Chapter 1

My face is buried in leaves when I wake up, disoriented and my dragon fucking furious as it stomps around in my head. Angrily brushing them out of my face, I look up and frown at the trees towering in the skies like it’s their fault for existing. The clouds graze the tops of the trees, grey and thick with rain about to fall on me. I can’t feel the sea anywhere near, and it smells like a wolf here. I never liked fucking wolves. “Elle?”

I shout for her, both out loud and in my mind, but silence rings. Panic settles in like an old friend, and I push it down. She is alive. I know that. My heart would shatter, and I’d want to die if she was gone. I would die, willingly, if she left me. Arden and Grayson are here, also passed out in the dirty leaves, but they can wake themselves up. She isn’t dead; I know that. I can sense her and she’s alive.

I need to get back to her side, tell her how much of a fucking angry fool I’ve been, and sink to my knees in front of her. I knew from the second I was cut off from her that I’d have to change if I get a chance to be around her. But Aphrodite told us we wouldn’t see her again, and I don’t accept that. Elle isn’t my enemy—she is the love of my life.

Aphrodite opened a portal with Ares’s staff, and that bitch opened the portal right underneath us, so we went crashing through into wherever the fuck we are now. I climb to my feet, heading to the fire king first, kicking his shoulder.

He wakes in a fiery rage. Shocker. “Fuck off!”

Grayson rises to his feet first, waking himself up and coming to my side. Arden stands and gets right in my face, and I smirk. I’m going to fix things with Elle, but this fucker…

No.

Grayson pushes us apart, and I let him. “Don’t argue, you fucking idiots! We’ve got bigger things to worry about than you two being fucking dickheads, as usual.” He rubs his face. “Why does it smell like wolf piss here?”

“They’re probably marking their territory,” Arden answers, pulling his glare from me. “I can feel her, Gray. She’s still alive.”

He visibly looks relieved for a second before he focuses. “Where the fuck are we? We’re not in our world, and I don’t think this is Earth.”

Arden nods his head. “This must be the world they were talking about coming to.”

I grit my teeth. “How do we get back to Elle and our people?” She is more important than any of my bitter people. She comes first.

Arden flings his arms out. “Do you think if I knew that, I would be here with you?” His sarcastic laugh rings between us. “You know everything, Lysander, apparently. What should we do next?”

“Arden—”

I cut Grayson off. “We find people here and see if they have power. Not that it matters, we will be stronger. We make ourselves rulers and demand they use their magic to open a portal for us.” Simple.

Arden and Gray look horrified. Gods, they are boring. I don’t get their problem. Grayson clears his throat. “We’re not conquering another world, Lysander.”

I shrug a shoulder. “Why not? Do you have any better fucking options? Because I’m all about murdering this entire planet to get back to my girl. You can do whatever the fuck you like.”

I storm off straight towards…well, fucking anywhere other than with these judgmental pricks. A wall of fire appears in front of me. I laugh, turning back to face Arden, pulling water out of the ground and washing his fire away until there is just smoke blowing around my back. “Really? You’re going to play that game with me?”

Grayson groans. “Enough, the both of you! Do you think Elle would be happy if she found out that you’d started slaughtering people until you found a way back to her?”

“I wasn’t talking about slaughtering. Enslaving, that’s definitely the kind of option I was thinking of. They can be free when we leave.” They both look at me like I’m insane. Hell, I might be when she isn’t here and might be in danger.

“No, that’s a really fucking bad idea.” Arden looks away from me to Grayson. “I’m worried about her. We can’t stay here long.”

“I’m worried too,” I admit, causing them both to turn my way. I don’t think I’ve ever said it out loud how much I fucking love her. I might as well have just shouted that. “The staff could have sent her anywhere.”

“Elle will get the staff and come here with Emrys. He won’t let anything happen to her,” Grayson reasons, but he is convincing no one, not even himself. “The best thing we can do is make sure it’s safe for Elle when she gets here with the staff.”

I grin. “By enslaving them? I’m glad you agree?—”

“No,” he immediately stops me. “Gods, no. We can make an alliance with them and only fight if we must. I suggest we shift, fly above the forest, and figure out if there are people here at all.”

