Chapter 91: Dragon King

CADMUS

I stood waiting in the alpha’s office. It’s funny; the room looked masculine: dark oak, a table full of bourbon bottles and glasses. And yet—I sniffed the air—it smelled feminine, almost sweet.

The man looked positively gleeful when I asked to speak to the man in charge. Wolf packs almost always had a male alpha.

But something about the man’s expression told me I may have jumped the gun slightly.

The door behind me burst open, and in stormed a young woman with waist-length white hair. Her face was already sporting a look of annoyance.

Behind her followed a man of a tall build. His aura, like hers, screamed authority, and yet he followed behind her. ~Interesting.~

“Hello, welcome to the Blue Moon Pack. I am Alpha Reign. This is my mate, Prince Maddox. I heard you wanted to speak to someone in charge.” She took a deep breath. “That would be me.”

I smiled. “Wonderful. Shall we get started?” I motioned to her desk.

She seemed taken aback by my acceptance of her title. She took a seat behind her desk. Her mate pulled up a chair beside her.

She looked over my shoulder and scowled. “You can go now. This is a private matter that doesn’t include you.”

The man who I had sent to fetch her looked at her rudely before bowing mockingly and excusing himself.

“I see you are having some trouble with acceptance here.”

She laughed. “Understatement of the century, I’m afraid. Backward wolves and their ideals. They will never accept a female alpha.

“It’s exhausting,” she finished in a whisper before composing herself. “Excuse me. I apologize. You said you wished to discuss something with me?”

“Yes. A lot of my people are going missing.”

She blinked twice before looking at her mate, who shrugged his shoulders. ~Very interesting.~

“I’m sorry, Mr.?”

“Cadmus. King Cadmus“

“Right. Well, I’m sorry, Your Majesty, but I don’t see how dragon people going missing is an issue that involves…wolves.”

“Well, last I heard, one of your Princes freed one of my people many moons ago.”

She sat up straighter. “Axel freed one of your people?”

“Yes, so you know this prince?”

“He’s my brother.”

“Your brother?”

“Yes, my mother is the alpha king’s daughter. She mated with the alpha of the pack and had me and Axel. Well, Axel first and then me.”

I rubbed my face, deep in thought. “So why isn’t your brother alpha? Doesn’t the title usually go to the firstborn?”

“He didn’t want it. He was challenged. Reign stepped in and won it fair and square,” her mate pipped up.

I nodded. “I see. Well, yes, Prince Axel released my daughter.”

“Your daughter?”

“Yes, my daughter. She had been taken as a child, and no matter how hard we tried, we couldn’t locate her.

“Next thing we knew, fifteen years later, there she was, flying over the mountains, returning to us. My queen, as you can imagine, was overjoyed at Nia’s return.”

Alpha Reign nodded, the wheels turning in her head. “Axel said the dragon, your daughter, had three heads.”

“Yes, that is correct.”

“So you’re aware that your daughter, when she turns into a dragon…has three heads?”

“You seem confused.”

“Well, up until five minutes ago, I assumed that one dragon was a fluke. And now I’m sitting here finding out that there is an entire colony of dragons, and they change into people.

“So forgive me if I seem a little…confused.”

“Perfectly understandable. That’s how we felt when we found out about wolves.”

“Right. You still haven’t answered about how your people going missing affects us. Apart from my brother releasing your…daughter.”

“Daughter, yes… We believe that the same man who took our daughter all those years ago is the one taking my people now. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you how potent our blood is to magical potions.

“If you are the king’s granddaughter, then the power of a witch flows through your veins.”

She stood up and poured herself a glass of bourbon. “I knew I was going to get a headache,” she muttered.

“When did your people start going missing?”

Prince Maddox accepted the glass Reign had poured him. She handed me one next, which I politely accepted, taking a sip. ~Expensive taste.~

“About a month ago. The reason I have come to you is that you managed to find your brother before, so I was hoping you could help us locate my people.

“Like Nia, they have fallen off our radars, and we cannot sense them.”

Reign stared out the window playing with the glass in her hand. “There are no witches where you come from?” She rubbed her forehead.

“No witches that we can trust. The spell will require a drop of blood, and the blood of a dragon is—”

“Quite potent in magic.”

“So it is possible then?”

Prince Maddox looked at Reign’s back. She downed her bourbon and poured herself another glass.

“Yes, but my grandmother won’t do the spell again. She made an exception for Axel, but she had forbidden blood magic within these grounds.”

Prince Maddox looked at Reign, confused. “Why?” he asked.

Reign sighed heavily but remained silent.

I chose to answer for her. “Because practicing blood magic is a dangerous craft. Once you start, it is a slippery slope into the dark arts.”

He nodded and gulped back his drink.

“What about Storm? Isn’t she a wandering witch? Wouldn’t she know?” he asked.

“Storm is here?” I asked Reign, and this time she turned to face me.

“You know her?”

“Yes, she was quite popular with the children in my colony.”

“She is mated to Axel. It was her idea to use blood magic.” Reign took a seat back behind her desk. Prince Maddox’s phone rang. He apologized and excused himself.

“This job weighs heavy on you.”

She looked surprised by my words. “I’m that bad at hiding it?”

“Dragons see a lot more than you know. I can see you are both powerful wolves. It is not in a male wolf’s nature to let a woman take the lead, and yet he does for you.”

She smiled tightly and swallowed back her drink.

“You haven’t completed your mating?”

She looked up dangerously.

I raised my hands in defeat. “I don’t mean to pry, but anyone can smell your nonmating. If you wish to gain the respect of the people, perhaps you should complete it.”

“And be forced out so that Maddox can become alpha?” she scoffed.

“So that the people can see that a powerful prince is willing to stand behind you because he respects you as the alpha.”

She looked down at her hands.

“Just a suggestion,” I countered. I rose to my feet. “Well, if you’ll excuse me, I think I shall go for a walk and find Storm. I do have some people to save.”

I smiled gently. “Think about what I said, Alpha Reign. You are the change this pack needs.”

“The man who took your people, he killed my father,” she whispered. “I couldn’t save my father. If he comes again, how do I know that I can protect this pack? How can they trust me to protect them?”

“What made you want to be alpha?”

“To make history. To be the change.”

“So be the change, Reign. You are powerful. More than you know, I think.”

She smiled up at me. “Thank you.”

“Well, you don’t live to be a thousand without gaining some wisdom.”

She muttered something about a headache and poured herself another drink.

I exited the office and went looking for Storm. The queen may have banned blood magic, but Storm was never one to follow the rules.