Skylar couldn't bear to look at it. She turned her head into Orion's shoulder and squeezed her eyes closed. Orion was frozen in surprise, as was everyone else. Whatever they'd been expecting, it wasn't someone's head. She didn't know who it was, she hadn't let herself look long enough for that, but she assumed it was someone her father knew.

Orion's arm came around her and he pulled her into side, completely disregarding her family. She shuddered and pressed against him for comfort.

"What the hell," Olly whispered.

His words seemed to break through her father's stupor. His head snapped up and turned to look at the messenger, the girl Ashley.

"Seize her!" he demanded. The young woman yelped as two guards grabbed her arms roughly. She shook as Hal stalked towards her.

"Who do you really work for? Draco wouldn't dare send me something like this." He shoved the box toward her and she shrunk back in disgust, flinching away from the head.

"It is him! I swear," she insisted. "I didn't know what was in the box! I just do as His Majesty says, and he wanted to box delivered here."

Hal snorted and glanced back down in the box. Skylar wanted to ask if he knew who it was, but she did want to have to inhale to do so. Orion's arm tightened around her.

"There's a letter, he said there's a letter," Ashley burst, as if just remembering. "There should be a letter in there."

The king looked back down in the box long enough to notice the white paper tucked next to the head. He plucked it out and walked over to set the box down on the table. He slowly unfolded it and they all waited patiently. Violet stood with a hand to her chest and her eyes closed as she composed herself, but she moved toward her husband to offer him her support.

"My dear old friend--," Hal began slowly reading the letter. "I don't take betrayal well, and I'm disappointed in you. Instead of simply asking me about your daughter, you sent your men into my kingdom without my permission to search for her. Unfortunately, your men are not as inconspicuous as you had hoped. They didn't find her, but my men found them. As observed in the package I sent you, there are consequences to my anger.

"I hadn't planned on sending this package, simply a letter, but then I found out Skylar had returned."

Hal paused in his reading and looked up at Skylar. She gasped quietly. He knew, he knew. He knew she'd gone back on her word, and now she had no idea what he was going to do. Orion growled softly while Olly looked at the two of them in question. They hadn't come up with a Plan B, because there should have been no way that Draco found out. There was a spy in the castle. But, spy or not, word shouldn't have gotten to him so fast. He would have had to heard the day she arrived.

She clenched her fists and stepped away from Orion, who protested but let her lose contact with him.

"Keep reading," she told her father.

After pursing his lips, Hal continued. "...I found out Skylar had returned. She explicitly agreed to do no such thing, and she went back on her word. In return for such lack of honor, I have another one of your knights. Your head knight, if I recall. And Skylar's lover."

A growl tore through the room as Orion lost his temper. Skylar turned around in surprise. He didn't think that Draco was telling the truth, did he? Draco had seen her kissing Jonathan, but that had been one time; they were far from lovers.

Orion's eyes glowed dangerously at the words her father had read off the page. "Your what?"

"My nothing," she snarled back. "It's not important right now. Father, continue."

Hal watched their exchange with interest, but held obvious contempt for Orion in his eyes. That was something else Skylar would worry about later.

"Father," she snapped, her patience declining at an alarming rate. A man whom she called her best friend for most of her life was in the hands of a sadistic, evil man who wanted to get back at her.

The king inhaled deeply and then continued. "Sir Jonathan is locked up in my dungeon, where he will remain for as long as it suits me, for me to do with what I will. Perhaps his head will end up on your doorstep one day.

"Tell Skylar that if she doesn't want to play by my rules, then this won't end well for her or that group of beasts she now calls her family. Next time I see her, I'll be charging my armies upon her clan of dragons. And you, Harold, consider our alliance terminated. You harbored a dragon, and you sent your men to search my kingdom. Your actions indicate that you'd rather side with the monsters than the man you've known since childhood, the one who gave you your child, whether she turned out to be one of the monsters or not. Until next time, Draco, King of Linester."

Skylar was fuming at this point. He had Jonathan, and now he was going after the Western Clan, as if that hadn't been his plan all along.

