He'd imagined his conversation with Cassie going in several different ways. They ranged from unlikely to very likely and desirable to very undesirable. The order was the same for each description.

One: Cassie wouldn't much mind that he'd scorned her and was traipsing around with another female right in front of her. They'd have a chat about it, laugh, and move on with their respective lives.

Two: Cassie would kill him.

He wasn't worried about her attacking him. It was completely warranted on her part, and he knew he could hold her back. He was worried about the aftermath and the tension it would cause between the two clans.

He'd been avoiding this conversation for as long as possible, enjoying his time with Skylar. Cassie had conveniently stayed out of sight doing who knew what. For all he knew, or anyone else for that matter, she could have been gone for the past week. He knew that wasn't the case, but that was how scarce she'd been. Luckily, when he'd asked Penelope about her whereabouts, his ex-betrothed's mother knew she was in the far pastures collecting herbs for Nana. Once he'd located and confronted her, all of the scenarios he'd envisioned had disappeared.

Instead, Cassie now clung to him like she was drowning, sobbing into his chest. He patted her back awkwardly, unsure how to escape from her embrace without offending her further. He could feel her tears soaking into his shirt and he could only image Skylar's reaction when he returned smelling heavily of the other female.

He would have preferred an angry Cassie over this weepy one.

"Orion," she whimpered. "We were so happy. I don't understand why you left me for her."

He cleared his throat uncomfortably. How did he tell someone it was because he wasn't happy with her, not at all, and he was happier than he'd ever been in his life with Skylar.

"Cassie," he said slowly, forcing her away from him so he could look down at her. "Cassie, we really weren't good together."

"That's just not true, Orion." She looked up at him with watery eyes. Her crying was so dainty, so gentle, it didn't even seem real. Perfect tears fell down her face, which wasn't puffy or even all that red. He'd seen Skylar cry once, on that first night in the woods, when he'd barely known her an hour, and her crying had looked nothing like this. Her crying had been real and genuine, true sadness and not at all attractive, and it had tugged at his heart like nothing else. Whatever Cassie was doing had no such effect on him.

Cassie sniffled and touched his face. "I love you. You're mine."

He shook his head with a heavy sigh. "Not anymore, I'm not. There was once a time I thought we could have been happy together. I would do what was best for my clan, and I thought that was to be with you. Then I discovered my True Mate-"

Cassie scoffed and pushed away from him. "Your True Mate? Orion, please. You don't believe in that nonsense, you never have. True Mates don't exist. It's just people who feel passion for one another. Guess what? Passion goes away, and you're stuck with whatever is left. What will you be stuck with when your infatuation with this new female disappears? You'll realize that she doesn't know how to be a dragon. You'll spend your whole life making up for what she missed learning when she was a child. She won't create an alliance with the Eastern Clan, not like your father wanted. She can't ever be enough dragon for you."

There was the anger he'd been waiting for. Now he felt comfortable retaliating with his own.

"Don't you dare talk about her like that. Everything Skylar has been through has made her more of a dragon than you ever will be. You didn't get what you wanted and now you're acting like a child," he snarled at her. "You're trying to belittle that happiness I found because you're miserable."

"What right does she have to come here and change agreements that have been around for nearly twenty years? I was promised to you the moment I was born! We've known each other since we were children, known what we would be to each other someday. I've loved you for as long as I can remember, and I know you loved me too."

He growled at her. "I never told you I loved you. I never felt that way about you, and you know it. We had an arranged mating and that's all. That fact that we knew each other while growing up has nothing to do with any of this. You were simply what I was told to do, and I was going to do it."

Her violet eyes flashed and she bared her teeth. He had no idea how he'd ever thought he could be her mate for the rest of his life.

"My father will fight you on this," she snapped. "You're mine, you'll always be mine. I will fight her for you."

"You won't win," he growled. "Besides, Kellan has already told us we have his blessing, so long as I talked with you today about what happened."

"Dad would never betray his daughter like that. He knows how much I love you. Besides, he wants a strong alliance between the two clans. She's not a member of the Eastern Clan."