I don’t bother telling him his idea of alliance is boring and pointless. Of course they are going to attack us. After stripping my clothes off for my dragon to pick up, I run and shift, crushing dozens of trees under my powerful claws as I take off after grabbing the bundle of clothes. It feels freeing to be in my dragon form. My connection with Elle seems almost stronger when my dragon roars, looking for its mate. You and me both. I don’t know how to tell him that she’s not here or in this world. She could be a danger for all I know, and Emrys could be, too.

My dragon snarls at Arden’s black dragon as he soars up into the air next to me, both of us following Grayson, who is faster. I have to trust that she got Emrys out. They are my brothers, all of them, even if we don’t always agree. I don’t care what these two want to do. The truth is I’ll pull down this world into the sea if the people here don’t help us. I’d rather watch this world drown than face forever without her.

The higher we get, the more of the land I can make out. There’s a thick wall in the sea, wrapped around the long island we are flying over. The island is very similarly shaped to our own, but it’s not as built up and not sectioned and mostly forest. The top of the mountains are covered in snow, and there are several large cities hidden in the forests, but we head to one that is wrapped around a thick river to the south. It’s a mirror of our world, the shape of the land, and everything is very similar. There is nothing but tiny islands where the fifth court is in our world, and the land is all one and not divided like it is in Ayiolyn. We both dive to the city edges, a hill that overlooks it all. Alarms go off in the city, and screams echo as we land and shift back. I get dressed, stretching my senses out for anyone nearby us but finding nothing but the overwhelming scent of wolves.

We make our way down the hill, to big gates in front of the city. The gates are wooden, with the word Ravensword written in warped metal across them, along with rows of spikes. I feel for the river, sensing the fast current of the water pounding right through the middle of the city. Oh, it would be so easy to flood it all. The water is calling to me, begging me to make this easy.

Grayson looks at me, his eyes flashing green. “Don’t fucking kill anyone.”

How did he know? I blow out a breath. “We’ll do it the boring way unless they attack us. Then it’s all fair game.”

Arden huffs. “Typical.”

“What is that meant to mean?” I snarl, but he ignores me as the gates swing open and wolves rush out. Giant wolves. They’re huge, nearly as tall as me, all white, ridiculously fluffy really. They make a line before one much bigger than all of them steps out. He growls once before he shifts back into a tall, muscular man with thick, dark black hair that doesn’t match his wolf. Gems are braided into his hair, and his eyes are pure blue. A wolf drops a cloak for him, and he tugs it on, and we’re all thankful for that. “Who are you and who is your ruler? What city are you from?”

I tilt my head to the side. “I am King Lysander of the Water Court, and I rule myself. This is King Arden and King Grayson. We have found ourselves in your world by accident and?—”

Grayson cuts me off. “We came for help, and we are not enemies.” That wasn’t what I was going with.

The man looks between us all, focusing on me for a second too long. “I am Alpha Theodorn of the Ravensword Pack.” He looks familiar, really familiar. He comes to me, stepping into my face, and I grin. This is going to be fun.

The ground shakes lightly, and Grayson warns, “Not any closer. We don’t trust you, you don’t trust us, but we have powers, and we will use them if you threaten us.”

Theodorn drags his gaze to Grayson before walking back, laughing once. He is pissing me off already. He might have the label of alpha, but to a dragon, a wolf is nothing but prey. “You are in our territory, and you are a threat. We have magic and dragons, too.”

A roar echoes above in the clouds, and we all look up to see a gold dragon. My own dragon roars in defiance of this dragon and the power radiating off her. The dragon lands in the middle of us, and she roars at us all. She shifts back on her knees, and Theodorn covers her with a white cloak before she rises to her feet. She has long red hair, fiery silver eyes, and she stinks of dragon, wolf, and pure fire. The wolves all bow their heads except for the man in front of us. “You found trouble, mate,” she says.

“Nothing we couldn’t handle,” he murmurs into her ear.

The she dragon turns her gaze on us. “I am Crown Princess Ember of the dragons and wolves. You are dragons that should not be in this world. Let’s begin with you telling us exactly who you are and what you’re doing here.” A ring of silver fire appears all around us, spitting high up into the sky until it blocks out everything. “Or I will make you regret coming near my mate’s pack.”