Everything may have looked normal, but the scent of death weighed heavily in the air.

  I almost didn’t ask my dragon to change back. I didn’t want to see what I was already imagining, but I knew I had to. For Uncle Jerome. He was my mother’s brother and deserved better than me walking away.

  With tenuous steps, I approached their front door and had to hold my breath. The stench was so much worse there.

  I closed my eyes briefly, grabbing on to the strength my uncles had taught me to have all these years. They were the reason I knew how to fight, why I cared so passionately for our realm. I could do this for them.

  Without allowing myself to think too hard, I twisted the handle and shoved the door open. Inside was a bloodbath, and I nearly vomited on my own feet.

  Scorch marks filled the white walls and marred the furniture. Blood splatter colored everywhere else, and in the middle of all the mayhem…my two uncles. They were several feet apart, both of their throats and stomachs ripped open, but their hands…

  Fuck.

  They were reaching for each other and were just inches apart from being able to have that final moment of peace.

  “Damn you, Nannio,” I hissed.

  She shouldn’t have insisted I didn’t return when I’d wanted to come back. All of this—including Dawsyn being taken—might have been avoided if so.

  Whatever was going on, she knew and she’d kept it from me. I didn’t know why, but I sure as fuck was going to find out.

  Right after I buried my uncles. It wouldn’t be the sendoff they deserved, but I wouldn’t leave them this way.

  Chapter Four

  DAWSYN

  The trees had grown denser as we traveled further. I could only see an arm’s length in front of me and the temperatures continued to drop, but not uncomfortably so. At least, not yet.

  What seemed like another thirty-or-so minutes after we’d entered the forest, Knox finally slowed, then turned to face me. “I’m taking you into my home. You’re not a guest here. You’ll have to earn that right. Mate or not, I don’t trust you.”

  Smart shifter.

  “You won’t talk to anyone, and nobody will talk to you,” he continued. “If you continue to do as you’re told, then maybe you’ll have more privileges, but don’t think that just because you’ve done as you’ve been told thus far that I’m under the guise that you’re happy to be here.”

  I was hoping Knox would be a bit more emotional about the situation and I could trip him, but it seemed as if he’d been preparing for this moment for quite some time. Very little was going to get in his way. Yet, I couldn’t help but wonder how I fit into the bigger picture, because nobody would have known about me until recently.

  That question would have to wait until later.

  “Okay,” I replied, seeing no point in trying to sway him so soon. We both knew where we stood, and I was good with that as long as he wasn’t going to try to take advantage of any normal mate things.

  If the fucker tried to kiss me or touch me in any way that wasn’t absolutely necessary, he’d be seeing a completely different side of me now that River was hopefully safe.

  Knox eyed me a bit longer, seeming to not appreciate my easy compliance.

  Good. There wasn’t anything I appreciated about him either.

  “This way, then,” he said, turning toward a grouping of five trees.

  He held his hand in front of him and used the other to slash a claw across his palm. A small puddle of blood formed in the center there, and he pressed it against the middle tree before us.

  A faint glow lit up around his fingers, and then the trees started to move…

  What the fuck?

  Bark from the five trees merged together, creating one large trunk.

  Knox stepped back, and a moss-covered door appeared where his palm had just been. “Only my blood can open this door. Nobody is coming in here to save you, so if you thought Drago would be where Cillian could find you again, you thought wrong.”

  I gave no reply to him. Yes, I hoped to see Cillian here, but I wasn’t counting on him to save me. That I could do myself. If Knox thought I was going to rely on anyone else to get the job done, that would be even better for me.

  He pushed the tree door open and gestured for me to go ahead. “Ladies first.”

  Now he wanted to have manners? Like that made a damned difference.

  Still, I went ahead and cringed when the stairs descended. Small, underground spaces weren’t a favorite of mine, but I stiffened my shoulders and kept my eyes forward. I wouldn’t show any fear while I was here.

  I was an alpha wolf. I could survive whatever I was about to find in this place. Even more, I would figure out what the hell was going on.

  Twenty-seven steps later, the stairs deposited us into a cavernous room with boxes stacked everywhere. The only light I’d seen since walking through the door were small bulbs that seemed to be lit with magic. There were no cords or switches that I’d spotted yet.

  Though, in this room, there were probably over a hundred of the little lights, making it almost blindingly bright given how dark the forest had been.

  There were five openings within the room, including the one we just entered from. The others appeared to lead toward dark hallways, and of course didn’t have any signs above them to indicate what else was down here.

  The walls were merely smoothed-out red dirt and cool to the touch. The floor seemed to be more of the same.

  Knox brushed past me, and I flinched away from him when his heated skin touched my shoulder. He didn’t miss the action, which had him smirking, but the look didn’t last long.

  An elderly woman entered through the third opening. She had short silver hair that ended just past her ears and piercing blue eyes that landed right on me.

  “What is she doing here?” the woman spat.

  Her pale skin had almost made her look frail until she spoke with such venom. She crossed her arms over a red scoop-neck shirt that stood out over her black slacks.

  “She is my mate now,” Knox answered. “She’s also our prisoner until I decide otherwise. I’m taking her to section four.”

