by Juniper Hart
“I feel like this is a trick question.”
“It’s not,” Kai assured her.
“I think all animals are sentient beings.”
He nodded understandingly. “That’s admirable. What I’m trying to tell you is that creatures, or beings, exist that you might believe are only myths or legends.”
“Like what? Unicorns?”
“Well, yes, actually, but…” He took a deep breath.
“Unicorns do exist, but other creatures, like me, exist also.”
“You’re calling yourself a legend?” Coral asked. “Even though I’d have to agree, that’s a little arrogant,” she said playfully. “Besides, you look like a human to me.”
Kai smiled, almost self-consciously. “Not so much.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“You watched me rip a door off a car and live through multiple gunshot wounds. How do you not believe me? What more proof do you need?”
Coral faltered. Part of her still hoped that she had been dreaming or hallucinating, that this was all something her mind had conjured up to deal with what had happened tonight. Now, though, she didn’t know what to believe, what to even think.
“I don’t know. Okay, let’s say I take your word for it. You’re not human. What are you, then?”
Kai looked like he wanted to reply and let loose whatever secret he was holding back, but instead he just groaned. “For now, just accept that I’m very old and very important.”
Well, that wasn’t what Coral had thought he was going to say. She had hoped he would be more specific, but it looked like she was just going to get vague answers from him for the time being.
“I still don’t believe you.”
He nodded. “This is going to be a problem for you. Watch this. Can I borrow your phone for a second?” Coral took her phone from her purse and unlocked it, handing it to him afterwards. What was he going to do? She looked over his shoulder as he looked up a live news stream.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Just looking for some news. Here. This is exactly what I was looking for.”
He clicked on a live video of an attempted sea rescue. Several helicopters were trying to rescue some sailors from a downed ship that was quickly sinking into the water. It didn’t look like they were going to make it. The sea was angry, as the deep sea tends to be, thrashing around and ripping sailors from the deck. The Coast Guard was trying hard to save them, dropping on ropes with orange life-vests as they tried to rescue the sailors. Someone was filming it from a helicopter, which was being tossed around by the wind.
“I think I might be missing this point,” she said. Her eyes were locked on one particular man who was hanging onto the bars of the sinking ship. He was yelling something. “Why am I seeing this, exactly?”
Kai handed her phone back to her and then stood up from his seat. He inhaled deeply and closed his eyes. He tightened up, like he was straining with exertion despite standing in an isolated room with nobody and nothing around besides Coral and some chairs.
Her eyes drifted back to the live news feed. The angry sea, so dark and powerful, slowed. Kai let out a growl. She glanced at him. He was slick with sweat. Back on the live news stream on the screen of her phone, the ship stopped sinking and appeared to be moving upwards. The sailors, who had been about to fall off the deck, were all standing back on the boat, where the Coast Guard easily could swoop down and save them. The ocean was completely flat—calm. Though the storm still raged, the sea was as still as a swimming pool.
After all the men had been dragged aboard the helicopters, the sea swarmed back with full force. Kai released the breath he was holding and tried to breathe normally again, but he was having trouble getting his breathing back to normal.
“That’s why I’m important,” he said, the almost self-conscious smile back on his face.
Coral gaped at him. “You mean… you did that?”
Kai didn’t answer her. He didn’t need to.
“Holy fuck.” Coral pressed a hand to her head, feeling like she was going to faint. “Are…” She took a deep breath to steady her pounding heart. “Are you a god?”
His smile wilted. “No. Not quite.”
“‘Not quite’? You just…” She moved her hands towards the screen. “You just stopped the ocean! You just stopped a storm! How the hell are you so calm?”
“I guess it’s more surprising the first time you see it,” he stated. “You could say I have a way with water.”
That was an understatement that made Coral scoff. Understanding dawned on her. “So, the storms from earlier did manifest from you.”
“Exactly.”
“But how?”
“It was a gift from my mother, Gaia. Others call her Mother Earth.”
Coral was at a loss for words. Is he crazy? Then again, how could she deny what she had seen? What other explanation could there be for what she had just witnessed? And not only these recent events, but the events that had occurred throughout the night, too.
She changed the subject. “Do you really think they’re coming back?” she asked, remembering Earl and Josh.
“Yes,” he answered without hesitation. “Absolutely.”
Coral shook her head. “So, what’s the plan? How will you keep us safe?”
Kai asked, “Why are they after you anyway?”
“Long story short…my ex-boyfriend stole from their boss. They can’t find him, so they’re after me.”
“Shitty boyfriend to let them come after you.”
Coral shrugged her shoulders. It wasn’t like she could do anything about it. “He’s an ex-boyfriend. Although, even if he were my boyfriend, I’m sure he still wouldn’t own up to his mistakes.” Chase had never owned up to any of his mistakes in the past, and this wouldn’t have been any different, even under other circumstances. “Anyway,” she said, “what are we going to do? Are you planning to stand up to them on your own?”
He snickered.
“What?” she asked.
“Nothing,” Kai said. “It’s just funny how you still think I’m incapable of protecting you.”