"You don't love me, Cassie. You don't try to manipulate and threaten people you love! You're infatuated with me," he said slowly, knowing that what he spoke was the truth. He knew what love was, and whatever Cassie felt for him wasn't that. "And are you so sure about that? Last I checked, Skylar was born into the Eastern Clan as the first daughter to Alphas Kellan and Penelope."

Cassie faltered and her eyes widened. Clearly, she'd forgotten about that fact that she and Skylar were sisters... and that Skylar was older than she.

Cassie's eyes flashed again. "You're a bastard, Orion Nogard."

Orion sighed and ran a hand through his hair, trying to figure out how to fix this. He couldn't have Cassie hating him and Skylar, he just couldn't. She was angry, and he knew why but didn't blame her for it. Yes, he'd been a bastard. He'd promised her they'd spend their lives together, and then he turned around and left her. If she'd done that to him... well, actually, he wouldn't have cared. He didn't care about her like she'd apparently cared about him. That's how he knew for certain he didn't love. The thought had crossed his mind more than once that Skylar could very well do to him what he had done to Cassie. He would go completely insane.

So, no, he didn't blame Cassie for her anger. She was simply a dragon who felt that someone had taken away what was hers. His anger drained out of him as he made the comparison, finally finding a way to empathize with her.

"Cassie," he shook his head, at a loss. He didn't know what to say to her, didn't know how to make this better. "I'm sorry about all of this. I didn't ever want to hurt you."

She sneered. "I see how well that went for you."

He ignored the shot. "I really was intending to marry you, even when I first met Skylar. Nothing was going to change. But then... but then I got to know her and everything fell into place. I realized I couldn't live without her. I'm a selfish man, Cassie, and I never thought I was before now. I put my own happiness above everyone else's for the first time in my life, and I know what I did was horrible, and I should have talked to you about this sooner, but I didn't know what to say. What can I say to make this better?"

She shrugged, crossing her arms and looking away from him. "I suppose there really isn't anything you can say."

He let out a heavy breath. "I didn't think so. But I truly am sorry, if that means anything."

"It doesn't," she snapped. "Should I expect this same speech from Skylar?"

He cocked his head in surprise. "No, why would you?"

Her dark eyebrows shot to her hairline. "My dear sister wronged me just as much, if not more than, you have."

His protectiveness surged forward, but he controlled himself and took a deep breath. "How do you figure that?"

"Not only did she take you away from me, which she had no right to do, she's taking Mom, Dad, and Jed as well."

"Well," Orion said slowly, "they are her family, too."

"No, she has a family. A human family, which is what she deserves. My entire life I've had to live up to the infant daughter that Mom and Dad lost four years before I was born. I never knew her, no one really did. She was a baby, crying out loud, not even a month old when they lost her! I've lived in the shadow of an infant my entire life. This idea they had of her, their perfect, first daughter who they held up on a pedestal, and I could never live up to that. And now she comes along, the long lost daughter, and she's everything they could have ever imagined, because of course she is. I've hated her my entire life, and I still hate her."

Cassie paced back and forth in front of him, venting all of the emotions she'd obviously kept bottled tight most of her life. In fact, he thought it was the deepest discussion they'd ever had. Her voice was a little choked up as she spoke, and Orion thought she was going to break down into tears once more, except he felt that these would be more genuine than before.

"I've had to hide out for the past two weeks because I didn't want to face anyone. Do you know how humiliating this whole thing is? How am I supposed to walk around with everyone knowing that you chose my sister over me and not even giving me the courtesy of trying to hide it?"

"It wasn't about choice," he argued, knowing that he couldn't have stayed with Cassie whether he wanted to or not. Pangs of guilt hit him when he realized he and Skylar really had been throwing it back in her face.

"It's always about choice, Orion," she snapped. "You chose to spend time with her. You chose to let yourself get close enough to fall in love with her."

Orion sighed. He knew he couldn't explain any of this to her, she couldn't understand. You didn't choose to fall in love. Love grabbed you and slammed you to the ground, leaving you powerless to fight back, until you finally gave in.

"So," she sighed, taking on a defeated look, "I hate her. I don't expect you to understand, I don't expect you to empathize, I just want you to know. I can never forgive you, and I can never like her. Don't ask or expect me to. The only bright side to this entire thing was that you were mine first, and you're both going to have to live with that fact."