  There were sections? That was good to know.

  “How did you…” She rolled her eyes. “Never mind. I don’t want to know. You just made this situation messier than it needed to be.”

  Knox squared off with the crazy old lady. “No, I did what needed to be done. If he wasn’t coming back on his own, we needed to draw him out. Plus, he doesn’t deserve her.”

  I snorted. “And you do?”

  Both of their eyes cut sharply to me.

  So much for keeping my mouth shut.

  Knox gave me a onceover that made me want to vomit. “I deserve everything.”

  Yep, he was every bit the psycho I thought he was.

  I tried to see the physical similarities between him and Cillian, but there was nothing there. The hair color, eyes, facial structure… All of it was different.

  I wanted to know if they were related by mother or father. Based on the minute lines around his eyes, Knox seemed as if he was older than Cillian, but those also could have been because the fucker had a stick up his ass most days.

  If his mother had another son, why wouldn’t she have kept him? If Knox was Cillian’s father’s child, had their dad even known he existed? So many questions and too soon for answers.

  “You shouldn’t have done this,” the woman said.

  “There’s plenty that shouldn’t have been done leading up to now,” he retorted. “I guess that trait runs in the family.”

  Family? Was this Nannio, the crazy grandmother Cillian had spoken of?

  Fuck, I hoped not.

  Though, with my luck lately, she absolutely was, and Cillian was going to come home to quite the shit sundae once he got here.

  Knox reached back for me, grabbing tightly around my wrist. “It’s time for you to go to your room.”

  At least he hadn’t said our room. I could live with a bit of solitary time.

  “What about—”

  He cut the older woman off. “I’ve gotten us this far. Do you really think it’s wise to question me now?”

  There was a spark of something that reminded me of Beatrix, but it was gone before I could figure out why.

  “I guess not,” she replied. “I’ll be waiting for you in section two. We have other things to discuss.”

  She turned around, the short strands of her silver hair floating over her shoulders as she went.

  “Who is that woman to you?” I asked once he started pulling me down the narrow tunnel.

  “Nobody.”

  “You called her family,” I pointed out.

  He glanced briefly at me, smoothing his facial features. “No, I said a certain trait runs in the family. Good try.”

  He was either a solid liar or I’d been overthinking the conversation.

  He’s a sociopath, my wolf said. You need to be careful. I don’t think getting answers is going to be as easy as we’d hoped.

  Why do you say that?

  Just a feeling, she replied. Plus, it’s weird that he’s not using you as a trophy to keep at his side, showing whoever he can what he’s taken from his brother. It doesn’t make sense. Knox hiding all this time, then keeping you hidden just the same. What’s the point of it all?

  That’s what we’re hopefully going to find out.

  Though, if my wolf was right, I wouldn’t focus as much on answers as I would an escape route.

  Knox had said he was the only one that could open the door from the outside. He didn’t say anything about getting out.

  Knowing that, I carefully continued to track our steps and turns. We were another sixty-three steps from the room we’d entered earlier before Knox turned left and the temperatures suddenly dropped significantly.

  Chills raced over my skin, but I couldn’t focus on getting warm for long. Short doors with small windows covered by bars began appearing every ten or so feet.

  I tried to peek inside, but the rooms were quiet and dark. Nothing to be heard or seen.

  He stopped at the third door on the right and opened it up. “Get in.”

  “No please?” I deadpanned.

  Within a blink of an eye, he was in my face, his nose just an inch from mine. “I brought you here, but let’s get one thing straight, Little Wolf. I don’t need you. You’ve served your purpose. I’m only keeping you now for… Well, that’s not for you to know until you need to. So, don’t fucking tempt me to kill you, because it wouldn’t be a hardship for me. Being my mate doesn’t mean your life is safe.”

  He paused, seeming to wait for my response, but I wasn’t an idiot. I knew to stay silent.

  “Now, get in the cell and be fucking happy about it,” he snarled.

  Well, I could do one of those things. For now.

  I stepped forward, my spine tensing from the cooler temperature. I turned to ask him if I would get dinner or anything down there, but before I could open my mouth, the door was slammed in my face and all outside sound was cut off.

  The only thing I could hear was the rapid beating of my heart and the heavy breaths coursing through my chest.

  I closed my eyes and called on the strength of my wolf. Maybe we should have fought harder to get away from him while we still could.

  Our fight is far from over, she vowed. We’ll get out of here. One way or another.

  Another was what I worried about, but I did my best to only grasp on to her confidence as I searched my way around the darkened room.

  There was a mattress I felt first with my shins, a single bed held off the ground by a metal frame and no blankets. On the wall next to that was a metal bucket that was thankfully empty and beyond that…nothing.

  Shift and we’ll be warmer, my wolf said, and I nodded dejectedly.

  This was going to be a hellish imprisonment, but I wasn’t giving up yet. It was only day one, and even if hope could be a fickle bitch, I was still going to hold out that things would begin looking up.

  They had to, because dying in this dungeon wasn’t an option.

  Chapter Five

  CILLIAN

  It had taken me two hours to bury my uncles. Two hours of moving from their house to the burial grounds of my clan twice. In all that time, I didn’t see one person. Not in town or near the trees.

