Fight (The Aurora Marelup Saga Book 3)
Fight: Chapter 12

March

Morning has come, and Aurora is asleep with her head on my chest. Jayce is curled up behind Aurora so tightly. I honestly hate disturbing both of them, but I’m kind of anxious about seeing my clan’s descendants.

Gently, I kiss Aurora’s lips, and I can feel the rumble from her beast. I still get concerned when I hear it; that thing makes me feel small. Slowly, her eyes open, then she rolls to kiss Jayce awake; he immediately pouts because he knows it’s time for us to leave. Sleepily, he extracts himself from the bed and heads out of the room. “Are you ready, Aurora?” I ask her softly, my thick accent rolling off my tongue like silk.

Aurora smiles up at me, then lunges and kisses the tip of my nose. “Yup! Let’s go!” Aurora climbs over me to get to the other side of the bed. Apparently, walking around the bed was too much trouble for her.

Aurora disappears into the walk-in closet and comes out fifteen minutes later wearing an all-leather outfit. There’s thicker leather on the inside of her thighs and the crotch, like those fancy equestrian pants. Her jacket is perfectly tailored and makes her tits look phenomenal. I watch Aurora struggle with braiding her hair, so I go over to where she is and knock her hands away.

Aurora smiles up to me sweetly and offers me her brush. Fuck, I think I just got played. She runs over and sits in a chair, waiting for me to come over and braid her hair for her. I do two french braids in her hair, parting it right down the middle. “Let’s go; the dragons are probably waiting for us to arrive at this point.”

Aurora points over by the door. “My go-bag has been packed and ready since yesterday; I even packed yours, D. You’re welcome!” She sings the last part, like the Hawaiian demigod in that kid’s movie she loves so much.

I can’t help but start to sing the song in my head; Andre and Aurora drove me absolutely nuts with that fucking movie. Andre. I honestly haven’t thought about my best friend in a very long time. I’ve been so focused on revenge and Aurora that I haven’t had time to wallow in my grief over his loss. I follow Aurora out where the second biggest dragon I’ve ever seen is lying in the field. This dragon isn’t as big as Nexus was, but fuck, he’s damn close to it.

Aurora strides up like it’s nothing and rubs his nose gently. Alaric is at her side, giving directions as Dante and Edgar make lazy circles in the air waiting for us. I approach the dragon and look at all the spines along his back. There’s one spot before his wings that I’ll fit in.

“Alaric? Where’s Aurora sitting?” I look over the length of the dragon, then back to Alaric.

“She’ll be riding up on his head behind his horns, so she can direct him easily. Don’t worry, big guy, she’ll be safe up there.” Alaric smiles, not a single worry in his mind. Me, I’m ready to freak the fuck out thinking about all the danger she’ll be in without me.

I turn to watch Aurora’s eyes take on that haunting look as she stares up at Marco. His amber eyes glow faintly as he stares back down at her. Fuck, is she talking to him? What the fuck can’t she do these days besides fly? Marco lowers his massive head to the ground and moves his wing forward.

Aurora steps onto his wingtip and gets lifted up to the crown of horns on his head. I watch her replace a comfortable position and sit down like she’s done this a hundred times before. Hesitantly, I move over to his side and look up to where Alaric suggested I sit.

“Baby girl? How am I supposed to get my fat ass up there?” I look back to where I’m supposed to sit, then back to Aurora. The next thing I know, I get slapped on the back of my head by Alaric. “What the fuck did you do that for?” I practically growl out at Alaric.

“Brother, Aurora said to do it because she doesn’t like you calling yourself fat. She thinks you’re perfect just the way you are.” Alaric shrugs his shoulders then looks back to Aurora.

“Climb on Marco’s wing when he extends it, then walk along the bone to his back. Try not to step on the leather of his wing; that will hurt him,” Alaric says, then pats me on the back before backing up.

Marco extends his wing, and I examine the scales along the bone. They could be used as stairs the way they overlap along the bone. I carefully climb along the scales on his wing bone, being very mindful not to step on his wing’s leather. I reach his back, and trust me, I’m fucking thankful I made it up here.

Great Bears are not known for being the most graceful creatures. My eyes move along the planes of his massive back and see the area where I was instructed to sit. I finally get myself situated when the dragon starts to stand up. I hold onto the spine for dear life. Aurora, on the other hand, is standing up, leaning back against the spine behind her. I see her hands are shifted, and she has a good grip on the horns in front of her.

