Chapter 1
One
Dirk
Present Day.
“Looks like we made it in time. No signs of attack,” Caz said as we winged through the sky at top speed, our dragon senses on full alert for any sign of trouble.
I grunted agreement but didn’t stop scanning the mountainside chalet closely for anything he may have missed.
“Thank the orb for that,” the third member of our flight gasped. “But you two still should have gone ahead.”
“Casimir Dvorak, Ice Tyrant of the Ice Kingdom, does not leave his mate behind,” I muttered just loudly enough for the other two dragons to hear.
Despite her lack of breath and the seriousness of the situation, Anna laughed at my impression of Caz. I’d had more than fifty years to get it right, so I knew it was good. And the laughter helped ease the tension that had wrought us on our frantic flight from the Ice Citadel.
I wanted to laugh along with her, to ease our nerves further, but my dragon was still antsy. None of the possible reasons why seemed to click. The nearer the chalet housing, Anna’s friends, and their guards we got, the worse the tension.
Leaving the citadel was a big risk. The trial for my uncle Mirko’s “estranged” mate, Bryna, was set to begin soon, and without Caz or me there, who knew what he would get up to.
But the anonymous tip received by Florian the Warlord had said the attack in the mountains would be overwhelming.
There had been no time to wait or gather more troops we could be assured were completely loyal.
So off we’d raced, with Caz’s mate, Anna, in her newfound dragon form joining us. She’d begun to lag behind only an hour or so ago but had kept up valiantly until then. For a former Clippy, a dragon so weak she couldn’t shift, the transformation was astounding.
But none of that was setting my dragon or me at ease.
Everything seemed right. I watched Kolar and Durion both emerge from the chalet.
They were the pair of guards we’d left with Anna’s friends.
Everyone down on the landing field was unharmed and relaxed.
Nobody was in a rush. I couldn’t see any sign of a threat.
So why was my dragon losing its mind?
The beast was beyond antsy as we swept in for a landing.
Kolar and Durion both walked forward, Kolar waving.
Behind them, another figure emerged from the chalet with bright blonde hair and a body so thin it bordered on sickly.
I knew it had to be Milly. She moved with more energy than before, but she was still frail from her treatment at Bryna’s treasonous hands.
A growl sounded in the back of my dragon’s throat as Caz shifted into human form, using his wings to shield Anna from the eyes of the other men while she assumed her human form and hastily dressed.
“Something wrong?” my brother asked, the noise interrupting the stream of orders he’d been giving to the other dragons, who were now on high alert as well.
There were no signs of attack, but that didn’t mean they weren’t coming. We had to take the threat seriously, though I was beginning to think it had all been a ruse to get us out of the citadel. I feared what we would find upon our return.
“Something is off,” I growled, shifting so I could stand on two legs while I looked around some more. It was wrong. Everything was wrong. I wanted to scream.
“What do you mean?” Caz asked, instantly alert. Kolar and Durion looked outward, scanning the thick copse that surrounded the chalet.
“Don’t know. Dragon is going nuts.”
But it wasn’t just my dragon. My entire body was alive, my skin tingling with unreleased energy. If I could just find an outlet, maybe I could ground myself and come back to normal. I swung my head left and right, moving in time with my dragon’s frantic searching.
Something was out there, attracting its attention. A clarion call in the heights of the mountain, whose source could not be found.
I heard it loud and clear. Everything was tight and stiff, blood flowing rapidly as my heartrate surged to the upper limits. I stood there in the cold wintry air, hard as a rock for no reason.
“Dirk,” Caz said. “Put some clothes on.”
A flicker of movement from inside the chalet captured my attention before I could respond, drawing me to it like lightning to metal. Every muscle in my body flexed at once as the magnetic pull suddenly found a focus, a place to channel the energy at last.
Through the giant windows, I found myself locking stares with a tiny mouse-like woman who had the most beautiful eyes of earthen golden-brown I would ever see, even if I lived a thousand lifetimes. It could only be one person, the only one who had yet to emerge.
Ella.
Mate.
The triumphant roar of my dragon as I thought her name was unmistakable and undeniable. The subsequent avalanche of emotions that came with such recognition was more than enough to overwhelm my self-restraint. The beast in me surged to the surface, the world brightening as it shone through my eyes.
Even from this distance, with a window between us, I could sense her dragon rising up from the depths of her mind, shattering the bonds that had held it out of her reach. It arched and stretched, and then it preened. For me.
A further growl shook the landscape and dropped needles from nearby trees as the beautiful dragon showed off, loving the attention from such a big, strong dragon like me. As she should. That was my mate.
Fangs descended from my upper teeth, sharp and ready to bite her, to claim the woman as mine for the rest of eternity.
For a thousand years here, and a thousand more when our human sides moved on and we took our place as Pure Dragons.
An image of our beasts winging west over the Great Abyss filled my mind. The final journey, made together.
At last, I was no longer alone.
“Dirk?” a male voice sounded from nearby, yet far away. “Are you okay?”
I barely heard them. The only thing I had ears for was the pounding of my heart and the victorious cry of my dragon. I took a step toward the chalet, just as a heavy hand landed on my shoulder.
Spinning wildly, wings exploding from my back, I snarled viciously.
None shall interfere with me and my mate.
Surprise filled Caz’s face at my reaction, causing me to assume for a moment that the sudden spike of alarm I felt must have come from him.
But that wasn’t true.
Whipping back around, I stared at the chalet just in time to see my mate’s eyes roll up into her head and her body go limp. She fell out of sight behind the counter, taking my entire soul with her.
“Ella!” I roared at the bloodcurdling screams coming from inside the chalet.
The intensity of them froze my feet in place, but only for a second. Something was wrong with Ella. She was hurting from the awakening and the realization of the mate bond. Or was it something more? Why had she fallen out of sight? Had someone attacked her? Hurt her?
My dragon and I were in immediate agreement. If anyone laid a hand on her, I would kill them.
The air around us crystallized as moisture turned to ice, adhering itself to my skin like a set of armor. I broke out into a run toward the house as more ice clustered around my hand, forging itself into a blackened ice blade that glinted under the midday orblight.
A moment later, dark shapes came darting out of the trees on either side of the chalet.
“Reds!” Caz bellowed as the attack we’d feared materialized right in front of us.
The fear I’d been feeling suddenly coalesced into perfect understanding. The fire dragons were in the house. They were hurting my mate. I would destroy them all. No threat to my mate would be allowed to survive.
I surged across the open ground with death in my eyes.