Changed Read online

  “Go on,” I say. “Tell me about hilock and the power of the king and queen. What is that all about?”

  “Ah. When dragons mate, they bond. When the king and queen mate, they also bond, but with the added bonus of an additional boost of power.”

  “I’m sorry. I don’t understand any of this.”

  “The king and queen are the alphas of all dragons. With that dominion comes a magical change that takes place between them during hilock. It unlocks the alpha powers dormant inside them.”

  “So I’ll have this alpha power? What will that be?”

  “Generally, it is an increased intensity of the power the dragon already possesses. Your mother’s power was quite rare. We do not know what it would look like as an alpha. But, if you pick Trav, his fire will be stronger. If you pick Conyac, his frost will be stronger. They would be able to use it without waiting.”

  “Who do you think I should choose?” I ask offhandedly.

  “That is not for me to decide, my lady. The reason I brought you up here was to ask you about your inner dragon. Have you felt it emerging?”

  “Yes. I have. It’s…Ahhh. I don’t enjoy it.”

  “You haven’t shifted yet, have you?”

  “No.”

  “Have you tried?”

  “I did. It didn’t work,” I say, not really disappointed. I tried to let it out, but I can’t say I really wanted it to.

  He rubs his chin in thought, a concerned expression etched in his comically wide face. “I wonder why not. At your age, the dragon should already be a big part of your identity. I need to think about this,” he says, moving toward his scrolls. “Excuse me, my lady.”

  I stand just as Trav and Conyac burst through the door.

  “There you are,” Trav says, reaching out to grab my arm. I try to pull away, but it’s useless.

  “What?” I demand, irritated that I’m in their grip again.

  “There has been an Org attack on Castle Warren. We leave now. I want you back in your rooms until we return.”

  “No. I’m coming. I want to see what this whole Org thing is all about. If they are the reason I have to get married to a man I barely know, I want to see the threat myself.”

  “No,” Trav growls.

  “She’s a dragon born, Trav. She will be in the battle field soon enough,” Conyac says, coming to my defense.

  I smile and pull out of Trav’s grip. “Maybe my dragon will come out,” I say, looking Trav in the eye.

  He frowns. “Very well,” he grumbles, crossing his arms. “We leave now.”

  We all hurry down to the entrance hall and through the front doors of my palace before walking over the hill to were the carriage sits. As I crest the hill, I take in the landscape. This island of rock, called Skyland, truly sits perched in the middle of nothing. It’s like some huge mesa in the Grand Canyon with a castle on top. My breath is taken away, and I stop short.

  “Hurry,” Trav calls as he grabs my hand.

  I growl at him, my inner dragon clawing in my brain. That’s new. The princes fight over who is going to carry my carriage. Finally, Conyac wins their battle of wills. I climb into my seat beside Gizmel as the dragons shift. Conyac grabs the handle of the carriage, and we are off.

  As we approach Castle Warren, I see a horde of bodies crushing toward the fortress from the south. I gasp as Conyac sets me down in the courtyard and comes to sit beside me inside the carriage.

  “It’s worse than we thought,” he says grimly.

  “Will they overtake the castle?” I ask, gripping my seat until my knuckles are white.

  “Not if I can help it. I’ll defend the keep with my life. Even if the keep belongs to my enemy.” He smiles at me, showing his long pointed teeth. Conyac never ceases to impress me. He always seems to do what’s right. Unless you count stealing kisses.

  Trav lands beside the carriage and begins to bark orders at his staff. His people scurry in all directions as Conyac walks at his side into the keep. I scurry after them, trying to make sense of what is going on.

  Chapter Six

  I have no idea what to do as I watch the princes prepare for war. I stand on the battlements above the fortress. In the distance, there is a rumbling of stomping feet and roaring voices. It echoes through the valley, and I can see dust rising over the fields. Conyac and Trav are in the war room behind me, looking down at a map with Trav's knights. I glance back at them. Just hours ago, the most important thing in the world was me, and I somehow feel jealous of this war. Stupid.

