“It has to be somewhere else,” Aleida said, pacing around the camp after they had returned from the long flight. “Maybe hidden somewhere in our father’s study or somewhere else in the crypt? We didn’t have time to search the whole thing. Maybe it was by Grandfather’s tomb, or—”

“Aleida,” Draven said, interrupting her with a soft voice. “It’s over.”

“No,” she said, shaking her head as she tried to hold herself together. “It has to be there. It has to be.”

Her shoulders slumped forward as she covered her face with her hands. Gunner wrapped his arms around her and swallowed her in a hug as she started crying.

His lion had recovered on the long flight home and he was feeling a lot better but was still in some significant pain.

“We came all this way and it was just a fairy tale,” she said as she dug her face into Gunner’s comforting chest. “I’m sorry, guys. I’m so sorry.”

“You didn’t know, Aleida,” Draven said as he took a deep breath and looked out at the horizon. “It was a long shot but we tried our best. It just didn’t go our way.”

Aleida pulled away from Gunner’s embrace and took a deep breath, composing herself as she rubbed the tears out of her eyes. “So, what now?”

Gunner grimaced in pain as he shuffled over to the log beside the firepit and sat down, holding his broken ribs that were still healing.

“There’s not much more we can do here,” he said softly. “We go home. Right, D?”

The couple looked at Draven for answers that he didn’t have. They should go back home, but going back home was the last thing on his mind.

How could he return home after seeing the beautiful girl in the window? She had been on his mind the entire flight back, and even now, all he could think about was returning to her no matter how dangerous it was. He was absolutely mesmerized by her gorgeous amber hair and sparkling green eyes.

He needed to learn more about her.

“I think it’s time to go back,” Aleida said with a nod. Draven knew how hard it must have been for her to admit that. She desperately wanted to believe that Caliburnus existed. And who could blame her? Her brothers were invincible without it.

“Okay,” Draven said, nodding reluctantly. “We go home. We can set up a defense with the other shifters in Colwood and hope our brothers don’t attack all at the same time. Maybe we have a chance to win if we fight them one at a time. We beat Jarin, right?”

Gunner sighed. “I think that’s our best choice.”

“No swords, no prophecies,” Draven said. “We do this the old-fashioned way. Tooth and claw.”

Aleida swallowed hard as she listened. “They won’t come alone,” she said, looking worried. “The three of them will attack as a group.”

Draven ran a hand through his red hair and huffed out a breath. “Then we fight them as a group. We have a mated dragon on our side too, remember?”

Aleida forced out a smile. “We should let Gunner heal throughout the night.”

“I’m fine,” Gunner grunted, grimacing in pain as he spoke.

“You’ll be fine after a night’s rest,” Draven said. “We can leave first thing in the morning. They don’t know where we are so we’ll be fine resting here for a few hours. It’s supposed to be an overcast tomorrow. We’ll be able to fly home over the clouds.”

Gunner stood up to protest, but his thick legs wobbled and he fell back down on his ass with a grunt.

“Come, my love,” Aleida whispered, offering her hand. “Let’s get some rest.”

The proud lion shifter glanced at her hand with a tight expression on his hard face, which softened when he looked up into her eyes. “Okay,” he muttered as he slid his hand into hers. “I would have been fine.”

“Yes, we all know you’re very tough,” she said with a playful roll of her eyes. “Come cuddle with me.”

Draven watched with envy as the happy couple disappeared into the tent leaving him all alone.

His mind immediately darted back to the girl in the tower, wondering if she was sleeping, wondering if she was okay.

I can’t leave without seeing her again.

Draven knew that if he returned home without talking to her, he would spend the next few centuries thinking about her and coming back to this moment in his mind—wishing he had acted differently. Wishing that he had gone to see her once again.

He watched the dark clouds coming in as he waited for the soft murmurs coming from Gunner and Aleida’s tent to stop.

An hour later, when he was convinced that they were sleeping, he crept down the side of the mountain and phased into his dragon.

With his excited heart pounding and his nerve endings tingling, he took the sky to return to the castle.

* * *

Draven’s breath quickened as his dragon approached the tower over the cover of the dark clouds. He dipped in and out of them, eying the Northern Tower where he had seen the girl.

