Kaine

Hey guys so there is this thing called the Fiction Awards and I would love you guys forever if you go and nominate my book!!! Mate To The Dragon has been nominated a few times already but the more I get the better chance I have of making it to the voting round.

For every 10 nominations, I will update and post another chapter!!!!! THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!

(NOT EDITED BTW)

***********

"Kaine am I your mate?" she repeats firmly.

I swallow hard. "Yes."

"Well that explains a lot," she mutters then makes a face. "Actually it explains everything."

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you! I didn't want you to think I only liked you because of the mate bond—I've literally had a crush on you since I was 14 and my mom first told me about you."

Her eyebrow shoots up. "You've had a crush on me since you were 14? That's what? Two years before you even met me?"

I clear my throat and stare at the floor. "Uh yeah kinda."

"I didn't realize I was that famous."

"Syrra, literally every single wolf in that pack has heard stories of you—I'm pretty sure every creature in the world has heard of you," I snort.

"Well in that case you should feel pretty damn special that you get me as your mate," she smirks and my eyes go wide.

"Wait so you're not mad or gonna reject me or something?"

She frowns. "No of course not, why would I do that?" she scoffs.

I shrug with a small shake of my head. "I don't know," I mutter.

She laughs a little before picking herself up off the floor. "Alright well I am going to get some sleep, I would give you a kiss but my lip is starting to swell a little," she tells me, gingerly running her tongue across her bottom lip.

I wince. "Yeah I am so sorry about that," I murmur.

"It's fine Kaine, I'm just teasing you," she chuckles.

She messes with my hair, running her fingers through it and smoothing it back. I close my eyes, groaning a little as she tugs slightly. My eyes snap open when she stops and the smirk on her lips makes me grin.

She picks up the spell book before sauntering off. I watch her walk away, her hips swaying and her dress flowing behind her.

Well that went a lot better than I expected, I sigh.

I told you to tell her, Shax growls.

No you told me to mark her which I'm not going to do. I'm still doing this Lucifer's way, I snap.

HA! Fuck you Shax! Lucifer snarks.

You're an idiot, Shax snaps.

I roll my eyes with a sigh. Will both of you knock it off?

Sorry, Lucifer mutters.

They both go quiet for a few moments before my dragon grumbles something incoherent.

What? I ask.

Do you think Syrra's a kinky chick?

I pinch the bridge of my nose. Lucifer?

Yeah?

Shut up.

*******

"You are never going to believe what happened!"

She raises an eyebrow at me. "Must be something big, I haven't seen you this excited since the day you got your first sword," she says.

"Syrra's my mate!"

"Well no shit Sherlock," she snorts. "Why do you think I made you and Syrra stay here while I went to deal with the dragons?"

I stop dead in my tracks and stare at her.

"What?" she shrugs.

"I never would've guessed that my mom would be my best wing man," I chuckle.

She smirks a little. "So I'm guessing it's going well then?"

I nod. "Yeah I actually told her yesterday—well more like she figured it because I lost control of my wolf when she kissed me and bit her lip," I mutter sheepishly.

She raises her eyebrow again. "Wow biting, that's not usually something you do during your first kiss with somebody," she says and my mouth falls open in horror.

"It wasn't like that! It was an accident!"

"Hey whatever I'm not gonna judge! You do you," she says, throwing her hands up in surrender.

"Mom no—that's not—"

"Kaine relax, gods you're so easy to mess with. But seriously I'm not gonna judge—accident or not," she smirks.

I just shake my head.

Dude do you realize how awesome this is? Your mom doesn't kink shame! Lucifer chuckles.

What the fuck is with you? Just let it go! Stop making assumptions! I growl.

Oh come on don't even try to deny it, you've been thinking about it too!

"Problems with your dragon?" my mother asks.

I nod with a small sigh. "He needs to shift, he's been driving me nuts for weeks," I explain.

"I was actually thinking about how we could make this work while I was gone and I finally found a possible solution. Syrra is an extremely powerful witch and she could easily cloak your dragon so that the others can't see you, that way we don't have to worry about them trying to kill you," she tells me.

"Wow, that's a really good idea, do you think Syrra will do it?"

"She obviously likes you so I have no doubt she will. Plus she's extremely perceptive and observant so she probably already figured out that you're—well, special," she murmurs, noting the dragons walking past us, "and so she'll probably be pretty willing to help you figure out how you can shift into either form without having to hide constantly."

"That would be amazing, I hate having to hide," I sigh.

"Yeah believe me I know. So I have to go get the juveniles situated and give them guards so they don't leave to terrorize the witches again, but you can take Syrra to the crater behind Ilandria to go shift. The dragons rarely go there, it's an old burial ground so it makes a lot of them kind of emotional," she mutters.

