Page 5 of The Forbidden Dragon King (Shadow Kings #1)

CHAPTER THREE

Winter Caves, Fang Kingdom

F reya

Adrenaline surges through me, as I scramble up the side of the cliff toward the Winter Caves.

My heart is hammering in my chest. My pulse roars in my ears. My ragged breathing sounds too loud in the quiet night.

The Mate Hunt is coming to its climax.

There is a wild exhilaration in the air.

My foot slips on a loose stone on the narrow path. “Fuck.”

Exhausted, I stumble, catching myself against the jagged ruby cliffside. The spear slips in my palm, which is rubbed raw on the wooden shaft.

I gasp, gritting my teeth.

I change my grip, struggling to drag the spear closer to my body, as well as to untangle myself from the cloak.

Why did Bard have to be so tall?

“How on the holy moon do Alphas fight with these things?” I heft the weighty spear with a grimace.

I steady myself, pressing my back more firmly against the cliff wall, before forcing myself to peer down over the ledge at the woods below me.

A triumphant howl rises from the trees.

I hiss out a breath.

That’s close.

I panic, raising my head to sniff and try to catch a scent. The night is still.

Then I glance down at my dress, relieved that the runes are still glowing.

More howling joins the first…more than one wolf now…possibly a mated pair from the direction of the Moon Court.

I scan over the woods toward Orm. The capital coils in a circle around the court, which in turn is built around barrows, the burial site and shrine to the original Moon Court — the site of the Massacre of Orm.

My throat tightens at the sight.

“Goodbye,” I whisper. “I know that I promised to take revenge for you on the Shadow Vampires. If the fae make a deal with me, maybe I still will. On the other hand, if I die, I’ll join with you in the moon. Wait for me, okay? ”

The barrows hold the graves for the thousands who died on that single, freezing night. Whole families, from Omega servants all the way to the Alpha King himself.

Raised as the only wolf who survived from that night, I’ve often wondered if others see me as a curse.

A ghost.

I’m nothing but a reminder of death and a past that they want to move on from.

Sometimes, I lie awake, haunted by guilt that I survived, while so many others didn’t, including the royal family and their sweet new baby.

Who will miss me, when I’m gone? I should have died twenty-one years ago.

Can fate make mistakes?

I feel sick, squinting up at the full moon.

It’s too bright. I’m too exposed here.

Shadow Gods, what does an Omega need to do to get some cloud cover, huh? I’d promise to be good but you wouldn’t believe me.

I bet Bard would know the rune magic to bring the rain.

Fae can control the elements, at least the truly powerful ones can.

I steel myself, before starting up the path again, dragging the spear after me. I clutch the cloak more tightly around myself, pulling the hood over my head to cover my hair.

Unexpectedly, a low growl makes me spin around in shock .

A giant black wolf prowls stealthily out of the darkness behind me along the path.

An Alpha elite.

“Oh, shit.” My eyes widen with terror.

The wolf is woven out of shadows that trail from her fur like nightmarish questing fingers, which is why I didn’t notice her before. It’s what makes Shadow Wolves deadly hunters at night. They’re such dangerous predators because they can camouflage.

Plus, they often hunt in packs.

Terrified, I scan behind her but I can’t see any other wolves. That doesn’t mean there aren’t other shifters there, however, waiting their turn to tear out my throat.

The wolf’s eyes blaze crimson.

She must be one of the elite. The King’s bully gang.

Trembling, I sniff, as she takes a step toward me, and I take a step closer to the cliff edge.

The scent of wet forest.

The wolf is Hilda, the Alpha who has tormented me for years.

My shoulders straighten.

If I’m going to bleed out tonight, then it’s not going to be on the fangs of the wolf who has made a game of shoving my head into buckets of dirty water, slapping me for meeting her eye, or tripping me down steps in front of Bard, only to laugh at me.

Bard never laughed at my humiliation. Yet he never helped me either.

Who needs an Alpha to save them? I choose my own path .

When Hilda stalks closer, I glance behind myself, swallowing as the heels of my feet touch the crumbling edge of the cliff. I glance over my shoulder at the wood far below.

Then my expression becomes determined, and I turn back to Hilda.

I raise my spear in front of me. “I know that I’m one hot Omega with the tightest ass in Orm, but we’re just not a good match. Sorry if I’ve broken your heart. Why don’t you turn your fluffy ass around and go find another Omega to mate?”

Hilda bares her fangs, snarling in fury.

I smirk. “I know that you’re disappointed. Can’t we just be friends?”

Hilda leaps at me. Shadows arc from her, winding around me and dragging my legs out from underneath me.

