A strong pair of arms wrapped around Skylar, lifting her upper body off the ground. She groaned and blinked her eyes open, confused about her prone position. Why did she feel so weak? The last thing she remembered was Orion's gentle touch on her shoulder as he pushed the first pressure point, and the pain that followed. Everything after that was blank.

A pair of warm golden eyes stared down at her, filled with worry. It was the most emotion other than annoyance she'd seen in them. "Ugh," she moaned, lifting her hand to her forehead and wiping her hair from her clammy forehead.

"Skylar? Skylar, are you okay?" Orion's voice washed over her and he jostled her lightly, his grip on her tightening.

"I've been better," she answer slowly. "Did I shift?"

A small smile pulled at his full lips. "Yeah, yeah you did."

"She didn't hurt you, did she?" Skylar couldn't bear it if she'd hurt him.

He shook his head, a laugh escaping him. "Of course you'd be worry about that, while you're the one who can barely move. She didn't hurt me, Skylar. But she was lovely."

"Oh, good. I was worried she'd hurt someone," she closed her eyes and let her head fall on his shoulder. Any other time she would never have dared get so close to him, but she was exhausted and his arms were just so welcoming. Besides, he was the one who grabbed her first.

His voice was teasing as he answered her."Careful, you almost sound like you care about me."

She laughed weakly. "Never."

"Is it gone? The cage?"

Skylar lifted her head again, suddenly remembering the purpose of the exercise. And when she went into her head, she found her dragon still there. The dragon was as tired as she was, and the beast was resting in the corner. Completely free. There were no bars, no barrier, and no cage.

She looked up at Orion, suddenly aware of how close their faces were, but not caring one bit. His arms tightened even more, waiting for her answer.

"It worked," she whispered excitedly, reaching up to grasp his biceps. "It's gone."

A huge, breathtaking smile broke out on his face, and suddenly they were embracing. She had no idea who initiated it, but suddenly her arms were wrapped around his neck, and his were around her waist. She buried her face in his shoulder and laughed with relief.

"We did it," he sighed in relief.

"No," she shook her head. "You did." She leaned away from him to look up into his face.

He looked down, and Skylar would have sworn she saw color warm his cheeks.

"Thank you," she whispered, truly meaning it. Her dragon was free, and she already felt better. The dragon wasn't even awake, and yet Skylar felt more relaxed than she had in her whole life.

He shrugged nonchalantly. They stared at each other for a moment longer, his golden eyes so intense she felt the urge to look away, but he had her locked in place; she was incapable of moving away from him. Suddenly, Orion cleared his throat and carefully removed her from his arms. He didn't let her go until he knew she could sit up on her own, but he took several steps away from her after that. Skylar tried not to feel offended at his reaction to her, she also tried to understand the way she hadn't been able to look away from him.

"I take it you don't remember anything?" he asked. The words were obvious enough, but the way he said them made Skylar think that something had perhaps happened with her dragon. But he didn't look injured. Was he perhaps not telling her that she had tried to hurt him, but didn't succeed?

"Uh, no. I don't remember anything after you pressed the first pressure point."

She reached up to touch her neck where it met her shoulders, remembering the feel of his calloused hand on her skin. Her heartbeat picked up slightly, and she had no idea what her problem with him was. Why was she suddenly so aware of him? She swallowed heavily and slowly rose to her feet, slightly lightheaded but otherwise fine.

Orion stepped to her again and placed a steadying hand on her elbow. "Do you think you'll be able to shift again? I'd like for you to practice being a dragon more, so you can participate in the full moon ceremony tomorrow night."

Her dragon, which had been incredibly subdued from the exhaustion of their shift, was alert once again. She lunged forward, ready to take over again, but Skylar was quick enough to throw up a wall to stop her. She nearly got through, and Skylar felt her eyes flash and her claws grow. She hissed in a breath at the impact in her head. That was too close; they'd need to come to an understanding about when her dragon could take over, and it wasn't at her leisure.

"She could shift again. She's ready," Skylar rubbed her temple and lowered the wall slowly, confident her dragon got he message. Orion's eyes studied her reaction, her almost-shift, and he obviously knew what was going on in her head.

"I didn't ask if she was ready, I asked if you were," he said gently. "We can take a break, if you want to."

Skylar shook her head. "I want to be ready for tomorrow. I don't want to be afraid of the full moon anymore."

He smirked proudly at her. "That's very good to hear, Skylar. You've had a change of heart, very quickly I might add."

She shrugged and twisted her fingers together in her annoying nervous habit. "I suppose being around dragons has had something to do with that, rather than humans."

