Alpha Betrayed: A Dark Shifter Romance

Juliet

One second, I'm flying as hard as I can toward Ford and Catherine, determined to herd them back toward the relative safety of the lobby, the next I'm falling off the edge of a cliff. No, off the edge of the world...

My wings spread wide and my claws scrabble for something to hold onto, but I'm spinning too fast, sucked into a tunnel so bright I have to close my eyes against the glare before I go blind. Just a few moments later, I make impact with the ground and go rolling across warm, damp grass, the smell of it a relief after the stink of the dragon's smoke.

I open my eyes and hop to my feet, shaking off my wings as I glance around to find myself in a large field. It's dusk here, with the first stars popping out in the sky above the hundreds of people huddled together in small groups across the grass. Some of them look angry, some like they're going into shock, but most of the men, women, and children are clearly terrified.

And they have reason to be.

Far across the field, by a bright yellow circle glowing in the pink, sunset-streaked sky, a dragon as big as a two-story building is trying to shove itself through a tiny opening between worlds. It's the rest of the monster whose snout we encountered in the pool area. That would be terrifying enough, but the dragon isn't alone. Another creature, even bigger than the first, crouches behind it, snarling and scratching at the ground, as if it can't wait for its turn to shove through the portal.

Above the mountains in the distance, more dragons wheel in circles, their massive bodies silhouetted against the clouds as they dip and swoop. There are at least half a dozen, maybe more, and they seem keen to get out of here. Wherever here is...

All I know is that something about this place is familiar. The smell of it, the feel of the warm, damp air... I haven't been here before, but something in my core recognizes it as a place I once belonged.

"Juliet!"

I spin toward the sound of Ford's voice to see him hurrying across the grass, with Catherine close behind him. It's only then that I notice the stage set up on the other side of the open field, though "stage" is probably too generous a word.

It's a rough wooden platform raised about five feet off the ground with a ladder propped against one side. On top, there's just enough room for Hammer and two men in long black robes who hold my mother captive between them. Coralie's wearing a long, sleeveless white dress, with her hair pulled back in a tight bun with one dark black line drawn across her throat.

She's also gagged with a scrap of white fabric tied tightly around her mouth, making it clear who will be doing the talking around here.

"There you are," my father calls out, his deep voice booming across the expanse. "I hoped you kids wouldn't keep us waiting too long. I promised our new friends phoenix blood, but I know they prefer blood that comes with actual feathers." He lifts a hand into the air. "Take her."

I sense movement behind me and bolt toward Ford and Catherine, but it's too late. I'm already being grabbed by both wings and pinned against two massive male bodies. I struggle and start to spit fire, but one of the men locks his fist around my neck, squeezing so tight the world instantly starts to go black.

I have time to see Ford and Catherine being tackled to the ground before the black spreads and I lose consciousness.

When I wake up, my head is pounding, and I'm trussed up like a turkey ready to be popped into the oven.

I'm on my stomach on the platform, with my claws pinned together by some kind of string. My wings are held tight to my side by thick scraps of the same white fabric that's wrapped around Coralie's mouth, and my beak is pinned shut by more of the same. But even if it weren't, and I were in my human form, I don't think I could talk if I tried. My throat is so swollen and bruised, it feels like I've swallowed an eggplant whole.

Thank Goddess for telepathy and that I'm finally able to use it.

Ford? I ask, doing my best to reach out to him and only him, but failing.

They're tying him up in the audience, a voice I recognize as my mother's whispers into my head. You've only been out about a minute.

I shift my aching skull to see her seated just behind me, close enough for her to reach out and rest a hand on my feathered back if she weren't tied up, too. And if she were a normal mother, who cared about the fact that her daughter is about to be sacrificed to a small legion of dragons for some unknown reason.

Don't talk, she says. Everyone can hear you, and you'll attract attention. Just listen and get ready to move on my signal.

I glare in her general direction, but I can't move my neck enough to make sure she sees it and unfortunately, she's right. Some shifters can direct their telepathy to one person in particular, but I'm not one of them.

First, I'd like to apologize, she continues. I'm sure you're a lovely girl, but I didn't want children. Hammer forced me to get pregnant, and I can't love something that's forced upon me. Even a child. But I'm sorry for any pain that might have caused you. Might have caused me? Goddess, this woman is even more emotionally stunted than I am.

I sigh and wince, torn between telling her to stuff her apology where the sun doesn't shine and the sneaking suspicion that I'd be the same way if I'd been through what she's been through. Like at the circus when Gorey planned to sell me to a shifter breeder. The thought of being forced to have children made me want to jump off the nearest bridge.

I would rather die than be out of control of my body, my life.

Add in being helpless to keep those forced babies safe-as I'm sure Coralie knew she would be helpless-and it's a recipe for pain and trauma on both sides.

This is why I wanted you to keep your tracker in and stay away from your shifted form, she adds in a firmer tone, clearly finished with the touchy-feely portion of the conversation. Phoenix in the bloodline is dangerous enough. A shifter who can actually access her phoenix is catnip to dragon shifters and those who serve them for access to their magic. The Dragomere clan has hated our kind for millennia, since we escaped this dying world, and they were trapped here without enough food to sustain their ravenous children. Only a handful survived, and they're trapped in their dragon forms, making it much harder for them to move between worlds. If we could have remained hidden for even another year or two, the last of them would have died off, and phoenix shifters would finally have been safe.

But I had to go and f**k it up, I get it, I shoot back. But I wouldn't have f****d it up if someone had stuck around and told me the truth. I didn't even know dragons were a real thing, let alone-

Quiet, she barks into my brain, making me wince again. In the event we survive, you should make directing your telepathy your top priority. Your lack of control is embarrassing. Before I can shoot back that this is another issue that would have been a non-issue if I'd had an invested parent teaching me to use and control my power, she pushes on, The ritual requires someone with knowledge of archaic magic to serve as a conduit for the dragon's power, using spell work to transfer their strength and relative immortality to the gathered supplicants. Hammer thought his priests could pull it off, but they failed, and I refused to work the magic on myself. But now that you're here, he's offered to set me free as long as I work the spell on you. I won't, but this gives us a chance to turn the tables on him before it's too late.

I grunt, and the mother of the year continues, I understand why you'd be hesitant to trust me, but you don't have a choice. Working together is the only way we'll save ourselves, your friends, or the innocent people Hammer dragged down this twisted road on his quest for power. This is what we'll do...

She quickly and efficiently outlines a plan that sounds fairly doable until we get to the "dealing with the dragons" part.

Then, I become fairly certain we're going to die.

But at least we'll go out fighting and maybe some of our people will survive.

I hope Ford's one of them. And I hope I get the chance to tell him I love him one last time before all hell with a side of giant, fire-breathing monsters breaks loose.