RainA year playing rugby professionally and you would think I would be better at judging things on the field, but no.Not this time at least.I made a stupid mistake and sprained my ankle. When it first happened, I was wailing at the top of my lungs and crying that I had broken it. Jesse calmly walked over to me, giving it a poke.“It’s not broken,” he said based on my reaction to the pain.I scowled. “It hurt!“Yes, but if it was broken it would hurt a lot more.”Technically, Jesse wasn’t wrong. If it was broken it would hurt a lot more, but it didn’t make me feel any better because my leg hurt!“Let’s stop staring at him and get him off the field,” Colby muttered as he came up beside me.Together, Jesse and Colby helped lift me off the ground. I grunted, trying not to put any weight on my ankle.A sprained ankle wasn’t going to hurt my career, but the fact that I made such a stupid mistake annoyed the hell out of me. I had tried so hard to improve a little bit every day. Rugby was
MattI wanted to punch the wall when I heard about Lia's conversation. It was bullshit that we were the ones who had to deal with this. Why did we have to handle this when they should deal with it in the first place?!It was insane. We had done what we did to rescue Gabi because the Rosewater Coven had no right to take one of the children she was having with Michael. Yet, somehow we were guilty of that.“How the hell do we look into this?” I asked, not bothering to hide my amusement.Colby sighed. “Lia and I were talking earlier. She suggested that she make a formal information request with the Witches Council. They probably have something in their records.”“I have to call them anyway,” Lia reminded us weakly, her face turning into a scowl. “I’ve tried to call them twice today you know but they didn’t answer. Bet they want us to drive out there and force us to make the drive.”My face shifted into a scowl this time.“No, we can contact them on the phone. There is no way we are drivin
RainThe day after that stressful phone call, I was trying to take a minute to just enjoy my sandwich. We were all running around like chickens with our heads cut off, trying our best to find out where this dragon may have gotten.One of them was awake and walking around. It was important to find the shifter, question them, and see if we could try to understand the situation we had found ourselves in.This was even weirder when I found out I was a vampire and Lia realized she was a witch with genuine magic in her blood.Dragons were supposed to be extinct! I still couldn’t believe they existed and I might not admit this to the rest of my pack, but I was kind of excited to talk to one. There were so many questions I wanted to ask them, the most important one being whether they did sleep on piles and piles of gold.Or were the rumors of dragons hoarding gold true?I was tempted to ask one that to their face if given the chance. Let's hope they didn’t try to burn me with their fire breat
ColbyThe day after we apprehended the dragon shifter, I found myself going to the witches council headquarters for the state so I could talk to him. My pack knew I was going to do it, but not when. As pack leader, it was important I keep up with this.When the witches saw me they didn’t seem too perturbed. They motioned for me to sit and said I would be able to go downstairs to speak with him in the cells soon. While I waited, I watched the TV they were playing.It was a shock when the news interrupted the regularly scheduled program to talk about the Dragon shifter.Damn, this was looking to be a big deal, was’ t it?"Good evening, and welcome to Channel 7 Nightly News. Tonight, a shocking revelation—a dragon shifter has been found and arrested by the Witches’ Council in the county.Authorities apprehended the shifter near Rosewater Coven’s former stronghold, where witnesses reported chaos as enforcement agents moved in. Sources claim the individual displayed enhanced strength and po
ColbyOn the drive home, I am a nervous wreck. I am trying to figure out a way to explain everything to them. They wanted to go with me, but I felt the need to do this alone. Rain would panic, Jesse would scare the local population, and Matt would lash out if angered enough. Meanwhile, Lia would be trying to wrangle all of them on her own.It would be best if I went there by myself. This was why they had named me the pack leader for a reason.Sighing, I park the car in the garage and head inside. The second I step into the pack house, the air shifts. They know something’s wrong. I don’t even make it to the kitchen before every single pair of eyes in the room are on me, waiting.I don’t drag it out. "We have a problem."Why make them wait when it was clear they wanted me to get straight to the point? I just hoped they were all ready to hear what I had to say because there was just no way for me to sugarcoat what I was about to say.Silence falls, heavy and immediate. Then Lia, standing
LiaWhen I stepped into the witches council building I knew it wasn’t going to go my way. I sat down, waiting to speak with someone but they kept me waiting for a while until I realized it was over an hour after I arrived!Just when I was going to get up and complain, someone motioned for me to come back and follow them. The woman who I sat across sounded like the one I spoke to on the phone a few days ago. She gazed at me, looking less them impressed as I was here.“Ms. Brown I thought I made it clear what you and your pack was supposed to do.”I took a slow, deep breath. “Yes and as stated in my email, the dragon shifter you captured said that there were others who were going to wake up eventually.”“We already know that.”“Which is why I thought you would respond to my email about trying to pin down where the Rosewater Coven has gone.”She sighed. “Ms. Brown, this is on you. You and your pack sent them running so it is up to all of you to track them down.”“Are you telling me that
