Burning Hearts

Casen “Don’t drop your guard.” Orien warned. I blocked his swing with my sword. There was a loud clang. He tried pushing his sword to test my strength by holding him at bay. I breathed heavily and chuckled and grinned at him as he smirked at me. He released, spun and tried to hit me from the side. I caught the movement and angled my sword pointing down along my left side. I blocked that strike too. He grumbled as I really grinned at him a beaming grin. “When will you learn?” I asked. “You know your father wants to make sure you are up to par on every possible contingency in blade play.” “Yeah, well, every weapon really. I still don’t get it. I can burn anyone to the ground with my fire.” “Four years of training and you still question being trained in other weapons? It’s--.” “Tradition.” I finished for him. “You seem to need a little more excess energy released.” “Does that mean we can go flying and mock battle in the air?” I would love to stretch my wings. “I was thinking more of hand to hand fighting and later time out at the club.” I was a little disappointed to not get to take my dragon form and fight with Orien, but he does know what I like. I may not be thrilled to be fighting hand to hand in my human form, but going out and dancing the night away has me tingling with excitement. I nodded. “Fine, but quick water break.” He nodded his head in agreement. I moved to replace my sword in its place along the wall with other different weapons. I grabbed my water and Orien’s. I tossed his metal water bottle at him, and it clanged as he caught it with his hand with his ring that designated him as a dragon prince. I glanced at my ring as I raised my own bottle to drink some water from. The center onyx stone was circled by small blue sapphire gems. The sides of the ring formed what almost looked like fire, caressing the gems to rest amongst the flames. I drank greedily of my water. Orien drank his water and watched me. I may have hated my dad for f*rcing me to come here when I turned eighteen, but Orien has helped to make the situation much more bearable. We became fast friends. He doesn’t make fun of my American accent as he grew up there too. He gets more of my references and actually laughs at the jokes I make. We look similar except he is definitely Asian decent. He has black hair like mine, but where my eyes are gray in color, his are emerald. He has the slant too to his eyes that gives his Asian side away. His father is a prince in China and his grandfather is king. My dad is king throughout Europe. I was born a bastard from one of my father’s visits to America. I didn’t think I had a dad for most of my life until I was about to turn eighteen. He showed up and that’s how I learned about my dragon. When I turned on my eighteenth birthday and graduated, he demanded I come to England to begin my training as the dragon prince I was born as. He didn’t give me a choice. I have hated every minute of every day practically since being kept here. My only solace is that Orien’s father had moved before I had to England to continue in the family business’ interests. Orien was made to come too. I would’ve gone crazy if not for him. He’s become my best friend. We attend school together and he trains me with weapons and martial arts because, unlike me, he has trained since he was young. His father met his mom when he had moved to America. This is why Orien looks Asian, but kind of looks like he could be my brother too in his features. “Are you done daydreaming? Can we get back to this training? You know your father won’t let you get away with skipping out.” “Sure.” I set my water bottle down. I pulled my t-shirt off. I do enjoy the fact that when I gained my dragon my body changed too. The abs I tried to get with lifting weights and dancing to impress girls at school came a lot easier once my dragon arrived. People may think it's only my dragon side that makes me appear ripped, but I have spent hundreds of hours training with Orien and others. Dancing has helped too. Dancing helps me with my fighting style too. Orien is a good dancer too, but I’m a little better than him and he admits it. Orien removed his shirt too. We walked to the center of the training mats. I assumed my fighting stance. He did as well. I struck first, trying to get at his nose. He blocked me. I had to quickly block his foot from connecting with my stomach. I grabbed his foot with my left hand and tried to flip him to the side, taking him off his feet. He was ready for the movement and swiveled his hips, spinning and kicking me across my head. He landed on his hands and feet. He looked back up at me from over his shoulder before he was on his feet again. I wanted to lash out at him. I have a bit of a hot temper when it comes to being hit. It has taken me a long time to get it under control, even to where I have it now. I don’t have full control, but I try to improve it everyday. I could see he was hoping I would lash out in a wild attack, leaving myself