#13 The Dragon King and his Werewolf Princess

I woke with the warm sun on my face and the most beautiful naked woman in bed beside me, her wild red hair sprawled across my chest. I ran my fingers through her hair and leaned forward, kissing the top of her head.

“Breach! Breach!” A voice screamed in my head, cutting right through the mental block, “Border breach at the south gate!” The guard yelled.

“And the north! Dragon’s are breaching the north.” Another guard shouted.

“I’m on my way.” Magnor replied to the panic.

“I’m coming up to guard the Queen.” Grier’s voice piped in.

“I’m coming.” I snarled before pushing the link away.

“River?” I shook her awake more harshly then I would have liked and jumped out of bed.

“What’s going on?” River’s sleepy voice asked. She sat up in bed and rubbed her eyes, blinking up at me.

“Our borders are breached on two fronts.” I said, running to the closest to yanked on my armor.

The traditional armor of a Shifter was a bronze chest and back plate with the crest of the house of Dragonblood on the front and a silver sword sheath on my belt, tight dark red leather pants and a long sleeve red shirt underneath the armor. I dressed in a flash and was back in the room in seconds to find River out of bed with one of my large cotton shirts draped over her body.

I groaned at her appearance and wrapped my arms around her waist, giving her a long, needy kiss. We broke apart at the sound of Grier plowing through the door, her four guards already waiting in the hallway.

“I have to go.” I whispered, pressing my forehead against hers.

“You promise you’ll come back?” Her sweet voice begged.

“To my new bride and Queen? To my unbelievable sexy mate? Nothing will keep me from doing just that. I will always come back to you, my dearest love,” I promised her, kissing the tip of her nose, “You promise me that you won’t go stanadign infrot of windows this time.”

“I’ll do my best, but I’m not hiding Calix, we’ve been through this. I’m going to the foyer to make sure everyone gets to the safehouse who needs protection.” She said in a stern voice.

“Just keep those five with you at all times and, if they tell you to run, you run.” I gripped her face tightly between my hands and urged her to see reason.

“Okay.” She nodded and I gave her another kiss.

“You keep her safe, you understand me?” I grabbed Grier’s forearm and glared at him.

“On my honor, sire.” Grier nodded curtly and the four guards standing in the hall did the same.

“I love you.” I said to my mate, kissing her knuckles and giving her one last longing look.

She offered me an encouraging smile and then I was out the door. I ran through the castle and burst through the front doors, my elite squad of Shifters, Benders, and Guardians were waiting for my command. A few had already shifted into their dragon forms while some remained in the armor, ready to fight in their human form like me. At my lead, we took off towards the north border, where the fighting was most intense.

By the time we got there, the fighting from the north and south borders had converged not far from the Royal City, and my warriors were working hard to keep them from breaching the city.

I pulled out my sword and my beast lended me some of his fire to set the sword a blaze. With his strength and heightened senses, I dove into battle, slicing down traitor after traitor, men who dared to invade their own realm and threaten their own people. I had no remorse for those who stood against their own kind, those who chose violence over peace.

The grounds were alive with fighting and fire, the heat of the dragon fire warmed my skin and pushed me forward into battle. I stepped skillfully over the bodies of fallen traitors, pleased to see that none of them were my loyal men.

That’s when the white hot pain of a fire poker being shoved down my throat took me by complete surprise, nearly knocking me to the ground. I released a growl so loud and ferocious that it shook the earth, pausing the fighting all around me.

“It’s Revena!” Grier shouted in my mind, “She’s here, in the castle, with Ebbe and a team.”

“Where’s River?” I snarled.

“I tried, she won’t go into the safe house. Revena and Ebbe shifted, they’re terrorizing the entire castle and everyone in it. She’s got Benders, Enhanced, Guardians all working with her and against our people. They’re trying to kill them and Lavender is standing in their way.” Grier sounded terrified.

“She shifted?” Fear gripped my heart.

“Yes. She’s surrounded by the guards and she’s holding her own just fine.” Grier said,

“I don’t care if you have to pick her up….” I began,

“Nope, I’m not doing that,” I could practically hear Grier shaking his head, “Oh, Vix is here, she’s shifted.”

With that I heard the mighty roar of Vix’s beast.

“I’m on my way.”

I couldn’t contain my beast any longer and he tore out of me in one quick, violent second. His powerful wings beating angrily against the gravity around him as he flew, racing towards the castle and our mate. In less than a minute, we had arrived at the front door of the castle with chaos all around us.

Half the castle was on fire, the doors knocked off the hinges and lay on the front steps and a battle much larger than the one I had come from was raging on the front lawn. It killed me to see my people fighting each other, but once a Dragonhearted stood against their own, stood against the monarch and the realm, they were no longer Dragonhearted; they were traitors and had to be treated as such.

At least twenty shifted dragons were stomping around on the burnt lawn, trees were on fire, hell even the pond was on fire. Benders were working on containing the blaze, but it seemed to be a losing battle. Guardians and Trainers were surrounding their Dragons, fighting side by side with them while the Enhanced seemed to be trying to round up those who couldn’t fight and get them to safety.

All my beast and I cared about was finding Lavender.

