He watched her move about the kitchen, the air filled with the aroma of the holidays and fresh baked goods. She was setting cookies out to cool, (chocolate, if his nose was correct) and humming to herself. He didn't recognize the tune, but he smiled at her little noises. Watching her, the way she moved, how graceful and calm she was, it made him think back to the days when he was alone.

He had wondered for centuries, his mind lost in a dark place. His heart had been lost in an even darker, abyssal place, a place he never thought it to return from. His species lost the sense of their true selves once they reached a certain age, a gift to be restored once they found their other half. Soul mate, kindred spirit, whatever you wanted to fucking call it, he hadn't believed in it. His species had slowly started to fade from existence as less of them found their other half. Now, there were maybe a handful left. The heart and soul could stay in that dark place for only so long before you became truly lost, before your soul was no more and you started the killing. Once that happened, you became the hunted.

The world changed around him, from peasants and fields and castles, to CEO's and skyscrapers. He hadn't cared one bit. He watched as everything changed, and yet he stayed the same, never changing, never aging. A nook of forest, one yet untouched by humans, had become his domain. He prowled it daily, watching, yet still not caring. He knew it would soon be his time to leave this world. His heart had become hardened and uncaring, the urge to kill becoming stronger. The killing is what brought back the flood of emotion and feeling, but only temporarily. He would sooner go before what was left of the elders to ask for his release from this eternal prison, before he started down that path and became the hunted.

Then the day came, one he would never forget. He prowled late at night, his keen eyes taking in every flicker of shadow and every movement of the nightlife. He felt the hunger rumble in his belly and ambled deeper into the forest, to where the larger creatures tended to dwell. He would feast, and then slumber, for he had decided the next day would be his last. He stretched his large wings, and flexed his clawed hands, admiring the strength he felt in them. If only his people didn't lose themselves. He would only slightly miss this world, the small amounts of beauty it still held, and the smell of this forest. He inhaled deeply, the scent of pine filling... His eyes narrowed dangerously at the foreign scent he caught mingled with the pine.

Lumbering in the direction of the scent, it didn't take him long to find its source. The large pool of water that set nestled against a large cliff, hidden by pine and ivy, was the source. Or rather, the creature he found sitting next to it, bathing a wound. The scent of its blood had been what caught his attention. With a deep, rumbling growl, he stepped from behind a fall of ivy and advanced quickly on the wounded creature. Dinner would be easy tonight, which was nice since it would be his last. Throwing his wings open, he took to the air briefly before plummeting down on the creature. With a shriek that filled the winds, he snatched the poor thing from the waters edge and rolled, his wings tucked around them both before coming to a stop. As he raised his clawed hand to deal the death blow to its jugular, he glanced up at blue eyes, blue eyes filled with terror and pain. His hand swung down, his claws starting to dig into soft flesh at its throat, when it dawned on him. BLUE eyes. Blue.

Jerking his hand away as if he had been scorched, he flung himself off the creature and sat in a crouch, his wings tucked around himself safely. He stared, black eyes into blue, and almost cried out at the sudden rush of emotion and color. Greens, blues, silver from the moon. It was all there. After all these centuries, it was all back. The creature he had almost made into dinner scrambled to her feet, favoring her right leg.

He had found her after all that time, and had intended to make a meal out of her. That had been almost eight years ago, and now, he stood in this kitchen, watching her bake holiday treats. Her supple behind swayed with her humming, her tail gently flicking. Her hair, currently braided, had grown much longer and the tail of it swung along with the movement of her hips. Her blue spots and stripes stood out against a beautiful backdrop of gray fur, making him admire how complex and gorgeous she was. One of a kind, built for his heart. She had become his treasure, his love, his life, his everything. And a dragon protects its treasure, especially the part that keeps his heart safe.

He watched as she turned towards him, those blue eyes that he loved so much gazing up at him in question. He shook his head and lumbered forward, his large arms sweeping her much smaller frame against him, and kissed her. He kissed her so deeply, he swore he felt the ground quake and the skies jolt with electricity. Pulling back so they could breath, he almost couldn't when he saw the sweet smile on her face. Turning a bit and leaning back, she grabbed a still warm chocolate chip cookie from the cooling rack and offered it to him, the sweet morsel pressing at his maw. Without hesitation, he snatched it between his teeth and bit into it. Perfect, delicious, and oh so sweet. Just like her.