“I never said you were incapable,” Coral protested. “I'm saying they have more people than we do. And if they’re really coming back, then we are in some real trouble.”
“We’ll be fine.”
“I feel like you really enjoy dropping mysterious one-liners.”
Kai didn’t respond, though he was meeting her eyes intently. He laid his hands on top of hers. “Do you mind if I’m perfectly honest with you?”
She turned her hands to hold his. Intense passion burned in her veins. She hungered for him. “Please do.”
It would be a nice change, to hear him actually be honest with her after all of his previous answers had been nothing but vague.
“I’ve been with many women,” he told her. “And when I saw you at the bar, I thought it would be one more.” He laughed, like he was amazed at his own stupidity. “How wrong I was.”
Kai stood and came around behind her. His scent was intoxicating: a mix between the ocean air, coconuts, and a fresh rainstorm. He put his hands on Coral’s shoulders and gently began to massage her. He slid the straps of her dress down her arms. Her dress pooled around her waist, and her nipples hardened when exposed to the cool air.
His powerful hands sank deep into her body, alleviating years of stress. She felt…relaxed.
Kai said, “The more I look at you and touch you, the more I need you. Around you, I simply feel at peace. I don’t know what’s happening to me. You…” He paused to think about what he was saying. “You’re gorgeous, and yet your physical beauty is the least attractive part of you.”
“I bet you tell all the girls this,” Coral moaned as Kai continued massaging her shoulders.
“Never,” he assured her. He pulled his hands away from her arms and moved to her side. He extended a hand. “Come with me.”
She took it after sliding her dress straps back up. “
Where are we going?”
“I’m going to show you what I am.”
He led her out of his home and into the backyard. The moon was high above, barely hidden by slowly shifting clouds. The temperature was perfect. Cold enough to make Coral feel alive, but warm enough so she wasn’t shivering. Kai’s eyes were passionate, but almost… afraid. A man who was capable of incredible feats was afraid of showing her what he was so used to hiding. She recognized that look. He was afraid that she would reject him. This was not easy for him to reveal, unlike his apparent control over water.
“What I’m going to show you,” he told her, “is just another form. I’m still me.”
She smiled at him encouragingly.
Kai stepped back until he was about ten feet away from her. They were hidden from the street by the tall concrete wall surrounding his home.
Millions of possibilities ran through Coral’s mind. What was he going to show her? Was it truly as unbelievable as to make him so nervous? What could possibly be more unbelievable than him being able to somehow control water?
“It’s still me,” he assured again.
With that, Kai started to shift. It was like watching something from a dream, some impossible and incredible. His limbs grew longer and his face shape changed. A tail emerged from nothingness and shimmered into existence. In the period of about five seconds, gone was the man. In his place, standing ten feet away from Coral, was a beast.
A dragon.
He was enormous! Coral took one step back out of shock. The creature was covered in shimmering scales as blue as the clearest part of the ocean. His eyes... She recognized them as Kai’s, as impossible as it seemed to be.
It’s still me, she remembered him saying.
“Kai?” Coral asked in disbelief.
The dragon opened his mouth. “Yes, Coral,” he replied, and his voice hadn’t changed one bit, it was still Kai’s. “It’s me.”
“You’re…you’re a dragon,” she gasped. “I don’t understand how this is even possible.”
Her heart pounded in her chest. The man from earlier was an entirely different species—one she thought only existed in books and fairytales. He had said that he was a legend. Now she understood.
She’d heard about people like him before, but only in mythology. She had never once believed they were true: men that could transform into other creatures and back. A shifter. A dragon shifter.
Kai lumbered towards her. His claws alone were the size of steak knives.
“I won’t hurt you,” he told her. Smoke emanated from his nostrils. She kept looking at his familiar eyes. “I just needed to show you my true form.”
She reached out to touch his scales, but stopped a moment before she did, not knowing if he would allow her to do so.
“Go ahead,” he told her. He leaned his head down so that Coral could reach it.
She touched his body, running her hand across his powerful neck, depressing the scales slightly as she went by. They reflected the moonlight beautifully. They were slightly cold to the touch, like a reptile’s, but with the hint of heat from inside.
Kai began to explain. “Humans are not the only creatures out here, Coral. Not even close.”
“Are there many of you?”
“There are many dragons,” he responded. “However, there are only three other dragons shifters like me. My brothers and I were each given a gift. I have control over water, and am called Keeper of the Sea. My brothers are in charge of fire, earth, and wind.”
“How old are you?”
“The same number as my gate code: 5062.”
The gravity of what he said hit Coral. “You never die,” she murmured.
“Not by age,” he told her.
The dragon vibrated. She backed away as he shifted back to his human form, standing shirtless in the yard.
7
The sound of truck engines shattered the moment. Kai glanced in their direction. “They’re back.”
Coral took another step towards him, putting more distance between her and the interior of his house. “How can you be sure it’s them?” she asked.
