He grabbed a backpack from the floor, packed with the clothes they would don when they landed at the encampment, and bent to lay a gentle kiss on her forehead. Mina, dissatisfied with such a small gesture before such a big event, grasped the sides of his face and brought him down for a proper kiss.
Ryker growled, the beast rumbling in his voice, and kissed her back with more force than she expected. It betrayed his fear. Mina refused to let anything happen to her new family. The metallic dragons were under her protection now. She would do anything to keep them safe.
Not long after they shifted and took to the sky, the others joined them. They were like coins drifting through the air. The light of the sun glanced off their shimmering scales and cast dancing lights on the distant ground below. Mina flew behind them, Ryker at her side.
Ahead, the encampment came into view. Not much had changed since they first saw it. This time, there were no dragons marching around. Mina hoped it would stay that way while they touched ground and shifted back to their human forms. This meeting would be a failure if the unfamiliar dragons attacked before any agreement could be even spoken of.
That was why, after she’d dressed, Mina offered to be the one to reach out to the encampment first. She was unassuming in either form. No one would feel threatened by her if she announced their arrival. Whereas, if five massive men stalked out of the woods, everyone would run screaming.
Ryker held her wrist. He wouldn’t meet her eyes, but she could see the concern in the lines of his face anyway. She rose on her tiptoes to kiss his chin, as far as she could reach even balanced on her toes.
“I’ll be alright. I promise.”
“Run at any sight of danger. Shift and fly back home if it looks like any of them might touch you.”
She felt giddy when he called the house her home. It left her walking on clouds every time. She grinned up at him and spoke the promise back to him. Reluctantly, she turned away from her mate. Jasper met her gaze and nodded gravely.
This was going too well, Mina thought. It had only just begun. There’d been little time for anything to go wrong. She shook herself and focused on her task, rather than allowing herself to worry about what may or may not happen.
Following the scent of the encampment was easy. The dragons had been there for a while. The closer she stepped, she caught a few familiar scents. Not dragons she knew personally, no. She could smell the ones who’d attacked Jasper. Her stomach flipped. Pain bloomed in her shoulder, reminding her of what happened the last time the two groups interacted.
It wouldn’t end that way. Mina would make sure of it.
When she stepped from the woods, all eyes turned to her. She froze, feeling like she was standing on the stage all over again. Her blood hummed in her ears, but somehow she managed to put the next foot forward. And again. And again, until she stood before the man in the very center of the growing crowd.
The man was older, easily the age of her uncle, though he was much better kept. His beard was cut short and close to his square jaw. The look in his eyes was hard, mirroring the tight muscles in his face.
He wrinkled his nose, sniffing the air. “So, it’s the little cannonball.”
Mina raised her brows at the nickname they’d given her. It was cute, but also hinted that she could be a threat. She hoped she hadn’t misjudged herself. She’d stepped out first to keep their presence from looking like an attack, but if they thought she had come for vengeance, then her plan had failed.
“Have you come to find yourself a mate? I can hardly imagine you found one among these mountains that pleased you.”
Mina caught Ryker’s growl from the woods behind her. The tight-faced man’s words bothered her as much as they bothered Ryker, but she refused to let him get in her head. Too many people had said mean things to her over the course of her life. Perhaps it helped her build an immunity after all. She lifted her hand at her side to signal that she was alright.
“I’m here to announce the arrival of my king and his court. They have come to speak with you about your infractions.” The words were strangely formal, but they rolled off her tongue with ease. She’d had a lot of practice at acting, too.
The man’s lips pulled back in a snarl, but he had no comeback this time. Mina heard the faint crinkle of footsteps in snow behind her, the only sign that the others had stepped forward. Ryker’s heat soon enveloped her. While they faced off with the man, who appeared to be the leader, Mina took in their surroundings.
Laundry hung from lines strapped from tree to tree, sagging low with thick winter gear. Not a single piece looked as if it belonged to a woman. When she glanced around, Mina didn’t see a female dragon anywhere. Every set of eyes belonged to a man. And they all seemed weary, dark circles hanging beneath their eyes, dead gazes on the ground or searching the trees around them even though her court had already joined them.
While the leader acted menacing, Mina was starting to believe these dragons had not come to poach on the mountains at all. There was another reason behind their appearance, but she couldn’t figure it out.
The leader looked from dragon shifter to dragon shifter before finally settling on Jasper. Perhaps it was the gold hair that gave him away, but Mina could also see the regal set of his shoulders and the lift of his chin. Jasper was playing the role of king very well today.
Mina slid up to him and tugged his sleeve. She could feel Ryker’s gaze on her, but she ignored her mate. Jasper’s glare was one of annoyance, but he relented and bent so she could whisper in his ear. Once she relayed her suspicions, she crept back to her mate’s side. Ryker reached for her hand and gripped it tight.
“You’re not quite the mess everyone thinks you are,” the man noted, a verbal jab at Jasper.
But Jasper was no longer listening. Already, his attention was on the woods around them. Mina clutched Ryker’s hand. Her heart stuttered.