With that Cassie turned on her heel, shifted, and bounded into the air. She didn't look back at him once, not that he wanted her to. She'd gotten the last word, and he knew that would make her feel better. Things would still be incredibly awkward if she turned up, and he couldn't help but feel that nothing had been resolved, but he'd talked to her, just Kellan wanted. It wasn't his fault she didn't understand True Mates. It did unnerve him a little that she knew him well enough to know how strongly he hadn't believed in True Mates. Not a lot of dragons did, but for her to throw it back in his face like that made him think he'd hadn't believed more extremely than others.

He shook himself out, feeling better but worse at the same time. At least now he could go back to Skylar with the knowledge they could start fresh. He wouldn't tell her how aggressively Cassie hated her until it came up, which it likely would someday soon. Cassie and Skylar would end up in the same room eventually, and when they did, he knew things would escalate, just as they had between him and Jonathan.

The thought of Jonathan got his blood boiling again as he made his way back to the clan. His dragon snarled, begging to have a word with the man himself. Orion couldn't allow that, no matter how much he wanted to. He ran his hands over his face. He didn't like being this angry, this on edge all the time. Claiming Skylar would ease this constant tension, but they were going to do things her way at her pace.

There was also the fact that he didn't particularly want to claim her until he'd given her the proposal she deserved. Yes she'd said she was alright with their agreement that they were True Mates and would, thus, be mated in the near future, and he believed her, but she deserved so much better than that. She deserved to be swept off her feet, to have him shout to the world what she meant to him. She deserved romance, and it wasn't her fault he didn't have a lot of knowledge in that area, and it didn't come to him instinctively as it did to some men. He'd never needed it before. The only woman he'd ever needed to romance would have been Cassie, and she'd thrown herself at him with no work on his part.

He had something in mind, but he had to speak to Harold first. He himself didn't want or need the king's blessing, but it would mean something to Skylar. She'd grown up her whole life knowing she'd need his approval and permission for marriage, and that mindset wasn't something that would change in the matter of a month. After he acquired that approval, because he would acquire it, if it was the last thing he did, he'd talk with Laura. The future Beta female would help him with everything he had no knowledge of when it came to romancing a lady properly, which was very close to everything.

The rest of his walk back to the Big House was spent deep in thought. He felt accomplished for a while, but then everything else came rushing back to him. Draco was coming, and he was coming soon. Orion could think about his life with Skylar all he wanted, but none of it would ever come to fruition if Draco wasn't defeated. They needed to get the humans and dragons training together as soon as possible. They needed to be in close proximity and forced to get along.

If someone had told him a month ago that he'd be helping push the humans and dragons together, he likely would have laughed in their face and asked for some of whatever they were drinking. How quickly things can change.

He'd been gone longer than he thought because when he returned to the Big House to see Skylar and wait for Hal to leave his room, he found it to be empty. Even the king and queen were missing. He frowned and checked the rooms again just to make sure. Yeah, the house was definitely empty. Yes, it was how he'd expected to find it when he and Skylar had made their memorable entrance, but with all of the newcomers he expected it to be full and busy, especially with the king and queen staying there.

He walked back to the Square, relieved to find it bustling with its usual activity. He popped his head in to check on the progress of the other saddles, happy to find them nearly finished. It would be a while before they were used, but they needed to be done for them to have any impact.

He shouldn't have been surprised to find everyone in the infirmary, all of the women at least. They were standing around the counter drying, grinding, and mixing all different kinds of medicines for the upcoming battle. It had already been decided that Nana and Victoria would stay away from the fighting, remaining here with a few of the other females, prepared to tend the wounded when they arrived. Nana was too old to fight, Leo would never let Victoria anywhere near a battlefield, he'd cut off a limb before he'd let that happen, and both women were too valuable when it came to healing to have them do anything else.

Penelope, Victoria, Violet, Nana, Skylar, and Greta stood around talking and laughing like old friends. Little Benny was in his cradle by the fire, napping to the soothing voices of happy females.

Victoria's voice was light and friendly. "How were your travels, Violet, Greta?"

Violet chuckled. "Quite lovely, really. The beasts were kept far enough away from our carriage tat we weren't bothered by their smells and bellows." She waved her hand dismissively.

"You brought animals with you, did you, other than the few horses?" Nana asked with polite interest.