Hal stared at the paper in his hands. It crinkled where he grasped it, and it looked like it was about to rip.

"Hal?" Violet asked softly.

"He killed one of my knights," Hal said softly. "And he's holding another hostage."

"He has Jonathan," Skylar stated, slight panic beginning to settle. "Who knows what he's doing to him."

"I'm sure we can guess," he barked. Then his gaze softened and closed the lid on the box. "Bring Sir Adam's head to the physician. I'll alert his family of his sacrifice myself. Take the girl to the dungeons." Ashley didn't argue, she just looked scared and confused, so it was a quiet affair as the two guards pulled her from the sitting room and a third collected the box from the table.

A lump formed in Skylar's throat. She had never formally met him, but she'd heard Jonathan talk about him before, and she seen him training. Now he was dead, for no reason other than spite. She cast her gaze downward in respect for the young knight. She wouldn't have thought Draco capable of cold blooded murder. The man wasn't stable in the head, but she'd thought even he was above something like this.

"Father, what are we going to do?" Skylar asked.

Hal glanced at her. "What do you mean?"

"Draco killed Adam. Your knight. And now he's holding Jonathan hostage. We have to do something. We have to get Jonathan out of there," she exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air. She could feel Orion's eyes boring into the back of her head, but she ignored him. All of her focus was on her endangered friend.

"You're suggesting that I break into his castle? After what just happened when all we did was enter his kingdom?"

Anger boiled up in Skylar. "You're suggesting we just leave Jonathan there to die?"

"I know you care for him Skylar-"

"He's my best friend," she snapped. Orion snarled behind her once again but she turned and bared her teeth at him with a growl of her own. It appalled her dragon that she would address Orion in such a way, but Skylar could only think of the awful things Draco could do to Jonathan. The only reason he was there in the first place was because he wanted to find her. He thought she was in danger and went after her, she would do the same for him.

Hal shook his head. "Jonathan is my head knight, he knew the dangers of the job. I won't risk anymore knights for a lost cause."

Skylar raised her chin and stared at him. "Then I'll go."

Orion stepped forward and grabbed her arm to spin her around. The guards in the room touched their swords and stepped forward at the action against their princess, but Hal held out his hand to tell them to stand down. This was between Orion and Skylar.

"You will do no such thing," he ground out through clenched teeth. She sensed his dragon lurking just below the surface, as upset by her declaration as the human.

"You can't tell me what to do," she responded with just as much venom. "I don't belong to you, Orion." Of course, she knew she did, heart and soul, but that did not mean he had the right to tell her not to do something simply because he didn't agree with her.

Orion's eyes flashed. "That doesn't mean I'm letting you go. You want to walk right into Draco's arms? For some human?" The face he made at her, as if she were stupid, surprised her. He'd never looked at her like that before, never acted like she didn't know what she was doing or that she was incapable.

"He isn't some human!" she snarled. "He's my best friend, since we were children. I won't leave to him die in Draco's grasp."

"Why? Like your father said, he knew what he was getting into when he became a knight. He knew the dangers of such a position."

She was appalled at this new side of Orion. This only fueled her anger, that he would act like this. She suspected that jealousy had a lot to do with it, but he was an Alpha; he should be able to handle his emotions better.

"He shouldn't have to suffer them if we can do something. I can do something. I won't let him die because of me."

"He's nothing," Orion shook his head. She sensed his own anger growing in time with hers. "He's one man. His death will mean nothing to what we want to accomplish. He'll just be the first of many."

The nonchalant way he spoke of death bothered Skylar more than anything. She knew that deaths were unavoidable in this war, but they still meant something. Every person who died meant something to someone. They were a father, brother, son, friend to someone. To Skylar they were brave warriors who gave their lives so others could live better. That was to be honored, not tossed aside as a consequence of war.

For that statement, she wanted to hurt Orion.

She yanked her arm away from him and pointed a finger to his chest. She leaned closer to Orion, whom she was angrier at than she'd ever been at anyone. Even Draco. She'd expect such indifference from the other king, but from Orion? She'd seen him so gentle, so sweet. Now his usual liquid gold eyes were cold and icy, filled with anger.