“I can smell them,” he answered. At the raised eyebrow she gave him, Kai continued, “I’m a dragon, remember?” He gestured to the house. “Get inside. I’ll catch them before they come through the door.”
“It’s my fault we’re in this mess,” Coral said, shaking her head. She didn’t just want to cower in fear while Kai fought her battles. “I’m not going to wait for you to solve my problems. I want to help!”
Kai frowned at her. “These are dangerous men. I don’t want to put you at risk.”
Coral crossed her arms over her chest. “I can handle myself,” she said.
He nodded with a look of respect. “Fine. Watch the front door. I’ll get you a gun. If anyone comes through, shoot them.”
They jogged back indoors. Kai found a handgun and handed it to her. It looked like an antique.
“What is this?”
Kai looked back at her. “It’s a gun.”
“Obviously,” said Coral, rolling her eyes. “But it looks so old…”
“It is old,” Kai replied. “I haven’t needed a gun my entire life. I bought it for fun years ago. It should still work. Point and shoot. I doubt any of them will come close, anyway.”
Outside, a voice called out, “Hey, asshole! Guess what? We’re back!”
Coral glanced out the window. At least fifteen fully-armed men stood outside the front door. They knew the gate code thanks to Earl and Josh, so more than ten trucks were in the driveway. Coral assumed more men were hiding behind and inside the trucks.
“Kai,” she murmured, feeling like she could barely speak. “Kai, there’s too many of them.”
Kai didn’t seem to hear her.
“Kai, they’ll kill you!”
He smirked and then looked at her. “Oh, I’d definitely like to see them try.”
The dragon shifter cupped her cheek with his strong hand and gave her one brief kiss before stepping outside to meet the armed men. Coral watched from the window as his form shuddered and shifted, transforming into a dragon before spitting a wild arc of flames across the sky.
The men outdoors let out loud screams at Kai’s appearance. Someone fired, popping gunshots into Kai. It sounded like metal hitting metal as the bullets hit the dragon’s scales. Coral could not tell if he was injured or not, and she started to panic. She couldn’t live with herself if he died over her actions.
Before she could run out the door to check on him, he sprang into the air towards his attackers, spewing fire from his mouth.
The flames bathed one of the trucks, popping the wheels and melting the car. The intruders kept shooting at the dragon in the sky, but they hadn’t planned for this contingency. Kai landed in the middle of their ranks, using his wings to send up huge bursts of air strong enough to make the men stumble. Coral was abruptly reminded of a scene in a fairytale book she’d read once, where a large group of knights had tried to bring down a dragon. Looking at the ineffective nature of the bullets on Kai, she could not even imagine charging him with a sword.
Kai swung with his right paw and caught an SUV. He lobbed it like a horseshoe. It flipped across the pavement as the brutes tried to get out of the way.
The men scattered, abandoning their vehicles behind.
Kai roared after them. He threw back his head and breathed fire in a power display up into the air. It was hot enough for Coral to feel it inside the house. She couldn’t do much more than watch with an awed respect, completely mesmerized by the sight. It was…breathtaking.
Kai settled onto the ground and grinned broadly as he shifted into his human form. Again, it happened so quickly that Coral couldn’t register it fast enough.
He came back inside as if he had just finished watering flowers instead of chasing more than fifty men out of his home. “Told you I could handle them,” he told Coral, who stared at him in disbelief.
“What…” She licked her
lips out of nervousness. “What if they come back again?”
“They won’t,” he answered. “I have an army of dragons under my rule. At my command, they will hunt them down and kill them. You won’t ever hear from them again.”
“You…” Coral couldn’t find the words that she was trying to say. She had spent the last few weeks wondering if she would live to see another day, if Earl and Josh would catch her, if they would decide they’d done enough waiting and just kill her. She couldn’t believe it was all over. She couldn’t believe she didn’t have to be afraid anymore. “Kai,” she said breathlessly. “Kai, thank you!”
“No thanks necessary,” he assured her. He gave her a sweet smile.
A few moments later, sirens broke the air. Police. They sounded like they were on their way. The whole thing, from when the armed men had shown up to when they had run away, had lasted a solid two minutes, at most.
“Police are coming,” Coral breathed.
Kai was right in front of her, placing her hands in his.
“Who cares?” he replied with a dashing smile.
“They’re going to care!” she replied. “They’ll ask about what happened. They’ll want to know if we had anything to do with it.”
“They might.” Kai winked at her. “This isn’t my first time explaining this sort of thing.”
With that, he took her inside and they waited for the police to show up. They did, in a matter of minutes. They seemed to know the place well, which made Coral wonder just how many times Kai had used his powers to protect himself from others. Kai took control of the situation and promptly answered all the questions that the police had for them, and he made everything look like they had been the victims. Which they had, in a way.
Coral was more than impressed. His wording was perfect, and the cops believed every word. They searched the place for any evidence against them, but eventually left, seeming satisfied with what they found.
Kai shut the door behind the last policeman that walked out of the house. “Well,” he said, “glad that’s over.”
“Thank you,” Coral said again.
He frowned confusedly at her. “For what?”