Aurora lets out a call that’s a true mixture of her dual nature; it’s a cross between a roar and a howl. The moment her call is done, Marco launches us into the air. I feel my stomach head towards my ass from the sheer power of Marco’s take-off.

Aurora is laughing hysterically, enjoying the wind in her face. I can feel through the bond the worry from Jayce and Klaus; Dominik is playing it cool. Alaric is the only one I’m not really sensing.

A few moments later, I see exactly why I’m not sensing him; he has shifted to his dragon and has decided to escort us to the edge of the pack lands. Aurora is smiling and waving at Alaric as he flies beside us. With a dragon Marco’s size, we should reach the bear territory’s outer edge in about forty-five minutes.

Alaric roars his goodbye at the edge of the region. Aurora turns her head and calls back to him; I can see a sadness there. I have to admit, I’m a bit jealous of the bond that they share. Alaric and Klaus have the best understanding of her beast’s nature. I have the best understanding of whom she is.

Marco starts making a clicking noise, and I see Aurora nod. Slowly, that crazy female makes her way back towards me. Aurora is walking down Marco’s back like she would around the porch on the house. “D, we’re getting ready to land. I came back here to help you through the landing. Unlike last time you rode in the carriage box, this is much different. You need to stand up.” Slowly, I slide my way up the spine I’m leaning against, then look to Aurora for the next step.

“Okay, so here’s the easy part, brace yourself between the spine behind you and the one in front of you. Marco will lower his head before he starts the descent, so that will give you a warning to brace. Alaric said that Marco is going to take every precaution to make the landing as soft as possible.” Aurora leans forward and kisses me softly before she turns and runs back up to her position on Marco’s head.

Aurora raises her arms over her head like we are on a roller coaster, then it happens. I watch Marco’s head lower, and I feel like the ground is coming out from under me. I hope I don’t embarrass myself by puking. Quickly, the falling feeling lessens, and I’m okay with the speed we are going. I’m guessing Aurora said something to Marco because he changed his approach.

We land softly on one of the higher hillsides overlooking the forest of my youth. I smile, breathing in the air of my homeland. Things have changed since I was last here; there’s actually a dirt road leading towards where our camp used to be.

I slide off Marco’s back and look around at the hill’s grass and dirt. The bear prints I replace are old, but it’s a good sign my people are nearby. I look at my right forearm and roll up my sleeve. I have the brand of my clan and the brand of the house of Marelup as a royal guard. If we replace my people, I will have to show them my brands to validate who I am.

Aurora eventually goes and talks to Marco, and he takes off, leaving us till we need him. “Ready to play hide and go seek, D?” Aurora smiles at me as she adjusts the straps on the backpack she’s brought with her.

I slowly take my pack off of my back and start to strip. “I’m going to shift so it’s easier for me to track my people. Besides, each family covey has specific markings as their bear. I may be the last of my bloodline, or maybe not. Either way, they will accept who I am much faster as my animal than if we both approach as humans.”

Aurora nods in understanding as I remove the last of my clothing. I feel her eyes roam all over my body. It’s times like this I am thankful for all the extra training I do.

Aurora finishes stuffing my clothes into my bag then waits for me to shift. My bones break and realign slowly. Unlike the wolves, unless I’m angry my shift is slow and methodical. When my shift is finally over, I stand on my hind legs and roar, alerting the others to my presence. It’s a cultural thing for a dominant boar to announce his presence before entering another boar’s territory. I lower myself back down to four legs and listen for any kind of a response.

In the distance to the north, I hear an answering roar. For now, we are welcome in his territory. I swing my head back to Aurora and lie down; carefully, Aurora climbs onto my back. She manages to clip the two packs together, arranging them to rest over my shoulders so she doesn’t have to support their combined weight.

Slowly, I start to head in the direction of the roar I had heard. The silver fir trees along the main game trail randomly bare the dominant boar’s claw marks. Aurora looks at the marks then back down to me. He’s not as large as I am; if anything, over time, my people may be no bigger than the common brown bear, I say to Aurora through the bond.

“Do you think he’s smaller than I am, D?” Aurora asks. I’m pretty sure she is just testing me. Her beast rivals mine when I’m on my hind legs.

It’s safe to say. I believe he’s smaller than both of us, I say to her through the bond again. If my bear were able to smirk, we would definitely be smirking right now. The game trail leads us through some of the most beautiful sections of the forest. Aurora is enjoying our journey; she’s looking in all different directions, catching all the new scents. I can tell she’s trying to resist the urge to hunt the roe deer, as well as the chamois.