LiaThe one person I had yet to talk to about this upcoming road was my brother. He was one of the most important people in my life so I had to go talk with him about this. My problem was I waited until the last minute. We were already packing to leave. I knew my brother had to figure we were going somewhere but everyone wanted me to talk to him.Finally, minutes before we had to go, I sat next to him and smiled softly."Michael, I have to go," I said, my voice firm this time. "The dragons won't stop unless we do something."He gave me a knowing look, like he had already made peace with it. "I know," he replied, shaking his head slightly. "But I trust you, Lia. You and the wolf pack can handle it."I paused, watching him closely. "You’re okay with this?"What I wanted was for my brother to come with me. But he had Gabi and the twins. Simone and her mates were going to help as well. They were going to travel alongside us. At least there would be a good number of us trying to find this
LiaDays start to blend when you are on the road. It’s hard to remember one from the next and in the beginning, all I could think about was how much school I was missing.School had become important to me now that I was able to focus on it. I was still taking magic lessons on the side, even with me being a full-fledged licensed witch. There was no such thing as learning too much. One could always find time and opportunity to learn!But now I was neglecting both my academic studies and magical studies. The Rosewater Coven was the cause of this and it filled me with annoyance.Simone was feeling the same way but she was more positive about it. She kept saying that it was important for us to find this coven and if we had to put school on the backburner then that was all we could do.Right now we were on day… god, I wasn’t even sure. We checked into the hotel and got a room for just the five of us. There were three beds and while it was going to be a bit crowded, I was fine with sharing w
LiaAfter that startling revelation, I decided I needed to spend some quality time with my mates.It was a lot to take in when you realize that your ancestors double-crossed a bunch of dragon shifters to save the world. Then you go ahead and screw it up. The you is me.I was the one who messed it up but if they had just told me the truth then everything would’ve been fine. Maybe we could’ve come with some way to keep the dragons at bay.Right now, I didn’t want to think about it. We were still at the hotel, trying to figure out what the hell we were doing. Simone was with me in her room with her mates out getting something to eat. It was giving us a chance to talk.I flopped onto the hotel bed with a sigh, staring up at the ceiling. “I need to figure out how to spend some quality time with them.”This was what I wanted to focus on right now. I spent some quality time with my mates and tried to distract myself from everything that was going on.She glanced at me, smiling.I stared back
LiaThe dragon shifter showed up, climbing into the back of the truck. I was sitting there with him, wishing he would stop staring at me so strangely. He was looking at me as if he knew me but the two of us didn’t know each other!“You seem familiar,” the dragon shifter said, his golden eyes studying me with unnerving intensity.I stiffened. “We’ve never met.”A small, almost amused smirk played on his lips. “Of course. And yet…” He tilted his head slightly, his gaze sweeping over me like he was searching for something. “There’s something about you. Almost as if we have met before. In another life, maybe.”I swallowed, my heart pounding against my ribs. “That’s not possible.”“Isn’t it?” His voice was smooth, but there was something else beneath it—something ancient, knowing. “I’ve lived long enough to believe in more than just what’s in front of me.”I held my ground, forcing my voice to stay steady. “Then maybe it’s just a trick of the mind.”He studied me for a long moment before h
ColbyFor the next two nights, I stayed outside and hoped that I would meet that dragon shifter again. His name didn’t exactly roll off the tongue, so I just kept calling him Dragon Shifter in my head.Their names were so hard and difficult to pronounce. Made sense, given how old they were. Ancient.On the third night, I was starting to wonder if he was ever going to show up again. He had to hurry up because with every day that passed, the worse this crisis became. It was terrible to think more dragons were waking up.If we didn’t talk to the Rosewater Coven soon we were going to be fucked.I leaned against the car, arms crossed, watching as the dragon shifter approached. He didn’t look like much—a tall, lean figure in the shadow of the streetlight. But there was something about him. Something that screamed danger. I wasn’t sure if that was the dragon in him or the fact that I still didn’t trust him.“Colby,” he said, his voice low but steady. “We need to talk.”I pushed off the car,