vulnerable to another attack. I didn’t want to disappoint him, but I was in control this time. I faked trying to punch his side. He adjusted to block my strike, but I spun around at the last second with my leg extended, taking his feet out from under him, landing him on the mat on his back. I had no time to react. He did the cool flip up thing which most people see in movies to get the fighter back on their feet. We sparred for a long time. Orien finally called it quits. We clasped hands and pulled each other in for a quick hug. I moved to grab a towel from the side to wipe some of the sweat from my face and neck. “I’m going to go shower and I’ll meet you for dinner.” He gave me a knowing nod. He was probably going to shower too. I grabbed my water and my cell phone. I made my way down the long hallway to get to the main hall where I could get to my room. “Casen.” I cringed slightly. I tried to continue on acting as if I didn’t just hear my older brother Callum calling my name. “Casen, stop.” I couldn’t avoid him now. I stopped begrudgingly. “What?” I snapped at him. Callum and I don’t really get along. We have come to barely tolerate each other. He hates that I’m the product of our father’s indiscretions of cheating on his mom. Technically, he didn’t cheat. They were separated when he hooked up with my mom. It made no difference because I’m just the bastard child of the family now. A stain on it. “You’ve been requested to his office.” He emphasized “his” instead of saying our father or dad. “Why can’t you just tell me dad wants to see me?” His facial expression turned into a grimace. I took inner delight at his discomfort. He stormed off. I changed my direction and made my way to our father’s office. I knocked on the closed door. “Enter.” Came my father’s deep voice. I opened the door with some trepidation. I just want to shower, eat, and go out dancing at the clubs in London. He was standing at his shelf where he keeps his alcohol. It takes a lot for us to get drunk. I hate that fact sometimes. I would love to just get plastered when I go out dancing and let loose completely. “Sit.” He commanded me with his back turned. I took the chair across from his desk. He turned and noticed I was still shirtless. “How many times do I have to tell you to not walk around like that? Image is everything.” “What image? We’re outside the city and the closest town is a few miles' drive away. No one is going to see me with my shirt off.” “We still have staff. Human staff.” He reminded me. “Most of them are so old they probably wouldn’t know what to do with me.” “Not all our staff is that old and you well know it.” I hate that my dad allows human workers to clean after him. I think part of it is because he feels superior to them and gets off on making them clean after the dragon king and his sons. “What do you want?” “I have decided to hold an event when spring arrives. Much like times of old, it will involve tests of strength, speed, and might. All male dragons of age must participate in my games. That especially means you. I expect you to perform well, like your brother. You will show them the might of the Carrington family.” “You pulled me in here after training for this? It couldn’t wait until I showered first. Spring is a few months away.” I don’t want to do this, but I won’t be given a choice. “You need to start training harder.” “Noted. Can I go shower now or was there something else?” “You are dismissed.” I stood and strode quickly to the door before my dad could attempt to ruin my night. I was already not looking forward to having to have to attend his Christmas ball in a couple of months. I get it that many enjoy it, but I always find it tedious and boring, especially since my mother can’t come and be with me during that time. I sometimes wonder how it would be to attend King Alexander’s Christmas parties in America. He allows humans who know and discovered our world to attend if they want to. I could tell my mom what I am, and we could spend Christmas together with a more accepting group of people. Orien got to attend last year when they visited. He got to meet Prince Alandar and his son Prince Adrian and, daughter the Honorary Princess Solay. The prince and princess were already married. He told me that Prince Adrian’s wife is the fae King Oren’s daughter. I was a little jealous that he gets to be married to a fairy princess. Orien says she’s quite beautiful and the prince doted on her as if she was the most precious thing to him. I wish I could find someone like that. It's not that women here are unattractive. It’s the fact that I have a tendency to be attracted to human females, of which my father and brother greatly disapprove of. I don’t care. I’m hoping I can maybe find someone at the club tonight to at least hook up with. Its been a couple of years since I have had s*x. I hooked up with my ex, Amber, when I visited my mom. We tried to see if there was something still there, but there wasn’t anything more than friendship. She also