Chapter Forty

Chandler stood on the porch of our cabin impatiently waiting on me when I opened the door. He looked well-rested as he looked behind me.

"Were you expecting someone else?" I asked.

Chandler shook his head. "I thought we were going to practice with Amara today? She's what we're fighting."

I stepped forward and came eye-to-eye with him. "Do you think I'm stupid?" I asked, my voice low but full of anger.

Chandler put both palms up in surrender. "I just think it will help my guys if we know what we're dealing with, that's all."

I would have believed him if he hadn't fallen so easily for Amara's wishes. Maybe the lure of a siren was deeper than just getting his agreeance. I'd worry about that when Amara joined us.

"Is your Beta going to give Amara trouble today?" I asked, spreading my wings to take a flight down the mountain.

Chandler cracked his neck from side to side. "I spoke with him again last night. He agreed to be civil."

Turning to face him, I waited until he met my eyes. "Are you going to act appropriately around my mate? I didn't take you for a man that would overstep his boundaries. She is my mate. If one of your wolves steps over the line, I'll gladly show him just how much a dragon prince can do."

There was a sparkle of a challenge in his eye. "I understand, Dorran. May we get to it now?"

Lifting from the ground, I glanced at him before nosediving off the mountainside. Once I made it to the base of the mountain, I found most of the wolves outside of the cabin.

Unable to stop myself, I found Roan first in the group, daring him to piss me off today with one glance.

Chandler made it seconds later, shifting and grabbing a pair of shorts that someone tossed him. "We wanted to thank you for the meal accommodations," he said. "We've been fed well since arriving."

I wanted them well-rested and fed.

"There is a field about half a mile that way," I said, gesturing my head toward the right. "It'll be more room and discreet."

I started through the group of wolves, making my way toward the field, when Chandler whistled for them to follow us. "Tell me again why your father can't see us?"

"He doesn't know you're here. He doesn't want to fight the sirens. Same as your Beta."

Chandler nodded. "Seems a bit cruel to the soon-to-be king. He could at least attempt to protect his daughter-in-law."

"Yeah, well, welcome to the family, Chandler. It's all politics to them."

"I can't imagine ignoring my mate for politics," he said.

"Do you have one?" I asked.

"No, haven't found her yet."

This pissed my dragon off. Without a mate, he had no reason not to lust after Amara. Not that I thought he would cross the line, but Amara didn't understand the strength of her powers. She intrigued him.

We made it to the field shortly after. Some of the wolves shifted and ran circles around the space, sniffing it out for any intruders. Chandler stopped in front of me. "Our witch doctor informed me of some things we're up against, and to be honest, it's not pretty. Sirens have abilities that are rare, and blinding. Some have the same powers, and others don't. We have no way of knowing until they get here."

The shadow of a dragon drew over us. Toby hovered above us for several seconds before he dropped her.

My first initial instinct was to catch her, but when I jumped up to grab her, she disappeared. My stomach dropped, and by the look on Toby's face, I wasn't the only one shocked.

"You're dead," I said.

Toby landed beside me with his palms up, and I grabbed his t-shirt in my palm. Fear shook through him. "Why on Earth would you drop her—,"

"Dorran," Amara's voice came from beside me. "Calm down. It's fine. He was joking."

Toby swallowed. "I'm sorry. She tripped me earlier and I assumed she could catch herself—,"

"What if she couldn't, Toby? You could have hurt her."

My dragon wanted to wring his neck in my palms.

Amara grabbed my forearm, pulled down and I met her gaze. Calmness came over me. "I'm fine."

"Did you just disappear?"

She smiled as if she was pleased with herself. "I did."

I touched her jaw, seeing the cuts on her face had finally calmed down and weren't as angry this morning.

"What happened to your face?" Chandler asked.

She lowered her gaze to her feet. She was insecure about the scars.

"It happened last night," I answered for her. "The leader showed up and they had a little spat. I think when he comes back next time he'll bring the entire army."

