“You did well today, perfect even. Next week we will be training with swords, the week after flying, and so on,” Dagan tells me as I pull my coat on. I look up at the dark skies, see the clouds and know it’s going to rain soon. I raise my arms up and stretch, feeling all my muscles groaning.

“I forgot how tired shifting makes you,” I reply.

“I like it,” Korbin says, basically looking like he could go for a run or something. Weirdo.

“Want to have some fun and meet some of the students? It is your birthday, and you shouldn’t be stuck in your room alone,” Dagan asks me suddenly.

“How did you know?” I ask him, but Korbin answers.

“It’s our job to know everything about you, to keep you safe,” Korbin says, but he doesn’t look at me as he says it.

“Alright, well, what kind of fun did you have in mind?” I ask them both this time.

“The bad kind,” Dagan taunts. If I didn’t know any better, I would think he was flirting with me. Maybe he just has that natural flirty nature some people have.

“There’s a party out in the woods, they do it every month,” Korbin explains.

“Will there be wine?” I ask.

“I know there will be beer,” Korbin answers.

“Well I’m sold then, let’s go,” I say, watching as they both smile at each other before we start walking towards the woods.

“Will Elias be there?” I finally ask, after we've walked in silence for a bit to get to the tree line.

“Yes, no doubt picking up a girl for the night,” Dagan says, and I have to swallow the enraged rumble from my dragon.

“Kill the–”

“–Oh my god, no Dragon,” I whisper to her.

“What is your dragon saying? Does she not like Elias?” Korbin asks me, clearly seeing the annoyance on my face and my eyes turned silver.

“Something like that,” I reply, trying to avoid the question as much as I can. We come up to a clearing with a large bonfire in the middle. Some students are sat on logs around it, and others are dancing to music from a speaker nearby. A few people stop what they are doing when they see me, just staring and looking none too friendly. They hate me because of my father, and the war, and maybe just because I’m not one of them. Oh, and I'm pretty sure me freezing the entire cafeteria didn't help with the whole people liking me situation. I may be a dragon, but I wasn’t brought up here, and they know that. It makes me an outsider, in a place I don’t need to be one.

“Maybe I should just go back to the castle, I need to get a new book from the library anyway,” I say, and start to turn back. Dagan puts an arm around my shoulder, drawing me back. It makes me go tense, whereas my dragon sends me waves of happiness. Betraying little hussy.

“Let me get you a drink and then introduce you to some people. You should try to get to know them,” Dagan says, and I look over to see Korbin nod.

“He is right. You’re pretty nice, sometimes, perhaps try to show them that?” he suggests, before walking over to some guys who pat his back.

“Alright, what’s the worst that could happen,” I shrug, letting Dagan lead me over to a cooler box. He opens it up, grabs two beers out, and hands one to me.

“They are a little warm as we have to hide them out here weeks in advance,” Dagan says, and I chuckle. I grab his bottle off him and close my hands around both our beers. I let my dragon out a little, making my hands go cold and cover the bottle in frost. I stop when they are cold, pulling my dragon power back and handing the bottle to Dagan.

“Neat trick,” he comments, rolling his lip ring across his lips. I find myself focusing on it until he drinks some of his beer, and three girls walk over to us.

“Dagan! Have you seen Elias?” the blonde one in the middle asks. She has waist length blonde hair, with red streaks throughout it. The other two girls just spend the whole time eye fucking Dagan, completely ignoring anyone else.

“Nope, how are you Lisa?” he asks.

“I’m good, baby,” she grins, stepping closer and I move before I even noticed I did it.

“I’m Isola, nice to meet you,” I say after I’ve slid right in front of Dagan, and I hear him chuckle behind me. Lisa looks me up and down before putting on a fake smile.

“Lisa, nice to meet you, princess,” she says and looks over my shoulder.

“Come and find me when your done with your work,” she nods her head towards me with a snide look as she says work. I roll my eyes as she walks off.

“That didn’t go well,” Dagan says, stepping to my side as I drink my beer.

“You don’t say,” I reply sarcastically.

“Some might say you were jealous,” he comments, watching me very closely for my reaction.

"And those same people would be wrong," I say, finishing my drink and reaching for another one. I pull the bottle cap off, chucking it in the box and walking off from Dagan, who is still chuckling. I stop when I get near the people dancing and down the rest of my drink, before sliding into the crowd. I close my eyes, dancing to the music and trying to forget everything. Trying to ignore how jealous it makes me to think of Dagan with that stupid girl.

“You’re dripping snow on the ground, what’s making you so mad,” Dagan whispers in my ear, as his hands slide around my waist, pulling me against his toned body.

“How much have you had to drink?” I ask, still not opening my eyes but letting him control my hips, keeping our bodies moving in time to the slow music. Every movement is sensual, and he knows what he is doing. I hate that I like it.

“Not enough,” he whispers to me. We both dance silently for a long time, moving our bodies together like we know each other much better than we actually do.

“This isn’t smart,” I say, feeling how turned on he is as he's pressed against my back.

