Prologue

Ihad the worst luck. Five seconds after meeting my alpha, he already hated me.

I couldn"t understand it. I wore my favorite neon yellow shirt with my rainbow suspenders and bow tie. I looked as human as I possibly could with pointed ears, lizard eyes, and a somewhat elongated snout. More human than he did, certainly. He was standing naked in the open field.

He"d appeared out of nowhere, and I"d been drawn to his scent. I"d run outside with the other omegas to see the commotion with the dragon. At first, my attention was drawn to them. We"d been warned the dragons were our enemies since our first day on Ignitas. We omegas avoided going outside, if at all possible, but here we were, all staring at the giant dragon in our midst.

The dragon didn"t seem concerned with the omegas in the field, though. They flew over the bulk of us and aimed their deadly fire at the summoning circle to the east of our fortress.

Then, there he was, the gorgeous alpha with a shock of yellow hair the color of sunshine and a scent that called to me like no other. He still had a tail, which was strange, but not off-putting in the least.

I had to introduce myself. I wouldn"t be me if I didn"t. I had yet to meet a kobold who didn"t like me at first sight. Even Punky came around after a handshake and some prodding.

"Hi!" He spun so fast, his tail whipped into my shin. I tried to hide my wince behind a smile. "I"m Tuft. I"m your omega!"

The greeting wasn"t much different from how my former alpha, Weld, had introduced himself at our first meet and greet. We knew we weren"t fated, but we"d hooked up, anyway. Weld had feared he wouldn"t get the chance to breed if he kept waiting.

Nonetheless, it hadn"t worked out between us. Our eggs hadn"t matured. It had seemed like a curse at the time, but now it felt like divine intervention. Finally, my fated alpha stood before me with a stunned expression on his face.

"How did I get here?"

"Funny story." I pointed at the giant dragon still wreaking havoc on the circle. The standing rocks that reminded me of Stonehenge once reached for the sky, but now they lay in ruins and molten rubble. "That dragon just broke the changeling spell, returning all the kobold/human hybrids home to Ignitas." I didn"t know that for sure, but it was a pretty good guess based on the number of naked kobolds standing around us in the field. My mate was older than most. Some weren"t much older than the three beta babies riding Coz and Grindl"s shoulders.

"Igni - where?" My alpha"s sharp question drew my attention back to him.

"Here." I offered a grin, careful to keep my sharp teeth well concealed. I didn"t want to scare him.

"I need to go home." His breaths were coming short and fast. "I can"t be here. This is … what the fuck is wrong with my hands?" He swiped the air with his sharp claws. I jumped back to avoid an accidental stab. At least, I hoped it was accidental.

"This can"t be real. I can"t be here. I"m …"

"Hyperventilating," Priestess Alma said. She"d sneaked up behind us while I was distracted.

She placed a hand on his shoulder, and calming magic washed over him. I should have thought of that. "Come with me, young alpha. What is your name?"

"Axel." He studied her with far more interest than he"d held for me.

"Well, Axel, come and help me round up the rest of the children. We"ll get you settled into one of our alpha cabins and start your education soon."

She frowned at me. "I"ll corral everyone into the cathedral. We need to discuss how we"ll handle fated mates going forward. Bring Weld with you, please?"

"Yes, Priestess Alma."

She led Axel away. The further they got from me, the clearer my thoughts became. If this was how my brain reacted to meeting my fated mate, I was in a world of trouble.

I wasn"t what anyone would call smart. I wasn"t used to being snubbed, either. On Earth, I"d been the life of the party. Here on Ignitas, I"d quickly made friends. Besides, I"d seen what happened when my classmate, Punky, met his fated mate. They"d hit it off right away! Why was mine different?

I found Weld in the middle of the field, his gaze still tracking the dragon as they flew toward the mountain peaks with a beta on their back.

"Who was that?" I pointed at the dragon-riding kobold. I had a few beta friends, but I didn"t recognize him.

"Mac," Weld said. "We used to go on runs to Earth to pick up changelings together. The dragon chose him." Weld shrugged. "I thought they were going to eat us."

