In for Christ sake of a beginning. 🗯️
King Ignis, the Dragon King, has grown weary of the political drama in the supernatural realm ( finally ). On a whim, he decides to "slum it" among the humans, where society has recently been shaken by the emergence of Shifters—humans born with animal traits like cat ears, fox tails, or wolf fangs, and the ability to partially or fully transform. Ignis finds himself drawn to a small, unremarkable university student named Kaelan.
Kaelan is painfully quiet, utterly unflappable, and possesses a fascinating, almost aggressive cynicism. Despite the undeniable evidence of Shifters walking the campus, Kaelan refuses to believe in anything magical, supernatural, or even slightly extraordinary. He views the Shifter phenomenon as an elaborate, frankly gross, mass delusion, responding to any mention of it with a derisive snort and an epic eye-roll. However, this calm exterior hides an easy irritation, a surprisingly short temper, and a fierce, almost foolhardy fearlessness.
Ignis, amused by Kaelan's aggressive unbelief and finding his flustered moments utterly captivating, decides he must have the human. But how does the King of Dragons prove the existence of magic to a human who thinks animal ears are just bad fashion choices, all while keeping his own colossal secret? Kaelan's refusal to believe in anything supernatural, including the six-foot-seven, unnervingly handsome, and impeccably dressed man now suddenly following him around, is proving to be Ignis's most entertaining challenge yet.
{ end of introduction }{ the present time}
The scent of stale coffee, old paper, and a faint, vaguely mossy pheromone—which Kaelan's brain immediately dismissed as an overly complicated cologne—filled the musty air of the university's main library. Kaelan sat in a secluded cubicle, surrounded by a fortress of textbooks, his face carefully neutral as he tried to block out the world.
He didn't succeed.
"Did you hear? Jax from Bio is a full-shift Cocker Spaniel! His owner—sorry, partner—has to keep him on a leash on walks now. Isn't that wild?"
Kaelan's pencil snapped.
He pinched the bridge of his nose, the soft, rhythmic tapping of a keyboard the only thing keeping him from vaulting the cubicle wall and demanding silence. The conversation was coming from two students at a nearby table. They were talking about Shifters. Again.
This was Kaelan's constant, silent torment. The world had gone completely off its rocker a year ago. Now, there were people walking around with Fluffy tails, twitching ears , and sometimes even fangs . The media called them shifters . Kaelan called them attention-seeking performance artists. He'd seen the grainy videos, heard the breathless testimonies, and read the pseudo-science journals—all of it utterly ridiculous. A simple costuming trick, an elaborate hoax, or perhaps a strange, genetically inherited birth defect that people were now romanticizing into 'magic'.
He made a soft, disgusted noise deep in his throat and pulled his well-worn economics textbook closer, hoping his intense scowl would generate enough psychic pressure to silence the offenders.
"Seriously, Kaelan, you okay?"
He hadn't realized he had an audience. A girl named Lily was standing over his shoulder, her own genuine-looking, grey rabbit ears twitching nervously beneath her messy ponytail. Kaelan forced his tense shoulders to relax. Lily was nice, if a little naive.
"I'm fine, Lily," he said, his voice quiet and even. "I'm just concentrating on the impossible reality of supply-side economics." He let his eyes flicker pointedly to her ears and then back to his book. "Unlike some people, I don't have the luxury of distracting myself with… fluff."
Lily instantly flushed, her rabbit ears drooping. "Oh. Right. Sorry." She scurried away, and Kaelan instantly felt a sharp stab of guilt—but not enough to apologize. Why did they have to make it so real-looking? It was offensive.
He was finally getting back into his groove, his attention locked on the profit maximization curve, when he felt it—a shift in the air, a sudden, heavy warmth that settled over the quiet corner like a suffocating blanket. It smelled faintly of ozone and something rich, like smoked cherrywood.
Kaelan hated it instantly. It felt loud.
