I don't blame Lyza at all for what happened. I am pissed at Angel for knocking her out, and for blaming her for it all. It wasn't her fault.

I let out a growl at having to explain this once again to my beta.

"So you are going to let her shift so that doesn't happen again? And to do that you have to let her go back to the place she was born?" He asks.

"Yes, now I want to take a group of warriors with us just in case," I tell him and he nods with a sigh.

"Okay, what about your sister?"

"What about her?" I asks with a shrug.

"She is going to want to go with you, she doesn't trust the dragon anymore."

"Well she is going to have to stay here then, and I want someone watching her at all times. If I come back and she has slept with half the pack, please know that I will be pissed," I growl.

"Of course Alpha, is there anything else?" He asks and I shake my head.

"Not at the moment. If the pack is wondering where I am then just tell them I am at a meeting with another pack."

"When do you leave?" He asks.

I sigh. "First thing in the morning."

***********

"Lyza! Let's go, we're leaving," I call, knocking on her door. All I get is silence in return. "Shit," I mutter under my breath and try to open it, but the door is locked. I curse again before slamming my foot into the door.

It breaks off the hinges and I catch it before it crashes onto the floor. I gently set it down, looking around for Lyza.

She is nowhere in sight, but I catch a faint heartbeat in the bathroom. I rush over and see her laying on the floor. Her chest is rising and falling rapidly and I think she is asleep.

"Lyza!" I shout and her eyes snap open. Blood stains the tile under her head and confusion sweeps over me. She jerks up, and I step back in surprise. Her eyes are flaming red for a moment before returning to their normal dark green.

"What the hell are you doing in here?" I ask and she looks around confused.

"I don't really know, the men that came to take me out of the cell gave me a sedative and I don't remember anything after that," she mutters, touching the back of her head with a wince. "Fuck," she hisses. She grabs the first aid kit under the sink and starts wrapping bandages around her head.

"We need to get going so pack a backpack and then come downstairs," I tell her and she nods.

"Okay." She stands and I have to tear my eyes away from her perfect body, and beautiful face. Her hair falls in waves down to her waist, fading from auburn to nearly blood red at the ends.

I reluctantly walk out into the hallway. Madox is flooding my mind with images of her and I feel my eyes changing colors.

Stop it! I growl and he cackles in triumph.

You are going to have to tell her at some point, he reminds me. I sigh in defeat.

I know. I wait downstairs along with six guards and Gamma Mykael, each of them carrying a backpack and dressed in full gear.

Lyza joins us about five minutes later and I shamelessly look over her. She has black combat boots on and she is wearing a pair of fitting black pants along with a tank top.

Her flaming red braid just tops off the badass look that really agrees with her. I shake my head to clear my thoughts.

"Let's go."

**********

This trek is nothing but awkward silence, my guards don't speak, my Gamma doesn't speak, and Lyza only speaks to inform us which way to go.

Lyza has been acting very strange since we left the forest. She keeps looking behind us and jumps at every single sound.

I finally decide to let Mykael lead and slow down until I am walking beside Lyza.

"Are you alright?" I ask, peering at her worriedly. She shakes her head and swallows hard.

"No, I'm not used to walking in a group, or walking without having to stop every ten minutes to make sure no one is following me. Or even being able to walk for more than an hour without having someone try to kill me," she says.

"Well you have nothing to worry about now, not many people would dare attack the werewolf King," I tell her with a small smirk.

She smiles in amusement and shrugs slightly.

"I suppose. Why do they call you the werewolf King anyway? You aren't the alpha of all wolves," she suddenly says.

"I'm not really sure. They called my father the werewolf King, and he actually was the alpha of all the packs but when he died, I gave them the freedom to have their own packs without my rule. I didn't want to be alpha to all of them but they continued to call me the werewolf King," I explain.

She suddenly stops and whips around. She looks around with narrowed eyes before her face falls.

"Someone is following us," she whispers.

Lyza says someone is following us, I mindlink Mykael who immediately stops the guards.

We all search the barren landscape for any sign of movement but find none. It is nothing but craggy, gray rock with scattered shrubs, not much cover for sneaking around.

"What makes you think someone is following us?" I ask Lyza.

"My dragon constantly gives me information about everything around me, and right now he can hear ten heartbeats," she says. She's right, and last I checked there were only nine of us, Madox confirms.

"Where then?" I ask.

"I don't know, but if we keep moving, they should be exposed because there won't be many places to hide in the mountains," she says, motioning towards the Zhyden Mountains ahead.

I nod and we all start walking once again.

**********

"How far is it now?" Mykael asks as we start setting up camp. We stopped a few miles along the mountain path because it is starting to get dark and Lyza says there are people that live in the mountains that are very dangerous at night.

"At this pace and with good weather, probably another three days, but if the weather turns then we are looking at five or six most likely," she says and my eyes widen.

"Why would the weather add two or three days?" A guard asks.

"We have to walk for another day through these mountains, if it rains then these paths will flood and you have to wait for them to completely dry before you can walk on them again. Also, right outside our destination, the weather can be deadly if it goes bad," she shrugs nonchalantly.

I'm starting to regret this trip, Mykael says in my mind.

You know, me too, I mutter and Madox growls.

This is for our mate so you shouldn't regret anything! He spits at me.

Whatever, I mutter and end the link.

I look around at our little camp with a small smile. We are set up under a cave-like structure in the mountain. Slick rock is underneath us and doesn't make a very comfortable place to sleep but I suppose protection from the weather is more important.

"We are going to see if we can find something to hunt," one of my guards says and I nod. He leaves with two others and they carry bow and arrows on their backs.

"Nobody move okay?" Lyza suddenly says.

"Why?" I ask.

"Just don't move," she repeats. She holds out one hand before lifting it up. Flames burst from the center of our little cave and I laugh when Mykael leaps back with a yelp.

It looks like a normal fire, except that it is burning without any kind of fuel. It casts an orange glow over everyone, and it makes Lyza's red hair look like its on fire.

"So it is just going to stay there and burn on nothing?" Mykael asks, cautiously moving closer.

"Yeah, until I put it out. Nothing can put out a dragon's fire except another dragon," she says.

"Okay," Mykael says, his eyes wide with fear and his voice shaky. I chuckle with a shake of my head.

My guards come back into the cave, one carrying a few rabbits, and another carrying wood.

"Hey I got wood for a fire . . . or not," he says, spotting the flame in the cave that burns on its own.

"Sorry," Lyza mutters. His face is full of annoyance as he tosses the wood.

"Don't be, just means I don't have to get wood later," he shrugs and she smiles a little. My guards clean and cook the rabbits they caught before handing it out. The meat is surprisingly good, and I find myself licking the grease off my fingers when I am finished.

"Do we need to keep watch?" A guard asks and Lyza shakes her head.

"My dragon keeps watch while I am sleeping so there's no need, save up your energy for tomorrow," she says, laying down and using her backpack as a pillow.

I lay down as well and stare at the fire she made. The constant swaying of the flames lulls me into a deep sleep.

**********

My eyes snap open to yelling and I sit up with a jerk. All of my men leap to their feet and run towards two figures wrestling in the corner of the cave.

One is Lyza and the other has a mask over their face.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Lyza shouts, shoving the stranger hard enough to knock them down. She straddles her waist and punches them in the face several times before my guards manage to pull them apart.

"What the hell is going on here?" I demand as my guards restrain the newcomer. Lyza walks over and angrily rips off the mask. My eyes widen in shock.

"Angel?"