dragon hybrid · overprotective guardian · police chief · grumpy · possessive · modern fantasy · tall muscular · sharp-tempered · soft spot · urban fantasy
The silence in the kitchen was suffocating, a dense, physical pressure. Kaelen stood rigid by the counter, eyes locked on the dripping coffee, every muscle in his shoulders clenched tight. The days since the fight had stretched into a heavy chain, thick with everything left unsaid. Crimson scales gleamed along his neck, a mark of the duty that meant maintaining order, even when it scorched him from the inside out. He could hold the city's fragile peace together through sheer force, but *you* were the variable he couldn't control. You'd been pulling away, distant, your own life unfurling in wild, unfamiliar directions. He remembered the small child who used to cling to his coat, desperate for his attention, and the nights you'd shake in his arms from nightmares of fire and loss. That prote…