He grudgingly lifted his eyes, preparing to glare at the source of the interruption, and his breath hitched.
Standing at the end of the aisle, right outside his cubicle, was the most ridiculously handsome man Kaelan had ever seen. He was tall, obscenely so, and dressed in a dark, impeccably tailored suit that looked like it cost more than Kaelan's entire tuition. His hair was a deep, shocking crimson, and his eyes were a piercing, intense gold, framed by high, arrogant cheekbones. He looked less like a student and more like a CEO about to sign a hostile takeover agreement.
And he was staring directly at Kaelan, a slow, impossibly amused smile spreading across his face.
The man took a single, deliberate step toward the cubicle.
"Excuse me," the rich baritone voice rumbled, causing a faint tingling sensation in Kaelan's chest. "I've been watching you."
Kaelan's face remained a perfect mask of calm indifference, but his stomach did a sharp, unpleasant flip. His inner, easily irritated self bristled. This guy was a walking cliché of arrogance.
"And?" Kaelan asked, raising a precise, dark eyebrow, his voice dropping an octave to convey maximum bored dismissal. He didn't ask why this stranger was watching him. He didn't care.
The man's golden eyes crinkled at the corners. He clearly wasn't used to being met with such a profound lack of awe.
"And I find your lack of enthusiasm… charming," the stranger replied, leaning one hand on the cubicle wall, which suddenly felt incredibly close. "What's your name?"
Kaelan didn't flinch. He didn't even lean back. He simply held the intense, golden gaze with his own dark, unimpressed one.
"That's none of your business," Kaelan stated flatly. He picked up his pencil, preparing to resume his work, silently waiting for the inevitable, offended retreat.
The man didn't move. He just smiled wider, a sharp, almost predatory glint entering his eyes.
"Is that your usual greeting to people who offer their attention to you, Kaelan?"
Kaelan froze, his fingers tightening on the pencil until his knuckles were white. How did he know his name? He hadn't told anyone he was studying here today. He hadn't been wearing his student ID.
His face didn't betray the sudden spike of irritation that made his head feel hot. Instead, he forced a blank expression and finally addressed the obvious.
"Who are you?" Kaelan asked, his voice low and utterly devoid of curiosity.
The man gave a soft, pleased huff of laughter, the sound surprisingly deep. He straightened up, adjusting the cuffs of his suit as if preparing for a formal introduction.
"My apologies. I'm Ignis." He paused, his golden eyes sweeping over Kaelan with an unnerving possessiveness. "And I think you and I have a great many things we need to discuss. Starting with the fact that you still don't believe in magic."
Kaelan's calm shattered. He threw the pencil down with a sharp clack. The idea of this over-dressed peacock talking about magic was an insult to his intelligence.
"Oh, for god's sake," Kaelan muttered, the sound laced with absolute disgust. He gave the man a look of profound pity, as if Ignis had just confessed to believing in the Tooth Fairy. "You're one of those people. Get out of my face."
Ignis didn't look offended. He looked delighted. His smile was now a full, dazzling, utterly dangerous thing. He simply raised a hand in a theatrical wave and turned to leave.
"Very well," Ignis said, his voice echoing with suppressed amusement. "But you should know, Kaelan. I'm notoriously bad at taking rejection."
Then, he was gone, leaving behind only the rich, lingering scent of ozone and the undeniable truth that Kaelan was now intensely, furiously flustered. He didn't understand how the stranger knew his name, why he was so arrogant, or what that insufferable, knowing look in his golden eyes meant.
Kaelan stared at the empty aisle for a full minute, his short temper now thoroughly stoked. He hated that guy. He hated magic. And he hated anyone who thought they could interrupt his study time.
"Magic," Kaelan scoffed under his breath, leaning down to retrieve his snapped pencil. "The nerve."
He never noticed the single, shimmering crimson scale, no bigger than a thumbnail, that had flaked off the man's suit jacket and now lay innocently on the floor beside Kaelan's foot.