Anila’s POV
Everything around me started to fade away as the battle continued in the sky.
It was Ember and me, vs the Alpha King and about 3 of the dragons.
The glow of the Dragon Stone was wedged in his chest, pulsating with each beat of his heart. That dragon stone was the reason he was like this… it was the reason all of this was happening in the first place.
If only I could get it, I could put an end to all of this.
He would be powerless.
The King swiped at me with his large claws; he managed to get my arm, and I hissed in pain, grabbing the sore spot on my arm. For a second, I had a moment of panic. When Xaden got scratched by a dragon, it put him in a coma.
But when nothing happened, I felt a sense of relief.
However, I did almost fall off Ember entirely, but thankfully she prevented me from falling. I did get a good look at the ground though and I saw that people were still being ushered und
Anila’s POVI’m not sure how long I had been out, but when I woke up, I was no longer in the burning towns. I was lying in a fairly comfortable bed in a familiar room.“Oh, good. You’re awake,” Nurse Lorelei, the head nurse at Lunar Academy, said with a smile.“I’m back at school?” I whispered, my voice sounding unfamiliar and hoarse. My body was stiff as I attempted to move, but I didn’t feel any actual pain.“You were brought back a few days ago. You were sleeping ever since that battle,” she said sighing. “I heard quite the story about you. I must say, word had gotten around quickly.”My cheeks flushed at her words.Everyone knew what had happened? “Anila,” I heard my name from the doorway as Xaden walked into the room. “We could feel that you were awake through the bond.”I smiled weakly at him an
Anila POV “Anila!! Don’t you dare tell me you are still asleep!!!” My eyes shot open at the sounds of my stepmother, Claire’s, voice. She was getting louder, which meant she was getting closer. I sat up quickly with a racing heart, panic consumed me. My bedroom door swung open, and Claire stood before me. She was breathing heavily, and she had a fire in her icy blue eyes. Her long blonde curls cascaded over her shoulder. She stood with her hands on her hips and her perfect red lips pressed in a thin line. “Do you have any idea what time it is?” Claire said in a low and threatening tone. I shook my head, swallowing the lump that had formed in my throat. “It's 10 am,” she said through her teeth. “You know the rules, Anila. Nobody is to stay in bed past 9.” “My alarm didn’t go off,” I told her, tugging at my fingers nervously and keeping my attention locked on the ground. “I got home from work late last night and—” “That’s not an excuse. You must finis
Anila POV “Mate?” My voice came out as nothing more than a whisper. Xaden, this incredible werewolf Alpha, stood in front of me pouring his forest green eyes into me like I was some kind of precious gem. “I have been waiting a while for this moment,” he said, taking hold of my hand and bringing it to his lips. “What is your name?” My face immediately warmed from his touch alone. “Anila Montgomery,” I whispered. “Anila…” he spoke softly, testing my name on his tongue and I loved the way it sounded coming out of his mouth. Then his eyes narrowed, and he looked at me with recognition. “Montgomery?” I nodded, not trusting my voice. His brows furrowed and then he reached into his pocket to grab a folded piece of paper. He unfolded it and scanned it momentarily before meeting my eyes. “You received a letter this morning inviting you to Lunar Academy. Have you thought about accepting it?” I nearly choked on my saliva. I didn’t see any letter besides the acceptance lette
Anila POV “Gina!!! Get in here and help me!” Claire yelled throughout the house to my sister. I struggled against Claire’s stronghold, trying desperately to get to the door. But every time I tried to rip my arm out of her grip, her nails would dig into my flesh. Gina was rushing down the stairs and when she saw me, her eyes grew large and round. “What the—” She began to ask. “Help me get her to her room,” Claire growled, grabbing onto my other arm and making it impossible for me to move. Gina nodded and rushed toward me, grabbing a hold of my feet, and causing me to become airborne. I screamed loudly for them to release me. I screamed for help. I screamed for Xaden. I screamed until my throat had gone raw. But it was no use. Nobody could hear me. I was all alone and as Claire said, I was never going to leave. I was never going to be free. I was a true prisoner. They took me upstairs and they threw me onto the floor in my small bedroom. I hit the hardwood with a thump
Anila POV “It will wear off within the hour,” Xaden said, a smile in his voice as he pulled me along with him and toward the door. “We are leaving now, and you aren’t going to stop us.” I could tell Claire was struggling against this magical hold; her face was growing red as she attempted to move. “Release me!!!” She whaled. Xaden only ignored her though. I gave my stepmother one last look knowing that this was probably the last time I was going to see her. I was finally free. I didn’t say anything to her though; there were no words to say. I turned back to Xaden who was pulling me out the front door, shutting the door behind us, and separating me from the life I used to know. There was a car waiting in front of the house and when we approached the car, the driver got out and opened the back door for us. “Take us to the private plane,” Xaden ordered, helping me into the backseat. “Yes, sir,” the driver said just as Xaden slid into the backseat beside me and shut the