"It"s a good thing they didn"t, as close as you were."

Weld laughed and slung his arm over my shoulders. "Are you all right? You look like you"ve seen a ghost. Or is it the dragon?"

"I just met my fated mate."

"Yeah?" His gaze was soft and a little sad. "That"s great, Tuft! I"m happy for you."

"I"m pretty sure he hates me."

"He can"t hate you. Did he smell you?" Weld sniffed the side of my neck. His breath tickled. "You smell fucking delicious."

"You think all omegas smell delicious."

He laughed. "Guilty."

"We"re meeting to discuss fated mates. Priestess Alma said to bring you to the cathedral."

Weld sighed. "She would."

"She"s been nothing but kind to us."

"Coz and Grindl had their babies." Weld"s voice was barely a whisper in my ear. "Three betas."

Instead of sassing I had eyes, too, I murmured, "I"m happy for them."

I"d felt terrible when we"d stolen a cavern from the mated pair. Weld had sworn it couldn"t be helped, not if we wanted our own eggs to survive.

It hadn"t mattered in the end. Our two eggs hadn"t developed. Weld blamed the cold, but I knew my body was the culprit. I hadn"t made enough slick to keep them nourished.

Now, our village had a new lease on life. The dragon hadn"t burned us to a crisp for being above ground. They"d reserved that sentence for the changeling spell circle.

When we arrived at the cathedral, I saw Dirk, another omega from my class, already flopped over one of the kneelers. I took the one next to him and scooted over, so Weld had room to kneel beside me.

While we waited for Priestess Alma, we gossiped about the dragon and what it might mean for us. We hoped the priestess would let omegas roam the grassland outside and live aboveground. For some reason, the dragons had never bothered the betas who came and went as they pleased and the alphas in their huts, but we omegas were told we couldn"t leave the protection of the giant obsidian building we called the fortress unless we wanted to die in a gout of flame.

"I really hope this means we can go outside," I said. "Look at us. We"re lizards. I want to lie in the sun."

Weld laughed and kissed my temple. He had always been affectionate with me, and I couldn"t deny the comfort I had taken from his attention. Now that I"d met my fated mate, I felt guilty, like it was wrong to let another alpha touch me.

Even so, both Weld and I needed comfort in these times of uncertainty. I would wait until we were alone to share my feelings about future displays of affection.

Now, it was time to listen to Priestess Alma. She entered the cathedral with several younger kobolds, including Axel. Like him, they all had tails. She led them up to the front and motioned for them to sit on the stone floor at her feet.

"Welcome back, youngsters! We are so glad to have you on Ignitas, but I must admit this is not how we planned it. You were supposed to stay on Earth until your twenty-fifth birthdays. The dragon you saw when you arrived has changed all that. They destroyed our changeling spell circle, which brought you back early."

I followed Axel"s every move as he sat quietly near the middle of the group. He seemed to breathe easier, but he didn"t look any happier when he glanced over his shoulder at me.

"Some of you are alphas, and some of you are omegas. Some have even met your fated mates already. I doubt you know what to do with them, since you still have tails. We"ll begin training you on our mating behavior as soon as possible. When your tails fall off, you can take part in our alpha and omega meetups to confirm your mated pairings."

Priestess Alma smiled at them. "I know, all of that seems like a lot of gibberish to you now, and you probably want a place to rest and recover from your journey." She waved toward the cathedral entrance we"d all come through, closest to the omega wing. "Omegas live here in the fortress. I"ll have our betas show you to your rooms."

She waved to a tall alpha with silver hair standing beside the rear exit. "Alphas, follow Merritt outside to your new cabins." She nodded to Weld. "Weld, would you please help our new alphas and omegas find their groups?"

"That"s my cue." Weld patted my knee. "Are you going to be all right?"

"Yeah, sure." I gave him my best smile, but I didn"t feel it. My stomach hurt. I had been staying in the omega wing since our clutch failed, but I was sad to see Weld go. Even if he wasn"t my fated, he had been my friend. I hoped that didn"t change now that my fated alpha had arrived.