Jasper sniffed the air, much like the leader had done moments ago. He slowly stalked toward the leader. Once they were closer, Mina could see the size difference. Jasper was easily half a foot taller, towering over the man.
“I know your scent,” Jasper growled.
Ryker stilled beside her. They all heard it, the change in Jasper’s voice. This meeting had lasted all of five minutes before Jasper’s beast decided to make an appearance. The entire court held their breath, silence surrounding them as they waited to see what their king would do.
“You think to hide her from me.” Jasper snarled, his expression more beast than man.
Her? Mina looked to her fellow dragons, but if any of them knew what Jasper was talking about, they didn’t show it. Bile rose and seared the back of her throat. Mina swallowed.
“Watch yourself, boy king.” The leader stepped into Jasper’s space.
They were moments away from a fight. Mina was sure of it. Tension crackled in the air like wild electricity. But, why? She didn’t understand what the leader and her king were posturing over. Clearly, they both knew something no one else did. Whatever boiled between them was worth everything to Jasper’s beast.
Her.
The group of dragons on their border were not there to attack. No, if they were, they would have done it days ago. So much had happened since they first found the encampment. The war should have broken out then, but nothing had come of it. These dragons were not here to fight, but to search.
It explained the exhaustion that permeated all of them. They’d been searching for something, quietly sitting on the fringe of the mountains in an effort to remain hidden from Jasper.
“This is all over a woman,” Mina said under her breath.
Ryker looked to her, eyes wide with surprise. No, he mouthed, unbelieving.
While Mina had figured out what was going on, she had no idea how to mitigate the situation. If the other dragons were searching for one of their own, Jasper and his court could not keep her.
A thought struck her. Jasper hinted that he, too, was searching for this woman. That could only mean
that the woman they both wanted had chosen to hide herself. It was that, or someone else had taken her. They had not found any other dragons in their mountains. The ones who had attacked Jasper six days ago were here. Mina could smell them. One, she suspected the one she’d knocked from the sky, glared at her in particular.
If they were not a separate group, then Mina could only guess that the woman didn’t want to be found. Mina could not imagine being hunted by both the leader of this group and Jasper. She, too, would run.
She could see that Ryker wanted to do something. His spine was ramrod straight and his fists were clenched at his sides. If he acted against his king’s wishes, it could start trouble. The unfamiliar dragons might think they were disorganized and unfaithful. Mina knew they had to present a united front to keep the others from trying to overthrow Jasper.
Yet, if Jasper couldn’t contain himself, then there was no point in a unified front.
Mina could feel the tension, crackling as if she were back in her Uncle’s house. A fight was coming. It all came down to who would break first. It looked as though Jasper would be the one to crack. If the woman he sought was his mate, and the beast in him knew it, then there would be no stopping Jasper.
Now, the question that still remained was where the woman was. If she was Jasper’s mate, then why hadn’t she sought safety with him? A thought struck Mina and left her chilled to her bones.
Looking between the two dragon shifters staring each other down, all Mina could see was danger. Both men oozed violence. Jasper had been fighting over Grove for months now, battling his cousins. The missing woman ran from both men because she feared both. Mina knew what it felt like to stand before her Uncle. This woman must have felt the same kind of fear when she looked to Jasper.
Her stomach sank.
Mina’s head ached. The tension had her temples throbbing. She wished it would end soon. There was no reason to fight here, but she didn’t know how to keep one from happening.
“Leave my territory,” Jasper declared. “Forget your mission. Forget whatever you hoped to find. I never want to see you again.”
The command echoed through the clearing. All heads turned toward Jasper, the king of these mountains, before glancing back at their own leader.
This is it, Mina thought. She let her beast slip toward the surface. The creature inside her was ready for the fight, even if Mina wanted to avoid it. She would let her beast guide her. As part of Jasper’s court, she knew she should keep an eye on him, but all she cared about was getting Ryker home safe.
She had a new life ahead of her and she was determined to keep it. Mina would never go back to her Uncle’s house. She wanted to cuddle beside spiky Ryker every night and devour copious amounts of sugared sweets with him on the couch in the mornings. No one was going to take that away from her.
The beast in her agreed.
When the leader of the unfamiliar shifters punched Jasper, she was the first to shift. Her beast flowed from her and slammed claws into the earth before any of the others could finish. The unfamiliar shifters scrambled. Jasper’s court did not have to collect themselves. Like Mina, they must have foreseen the coming fight because each touched ground in their dragon forms before the unfamiliar dragons could think to shift.
Yet, no one moved.
Jasper had not yet shifted. Mina held her breath, waiting to see what would happen. A prickle washed over her scales. As much as she didn’t want to look way from her king, she scanned the unfamiliar dragons. The one that had glared at her earlier now watched her with renewed intensity.
There was a promise in those eyes, one of retribution.
Revenge.
She moved from foot to foot. Ryker’s warning growl enveloped her. Not at her, but the man who stared her down. She leaned against Ryker in an attempt to tell him she would be fine. Nothing happened yet.
Even as she told herself no fight had broken out, she could hear other dragons beginning to shift. Massive beasts marched up to their leader, forming a barrier behind him much the way Jasper’s court had.