"I wanted to marry him," she hissed. Orion jerked back and squeezed his eyes closed. She was partially lying, she'd only wanted to marry him because he was safe, he was her friend, and she'd thought she'd be happiest with him, but she knew the words would hurt Orion. It was immature, she knew, but she was so angry. His lack of concern for death, not just Jonathan's, was a side of him she had not expected. She hoped it was because he was angry, because he was jealous of Jonathan. Her own mind was clouded with her fury, which was so intense that she was holding her dragon back without any effort. A part of her knew that she couldn't take back what she had said, but the angry part of her didn't care.

Orion's face contorted in anger and pain, and when he opened his eyes again, they glowed in anger.

"You said you weren't lovers," he answered softly, his voice strained.

Without thinking, she drove the dagger home. "That doesn't mean I didn't want to be."

As soon as the words escaped, it was as if a cold bucket of water had been dumped over her head. Her anger dissipated and all she was left with was a cold, clammy feeling of guilt. Orion looked like he was in physical pain and he stumbled a few steps away from her.

"Orion," she pleaded. "Orion, I didn't-"

He shook his head and held up a hand to her. His whole body was tense and she sensed his dragon fighting him for freedom. She took a step toward him, desperate to do something, but Olly restrained her with a firm hand on her shoulder. She looked back at him and wished she hadn't. His orange eyes were filled with disappointment and betrayal, which only made her feel worse, which she didn't think was possible.

Orion composed himself as best he could and stormed out of the room. She wanted to rush after him, to apologize and explain herself before it became irreversible. Jonathan was still her friend, but he didn't mean the same thing to her now as he did before. Orion was her future, her world, her mate, and she'd hurt him terribly.

Her father cleared his throat and it was then Skylar remembered she had an audience. She blinked the tears from her eyes and turned to them. They both looked confused, but also sad.

"Oliver," Violet said softly, "will you give us a moment?"

The younger Nogard nodded. "I'll go make sure my brother doesn't do anything stupid." With that, he left and the guards followed him out, leaving the three members of the royal family alone.

Skylar wiped her cheeks and faced her parents. They stared at her in silence for a moment before Hal spoke up.

"That was a side of you I haven't seen before."

"You've seen me angry before, Father." Irritation oozed into her voice.

"Indeed, but I've never seen you spiteful. Not like that."

Skylar looked down at her toes, ashamed. "I hurt him."

"You felt he was out of line, which he was; he had no right to tell you to leave Jonathan to die."

She looked up at Hal with a frown. "What?"

"He's not one of us. It's not his place to say such things."

"He was worried about me getting too close to Draco."

"He was jealous," Hal snorted. He crossed his arms over his chest and looked down at her. "Darling, he's a possessive monster."

Skylar knew that wasn't true. There was something else, there had to be something else that would cause Orion to act like that. He wasn't so possessive that he would let a man die, was he? Orion was too kind for that, cared too much about people. Whatever she'd thought in her haze of anger, she had to believe Orion knew how much she loved him. That she would never leave him. She'd known him for two weeks, but every instinct she had told her there was no one else for her. She'd never look at another male the way she'd look at Orion, nor would she feel like she felt. Every fiber of her being pointed toward Orion, yearned for him when he wasn't around. Begged for his touch, even when he stood right before her. She belonged to him totally and completely.

Yet she'd wanted to hurt him, and hurt him she had. She couldn't forgive herself for that, and she worried that Orion couldn't either.

"No, Father, he's not," she defended Orion. "He's not like that, ever. He's a dragon, and he loves me. I love him."

Violet's eyes widened while Hal's narrowed in anger. "You haven't known him long enough to know what he's like. Nor have you known him long enough to love him. You're infatuated with him. He's handsome, he's charming, and he's like you. You think he can understand you, that he can be the prince we've always wanted for you, but he can't. He's a beast who doesn't care about the lives of others."

Skylar growled. "You're wrong. I don't know how I know, but I do. He's my mate, the one I'm meant for, and I won't let you tell me otherwise. You don't like him, but I don't care. I'm not the princess. Once everyone finds out what I am, do you think they'll let me be their queen? Do you think I want to be the queen, when I'd always have to hide? I can be who I am meant to be with Orion, in a way I can't with anyone you'd approve of."

