she turned to the table. "Are you alright, mother?" Daine didn't leave his seat, not once did he try to check for wounds? Then again, they could probably heal fast, too.

"What do you feel about your dragon?" Her voice softened. Going to a bookshelf to pick up an old, worn book. "I know it is a lot to ask your feelings with people you've just met but, I think this situation calls for it." I swayed in my seat, not sure if I should answer. What if they tried to gang up on Creed when he entered the area and use me against him, trying to kill or torture him?

A gentle hand landed on my shoulder. Daine's mischievousness smile went to a concerned one. "I promise you, I will make sure nothing happens to you. My mother is only trying to help." I breathed out, feeling the heat of my breath on my chest, staring at the dolly in front of me.

"Butterflies, lots of butterflies in my stomach," I whispered. "When he is away, I don't like it. I feel safe with him, like we were supposed to always be there for each other." Glina hummed, flipping through the pages of an ancient book. The pages were torn. Several pages had tea or coffee stains on them.

"What else? What about when you touch him?" I smiled, rubbing my hands under the table. "Little tingles on the palms of my hands. He can't feel them though, so I think it is my excitement just being around him. I've never cared for someone so much before." Before I knew it, my smile brightened considerably as I talked about my dragon. Looking up, both of them stared at me in wonder.

"He doesn't feel these tingles, as you say?" I shook my head. "I think his dragon feels them, because he always nuzzles closer to me when I pet his scales around his heart." Glinda hummed, closing her book.

"Well, I think its absolutely nice you have found such a man you care about, especially someone like Creed. Maybe he needs someone like you to calm him." I tilted my head in confusion.

"Creed is always calm. He has shown no anger tendencies or wanting to hurt others the entire time I've known him," I argued back. "I don't know why everyone is so scared of him, sure his face may deter some people, the way he dresses and his tattoos and muscles, but he is anything but a monster."

Daine looked to his mother, who only shook her head slightly, kicking him under the table as he opened his mouth. "I think it is best we get you cleaned up. You will catch a cold and then your dragon might smoke us all out of our homes." "But the mate thing, is it like a beloved?" I've heard the term before with vampires and people over here keep throwing the word mate around like those vampires did.

"Where did you hear that term?" Daine asked. My nails scratched into my leather pants. I still wasn't sure I could trust them. They are trying to keep information away from me about a mate and here they want to know more about me. "Tell me what a mate is, and I'll tell you," I gave the best doe eyes I could, hoping they would listen.

"Alright," Glinda sat down, rubbing her forehead. "A mate is someone's 'soul' mate, someone they are supposed to be with that the Goddess Selene has blessed them. Everyone has a perfect matched soul and the Goddess pairs them together. They are overwhelming feelings just by meeting someone and they are supposed to be with each other forever." My heart flipped in my chest. Creed has a mate somewhere.

"Part of finding a mate is feeling warm tingles through your body when you touch one another. With humans, it is hard for them to know who there mate is. Usually the supernaturals they are paired with find them first and let the human know of these feelings and what they mean." My shoulder slumped. That means Creed has a mate somewhere. He hasn't told me anything about a mate, even with the leathers we use to communicate at night.

"Every supernatural has a mate, except some elders have found one person who is said to not have one. He is cursed because of the way he was born."

"W-who is that? That is awful," I said sadly. "One can't help how they are born." Glinda winced at the words covering her eyes.

"Your dragon is said to be the one supernatural, not to have a mate." I gasped, shaking my head.

"But why!?" I banged the table. "He deserves one, he is so good and pure he would neve hurt anyone!" Glinda and Daine looked at each other sadly.

"That's a story he may need to tell you," Glinda grabbed my hand. "But it doesn't matter. If you feel for him and he feels for you, then I don't see how it wouldn't work. Besides, your body has an ability to change." Tears brimmed my eyes. "What do you mean?" I hiccuped, holding sob.

"It means you have a mate somewhere. Only your supernatural mate can confirm it. Like you said before you had butterflies in your stomach and you think you feel tingles when you touch him, but he would have to feel the same in his human form."