We come up to a water crossing, and I stop then lie down. Aurora takes the hint and slides off my back, taking the bags with her. Slowly, I wade into the water to test its depth. It’s not bad at all, and for the most part, I’ll be able to keep her dry. While I stand in the stream, I notice a good-sized wild trout population swimming in and out of the current.

Quickly, I plunge my head under the water and catch a medium-sized trout. I whip my head to the side to throw the trout towards Aurora on the bank. She starts to laugh hysterically as she catches the fish when it hits her on her chest.

“Lunch!” Aurora yells as she moves back a bit, then smashes the trout’s head with a rock, ready for me to catch another. I haven’t seen her so happy being in the outdoors in such a long time. I throw three more fish to her, and she’s having giggle fits over it.

I climb back up onto the bank and shake out my fur, sending water flying everywhere. Aurora is still laughing, now over the water getting to her from way over here. I shift back to my human form and grab my pants from the bag. It felt good to hunt for my mate and to provide for her as my bear. He’s so proud of himself right now it’s not even funny anymore. Aurora has shifted her hands and started to use her talons to gut the fish.

I pull the firestarter out and make a small fire to cook our fish. I turn around to replace Aurora already eating one of the fish raw. I just end up double blinking as I watch her; I was not aware that she can still tolerate raw fish.

“What? I was hungry, and cooking would take too long,” Aurora states, so matter of fact, like it was the most natural thing in the world. I just start laughing and join her in eating my fish raw. I’m just thankful one of her natures just made this trip a fuck-ton easier. We enjoy our meal in relative silence before going and discarding the skeletons far away from where we stopped.

Aurora cleans up quickly, then walks over to me and kisses my lips softly. ‘Thank you for lunch, D. I haven’t had fresh fish since the last time I went hunting. Trust me when I say fishing is not in my wheelhouse. I missed more fish than I came close to catching. My only really successful fishing trip was in the birthing cavern,’ Aurora says, shrugging her shoulders.

‘If you want a deer, I’m your girl! Fish, yeah, we’ll starve before I catch one.’ She starts laughing at herself. At least she knows what her strong suit is.

‘Let’s get going. It’s going to get cold when the sun sets. I’m hoping we replace the camp before then.’ Aurora nods, agreeing with me, so I begin to strip so I can shift and carry her.

My shift is smooth and comfortable; it feels great to spend so much time as my bear. After I stretch out, I lie down and make it easier for Aurora to load the bags and get back on. Once she’s situated, I rise up onto my paws and start walking towards the stream. After having fished the stream, I know where the shallow parts are. I take the higher route to keep Aurora dry. We get to the other side and back on the main game trail. It’s not long before the scent of other bears fills my nostrils; we are close to their camp. I can feel it.

Out of nowhere, I get blasted in the side by something huge. Aurora goes flying, and I can hear her clothing rip as she shifts midair. I hit the ground hard and scent the boar flying towards Aurora. She catches him in her talons and slams his bear to the ground; I can hear bones crack from the impact. Aurora is growling and drooling venom on the male’s face.

I go nose to nose with the male, and his eyes widen in recognition. Immediately he shifts back and looks up at me as Aurora releases him. ‘You’re of the Kovac line! I know those markings!’ the man says in Romanian to me.

I raise my eyes to look at Aurora and explain what’s going on through the bond to her. She runs and walks back to the bags and shifts back to her human form. Quickly, she dresses and returns to me with my clothes. I return to my human form and get dressed. ‘Yes, I am of the Kovac line; my mother was Svetlana, and my father was Beck,’ I answer him in Romanian, and he nods slowly.

‘They’ve been dead a long time, my friend. You cannot be their Dimitri. He should be long dead.’ He continues speaking in Romanian to me.

I show him the family brand on my forearm and the brand given to me the day I went to work as the queen’s guard. Aurora silently steps up beside me and rests her bare forearm next to mine. She bares the Marelup seal as well as the seal of the Ice Dragon Royal House. The man visibly pales, looking at her markings. Quickly, he drops to one knee and apologizes for attacking.

Aurora walks over and gently touches the man’s chin and raises his eyes to meet hers. Her steel-grey eyes examine him, then look back to me. ‘Tell him why we are here and that I forgive him. Make sure he realizes you’re my mate and your life span was extended because of me. Tell him we seek your descendants,’ Aurora says, looking back down at the man. Slowly, she releases him, and she returns to my side where I hold her tightly to me.