"Skylar," Violet stepped toward her and wrapped her in a big hug. "I see the way you look at him. It's the same way I look at your father. I believe you, darling. I do."

Hal took a deep breath to counter her but Violet interrupted him sharply. "All we have ever wanted was for you to be happy. That's all we've ever wanted for you, but I see now that you can't have it here."

Skylar looked up at her mother and the tears finally escaped, cascading down her cheeks. Violet wiped them away with her thumbs and a small smile.

"You would make a wonderful queen, but we can't keep you caged here any longer. You belong with dragons, you always have. But you can't be with them if they're all gone."

Skylar stared at her in confusion while Violet looked over at Hal. The king just looked tired and incredibly sad. He stepped forward and hung his head.

"I don't want to let you go, Skylar."

"Father-"

"But I have to. I know that," he continued, looking up at her. "I forced you into this cage, and that's something I can never forgive myself for. I did that to you, I kept you from your people, and now I have to make that up somehow."

Skylar smiled at him hopefully. "Does this mean you'll help us?"

He nodded once. "The dragons will have my support, but I can't promise that of my men's, you know that. I can't force them to fight alongside dragons."

Skylar nodded. "But you can ask them to. Tell them that Jonathan, their leader, was kidnapped by Draco. Tell them to fight for him."

Hal nodded and kissed her forehead.

Skylar sighed. "I'm still going to go save him."

Hal and Violet frowned. "Skylar, the risk-"

"It's Jonathan. I can't just leave him."

"After what just happened with Orion, the man you intend to marry from the sound of it, you still want to continue with that plan?"

She nodded. She knew it was stupid, knew it was something Orion wouldn't forgive, but her loyalty wouldn't let her betray her oldest friend. Even her dragon understood and was on her side. The beast had always liked Jonathan, and she hated Draco. She wouldn't leave anyone in his grasp.

"I'm a lot stronger now than I was when I left," she told them.

Hal nodded sadly. "We know. It's hard to miss."

Skylar hugged them both and when she pulled away, Violet looked at her thoughtfully.

"You need to go to him, before it's too late."

Skylar nodded and bolted from the room in search of her mate. She had to make this right, had to ease his pain. He wouldn't want to see her, wouldn't want to talk to her, but she couldn't just leave him. Her guards immediately began following her, but she spun with a growl that surprised them enough that they stopped in their tracks.

"I need to be alone with Lord Nogard, so you will remain here until I'm done."

"Princess, last time we left you alone..." Ian trailed off.

"Last time was a special case, and it will not happen again, I promise," she snapped. "You will remain here." She released her Alpha aura, which slammed into them without mercy. The three of them hunched over slightly at the power of it and immediately submitted. She nodded in satisfaction and took off again.

Her nose quickly picked up Orion and Olly's scent, which she followed closely. It led toward the front of the castle, and she prayed that he hadn't left. He wouldn't really leave her here, would he? The worry grew rapidly the closer she got to the front doors, but the trail suddenly turned off the main hallway into a side one that led toward the court yard. She picked up her speed, nearly sprinting now. She burst into sunshine, which seemed incredibly inappropriate for the kind of day it had been so far, and looked around desperately. She found them immediately, sitting on one of the benches.

Orion hunched forward, his fists clenching and un-clenching in frustration while Olly spoke to him. His voice was too low for Skylar to hear from her position, and she could only hope that he wasn't badmouthing her to Orion. She paused in the archway, suddenly terrified to approach him. Anger still radiated from him, but that didn't surprise her. It hadn't been long, and she'd pushed him far enough that he'd had to fight shifting.

She took a deep breath and stepped forward. This couldn't be the start to the relationship that hadn't even talked about yet. It had only been four days since he'd kissed her for the first time, but she'd told him she'd loved him, and he'd reciprocated. That was enough that they should have talked more about what this meant to both of them. What they saw in the future.

