But I'm just a freak

Chapter Two

DRAYCE POV

“No, I have told you a thousand times before, Nithe, I am not interested in taking a wife just for the hell of it.” I couldn’t believe he was bringing this up again.

“Come on, Dray, think about this logically, you are the most eligible bachelor in the country and to be honest, I think our shareholders are starting to have doubts. I hear whispers about the business not being secure if the owner/CEO of the whole company can’t even find a wife.” Nithe replied.

I growled at him, but he didn’t even flinch. I guess since we have known each other for decades, he has gotten used to it.

Most normal people would have been terrified of me since I was six feet six inches tall, all solid muscles with jet black hair and bright emerald green eyes.

When I was not wearing a suit, the many tattoos I had on my arms, legs, chest and back were visible. Oh and did I mention I was a high-level, full-blooded dragon?

“Nithe, I am just over sixty years of age. For our species, that is still a hatchling. Why must you insist I give up my hope of finding my fated, just because some humans, who believe I’m in my thirties, think I should get married.”

Not only was Nithe my best friend, but he was also my Assistant CEO for the company I created, ‘Roark Home Centre’, which was a chain of stores or a franchise, with stores all around the country that sold affordable Home Décor.

Just then, a small knock sounded on my office door.

“Come,” I said, knowing it was my assistant, Heidi.

“Oh, I'm sorry to intrude, Mr Roark, Mr Mircea. I have Ms Pippa Marks here. I don’t have her down as having an appointment with you today, but she was adamant you wanted to see her?”

I sighed heavily, that b***h just wouldn’t leave me alone. I had slept with her a few times when I needed some stress relief, but we never dated. She had become obsessed with me.

“Send her in Heidi, I will deal with her.” She nodded and left, closing the door behind her.

“What are you doing with the w***e? That is not going to portray a good image, Drayce.” Nithe said, frowning.

“I’m not doing anything with her now. I haven’t slept with her in over a year, but she is still obsessed with me, and I’m guessing if rumours are swirling, that I may be seeking a wife. She has no doubt come to offer herself to me,” I said to him irately.

“OK fine, well I will leave you to deal with your w***e, while I see what I can do about these shareholders,” I grunted as he left.

Not even ten seconds later, another knock sounded on my door, and I could smell the overwhelming scent of cheap perfume that I knew belonged to Pippa.

“Come,” I shouted.

Pippa boldly sauntered into my office, wearing an incredibly short red dress that left very little to the imagination.

“Drayce baby, how are you?” She chirped. I frowned at her.

“What do you want, Pippa?” She looked taken aback by my abruptness.

“Now don’t be like that. I thought we had a good thing going until you stopped taking my calls,” She said as she walked closer to me, ugh that perfume was awful.

“All we had was s*x, Pippa, nothing more and, if I’m being brutally honest, it wasn’t even good sex.” She gasped and her eyes began to tear up.

“But…but…I thought we…we had something g...good.” She said sniffling.

“I’m sorry Pippa, but we never had anything other than s*x. I stopped calling you because you were becoming obsessed with me. So let me set you straight once and for all, there is no us, never has been and never will be. Please don’t call me and don’t come to my office. Move on, Pippa.”

When she started to protest, I picked up the phone and dialed security on the inbuilt intercom.

“Please have someone come and remove Ms Marks from my office and escort her out of the building, she is no longer permitted to enter this building,” I told the guard who answered.

Her tears were flowing down her face, maybe that was a little harsh, but this woman just couldn’t take a hint.

Two guards arrived at my office door and took the still sobbing Pippa away. I breathed heavily. Gods I could use a drink.

I got back to work, and about an hour later Nithe was back to fill me in on what the shareholders had to say.

“Well?” I asked when he sat down opposite me.

“Well, there is good news and not so good news. They are willing to drop the whole wife thing…for now, only if you make an effort to visit the stores, to show the owners and operators that you care about their business and that they are not just a number on a page to you.” Nithe stated.

I groaned and ran my hand down my face, that was just what I needed. Dragons generally were solitary creatures, they didn’t live in packs as other supernaturals did, so the idea of hanging around a bunch of people was anything but alluring to me.

The only reason I tolerated Nithe was because we were hatched around the same time and just kind of gelled.

