Lyza! Someone is coming! Mitalonys growls in my head. I peel my eyes open and see a shadow just above me.

I sit up with a jerk but the person straddles me and lifts a knife high above their head.

I grab their arms, stopping the blade just centimeters from my chest. They let out a growl and push down harder. Mitalonys has strength flowing through my arms within seconds.

"Get the hell off me!" I yell, shoving them completely off me. They fall onto their back and I quickly snatch the knife from where it fell to the ground.

I toss it behind me and watch as the person gets up and notice they are wearing a black mask.

"If I have to I am going to kill you with my bare hands," she yells and my face falls in realization.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" I shout. I barrel into her, knocking her to the ground. I straddle her waist and start punching her in the face over and over again. I hear a crack as her nose breaks.

Blood stains my knuckles by the time Daerius' guards manage to pull me off of her. Two guards have her restrained with her arms behind her back.

"What the hell is going on here?" Daerius growls. I yank my arms from the guards and walk over to snatch the mask off her face.

"Angel?" Daerius asks and I growl.

"The bitch tried to kill me! She's the one who has been following us!" I spit angrily.

"Why are you following us? How did you manage to leave the territory? And why did you try to kill Lyza?" Daerius questions his sister, a growl rumbling in his voice.

"The guards assigned to me were total morons, it wasn't hard to get away. And I came to kill her because she is dangerous! You don't even know where she is taking you! She could be leading you to a pack of dragons for all you know and you're going to be killed just like your mother!" She growls. Daerius stares at her and she raises an eyebrow. "Well do you know where she is taking you?" She asks, glaring at me.

"Well, no, but that isn't the point. You defied me, your Alpha, once again, and this time I am not going to overlook it. Trying to kill someone is the last straw," Daerius growls and her face falls.

"What are you going to do to me?"

"You are going to be restrained for the remainder of this trip and then you are going to be imprisoned for a minimum of a week," he says and my eyes widen.

That's a lot isn't it? I ask my dragon.

Yes it is, he must care about you quite a bit considering this is his younger sister, he replies.

"It won't be light out for about four hours so we might as well try to get some sleep," I murmur, glaring at Angel as I return to my sleeping spot.

"You know I never did anything to you," I spit as I pass her. I move to lay down in front of the fire with a small sigh.

"Why is it so warm in here?" A guard suddenly asks and I chuckle a little.

"It'll pass in a few minutes," I tell him, taking deep breaths to calm my rage. As soon as I close my eyes, I am fast asleep again.

***********

I wake to a thud followed by someone cursing loudly. I look around and see Gamma Mykael pushing himself off the ground.

"Are you okay?" I ask.

He glances at me before standing quickly. "Fine," he says, clearing his throat.

I watch with amusement as he quickly walks out of the cave. I stand up, stretching before swinging my pack over my shoulder. I quickly put out the fire that is still burning then go outside where Daerius is talking quietly with Gamma Mykael.

"We ready to go?" I ask and Daerius looks over at me, ceasing his conversation.

"Yeah, let's go," he says. I let the guards go first and follow directly behind Angel. Daerius walks beside me, and I catch him sneaking glances at me every few minutes.

Finally I just can't take it anymore. "What?" I growl, staring at him angrily.

"What?" He repeats, looking at me dumbly.

"Why do you keep looking at me?" I ask.

His eyes widen slightly and I can see I caught him off-guard. This makes amusement spread across my face. I made the big bad werewolf King uncomfortable, I think cheerfully.

"Just trying to figure out why you have been so quiet and high strung this entire trip so far," he mutters with a shrug.

"I'm still stuck in alert mode I guess. I've been on the run since the day I was born, I will probably always be on high alert, especially here. This mountain pass always scared me as a child. The creatures who live here are extremely dangerous, I learned that the hard way," I sigh, looking around at the steep rocks that surround us.

"There are things that live in these mountains?" Daerius asks and I nod.

"They are lethal. I've never seen killers so efficient, nor so brutal. They have weapons with poison and can fight extremely well."

"How do you know so much about them?"

I try to keep my face void of any expression even though my mind is swirling with sadness and anger at the sudden flood of memories. "My dad told me," I shrug.

As we continue walking on the dirt path, I keep my gaze on the mountain sides. The trees sway slightly with the breeze, but there is no other movement. It is strangely quiet, I do not like it, Mitalonys says and I agree.

This isn't normal, I think worriedly. But it stays quiet, even as the sun starts to go down, there is no movement or noise.

"We should probably stop, its getting dark," a guard suggests.

"There is another cave about two miles farther, if we walk faster then we can get there before it is completely dark," I tell them and they nod.

"We have passed many caves, why can't we stop at those ones?" Daerius asks.

"There are a dozen caves in this mountain range that are usable for a safe passage. It is how the mountain people keep themselves safe, they say we can and must use only those ones if we want to survive the night," I tell him.

His eyes are wide and he nod slowly. "Okay, make sure we don't go into the wrong caves then, please."

I nod with a small chuckle. "We should be fine, they rarely attack unless they see something they want, and we aren't transporting anything valuable or of worth so I doubt we will see them," I shrug.

I look ahead of us and see Angel glaring at me. Her eyes change colors, and her canines peek out from her lips. The guards jerk her so that she is looking forward again. I blow out a heavy breath, shaking my head as confusion swirls in my mind.

I look at the guards holding Angel and can see them starting to tire, making my eyebrows furrow in confusion.

How can they be tired? I'm completely fine, I ask my dragon.

You are much stronger than they are. Daerius and Angel are stronger too, that is why they are not tiring either, but Mykael is somewhere in the middle, so he will be tired soon, he explains.

I suddenly hear a faint clicking noise and stop dead in my tracks. I listen carefully and hear the clicking noise again.

"Everyone stop and stay extremely quiet!" I hiss urgently and the guards immediately freeze. I make a motion with my hands and we all crouch or kneel. Daerius is beside me, giving me a confused look. I put my finger to my lips and look around.

I hear the clicking noise, but it is much slower and quieter now. After a few minutes I can't hear it anymore but Mitalonys can.

"She is just trying to get us killed! She said it is dangerous at night and guess what? Night is falling! She is trying to get us stuck out here in the dark!" Angel suddenly snarls, whipping around to look directly at me.

"No I'm not! Now shut up!" I hiss as the clicking noise returns.

"Yes you are! You are a savage dragon, its in your nature to kill!" She spits.

I feel my eyes burn red. "You are going to get us all killed if you don't shut your mouth!" I growl lowly. The clicking noise is now very loud and very close.

A guard puts his hand over her mouth, muffling her growls but it is too late.

"Shit," I hiss. I quickly leap to my feet just as dozens of shadows from the trees on the mountain.

I lift my hands and flames burst in a circle around all of us. The shadows stop at the edge of the circle, crouching down and watching the fire with fascination.

"Draco! Draconem!" one says. I recognize the deep whispering voice and allow the flames to slowly fall.

"Myrka?" I ask and all the shadows leap upwards.

"Draconem! Reversus est draco!" Myrka says and I put out the fire. They immediately collapse before me, bowing low to the ground.

Daerius slowly walks over to me, his face completely befuddled. "What did they say?" he asks and I smile a little.

"They said 'the dragon is back.'"