I hit the ground with an agonizing crunch to my hip, driving the air out of me.

I hold onto the spear with a wild desperation.

Don’t drop it, don’t fucking drop it, Spark.

I clench my teeth, forcing myself to flip around onto my stomach. Before I can push myself up to my knees, the wolf’s jaws snap around the bottom of my long cloak and yank me from side to side like I’m a doll.

I scream as I’m scraped against the rocks.

“I’m not your chew toy.” Panicked, I kick back with my feet, trying to hit Hilda and make her let go.

Finally, I boot her in the nose, and she yelps.

I let out of a breath of relief, pushing myself painfully to my knees. But then, I howl, as Hilda’s jaws clamp around my left ankle.

The pain is blinding.

For a moment, I think that I’ll black out.

I bite my tongue, however, anything to keep myself in this black night where I have to keep fighting because otherwise, this will be how I’ll die.

And I’ll never stop fighting.

“Unclean asshole,” I snarl. I know how to upset Alphas. I’ve only had words as my weapons for most of my life. Time to see if they truly are enough for an Omega to beat an Alpha. “You’re a cowardly raven starver, needing to be in your shifted form to attack a non-shifter Omega.”

Hilda growls, rumbling enough to make goosebumps rise on my skin, but she doesn’t let go of my ankle. Instead, she bites down harder.

Stars burst in front of my eyes. Bile rushes up my throat.

I struggle not to vomit. “That’s all you’ve got? Actually, you’re the daughter of a cowardly raven starver from the house of a raven starver.”

Is that going far enough?

Hilda’s shadows squeeze me tighter.

Then she shakes me, attempting to wrench off my foot — tear me apart for being a non-shifter.

I don’t accept this ritual. I won’t submit to the Mate Hunt and definitely not to fucking Hilda.

My head is swimming from the pain, but I clench my hand more firmly around the spear.

“You know, it’s sad,” I pant. “You think that killing me will make Prince Bard like you. You’ve spent years humiliating me without realizing that most of the court is actually laughing at you for being the Alpha with a crush on another Alpha.

I’m not your rival, but still, no matter what you do tonight, the Prince will still never notice you. ”

Hilda’s pheromones become stronger and sharper in her distress. She jerks back, loosening her hold.

This is my chance.

Let this work.

Without warning, I twist around, slamming the iron tip of the spear through Hilda’s head.

I didn’t expect the spear to be sharp and powerful enough to slice through Hilda’s fur and then her skull.

I should have known that Bard would have the best weapon.

Blood spurts over my cheeks in a hot gush. I ignore it, along with Hilda’s gurgling howl. Her blazing crimson eyes meet mine in shock.

Hello, Hilda, you finally meet the real me at last.

She should be honored. No one else in Orm has truly known the Omega under my carefully constructed mask.

I twist the spear deeper through Hilda’s skull. I’m shaking.

It appears that an actual weapon definitely backs up an Omega’s words to help defeat an Alpha. Plus, iron defeats wolves as well as fae, at least if you stick it through their fucking heads.

I’ve never killed anyone before.

I’ve been threatened with murder many times, but killing is different .

I feel hollow. Yet also, as if a side to me is awakening that has been suppressed for twenty-one long years, and the wolf inside me is howling in savage joy.

The shadows draw back into Hilda’s body, fading away. Hilda falls to the side. Her paws kick, as if trying to fight for life.

I prise Hilda’s jaws off my bleeding ankle. Her teeth cut all the way through to the bone.

Breathing hard, I wrench my spear out of her head.

“At least you died on Prince Bard’s spear.” As the soul flies from Hilda’s eyes, I don’t know if I’m comforting her or myself. “May your soul swiftly join your ancestors in the moon.”

I grasp the shaft with bloody fingers.

My heart is racing. When I reach down to feel my throbbing ankle, I almost black out.

Well, that’s going to get infected, if I don’t bleed out first.

Shadow Fae are healers. If they don’t leave me to die, then they will be able to save me.

When I was only a teenager, and I’d been sent to gather firewood, I’d disobeyed the rules and explored the Winter Caves instead.

Tell me that somewhere is forbidden and you may as well put up a sign telling me to Enter Here Now .

Eventually, after many trips, I found the way through the labyrinth to the other side and the fae borders.

For the last three years, I’d break curfew and sit on the fae side of the cliffs, looking down at the Unseelie Kingdom’s border, risking being caught just for a glimpse of the most dangerous, primal, and beautiful fae of them all: King Daire.

Daire is a rogue, bandit, and the silver haired fae who has mesmerized me. With his ice white skin and lavender eyes that are like nothing I have ever seen, I have spent years dreaming of Daire.