Anila POV As soon as we left the plane, a car was waiting for us. The first thing I noticed about this new place was the warm air. The second thing I noticed was that it was so dark due to it being late at night, however, the big moon and the bright stars lit up our pathway as we walked toward the car. Butterflies assaulted my stomach as I slid into the backseat of the car; Xaden was close behind me, closing the car door once we were secured inside. The driver started to pull away without a single instruction from Xaden. I leaned my head against Xaden’s shoulder, inviting him to hold me. It didn’t take him long to get the hint and soon, I was wrapped in his warm arms once again. Within 5 minutes, we were arriving at the school and my mouth dropped open at the sight of it. It was like being transported into a whole different world. It had to be the biggest university I had ever seen. The stone archway, through the buildings, led to what looked like a long cobblestone drivew
Anila POV I looked down at the wand in my hands, my face reddening. “I… uh…” I tried to say, but he didn’t let me finish before he reached his hand out. “Let me have it.” The wand wiggled from my hands, and I released it, allowing it to fly to Damien. He studied the wand with a curious frown. Xaden stepped in front of me and blocked my view of the others. The air around us pulsed when Xaden said, “She isn’t your mate. She’s mine.” “The hell she is,” Zach growled, stepping toward us. How was it possible to have more than one mate? Especially one of them being a bear? In all my reading, I had never heard of such a thing, and from their faces, I could tell this wasn’t normal. Harley looked confused but said nothing as he stared at me, then at Xaden, and then at Zach. Zach’s face morphed into a snout, and his ocean-blue eyes began to turn yellow with a fiery ember burning within them. The form grew large as clothes started to rip from the fur and muscle burst forth. A
Anila POV Heat rushed to my cheeks. “Do you normally talk about these things so openly?” I asked. “In front of everybody.” Before he could respond, Harley’s voice stopped him. “Look, I don’t want any part of whatever is going on,” he said, keeping his eyes fixed on the ground. He ran his hand across the back of his neck, and I saw that his face was flushed. “Xaden is my best friend and he’s an Alpha. I don’t want to compete for something I don’t fully understand. It’s all very confusing.” Harley seemed to be the rational one of the group. He was trying not to make eye contact with me, but it was a losing battle because once in a while, his honey-colored eyes would catch my wandering gaze and he’d hold it. “Thank you, friend.” Xaden’s response was clipped, his eyes softened as he looked at Harley. The Werebear shifted uncomfortably, but he nodded in head in response to Xaden. Zach, however, was acrimonious. “This is bullshit. I’m not backing down. Just because you met he
Anila’s POVI’m not sure how long I had been out, but when I woke up, I was no longer in the burning towns. I was lying in a fairly comfortable bed in a familiar room.“Oh, good. You’re awake,” Nurse Lorelei, the head nurse at Lunar Academy, said with a smile.“I’m back at school?” I whispered, my voice sounding unfamiliar and hoarse. My body was stiff as I attempted to move, but I didn’t feel any actual pain.“You were brought back a few days ago. You were sleeping ever since that battle,” she said sighing. “I heard quite the story about you. I must say, word had gotten around quickly.”My cheeks flushed at her words.Everyone knew what had happened? “Anila,” I heard my name from the doorway as Xaden walked into the room. “We could feel that you were awake through the bond.”I smiled weakly at him an
Anila’s POVEverything around me started to fade away as the battle continued in the sky.It was Ember and me, vs the Alpha King and about 3 of the dragons.The glow of the Dragon Stone was wedged in his chest, pulsating with each beat of his heart. That dragon stone was the reason he was like this… it was the reason all of this was happening in the first place.If only I could get it, I could put an end to all of this.He would be powerless.The King swiped at me with his large claws; he managed to get my arm, and I hissed in pain, grabbing the sore spot on my arm. For a second, I had a moment of panic. When Xaden got scratched by a dragon, it put him in a coma.But when nothing happened, I felt a sense of relief.However, I did almost fall off Ember entirely, but thankfully she prevented me from falling. I did get a good look at the ground though and I saw that people were still being ushered und
Anila’s POVThe house was on fire when I reached it. There was rubble everywhere and something was blocking the front door from opening. I barely recognized the place because of all the ash and rubble that surrounded the yard. I felt no attachment to being back at this house, nor did I feel any remorse over the fact that it was burned to the ground. I didn’t really care about any of that; it was no longer my home.My home was where my mates were and that was the place I longed to be at last.I gave up on the door and tried a window instead. Thankfully, it wasn’t locked, and I was able to get into the dark home. I nearly was choked out by the amount of smoke and soot in the air. Instead of staying in human form, I decided to strip out of my clothes, throwing them outside so I would have them later, and then I shifted into my wolf. Even in my wolf form, it was difficult to breathe, but at least I was lower to the ground my wolf&r
