Page 20 of Purple Protector

THE WAY THE KING LOOKS at his consort leaves no doubt as to how he feels about him. If anyone ever thought that dragons and humans couldn’t have successful relationships, one meeting with them would be enough to convince them otherwise.

Aaron’s fingers flew on the keyboard. He wasn’t sure what had him so inspired that this article was flowing out of him, but he suspected it had a lot to do with Hedley and Killian themselves. The way they were around each other had renewed Aaron’s faith in love. He might not have love right now, but it didn’t mean he never would.

Here at the palace, he was more social than he’d ever been. He’d worked from home for the past two years, which made it harder to meet people. He went to the grocery store and things like that, but it still wasn’t the same as having dinner and lunch in a massive dining hall full of dragons. Hell, Aaron had already made more friends here than he had back in the city. He saw Palmer and Taylor regularly, along with Marlin and Birch. He was also friendly with Killian and Hedley, but of course, they were busier and didn’t have as much time for people like Aaron. He didn’t blame them for that. They were focused on the clan and their family, as it should be.

Something creaked behind Aaron. He frowned and started to turn, thinking that he probably still wasn’t used to the noises the room around him made. It wasn’t like at home, where he knew which spots on the floor creaked when he stepped on them. This was probably a perfectly normal noise.

It wasn’t. He didn’t even fully turn before something came at him. The only thing that saved him was that he threw himself backward, falling off the chair and taking it with him. His ass hit the ground, and he almost hit his head, but he tensed his neck and managed to avoid it.

The dragon who’d tried to hit him lunged for him. They were a blur of burnt orange that Aaron had to scramble back to avoid. The dragon snatched Aaron’s ankle and pulled, but Aaron was still tangled in the chair, so he didn’t budge.

Now that the initial shock was passing, he knew that he had to do something before he got seriously hurt—or worse. He didn’t stand a chance against the dragon.

He screamed. It was the first thing he thought of, and since he wasn’t the only one who lived in this hallway, he hoped someone would hear him. “Help! I’m being attacked!”

The dragon pulled harder on Aaron’s ankle, causing pain to shoot up Aaron’s leg. He kicked at the dragon with his other foot, hitting them in the face. It probably didn’t hurt them much, but it was enough for them to let go.

Aaron took advantage of that and scrambled to his feet. The dragon tried to catch him, but he quickly moved back and almost fell again when his foot caught in the chair. He pushed it toward the dragon, causing them to stumble. It gave Aaron enough respite to run for the bedroom, but there were no doors that he could slam in the dragon’s face. There was nowhere for him to go.

He grabbed a vase on a side table and turned to throw it at the dragon’s head. The dragon ducked, but not low enough. The vase brushed the top of their head before it crashed against the wall.

The sound of a door being kicked in made Aaron jump. He really hoped these were the good guys because he didn’t think he could deal with more of the bad ones.

“Aaron?” Marlin called out.

Aaron could have cried. “In the bedroom!” Aaron called back before grabbing a small sculpture and throwing it at his attacker.

The attacker wasn’t trying to get to Aaron anymore. They looked around, no doubt for an escape route. Marlin burst in through the bedroom entrance, glanced around the room, and moved towards the attacker.

The attacker lunged forward. Aaron squeaked and tried to get out of the way, but he shouldn’t have worried. The attacker pushed him against the wall, causing him to slam against it and for the breath to whoosh out of his lungs. He hit his forehead, and his vision went black for a few seconds. He had to catch himself against the wall so he wouldn’t bounce off it, but it was a close thing.

“Aaron?”

Two hands on Aaron’s shoulders made him jerk away. The problem was that he was still pressed against the wall, so he ended up hitting his forehead again. He whimpered as Marlin turned him around. That fucking hurt.

“Aaron?” Marlin asked again.

Aaron gingerly touched his forehead. “I’m fine. Well, fine-ish. I wouldn’t recommend slamming your forehead against the wall twice, though.”

Some of the worry vanished from Marlin’s expression. “If you can joke about it, you’re probably fine.”

“I am. Did you catch them?”

Marlin shook his head. “They jumped out the window.”

For a moment, Aaron thought that the attacker had killed themselves. Then he remembered that the attacker was a dragon, so they’d probably shifted as they fell and had flown away. “You didn’t catch them.”

“I was more worried about you and your scrambled brain.” Marlin caught Aaron’s chin with his hand and tilted his face this way and that. “That’s going to leave a bruise.”

“It’ll made me prettier.”

Marlin arched a brow but didn’t say anything. He clearly wasn’t wrong when he’d mentioned Aaron’s scrambled brain. “What happened?” Marlin asked.

“I don’t know. I was working when I heard a noise behind me.”

“You managed to escape.”

“It was a close thing, but the chair helped me.”

---