“No, it isn’t,” he agrees and breaks away from me. I turn in time to see him pushing through the dancers, his hands in tight fists at his sides. I mentally curse myself over and over as I manoeuvre through the people and look around to see the castle in the distance. I can’t see Korbin anywhere, or Elias, but I have a feeling he isn’t here at all. My dragon can’t smell him, or Korbin near for that matter. I walk away from the party, straight towards the castle as I try not to think about Dagan, Korbin, Elias or hell, even Thorne. I should be thinking about Jace, my boyfriend who just died, and yet here I am. My dragon is clearly already over him, but she is an animal, so it’s expected in a way. She relies on instincts, not her heart, and I just can't process my own feelings right now. Whatever she is thinking, can never be, because they are dragon guards. To let them love me, and allow myself to love them, it would break the curse, but they would lose their dragons.

“Danger,” my dragon whispers, just before I hear a branch broken to my left. I stop in my tracks, sniffing the air. I don’t catch a scent, but I trust my dragon.

“Which way?” I ask her.

“Left,” she replies, so I do the smart thing, and run to the right. I scream when a dagger flies past my arm, cutting my shoulder, and I nearly hit a tree with the distraction. Another dagger sails past my head, landing in the tree beside my head, and I duck around it. I look around as I keep running, seeing nothing but trees, and I realise that my best shot is to shift or shoot some ice at them.

“I got you,” a voice says, just as I slam into a hard chest. I glance up to see Elias looking over my head. He pushes me behind him, and both his hands light up with fire. I jump when Elias darts forward, grabbing a dagger with a hand that’s literally on fire. He spins, throwing the dagger back in the direction of my attacker. We hear a grunt, and then the sound of a body hitting the ground.

“Problem solved, are you ok?” Elias asks, the fire disappearing from his hands as he walks over to me. I lift my arm, turning it so I can see the cut isn’t healing.

“It must have been dragonglass, or I would have healed by now,” I comment, and my eyes widen as Elias pulls off his shirt. The tattoos I have seen on his arms, also cover his entire chest. There’s a large red dragon across his ribs, and a row of symbols I don't recognize over his heart and continued all the way down his v line into his jeans. I wonder where they stop?

“Don’t get too excited, we need to stop the bleeding,” he laughs at my wide eyes, which I narrow as he steps closer.

“Eh, I’ve seen better,” I shrug, trying to ignore the six pack on display, and the way his chest is so toned. Bloody hell, all I can think of is licking it. There is something seriously wrong with me.

“Really? Somehow, I doubt it, my naughty princess,” he chuckles, brushing his naked chest against my body as he lifts my arm.

“Try not to scream, this might hurt,” he says, as he wraps the shirt around my arm, and then pulls hard. I rest my head on his shoulder as I try not to scream, but a whimper escapes despite my best efforts.

“That will stop the bleeding, but I bet your tree spirit could heal it up for you,” he says, and I lift my head off my shoulder to meet his dark eyes.

“How did you know?” I ask.

“I broke into your room tonight because I smelt a dragon in there that shouldn’t have been. It seems your little tree spirit had put a barrier up anyway, so I couldn’t get in. I followed the scent of the dragon out here, and I’m glad I did,” he comments.

“You broke into my room?” I ask.

“Out of everything I just said, that’s the bit you’re focused on? Technically, I just walked in, as the door was open from the dragon that broke in first,” he replies.

“I suppose it’s not that bad then,” I say dryly. He laughs and steps closer to me, boxing me in against the tree at my back.

“There's just something about you...what is it that draws me in?" he asks, making my breath catch. I can't escape or look anywhere other than into his eyes.

“Is it you or your dragon that is interested?” I ask, wondering how much of him is in control, because his eyes are naturally dark, and I can’t tell.

“My dragon and I are divided on you princess,” he says, and goes to say something else, when we hear Korbin shout.

“What is going on here?” Elias moves away from me, and I look over to see Korbin stood watching us, blatant anger all over his face.

“Kor…I need you to take the princess to her room. She is hurt, and I need to deal with the body of the attacker,” Elias says.

“Hurt? What the fuck happened, Eli?” Korbin demands, somehow looking even angrier than before as he walks over to us. He steps right in front of me, lifting my arm.

“Ow, that hurts,” I say, pulling my arm away.

“We can’t leave her alone, nowhere is safe apparently,” Korbin tells Elias, who looks at me for a long time before answering.

“You need to stay with her tonight, and I will find Dagan and explain. We should sleep in her room for protection now,” Korbin comments.

“That’s not–” I go to protest but they both ignore me.

“I don’t want a damn roommate!” I shout at them, and they finally pay attention to me.

“Well, you have three now, get over it,” Elias says.

“Four, you’re forgetting Thorne,” I say, not knowing why I feel I have to remind them.

“He can’t be trusted,” Elias says, but Korbin shakes his head.

“With her, he can, trust me on that,” Korbin says. They stare at each other for a while before Elias gives in.

“Take her back. I’m taking the body to her uncle,” he says and walks off into the forest. I stare after him, until I can't see any trace of him anymore. What is Elias Fire doing to me?