The blue dragon whined as yet another member of her clan perished. She continued to pace back and forth, staring in the direction of the battle. The dragons were losing ground, and no one knew where Draco was. The coward was probably hiding somewhere. She snarled to herself and clawed at the ground. Her only solace was that her mate was safe. But she couldn't help but wonder for how long?

She walked further from the village, far to the north. She would double back soon enough, but she was getting tired at staring at the same stretch of trees. Only she and Fiona remained on ground patrol; the other two had taken flight and were circling over the territory.

She hated this waiting. She felt utterly useless standing out there staring into the darkness, waiting for something that might not even happen. Was this what it would always be like as Alpha female? Simply waiting at home, not knowing if her mate was going to return to her? She sincerely hoped not.

She turned to walk back toward the clan, her eyes still surveying the tree line closely, when she felt herself disconnect from the clan link. She stopped in surprise, looking around as if that would explain what had happened. She still felt her mate, felt how tired he was, how worried he was getting, but that was all, and it was only through their mate bond. She felt none of the other dragons and could sense nothing of the battle. She was pondering this when a gut-wrenching pain tore through her. She roared in surprise as her body convulsed and she collapsed in a heap in the prairie grass, short, pained shrieks escaping her. It was nearly as painful as the time Orion forced her first shift, when she felt like she was being torn apart.

Finally, mercifully, she blacked out.

She wasn't sure how long she was out, likely only for a minute or so, but when she awoke, she was human again. She wouldn't have realized it at first, except for that all of her senses had dulled after she'd spent the last few hours with them at full sensitivity.

Skylar sat up slowly, holding a hand to her pounding head, unsure how or when she'd shifted. She hadn't made a conscious choice, that was for sure. She needed to get back to the village since something was obviously wrong with her, but when she opened the link for her dragon to take charge, she couldn't find the beast. Well, she could, but her dragon couldn't find her; she locked up in a cage in the back of her head.

Alarm shot through her at the state of her dragon. The creature clawed and roared in confusion, attempting to escape, but it was as though Skylar had never come to the clan, never had Orion help her break the cage. It was there and as solid as ever. The dragon wasn't breaking free. The beast roared in fury, causing Skylar's head to pound. She winched and held a hand to her temple. It felt like forever since her dragon had caused a headache.

She stood up slowly as she took a few deep breaths to try and calm down. Panicking would do neither her nor her dragon any good. Her dragon took the hint and settled down, but still pushed at the bars of the cage.

"What's happening," she whispered, breaking into a run back toward the village. Something was wrong with her, extremely wrong, and she hoped Nana would know the answer.

She cursed her dragon for walking so far away. The human Skylar, though she was in much better shape than she'd been upon her arrival, could only run for so long. In her distress about the battle, the dragon had been out of sight of the village. The dragon in question snarled and clawed at the cage again but realized that this hindered Skylar's focus and stopped after one swipe.

Skylar ran on, her breath coming out in pants. What she wouldn't give for wings right then, or even just longer strides. She slowed to a jog when more pain ripped through her, though this time she knew it wasn't her own.

"Orion!" she called into the night as she dropped to her knees. Their connection was weak, at least on her end, from her dragon being locked up in the cage once again, but she could still feel the pain and anger emanating from him. She forced herself back to her feet. She needed to figure out what was wrong with her dragon so that she could go to him. He needed her.

As she approached the village, she realized immediately that something was wrong. She could feel it pulsating through the air, almost like a heartbeat. Something powerful, something dark. The closer she got to the village, the stronger the feeling became. She hesitated for only a moment but knew that her clan needed her. Her Alpha instincts to protect kicked in, and her feet were on the move before she was able to form a conscious thought about what to do.

As she ran, she tried again to shift, as hard as she possibly could, but the cage was sealed shut. Even with her dragon pushing from the inside, the bars didn't budge. It had taken her years to build a cage that strong around her other half, and this had formed in only minutes. She didn't understand but knew that she needed her dragon to protect the clan.

She ran to the edge of the village, and the silence disturbed her greatly. What disturbed her even more was the fear she could sense in the air. A ball of tension lodged in her gut as she slowed to a jog. She had to at least try to sneak up on whatever was going on, to survey the situation before she ran in with no plan on how to stop it.

She peered around a building to look into the Square and what she found made no sense to her.

The clan members were huddled together, Nana and Penelope standing in front of them, and they were surrounded with four unfamiliar women. Each woman had long, waist length black hair and wore a long green velvet dress adorned with silver chains crisscrossing the front and back. They also had blue light glowing from their hands, connecting each woman to the next and creating a circle around the dragons. Skylar sensed that the source of the dark power she'd felt was those hands.

A few steps away from the women stood her Uncle Henry, glaring at the terrified dragons. He appeared to be no threat to them, being the plump man that he was. She knew for a fact that, while he had practiced with the knights when he was younger, he was no fighter now. Why hadn't her clan shifted? How had these women snuck up on them?

"We know you're there, Skylar," a familiar voice said from the porch of the infirmary across the Square.