I looked over at Roan. "What do you know about sirens?"

Roan shifted and kept a good distance from Amara. "They are limitless and will make you do things you don't want to do."

"I wouldn't do that to you," Amara said.

"You've already proved you will. You've done it to Chandler—,"

"That's it," Chandler said, grabbing the back of his neck. "Back to the cabins. I'm finished with you today."

Roan moved out of Chandler's grip and stalked toward the cabins.

Amara watched him go with a sad look on her face as if she wanted to change his opinion.

Chandler cleared his throat. "Why don't we do a little training and I'll deal with him later. I don't know what is wrong with him."

Amara nodded softly. "Sure. I'm not sure how to train," she said to me. "What am I doing?"

"You're going to try and use your powers on them, gently, so they can see what you can do, and know how to defect it."

Amara looked weary, and before Chandler tried to console her, I lifted her chin with my fingers. "You've got this, Little Mouse."

Chandler lined his guys up while I tugged on Amara's ponytail. "Are you afraid of Roan?"

"I'm afraid he's right," she said. "These powers, I don't know what I'm doing. If he's right, I've made Chandler agree to this and he never would have before. I'm afraid I'm going to do something bad."

"Power can be scary," I said. "So we need to try and practice so you'll at least know what you can do."

She looked skeptical as she turned to face the wolves. "I'll give it a shot."

Amara took slowly to using her powers and tried to channel her frustration. Her swiftness with each skill grew as the day went on.

Chandler seemed to take most of the hits. Maybe she was trying to knock that trance out of him, either way, he did a great job with her speed. It took him a while to dodge them completely, but he did it.

I walked over after what felt like four hours as she lifted one of the wolves from the ground as he struggled to break free, finally hitting the ground after several minutes.

She fell to all fours and laughed hysterically.

I lifted her into my arms and her body went limp in my arms. "You need to rest. You did amazing today."

Seeing her sweet face made my dragon pissed that we would need her to fight when the time came. I wanted to put her in the tower of our castle and lock her there. She didn't deserve any of this.

None of us did.

Letting her fight would take a lot of patience and strength.

She'd never fought before.

Was I tossing her into the lion's den?

Chandler walked over and swiped the sweat from his forehead. "How many sirens are there?" he asked.

"I'm not sure."

Chandler looked over his shoulder at the wolves splayed out resting from Amara's assault, and then back to me. "We're screwed."

Amara rested her head against my shoulder and sighed.

I had to beat this asshole for her. For us.

Swallowing, I shifted Amara in my arms. "I'm going to check with my brother today. I'm hoping he's pulled more dragon warriors to fight with us."

Chandler pushed his fingers into his dark hair. "Tell him the more the merrier. We're going to go eat and rest. Are we meeting after lunch?"

"No," I said. "Amara is tired. She needs to rest—,"

"I'm fine," she said.

"No, you're not," I said. "We're going to rest. I'll reach out to you tomorrow morning. If you need me, you know where to find me."

Chandler stood back as I shot into the air with Amara in my arms. The reality of our situation began to hit me. Amara was one siren and she could handle herself. We had no idea how many sirens Evian was bringing with his army.

We were up against Goliath.

Amara lifted her gaze toward mine. "We just need one stone for Evian," she whispered. "Isn't that the story? It took David one stone?"

Shock rolled through me. "Did you just read my mind?"

"Yeah," she said. "Turns out it's not as cool as I thought it would be. It's creepy to hear your voice in my head."

"I guess I'll have to watch what I'm thinking about," I said as I landed on the mountain.

Amara closed her eyes. "I think it may come in handy. You can tell me how pretty I am all the time without being too corny."

Her body went limp from exhaustion.

Zerk sat at our kitchen table with a half-eaten sandwich and books scattered all around him.

"Zerk," I said, waiting for him to look at me. "We're gonna need some magic. This is going to be harder than we thought."

Zerk sighed. "What else is new?"