Prologue Part 1

Lake

Six Years Old . . .

"You're a special little girl, my precious Lake," Daddy says, soothing my hair, his touch warm. It's always warm. Warm and safe. Daddy is all I've ever known.

Mommy died when I was born. Daddy told me that she was watching over me, though. I didn't like that she was gone and I didn't have a mommy like the other little girls in my class. They get to do things with their mommies, but I don't get to. Their mommies do their nails and hair. They take them for mommy-daughter dates.

I get daddy-daughter dates. He also does my hair for me and makes me look pretty. He tells me just how pretty he thinks I am. He says the same thing. They're all very protective of me.

"You always say that, Daddy." I giggle and curl deeper into his warm body.

"Because it's the truth, precious," he states, snuggling his arms around me. "I want you to always remember that. No matter what happens in life. You're special."

"Why am I special, Daddy?"

"When you're old enough to understand, I'll tell you. If I can't, one of your uncles will," Daddy's answer is always the same. "Just trust me that we're always going to do what it takes to protect you. It's important you're always protected."

"But I don't understand why," I whisper, not understanding.

"In time, my precious girl, you will," he murmurs, kisses the top of my head, and climbs out of my bed. "Now get some sleep, Lake. Tomorrow will be here for you know it."

"Okay, Daddy, love you." I look up at him while moving to snuggle closer to where he'd been lying.

"Love you too. Night."

"Night."

Daddy switches off the light and closes the door behind him. The soft glow of my night-light flickering images of tigers on the ceiling, is all that shines in the room.

It's the night-light I've had all my life, and Daddy says it's because tigers are fearless and will protect. I love it when Daddy tells me stories of tigers. Especially the ones where the tiger turns into the prince. It's way better than the frog prince story I heard in library at school.

Closing my eyes, dreams of tigers and the tiger prince follow me quickly.

Callum

"If we don't move soon, they'll find her," my brother, Rohan, says, not waiting until I take my seat.

Lake was finally asleep, and I waited just outside her door until she drifted off. Each day, looking at her pains a part of me that I hope she'll never understand or have to experience herself. Her mother was my mate, fated only to me, but I found her too late. She was pregnant at the time, and our time together was too short.

"We'll leave first thing tomorrow," I tell him, looking at my other brothers sitting around the table.

Until Lake came along, I hadn't seen them often unless one of us needed something. It's part of who we are and being what we are. Tiger shifters don't always seek to be around others unless they're a part of their streak, their family.

Where other felines have prides or leaps, tigers call their family a streak.

Rohan, Jair, Walker, and Trace are a part of mine. Our mother was mated and killed alongside our father well over a hundred years ago. We were old enough to take care of ourselves, but it hurt losing them both, no matter how old we were. To this day, I miss them. Our father's teachings, his advice, the way he'd be an ass toward us. I miss the smiles my mom would give us, the smell of her cooking, and I even miss her temper. She could be more temperamental than anyone else. It's part of who she was. She was a force to be reckoned with.

After our parents were killed, we separated and went our own ways. Only when Lake came along did I ask them to join me again. I need their help protecting Lake. She's not mine by blood, but she's mine regardless. She's special, just as her mother was.

She is so special she doesn't realize it. She's just a little girl, and her life will never be easy, not without someone looking out for her. It's my job to protect her. To see to it that she's always protected.

"I don't think we should wait, Callum." Trace grunts, flexing his fingers, his claws coming from the nail bed. Some days, he's more tiger than man, but he'd die to save Lake. The moment she came into this world, she wrapped her finger around all of my brothers' hearts alongside mine. The bond I share with her is through the one I had with her mother.

It wasn't until after I found her that Sapphire found out she was pregnant with Lake. I'd been the one to tell her she was carrying a child. At first, I was pissed, but I knew what happened and wherein she'd escaped from.

Sapphire explained it was of upmost importance that Lake never be found. If they got their hands on her, she didn't know what would happen, except she'd become a tool, a pawn for a man who is cruel to those he rules over.

My little Lake would be chained to a man who is as vile as they come. For the past six years—more than six, closer to seven—we've done everything we've had to do to protect her. To ensure her safety. We never stay in one place too long. We do, we chance being found.

"Why do you believe we should head out tonight?" I ask. If he senses something that I don't, then I'll listen to what he has to say.

"There's something in the air. I can't identify it, but it's there and doesn't sit well with me," Trace responds, eyes locking with mine.

"I feel it too," Rohan states, nostrils flaring. "I can smell it. I just can't figure out what it is."

"Same," Jair and Walker speak up at the same time.

I felt it as well, and we need to be getting out of here before it's too late. If we don't, I'll lose the most important person in my life.

There's no way in hell I'll let the King of Drakon get his hands on my little girl. He'd have to kill me first.

I glance around the table and stand. "Gather everything we need, and I'll get Lake. We leave now. If we're all feeling the same, then they're close. I refuse to allow Drakon beasts to get ahold of her."

We all must run before it's too late. We're not enough to go against the beasts. Not alone. To take them all on, to ensure my daughter's safety, it's best to run. Run for now, until the time is right. Only then can we strike out and take on the evil King of Drakon and his beasts.