The light was off in the room, and she was probably asleep. It was close to morning and he had to act fast before the sun came up and blew his cover. His brothers would be on the lookout for any dragons who were stupid enough to invade, and he wasn’t in the mood to face them again. Not without his younger sister to bail him out again.

Draven surveyed the castle from up high, trying to catch a glimpse of his brothers, any dragons, or guards patrolling the area. He spotted three. One guard was smoking a cigarette by the Southern wall and the other two were staring at their phones.

All right, he told his dragon. This has to be fast and quiet.

He needed perfect timing to pull off the difficult move, but he was willing to risk it to get another glimpse of her.

Draven pulled his red dragon up and then dove for the tower, tucking his wings in as the dragon plummeted like a rocket. He aimed for the tiny window that had no balcony—just a tiny ledge that he could hold onto.

Three. Two. He counted off as he rocketed closer. At one, he spread out his wings, abruptly stopping his fall, and pulled in his dragon.

The phase was instant and in the next split second, he was free falling down in his human form, waving his arms as he fell hard and fast toward the ground.

He reached out—timing it perfectly—and grabbed onto the small stone ledge, grunting as the momentum of the fall slammed his body into the wall of the tower.

His heart was pounding in his chest as he looked down past his dangling naked body to the ground below. He was so high up and a fall from here probably would have killed him. In the least, it would have hurt him enough that he couldn’t escape.

With a deep breath, he pulled himself up and looked in through the open window. There were five cots lined up against the wall but there were only three women sleeping inside. The room was bare with only a few pieces of furniture and a television that looked like it was from the eighties.

The hair on his arms raised as he watched one of the bodies move. She had the same amber hair splayed on the pillow that had caught his eye in the first place.

A warm shiver rippled through his body as her head turned on the pillow and faced him. Her eyes were open and she gasped when she saw him, flying up into a seating position.

“Shhhh,” Draven said, raising his finger to his lips. “It’s okay. I’m not here to hurt you.”

Her eyes were wide and she glanced back at the two other sleeping bodies as she clutched her blankets to her chest, looking scared and unsure.

“I’m here to help,” he whispered. “Are you trapped in here?”

She stared at him for a long time as she held her breath, looking unsure if she could trust him. Eventually, she nodded, and Draven let out a breath of relief. He desperately wanted to talk to her, and if she would have screamed he would have had to push off the tower, phase back into his dragon, and fly away.

“Come here,” he whispered, waving her over.

Her green eyes were piercing his soul. Even in the darkness, they looked so bright. She was utterly stunning and he didn’t care if he was about to be captured and tortured, this moment was worth all of that.

She glanced back at the two other women one last time and then crept out of her bed and tiptoed over.

Draven didn’t dare blink as she came. She was wearing baby-doll pajamas with nothing covering her slim legs and delicate feet. He tried to keep his eyes off her body as he hung there. It was bad enough that he was totally naked as he was creeping outside her window—he didn’t have to have a hard cock too.

“Who are you?” she whispered as she came closer. She stopped out of his reach and crossed her arms, looking at him skeptically. “What are you doing here?”

Draven didn’t want to lie to her, but the truth was complicated. What was he supposed to say? That he was here to find a magic sword or that he was here to kill his brothers?

“I just… I had to see you again,” he said, staring at her in awe.

“You’re the red dragon,” she whispered as she stared back at him. “From before.”

Draven nodded. “They’re keeping you locked in here? How long have you been here?”

She swallowed nervously as she glanced down at the floor. “Five years.”

“Five years?” he said with a gasp. “Are you…” He couldn’t finish the horrible thought, but she just stared at him, not knowing what he was referring too. “Did any of them bond with you?”

He didn’t know what he was going to do if she said yes. Burning the whole castle down in a fit of rage would have been a start…

“No,” she said shyly as she wrapped her arms around her chest, holding herself tight. “But Terrowin bonded with my mother.”

Draven followed her eyes as she glanced back at one of the women sleeping behind her. He let out a breath of relief, suddenly filled with a giddy lightness. She wasn’t mated to any of his brothers. She could still be his…

“He took me when he bonded to my mother,” she said, biting her bottom lip nervously as she turned back to him. “I guess we were a package deal.”