"Oh, heavens no," Greta laughed. "She's referring to the men!"

The women standing around the counter howled in laughter, grinning at one another like loons, oblivious to his presence in the doorway. He didn't mind though, and even though the joke was derogatory to his own gender, he couldn't fault her description. He doubted a large group of human men were all that different from one made up of dragons. Besides, the women were getting along, both human and dragon, and that made him happier than anything.

His eyes locked on Skylar's back, where her long, lovely red hair hung in a loose braid. He didn't often get to view her from this side without her knowing, so he took full advantage of the opportunity. The simple shirt and trousers did nothing to hide her ample curves, the ones that filled his hands so perfectly. He grinned to himself as he studied her, when she suddenly stiffened and swung around, her eyes narrow in suspicion.

Her gaze softened upon seeing him and she grinned broadly. He didn't miss the flare of her nostrils, she would've caught the smell of Cassie on him, that was hard to miss, but she said nothing, simply smiled as if she hadn't seen him in days rather than hours.

Skylar's fast movement hadn't gone unnoticed and he suddenly found himself the object of everyone's interest except for Benny, who was still sound asleep.

Greta finally broke the silence. "Orion!" she exclaimed, walking over to embrace him tightly. "Oh, it's so good to see you again."

He found that the feeling was entirely mutual, and told her so. He kissed her cheek before she pulled away, grinning up at him.

"I brought you something," she said suddenly, digging into one of the pockets on her apron. He furrowed his brow, wondering what she could have possibly wanted to bring him, when her hand shot back out triumphantly. In her fingers she grasped a small piece of fabric. A ribbon, to be exact. It was gold, obviously to match his eyes, and he stared at her in shock. He hadn't forgotten the torture she'd put him through on his first day at the castle, dressing him up in that awful tunic and then plaiting his hair so tight as to give him a headache.

He finally looked away from the ribbon to meet her gaze and saw the mischievous twinkle there. Realizing that she was once again teasing him, he took the ribbon and gave her a wry smile as he bowed to her.

"Why, thank you, mistress," he said at the bottom of his bow. He'd heard several people lower in rank than herself address her as such when he was at the castle. "I shall treasure it always." That he meant with all of his heart. He tucked the ribbon into his pocket with a wink.

Greta chuckled and curtsied quickly. "I'm much obliged, Lord Nogard." She brushed a piece of gray hair out of her face, tucking it neatly into place. If he weren't mistaken, she was the slightest bit flushed.

They looked back to find every staring at them in bemusement. Skylar raised an eyebrow, but was obviously pleased at his relationship with her nurse. Victoria and Nana just looked at him like he was a complete stranger. He didn't know how to explain the inside joke to them, but luckily didn't have to, for Benny began to cry in his cradle.

Orion took the opportunity and swung down to lift his little brother up, cradling him tightly in the crook of his arm. "There, there, Benny. No need to fuss, Brother's right here," he cooed down at him softly. The tiny child paused for a moment, his eyes focusing somewhere just in front of Orion's face, before he went back to his wailing.

Victoria clucked her tongue, and gently taking her baby from him. "He's hungry. Always is after his nap. You can take my spot over at the table, Orion, while I feed him."

He recognized an order when he was given one. With a nod and a smile down at the baby, he walked over and immediately took up Victoria's task of measuring herbs. Greta took up her place next to Nana as well, who glanced between the two of them curiously. If he weren't mistaken, there was the slightest bit of jealousy on her face.

"You two were acquainted at the castle then?" his grandmother asked.

Orion nodded casually. "Indeed. She made sure I was presentable enough to pass for a lord."

"Which he did." Violet gave him and meaningful look and he nodded at her. He hoped her comment meant he was in her favor, but it wasn't the queen he was worried about.

"Did you find Cassie?" Penelope cut in, worry etching into her face. "Did she come back with you?"

He sighed, casting a glance at Skylar, who'd paused her work. She watched him closely, her blue eyes narrowed, as she wait. It was obvious enough that she was thinking about how much he smelled like Cassie, who'd cried herself all over him.

"I did find her," he told the Alpha female. "It won't lie and say it went well, so, no, she didn't come back with me."

Her face fell and she shook her head in disappointment but said nothing.

