12. A Full-Fledged Dragon
12
A Full-Fledged Dragon
E ira sat down near the cliff’s edge to watch the sun rise. Before Ryu, she felt like this was her special place, but after Ryu, she felt like it was their special place. She thought maybe if she returned where they had first met and last seen each other, he might come back. But the longer she sat there as the sun traveled the sky, the more hope she lost.
Her instinct had told her that it would all quickly feel like a dream when he had first disappeared and, unfortunately, she had been right. The only proof he had been there was the bonsai tree Ryu had planted for her grandmother in their front yard.
The worst part was her grandparents didn’t even ask her where he had gone. She had prepared herself on what to say on the way back home, but when she had mentioned his name, it was as if they no longer remembered him. Ryu was gone, and so was their memory of him.
Feeling as if she had been locked in a bad dream, with only her memory remaining of him, Eira hadn’t fought sleep for the first time, hoping to meet him again in her dreams, but she had dreamed of nothing. Well, almost nothing. The second she had started to finally dream, she had awoken to a noise before she even knew what it was she had been dreaming about.
Eira didn’t know what was worse: to know him only for him to leave, or to have never known him at all.
With all hope lost and the sun set to fall soon, she stood, wanting to keep her promise to her grandmother that she would come home before darkness fell.
It wasn’t until she turned from the view of the ocean to walk down her self-made path that she realized he had been quietly watching her.
“Hey, how long have you been there?” she asked.
“Long enough that you should have noticed.” Now that he had been seen, he took a step forward. “But you never notice me.”
“Are you all right?” A weird tingle went up her spine at noticing just how disheveled he looked. “Kenji?”
Ignoring her question, he continued with what he wanted to say, taking another step forward. “You’ve never noticed anything I’ve done for you.”
Taking her own step, but backward, she had to remind herself that it was just Kenji. Regardless of his bruised face and bandaged nose that was making him look frightening right now, he wasn’t actually scary or dangerou—
“Years. Years!” Kenji began irrationally raising his voice. “I’ve tried to get you to notice me!”
Quickly, Eira took another generous step back, knowing Ryu had been right about him.
His voice turned dangerously sinister. “But it didn’t even take you a day to notice him. ”
Him? Did that mean …?
“You remember him? You remember Ryu?”
At her soft realization, Kenji started maniacally laughing, now understanding. “Of course! You noticed him because—”
Eira was clearly missing something as he drew out his next few words. He knew something she didn’t, but how could he remember Ryu, yet her grandparents didn’t?
The look that crossed his features showed how everything clicked into place for him. His finger rose creepily to point right at her. “You’re his fated mate.”
Fated mate?
Eira swallowed, desperately trying to wet her dry throat, repeating her thoughts out loud this time, “ Fated mate ?”
“He didn’t tell you?” He looked amused now. “And by the looks of it, it seems like he might have left you. You poor little thing ,” Kenji said, flashing a deadly smile when he took another stalking step closer. “Especially if you’re asking me if I remember him. That must mean he really is gone.”
Her eyes grew big when she read the hunger and determination grow in his. Eira found herself in the same dangerous situation, except this time, she didn’t stand in front of Ryu with her heel hanging halfway off the cliff, but Kenji. Instinctively knowing she wasn’t going to get lucky this time around, she thought she could make a run for it, yet she knew it might as well be right into his arms. The question was: did she want an easy, quick death or a possible horrid one that would be drawn out by Kenji’s desire?
It was the burns on her skin and the look in Kenji’s crazed eyes that reminded her that she wouldn’t be doing that again. If he took a single step forward, she would accept her fate by just falling back into oblivion.
Thinking he had her, Kenji started to take another step—
“Kenji, don’t!” Ryu commanded, coming up from behind them on the mountain. It was clear he must’ve looked for her at her grandparents’ home, and when he hadn’t found her, he’d known where she would have gone.
Seeing him, Eira fought the urge to fall back. “Ryu,” she quietly cried his name, knowing he would hear it no matter the grave distance and the fact that Kenji stood between them.
All her fears disappeared at once. She knew in her bones that he would save her. Ryu wouldn’t let anything happen to her. He had come back.
He came back for me …
Kenji had a much different response to seeing him. Fear and desperation seemed to swallow him whole as he looked between the two.
Slowly approaching, Ryu began trying to distract him by talking. “I’m sorry I didn’t remember you. You’ve matured these last few years, Kenshi .”
His jaw flexed at his true name while he took another step toward Eira.
“Think about this …” Ryu called out, causing Kenshi to cease for a moment. “You know what it would mean for our people if you hurt her.”
“ Our people?” Kenshi screamed back at him disdainfully. “They banished me! I no longer consider them anything but my enemies.”
Eira looked between the two, not understanding again.
With no other options, seeing how far Kenshi had turned, Ryu began pleading now, “Just, please, let her go.”
“You know I can’t, Ryu.” Tears streamed down Kenshi’s face, knowing his fate to come. “We both know I’m dead either way.”
The second Kenshi took off toward her, Eira closed her eyes, but it was the sound of a roaring monster that had her opening them again to meet a mythical beast she had never believed to be real.
The sight of facing a full-fledged dragon flying straight at her caused Eira’s footing to fail.
She wished beginning to fall to her death were the worst part, but it was watching Kenshi getting eaten whole that was.