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Chapter 1
Black River
Dragonsdammit, Marli, you’ve only been gone a few days and your mission is already fucked.
Aeleftherian Guardian Marli Fleetwing adjusted the angle of her wings, expanding the arc of her search spiral as the moon descended and the sky lightened, outside of the town of Black River. The human world would soon awaken.
The queen tasked you with ensuring Aeleftheria’s safety.
Simple.
Find the mountain lair, make sure your pregnant best friend’s new mate doesn’t betray us, and then get everyone home safely.
Gliding over the darkened treetops, Marli scanned the shadowy ground. The muscles in her back ached from hours of flight, searching for Kymri Steelscale and Kymri’s partner, Jori Mountainside.
Marli searched the landscape between the town, Heidi Brandt’s homestead, and the nearby shifter refugee camp, in the hopes she’d spot them on foot, while Odson Blackridge searched much further out, toward the ocean.
They’re just not here.
Marli shunted away terrible thoughts of what could have happened. Images of Kymri’s inert body—dragon form or human form—invaded her mind, ratcheting up her anxiety.
She’s likely still in her human form since Jori can’t shift and her pregnancy makes it harder for her to hold her dragon form, anyway.
She wouldn’t abandon him.
Kymri, why’d you have to go and bond with him, of all people?
Marli’s claws skimmed the tops of several trees, startling her nervous system into flapping her wings, pushing herself higher into the night sky.
Where did those male dragon assholes go?
Stenlen Flintail, leader of the enemy males who were hunting her Aeleftherian sisters, had shown up outside of the club in Black River looking for Marli’s friend, Odson Blackridge. He’d dropped the bomb that Jori was the heir of Aeleftheria’s greatest enemy, King Kargassa of the mountain tribe.
If I see that asshole again, I’m going to sink my claws into him and rip him apart.
Marli had stopped Odson from doing it because they’d been in the middle of Black River. She guessed Stenlen had engineered that as part of the encounter. Neutral ground.
She snarled as fatigue made it harder to resist gravity dragging at her.
A shadow passed in front of the moon, drawing her attention.
Odson circled around, having returned from his search efforts further toward the coast.
He huffed as he glided past her position.
Nothing.
Fuck.
Her mission had been to ensure that Jori wasn’t a threat to Aeleftheria.
Instead, Stenlen’s men had somehow abducted Kymri and Jori while he had occupied Marli and Odson’s attention.
Someone had also tampered with the security cameras around the club, rendering them useless in determining what had happened.
So, now Jori is the king’s heir? He and Kymri are missing, and I still don’t fucking know where the mountain lair is.
The queen was counting on me, and I put Aeleftheria at even more risk.