"Cassie?" Violet asked.

"My daughter," Penelope answered. "She and Orion were betrothed not long ago."

Violet's eyes raised in shock. "But they're not anymore?" She looked to Orion for explanation, but all he did was look at Skylar. His meaning was clear enough, for Violet's gaze shifted from shock to slight displeasure.

"Oh," she continued. "I see."

"Mother-" Skylar began.

Violet raised her hands. "It doesn't matter, Skylar. It's clan business, what goes on between its members. We're here to fight Draco, nothing else."

The sharpness of her words caused him to believe that "nothing else" included requests of marriage from men like himself.

The silence that followed was a little uncomfortable and he felt bad for ruining their fun. They'd all been having a good time until he'd shown up. Perhaps he should go find his father and brother and likely Percy, too. They would be with the soldiers and dragons, gathering them all together and making sure they were settled. Besides, he should be helping with that as well. He was the future Alpha, he should be greeting his guests. He also needed to alert Kellan to how his conversation with Cassie had gone.

"Ladies, if you'll excuse me," he stepped away from the table. "I should go find my father and the king."

"I'll go with-" Skylar started, but was quickly cut off by Nana.

"Love, we need you here to help prepare medicines. There will be plenty of time for you to go traipsing about with the men later."

Skylar frowned but smiled up at Orion as he walked by her. He grabbed her hand to give it a quick squeeze before exiting the infirmary. The Square still bustled with activity, but that didn't stop clan members from pausing to greet him as he passed. He responded with a smile and a nod, knowing each of their names and stories. Yes, he much preferred this over the castle. This was a close knit community, where everyone looked out for one another. He couldn't help but feel all alone at the castle. All of the people in it were trained to act like they weren't really there at all.

As he approached the field where the dragons and soldiers were staying, his ears alerted him to a commotion, but there were too many people in the way for him to figure out what was going on.

As he got closer, he could hear two distinct voices yelling at each other, but he couldn't distinguish their exact words. Whoever and whatever it was, it sounded extremely heated.

He pushed through the crowd. The dragons moved aside for him instantly, the humans he needed to shove out of the way. Suddenly, as if he'd broken through a barrier, the voices made themselves clear to him.

"What the hell do you mean you won't have a dragon tarnishing the bloodline?" Leo roared. "She is a dragon, she's not your blood!"

"She's my daughter, the next in line for the throne, and she is a lady, no goddamn dragon!" Hal shouted right back, stepping up to get right in Leo's face. Orion's father wasn't much taller than Hal, a tall man in his own right, but Leo was far bulkier. Hal was lean while Leo was all muscle. If things got physical, there would be no contest.

"Think again, Your Grace," Leo snarled. "She's a dragon, and there's nothing you can do about it. And a dragon should mate with a dragon. You'd be lucky to call my boy family."

Orion ignored the tug at his heart upon hearing his father's words and pushed forward, finding himself next to Percy. His Beta chewed on his thumbnail, watching the interaction.

"What's going on?" Orion snapped. "I wasn't gone that long!"

Percy sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Leo said something about you mating with Skylar, just a side comment, but Harold exploded. He doesn't like you, friend."

Orion scoffed. "No need to tell me. He's made it very clear. Why aren't you doing anything?"

"I was hoping they'd work it out themselves, but that doesn't appear to be working."

Laura, who Orion hadn't noticed, leaned around her mate. "I told him they would kill each other, but he doesn't believe me."

Orion watched as Hal and Leo stepped closer again, still shouting about dragons, humans, and him and Skylar. Laura was likely right.

"You should go get Skylar and Violet" Orion told her. "I think they might be the only ones who can calm the king." He knew nothing would calm Leo, not when he got going like this. He knew his own presence wouldn't help, it would only fuel the king's anger, so he refrained from interfering. Laura nodded in agreement, casting a worried glance back at the arguing men before sprinting back to the Square.

He looked around for Kellan, but the other Alpha was nowhere in sight. That was probably for the best, since he likely wouldn't take kindly to Hal expressing how he felt about Skylar status as a dragon.

Orion kept back, just watching and waiting, until Leo reached out to grab two handfuls of Hal's shirt and Hal's fist clenched and flew toward the Alpha's face in response.