The Last Dragon Prince: A Dark Fairy Tale
Chapter 3

Jericho’s POV

I’ve been restless since I dropped Heidi off at her home. I can't get rid of this feeling like something bad is about to happen.

I have the strongest urge to shift into my dragon form and fly around to see if I could see the danger, however Erik would kill me. He won’t let me shift unless it’s after midnight and right now it’s only 10.

My skin is itching, giving me a bad premonition. Normally I do my best to listen to the warning signs, but right now I don’t know what it is that’s going to happen, and I am getting all worked up. I am completely on edge.

I’ve been wandering around in the woods for over an hour trying to figure out what is going on.

Did something happen to Heidi after I left? Did Nichole do something? Is Erik in trouble? Have the hunters found me?

No! That is impossible! We’ve been so careful. No one knows what I am, or I am sure I would have already been taken out by now.

A rustling noise comes up from behind me, causing me to bristle and I turn around prepared to defend myself.

And then I just about freeze from shock.

I take a deep breath, and I smell her. Her sweet innocent smell of sweetpeas, hidden deep beneath the pungent odor of decay that has grown stronger, in the last couple hour, since I’ve seen her.

“Heidi?” I call out to the tiny thing running through the trees. “Angel, what’s wrong?”

She skids to a stop a few feet in front of me and looks almost as surprised as I am. I guess she didn't plan to see me out here, either. Her breath is ragged and sweat is covering her sweet face. What is she doing running in the woods in the middle of the night? It is dangerous!

“Wha-” she cuts herself off, confusion playing across her features. This girl has zero poker face! I like that I can read her this easily. However…

My eyes focus in on her face and it looks worse than when I left her in the care of her family. My gut twists in pain at what she must have gone through.

I close the distance in a flash of an eye, and gently hold her cheeks in my large hands.They are red and swollen.

She flinches from the sting, but doesn’t pull away. At least that is something…

“What happened, angel?” I ask softly. I need to know before I set the whole place ablaze with my fire!

She doesn’t answer me but turns her face from me to look down at the ground, while tears bathe her cheeks in a shiny, wet coating. The sight cracks my heart right open. There is going to be hell to pay when I replace out what happened.

I see she is carrying a pack and wonder. Is she running away? Without telling me? I can't deny that hurts more than a little.

I guess that is a selfish thought. If someone was hurting me and I had no other way to save myself, I would probably do exactly what she is doing.

Not to mention, she didn’t have a way to get a hold of me. I will need to fix that!

“Heidi… I need you to tell me, angel. Did someone hurt you when you got home?” I insist.

Her only response is a sharp nod. It’s a broken movement full of despair and a complete loss of hope.

My girl is giving up, but I can’t let that happen. I am going to fix this. I would gladly let her come live with me and Erik! We live in what I guess would be classified as a mini-mansion. We have plenty of rooms. She could have her own… Unless she ever felt like sharing.

I pull her into my arms and caress her head as she lays it against my chest. I am sure she can hear my heart trying to beat its way out of my chest just to get to her.

“Heidi, come home with me. I need to talk to you, angel.” I really can't trust talking to her out here...

She looks up at me with doubt in her eyes, and it kills me. Someone really did a number on this sweet girl.

And suddenly she is shuddering in my arms and all I can do is hold her. I feel her body wracked with sobs as she pulls me closer to her, and I am grateful she will let me be here for her.

I thread my fingers through her tangled hair and just offer whatever comfort she needs.

It seems like hours before she calms down enough to look up at me, but that could just be my skewed view of time, due to her pain and anguish, while wanting to kill whoever hurt her.

Even a moment of her in pain is too much for me to handle. Her pain is soul deep, and I am sharing it with her.

“Now, I’m not going to ask you who hurt you again, but if you want to talk to me about it, I am here to listen to you, my sweet angel,” I whisper softly.

She sighs against me.

“It was my mom,” She whispers to me. “Nichole called my parents and told her I stole her boyfriend from her and mom said I deserved to be hit, and….” she started to sob again.

“Shh.. It’s okay sweetheart. You didn’t steal me from that lying hussy. I was planning on breaking up with her already, remember?” I insist. “I will handle Nichole and your mother. You don’t have to worry anymore; I will protect you.”

She nods up to me. “I can’t take it anymore.. I only have a month or so to live, and if that’s all I’ve got then I don’t want to spend it with them…”

“That’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about Heidi. I can save you,” I tell her.

“What are you talking about?” She asks with a cute little confused look on her face.

“Heidi, I’m going to tell you a secret. I am a dragon shifter,” I tell her.

I don’t think I’ve seen anyone more shocked than she is right now. I don’t even know if she is breathing. She is just frozen. It would be adorable if I was not worried about her getting oxygen to her brain.

“I- I thought- th-they were all wiped out?” she whispers again.

“My father was the last dragon king, and he sent me with my guardian far away so I could live before the hunters found me,” I told her my biggest secret.

But it is a secret that could save her life, if she’d let me.

“A-and you can save me?” she asks uncertainty.

I understand the confusion. It’s not exactly common knowledge what all dragons are capable of. The hunters put out rumors that we were dangerous and needed to be eliminated, but it was all a lie. They just wanted our hearts for themselve. If consumed it will give them everlasting life.

But that’s not all we can do. If the hunters would’ve taken the time to understand us and what we had to offer before they put out an extermination order for us, we could have helped so many people!

But other people are not my problem right now. The only one I care about is this sweet innocent girl in my arms.

“How?” she asks me, curiosity taking over her disbelief. That gives me the glimmer of hope that she will agree with this.

“All you need is my blood,” I say, before I hear footsteps come up behind me.

And we freeze.