Dragon!Reader who falls for a member of Dragon!Price’s hoard
You were new to the team. Skilled, intelligent, and a damn good soldier. It’s why you were put into 141 practically right after basics.
Being new to the team, you’re unaware of the dynamics. Unaware that Price, a dragon quite a bit older than you, has already laid claim to the other members. The three of them are his hoard- his mates.
It’s because of you not knowing this that you began attempting to court Kyle. He was kind, gorgeous, and overall seemed like he’d be the perfect mate. And he is- just not for you, apparently.
You shower him with gifts from your own hoard, something that’s still quite small as you haven’t found many things you love enough to put in it. You gift him pretty rocks and crystals, jewelry of all types, some of your prettiest scales that you tore off and cleaned leaving behind empty patches and scars. Yet no matter what you give him, he doesn’t accept your courting. Everything always ends up back in your hoard as a sad reminder that your desired mate has turned you down over and over again.
And since this is your first time ever trying to court someone, you simply think that the gifts you’re giving him aren’t good enough. Aren’t up to his standards. So you keep trying. Yet it always ends the same- the gift returned and you left confused and upset about why he won’t accept them.
Then one day you get an idea.
Maybe what you’re giving him isn’t sentimental enough. Maybe none of it has really portrayed your feelings for him. So, you stay up all night, carefully crafting a necklace made from your scales- not the ones that were returned, but new ones. Better ones. Ones that are stronger, and extra shiny. The ones from directly over your heart.
It’s a way to show that your heart is his. That you’ve left it open and vulnerable to show how much he means to you- more than your own life.
You take extra care in cleaning them, polishing them to perfection one by one. More and more blood pours down your chest with each scale ripped off, yet you pay no mind. All of your focus is on making the perfect gift for Kyle.
When you give it to him the next day, his eyes are wide with surprise and another emotion you’re far too tired to decipher. He’s gentle when he takes the necklace of scales from you, looking them over as he notices that they’re all new. They’re not the ones you had given him before which had been smaller ones from your tail. These ones are bigger and thicker. Scales made for protection.
You walk away before he can give it back. His throat tightens as his recalls the exhausted look on your face. The dark circles beneath your drooping eyes. He knows you stayed up all night making the gift. That you spent hours ripping your scales off to make it for him. And he knows that he should’ve properly turned you down the first time you gave him a courting gift rather than simply returning it and hoping you’d get the message. But you looked so excited every time you handed him something new, and his voice failed him time and time again.
Kyle knows he has no choice but to go to John. To tell him of what’s been going on.
He takes the necklace of scales with him to John’s office, walking in without knocking. The scales clatter softly as he sets the necklace on the desk in front of John before sitting down. “Their gifts are escalating. I don’t think they understand that I’m returning everything because I’m not interested.”
John leans forward, picking up the scales, brows furrowing as he stares at them. He can tell just from looking at them that they’re important. Likely from somewhere vital on your body, meaning you gave up some of your natural protection for Kyle. John knew you had been giving his mate courting gifts. But he figured it was just a crush that would eventually die out when you found someone else to cling to. Yet as he holds your scales in his hand, he knows that isn’t true. That your feelings are far deeper than they realized. And he knows that he has to step in now.
Kyle is dismissed with a promise that John will handle it. He calls you to his office pretty much the second Kyle is out the door, not wanting to waste anymore time. He needs to get this straightened out before it goes too far- though it already has, he just doesn’t realize it.
When you walk into his office not even ten minutes later, he tries not to focus too much on how weak and exhausted you look. Form slumped, dark eyes, and tail practically dragging across the ground. You sit down across from him, unsure as to why you were called in.
John watches you for a moment, mentally debating the best way to go about this. If he’s too mean about it, you could go into a depression which can be very bad for dragons. Sighing, he grabs your scales from the drawer he had placed them in and sets them on the desk in front of you. “Kyle cannot accept your courting. He’s already claimed- by me. Him and the other two are apart of my hoard and are my mates. You’ll have to look elsewhere for your own.”
He can tell that you’re saddened by the news. He’d apologize for it if he really cared, but the possessive side of him makes him indifferent towards your feelings. You went after one of his mates- even if unknowingly- and that’s unacceptable to him.
“I understand, Captain. I apologize for overstepping.” You stand up without another word, grabbing your scales from his desk and exiting the room before he can dismiss you.
The scales end up tossed in the bin in the communal room where Johnny and Simon are watching television. They watch you go by, curious as to what happened. Neither of them saw what you threw away, but they could tell that something was wrong with you. Usually you’d greet them whenever passing by, but you simply walked past without even looking their way. Not to mention the drooping of your wings and tail- telltale signs of a dragon being upset.
Johnny, being the far more curious one of the two, gets up from his seat to look in the bin to see what you tossed. Your shining scales greet him, and he pulls them out to get a better look at them. Turning, he shows them to Simon, and they both get the same question in their minds.
What happened to make you not only throw away your own scales, but also look as if you were given the worst news of your life?