The Alphas & The Heiress

Magnolia

We land in the middle of the woods. The air always feels thicker down here than on the mountain. There’s something weird about how the fading daylight reflects and refracts on surfaces; it’s linear, sharp.

“The boundary of their border is just past those trees, and if you look north you’ll see the guard tower closer to their main dwelling.”

“Impressive… for your first time being here.” I lift an accusatory eyebrow at him.

“I may have done a fly by or two.”

Of course he did. Always prepared.

“You wanna camp here tonight, Ma—,” I elbow him in the ribs before he can finish my name. “Ow what the fuck?”

“Travel rules are in effect.” I say in a hushed tone.

When we were fledglings dad would bring us out on week-long survival trips. He knew we’d eventually leave the proverbial nest and venture beyond the protection of the grove. He trained us to be ready for anything; to be foragers, hunters, assassins, to give aid and respite to those in need, how to tell someone’s character with three questions.

While on these trips certain rules were in effect, travel rules. Leave no trace, trust no one, and protect your identity at all costs. Incandis doesn’t share my same beliefs on the importance of an alias. He will use his real name but will change his backstory. I, on the other hand, always go by Syble. I have to cover my eyes because they’re a dead giveaway. The blind fold I wear is a special fabric that acts like a two-way mirror; I can see out, but no one can see in.

“So how ’bout it, Syble? I set up camp, you bring back some game?”

“Fine but you’re prepping it.” I hate preparing game meat. I’ll hunt it, and I’ll eat it, but I want nothing to do with the in-between.

I stalk off into the woods looking for signs of a few rabbits or a deer. I make it only a couple hundred yards away before a growl emanating from our camp pierces the silence. I know Incandis can handle himself so I’m not exactly rushing to help him but I do turn and head back.

I’m not far from our clearing when I see five men, two flanking Incandis and three others standing in front of him on the other side of the fire pit. Five against two, not the worst odds I’ve ever had. I cloak myself in shadows, concealing me completely from view. I grab one of my blades and throw it like a disc so it spins horizontally through the air. The smooth edge of the blade slices the shoulder of the guard on the right before boomeranging around Incandis and slicing the arm of the guy on the left before returning to me. I snatch it out of the air by the center hilt and reattach it to my back.

“The fuck was the that!” The guards shout.

“He’s not alone,” growls one of the men standing in front of Incandis. I creep closer to the group still concealed in shadows.

Incandis groans under his breath, “for fuck’s sake Ma—,” I kick Incandis behind the knee to stop him from using my real name. He grunts at the impact and his balance waivers. We’ve been over this a hundred times. Travel rules.

“Who is he talking to?” Asks one of the bleeding guards. The other one shrugs, a look of bewilderment on his face.

I stealth around them and stand myself right in the middle of everyone, facing towards the two largest men. They look practically identical save for their eyes. The one in the middle has green eyes with flecks of hazel. Like a forest dwells within them. The other has warm, chocolate colored eyes that don’t hold as much tension as, who I assume is, his brother.

If I was merely a human I’m sure that these men would dwarf me. Dragons tend to run taller but even so they’re still a head taller than me. They’re also broader than any man in the grove. Our men are muscular and strong, but these two are bubbling with muscles. Thick and lumbering. They have broad shoulders and chests and flat abs. I could climb up them like I would a mountain and perch myself atop their peak.

What the fuck am I saying? I discipline my wayward thoughts immediately. The longer I stand here the more unsettled I feel. It’s like the men are looking directly at me which I know is impossible.

I decide to hold my ground and let the shadows concealing me drop, revealing myself to the group. The mountain brothers in front of me don’t even flinch. It’s like they’re not surprised at all, like they had seen me there the whole time. I look quickly at the other man off to the side. He is definitely alarmed at my presence, so I know I shouldn’t have been seen.

A snarl tugs at Green Eyes’ lip. I cross my arms over my chest defiantly, “who the fuck are you?”

“Watch your tone, witch.” Says the man next to them, smaller than them but still substantial in size.

“I’m no witch, dog.”

“I’ll fucking cut your tongue out.” He lunges for me and I immediately sink into a fighting stance, but Green Eyes holds him back.

“Enough!” He bellows. “Who the fuck are you and why are you skirting around our borders?”

“What even are you?” Says the brown eyed brother. “You claim you’re not a witch, and you don’t smell like a wolf.”

A wicked grin paints it’s way across my face. I want to light these boys up like fireworks so badly. Travel Rules. It would be hard to explain five charred bodies. That breaks rule number one. Plus there’s rule three, I can’t blaze them without outing myself as a dragon. And who knows how many more sets of eyes they have on us. Trust no one.

“We made sure to set up camp outside of the borders, you have no claim to the grounds where we stand. Besides, my si— Syble,” Incandis clears his throat, “Syble and I have a meeting with the alphas of Shadow Moon tomorrow.”

For a moment the air is tense. The mountain brothers never take their eyes off me, but now when I look they have a cloudy quality. A one-thousand yard stare. After a beat, their eyes normalize and they turn and start to walk off.

“Come.” Says the green eyed brother, though it sounds more like a command than a request.

I’m not going anywhere with these people. I reach for one of my blades and I throw it straight at him. Just before it hits him in the back he whips around and plucks it out of the air like one would a frisbee. Wow. Not even Xander can do that.

He surprises me further by igniting my blade still in his hand and sending it hurling back towards me. Two can play this game. I step to the left, hold out my arm, and catch my blade in my right hand. His flames don’t hurt me at all. They’re barely even warm. Whatever magic he was blessed with that gave him fire doesn’t compare to the furnace of flame we dragons harbor within our cores.

Now it’s his turn to be shocked. Besides the almost snarl from before, he hasn’t given away a single emotion. But he was so genuinely astonished by my lack of injury that I realize he’s probably never been so equally matched before.

His shock morphs seamlessly into anger. Like he’s offended that I’m not hurt.

“Ro, don’t,” the brown eyed brother says to the other.

Ro strolls towards me and stops just inches in front of me. With incredible speed he attempts to back hand me. I manage to dodge his hand and punch him across the jaw, bones snapping on impact. Hitting him in the face was like punching granite.

Incandis is by my side in an instant but I lift my unbroken hand to his chest to stop him.

The two smaller men that were next to Incandis immediately shift into their wolf form, snarling and growling, waiting for the green light to attack.

I keep my eyes trained on Ro. He doesn’t look angry anymore, now he just looks confused. He snaps his jaw back into place as I reset the bones in my hand.

“You can see me.” He says rather than asks.

“Maybe it’s your lumbering form giving away your every move.”

At this he grins. “You said you have a meeting with the alphas tomorrow?”

“That’s right.” Incandis responds.

“Come, they’ll meet with you tonight.”