“So, you’re one of the Elemental Dragons.” I make the statement rather than asking the question. My voice is rough and deep because I haven’t shifted back yet. I’ve never come into contact with a dragon before today and I’m not exactly sure what to expect. I’m not thrilled that Ishir left without telling me where Tana is. And now I have a dragon to contend with. “I’m the Earth dragon.” Avani says. “So, what do you want with Tana?” He asks making my head snap to him. “You know Tana?” “Of course.” He’s looking at his nails as if he’s bored with our discussion. “How do you know her?” That gets his attention. He looks at me, his eyes narrowing. “You don’t know what she is, do you? I clench my teeth. I don’t, but this arrogant asshole seems to. His eyebrow raises and a smirk crosses his face. “Well, know this. If Tana doesn’t want to talk to you, she won’t. She has a very strong personality. I’m guessing you did something to piss her off?” “That’s none of your business.” He shrugs

When I return from trying to find Tana, we instate Galen as my Gamma. It’s an important ceremony. Being that I am a Lycan, my ranked members gain strength from being appointed to their positions. Drinking my blood during the ceremony doesn’t make them a Lycan, but their strength will far outmatch that of a regular werewolf. After Galen takes his oath, and we get him established, Bastian and I begin the tour of the packs. We start locally, and I can tell right away that there's going to be a problem. Apparently, since my parents' death, no one has taken charge of the packs and they seem to have gone astray. That’s about to change. As we pull up to the packhouse, I can see that there is a very small contingent of pack members here to greet me. This is either a purposeful slight or the pack was recently decimated. Since I haven’t heard of any recent attacks, I have to assume it’s an insult. As our driver pulls up, Bastian growls. I look at him and I can see he and I are on the same pag

It takes months to tour all the packs. Word spread about my return, and Koden’s death, and the rest of the packs were respectful. They may not have liked me taking my place as Alpha, but they will respect it or pay the consequences. I’m currently pouring over the financials that the accountant just left with me. Bastian showed him out of the packhouse before coming back in. I’m sitting at my desk, my head in my hands and I’m trying to convince myself not to pull my hair out. I look up at Bastian as he closes the door. “Did you understand any of that?” I ask him. “Sure. ‘Money, blah blah, finances, blah blah, company.’” I look at him a minute. “Yeah, that’s about all I understood too. I don’t even understand what I’m looking at here and I swear he was intentionally being ambiguous. I feel like I’m trying to read a foreign language.” I stare at my financials for another minute before closing the book. “Do me a favor, find a company that can look these over and tell us if everything

I sent Bastian to the human town to find out about our financials. I need to go after Troy. I got the intel, and my trackers begin identifying the places where they’ve seen him. I start tracking the sightings and see that, once again, they are in a circular format. Fuck! There’s another arena. With Bastian gone, I can’t afford to attack the arena yet, but I need to make sure that I’m right. I get a group of warriors together and I tell Galen that he’s in charge. I make a plan to get additional intel and let the warriors know what we’re doing and what the plan is. “This is a reconnaissance mission only. I’m not leaving the pack vulnerable without Bastian here, no offense Galen.” “None taken.” “With Troy still out there, any action against me will give him an opportunity to attack, so until Bastian returns, we will just get whatever information we can.” “With all due respect Alpha, doesn’t that mean that some shifters will die?” I clench my teeth. That’s exactly what it means, and

I can’t believe I’m helping a dragon. I’m trying really hard not to fanboy, but I never expected to be in such close proximity to one of these magical, beautiful creatures. I don’t know why I’m so drawn to her. I don’t feel the same draw to Avani, but I feel an almost unignorable pull to this dragon. She’s beautiful, strong and so graceful. When I saw the harpoon launch and puncture her wing, I was furious. I took all that fury out on the man who shot her. But then Troy was there, fighting me, and trying to kill me. I finally got the upper hand and threw him over the rim of the arena. I don’t know if he survived. I didn’t have time to worry about it. The dragon, Red, as I’ve started calling her in my head, got hit by a second harpoon and without my help, she won’t be able to get out of here. She won’t even be able to shift. If she did, the harpoon would certainly rip her in half. Her scent is overwhelming me. She smells so much like Tana. I’ll have to rethink what kind of shifter my