"It most likely has," he agreed with a nod of his head. Strands of his dark hair had escaped the tie at the base of his neck and floated around his face in gentle ways, softening his chiseled features. Her stomach did a single flip at the sight of him, with the sun at his back, the wind ruffling his thick hair. He was a very good-looking man, and she found herself unable to look at him because of it. The way he made her insides twist was something new to her, and she wasn't sure how to handle it. So she looked out over the cliff, out to the ocean which stretched as far as she could see with blue waves disrupting the surface.

"What was my dragon like? She wasn't angry, was she?" Skylar asked, not looking at him.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him shake his head. "No, not at all. She was upset that my dragon wasn't playing with her, but she somehow got him to engage."

"She was playing?"

"Quite insistent," he chuckled. "I liked her."

Skylar smiled.

"But I like you, so it makes sense that I liked your dragon as well," he said softly, not turning to look at her. Neither of them moved, they just looked out over the western barrier of the clan territory, but they were both acutely aware of one another.

"I like you, too," she finally answered. "I didn't like you at first, though."

He laughed. "That's alright, I didn't like you at first either."

"I'm glad we understand one another."

"Indeed." He finally turned to look at her. "So are you ready to shift again? I'll shift as well, since your dragon likes mine better than she likes me."

At the thought of the golden dragon, Skylar's beast was at full attention, and very enthusiastic about the prospect of seeing him again. In Skylar's opinion, she was a little too excited.

"Yes, I'm ready."

And for the first time, she willingly let her dragon take over, without help from anything else.

<><><><><><><><>

"You're not coming?" Skylar asked as she looked across the infirmary at Victoria. The Alpha female sat in a rocking chair near the fire, quietly knitting. She smoothed a hand over the swell of her belly.

"I'm going, but I won't be shifting with everyone. Pregnant dragons can't shift," she explained. "It's bad for the baby. It's alright though, it'll be worth it." She tucked her long blonde hair behind an ear, grinning down at her stomach before taking up her knitting once again. The tiny little stockings were the cutest things Skylar had ever seen. She couldn't imagine a person being so small.

"What about you, Nana?" Skylar asked the little old woman who sat writing in her herb journal next to the fire. "Are you coming to the full moon ceremony?"

"Oh of course. I'm the one bringing you there, my dear."

"Oh," Skylar tried not to let her disappointment show. "I thought Orion was coming back for me."

He had left her there almost two hours ago, after a whole day of dragon training. She of course remembered nothing of it, but he'd said her dragon had done very well. And that she got along wonderfully with his dragon. She hoped that same comradery was extended to the other dragons, the ones she hadn't met.

After their training last night, Skylar had been completely exhausted. She'd almost fallen asleep at the dinner table, where Victoria had slaved over three chickens and roast vegetables for her hungry family and guests. Percy and his family had been there again, along with Laura and Fiona. Laura had chatted Skylar's ear off, and that was the only thing that had kept her awake. Orion of course appeared unaffected by their long day. He was bright and chipper, even letting out a loud, booming laugh at dinner. Her only consolation was that everyone else seemed just as taken aback by Orion's demeanor.

Once again, Skylar had gone to bed before everyone else, but not before the hot bath that Victoria surprised her with. Everything had been ready and waiting in her room, with the instructions to just let Victoria know when she was done and it would be taken care of. Skylar had been touched, almost forgetting about the wonderful hot bath she'd been wanting. After the amount of excitement in the day, she'd been quite distracted. So she got to go to bed clean and happy, cuddling into the lovely quilts on the guest bed. She had yet to explore the house, what with Orion keeping her busy all day long and being too tired at night to go snooping. She wondered how many bedrooms the Big House had, and what other rooms it hid. She was also morbidly curious about Orion's room. It didn't make sense that there would be anything personal in it, since he spent so little time there, but she just wanted to know more about him. He didn't reveal much about himself, not that she had either.

She fell asleep to speculations about Orion.

Of course, he woke her up from a deep sleep before dawn.

"Get up, time for training," he'd said, standing over her. By his tone, she'd guessed that he'd been trying to wake her for a while. Well, it wasn't her fault that she wanted to sleep to a normal hour, and was a deep sleeper when it was basically the middle of the night.

He'd given her a meager breakfast once again, but she noticed that this time he carried a pack on his shoulders. Ah, so he had decided to stay gone for the entire day then. She was a little disappointed by that. She hadn't had time to see the village, not really. She also wanted to meet the clan members, despite the fact that they seemed so adverse to her presence there.

He'd shifted and flown them to the far cliffs once again. He didn't even shift back into a human again. Simply looked at her expectantly before taking off into the sky. It was an interesting tactic, but Skylar's dragon was ready to rise to the challenge. And that was where Skylar's day went blank. She didn't remember the morning at all. They'd taken a short break for lunch, but were back at it again immediately after that. By the time they'd returned to the clan, it was nearly dark and Skylar was starving. Orion had dropped her off at the infirmary with Nana and Victoria on his way to the Big House to speak with Leo, and that was where she'd been for two hours.

