Chapter 2

"You don't belong in this world," Drake murmured, his golden gaze pinning me to the spot.

"I... I should go," I stammered, stepping backward.

"No."

Drake gripped my wrist.

The moment his fingers locked around my pulse, a visible vein of liquid fire flashed beneath our skin. The Soul Flame snapped into place.

Drake let out a low, ragged growl, his eyes turning fully golden.

Without a word, he pulled me past his security and into the private room of his top-floor quarters.

"What is happening to me?" I cried out, clutching my chest.

"I've waited my whole life for you," Drake whispered, backing me against the glass window overlooking Manhattan.

He removed his mask, revealing sharp, royal features etched with a desperate hunger.

I should have run from the madness of it, but our lives were already bleeding into one another.

When he kissed me, it wasn't just passion—it was a biological command.

As if he were a man drowning and I was his only breath of air.

His hands slid up to cradle my face, his long fingers tangling gently in my hair.

He held me there as the kiss deepened into something heavy, sweet, and entirely consuming.

A sudden, intoxicating wave of heat rushed beneath my skin.

It was not the fever I had feared my whole life, but a warmth that bloomed exactly where his body pressed against mine.

In the dim, ambient light of the penthouse, his golden eyes burned with an emotion so intense it made my chest ache.

"You're burning," he murmured as his thumb traced my lower lip.

"And I have been freezing in the dark for so long."

Before I could find my voice, he lifted me effortlessly.

I wrapped my arms around his neck, burying my face in the crook of his shoulder.

Every brush of his skin felt like a permanent mark branded onto my soul.

When his hands slid into mine, locking our fingers together against the sheets, the absolute gravity of the bond claimed us entirely.

That night, he loved me with a fierce, possessive reverence.

Every touch was laced with a beautiful, heartbreaking intensity.

But as we held each other, he had no idea that our bond had triggered alarms across the ocean in his hidden kingdom.

"The King's Soul Flame has awakened," an Elder whispered in absolute dread.

The High Chancellor stared at the blood-red light.

"Find the woman. Kill her."

By the time dawn broke over Manhattan, Drake was gone.

The bed was cold.

In place of his presence lay a solid gold ring engraved with a royal dragon crest and a frantic note:

An emergency in my homeland. I must fly back immediately to stop a war. Keep the ring. I will find you. — D

Heartbroken, I left the royal ring on the table.

I gathered my clothes and vanished back into the crowded streets of New York, determined to bury the memory we had shared.

Meanwhile, deep within the dark chambers of the Dragon Council...

The ancient royal compass spun violently, its runes glowing a dangerous, forgotten crimson.

"Kill her?" a third Elder hissed from the shadows, his eyes narrowing in terror.

"Look at the magic. It's the First Flame Blood."

The room fell into a terrified silence.

"Then we must destroy her immediately," the Chancellor commanded, his voice shaking.

"A thousand years ago, the last woman with that bloodline personally burned seven kings to ash and destroyed the court. She is a threat to our survival. Eliminate her before she remembers who she is."