Dragon

X

Drake tried his hardest. He assured her everything would be okay, that him and the rest of the club would help protect her. He didn't think much of it, he didn't hesitate to offer his life to protect her, but it wasn't enough. 

After Michael had stitched her shoulder, she had climbed through the window of the infirmary and disappeared. He couldn't find her. He searched over and over, rode around the town hoping to find her, sitting behind an old building, shivering and cold, but he never did. 

"I am his precious treasure."

He remembered her last words. It shocked him. He remembered what that title meant. Beastein would pick his favorite woman of his slaves--typically the strongest one--and call her his treasure. Which meant she was his woman. 

From the look in her eyes when she said it, it was against her will. It filled his chest with a burning rage and his gut with stressed induced nausea. 

Although Beastein wanted Drake dead for the damage he had done, his damage was not nearly as great as his treasure running away from him. But there were missing pieces to her story, there were missing pieces to this all. Why would Beastein work so hard to kill her? Was it because his precious treasure plotted to kill him? Even so, how is what she tried to do worse than the damage Drake did? After all, he did burn Beastein's face and destroyed nearly his entire organization in just one night. There had to be more to the story.

However, now none of that seemed to matter for she was gone. Was she alive? Was she already dead in a ditch? Did Beastein get ahold of her once again?

"Where is she?" Drake mumbled to himself, sitting on the bed she had once laid on in the infirmary, staring down at his hands. 

It had only been a day or two but he was worried. He hardly knew her but he was fearful of her current state. 

"Drake!" Michael called, his head snapping up. "Get your ass out here, now!"

"Okay, okay!" he snapped back, running a hand through his disheveled hair. He swung the door open and entered the bar, still trying to fluff his hair in an attempt to make it look not dirty. "What the hell is wrong with you guys? Yelling at a man across the building, have you no--"

He lifted his head, noticing the rest of the men in the bar were frozen still and staring in one direction. "What are you guys looking at?" he questioned, looking in the direction they were staring and going deathly still, his eyes widening.

Standing at the front of the bar, in front of the entrance, was Lucy. Her pale eyes were stoic and ice cold, her hair pulled into a ponytail, and blood splattered on her face. She was holding a man, who was nearly dead, by his collar in one hand and a military grade knife in another. She wore all black with a harness around her chest and thigh and thick combat boots on her feet. 

He stared at her in shock but he could see the pain and sadness in her eyes. 

"What happened, Lucy? Where have you been?" Drake said, taking a step towards her, the rest of the men watching him with shock. "Why did you leave? Are you hurt anywhere?" he asked, now standing before her and looking her over. He wiped the blood from her cheek with his thumb, wiping the excess on his jeans. "Have you eaten? You look like you haven't been sleeping."

The men in the bar watched in bewilderment, completely dumbfounded by either his obliviousness or blatant stupidity. 

"This..." Lucy began, her voice as soft as always but seeming to only be this way when she was near him. "This man has some information on Beastein, information we do not know. Including his plans to kill the both of us."

"Where have you been?" Drake almost completely ignored her words, more worried about her  than anything else in that moment. "How is your shoulder doing?"

She looked up at him, her brows furrowing but her eyes filling with sadness. "Didn't you hear me?"

"I did, but are you okay?" She could see the worry etched into his face, the true and genuine worry and care that she had never seen anyone express towards her. 

Tears welled in her eyes and she gritted her teeth. "Didn't you hear me? This man has information for us," she said, fighting the tears with all her strength. She had always been so good at fighting her tears and her emotions, and hiding everything, but it seemed that Drake could just touch those walls she built and they came crashing down. 

"And didn't you hear me?" he asked, still looking at her with such care. "Are you okay?"

She shut her eyes, her head dropping. Drake reached out and wrapped his arms around her, her forehead resting on his chest as she fought hard not to shed even a single tear. Her grip on the man loosened and the body fell limply on the floor. 

"Why are you asking if I'm okay?" she asked, her voice so quiet and breaking under the pressure. "That's not important."

"But it is important," he whispered to her. "It's important. You're a person too."

"My little spider."

She shut her eyes tightly, her hands reaching up and tightly gipping his shirt, her body trembling. A person, huh? She thought, the tears running down her cheeks now.

"Move this man to the basement and tie him up," Frank said, a few of the men moving without hesitation. Frank walked over and placed a hand on Drake's shoulder. "Go ahead and take her out of the bar, she's been through enough."

He nodded and decided to take her up to his apartment style room, which was much more comfortable than the infirmary. "Is your shoulder okay?" he asked her, leaning his head down to look her in the face. 

She nodded slowly, rubbing her eyes with the back of her arm. 

"Are you hurt anywhere else?" he asked her, allowing her to sit on the end of his bed, her head down. She shook her head slowly. "Have you eaten anything?"

"Why are you doing this?" she whispered, her voice so weak and fragile at the weight of all the stress she'd been carrying her entire life. "Why are you being nice to me? Why?" she snapped, standing on her feet and trying her hardest to glare at him through the tears. "I killed a man in front of you, sliced his throat open. I left without a single word and came back with another body so why are you being so nice to me? I don't deserve it."

"You're a human being, Lucy," he began, her chin quivering. "You're not an object nor are you an animal."

"Don't look at me like that," she gritted. "Don't look at me with pity. I don't need your pity."

"Is it so wrong to worry about you?" he asked, stepping closer to her. "I'm worried because the Lucy I know doesn't want to do the things you're being forced to do."

"You don't know a d-damn thing," she said, her voice breaking.

"It's okay, Lucy," he spoke gently, wrapping his arms around her once again, allowing her to cry on his shoulder. "You're not in that place anymore. You aren't going to be forced to do all those things. It's okay."

For the first time in her life, she felt free in his arms.

Ugh, why is Drake so sweet and adorable? T^T 

He must be protected at all costs...right?

Please continue to vote and comment, it helps me out a ton!

With care,
D. M. Brightwell