Quickly, I relay what Aurora had said to the man before us. He’s in shock that I’m almost a hundred and fifty years older than the oldest living Great Bear in our history. He gets up and grabs our bags, offering to lead us to the clan. Aurora is happy with this turn of events and smiles as we head towards camp.

Everything is almost how I remember it, except the clan is much smaller in numbers these days. My mother’s hut is still standing where it was all those years ago. Planks have been changed out and the roof updated, but yet the same shape. A robust woman steps out of the hut, and she reminds me of my mother. I stare for several minutes while the man explains who we are to her and the others gathered.

Aurora looks up to me, and her eyes shift to that of her beast; I feel a tingle through the bonds as she attempts to pull some matrix shit with me. Aurora blinks twice, and the tingle stops; her attention turns back to the female. ‘She’s of your blood, Dimitri, a grandchild. I can scent it on the wind.’ Aurora cants her head to the side, looking up to me.

I’m not sure what’s more shocking right now, the fact Aurora just ravaged my mind and learned to speak Romanian in a matter of minutes, or the fact I left behind a child. ‘Who is your grandmother?’ I ask the woman directly.

‘My grandmother is dead, but her name was Irina. Her boyfriend left her pregnant to go work for the wolves.’ She spit on the ground after saying that. My chest hurt all this time; I had a child and never knew.

Eventually, her mother emerges, and I see my own eyes staring back at me. My chest tightens as I think about all of the years I missed with my daughter. I watch her run back inside and comes out holding a small canvas. I know that canvas; Irina painted my portrait just before I left to work at the castle.

Slowly the old woman turns the painting around; there’s my face staring back at me. ‘Papa?’ she asks hesitantly.

I nod my head slowly, looking at her. I’m all choked up from the power and emotion in this moment. She makes it past her daughter and comes over and hugs me without hesitation. I hold my daughter tightly to my chest. I explain a short version of what’s happened in the last two hundred and almost thirty years. My daughter, Katrina, tells me her mom was going to tell me she was pregnant the day I left.

I see tears rolling down Aurora’s cheeks as she listens to my daughter’s story. Katrina’s daughter eventually comes around and starts talking to me about what I’ve missed. Aurora is silent, watching everyone like a sentinel. I also hear the whispers of her updating the others through the bond. I still have family; that in itself is a miracle.

~later that night~

Everyone gathers around the fire to talk, but Aurora remains at a distance. My people blame her people for my leaving and why so many never returned home after the coup. I believe that they sense she’s more dragon than wolf, so they sort of relax in her presence. I make sure the entire camp knows who Aurora is and why we are here. I thought wolves were bad about shutting out other species, but apparently, the bears are worse. Slowly, I extract myself from the bears and walk over to the tree Aurora is leaning on. ‘Are you okay?’ I just had to ask.

‘It’s just a lot to process.” She kicks off the tree and starts to pace. Her hands shoot up and threads through her long, white hair roughly.

“I’m the reason you didn’t get to see your daughter born. My people are the reason so many of your people were slaughtered the night of the attack.” Shaking her head slowly, she raises her eyes to look at me. The sadness there makes my chest hurt; by proxy, she blames herself for what happened.

“I’m not welcome here; it’s okay. I understand why. If you want, I’ll have Marco come and get me, or I can call Alaric to me instead,” Aurora says, her tone is broken and full of pain. Here, I thought this would be a joyous occasion, and now I’m having second thoughts.

Renee, one of the few sows in the camp that holds no ill will towards the wolves, brings Aurora some desserts and candies. They seem to get along well enough. Aurora isn’t used to having a female friend, and Renee is trying to be that friend to her right now. Renee’s three mates take turns bringing drinks and snacks over to them. Each male young and virile, muscles on muscles.

Aurora doesn’t even notice them at all. I can tell they are trying to be playful with her, and she seems to be lost in her own emotions again. I move back and forth between the family I never got to know and my mate. I’m torn. Both need me, and I can’t be in two places at once.

A roar sounds overhead, and Aurora’s eyes light up. They take on that ghostly glow when she talks to the dragons; it’s frightening to those who don’t know what’s happening. Aurora tilts her head back and does that roar-howl of her beast, answering the dragon’s call. I know it’s Alaric, and he’s concerned because of how Aurora feels through the bond. A bag falls from the sky, and Aurora catches it and runs off into the night.