Anila’s POVEmber was going faster than I had ever known her to go. Then again, I’d never ridden on her before because the last time I saw her, she was only a baby. She also knew exactly where she was going without even looking at the other dragons. We weren’t riding with a saddle, which was also weird, but oddly enough, I felt secure on Ember’s bare back.Jaxon sat behind me, his arms wrapped around my waist and my back was pressed into his broad chest, so there was that extra layer of protection as well.“We need to protect the humans because they are defenseless,” I told him; he nodded in agreement.“We should get them under the ground,” he said. “If there are any sewers or anything. It’s safer for them.”I wasn’t going to argue with that; as long as the humans were safe, that was all that mattered. As we neared the human nation, my heart started to sink. I
Anila’s POVWhile I was engulfed in the dark woods, I grabbed my wand out of my boot and cast the spell for light to light the area up so I could see better. I had my wolf and bear sight, but it was still difficult to see the items I was looking for. I wanted to refrain from shifting right now because I wanted my animals to be well-rested and prepared for when I needed them the most.Besides, most of the others hadn’t shifted. Some of the bird shifters did, but aside from that, everyone was wandering around different sections of the forest in their human forms.“Don’t overthink it,” I heard Zach’s voice in my head through our mindlink. I paused at the sound of his voice and looked around, wondering if he was nearby. It made him chuckle which solidified that he could see me.“Where are you?” I asked him out loud.“I’m not near you. I’m still where you left me. But I c
Anila’s POV“The competition is in a couple of hours. What exactly are we going to do with a dragon?” Zach asked. He was now leaning against the wall on the far side of the dorm room, his arms folded around his chest as he watched the dragon intently.“Yeah, what are we doing with it?” Sage asked, narrowing her eyes at me.“Her name is Ember,” I scolded, rolling my eyes as I ran my hands down Ember’s head.“What are we supposed to do?” Penny asked with a timid frown on her lips.I turned towards Ember and pressed my forehead against her as I whispered, “Go find Jaxon.”She closed her eyes, taking in my words, and then without another word she turned towards the window which was still open, and she took off.“Be careful! Don’t be seen!” I whispered-yelled.“This is a really bad idea,” Sage said, folding her arms
Xaden’s POV“What do you think this is about?” Harley asked as we approached the conference hall for Alphas. It was outside of all territories and rarely used except for meetings that included all Alphas for both bear and wolf shifters. We only had a meeting that concerned everyone when it was an emergency.Whatever this was about, I knew that it wasn’t going to be good.“I guess we will find out,” I murmured as we approached the hall that led to the meeting room.“Where the hell have you two been?” My father asked as he stormed towards us. “We had been waiting for you.”“Sorry, Dad. You called when we were at school. Took us some time to get here,” I told him as we went towards the doors together.“This is an emergency, Xaden. You should have run faster in wolf form,” he muttered, then he froze and sniffed the air, narrowing his eyes at me,
Anila’s POV“Holy fuck,” Zach breathed, pushing me the rest of the way into the room and shutting the door behind us. The window was wide open, so I knew the dragon didn’t just walk in through the door.I was too frozen to say or do anything except gawk at the big dragon that sat in the middle of the dormitory. Sage and Becca were on the couch while Sadie and Sally were across the living room, staring at the dragon with big and worried eyes. Penny was the only one who didn’t seem afraid; she was standing closer to the dragon, and she looked a bit sheepish.“I can’t believe you let that thing in here,” Sally said, hiding behind her twin.Penny frowned and folded her arms across her chest.“She was wandering around outside. What was I supposed to do? Let her get hurt? The hunters wouldn’t let her live if they found her.”“Why do we care what happens to a dragon, Pen?” Sally asked, her frown deepening as she glared at Penny from across the room. “She’s a freaking dragon!”“And she’s harm
Anila’s POVI was so exhausted after taking all my mates at once that I nearly passed out after my orgasm. Once they were out of me, they cleaned me up and then cleaned up our mess from the picnic. I used Harley as a bed as I curled up against him, pressing my head against his chest. We were all still naked, except for Damien who had got dressed right after.I thought there would be a bit of awkwardness between them afterward, but there wasn’t. In fact, they all acted as if they were friends for a long time. Even Damien was joining them with some jokes and laughing. I was too tired to engage in conversation and Harley kept his warm arms around my body, pressing me further into him. His fingers traced my spine gently, sending goosebumps around my body.Once everything was clean, Harley stood, lifting me into his arms. We went towards Xaden’s cabin so we could rest for the night. I made it clear that I didn’t want any of my mates to go anywhere else. I needed them tonight because I had