TAKEN BY THE DRAGON KING

Midnight Run

**

Elena

My heart caught in my chest and I froze. I could sense someone behind me, feel the sounds of their footsteps on the floor of the forest.

I didn’t know who it was, but the presence didn’t feel familiar. It didn’t feel welcoming. It felt as alien and harsh as the terrible hole in front of me.

I took a deep breath and didn’t turn around. My heart was thundering, and it was all I could hear, but I held my breath and took a step. I heard a sound behind me.

Someone exhaled.

And I ran.

I didn’t wait for anyone to make their move first.

I just ran.

I ran like my life depended on it. I ran like someone was chasing me through the forest, because I didn’t know if they were going to follow me or not.

I was living in a kingdom full of dragons. It had been stupid to run, to leave the protection that Dracul offered.

He might be complex. My feelings for him might have been a mess, but I knew that I had protection from him. And even he had been hiding me from his people.

I didn’t stop to turn and look around. I didn’t want to take the chance of tripping and falling, or worse.

I just had to keep going, had to keep moving, had to keep pressing onwards.

I didn’t know if anyone was on my heels and I wasn’t going to turn around and find out. I was running for my life and I knew that this was serious.

If this was a dragon, anyone other than someone working for Dracul, I was dead.

They didn’t know I was under the protection of their ruler. They didn’t know. And I was fair game.

A human wandering through their homes, through their forests. No wonder they were stalking me. I was being hunted.

My breathing came in short, rugged, rapid gasps as ran.

My feet pounded on the ground and I focused on nothing but what was ahead of me.

If I kept looking forwards, if I kept focusing on what was ahead… maybe I had a chance.

Maybe, just maybe, I had a chance.

I ducked and weaved through the trees, grabbing onto branches and throwing them on the ground behind me. If anyone was after me, I wanted to slow them down.

My father had taught me that, in the event that anything ever happened to me, as a princess.

But I had walked straight into this one. I was all but asking for trouble now. I had walked into the lion’s den and it was no one else’s fault but my own if they decided to chase me.

And then I heard it. I heard footsteps behind me, the sound of voices. Not just one person. More. Two at least.

I felt sick. I didn’t know how I was supposed to outrun two people. I didn’t know how I was supposed to get out of this situation.

I had wandered into the woods. And I had gotten lost.

My emotions had gotten the best of me and I was going to get myself killed.

Just like in this castle, but these guys had no need to keep me alive. For all they knew, I was just some stupid girl who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

They would be right about that, I supposed. That was exactly what I was. A stupid girl who had made a terribly dangerous choice.

I wanted to call for Dracul, but I had no idea if he could hear me. Maybe he didn’t even want to save me. I didn’t know.

I had walked out on him, had run away. Sure, he had left the room, but I had let my heart win instead of my head. I could have stayed put.

Sure, I was angry, but I could have stayed put.

I gasped as I ran, my lungs burning, everything aching as I rushed through the forest. I couldn’t see anything familiar up ahead. I didn’t know if I was even running in the right direction.

But I had to try. I had to try and make it. I couldn’t just lie down and die.

I could hear the footsteps gaining on me, with every thud of my own shoes. They were getting closer. They could have probably caught me already.

I knew that they were toying with me.

I knew that I should just stop and save myself the trouble. But I just couldn’t stomach it. I couldn’t give up. I couldn’t give in.

I had come so far. I had stayed alive when I thought I was destined to die, and I couldn’t accept that I was destined to die tonight.

Not because of a stupid mistake.

My legs were going to give out, but I tried to keep going. My body protested, but I pushed it. I should have stopped, but I wasn’t giving in without a fight. Maybe, if I just got a little bit closer. Maybe, if I just moved a little more…

Maybe, if I found the edge of the forest, Someone would hear me, someone would find me. Maybe I had a chance. I gave up now, it was already over. I couldn’t do that.

I stumbled and crashed into the earth.

My ankle ached where it slammed into a tree and I yelled as I hit the ground.

My hands broke my fall and the dirt scraped into them.

I scrambled to my feet, my ankle screaming in protest, my dress ruined from the mud and the brambles that covered much of the earth here.

“Took you long enough.” A voice laughed from behind me, cruel and ugly.

He was close. He was so, so close.

I stumbled up, pulling myself to my feet and taking a step. My ankle threatened to give out on me, and I bit my lip, holding back another yell.

I frantically looked around.

My hands found a tree branch and I grabbed it, gripping it tight between both hands, feeling the blood pumping through my veins. I braced myself against a tree.

I couldn’t run. My ankle was throbbing, and they were faster than me anyway. But I wasn’t going down without a fight. I would go down kicking and screaming.

I told myself to stay strong, even though the panic was blurring my vision.

In the darkness, I saw the sickly yellow eyes glow back at me. Two pairs. Just like at the castle. I was repeating my own stupid mistakes and this time, it was going to be too much.

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I thought of Dracul, of his hands on my skin and his kisses on my lips. I thought of the way his eyes softened when he looked at me.

I thought about how confused I was about everything, how lost and scared and upset. I never should have run, but I didn’t know what else to do. I didn’t know who to trust, to turn to.

I wanted Dracul to wrap his arms around me and tell me he actually cared that this was more than just a one-night thing, that he actually needed me here.

I wanted to know that I was here and helping him and my people at the same time. I wanted to know that my life here wasn’t meaningless.

And now, it didn’t look like I was ever going to be able to find that out.

“What do we have here?” The voice echoed through the darkness.

I shivered and held the branch as tightly as I could.

“Human, that’s not going to do anything against someone like me.” He said, and I could almost see him baring his teeth at me.

There was something different about him. There was a wildness to him. I didn’t know if he could be reasoned with. He was close, and I kept the branch held up in front of me.

“Don’t.” I said, my voice coming out shakily, “You don’t know what you’re doing.”

I didn’t sound like royalty. I just sounded scared.

I bit my lip, never taking my eyes off the two shadowy figures.

“Oh, but I think we do.” The other said, low and hungry.

I shuddered at the sound of his voice.

“What we’re doing? We’re hunting.” He said, a smile spreading across his dark features.

I felt sick to my stomach as I stared into the eyes of the men who were going to end my life.

“And when catch your prey, you know what you do with them.” He said slowly.

I leaned against the tree, watching them both, my blood freezing in my veins.

He laughed and it was a low and ugly sound, “you kill them, sweetheart. And you make it nice and slow.”