Chapter 4 No Longer Alone

Draven's POV

Today was just my luck. Liam started it. He came at me first, but somehow I was the one dragged to the principal's office and lectured by Professor Jones.

To get her to wrap it up sooner, I just kept my mouth shut.

She wanted me and Liam to shake hands and make up.

Yeah, not happening.

Who can guarantee a snake won't turn around and bite you?

So the best I could offer was this: as long as he leaves me alone, I won't throw the first punch.

Professor Jones was clearly not satisfied.

Half an hour later, I finally walked out of that office.

I checked the bulletin board for dorm assignments. I got a room to myself.

Good. No worrying about accidentally scorching someone, and no putting up with their disgusted looks.

The boys' dorm, top floor, last room at the end of the hall. That was mine.

Walking down the corridor, I picked up all kinds of scents. Griffin, snake, deer...

And wolf. Damn it.

I really can't stand the smell of wolves. They reek.

And one's living right next door to me.

I shoved my door open and got inside fast.

The room was decent-sized for one person, and clean. That was all I needed, somewhere clean, somewhere safe, where nobody would bother me.

I didn't have much stuff, so I was unpacked quickly.

I headed to the classroom and looked around. Barely anyone there yet.

Perfect. I could take my pick of seats.

The back row looked good. That way, no one could stare at me.

After a while people started filtering in, and the room got noisy.

I was staring out the window, bored out of my mind, when a girl started walking toward me.

Wait, wasn't that the girl from the auditorium earlier? The one I'd nearly set on fire?

Mia, I think her name was.

I turned my head away and pretended not to see her.

It wasn't on purpose, and I wasn't going to apologize.

I could feel her stop right beside me. Was she here to call me out?

"Is anyone sitting here?" Her voice came out soft. No blame in it, no anger, just warm, with a kind of sweetness to it.

I almost couldn't believe it. Did she not know I was a dragon?

How was she not scared?

Or had she already forgotten that I'd nearly burned her alive twenty minutes ago?

I studied her carefully. "You still want to sit next to me?"

She nodded. "Is that okay?"

I had to admit, this was the first time anyone who knew what I was had actually chosen to sit beside me. This girl was something else.

She might just be the first good surprise this school had given me.

My sense of smell is sharp. The moment I stepped through the school gates, I caught her scent, purely human. No animal in it at all.

Word was she'd never shifted before, so she had no idea what form she'd take.

I just hoped it wasn't wolf. And please, not snake either.

Whatever she turned out to be. Fine. I said yes.

We weren't so different, the two of us. Neither of us really fit in here.

As soon as she sat down she smiled at me. It was bright, open, the kind of smile that felt like sunlight.

And now I actually felt a little guilty. From here on, I needed to keep my power in check. The last thing I wanted was to hurt her.

Why did Mr. Bellamy have to make us all introduce our forms and abilities?

What, he wouldn't be happy until I breathed fire in front of everyone?

I'm not some circus act.

When it was Mia's turn, she said she didn't know her form yet. The whole class laughed.

Liam especially. Does he not know how obnoxious his laugh is?

I've had enough of him.

I was going to roast that snake today.

My body was heating up fast and I'd completely forgotten that Mia was sitting right next to me, with no powers to protect herself.

Too late. The moment the flames broke out, they were already wrapping around her.

Mr. Bellamy looked like he was about to pass out. He definitely hadn't expected an accident in the very first class of the new semester.

I tried to pull the fire back. It's always harder to call back than to release, and right now it was fighting me.

But when I turned to look, I froze.

Mia was standing in the middle of my flames, completely unharmed.

She held her hands open, turning them over. Not a single burn.

Not even a singed hair.

I finally got the fire under control and checked her over right away. She was fine. Really fine.

Mr. Bellamy was stunned. "You're immune to dragon fire!"

Mia lit up. "So I'm fireproof! Am I a pangolin or something?"

He stared at her for a long moment. "I can't say for certain yet, but your form is definitely something unusual. We'll figure it out in time."

Pangolin? No way. Even a pangolin as old and thick-skinned as Bellamy couldn't walk out of my fire without a scratch.

Now I was curious. What kind of shifter was she?

But the fact that she wasn't afraid of my fire. That was genuinely good news.

Everyone says I'm the last dragon in the world. No family, no one like me. People fear me, avoid me, look at me like I'm something to be gotten rid of.

And here was someone who neither hated me nor feared me.

So maybe... I could actually have a friend?

After everything that just happened, Mia still seemed excited. She sat right back down next to me.

During class, Mr. Bellamy kept going over defensive techniques for handling attacks. I tuned it out. I didn't need any of that most people couldn't hold up against me anyway.

But Mia was listening like every word mattered.

Her eyes were brown, warm, the color of sunlight.

I propped my head up like I was watching the board, but my eyes kept drifting back to her.

Her lashes were long, like two little fans. When she was confused or nervous, they'd flutter like crazy.

Kind of cute, honestly.

Her nose turned up just slightly, and her skin looked soft. In the light you could see the faint down on it, like the skin of a peach.

Oh no. She caught me staring.

Now what? This was mortifying. Did I look like a creep?

She leaned in and murmured, "Do I have something on my face?"

I shook my head.

"Then why do you keep looking at me?"

"I wasn't," I said, a little too quickly.

And then she said, "Your eyes are really beautiful, though. Like the sun."

"Thanks. Yours too."

That caught me completely off guard. My face went warm. No girl had ever said anything like that to me before.

When the bell rang I asked her to get lunch with me. As a way of making things up to her and I told her I'd help figure out what her form was.

I laid out my thinking: "You know what? I think you might be a dragon."

Her eyes went wide. "I'm a dragon?"

I told her to keep her voice down. It was just a theory. And the people here. They hated dragons. Even if it turned out to be true, she couldn't go around saying it.

"Only a dragon could be immune to my fire. You probably don't know this, but dragon flame is the most powerful fire there is."

I was a little worried she wouldn't want to be a dragon, though. After all, no one here had any love for them.

But she looked thrilled. "That's amazing! If I'm a dragon, I can be just as strong as you. No one would ever push me around!"

"I won't let anyone push you around." It came out before I could stop it.

When she looked at me, I felt the heat rise in my face again. I dropped my eyes and focused on my food.

Truth was, I kind of hoped she was a dragon too. Then I wouldn't be so alone.