confessed she kind of did it to try and rebound from her break up not too long before with her boyfriend. She apologized for using me that way, but I didn’t feel used really. It was good s*x, but that was about it. She eventually went back to her ex, and she last told me they were engaged and expecting a baby. I congratulated her. I am just glad we know we are better as friends than lovers. I made my way into my bathroom. One of the staff must have just finished cleaning my room. It smells like cinnamon with a hint of apple. I love the smell. I started my shower, stripping the rest of my clothes and stepping under the hot stream of the water. I let it loosen my muscles and relax myself. ~~~ Orien finally dragged me off the dance floor to grab a beer at the bar. I couldn’t stop smiling. Dancing just releases my happiest of endorphins. I feel free when I dance. The only other time I feel free is when I am flying in dragon form. Orien ordered the beers and I leaned against the bar looking back at the dance floor watching the bodies gyrating to the fast moving song. Orien handed me the beer mug. I took it and drank a long pull of it. We watched silently as club goers danced for a couple of minutes. I could feel something was off with him though. I turned to him. “Just tell me.” I commanded him. “What?” He asked. “You know what? Just tell me what’s bugging you.” I could see his shoulders fall some. “My grandfather is demanding we move back within the month.” Great, just great. Now the only person who makes living here bearable is leaving. “Can’t you refuse him?” He shook his head. I know better. I can’t refuse my father without paying a punishment. He can’t refuse his grandfather, who is king. “I’m going to miss you dude.” “Same.” He replied. I was about to suggest we get back out on the dance floor because suddenly the mood is a little dampened when two girls approached us. They were cute. The blonde was eyeing Orien, and the brunette was drinking me in. I could work with her if she was amenable to a quick hook up. “Want to dance?” The blonde was blunt. Orien and I exchanged a sideways glance. I shrugged my shoulders and they both grinned. The brunette jutted her hand out to me, and I took it as she led me back through the crowd to the dance floor. She ran her hands along my chest as she stared up into my face, smiling seductively. I gripped her waist. I started to sway us side to side. I haven’t found the right partner to dance with that can handle me on the dance floor. Too many girls can only dance very, basically and think that twerking their *ss against me in any manor will, I don’t know, make me think they’re awesome, beautiful, f**kable? I mentally shrugged because I really don’t know what they think while grinding their *ss thinking that is dancing. I thought too soon though. She turned in my hands and started pressing her *ss against my d**k. She was doing this little dip thing that maybe she thinks will entice me, but it's really not. I still played along. If she is trying to get an idea what I’m working with, I would let her feel it, even if I’m not hard at all. I felt her jolt a little when she felt my d**k. She looked over her shoulder at me. I leaned down to her ear. “Want to find a dark spot?” I asked against her ear. She nodded. I took her hand and led her upstairs to a spot I know not many of the club goers knew about. I pulled her into the small alcove that was covered by a heavy velvet curtain. I wasted no time kissing her. She gripped at me everywhere with her hands. I cupped her br**st as I aggressively kissed her. I couldn’t get turned on enough to get an erection. I still didn’t want her to spread anything that I couldn’t get it up. I pushed her more firmly against the wall. I dropped to my knees and pushed her mini skirt up. She was panting heavily before I even grazed her outside of her thong. She was dripping wet. I wished her smell would get my body in gear, but it didn’t. I moved the bit of fabric to the side and ran my finger along her slit. She shuddered and moaned a little. I dipped my finger between her folds, penetrating her fully with my finger. I leaned forward and licked her cl*t with my tongue. She thrust her hands in my hair as I tended her. I inserted another finger. I pumped her deep with my fingers as I sucked on her nub. Her pants and moans got louder and faster. She nearly bucked when I twisted my fingers to graze her g-spot. She didn’t need to know I was trying to finish her off fast, but not make it seem like that was my intention. I worked her faster and faster until she was screaming with her climax. I let her c*m on my fingers. I didn’t bother to drink her climax up. For some reason it didn’t appeal to me to do so. I just got up and crashed my lips into hers as I let her finish on my hand. She gripped my head, sucking at my tongue like her taste was the best thing she had ever tasted. It was okay, but I’ve had better tasting females in the past. She’s also not the first girl I have