She stepped on the soft grass and both heads turned to look at her. She'd thought she'd been quiet, but apparently not. She twisted her fingers together and gave Orion a pleading look. She took that fact that he didn't immediately yell at her to leave as a good sign. He said something to Olly, and the younger dragon nodded before rising to his feet. He walked toward Skylar, and one of the exits, with the most serious look on his face. She looked up at him as he approached her and a part of her worried that he was about to tell her to go away. Surprisingly, he didn't.

"He's hurting, and you're the only thing that can fix it," he said in a low voice. "Don't hurt him anymore."

She nodded. "I don't want to."

Olly simply nodded once and then walked back into the castle. Skylar stepped toward Orion, even though he was no longer looking at her. She approached him slowly and stopped when she was right next to him.

"Orion, I'm sorry, " she said.

He didn't look at her.

"I didn't mean it, I really didn't," she pleaded. When he didn't respond again, she like she needed to fill the silence. "I thought I loved him once, and then I met you and I realized I didn't know what love was before that."

Orion finally looked up at her, his eyes still a hard gold. "You don't still have feelings for him?"

She shook her head. "No. I don't."

"Then why do you still wear that?" he looked down at her necklace, which she hadn't taken off since Jonathan had given it to her. She reached up and touched it.

"It was my birthday present. It was from his grandmother," she said.

"He still gave it to you though, didn't he?"

She nodded.

He sighed and ran his hands over his face. "You hold too much power over me."

"What?"

"I lost my temper. I never lose my temper, Skylar. Never. I'm in control, always. But once you came into my life, I lost my grip on it. My loyalty to my clan, my relationship with my father, my control over my dragon, everything changed. My loyalty shifted over to you, and my dragon forgot about everything except for you. His whole mind is consumed with making you his mate. Claiming you, marking you, and I can't stop it. The thought of another male even looking at you drives him insane. It drives me insane."

"I'm sorry," she whispered again.

He just shook his head with a sharp laugh. He rose to his impressive height. "I don't know a lot about this, but I know it isn't supposed to be this intense, not usually, and I'm having a hard time dealing with it all. I have a hard enough time dealing with all of these new feelings, and then you go and throw that human in my face?"

"You said his death would mean nothing," she argued. "But you're wrong. I don't love him, I don't have feelings for him anymore, but that doesn't mean I don't care about him. He's been my friend since we were children, Orion. My best friend, who has always been there for me. I'm not going to lie and say that there wasn't a time when I thought he would make a good husband, but that was only because that was as good as I thought it could get. That was before I met you."

"His death would mean nothing to me," Orion snarled. "I would kill him myself if I knew it wouldn't hurt you. I've never felt like this before, but the thought of another male holding any place in your heart makes me want to hunt him down and kill him slowly, all while he knew that you were mine, and no one else's."

Skylar glared up at him. "I'm not a piece of property for you to stake claim to."

"Try telling that to my dragon," he countered. "What I want to know is why you aren't having these feelings, why you aren't dealing with an insane dragon."

"How do you think I felt with Cassie? And it wasn't just the idea of her, oh no. I had to watch you kiss her, hold her, say you loved her."

"That was before I knew how you felt. It's different."

"Is it? I don't think so. You knew how you felt about me, and I definitely knew how I felt about you, Orion. Watching you act like that made my dragon want to rip her to shreds. But my dragon has always been violent, so I wasn't surprised by her. What surprised me was that I had my own fantasies about tearing Cassie apart. So don't act like you're the only one who has to deal with a possessive streak."

Orion ran a hand through his hair, roughly pulling out his plait to leave the wavy strands to float in the breeze. "Where does that leave us?"

"We don't like the thought of each other with anyone else, to put it lightly," Skylar answered as she crossed her arms. "But I think that is obvious enough. Right now, I want to talk about something else. Why do you care so little about the men who will die in this fight against Draco?"

He appeared genuinely confused. "What?"

"You said, 'he'll just be the first of many'," she repeated. "If Jonathan's death would mean nothing to our cause, why would anyone else's?"

