Burning Vengeance
1.

Smack!

Fay hits the floor and tastes blood. Her face throbs where her father struck her, like he has so many times before.

"You spilled my good liquor!"

"I didn't mean to, it was-" he raises his hand at her again, but the thunderous roar of a dragon overhead cuts him off.

"God, Fay, be quiet! Are you trying to get me kidnapped and made into a fucking slave?" Fay glares at her sister, Gemma. She fakes a frightened sob to get her in worse trouble.

"Gemma, I'm not the one being loud."

"Now you're insulting me? Was killing our brother not enough?"

"You know I didn't kill our brother. He-"

Her mother grabs Fay by the hair, yanking her to up to meet her cold eyes. "Shut your mouth, Fay. One more word and I'll throw you outside."

Fay grits her teeth and balls her hands into shaking fists.

"Fay! Fay, help me, please!"

Her heart stops when she recognizes her best friend's voice as she pounds against the front door. "Oh, my God. That's Leah. We have to let her in!"

"Not a chance in hell."

A vicious snarl rumbles behind the door and Leah screams. Ignoring her parents' threats, she sprints for the door and grabs a weapon, nabbing a butcher knife from the block. Smoke and ash choke her. She moves through the inky blackness, dodging bursts of flame from dragons soaring high above. "Leah, where are you? Leah, I-" the ground suddenly shakes as two dragons land in front of her, shifting down into their human forms.

"What do we have here? She's a pretty one."

"Yeah, but she's feisty. We'll need to break her in, teach her how to behave." The hulking dragon grins, licking their lips as they corner her. She grips her knife with white knuckles, digging her heels into the ground. With a dangerous glare, she raises her knife. The two men chuckle. "You don't want to fight us. You won't last a second."

"Bring it on. I'll chop your balls off."

"You couldn't chop off my little finger, sweetheart."

"Come over here and find out."

The bigger dragon lunges for her and she swings her knife at his crotch, slicing deep into his thigh.

"Agh! You little bitch! I'll kill you!"

She braces herself as the huge dragon swings a powerful fist at her, but it stops mid-air. A man twice as strong, as dark and dangerous as the storm-filled sky, stands in front of her. "You hurt her and I'll kill you."

"Alarik, we..... we only meant to-"

"Do I look like I give a damn about your excuses?" The dragon flashes sharp, shocking blue eyes. The two lowlives back away, fleeing into the night.

"Um, I had that handled."

"No, you didn't." The mysterious stranger turns to her, his broad, Herculean-frame illuminated by raging fire. "You were foolish to fight them. Brave, but foolish."

"Oh, yeah? You're foolish for taking me on alone."

The man arcs an eyebrow at her words. "You have quite the mouth on you, human."

"That's not all I have, dragon." She raises her knife again. "I'll fight you. Take one more step and see what happens."

The stranger chuckles low in his throat, squaring off with her. "Yeah? Show me what you've got." He takes a step and she swings her weapon as hard as she can. She almost knicks him, but he dodges. The force sends her flying forward, right toward a pile of red-hot, burning rubble. "Careful!" With inhuman speed, the man grabs her wrist, pulling her into his powerful arms.

"That was-" but before she can finish, fire erupts in her veins. Right where the man touched her. "Ahh!"

"What?" He releases her and she drops to her knees, screaming from the unbearable pain.

Slowly, blood red, ancient markings rise to the surface of her skin, settling black upon her right arm. "What.... what is this?"

"No.... it's impossible..."

"What did you do to me? Brand me?"

"This is no brand. It's-" he reaches down to touch her throbbing arm, but she pulls away.

"Don't! Don't come near me." She runs from him, bolting back to her house.

The minute she's inside, her father slams her up against the wall. "How dare you come back in here! You'll lead them right to us!"

Suddenly, the door is ripped off its hinges. Standing there, illuminated by glowing embers, is the chiseled outline of Alarik. "Fay." His eyes flash blue and lock with hers, sending a jolt of shock through her body. "You're coming with me." He grabs her wrist and pulls her out the door.

She fights as Alarik pulls her into the night, but he's too strong. Suddenly, her father blocks their path. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Dad?"

"You haven't paid for her yet." His words cut through her like a knife.

"P-pay for me? You can rot in hell."

"That's where you're going, actually. And I'll be going to the bank." Her father laughs in her face. It hurts worse than any bruise he's left on her.

Alarik looks down at her. For a fleeting moment, his hard shell cracks and there is softness in his expression. "You heard your father, Fay. He wants payment." Then, his softness disappears, replaced by a lick of wrathful fire. "Tell me, how would you have me pay your father back after all he's done to you?" She looks at her father. The man who abused and beat her. The man who would sell her to the highest bidder. Alarik growls, vengeance dripping from his tongue. "Give him what he deserves."