brought to this alcove and gone down on. She probably won’t be the last either. I used my other hand to straighten her skirt out. I turned to leave the alcove. “What about you?” She panted. “There’s no time for me. My friend will be wondering what’s taking so long and I still need to wash my hands.” “He’s with my friend. They’re probably f**king in some other dark spot.” “They are not, I assure you. My friend isn’t as brazen as that. His family would probably kill him if he was.” “Oh.” I led her to the stairs and turned to the bathroom up here. I washed my hands and even cupped some of the water to swish around my mouth to wash the taste of her out of it. I popped a piece of gum in my mouth to help with her lingering taste before returning down to the main floor. I noticed Orien was at the bar alone. I smirked. Orien would have taken the blonde to a dark spot, but she needed to have larger assets for that to happen. His eyes spotted me, and he handed me another beer. He gave me a look of understanding without me needing to tell him. He could probably smell that I don’t smell of s*x. I smell of her, but not a mixture of the both of us. My pheromones are potent like his are. They get stronger when any dragon has s*x. I caught a faint smell of cinnamon and apple. For some reason, it put me in a better mood. We danced the night away. We left the club late and made our way to Hyde Park. We changed into our dragons under a group of trees that could block our change. Once we are in dragon form, we are invisible to over eighty percent of humans. There are a few that may have faint supernatural or magical beings in them that can possibly see us, or faintly see us. I stretched my black wings out the farthest they could stretch. My dragon is massive and black with blue sapphire scales mixed throughout. My eyes are an otherworldly blue too mixed with a tinge of gray. Orien’s dragon is just as massive and black except he has emerald scales that ironically match his emerald eyes in dragon form or human form. His eyes just shine a little more brightly in color in his dragon form. My father explained that most royal male dragons are black based with the family coloring mixed throughout the scales. The bigger the dragon, the stronger the royal he claims. I don’t totally understand that assessment, as I am bigger than both my father and brother. They both have royal parents and I only have him as my dad, who is royal. The only dragon who has compared in size to me is Orien. He is even larger than his father and grandfather. They praise him for it, but my father and brother act as if I am smaller than they are and pretend to ignore the blatancy that I in fact am larger. We shot into the air. I let the wind caress my body. It isn’t a long fly back to my father’s estate. I truly wish it was longer, but dragons are fast flyers. It probably would have taken less than an hour by car, but for us it was only a couple of minutes if we flew straight to the estate. Orien knew I would want to zig zag around before heading home. My dragon is ecstatic to get to stretch. He spotted a buck in the forest below. I know my father encourages regular hunts, but I just can’t seem to get behind it. Orien is the same way. We don’t like hunting all that much. Orien spotted the buck too, but neither of our dragons made a move to hunt it. We did, however, watch it move through the forest because it had sensed our presence and is trying to flee. That usually can spur a dragon on to want to hunt and kill, but we just watched it. It is a beautiful creature. I only hope another dragon doesn’t find it. The surrounding areas are over-hunted as is. My dad refuses to put a restriction on the over-hunting that has been happening for years now. He doesn’t realize that soon there may be nothing even for him to hunt in the near future. We landed and changed back into our human forms. We walked up the rest of the long driveway. Callum was standing in front of the door with his arms crossed looking highly p*ssed off, but that is his normal look, so I tried to ignore him. “You know he doesn’t like you flying into the city. Frank will drive you wherever you need to go.” “Flying is so much faster,” I rebutted. Orien made his way to his car. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” He said before he climbed in and took off. “Why didn’t you drive in Orien’s car then?” “Because we wanted to fly. You’re not my dad. I can fly if I want to.” “You could have been seen.” I scoffed and chuckled as I brushed past him. He knows that is a lame excuse to make. “I’m not done talking to you.” “Well, I am done talking to you.” I opened the door and ran up the stairs to get to my room faster. I slipped into my room and locked the door in case he tried to continue his disapproving lecture. I could still smell the cinnamon and apple in my room. It began soothing me. I stripped down to my boxers and yanked the blankets back on my bed. It has been a long day and night. I just want to sleep now.