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“Nothing specific. Something just feels off,” he explained. The last time he’d said that was when the demon showed up, so I wasn’t about to dismiss it. Levi perked up at his answer, also glancing outside.
“I'm fairly intuitive, but I don't feel anything,” Levi said around a mouthful of donut.
“Your intuition is more along the lines of feeling out the future. I just have a feeling something is here for us. Not necessarily dangerous, just… It doesn’t belong.” Hearing that from Niko had me uneasy, though I was also glad that I hadn’t come out here alone.
“Well, right now it’s breakfast time,” I said as I popped a grape into Niko’s mouth. He gave me a halfhearted glare but didn’t offer anything else. Needing a subject change, I decided to mention my conversation with West. We hadn’t had a chance to talk about it yet. “West is thinking about changing Mountainview. He doesn’t want to run it as a hotel anymore.”
Niko furrowed his brow. “That doesn’t seem like a very West thing to do.”
“It’s not, but he mentioned making it our new stronghold for the dragons coming into town. He’s getting older, and I think he likes the idea of having a real community here again. That, and it’ll still bring in money since it’d be divided into apartments or at least living quarters. Plus, there's still the kitchen and dining hall, so he could make that part of the appeal.”
Nico nodded solemnly. “I could see that. Especially after the demon.”
“And Angela's asshole husband. He was only a human, but he was still trash,” I muttered.
Niko grinned. “You aren’t wrong. That was an interesting welcome into Emberwood. It was sort of satisfying to intimidate him, though.”
Levi laughed at the memory. “Yeah, and Kane had way too much fun pushing his buttons. Slamming the door shut when he tried to open it was fucking gold.”
Anxious to get back to the others, we finished eating and cleaned up in silence. The snow was falling again, so we bundled up before making sure the fire was out and locking up. The moment we turned around, we froze. The distinct smell of dragons was so strong that they had to have been stalking around the cabin while we slept. That thought filled me with unease. I wasn’t a fan of feeling uncomfortable anywhere, but for someone to be making me feel that wayhere, in this space that was sacred to me, and now, my mates, was so much worse.
Niko moved in front of us, all three of our gazes locked on the horizon. “There,” Niko muttered, pointing at an approaching trio. They were, without a doubt, dragons. I could scent the fiery magic on them, feel their power trying to reach out to mine. They were doing nothing to hide their dragons, and that was mind boggling to me.
“What do you want here?” Niko demanded, his words echoing in the clearing. The largest of the group approached, and as he stopped about ten feet in front of us, I could tell that he was the alpha. If his scent weren’t enough, the stature and protective stance, keeping himself in front of the others, was a dead giveaway. The others hung back, two betas, but neither looked timid, just curious.
“We were drawn here by the pull of our royal line,” the black-haired alpha stated. He had it pulled into a top knot, and his fierce green eyes stared us down, assessing us.
“What is this about royalty?” Niko asked evenly, giving nothing away.
The woman answered next. Her voice was soft and gentle, the contrast to her alpha’s deep tones. “Dragons have this innate pull to our leaders. Royal blood has always signified a strong brood, something that appeals to our nature. We’re stronger together.”
“I sense it here,” the alpha stated bluntly, sizing all three of us up. The species of mated supes were a bit harder to detect sometimes, especially in our case since we’d been rubbing our scents all over each other last night.
“It’s me,” I admitted. “This all started when I found my mates.” I figured it would be best to just get it out in the open. They knew I was here, and I didn’t think they’d want to cause me harm. But the sheer amount of power on display had the next question tumbling out. “Do you not mask your magic?”
The beta who had been silent until now spoke up, with so much venom in his tone that I instinctively took a step back. “We are dragons. We don’t need to hide. We bow to no one now.”
The female beta rolled her eyes. “We lived in Alaska, and there was no need to mask it before. We kept to ourselves, a small brood of our own, but then we felt this call.”
“We can talk more at the hotel. I need to get my mate indoors,” I said in a voice that was strong and commanding, two things I didn’t feel under all of this pressure. “We can head back this way.”
“That’s probably for the best. We can discuss things further after dinner when the human guests have left.” Niko’s words were just as strong, and I appreciated that he was right there with me.
The woman smiled at his answer, and the possessive part of me didn't like that she was giving my mate attention, but I held my tongue.
She turned her gaze toward me, picking up on my annoyance. “That sounds like a good plan. We need rooms anyway since we just arrived in town.”
“We scented dragons days ago, but they haven’t stepped forward.”
“Then there are more here. We haven’t even had a chance to stop and breathe yet,” she assured me. “Thank you for allowing us an audience, my queen,” she said before giving a small bow that had bile rising in my throat. What the hell was this, medieval times?! Not to mention the title just reminded me how much weight was now being thrust on my shoulders. The royals before me had been trained from birth, taught how to lead and be fair to their brood. I’d been in hiding all this time, and this was something I’d never expected to need to do. If they found themselves at the mercy of our enemies, how could I protect them?
As soon as the group fell far enough behind us, Levi gripped my hand in his, easily reading my emotions. He leaned in close so his words were barely audible. “We are a small brood, but growing by the day. We’ll be stronger together.”
Zehra cheered on his statement, proud that we were forming a real brood now.
‘He’s right. We are strong. Bringing dragon and witch magic together gives you an advantage that the dragons of old did not have. There’s such a beauty in magical diversity, something the traditionalists of our past refused to see. You can do this, Farren.”
Her confidence in me was sweet; I just wished I could feel the same. But even as I had that thought, I knew I’d never shy away from my duty. Instead, I’d do everything I could to lead my people, protect them from the coming dangers, and ensure they remained safe in our stronghold. Or what would one day be our stronghold. We wouldn't be living isolated like before—we had allies here, and I had my mates backing me.