  Being alone and having more time to think while I’d dug their graves had made me wonder about several things I hadn’t allowed myself to dwell on before. How had Dawsyn gotten here?

  I wanted to believe that one of the elders lifted the restriction for other supernaturals to come into our realm, but deep in my heart, where our bond no longer beat inside me, I knew differently.

  Dawsyn was mated to another dragon shifter.

  As I began to put the pieces together in my mind, I didn’t need River to call me with more information. I knew what had happened.

  Someone threatened River. Nearly beat him to death. The only way he would survive was for Dawsyn to willingly go with whoever stole her from me.

  The only thing I didn’t know was who. There wasn’t a single person I could think of who would go to those lengths or have the resources to know what Dawsyn was to me.

  Though, that didn’t mean such a person didn’t exist. Whoever they were, they were powerful, but I wasn’t afraid. I wouldn’t stop until I found my mate and took her back. I wouldn’t bow down to whoever had made our people scatter into the darkness.

  I wouldn’t let my realm die and my mate with it.

  My fingers dug into the upturned dirt one last time, and I closed my eyes, giving my final farewell to my uncles. This wasn’t the formal burial they should have had, but it was the best I could offer at the moment and better than letting them rot inside their home.

  As I stood back up, my shoulders tensed. I took a deep inhale, staying as still as possible. Nothing was out of the ordinary, but I knew without a doubt I was no longer alone.

  My fingers extended into claws, and I was two seconds from shifting when a force leapt for me. I swiped my right arm out and sank my sharp claws into metal.

  The responding laugh was the last thing I expected, but it was also a welcome sound.

  “Good to see Earth didn’t weaken your senses, old friend,” a familiar voice said as I pulled my arm back.

  My eyes took in my oldest friend Lykem. His short strawberry-blond hair was matted and dirty as if he’d been living outside for days, possibly even weeks. Yet, his blue eyes were bright with mischief as if he’d been having the time of his life.

  Fresh scars littered his arms, and his chest was covered with chainmail while his arms held the metal shield I’d just punctured.

  “What the hell has been happening here?” I asked, glancing back at the ground where I’d just laid my uncles to rest. “And why were they left behind?”

  Fury coated my words. I didn’t blame Lykem—at least not yet—but there was no containing the rageful grief currently moving through me. A burning so severe inside my chest that I wasn’t sure if I’d ever be whole again. Not without Dawsyn. Not without my family that I’d been trying so hard to save but had left me in the dark.

  It was difficult not to be resentful toward them for sending me away and not telling me how bad things were when I’d never have met Dawsyn if I hadn’t gone to Mystics Academy. But still, the thoughts were there.

  “It was two days after you left,” Lykem answered. “Hellfire came down from the sky. We suspected from the dark forest, but every raid we’ve done there has resulted in no signs as to who or what is attacking us. The lightning has also worsened, but everything has been calmer the last few days.”

  I suspected that was because whoever was doing this had left to steal my mate.

  The snarl that ripped from my chest at the mere thought had Lykem backing up two steps. “What’s going on? What do you know?”

  My darkening eyes leveled on him. “What I know is that my family hid all of this from me. That my uncles are dead, my grandmother is missing, and someone has taken my mate.”

  I was drowning in ire. I’d been containing it to stay focused on finding Dawsyn and my family, but the more time that passed without them, the less I could tamp down the frenzy of wrath within me.

  Energy sizzled along my skin, scales poked through, and the incoming shift was nothing that I could stop.

  Lykem moved out of the way just in time to avoid being stomped on by my dragon. My roar was filled with the sorrow I’d been trying to ignore and the fury I no longer wanted to hide.

  Sparks of white energy sizzled along our scales and grew in power as we breathed harder. My mind was fully melded with my dragon’s, something we hadn’t been able to do since leaving Drago all those weeks ago. We were one, and not having to worry about expelling too much power was a small relief I hadn’t expected. Even upon arriving earlier, I’d been holding back to maintain some semblance of control, but not any longer.

  Our wings flapped hard, and we pushed into the sky. Lightning ricocheted around us, the charge coming from deep within my dragon’s form. Releasing the bolts of energy recharged my soul. Reminded me who I was, what I was capable of, and why I’d been chosen to go to Earth to find the solution to our realm’s problem.

  I was Cillian of the Silver clan. This was my home, and nobody was going to take it from me. Not only that, but I was going to find Dawsyn and rip the throat out of the bastard who thought to touch her when she was already mine.

  My mate. My wolf. All fucking mine.

  This wrath had been so tightly wound inside me that once I’d unleashed the depths of its power, there was no containing it.

  Lykem’s red dragon followed behind me at a safe distance, but while I appreciated that he’d been the only one to come out of hiding for me, I didn’t need him at the moment. I needed Dawsyn. I needed to know that my Nannio wasn’t dead like my uncles.

  I needed whatever the fuck was happening here to end.

  We soared through the sky, power rolling off our scales and into the sky in visible waves. Everything we’d been forced to keep pent up for those weeks on Earth was finally set free. I’d expected to feel better once this happened, but the longer we were in the sky, the more I saw.