He stared into her beautiful eyes, willing his inner dragon to bond to her. This was the girl for him. He just knew it. Centuries and centuries of existence and he had never felt a moment like this. He knew in his heart and soul that she would be the one to ignite his dragon core and be with him for the rest of his days.

Come on… she’s right there.

But there was no spark that set off the bond. No shock and darkening of his eyes. Just the two of them—standing there as vulnerable strangers.

“Come with me,” he said, unable to hide the excitement in his voice. “I’ll take you out of here.”

She leaned forward with a willingness in her eyes, but she shook her head after a moment of contemplation. “Not without my mother and Anna. I can’t go without them.”

He looked over her shoulder at the sleeping women. He couldn’t carry all three of them. Especially if he was being chased by his brothers. It was too dangerous, and he wasn’t willing to risk her life like that. His yes, but not hers.

“I’ll come back for them,” he promised. “Please believe me.”

She looked like she wanted to, but she shook her head instead. Terrowin probably crushed the last of her ability to trust a strange man.

“I won’t leave them,” she said sadly. “It would kill my mother.”

Draven wasn’t going to leave without her. He knew deeply that she was the one for him, even if his dragon didn’t realize it yet. For once, he was glad that he had spent the last few centuries alone. She was well worth the wait.

“I’ll come back tomorrow night,” he promised. He could try to convince Aleida to return with him tomorrow. With her help, he could take all three of them and escape. It killed him to leave without her, but he didn’t have much of a choice. “And I can help you escape. You, your mother, and Anna. Okay?”

She stared at him curiously as she held herself tight. “Why are you helping me?” she asked softly. “Why do you care?”

He couldn’t exactly tell her that he loved her, could he? No…

That was coming off a tad too strong.

“I’m trying to right the wrongs of my brothers,” he said, cringing when he realized what he had said.

She stepped back, dropping her arms as she stared at him with wide unblinking eyes. “Those psychopaths are your brothers? You’re one of them?”

“I’m not one of them,” he said softly, willing her to see. “I’m not anything like them. I want to help you.”

She was still looking at him funny, but the outrage was gone. “What’s your name?” she asked.

“Draven,” he answered. “What’s yours?”

“Cali,” she whispered. “But my real name is Caliburnus.”

Draven’s stomach dropped and he almost lost his grip on the ledge as his hands started trembling. He grabbed back on and held tight as he stared at her with unbelieving eyes.

Caliburnus…

The prophecy was true. His mother was right. Place Caliburnus in the hands of the one true Dragon King and he will be unstoppable.

But the prophecy had been twisted and changed in the literature like so many of the other details. It wasn’t a magical sword, it was his mate.

“Caliburnus,” he whispered as his heart raced and a rush of adrenaline tingled through his body. “You were here the whol—”

The words vanished from his throat when she suddenly stepped back with a look of terror on her face. Her soft skin paled as white as her pajamas and her body tightened as she looked past him, over his head.

Draven whipped his head around and gulped when he saw his brother Berinon behind him. He was growing fast, shooting into the air in his human form like a giant.

His youngest half-brother, Berinon, was a size shifter and Draven had a front row seat as he grew as tall as the tower he was hanging from.

Draven jerked his head back to the beautiful girl before he let go. “I’ll be back for you,” he promised.

His heart felt like it was breaking as he let go of the ledge and pushed off with his feet, flying into the air as Berinon finally stopped growing. He was even taller than the tower and his body was as wide as the Southern Wall was long.

It would take every ounce of skill and luck that Draven had to get out of there safely. He pulled his dragon to the surface as he plummeted to the ground, urging him to hurry.

But he was too late.

Berinon’s massive hand shot forward and plucked him out of the air. His huge fingers wrapped around his body, squeezing him in place. He was a giant, and Draven was too small, too weak, too slow, and too screwed.

He tried to squirm out of the giant’s grasp, but Berinon was too strong.

My Caliburnus… I finally found her.

As long as his future mate was nearby, he’d have a chance. Once he was a mated dragon, he would have powers as well and would be able to fight back on his brothers’ level.

But until that happened… he was fucked.