I scoffed. Creed deserved a soul mate, like everyone else around here. Maybe I could be his soul mate, tell him we can be each other or something if he wanted. I couldn't imagine having any other feelings stronger than what I have for him. We didn't need some random goddess telling us what to do.

"How do you know about beloveds?" Daine asked. I gripped my fingers around my thighs. I was hoping they would forget.

"I spent some time with them for a while," I gulped. Glinda pulled my arm to the table, removing the cloak I had meticulously wrapped around my arm. She gasped, seeing the small scars on my arm.

"A blood bag?" She whispered.

"Yeah, and I escaped. Creed saved me and took care of me." Rubbing my arms up and down, the sudden chill had me craving for his warmth.

"You will not go back there," Glinda spoke with authority. The Elven territory will see to it. We are loyal to both Moon and Light kingdoms and that is to protect the humans. I'll let Zaos know of this information. Is that how you got here? Someone kidnapped you from Earth?"

A stray tear threatened to fall, but I sucked it right back in my eye. "My estranged mother is a witch. She brought me here to pay off a debt." Daine embraced me in a tight hug, knocking the kitchen chair over.

"No wonder you are so wary of witches," Glinda laughed.

"Goddess, Odessa, you've been through shit," Daine shook his head. I was just happy to be away from that place and with Creed.

"Now, chin up, Lura is here to take you to get clean. You are stinking up my house." I giggled at the face she made, which cheered me up a little. Daine helped me stand up and put his arm around me. "It's going to be alright, I promise," Dain tilted my chin up.

"Thank you Ms. Glinda," I smiled at her. Maybe not all witches were wicked after all, and maybe not all vampires, but I'll have to make that assumption later. My thoughts of helping Creed with his voice came to mind. Getting her alone and talking to her privately would be best.

"Just so you know, I don't fancy to get into your pants. I can see love in people's eyes even if they don't want to disclose it," Daine winked, walking me to the door. Lura stood outside, towels and a dress laid under her arm.

"Come on, my home is just over there," she pointed over a large swinging bridge. My stomach purged, watching the wind sway it back and forth. The bridge looked longer by the second and the creaking noise the wind gave off had me clutching my cloak tighter.

"I'll carry you!" Daine lifted me up while laughing, carrying me across the rickety bridge. I didn't protest because I don't think I would have the courage to cross it myself. With my eyes held tight, I waited until he crossed. "What are you going to do when you big hunk of a man comes back from hunting?" Lura asked Daine. "He's going to think you are leaving him for a girl!"

Wait? What?

"He'll be fine. He knows how I've craved to have a special girl in my life. None of you ladies feel comfortable around me and this one seems to take a liking to me, right, Odessa?" I giggled, listening to him argue with Lura. "We like you fine, but our mates hate you, thinking you are playing both fields. Until you and your hunter make it official, our mates will always be that way." Lura huffed, pushing the door to her home in. "Just know when Odessa's dragon comes back you better not touch her." Daine rolled his eyes.

"You will protect me, won't you, Odessa?" His lip wobbled, and I laughed at the childness. "Creed would never hurt you! I promise!" I beamed at the thought of Creed being jealous. In a sick, twisted way, I liked his possessiveness. "Good, I'd like to finish this mating game I'm playing with my mate before I die at the hands of something ferocious."

Creed

Razak now knows as fluffy raced off into the forest down the mountain. The snow was coming down heavy, but my dragon was not deterred by it. We rose up to our large height, burning the tops of the trees as he let out his mighty breath. The twig that both Odessa and I heard would have been just a small snap but to me, it was like thunder running through the forest floor. Odessa had cleared most of the branches and debris from the area to help take back to our cave. My dragon huffed, squeezing through the path of the oncoming noise. Noises of grunting and complaints of the snow rumbled through the slits under my horns. Letting out a deadly cry, I smelled the oncoming persons coming closer. Dark fairies in their enlarged form.

Standing still, the small group turned their backs to each other, waiting for my approach.

"Did you hear that?" One said. "Sounded like one of those dragons."

"We are in dragon territory, duh," another spoke harshly. "Well, we have permission to be here, that Adam character said so. We shouldn't have any problems. Keep going so we can find her and leave." They continued on their path, their foot prints barely leaving marks in the snow. There were six of them trekking through. Their wings shivered in the cold and their bare feet not made for the snow turned bright pink.