I get up to follow, and my granddaughter grabs my arm scared of what’s to come. “Shh, little one, it’s my bond mate, Alaric. He sensed Aurora was upset and came to her the fastest way he knew how.”

“He’s a dragon?” my daughter Katrina asks. She quickly pulls her daughter to her side, holding onto her tightly.

“Yes, he’s a dragon, the Ice Dragon King to be exact, and Aurora is his queen. Everyone here shunned her because she’s part Lycan. You should all be ashamed of yourselves.” I make eye contact with each of my descendant’s clan. I see the regret in their eyes; I can only hope it’s enough to appease Alaric.

Alaric and Aurora walk into sight, hand in hand, and thankfully she appears to have calmed down. Well, all except both of their eyes are that of their beast. With the light coating of frost on them, I can tell Aurora is in deep conversation with Alaric.

Dragons and their freaky shit, I think Ellis had it right. It’s just weird how hard-wired they are to each other. “Greetings, Dimitri!” Alaric says as he releases Aurora and embraces me. We pat each other’s back then step back.

“I hope your flight was a good one, Alaric.” I can tell he’s mad; I know it’s not at me but at my people. At this point, I can’t blame him; I’m mad at them too.

“It was, Dimitri. It’s just upsetting that my mate is distraught because of how speciesist your people are. Part of me, I want to burn them all to ash. Then again, Aurora tells me you have a daughter and granddaughter here, and both are anti-Lycan,” Alaric says, trying to contain his temper. I can see the struggle he’s having with his beast.

Aurora moves in front of Alaric and lays a hand upon his chest. Slowly, she brings her free hand up to lightly stroke his beard. “Love? My mother’s Lycan mate did a lot of damage to a lot of species. In some ways, I understand why they have a dislike of the Lycans. But in other ways I don’t, it happened two hundred and twenty-nine years ago, on my birthday of all days.” She drops her eyes briefly. “My poor mother was drugged and unable to fight against Vladimir. I swear I will have my vengeance on him for what happened to my mother and all the other lives lost that day. I will make him suffer a thousand deaths.” Aurora speaks with so much passion that it brings tears to the bear’s eyes who can hear her clearly.

Alaric leans down and kisses Aurora passionately. You can hear the happy rumble of their beasts. Eventually, Alaric releases Aurora, and she just smiles up at him, content again. “D? What do you say we head to the pit and let your people see who I really am? Maybe let them send four of their strongest boars into the ring with me? I could use the exercise.” Aurora smiles at me sweetly then I see Dante, Edgar, and Marco flank Alaric. Oh boy, Aurora has a plan, and it involves siphoning energy from the other dragons if need be.

Several bulky males laugh and offer to take the “queen” up on her offer. Alaric and I both can’t help but laugh. They have no idea whom they are fucking with. They assume that because she’s female, she’s going to be smaller and weaker. That is their first and last mistake.

I move to the training pit center and hold up my arms, getting everyone’s attention. Aurora, apparently, wants to fight all four at the same time. I can almost bet she has a new move she’s waiting to try out. “Attention bear clan, dragons, and hybrid, this is the challenge ring. We obey the old laws, fight to submission or knock out only. Does everyone understand?” I look between the four boar and Aurora.

Aurora looks absolutely bored out of her mind right now. Aurora walks up to Alaric and hands him the robe she was wearing. Slowly, she shifts to the form of her beast; her beast’s bulk and mass are insane. More dragon features are now very pronounced as she turns to face me. Her entire muzzle is covered in white scales and up around her eyes to protect them. Her heavily scaled arms look like very aggressive medieval gauntlets with almost six inches of razor-sharp talons on the end. Aurora’s legs even have scales on them from her paws to her knee. She starts tapping her talons together as her dragonic eyes regard everyone around her. I use the word regard very loosely; it’s more like she’s sizing everyone up, assessing them for strengths and weaknesses.

All four males make the mistake of shifting at once, and Aurora spins to face them; she roars at them, causing the dragons present to answer her call. All almost ten feet of Aurora’s beast lowers its stance into an attack stance. The bears don’t know what to make of her at this point.