The bread that Nana had given her wasn't enough to keep her full, but it had settled her stomach. She now just wanted real food.

Nana spoke up, pulling Skylar from her thoughts. "Orion is going to be Alpha soon, and the Alpha runs the full moon ceremony, at least this one."

"What's special about this one?" Skylar wondered. Wasn't a full moon a full moon?

Victoria answered her, her knitting needles continuing to click together. "It's the first full moon after the summer solstice. That means that some of the children will be shifting for the first time tonight. It's the Alpha's place to induct them into the clan as dragons. Leo will do the induction, but Orion will run the ceremony. He didn't tell you?"

Skylar shook her head. "We've been rather busy."

"I can imagine. How is the shifting going? Is your dragon doing well?"

"According to Orion, she is. And I suppose I have to trust his judgement. I'm not conscious when I'm a dragon, but Orion says that will come as I get more comfortable with her," Skylar said softly, staring into the fireplace. "The shifting is less painful every time I do it."

"Good, that means progress!" Victoria beamed, her spring green eyes shining. "And Orion wouldn't lie to you about how well you're doing, love."

Nana scoffed in agreement. "Our young Alpha is far too blunt for that."

Victoria chuckled. "Much like his father."

"Even though neither would ever admit to it!" The old woman chuckled to herself, finishing her journal entry with a flourish of the quill, signing her name.

"Ruby June." Skylar read over her shoulder at the elegant script. It was far better than her own chicken scratch. All of her tutors tried to improve her handwriting, but she was beyond help. "That's a beautiful name."

"Why thank you, Skylar. My father chose it, after his mother and grandmother. Of course, his mother had sparkling red eyes, and mine are far from that," she winked a pale blue eye, "but I loved my grandma as much as a little girl can. She's the one who taught me about healing and herbs. She was a witch."

Skylar's eyebrows rose. "Really?"

"A light witch, a good one. She used her abilities for good, drawing her power from nature, rather than dark forces. She was very good at what she did. I always wished I had that ability."

"You don't?"

"Unfortunately, no. And neither of my daughters, nor my grandsons can manipulate magic. We all have it inside of us, it's how we shift, but we can't all access it and bend it to our will. It tends to skip a few generations," she turned to Victoria, who continued to craft the little socks as she listened quietly. "Kellan can manipulate his magic, can he not?"

Victoria glanced quickly at Skylar before nodding her head. "He can. He's quite good, too."

"Kellan?" Skylar figured he was someone in the clan she just hadn't heard of yet.

Nana answered her. "Alpha of the Eastern Clan. He and Leo are good friends. I told you about his daughter, Cassie, the one Orion is betrothed to."

Skylar's dragon growled softly at the mention of the other female. Skylar hushed the creature, silently reminding her of what Nana said about Cassie. How she wasn't strong enough for Orion. This placated her dragon, who settled in her head, but was alert to the conversation.

"Yes, you mentioned her, how you didn't think she was good enough for him."

"Mother," Victoria snapped at the white haired woman, who looked up innocently. "You can't go about tainting images of people just because you don't like them."

Nana wagged her finger at her daughter, narrowing her eyes. "Victoria, love, don't you dare look at me like you don't think the exact same thing."

Victoria huffed and looked away. "Well, of course I don't think she's good enough for him! He's my boy."

"That's not the only reason," Nana pushed.

"I will support Leo's decision to mate his son with Kellan's daughter, and that's that, Mother. She won't be bad for him."

"But she won't be good!"

"Take this up with Leo. The date of their mating ceremony is approaching, so it won't be long. You had better get on it," Victoria picked up her yarn again. The gesture was almost as if she was dismissing her mother. Nana picked up on Victoria's words faster than Skylar.

"They've picked a date?" she gasped.

"Not yet, but Cassie is almost of age. They won't wait for long after that," Victoria said softly. "They'll likely pick a date when they come to visit in a few weeks."

"Not if I have anything to do with it," Nana looked over at Skylar. "Don't you worry, dear."

Blood rushed to Skylar's cheeks, and she had no idea why. "I-I wasn't worried."

"Of course you weren't," Nana nodded indulgently and before Skylar could answer, or even think about what she meant, Olly, Laura, and Fiona decided to walk into the infirmary.

Olly shot his handsome grin in Skylar's direction before kissing Victoria and Nana on the cheek. "We are here to collect you three. Orion the almighty sent us personally."

"He was quite insistent," Laura added, rolling her eyes. "He wouldn't let me stay behind while he and Percy got ready."

"What do they have to get ready for?" Skylar wondered as Nana and Victoria rose. Victoria needed help from Olly, who rushed over to grab her hand before she fell back into her chair.