“Fine, but if I have to go, then so do you. You know how much I hate this kind of thing, that’s why I’m a CEO, so I don’t have to deal with humans and people in general.” I grumbled.

“Cool, road trip,” Nithe said with a laugh and I just rolled my eyes at him.

“Yeah whatever, just let Heidi know and she can arrange everything for us,” I said as he got up to leave.

I finally left the building at around nine that night. I took the elevator down to the underground car park and made my way towards my car.

“You’ve got to be shitting me,” I said under my breath as the smell of cheap perfume wafted in the air…Pippa.

“Pippa, I thought I made myself clear…” I started but was cut off.

“I rejected my mate for you,” She yelled at me. Pippa was a werewolf.

“Why the hell would you give up the one person made for you by your goddess? I sure as hell would never give up my fated.”

“But you don’t have a mate, or whatever the hell you call them, so I knew that we could be together, I rejected him for you.” She said, starting to get worked up.

“You’re crazy Pippa, leave now before I call the police and have a restraining order put on your ass, or better yet, how about I ring your Alpha and let him know what you’re doing?”

“But I love you!” She screamed at me.

I hated to do this, but this woman has lost her damn mind. I brought my dragon forward and commanded her.

“Leave me alone, don’t call, don’t text, don’t write and never visit me again.” She sobbed but had no choice but to do as I had told her.

I finally climbed into my car and headed to my apartment. I owned the whole building and I lived on the top floor, Nithe lived on the floor below me and the rest I rented out to other supernaturals. I do not like humans being around me.

When I was finally inside my home, I could relax, the dim lighting helped take the edge off and I stripped off my work clothes and threw on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt.

I poured myself a drink and stood looking over the city and finally I felt my tensed muscles begin to loosen up.

Maybe this trip away, visiting stores, wouldn’t be so bad, it would get me away from all the crazy for a while.

My dragon started hassling me to be released. He was very agitated tonight, so I took the hidden stairway in my apartment to the roof. I had a witch put a cloaking spell on the top of the building so I could shift without scaring the humans.

I allowed my dragon to come forward and soon I was standing in my dragon's form, which took up nearly the entire roof. My dark colouring allowed for a natural camouflage at night. I stretched my huge wings and took flight.

Once I was high in the clouds, I gave Irad full control and allowed him to burn off his agitation while I rested in the quiet darkness of our subconscious.

After several hours, I finally had control again and flew back to the apartment building’s roof. I shifted back and headed down into my apartment for a boiling hot shower and some much-needed sleep.

I felt like I had just drifted off to sleep when a dream woke me. I saw the most unique eyes I have ever encountered. They were half gold and half silver.

I knew it was a female’s face but no other features were clear, and my dragon was making a series of clicking noises…but dragons only did that for their fated… wait did those eyes belong to my fated? Was I finally going to find her after six long decades?

I looked at the clock on my bedside table, it was four in the morning, but I didn’t care. I sent Nithe a text telling him to come to my apartment right away, that it was important.

About twenty minutes later, there was a buzz indicating that someone wanted to enter my apartment. The elevator opened straight into the lounge, so I had this system installed so no one could enter uninvited.

Seeing on the screen that it was Nithe, I pressed the button to allow him to enter. He raced into the room looking concerned. When he saw me sitting on the couch, he frowned.

“What’s going on Drayce, it must have been pretty important if you had to wake me at four in the morning.” He said, coming over and taking a seat opposite me.

“What do you know about the signs of when a dragon is preparing to meet his fated?” I asked him. He frowned even deeper.

“What the hell, you have woken me early to talk about a dragon’s fated?” I was getting irritated.

“Yes, now answer the damn question,” I demanded. He sat back and rubbed his hands over his face.

“OK well, first your dragon will become increasingly agitated, then you will start to dream about them, usually starting with just a snippet here and there, and if it is your fated, your dragon will begin his mating call. What is this all about Dray?” He finally asked.

“I had to let my dragon out last night because he seemed unusually agitated, then I just woke from the strangest dream. It was a pair of multi-coloured eyes. I could tell it was a female face, but I couldn’t make out anything else, and then Irad started making a series of strange clicking sounds in my head.” He stared at me with his eyes wide.

“Well damn, it looks like you will finally be meeting your fated soon,” he said and grinned.