Katie walked off of the path and found a large patch of soft moss for the two of them to sit on. She sat down and looked up at Sam. Realizing that she wanted him to join her he walked over and sat down. Katie began pulling items out of her bag. She pulled out food, bottles of water and napkins causing Sam to worry even more about her.
It was obvious that she was being more than kind to him and he knew that this could put her life at risk, there were dragons all over the woods and if one were to get her scent and find them together it could mean not only his death but hers as well.
“What if they are real,” Sam said, picking up a bottle of water.
Katie jerked her head and looked at him, “What are you talking about,” she asked, “Dragons?”
“Yes,” Sam said calmly, “What if they are real.”
Katie laughed almost causing herself to choke on her water. “Real,” she asked, “Dragons?”
Sam only nodded his head and she realized that he was serious.
“If they were real,” Katie said, looking back down at her bottle, “I think people would have found them by now.”
Katie looked up at the sky thinking about what Sam had said.
“Do you believe they are real,” she asked, looking back at him. She could not believe that such a sweet and attractive man would believe in something like dragons and more than that, shapeshifting dragons. She shook her head as she thought about how crazy, he must be to believe something like that.
“I do,” Sam said not taking his eyes away from hers.
Katie wrinkled her brow not sure how she should respond to him. She was a logical woman, she knew there was no proof of any monsters existing in the world and that people who believed in them were just reaching for anything to believe in.
“Why would you believe that,” she finally blurted out.
“I have been here my entire life,” Sam said with a sigh, “I have lived in these woods and I have seen things that others would never understand. When I tell you that your life is in danger I do not say it because people disappear. I say it because I know what is out here.”
Katie chewed on her lip as Sam spoke, unable to wrap her mind around what he was saying. She looked at him and he could tell that he had only confused her more.
“Katie,” Sam continued, “I do not want to scare you, but the things you have read about, they are true. It is dangerous for people to know what is in these woods and it is dangerous for you to be here,” Sam paused for a minute and looked away. He knew no other way to make her understand.
As he looked back at her, his eyes were filled with fire, bright red and yellow. He could see the fear on her face as she looked at him. “With me,” he finished.
Katie tried to stand up, she wanted to run, but was unable to move quickly enough. Sam wrapped his arms around her and held her in place. She looked back at him, his eyes back to their normal gray color. “I am not going to hurt you Katie,” he said, gently, “I am trying to protect you.”
Katie struggled to gain control of her breathing. She leaned back on the moss suddenly feeling sick and wishing she had never left her hotel room.
“What are you,” Katie finally managed to say.
Sam turned and looked at Katie, she could still see the gentleness in his face that she had experienced the day before, but she could not get the image of his red eyes out of her head. She knew she was sitting face to face with something that was not human.
“I am a dragon,” Sam began, “Most of us would not cause you any harm, but the deeper you travel into the woods the more you put yourself at risk. Sam then reached out and placed his hand on her thigh causing her to jerk back violently.
“You think that I am going to do something to you,” he asked, “Why would I have helped you if I wanted to harm you?”
Katie knew that he was right. If he wanted her dead all he would have had to do was leave her in the woods the night before. Instead, he had saved her from whatever was in the woods.
“If they had found you, they would have either killed you or taken you back to the pack,” he said, “It is the Alpha that you and all humans should fear. He blames all humans for the way that we have to live. Always in hiding never able to be free.”
Sam went on to tell Katie how they would shift into human form to get the things that they needed, things that they could not get from the woods any longer such as fruits that the humans harvested. He talked about a hard life and hiding from those that he knew would murder him, both human and dragon.
He told Katie that he was not like other dragons and that he wanted to live life as a human but was not allowed to do so. How the Alpha had threatened to kill anyone that left the pack and put the rest of them in danger. Sam explained that when a dragon was angry it was harder for them to control the human form and often times they would revert back to a dragon.