"Dimitri..."
He heard her whisper and opened his eyes and there she was, all beautiful and ethereal. This was a dream, Dimitri could tell because he couldn't go from sleeping on his bed in the palace to being with this lovely human.
She had wavy blonde hair that touched down to her waist and he very much wished to fist his hand around those locks and then guide her luscious lips to his and seal them in a kiss. And for once, the dragon inside of him agreed with that.
Suddenly, he was standing in front of her and staring into the lovely blue of her eyes. She was human, that he could tell, but what was a human doing in his dream? He couldn't understand because the barrier between the human realm and dragon keep was tight, not unless...
"No..." He boomed deep in his chest in refusal, unlike his dragon who was all excitable with an excessive amount of energy. She couldn't be his mate? He had never heard of dragons meeting their mates in a dream induced by the bond, but then, he was an anomaly in the dragon realm, both he and his brothers.
However, Dimitri had a good reason for rejecting this bond, this was not the time. If his uncle, the emperor of dragons were to hear of him finding his mate, the stars only knew what he would do with such knowledge. It can't be. The bond can't do this to him now. Hence, as excited as his dragon was for finding their mate - he hasn't confirmed though - Dimitri had to force it to submission.
However, this was a dream and unless his uncle gained the ability to snoop into his dream, it was harmless. He could be with her in the Ether, the nothingness where dreams existed. This was their special moment and it would kill him not to take what he wanted. After all, who knows when he would get the chance to see her, that is if he would ever get to see her?
Most dragons go into the human realm, searching for years before they could find their perfect mate because unlike the dragon realm where their population is dwindling, the humans are good at procreation and their population is like the sands of the earth.
Perhaps if dragons had such ability, they wouldn't risk going into the human realm to find that one woman they share that connection with. However, Dimitri knew that this was nature maintaining balance because they were too powerful and if they had that much chance at procreation, then they would rise and enslave every other living creature.
If it wasn't the fact that human women were the ones sustaining their existence, with someone like his uncle in power, he would have nullified the treaty with the humans already. Humans were a weaker race and every dragon out there, even those in the lower hierarchy had that urge to conquer.
It wasn't until a deep rumble of a protest came from his dragon that Dimitri realized that he still had their mate - not yet - in his arms. He was not having this argument with his dragon! But because he was pathetic, Dimitri kissed her. It wasn't real, but he wanted just a taste of what it would be like for the both of them. So he took it.
The sunlight infiltrating the window was the sign of a new day and woke Dimitri. His eyes flashed open; revealing red eyes with a blank slit in the middle which was the evidence of the monster inside of him. However, he blinked and it vanished, his eyes returning to normal that he could easily pass for a human.
Unless one looked really close to his eyes that they would find the feline look in there, however, one would have to be in close proximity to do so and dragons were predatory creatures. So unless it was their mate or a loved one, no one in their right mind would do so unless asking for death.
Dimitri sat up, his dragon restless than usual and he did not doubt that it had to do with their mate they just met in a dream. No, it wasn't their mate, at least not yet, not until it was confirmed, he argued with his sudden love-struck dragon.
Just because a woman appears in their dream, doesn't make her their mate, Dimitri refused to listen to the bond tugging inside of him because doing so would only mean going down to the human realm and searching for her, which he couldn't do at the moment. All because of his uncle, the emperor.
Dimitri was what was called an anomaly. He, alongside his brothers, are the first quadruplets to be born in dragon history, meaning such a thing had never happened. Unfortunately, dragons have single births, they do not breed in clusters.
Hence, their birth caused quite an imbalance in the universe since dragons were creatures imbued with magic and order had to be restored. In one word, the rest of their family members were cursed never to have children till the next generation. Thus his uncle couldn't find his mate, because finding a mate means having a child and that goes contrary to the curse.
Unable to find his mate, that was literally one of the worst fates that could be given to a dragon. A mate was their other half, the missing part of their soul and unless they found one and mated, a dragon's magic could never be truly completed. That was another reason dragons scour the surface of the earth, searching for their chosen one.
For a population dying out, one would think that the birth of the rare dragon quadruplets would be celebrated, but it wasn't. Because at that time, their father had been the emperor and when their mother, the queen died after childbirth, he lost his mind.
That was one of the cons of having a human as a mate. While dragons had a lifespan of a thousand years, humans were pathetically weak. And while the human lifespan could be upgraded when properly bonded with their dragon mate, it still doesn't mean they were immortal as was the case with their mother, who developed complications after childbirth and passed away.
Their father, torn apart by grief after the death of his wife, couldn't hold on for long, not even for his children, and passed away as well. Some people claimed that it was the curse, maintaining the order of the dragon realm with their death after they created a rift with the birth of the kids, but it still didn't excuse the fact that there were four baby princes without a mother.
At birth, the four of them became the heir to the throne, however, because they were unable to lead, their uncle had to take over until they were of age and proved to the dragons their strength and capability to rule. But then, Dimitri has come of age and his uncle has made no show of stepping down. If anything, he was at his mercy.
At least, he was protecting his brothers who had long escaped his uncle's rule and making a life for themselves outside the kingdom. Not that they appreciated his efforts anyway, because to his brothers, he was his uncle's lap dog and they loathed him much. However, Dimitri didn't care, he was the eldest and his responsibility was to protect his brothers even though they were ungrateful dragon asses.
Dimitri rose from his bed and walked over to the balcony overseeing the beautiful landscape and kingdom. If there was one identifying attribute of dragons it was the fact they loved tall structures and the palace itself was built on top of mountains. To a dragon, the open skies and wind meant freedom and they weren't afraid of heights.
Hence, Dimitri climbed over the railing and let himself free fall. While a human would fall to his or her death, halfway to the ground, his wings burst open and he was flying, shifting halfway, an attribute he had come to learn only he and his brothers had. No dragons could half-shift with their wings out, not even his uncle or late father.
Whether out of free will or extreme emotion, mostly anger, it was a thorough shift all the way or their eyes changing or scales creeping up their body to show their dragon was close to the surface until one was able to reign it in, but no wings. Their wings were a show of authority and the larger and more durable it was, the stronger a dragon was.
Hence, his uncle was often annoyed and jealous whenever he half-shifted like that. But this particular morning, Dimitri didn't care if he was sighted by his uncle's men roaming the sky in his strange form because he needed the breeze to clear his head, and giving in to his entire dragon form might be a bad idea. Not when his dragon was rioting about finding that woman.
The moment he dared to shift, his dragon might take over his mind, and damn protocols and all in entering the human realms, he would leave to go find her. He couldn't let that happen. So Dimitri flapped his wings and flew around the sky for a long time, hardly acknowledging some of the dragons he met in his course of leisure.
They were all in their dragon forms and he could make out the disdain on their faces seeing him in his half shift. Jealous assholes. But none of them could do anything about it because just as his wings depict, he was one of the strongest dragons out there - even stronger than his uncle and equal to his brothers.
Dimitri felt it and perhaps his uncle must feel it too, after all, they had animal instincts and recognized a threat was near-by. That must be why his uncle is strangely harsher towards him and increased security. The both of them knew the time was drawing near.