“I will give you five days to find my daughter,” the leader said. “Once you find her, you are to return her to me. If you do not, then I will issue a war on you and your mountains. Are you ready to go to war over her?”
The court held their breath. Mina knew they would all follow Jasper to whatever ends, but whatever Jasper decided would shape their future. She noticed the way her mate dug his claws into the earth. Without a voice, she could not tell him everything would end alright. She couldn’t tell him there was nothing that they couldn’t face together.
Mina had already endured the hardest part of her life. A war, no matter how devastating it sounded, wouldn’t shake her. She wouldn’t let it shake Ryker, either.
“If she’s hiding from you, I’m sure it is for good reason,” Jasper said.
The entire court held their breath. Even Mina struggled to breathe as the moment stretched into infinity. Just as she thought she might fall over, Jasper made his declaration.
“War it is, then.”
Gold light flashed before them. Jasper’s beast filled the clearing, but there was no time to take in the wonder of his beast. A green shape shot through the golden light and slammed into Mina.
She let out a cry of pain and tumbled over the ground. A familiar scent enveloped her, the same dragon she’d knocked from the sky. He was back for the revenge she’d seen in his eyes.
Ryker let out a roar. The fight was on.
Before the green dragon could strike her again, Mina shot up into the air. Her wings caught an updraft. It propelled her higher, faster. More dragons entered the air. The clearing was far away from human towns or human roads, but this many beasts in the sky was dangerous.
They would be sighted.
Mina didn’t have time to think about the dangers of their war. The green dragon raced after her. Ryker was hot on the creature’s heels, but not fast enough to catch him. Mina knew she was quick for a dragon, but the green beast behind her seemed driven by an unseen wind. He was a force of nature that she could not escape.
It meant she had to be clever. Mina knew how to outsmart her enemies. She’d been forced to bob and weave her way through life, always a little smarter, a little faster than those around her. She could escape this beast.
She knew it.
Mina debated flying home, but that would have left the dragons short a hand. They needed all the help they could get, and Mina had proven herself useful once before. If she could turn the chase around and land a hit on the green dragon, then she would return to the battle. Then, Ryker could return to his king’s side.
Despite the wind rushing in her ears, she heard the unmistakable growl of the dragon behind her. It was a sound of excitement, of triumph. It gave him away. She ducked to the left, rolling just out of his reach. His frustration rumbled in the air.
Mina glanced back just in time to see Ryker plow into the green beast. Just as Ryker twisted to bring his heavy tail down on the dragon, it darted away. The green dragon was as nimble as a humming bird. And it made him doubly annoying.
It was only a moment, a single second to think about her options. But it was a second lost, and the green dragon was incredibly quick. While she was considering her next move, the beast struck.
It was not a killing blow, nor was it hard enough to break any bones. As she tumbled through the open air, Mina realized the green dragon did not mean to kill her. He meant to hurt her. She found herself upright once more, but the green dragon was already bearing down on her. Tucking her wings to her body, Mina meant to ride out the next blow.
He hit her square in the chest. Her breath whooshed out of her and left her choking for air. Panic spiked over her skull like a bunch of pins. This wasn’t the end. She refused to let this beast torture her in this way.
Chapter Fifteen
The green dragon hit Ryker’s mate. Not once, but twice. Fury burned through his veins. It blazed with heat he’d never known before. His
wings beat the air, each flap stronger than the last. The green dragon’s feet were close, only just out of reach when Ryker wanted nothing more than to grasp him and yank him from the sky.
Ryker didn’t have time to think about the implications of war or what they were fighting over. He knew he should have cared, should have worried. Thoughts of Jasper’s declaration were last on Ryker’s mind. He was more concerned about ripping the wings off the tenacious little green dragon.
The green dragon’s skull was misshapen. There was a dent in it, from where Mina had slammed her body, that hadn’t quite healed right. It served the dragon right. These dragons were intruders. They were entering Jasper’s mountains without permission. They’d attacked Jasper.
Though Ryker knew it had probably been in self-defense, this green dragon was no longer fighting to protect himself. He was fighting to maim.
Behind him, the sounds of war were beginning to fill the air. Beastly roars shook the naked trees beneath them. Snow tumbled down the mountain peaks. Ryker hoped no one was climbing the peaks because there would be disastrous results. The sound of fire popping and cracking filled the air. Ryker didn’t have to turn around to know that it was Jasper.
As much as Ryker wanted to condemn his king for a war over a woman, Ryker knew he understood. Mina meant everything to him. There was nothing Ryker wouldn’t do for her, from rubbing her feet to starting a war.
When this was all over, they were going to have another meeting. That much was for sure. He wished they’d taken the time to discuss this, to make sure everyone was on board with Jasper’s decision. Now, they all had to live with it.
For the time being, Ryker could take his frustrations out on the green dragon. He reached for the green dragon’s tail, lashing in Ryker’s face. Just when he thought he would grasp it, the dragon darted away. Ryker growled. The green dragon rolled through the air and vanished from sight.
The beast was not invisible, but very quick, surprising because he was not as small as Mina. Ryker searched for his mate and found the dark blue beauty hovering not far ahead. She was higher than him and looking just as confused.
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