"Okay I will, let me know if you need any help," I say and give her a tight hug.

She kisses my cheek and smirks. "Good luck."

*******

"Is that really all you need?" I ask.

She nods. "Most spells can be performed using different kinds of magic and blood magic requires very few ingredients since the actual incantations are so complex. A cloaking spell is one of the simpler ones," she tells me.

"Okay then. Thank you for doing this by the way, I really appreciate it and so does my dragon," I chuckle.

"What about your wolf?"

"He doesn't talk much, he prefers sulking."

"Ah."

We stop down at the edge and I drop my bag as well as a bundle of supplies. Syrra drops a similar bundle beside it and then kneels down in the dirt.

I frown a little when I realize her sudden change in appearance. "Is it a ritual thing or something?" I ask.

She glances up at me. "You mean the paint and piercings?"

I nod.

"Yeah. It's a simple spell but it's going to have to be pretty powerful. The piercings are for precision and the paint is for power from the gods," she explains.

"You have the same gods as we do right?"

"Yeah, the witches created the dragon gods. Before that we didn't have anything to believe in so we ended up worshiping the same gods. That was partly what allowed us to become allies."

"Well the ritual wear looks great on you," I tell her.

Dark blue paint stretches across her eyes, making her violet irises more vivid. A thin white line stretches down the middle of her forehead and another from her lip to her chin. White dots also run across her cheeks, just under her eyes.

A gold ring pierces her septum and she has half a dozen more small rings and jewel studs in her ears. Her lilac hair is also in several intricate braids with cuffs that match her dress of silver silk.

She smirks up at me a little. "You should see what I wear for the ceremonies," she murmurs, unwrapping the bundles. She pulls out two black candles, a knife with a black blade, a few scraps of cloth, and a bowl of white marble. "I'm going to need something from your dragon—some blood or a scale or something to do the spell and then I'll need something from your wolf too," she tells me.

"Anything else before I shift? I can't talk to you after that."

She snorts. "Oh please. I learned the dragon language when I was five years old," she scoffs.

My eyebrows shoot up a little. "Okay then," I mutter, fully impressed with my mate once again. I make my way to the center of the crater.

You ready?

Oh gods yes, I've been waiting to shift for over a year! Lucifer growls.

Go ahead, I tell him.

I can feel it when he takes control, it's like something relaxes in my mind. I let out a growl as pain shoots through my limbs. The cracking and popping fills my ears as my bones break and my joints dislocate.

I collapse onto the ground with a groan. I squeeze my eyes shut and try to block out the agonizing pain coursing through my body. My breathing goes shallow and my heart beats faster as I grit my teeth.

A warmth surrounds me and then it's gone and so is the pain. I take a deep breath and slowly open my eyes.

Everything is clearer—and smaller.

"Lucifer!" I hear a voice shout.

My eyes move to the small figure sitting at the edge of the crater. I carefully step closer and lean my head down so that it's level with hers.

"Lucifer may I speak to Kaine?" she asks.

Oh come on, why does she want to talk to you? I'm so much more interesting! he pouts.

I roll my eyes. Don't be so dramatic, you can talk to her later, I tell him.

Ugh, fine, he growls. He relinquishes control.

"I think you hurt his feelings," I say with a small chuckle. It takes me a moment to realize I am still speaking in the dragon's language.

"Yeah dragons are all big and ferocious on the outside but in reality they're just big babies that want affection," Syrra laughs.

"Don't we all," I murmur under my breath. "So you need a scale or blood right?"

She nods. "This blade is sharper and stronger than your talons so it should do the trick," she tells me, lifting the knife.

Its blade is black and sharpens to a point that I can't even see. The blade and the handle are all one solid piece and it looks eerily similar to a dragon tooth.

"What is that made of?" I ask.

"The same material your palace is made of but tempered and forged by mages that specialize in weaponry. Now give me your foot," she says.

I do as she says, watching with amusement as she stands. My foot is bigger than her entire body. She takes the knife and I let out a small growl as she manages to pry off one of the scales.

I shake my foot as she sits down on the ground again. She holds up the scale, peering at it through narrowed eyes.

"Wow, it looks like blood," she says.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean your scales look black but in the light you can see that they're actually a really dark red, like the color of blood," she explains.

"Huh, yeah they don't really make mirrors big enough so I don't really know what my dragon looks like."

She laughs, nodding her head a little. "I suppose they don't."

The scale is one of the smallest on my body but its still the size of her palm. She drops it into the marble bowl and lights the two candles with a snap of her fingers.

"You can create fire too?"

She smirks. "Like I said Kaine, it would take me years to show you everything I know."

She takes the knife and my eyes widen as she rolls up the sleeves of her dress. Scars completely cover her arms and hands. I don't know how I didn't see them before.