Orion closed his eyes and sighed. "I was angry about Jonathan. I didn't mean it like that, Skylar. Of course their deaths will mean something, they're just unavoidable. They'll die for us. And Draco's men will die because of us. But it's so we can live safer lives, so our children can live safe lives."

Relief flooded over her. He wasn't heartless, he'd just done what she had: let her anger control her mouth.

"Our children?" she asked.

"Oh, um," he reached up to rub the back of his neck, "you know, like the children of the clan. The next generation."

"Oh," she nodded. "So not our children?"

He shook his head and inhaled deeply, collecting himself. "Of course our children, because I intend to make you my mate, Skylar. I think that needs to be said right now, since I didn't say it earlier. I intend for you to be the Alpha female of the Western Clan, for you to lead by my side, because I can't imagine anyone else I'd rather have next to me for the rest of my life."

Skylar kept her face composed and emotionless, otherwise she would break out into a dance. "Good, because that's exactly where I plan to be for the rest of my life."

A smile graced Orion's wonderful mouth. "I'm glad we cleared that up."

"I really am sorry, Orion. You're more important to me than anything and I just-"

He stepped toward her and placed a finger over her mouth. "Shhh. I'm sorry, too. I love you."

"I love you."

He swooped down and took her mouth with the powerful tenderness she'd been craving since they'd arrived at the castle. His strong arms wrapped tightly around her, locking her into place against him. She leaned into him and stood up on her toes to reach him better. Her arms slid up over his chest to grab his face and pull him closer to her. The aching in her chest eased as he touched her, his hands sliding from her back to her hips, gently caressing as they went. Skylar's dragon hummed in contentment. She was still irritated with Skylar for how she'd treated their male earlier, but it was forgiven with the attention she gave him now.

Orion's mouth left hers and moved over her cheek to her ear. He nipped her earlobe and growled hungrily.

"I want to claim you," he whispered. His sharp teeth grazed her neck. "I want to feel the mate bond with you. I want everyone to know you're mine."

Although every instinct she had begged her to say yes, she couldn't. "Not here," she gasped. "Not yet."

"Why?"

"I want to be able to enjoy it after. I want us to be alone, really alone," she replied.

"We're alone now," he countered, his mouth on her neck again.

"No, anyone could see us," she replied. She pulled him up so she could look into his eyes, which were once again the warm, liquid gold she'd grown accustomed to. "I want it to be special, Orion. I want us to be home."

"Home," he smiled. He leaned his forehead against hers and closed his eyes. "Our home."

"Yes," she breathed out. "Our home. With our clan."

"My dragon won't be able to wait much longer," Orion admitted. "I finally understand Percy's situation. I don't know how he waited so long to ask Laura to be his mate."

"He and Laura aren't True Mates."

Orion's eyes flew open and she suddenly worried she'd misinterpreted her emotions, their connection. But then she thought about how quickly they'd grown to care for one another. She remembered her dragon's reaction to him right from the beginning. She remembered the primal tug she felt toward him, how every instinct begged for her to accept him. She remembered how quickly she trusted him with her life. All of that, and she knew she was right. He had been made for her, and she for him.

Orion licked his lips. "No, they aren't. Not like us."

Skylar grinned and pulled him down for another kiss. "I want to claim you, too. My dragon is begging me. But I don't want to do it here, not now. Please?"

He nodded. "I'm not going to force you, Skylar. What do you take me for?"

"I just know it's hard and I'm sorry about that. But we'll be okay. I promise."

"Of course we will be," he hugged her close and she rested her cheek against his chest, suddenly dreading what she was about to say.

"I still want to go save Jonathan."

Orion growled and pushed her just far enough away that he could look down at her. "Skylar-"

"He's there because he wanted to find me. It's my fault he's there, and I can't live with that. He's my friend, Orion. Not only that, but he's a good, innocent man who's suffering at the hand's of a very evil king. You know what Draco is like. Would you wish that upon anyone?"

Orion glared at her for a moment but then shook his head. "I would not."

"So you understand why I can't leave him there."

He nodded slowly and rested his forehead against hers. "I do understand, and I know that I can't stop you. But you've got another thing coming if you think I'm going to let you go alone."