Captured By The Dragon
Episode 32

Malcom – third

Patara stayed close to Malcom the entire way through the forest. He didn’t have to remind her how dangerous it was, she seemed well aware of that herself. He could see her fear in the way she constantly looked over her shoulder and refrained from asking any questions he knew she must have had.

Her body trembled the entire way. Malcom didn’t want to guess at what she had been through. Especially with someone like Dylan. If the rumors about him were true, he was a hard person through and through.

She stayed close to Malcom and hung onto his arm when the path grew rough. Malcom admired her bravery and determination to get out of this forest. Even when danger licked at their heels she didn’t falter.

They all knew that they would be dead if Dylan caught them before they hit the border. They had to make everything just right—not a trail left behind them for him to follow. Every step was careful, every move was thought out before it was taken. Malcom even covered her scent with mud so he couldn’t sniff her out.

Dylan was not the forgiving type, and Malcom didn’t want Patara to be the one that paid for his wrath.

They were halfway to their safe point when the woods became tense. Malcom slowed Patara and made sure she was behind him. She gazed up at him with wide, curious eyes. Even as messy as she was in this moment, he understood why she was targeted. She screamed innocence and that was all the shifters desired beyond beauty. It only made him want to protect her more.

His men soon felt it too. They slowed their steps and took out their weapons slowly. Patara eyed the strange things that flashed before her. They were special weapons made just for killing shifters. Only hunters were able to get their hands on them.

They looked similar to regular guns, but were entirely different. Shifter ones were bigger and made of pure silver. Each bullet was designed to take down a shifter in a single shot. Weapons like these were illegal in the shifter world—but Malcom didn’t go anywhere near this place without it. A regular gun would never take down someone like Dylan.

“What is that?” Patara whispered when she heard the sound too. It was like a small hissing sound that only grew closer as the seconds went on.

“Stay close to me. It sounds like a serpent.” Malcom said quietly. His men moved towards the sound while Malcom kept close to Patara.

The hissing stopped altogether, but Malcom was on more alert than ever. Moments later, a long black snake sprung from the bushes and went right for the face of the nearest man. He went down with a loud thump as he tried to wrestle off the snake from his face.

Patara gasped and stumbled back away from the creature. The man thrashed through the grass and the rest of the men tried to get him to hold still so they could get it off him—but he wouldn’t. His screams pierced the air and made Malcom tense instantly.

Malcom threw himself on his friend and held him to the ground with all of his strength. His thrashing stopped, and that’s when he caught a better look of the creature. It was longer than he would have guessed. He clung onto his face and Malcom could only guess he was trying to poison him or eat him whole.

Malcom took out his silver knife and stabbed the snake in the top of its head. The thing thrashed around violently, finally letting go of the man’s face and trying to disappear into the grass but it was too late.

Malcom stood and pulled out his gun. One click, he hit the snake right in the back before it was gone from sight. The perfect shot left the snake eternally motionless. They all stared at its remains for a long moment before he turned back to a wide eyed Patara.

She always looked as if everything was one big mystery to her that she just couldn’t solve. Malcom let out a breath and neared her again once his team had a hold of the one that had been attacked. His face dripped b***d everywhere and the other men did their best to clean it up so it didn’t mark their trail.

“Are you alright, Patara?” He asked again. She hadn’t yet told him if she was fine earlier. He didn’t blame her from keeping what happened to her to herself, he would have if he was in her place.

Slowly, she dragged her brown gaze away from the dead snake and nodded.

“I just want to go home now…” She whispered. His heart cracked for the girl. She sounded so broken, he didn’t know how he could help her beyond taking her home.

Malcom led her back on the path but quickened their steps. They had to get as far from that scene as possible. The last thing they needed was to draw attention from other shifters. Any sense of their presence had to be gone before they left.

Before night broke, they reached the safe ground. It was a shack near the border that was filled with anything a human could need. A small shack off the map to any traveler, it was practically hidden in the trees. Malcom—or whatever other shifter hunter—used salt around the area to mask the smell of the house to shifters or animals.

Even to the untrained human eye it looked like nothing but a grassy wall. Patara stared at it for a few moments before she looked around for some sort of guidance. It wasn’t until Malcom pulled her through the door that she was in awe.

“Wow,” she whispered as she looked around. It looked abandoned, but it was far from it. He made sure she had fresh food and clothes before she settled in for the night.

Night fell over the sky and they all laid low in the shack. The men took turns on lookout while Malcom’s only task was to make sure Patara was safe.

“Thank you for coming for me.” She whispered when he wrapped a blanket around her.

Malcom smiled at the sleepy girl who could barely keep her eyes open. He knew that he would do this job until he died. Every time he saw a girl being returned to safety, it made him feel better than any king of this land. No longer did they have to suffer.

The next morning, Malcom was already wide awake by the time the rest of them awoke. Within minutes they were back on the road. They followed a path that Malcom prayed didn’t have more creatures hiding within.

Patara looked distant even as he held her tight. The look on her face was almost hollow as if there was nothing beneath the surface. Malcom made sure none of them touched her unless she wanted them to. Whether it was to help across a stream or down a muddy path.

By the time they reached the human side, they were all dirty and tired. A sea of officers waited on the other side and in the middle of it all—was Patara’s parents.