"One of the downsides to using blood magic," Syrra sighs, noting my surprise. She grips the knife tightly and drags it across her wrist.

Blood drips onto the scale and into the bowl. I feel like I'm going to pass out when she finally wraps a strip of cloth around the wound. The bowl is almost filled.

She closes her eyes and begins to recite a strange tongue. The blood suddenly starts to boil and her eyes fly open—completely red as though blood had filled them too.

I clench my jaw as a slight burning sensation covers my body. Then an ashy cloud surrounds me, obscuring my vision and blocking any scent or sound. A few moments later and the cloud disperses.

Syrra sits on the ground still, a smirk on her lips as she watches me. "All done," she says brightly.

"Wait really?"

"Yeah, I cloaked your scent so they can't recognize you. They won't know that this form belongs to Prince Kaine, but they're not going to mistake you for an enemy or anything so don't worry about that."

"That's amazing, thank you," I say.

She nods with a grin. "Okay now we have to do the same thing to your wolf form so—can you shift directly from your dragon to your wolf?" she asks.

"I don't know, I've never tried. Here goes nothing I guess."

Shax?

Yeah it's possible as long as Lucifer doesn't try to take control or something, he tells me.

I start to shift again, clenching my jaw against the sharp pain in my body. Then I gasp as a white-hot pain shoots through my mind.

I shake my head frantically as control shifts from my dragon to my wolf. The pain is almost unbearable and I can barely hold back a scream. It's like my mind is being ripped apart.

It finally stops after several minutes and I realize I am collapsed onto my side in the dirt. I take a few deep breaths and pull myself onto shaky feet.

Well that was unpleasant, I sigh.

Yeah you probably shouldn't do that again, Lucifer suggests.

Thanks, I got that.

I jog up to the edge of the crater where Syrra is waiting. She looks bigger than before, but sitting down her head doesn't even reach my chest.

She uses the knife to cut some of my fur and put it into the now empty bowl. I wince as she repeats the same procedure as before, using her other wrist for the blood but not as much this time. "Your dragon and wolf are the same color," she notes.

I glance down at my paws and see she is right. Red fur so dark it looks black. The cloud appears just like before but it doesn't last as long.

"Okay. Your scent is completely masked to all creatures whether you're in wolf or dragon form," she says. "Hey what's that mark on your leg?" she suddenly asks when I move over to where my bag rests.

I look at where she is pointing. My eyes widen at the silvery-white splotch near my paw. Why can you still see that when I shift? I growl in annoyance.

Do you remember what caused it? Lucifer snorts.

Oh yeah, I grumble.

I shift back and pull on the clothes in my bag. Syrra is still looking expectantly at me. I sit down across from her with a sigh. "Well?" she asks.

"It's a really embarrassing story."

"Oh come on! Now I wanna know!"

"Believe me, you really don't. You'll suffer from second-hand embarrassment if I tell you," I assure her.

She laughs. "Yeah right. Okay, I'll make you a deal. If you tell me the story, then I will show you my fourth tattoo," she offers with a small smirk.

My eyebrow shoots up. "Okay fine. A—uh, a few years ago I was screwing around in the armory with Jax. We were practicing with the different weapons and we found this really cool knife that was great for throwing. We were complete dumbasses that both thought we were hot shit and so we were trying to see who could throw it closest to the other without actually hitting them.

"I accidentally nicked Jax' shoulder and then tried to run because he was pissed but he threw it directly into my calf—turns out he's really good with throwing knives. The knife turned out to have a cursed blade and so we both spent weeks in the infirmary after that little stunt while they tried to reverse the magic. Unfortunately it left a lovely scar on both of us that still shows up when we shift," I explain with a heavy sigh.

Syrra has both of her hands covering her mouth. Her face is red and she looks like she is trying really hard not to laugh. "I'm sorry, that is hilarious and terrible at the same time," she finally manages to get out.

"Yeah I told you. I did some really stupid stuff when I was little," I sigh.

She nods. "Yeah I'd say so. Okay well do you still want to see the tattoo?" she asks.

"Only if it's okay with you," I tell her.

"Yeah, you deserve a little something after that," she says with a small smirk. She stands up and my eyes widen as she starts to pull down her dress. It falls off her shoulders and my jaw drops.

******

Hey guys!!! SO I hope you read the message at the beginning about the Fiction Awards, if you didn't then PLEASE go and read it, it is super important to me :)

**SO I will be introducing a new character so the next chapter will be from their POV but I want you guys to vote for the POV for the chapter after that one. DO NOT CHOOSE KAINE OR SYRRA!! You can pick anyone else though :)

IF YOU LIKED THIS CHAPTER THEN LET ME KNOW IN THE COMMENTS!!!!!!!!!