Skylar's gaze flew to the person standing there. Queen Isabel. She remembered Jonathan telling them all that Queen Isabel was a witch, but she realized that, up to that point, she hadn't really believed him. But now that she saw her, standing there with glowing hands and glowing eyes, the reality sunk in.

All the eyes in the Square had turned to Skylar as she stepped out of the cover of the building. There was no point in hiding anymore. She looked at Nana, who appeared unsure for the first time since Skylar had known her. That was the most worrisome part of all this. If Nana didn't know what to do, how was Skylar supposed to have a clue?

"Isabel," she said, since it was the only thing that came to mind.

"Do you like my trick?" she asked, holding up her hand. She squeezed her fist and every dragon in the Square groaned, even the children who hadn't shifted yet, as their dragons screeched in pain. Skylar gasped as her dragon wailed in agony as some unseen force twisted her conscience mercilessly.

"What are you doing?" Skylar demanding, trying to gain hold of herself.

"That little clan link comes in handy," Isabel smirked. "Unfortunately, the spell only works over small areas, like this one here. Your friends on the battle field can feel nothing, so don't worry about them. I was, however, able to cut them off from all of you."

"Why are you doing this?" Skylar asked, her eyes sweeping over her clan again. They were all looking at her in fear, looking at her for help, and she didn't know what to do. She made eye contact with Violet and Greta, who clutched each other, the only humans in the group. Laura, Nana, and Penelope were at the front of the dragons, trying to protect and stay strong, but they were helpless under the power of the witches. Even Penelope, an Alpha female, was rendered useless by the powerful magic.

A cold, bone-chilling voice came from the doorway of the infirmary. "She doesn't have a choice."

Draco stepped out, five soldiers trailing him. The soldiers walked down the steps to circle the group of scared dragons alongside the witches, pointing their weapons at them in warning. A young child whimpered, straining to get closer to his mother.

Skylar's mouth hardened into a thin line. She shouldn't have been surprised the king had found a way to get to the village. Her only question was how he'd managed it. She knew how the magic of the territory worked, and even though the witches had magic, only a dragon's presence could provide the protection...

Cassie stepped out of the infirmary, little Benny held tight in her grasp. The young female appeared completely at ease, rocking the child and stroking his cheek. She finally looked up and her eyes met Skylar's. They were cold as ice.

A snarl ripped from Skylar, rage and betrayal coursing through her. She knew Cassie didn't like her, felt that Skylar had stolen her man, but to side with Draco? Against her own family?

A smirk played on Cassie's mouth at Skylar's reaction.

"Cassie," Penelope gasped in horror, her face holding the betrayal only a mother could feel at the sight of her child making a terrible, deadly decision.

Cassie ignored her mother. She'd obviously chosen a side and was going to stick with it.

Benny squawked and squirmed in Cassie's grasp, drawing Skylar attention back. How had they even gotten ahold of him? Skylar's gaze swept over the crowd of dragons three times in search of Victoria, but the Alpha female was missing.

"Where is Victoria?" Skylar demanded, racking for a way to get Benny away from them.

Cassie paled slightly, something finally breaking through her calm facade, and she glanced at one of the soldiers standing around the huddled dragons. Skylar followed her gaze, to a knight with an eye-patch. He held his sword out, pointing at the submissive dragons, and the end of it shone red with blood.

Skylar's stomach dropped to her feet as she comprehended what she was seeing. Bile rose in her throat and she swallowed heavily, looking back at the doorway into the infirmary. It was dark inside, so she couldn't see anything, but her mind conjured up the carnage within all too easily.

"She wouldn't submit," Draco shrugged. "Now, Skylar, it's your turn to submit. Make the right choice, and I'll make sure your fellow monsters die quickly."

She couldn't tear her gaze away from the blood beading at the tip of the sword. Her dragon cried out in anguish and anger. Victoria couldn't be... she wasn't possibly...

She felt every eye on her, everyone waiting for what she would do. Surrender obviously wasn't an option, and she didn't even consider it. What she needed to do was get Benny away from Draco and the witches. She needed to save the youngest, most helpless member of their clan. Her dragon paced back and forth behind the bars of the cage, focused on tearing Draco to shreds. Skylar liked that idea and fully supported it, but she didn't exactly have the means to do such a thing right then. She wished her dragon was better at formulating plans rather than simply outcomes.

"Surrender to me, Skylar. Now," Draco said softly. "Or I start killing your dear clan."

Skylar didn't believe him. She should've.

After she hesitated, Draco flicked his wrist and the knight with the eye-patch stepped forward, swung his sword, and decapitated one of the elders of the clan as if he were nothing. The children began to scream, and the other members of the clan watched in horror as the soldier stepped back, more blood dripping from his sword, and the body collapsed in a heap. Laura and Penelope snarled and started to advance on the soldier, but the witches all squeezed their fists slightly and the dragons in the circle hunched over in pain, helpless once again. Skylar stared at the headless body of the man who had just needlessly died because she hadn't acted fast enough. A member of her clan, the one she was here to protect. She snarled at Draco and felt her eyes begin to glow.