"Pay him what he wants, my weight in gold."

Alarik stares at her for a moment, his expression unreadable. With a curt nod, he reaches into his pocket. He fishes dozens of coins out and throws them at her father's feet. "There. Pick them out of the dirt like the scumbag you are."

"Listen, I don't know what you want with me."

"In time, you will." With that, Alarik's skin ripples like molten lava, darkening and changing as he begins to grow. He triples in size, a flurry of claws and tail and razor-sharp fangs. Finally, where Alarik once stood, an immense black dragon now towers over her. His glittering onyx scales ripple in the moonlight like black diamonds. His eyes glint bright blue, just as fierce as when he was human.

"B-blue eyes? That means he's the-" but before her father can finish his sentence, Alarik opens his incredible wings.

She tries to run, but he sweeps her off her feet, holding her within his taloned claw as he soars upward. "No, wait!" The whipping wind, thick with ash, rips her scream away. Her head snaps back and she blacks out.

~W~

Strange voices float in through the darkness. Sweet, clean fragrances follow. She feels as if she's floating.

Her eyes flutter open and when her vision clears, her heart seizes in her chest. She's within a dazzling castle, the likes of which she's never seen before. And dozens of dragon shifters stare at her as they pass.

"Nice catch, Alarik. She looks delicious."

That's when she realizes that she is slung over Alarik's shoulder as he stalks down the hall. She kicks and screams. He pushes open two thick double doors, carrying her into a bedroom. Red velvet and black leather line its high walls.

"You won't keep me here. You can't!"

"I can and I will." Alarik flings her onto a four-poster bed. She immediately leaps off it and bolts for the door. But his strong arms slip around her and he throws her back down on the mattress as though she weighs nothing. "Stop. What do you think you'll accomplish by going out there?"

"I'll worry about that when I get to it."

"It's not wise to improvise in a dragon's castle, Fay."

"Who are you? How do you know my name?"

"I know more than that."

She backs up on the bed, but he catches her wrist. The wrist that he burned and scarred. Alarik's grip is surprisingly gentle. He unwraps her arm to reveal the black, runic markings that snake up her flesh. "What is this?"

"The reason I know your name. And the reason I can't ever let you go." Her flesh pulses mysteriously in his grasp. He raises her wrist so the black markings glint in the light. "This is a Dragon's Mark. A mark left by an alpha dragon when he takes a mate. For life." Blood pounds in her ears at Alarik's words. She tries to move away from him on the bed, but he pulls her closer. "It's done. You can't run from me."

She searches the room for a way out, a weapon. She spots a vase on the bedside table, smashes it and brandishes a sharp shard. "You're not taking me as a mate. I'll kill you before you even try."

Alarik raises an eyebrow, surprise plain on his face. "You're no ordinary human girl, are you?"

"No. I'm not." She swings the shard and Alarik leaps back. She runs for the window. But when she looks down, she sees they're in a high tower, far from able to jump. She feels Alarik at her back. She turns to face him, putting the shard to her own throat. "I refuse to be your mate. If it means dying, I'll-" before she blink, Alarik's powerful body is pressed against hers.

He forces the shard from her hands. "Listen, this isn't something I choose, either. I don't want this." She looks up at him. Behind his hard exterior, lies something dark and troubled. Like a churning sea. "I didn't do this on purpose. I didn't choose you. I just touched you.... and it happened." His large hands move slowly, higher and higher, toward her throat. She squeezes her eyes shut. "None of this makes any sense. It wasn't supposed to happen. But we'll survive it."

Then something cold and heavy snaps around her neck. It slips into place with a click. "What.... what is this?"

"A slave's collar."

All the blood drains from her face. Her heart pounds as she pulls at the locked collar around her neck. "No, please don't do this."

"I have to. It's the only way to hide you." He takes her chin in his hands, forcing her to look at him. "This is the only way to keep you safe."

"Safe from what?"

"This mark. No dragon has ever marked a human before. It should be impossible." She doesn't dare move. His words crush her beneath their weight. "No one can know. Keep this hidden."

"And if I don't?"

A shadow passes over Alarik's face. "You don't know what they do to humans here, do you?"

"I have heard rumors."

"No rumor can prepare you for what they'd do to you if they discovered this secret. You'd pray for death long before it came."

Suddenly, the door opens behind Alarik. "Alarik, I-" he pauses. "Oh." Alarik bolts upright as a dragon with a cruel, unsettling grin enters the bedroom, looking right at Fay. "What do we have here?"

And that's when she realizes the mark is exposed.

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