Flames

The sun crept in through the curtain. Ah, sleep. What wonderful sleep, she thought to herself as she decided she would lie in bed longer. Taking a nice long stretch and turning over in her bed, she suddenly froze.

There laid a man, naked, in her bed. As a 22-year-old, it wasn’t her first time waking up next to a man, but never in her bed. Her mom was understanding, but her dad was very protective. Given he was a big burly man, she had never brought a boyfriend over before.

She put her hands down under the blanket and could feel the soft folds of her luckily freshly waxed intimate skin. She let out a gentle fuck! Did we have sex?

She tried to recall what she could remember last night. She didn’t go out last night, so…. Right. Was she drugged? Hallucinations of dragons came to mind. She quickly yet silently hopped off the bed and headed to the window.

Sure enough, outside her window was a giant red dragon. The dragon almost looked animated. It was about as large as the size of her room. It seemed to be… dead.

“That’s Barcelona,” a voice from behind her caused her to jump. She turned so fast she forgot she wasn’t wearing any clothes.

Jupiter looked to the bed, then to the man standing before her, clearly enjoying the show. They were not the same person. She felt suddenly trapped and very vulnerable.

To go to her closet, she would have to go through the man standing before her, but if she ran to the covers for protection, there was another sleeping man who could be just as much as a danger. Then again, the one standing had tried to kill her, and the man in her bed had saved her. She let out a scream that came out so tiny in her voice. It was enough to wake her bed partner.

“Dayton!” He snapped, sounding utterly pissed off. Juniper would hate to be on the line of his anger. Dayton just put his hands in surrender like he was innocent. “Get your eyes the fuck off her. You are scaring her.” Her bed partner jumped out of bed and quickly grabbed her something to cover herself with.

“Sorry, Kai didn’t mean to scare your new toy,” Dayton said, not taking his eyes off Juniper. It was clear he liked what he saw, making Juniper jump from one foot to the next.

Then it hit her new toy? She turned to Kai. “Why am I not wearing clothes?”

Kai seemed dumbfounded as he tried to explain. “I um… you.”

“You were begging him to fuck you.” Dayton cut in.

Juniper let out a laugh of denial. “What the fuck did you bastards give me?”

Kai released an equal snap to the one he gave Dayton seconds ago. “Watch your language!” Juniper nearly felt her knees buckle. His hand quickly touched her shoulder to rebalance her. “You are scared. That’s reasonable, but do not insult those who choose to save your life.”

“Save?”

“You would not have survived last night,” Kai explained.

“But it was your dragon that hit me. Shouldn’t you save me, regardless?”

“Protocol would be to let you die,” Dayton said, just as blatant as before.

“Why would you—”

“And you are now putting us all in danger I—”

“Dayton, downstairs now!” Kai snapped, cutting him off mid-speech.

Dayton tossed his hands in the air again. “Just came up to tell you Stasia would like to return and get some supplies.”

“Later!” Kai snarled as he pointed to the door.

Then Kai turned to Juniper. “I’ll explain everything just… put some clothes on while I deal with the situation downstairs.

It wasn’t even two seconds after they marched out of the room when Jupiter heard a thump, and the walls shook. She peeked her head out from her bedroom and found Kai had Dayton pinned to the wall. His forearm properly restricted Dayton from breathing.

They spoke, but Juniper couldn’t understand a word they were saying. It made her well aware that she had two strange men in her house. Who were clearly violent, drugged her, and she woke up naked to one of them. She suddenly felt gross.

If it weren’t for the fact that there were dragons outside with the rest of the farm, she would freak out, run away, and call the cops. She didn’t know what to think or how to react right now. She felt scared and confused, and she had no clue if she was in danger or not. A part of her felt very curious.

She watched as Stasia ran to the bottom of the stairs, speaking in the same foreign tongue. Kai released Dayton, and Dayton immediately got on his knees and bowed with one arm over his chest like how a warrior would pledge his allegiance. It all seemed strange, so she quickly slipped into her bedroom and found a pair of sweats to throw on — Anything to make her feel covered.

Then she went to check her phone. She looked in her usual spots but couldn’t find it anywhere. Then she remembered she was feeding the horses when everything happened. So she quickly scurried down the stairs.

The three were still arguing in the living room, so Juniper took the back door through to the kitchen to give them their moment. The horses neighed as if to say, hey, you haven’t fed us yet! She spoke to them as she focused on finding her phone. “I know, I know. I’ll feed you all soon.”

She went near the pens and could see where she was hit. The skid mark in the dirt went on for at least half a mile, and a good portion was covered in blood.

Her throat tightened, and she felt like she couldn’t breathe. She relived the flashback. She didn’t even know at the time she was screaming, and her dog, Daisy, howled in pain. She looked around. Daisy? She saw no sight of her anywhere.

Her hands shook. She should be dead. A fierce sound of wind being pushed around caught her from her trance. The wings of a much smaller blue dragon flew over the farm. The beast scared her. Her heart pounded, and for a few seconds, all she could hear was the beating of her heart and the flap of the dragon’s wings.

Suddenly, a hand grabbed her arm, yanking her back to reality. “What are you doing out here?”It was Dayton. His hand gripped her as if she would run.

“I—I… I was looking for my phone.”

He reached into his pocket and revealed her phone. “This one?” he asked.

“Yes, thank you.” She spoke as she reached to grab it. Dayton quickly pulled it away from her.

“Not until Kai says you can have it.”

She was confused. “But I need to check my messages and talk to my family.”

“Don’t worry about that right now. Get back inside. Kai is looking for you.” Juniper scrunched her face, and Dayton abetted her with a look like, try to fight me on this.

“First, I have to feed the animals.” She freed herself from his grip and moved before he gave her permission. He was on her heel.

“You can do that later. You need to—”

Juniper swung the barn doors open, and she noticed two things right away. Both shocked her. One whimpers of her dog wanting out of a cage. Juniper saw the evidence of last night’s event. No way Daisy could still be alive. Two, she stood nose to nose with a barely breathing red dragon just as large and magnificent as the first time she saw her. Her eyes had the same flames in them as Kai’s eyes. Only except where his were hazel, hers were a dark red. They looked hot to the touch.

“No!” Dayton shouted as he grabbed Juniper’s arm and flung her away. She hit the side of the barn so hard that her head launched back and hit the wood. With a blink of an eye, all she saw was Dayton engulfed in a gush of flames.