Hmm, let’s see here, an almost ten foot tall, approximately half-ton of heavily muscled and armored white Dragon-Lycan hybrid in the ring. I can only imagine what’s going through their minds right now. Two of the larger males charge simultaneously, and with a quick swipe of Aurora’s talons, she cut both of their muzzles and sent them crashing to the ground. Her eyes lock on the last two, and she charges them. They move, trying to circle her. Aurora, on the other hand, is having the time of her life. The two boar decide to charge again at the same time, idiots. Aurora saw what they were going to do long before they did it. At the very last second, she leaps up and lands on the one boar’s back, causing him to crash to the ground.

All four male bears are wounded, and Aurora’s fur is still its ghost-white color. I can see how she’s watching them, assessing if they will continue to fight or tap out. Her eyes land on me, and then I look to the boars still attempting to get back into the fight. “I’m going to count to five. If you cannot continue, lie on the ground. If you want to continue, then fucking do something! One … Two … Three … Four …”

Suddenly, a boar leaps out of the crowd, heading directly at Aurora. She spins just in the nick of time to grasp him by the throat and slam his body to the ground. She starts to growl and snap in his face; her venom is dripping from her canines, some of it landing in his mouth. He starts thrashing as his beast retreats deep within himself because of the toxin. Aurora backs up and narrows her eyes at him as her tail thrashes wildly behind her.

Apparently, the Alpha’s son thought he had enough strength to take her. Obviously, he was wrong. Now he’s going to be stuck as a human till the venom works its way out of his system. I finally yell five, and the match is over. Aurora looks back to Alaric and then me; we both bow our heads to her and raise our fists to our hearts. Slowly, Aurora looks at the gathered crowd, and one by one they mimic Alaric and me. I guess she earned the clan’s respect in the ring, more by actions than by words. The old Alpha Vladimir would have disregarded the rules and killed all those who challenged him.

In one round of battle against five opponents, Aurora showed mercy and proved that not all Lycans are bad. Aurora steps up to Alaric and licks his face, then she turns and licks mine. Silly woman. Alaric throws her robe over her beast’s shoulders as she shifts back to her human form. The clan Alpha comes to apologize for the way his son attacked out of turn, and Aurora accepts his apology.

Alaric raises an eyebrow, looking at me, shocked that Aurora is speaking yet another new language. I shrug my shoulders, looking at him. “She pulled some matrix shit with me earlier. Next thing I know, she’s speaking my dialect.” I shrug my shoulders at him again, then go back to watching Aurora greet the clan’s people. Finally, they pull their collective heads out of their asses.

Alaric starts to laugh and shake his head. “I honestly can’t figure out how she does that. Usually, only the ancients can pull that off. Maybe it’s Aurora’s hybrid status that helped; I honestly don’t know. We’ll have to remember to ask Nicodeamus about it when we return,” Alaric says as if he’s going to ask about the weather instead of an ability.

Aurora returns to us and looks back at the gathered bears before facing us once more. “Time to go home; there’s not enough Great Bears to ask them to fight with us. Alaric, love, summon Ellis and his Polar Bears; we’ll need them. The winter storms are almost over; his people may be able to blend in.” Aurora finishes speaking then turns her face to the sky.

Soon, we hear Marco’s, Dante’s, and Edgar’s call. Aurora extends her arms outward just as the snow starts to fall. I don’t know if she sensed the snow or summoned it; either way, we have one last freak winter storm to deal with, and we need to leave. “I’ll fly back on Alaric. Dimitri, you can fly back on Marco; we need to call a meeting of the clans’ heads. Soon, I hunt Elena, then we head towards my mother’s castle.” Aurora’s tone is cold and detached.

We watch Aurora walk to the field where the other dragons have landed; she seems to be in deep conversation with them. “What just happened, Alaric?” I had to question him, something isn’t sitting right with me.

Alaric inhales deeply then slowly lets the air escape his lungs. “Apparently, she sent the trifecta to investigate a lead for her. They came back with the news that she needed to hear. She now knows exactly where Elena and the rogue pack are. They apparently have a small force of Wyverns with them. If I know my mate, she’s going to ask those three to pick the best fighters to come and take them out.” Alaric looks back to Aurora then back to me.

Before I have a chance to say anything, Aurora is yelling that we have to get moving. The two War Dragons take off, and the Black Dragon waits for me. I look at Aurora and Alaric as he jogs to join her. His shift is fast and fluid; apparently, that is one of his gifts from Aurora. I watch them take off, and I head over to Marco. He lowers his wing and stretches his front leg out so I can get on. This is going to prove to be a very interesting flight home.