LiaI exhaled slowly, stretching out my fingers as the energy built inside me. A spark of light flickered between my palms, growing brighter as I focused. The magic thrummed through my veins, warm and alive, bending to my will.I flicked my wrist, sending a controlled pulse of energy toward the target. It hit dead center, leaving a faint scorch mark.Behind me, Simone let out a low whistle. “Damn, Lia. You’re getting pretty good at this.”I grinned, wiping the sweat from my brow. “I have to be.”Simone crossed her arms, watching me closely. “You mean you want to be.”I shrugged, rolling my shoulders. “Both. I need to be strong enough to protect everyone.”She tilted her head. “You know you don’t have to do everything alone, right?”I sighed, flexing my fingers as another surge of power built beneath my skin. “I know.”Simone didn’t look convinced. “Do you, though? Because it kind of seems like you’re trying to carry the whole damn world on your shoulders.”I glanced at her. “I’m not—”
ColbyTalking with Michael did help. It made me even more determined to protect Lia with every bone in my body.When it was later that night, I decided to head outside. I needed some air and was sick of being in the stuffy hotel room.The cool air felt good. I walked over to one of our cars, taking in the night sky and the sound of the crickets.There was one good thing about traveling away from the city; we were getting to see some beautiful sites. I loved it.It was a shame that the pack decided to do this because we were trying to prevent a bunch of ancient, sleeping dragons from waking up.The previous attack was still being talked about. Some of the dragons had been killed while others were apprehended by the various supernatural creature associations.Frankly, I was just grateful there weren’t a lot of casualties from the attack.I leaned against the hood of the car, inhaling the cool night air. My ribs ached, my knuckles were raw, and frustration still simmered under my skin. W
LiaI was so scared when I saw Matt fall down.Then I saw the blood. Anger and worry flooded through me followed by fear.I was so scared for him. He was bleeding and might die from his injuries.It was why I had learned a healing spell during my latest batch of studies.The pack was going to be heading into an unknown situation. I needed to make sure I could at least heal them to an extent.But the healing school came with a downside—it exhausted me.Rain came up beside me, wrapping an arm around me while Jesse and Colby helped Matt.The five of us hobbled out of the town. We weren’t followed by the coven; they wanted to be left alone so they were going to stay as far away from us as possible.After hopping in our car, we met with Simone. All of us regrouped. I stood there with Simone patted my shoulder.Growling in frustration, I started to walk ahead. My body was aching but I didn’t care. I needed to clear my mind.We left with nothing. No answers, no leads—just bruises, torn cloth
LiaI saw the town in the distance, and it made me sick to my stomach.The town was the definition of a ghost town. There wasn’t anyone around, and I swear I saw a tumbleweed drift by.It was like I had stepped into some creepy horror movie with western undertones.My magic was crackling at my fingertips, prepared and ready.A rustling reached my ears. I cried out, sending a blast of energy toward the overgrown grass. A squirrel scurried out, the edge of its tail singed.“Lia, my dude, you almost murdered a squirrel. What did that squirrel ever do to you?”“Nothing!” I shrieked. “And I didn’t know it was a squirrel. I thought it was one of the members of the coven!”Jesse rolled his eyes. “Could you two be any louder?” he asked, rolling his eyes.“Yeah, you're going to alert them to our presence,” Colby pointed out, holding his finger to his lips. “Seriously, we are far too exposed right now. Let’s duck into one of those abandoned buildings and hide out while discussing strategy.”Sim
MattI was angry.Angry that we were forced to go on this wild goose chase to ensure that these dragons wouldn’t keep waking up and destroying the world.It wasn’t like I wanted the world to be destroyed. This was my home—my life.But it still pissed me off.I’d rather be on the field, playing rugby and winning for my team. This was where I felt most alive.Or at home with Lia and the rest of the pack. We were great together, having built a family somehow.Michael and Gabi were lucky to be back at the house, but I know they’d rather be here with us. If not for the twins, they would be.I wouldn’t have let Lia come if she was pregnant.Then again, I don’t think any of us could’ve stopped her. When she puts her mind to something, she becomes very stubborn and determined.Grumbling to myself, I glanced over at Colby, who was staring out the window.The group was back on search. We jumped into our cars and started following the trail, not sure if we were going the right way. Tegan and Lia
LiaThe search wasn’t going very well. We were sitting here at night after a long day of searching, crowded around the flat screen in the room watching some movie. I wasn’t even paying much attention to it. It was some cheesy rom-com that couldn’t keep my interest.All that mattered was being able to sit there with my mates.Then the words Emergency Broadcast Announcement flashed across the screen. A very nervous-looking news announcer sat there, trembling behind the desk."This is an emergency alert from the National Emergency Broadcast System. We interrupt this program for an urgent announcement.""At approximately 8:42 PM, a sudden and unprovoked attack by rogue dragon shifters was reported in multiple locations. Authorities confirm significant structural damage, fires, and civilian casualties. Emergency response teams are being dispatched to affected areas.""All residents are urged to seek immediate shelter. Avoid open areas, remain indoors, and secure all entry points. Do not at