“He wanted to be Alpha?”
“Makes sense when you think about it,” Mikal said quietly. “He’s been acting like Alpha for a century, doing most of the duties you would have been doing if you hadn’t been...”
“Self-isolating,” Damon finished, the guilt crashing over him anew. “I should have seen this coming. I put all that responsibility on his shoulders and never thought?—”
“We have bigger problems right now,” Evelina interrupted. “After the failed ambush, the elders said Kaelith turned to Veyrik for help. Pledged his allegiance. Veyrik is taking matters into his own hands now.”
Damon’s blood turned to molten fire. “How?”
Before anyone could answer, screams erupted from the direction of the main territory. The sound carried on the wind—terror, pain, and chaos.
Understanding crashed over Damon like a cold wave. Veyrik’s plan was diabolical in its simplicity. Split Damon’s focus. Force him to choose between his people and his mate, knowing that either choice would destroy him.
Damon’s dragon rose in his chest, no longer paralyzed by panic or fear, but focusing with deadly purpose. The beast that had been dormant for too long, the Alpha who had hidden away, was done being a victim of other people’s betrayals.
You have no idea what you just unleashed,he thought grimly, his green eyes beginning to glow with dragon fire.
The sound of Damon’s boots hitting the dirt road echoed like gunshots as he forced himself into motion. Evelina matched his pace effortlessly, her expression carved from stone, while Mikal flanked his other side with the focused intensity of a warrior preparing for battle.
Isla.Damon pushed the thought through their telepathic connection with desperate force.Tell me you’re okay. Tell me where you are.
Nothing. The silence where her warmth should have been felt like a gaping wound.
“Keep trying,” Evelina said without breaking stride, as if she could sense his mental efforts. “The mate bond doesn’t just disappear. Whatever they used to suppress it?—”
“It’s temporary,” Mikal finished grimly. “Has to be. You’d know if she were...”
“Don’t.” The word came out rougher than Damon intended, but he couldn’t bear to hear anyone voice that possibility.
They crested the hill leading to the main area of the territory, and the sight that greeted them stopped Damon cold. Theair itself seemed to vibrate with violence—dragons wheeling through the sky in deadly aerial combat, their roars splitting the afternoon calm. Below, the main square had become a war zone of fire and fury.
Kalis’s golden form dove toward a cluster of Damon’s people, who had shifted into defensive positions around the general store. Sylara’s sleek red dragon circled overhead like a predator, her fire raining down in calculated bursts designed to separate and isolate targets.
“At least fifty of Veyrik’s dragons,” Mikal reported, his voice tight with barely controlled fury. “But our people are holding the line. No casualties yet that I can see.”
Damon’s hands clenched into fists as his dragon roared beneath his skin, demanding release. Every instinct screamed at him to shift, to throw himself into the battle and tear apart anyone who dared threaten his territory. The Alpha in him could see exactly how the fight would unfold—where to strike, which enemy dragons to target first, and how to turn their own tactics against them.
Isla, please.He pushed harder through their telepathic link, pouring every ounce of love and desperation into the mental call.I need you to answer me. I need to know you’re alive.
Still nothing.
“Damon.” Evelina’s voice cut through his internal struggle like a blade. “Look at me.”
He turned, and the expression on his aunt’s face made his chest tighten. She looked older somehow, the weight of centuries suddenly visible in the lines around her green eyes.
“I know you want to stay here and fight,” she said, her voice carrying the authority that had guided their clan for longer than most could remember. “I know every fiber of your being is telling you to protect your people. But your mate needs you, and only you can save her right now.”
“I don’t know where they took her,” Damon ground out, his gaze flickering back to the battle. One of his younger clan members—barely past his first century—was struggling against Kalis’s superior size and experience. “I don’t know if she’s okay, if she’s even?—”
“She is.” Evelina stepped closer, her hand finding his arm with surprising strength. “And you know it too, or you’d already be in pieces. Follow your heart, nephew. Keep pushing your strength and thoughts through the bond. No matter what drug or suppression device they used, the power of true mates will override it. You just have to keep trying.”
“And keep trusting,” Mikal added quietly.
Trust.
The word hit Damon like a battering ram. After Kaelith’s betrayal, after a century of learning that trust led to loss, they were asking him to trust—in the bond, in his people’s ability to defend themselves, and in his own instincts.
I can’t lose her though.The thought was raw and desperate.Not because I failed to act sooner again.