She turned to the witch standing beside Draco. Skylar sensed the power the woman possessed, and it was immense. "Isabel, you can end this!"

Draco smirked and held up a simple silver amulet with a blood-red ruby embedded in the center. "No, she can't. I own her. See this? Her blood touched the gem, which makes her my slave. Her and her sisters over there. I let her have her free-will once, but then she let you and that knight of yours escape. I won't make the mistake of trusting her again. Now, Skylar, surrender, and you won't have to watch another one of your clan members die."

She knew he would kill them all anyway, and since she couldn't shift, she was too weak to take on the soldiers and witches by herself. Her dragon could, especially with how angry she was at the moment, but she was locked up.

Skylar glanced up at Cassie, who was still staring at the dead clan member. She looked like she wanted to vomit. Apparently, her little sister hadn't thought of the consequences of her actions.

Skylar looked over at her family, the fear in their eyes, the helplessness at the hands of the witches and soldiers. They knew they were next, and Skylar was their only hope. They had been betrayed in the worst way by one of their own, and Skylar knew she couldn't let them down. She clenched her fists and closed her eyes. She needed to find her dragon, and she needed to be fast. She and the beast were bonded now, they were very nearly one, and she had to get her out of the cage.

The sound of Draco shouting to get her attention drifted away the further she trekked into her mind. This had taken her hours before, but now she knew she only had minutes, and even that was a stretch. She raced to the cage, now familiar with the way, and her dragon perked up at the sight of her.

We have to break this down. Her voice was a whisper in her mind, but her dragon heard her perfectly.

Yes. We can do it. We are one. The beast answered, and Skylar felt the words more than heard them. She reached into the cage and touched the dragon's snout. At the contact, she felt every way they had been separate slip away until they were one being, one entity, but the bars were still there. They focused all of their energy on those bars, on breaking them, because they were stronger than any witch's magic. They had ancient magic coursing through their blood. They had Alpha blood.

They were Dragon.

The bars of the cage shattered as their magic burst forth. It wasn't simply contained to the cage though. Skylar's body bowed back as the energy escaped the confines of her mind and blew through the Square in a blue streak. As that magic burst through, the witches' own magic faltered, giving the clan a chance to escape. It was only for a moment, but it was long enough for the dragons to shift and take flight, out of the range of the witches' influence.

GO! She screamed through the clan link when a Laura, Penelope, and Nana hesitated. Go now, before she gets her magic back!

As Skylar's burst of magic died, she felt Isabel's magic try to take hold again, but Skylar still had the momentum from her connection with her dragon.

The blue dragon burst forth with a deafening roar. She had allowed her clan to escape to safety, she had saved them. All but one.

Benny wailed in earnest now, and the blue dragon charged forward to save her mate's brother. Her old rival began to back away with the boy, but the Dragon Killer swung around and wrenched him from her grasp.

"No!" Cassie reached out and Draco shoved her back.

"You've outlived your usefulness," Draco told her as he whipped a knife out from his belt.

The blue dragon came to a screeching halt as the king wielded the blade, holding it over the crying infant.

A furious roar echoed above them, accompanied by the sound of beating wings as the dragon descended upon them.

"Take care of that," Draco snapped to Isabel.

Isabel simply raised her hand, aimed it at the dragon, and squeezed. The beast let out a bloodcurdling screech, and then went limp in mid-air. The blue finally allowed her eyes to leave Draco to follow the falling dragon. She recognized Laura as she slammed into the ground. Her heart leapt into her throat when the fellow dragon didn't move. She wanted to run over to her dear friend, to help her, to berate her for being stupid enough to come back when she'd escaped, but she couldn't leave Benny.

Draco nodded in satisfaction before turning back to Skylar. "Now that that's taken care of, surrender," he said slowly, his black eyes flashing murderously, "or I will kill the boy."

The blue dragon knew she could take him on, that she could kill him, but Skylar wouldn't let her. She would take no chance that Benny would get hurt.

So, they surrendered.

The blue dragon backed off, though she let a steady growl escape her. Draco smiled and stepped down, completely unafraid of her while he still held the boy. The flat edge of the knife pressed into the infant's chest, but all it would take was one twist of the wrist and it would all be over. Skylar had made the mistake of not believing his threat before; she wouldn't do it a second time.

"Shift back. Now," Draco ordered.

The blue dragon did, and Skylar stared at Benny helplessly. Draco still had him, Draco would kill him if she didn't follow his every order. He might still do it. Skylar squared her shoulders, ready for whatever he had in store for her. She would fight him to her dying breath to save her family.

Without a word, Draco stepped in closer to her, so Benny nearly touched her. He held up his knife, gave her a moment to look at it, and then sliced it across her neck. She felt it tear through her skin with ease, and the immediate hot gush of blood that followed. She gasped in surprise, her eyes widening at the shock of pain and the feel of her life force dripping out of her. She barely noticed when he held the amulet up to the wound on her neck, her blood seeping into the gem.