After the men were taken care of, I continued to hold onto my mate.

I didn't want to let go.

He made me feel safe.

Ethan crawled out from under the bed and Claudius came down from the ceiling. I looked between them and they looked at the man I was holding, and who was also holding me. Claudius took a step forward and my mate's chest rumbled a warning growl.

He stopped in place and looked at me, my mate continuing to growl. Ethan backed up slightly, watching the men when the one with the fire put a ring of fire around the two of them who stood eerily still.

"Who are these men to you?" The one man questioned, the flame around them flickering closer in the slightest movement of his wrist. I looked at the man with the fire and shifted my eyes, letting him know to drop to flame. He did and my mate ran his hand through my hair once.

I let go of him for a moment, breaking our contact and he grabbed hold of my arm, pulling me back to him.

Apparently, he didn't want to let go of me yet.

"What's your name?" I questioned, looking up at him.

"Aaron." He mumbled quietly, looking down at me. I made a face and he leaned his chin down on my head.

"Amanda," I said and he mumbled something, his chest vibrating as he spoke. It was something incoherent to me; I did not understand a word he said. The two men nodded in cohesion and seemingly raised their guard.

"Amanda. We need to go, they're on our trail. The vans are here again." Claudius said, and the fireman lit up, holding a fire around Ethan and Claudius. The both of them glared at the man, then looked at me.

"Sir, what do you want with these two?" The fireman asked, holding the ring of fire around both of them.

"Please," I said quickly before Aaron could do anything.

"They're my friends. They've been my guardians for the past while." I said and he grumbled something, the fire man letting his flame disperse.

"We leave together." Aaron announced and he scooped me up, not letting us break contact again. Claudius and Ethan continued to stare at us, wondering what the hell was going on.

Mate, I mouthed to Claudius and he nodded.

We went out some invisible back door to the room, heading out to a limo parked around the back of the motel. We got in, the silence more awkward than normal. Ethan and Claudius sat in between Aaron's two men across from us, and I sat on Aaron's lap.

We rode in silence for about an hour, and I started to wonder why they were at the motel in the first place. Aaron ran his hand along the side my leg over and over again, Ethan watching my face with concern.

"What are you?" I questioned Aaron, and he gave me a stern look that made me internally cringe and stay quiet.

"In what ways do you mean?" He questioned minutes later, and I shrugged.

"In a non-human sense." I stated and he shifted slightly under me. I held onto his arm in attempt to not fall.

"Elemental. Very rare, but very powerful." He stated, and Ethan and Claudius exchanged glances with each other, then looked at me. I looked at them confused and they shrugged. Aaron kissed my neck, making me jump from the sudden skin to skin contact.

"What are you?" He questioned and I paused before I said anything, thinking about it. I know he's my mate and all, but I was scared to reveal what I was to him. The car suddenly jerked to a stop and I fell off of him, and he landed on top of me. He grumbled some curses and then got off of me. I felt a bit hurt, but he looked down at me, I suddenly started feeling strange. He helped me up, and sat me down on the seat where we had been seated prior to the stop. Ethan and Claudius came over to me as he and his men exited the car.

"Amanda, I know he might be your mate and all, but he is one of the most dangerous creatures alive." He said, and I looked between the two of them.

"Do you even know who I am?" I questioned and they laughed slightly.

"Forgot for a moment." Ethan said shyly, and I smiled.

"I can handle myself boys, everything will be fine. Even if he is a bit older than me and probably more experienced." I said, and the boys laughed.

"Sure you can." Claudius teased, and I breathed fire at him as Aaron and his men came back in the car, shutting the door. I stopped and the fire man laughed.

"A little dragon are we?" The man questioned and I hissed at him, my tongue shaped as one of a dragon. It was an accident that they saw, but I realized that I should stick with it. Aaron growled and shot some water at his friends face.

Aaron smiled at me, kind of looking slightly disappointed in me. It was either my self control that was bothering him, or the fact that he thought I was a dragon.

"Stop playing with them Amanda." Aaron said, smiling slyly at me. I growled lowly at him and he shot water towards my face as well, except I dodged it with ease. He was angered now, and shot a line of fire at me, and I rolled from where I sat, and dodged it again with yet simple ease. He looked impressed, but seemingly wanted to see just how good I was.

I dove for the door and jumped out of the now moving vehicle. Claudius and Ethan joined me as well, running for the forest. We ran, not liking the stuff that was happening in the car. Fire shot out at us, in sporadic bursts. I shifted into my clear crystal dragon with my green slitted eyes, dodging everything with ease.

Ethan had already shifted and Claudius was far ahead of us. I flew up in the air and suddenly, I felt something hit my back, and dragged me down to the ground.

"Eep!" I yelped, shifting back and dodging a tree that had wrapped itself around my bigger self. It tried to rewrap itself around me and I burned it.

My mate growled lowly, and I growled back a low warning, continuing to run.

"If you keep running, I will chain you up and lock you in a cell. You have no choice in the matter of being my mate." He growled and then I acted hurt, even though I was indeed hurt.

Not physically, but emotionally.

His words cut me like a hot knife through butter, melting me like ice cream.

A tree root rushed out of the ground and grabbed my leg, tripping me. I fell face first into the ground, my right wrist snapping on impact with the ground. I groaned and shifted it back into place, unhappy with the bone actually snapping without my control.

I whimpered as he came over top of me, looking down at me. He thought I was only a dragon, but I could have cared less. He looked down at me with a moment of sorrow in his eyes, and I cowered from him for a moment. He let the root release my leg but kept it poking out of the ground.

"I-I'm sorry." I said, holding my hands up. He reached down to grab my arm and I flinched, him seeing my distress.

"I'm not going to hurt you." He said, kneeling down and I cowered away even more, making him panic.

"You already have!" I yelled back in retort, shifting my leg under me as I broke my foot away from his view. He tried to lift me up as his men were coming back, Ethan and Claudius gone from view. I sniffed the air, their scent almost completely faded.

He looked at my leg and saw my foot, looking at me worriedly.

"I, I didn't mean you harm." He said and I cried out when he touched it. It didn't hurt, but I played the scene as anyone would for pity. I needed him to think I was weak, so there wouldn't be any suspicion as to what I was.

His face was full of hurt and I hated seeing my mate like that, but I had to do what I had to do to protect myself. He carefully scooped me up in his arms and I cried out a bit, whimpering as he took a few steps forwards, then we were suddenly airborne.