"They get all dressed up to celebrate the children shifting for the first time, welcoming into the clan. It's a big celebration," Laura grinned. "It's one of the most important days of the little dragons' lives."

Victoria hooked her arm through Olly's and they began walked toward the cliffs outside the village. Not the cliffs Skylar and Orion had been practicing at, but the ones that were closer, that could been seen from the village. Skylar could already see large fires roaring, and the smell of roasting meat. Her mouth began watering as they got closer, and she couldn't wait to eat.

She needed to distract herself from the thought of food. "How old are the children when they shift for the first time?"

"Five or six. It's different for every dragon," Olly explained. He glanced at Laura and Fiona, but they were speaking with Victoria about her baby. Skylar remembered that they didn't know about her situation, about how little she knew about dragons, and was glad they hadn't heard her question.

"Why so young?"

He shrugged a broad shoulder. "No clue. That's just when the magic takes hold. There are some arguments that that's the age their bodies are finally strong enough to control the magic, or it just takes that long for the magic to manifest. But no one really knows."

Skylar nodded slowly, and they walked on in silence for the rest of the way, at least for a little while. Clan members were already gathered around the fires, chatting and laughing. A few looked ready to approach Skylar, but seemed hesitant because of Olly's presence. Or maybe it was Nana. More than a few people looked afraid of her.

The clan had already began digging into the food, and Skylar wanted nothing more than to join them in their gluttony. Unfortunately, Olly and the others didn't make a beeline for the food, so she was left to wait. She didn't know the customs. Perhaps since she wasn't a member of the clan she didn't get food at all? The thought seemed ridiculous, but Skylar had never felt more unsure of herself or where she was supposed to be. She was a princess, she was used to large gatherings such as this one, but all of these people were dragons. They were having a ceremony to celebrate the full moon and for small people who were shifting for the first time. This was so far out of Skylar's level of experience, she had a hard time finding the similarities with the parties she was used to. There certainly weren't children running around at the parties she normally attended, but there had been more than one youngster run past her legs. They didn't sit still long enough for her to study them, but she guessed that a least a few would be shifting for the first time tonight.

Skylar stuck close to Olly and the rest of her group, afraid of being left vulnerable to the clan for interrogation. She received more than a few suspicious gazes as she followed Olly as he walked around and greeted everyone. She wondered why he wasn't with his father and brother getting ready, why he wasn't included in the "Alpha" portion of the evening. She didn't dare ask, for fear of offending him.

Laura left for a moment, but then came back with a plate full of food and handed it to Skylar with a wink. "I saw you eyeing it up from the moment we got here," she teased. "Go on, eat. Everyone else is. The Alphas and Betas will be here soon, so you should eat now, before the real fun starts."

"Is everything going to happen right away?"

Laura shook her head. "We have to wait until midnight. The ceremony will start slightly before then. The children will shift, and then we'll all follow. Don't worry, just follow what everyone else is doing, alright?"

Skylar nodded, appreciative of Laura's gentle understanding. She didn't ask questions Skylar didn't have an answer to. It would be fine, except she had no idea how to lie about being a dragon.

She smiled at and greeted every person Olly, Laura, and Victoria introduced her to. And there were a lot. She would never remember everyone's names, but she at least was getting to know their scents and giving her dragon a chance to acclimate to the large group before she would be shifting with all of them. She prayed that she'd be able to hold off the inevitable shift until the proper moment. That was exactly what she didn't need, to ruin the ceremony because she couldn't control her shifting. She was sipping her wine when everyone went quiet and turned to look toward the village. Four large men approached, and Skylar's eyes widened at the sight of them. She'd never seen anything so intimidating.

Leo, Orion, Percy, and Zachariah wore only a pair of tan cloth pants, and they wore no shoes. Their strong, impressively muscled torso's were painted with various shades of red, orange, and yellow, looking like flames snaking around their bodies. Orion wore a necklace adorned with what were likely dragon scales. Skylar couldn't tear her gaze away from him. His face, while fierce with the painted on flames, was fierce but also calm and confident. She'd never seen someone who looked so suited for his part. He radiated Alpha power, begging everyone around to bow down to him, which they did. The clan slowly sunk to one knee as their Alpha, Beta, and future Alpha and Beta approached. Even the heavily pregnant Victoria lowered herself to acknowledge their presence. Skylar followed suit, and it didn't feel wrong. Feeling the powerful aura surrounding the clan leaders, she couldn't help but respect them.

As everyone rose again, Skylar looked up to find Orion's eyes trained on her. She gave him a small smile and a corner of his mouth quirked, but otherwise he was as stoic as his father. The clan was still silent as the four men stopped and surveyed their people. Leo stood in the front with Orion to his right, and seeing both of them standing there proudly, completely at ease with who they were and what they were meant to do, all while conveying their love for their clan. Skylar could only think of them as kings.