"Should have dressed for the weather," one chattered his teeth, holding onto the small cloak he wore. The others were silent, all holding small weapons such as rope, a large bag, and the faint smell of herbs that could knock out a human. They were looking for Odessa. They still had not stopped trying to find her.

I would end them, every last living being trying to get my heart's desire. No one would take her from me. Growling, I trampled the snow and charged towards them. All six of them would die today.

Blood-curdling screams came forth as they turned to see my fire blowing towards them. My claw grabbed one under my foot, smashing him to pieces. Another tried to take off, but my winged claw crabbed him by a wing, tearing it down the middle. Several others threw magical sleeping dust into my eyes, but little did they know none of that would work on a dragon.

My claws continued to rip into several, causing them to crawl into the bloody snow. One jumped on top of my neck, taking his spear to jab it into my scales. To no avail. Could he penetrate my scales, I would have to shift my scales upwards to let anyone touch the delicate skin underneath. My head turned in a snakelike fashion, biting into his torso, slinging him into a nearby tree. He groaned, rubbing the blood from his face.

None of the faes moved, no heart beat slammed into the chest any longer except the one that lay by the tree. His wings, broken and his face covered with mud and debris. I stalked over. My dragon clawed around the base of the tree wanting to finish the job.

"Why are you here?" As much as my hunch told me they were looking for Odessa, I didn't want to believe it. Maybe they were hunting someone else.

"Some slave to the Duke in Vamparia," he rasped. "Please let me go." I snarled, my fire burning into my neck.

"What slave?" I pushed.

"A girl named Odessa. She is the Duke's old blood bag. She is supposed to become the duchess. Taking her as a mate," his breathing labored, spat out blood from his mouth. Blood pooled at the base of the tree, surely a gash in his gut. "Why are so many of you?" My claws sunk into the dirt, trying to keep my dragon from killing him too soon.

"Reward, big reward for her return." I hissed, stomping away as the beating of his heart faded behind me. He would not survive the night. As I left the bloody battle, the worst dragon to stumble upon me showed up. Adam.

His red dragon lit up the area, the snow falling from his head. He had been watching the entire time if the snow had built up so fall off his horns. I had hoped he had not seen or smelled Odessa before she ran off. "Bravo," his dragon spoke. His voice did not rumble as mine. It was smooth and slick, like the true snake he was. "I see you are taking your position of protecting the tribe more seriously."

My dragon hissed at his words. "You told them they could look," my dragon argued. "You are going back on your word for the dragons to look for the girl." Adam's dragon shoulders shrugged. His dragon sniffed the remains of the fairies that turned back into the smaller form.

"The quicker they find the girl, the quicker they are out of our scales."

"This could lead to vampire and the witches coming here, you know that? They could disguise themselves again just like they did a few weeks ago!" I roared out my complaint. "We are under the Moon Kingdom's jurisdiction. We are to protect unknown species, especially humans."

Adam licked the blood in the snow. "I know," Adam spoke uncaring. "We are doing this my way. Get rid of the girl and rid of the vampires. We don't need to rely on a bunch of other shifters. We are the superior race."

"We are not," I snapped. Adam's dragon snarled, stomping towards me. My dragon stood a full head taller as we stared into the alpha's eyes. We were challenging him, but without an audience, it would be in vain.

"Watch it, half-brother," he snapped. "I can make your life a lot worse." I squinted my eyes, still not wavering. By this time, I would normally give up, but now I had a new cause to fight for Odessa's safety. My dragon stood tall, huffing smoke into the red dragon's eyes.

"The dark fairies will scout the mountain. If they come into the territory, you leave them be. I was just enjoying a brief show and let the tribe know you killed some innocent fairies trying to do their jobs," he snarled.

My face remained neutral, not caring about the tribe any longer. I was tired of being beaten down. He had his claws in every one of his people to listen to every hanging word. He was just riding out on his father's good name. Adam's fleeting figure had me turn to the blood in the snow. The snow was quickly covering the blood and my breath sighed in relief. Now I had to go find my Odessa, and pray she was alright.