We stormed inside the castle and found more destruction. It was a large building, meant to handle the size of a dragon, but a dozen dragons? That appeared to be the limit. Furniture was splintered and discarded on the floor, walls had dragon size holes in them, and, you guessed it, everything was on fire. And, right smack dab in the middle of the chaos, was my mate.

Lavender was surrounded by her guard, Rolf, Koll, Enar, and Bjorn, along with Grier, Magnor, and Vix. My brother and sister had shifted to protect their Queen, and the small band of warriors seemed to be holding their own just fine. Still, my anger and fear remained at large. Lavender’s auburn fur was stained a dark red from blood and scorched from burns. She wasn’t letting that slow her down, however.

I shoved my way through the viscous monsters threatening my mate, my beast knocking them aside like they were nothing. Once they were down, my warriors finished the job by either restraining or killing them, depending on their level of resistance. I forced my way to Lavender’s side and she looked up at me with her pitch black eyes, barking at me in greeting. My beast shook his head at her, disappointment apparent on his face. Lavender’s furry shoulders shrugged and I swear she smirked at me.

Together, as King and Queen, werewolf and dragon, we fought against the traitors.

After what felt like hours of fighting, I heard an unmistakable growl. Whipping around, I narrowed my eyes on Lavender whose shackles were raised and teeth barred at a figure before her. I instantly recognized Revena and her lover, Ebbe. Revena had shifted back into her human form, wearing the usual red uniform of a Shifter; a uniform that, as an exiled dragon, she was banned from wearing. Ebbe was still shifted at her side.

“Look at the pretty, pretty princess.” Revena sneered at Lavender who continued to snarl in her direction.

My beast released a blazing hot cloud of fire before barreling towards Revena and our mate.

“Oh, look, the wayward King is coming to save his princess,” Revena scoffed, “I’m doing this for you, Calix. This dog has invaded our realm and has put you under some delusional spell. She’s not fit to be the Queen and she sure as hell isn’t fit to be your mate. All these people that your slaughtering, all of your people are standing against the motion of a werewolf on the throne.”

My beast roared at her again, windows shaking and shattering all around us, but my attention was drawn to Lavender who released a quiet whimper beside me. I shoved my beast to the side and forced him to relinquish control so I could shift. Revena crossed her arms over her chest and trailed her eyes up and down my body, earning a low growl from my mate. I grabbed a discarded blanket from the floor and shook it free of glass and debris before trying it around my waist.

“The people you have brought are traitors and Ferals, the scourge of the realm. They’d take any excuse to attack me and the people. This has nothing to do with who’s on the throne, that vendetta belongs to you alone.” I snarled at her, making sure that Lavender heard every word.

I wouldn’t allow my mate to believe for one second that this was her fault, that our people were attacking because she was on the throne.

“She’s got you so whipped,” Revena laughed bitterly, “She has you defending her over your people.”

“Revena, you’re the one who’s delusional. You spent our entire relationship sleeping with someone else, you never loved me and you never respected our matebond. You only wanted the power that it afforded you. What we had was false, it was designed to teach me how to be grateful for my true mate when she came along,” I glanced down at Lavender who was looking up at me with River’s blue eyes, “River and Lavender are our true mates, they always have been, and we’ve been waiting two centuries for them.”

“You can lie to yourself all you want, Calix.” Revena huffed, pulling my attention away from Lavender.

“What did you hope to accomplish from this?” I sighed heavily.

“I told you to remove that dog from the throne.” Revena said,

“Then you confess to staging a coo?”

“She doesn’t belong by your side!” Revena shouted.

“Revena from the House of Wynter, you are charged with crimes against your monarch and high treason. You have confessed to being the leader of a coo. As your King, I sentence you to death.” My voice turned cold and distant.

I had offered Revena far too many lenisensies as it were, she had worn out her welcome and it was time to treat her like any other subject. She dishonored the Dragonhearted name, brought shame to her family, and, above all, she’s threatened my mate more than once. Her time was finished.

Ebbe roared beside her and pounced on me, defending his chosen mate. My dragon released some of his power to me and the flames bubbled out of my hands, reaching towards Ebbe’s dragon and attacking him. It wasn’t easy to fight a dragon as a human, but Ebbe was an exiled nobody from a low ranking family so his dragon was weak and small. Even in my human form, kingly blood ran through my veins and my beast’s strength made us even stronger than Ebbe’s dragon.

I found a discarded sword on the floor from one of the warriors who had shifted, was my guess, and used it against Ebbe’s dragon. I sliced my way through his ash colored scales, drawing his purple dragon blood from his belly. Ducking to the side, I dodged his flame easily and thrusted the sword again, taking another chunk of rubbery skin with it. In one swift motion, I sliced my sword against the base of his neck, slicing through the exposed skin there with the golden blade, spilling his thick purple blood.

Ebbe’s dragon dropped to the floor and immediately shifted back into Ebbe, whose throat was sliced and his eyes were rolled back in his head. Ebbe was dead.

I felt another sting in my chest along with a high pitched scream from behind me. I whipped around and saw Revena’s eyes were red with rage. She pulled a sword from her belt and swung wildly, coming in contact with Lavender’s side. Lavender yelped in pain as her body twisted in agony and she dropped to the ground.

“Lavender!” I called out, stampeding towards Revena with the intent to kill.