  Squelching such a ridiculous thought, I look back out over the wall. I wonder what these Org look like. Are they elf-like creatures like the rest of Endor, or are they something else? I guess I'll soon find out.

  Trav and Conyac come out of the war room, flanked by the soldiers. Trav comes to me and puts his arm gently around my waist, a tender gesture for him. He looks down at me with a grave expression in his eyes. I tilt my head, not pulling away from his embrace. His scent fills my nose, and I am at once light-headed and turned on.

  His nostrils flare, and a faint smile crosses his tightly drawn lips. "Are you well, lady?" he asks in a low voice. I see Conyac over Trav’s shoulder, frowning as he speaks with the knights.

  "I'm fine. What will happen now?" I ask, lifting a hand to his hard, defined chest. I can feel his heart beating underneath my palm and feel his breath on my forehead.

  "We will destroy them."

  "How will you destroy them?"

  "Conyac and I will lead the charge, using our dragon powers to take out the majority of the army; my men will come in behind and take out the rest as Conyac and I shift and join the fighting."

  "Can't you just burn them to a crisp or something?" I ask. They are dragons. It doesn't seem like much of a challenge.

  "We can only use our frost and fire breath once an hour. To use it more, we must perform hilock with the queen. It is the only way to defeat this enemy, Princess. Now that you see what we’re up against, perhaps this will help you make up your mind."

  I look away. My indecisiveness is putting the entire planet at risk. But try as I might, I can't wrap my head around the fact that I am somehow responsible for this place. I never even thought about marriage when I was traveling alone in the RV with Clancy.

  Sometimes I felt a little lonely, but the thought of a boyfriend just freaked me out. I knew I was way too broken for a relationship. Normal dudes don't usually go for girls who wake up screaming more often than not. Even looking in the mirror now that I've changed feels like a dream. None of it seems real.

  "I'm sorry," I whisper. "I'm trying." A tear flows down my cheek, and Trav tilts my face up to his, looking at me with concern.

  "This is no time for tears, my lady. Save your tender heart for my return." He bends down and kisses me firmly on the lips in front of everyone. I can hear Conyac rumble behind Trav, but my body is singing in response to his kiss. I wrap my arms around him and let his tongue slip inside my mouth.

  Suddenly, I feel hands behind me, pulling me away from Trav and turning me around. I open my eyes to see Conyac tilting his head down to claim my mouth. I don't have time to protest before his lips are on mine. His tongue darts against my tongue, and I'm melting. I smell his deep scent and feel his kiss all the way down to my toes.

  Trav pulls me against him, his hard shaft on my back. Oh God. These two are going to drive me insane. Lust fills me, and I am vaguely aware of the fact that there are a dozen knights watching us. I hear them snickering. I know I should pull away, but I can't make myself. Trav’s lips are on the back of my neck.

  "My lord!" Gizmel shouts over the sound of laughter and wind. "The horde draws near!"

  The princes simultaneously let me go, and it's as if all the air is released from my lungs. I almost hate that they let me go, even with everyone watching, even with a horde of Orgs descending on the castle. What's wrong with me? I need to stay away from them. I've been told I need to choose one, and every time they sandwich me between them, m
y body demands I choose them both.

  My inner dragon roars in agreement, whimpering to mate. She's such a slut. I swear. That beast is as horny as a teenager is on prom night, all the time.

  The princes give me one last kiss on each cheek, for luck, they say, and hurry off down to the main courtyard in the middle of the keep. I see them speaking to their knights and the assembly of a few hundred fighting men. Beyond the gate another small army gathers, made up of what looks like farmers and tradesmen. For the first time, I realize that they aren't ready for this kind of war, not if the dragons can only fight using their breath once an hour.

  A handful of men stay behind to defend the castle should things go wrong. The rest hurry outside the gate. I watch from the battlements as the men coordinate.

  Gizmel hurries up to me. "My lady," he says. "Come with me. We can watch the battle from the safety of my tower." I follow him through the castle and up the stairs into his laboratory. Out his lattice-covered windows, I can't see anything.

  "Look, my lady," he says. I turn and see he is pointing to a scrying bowl. The scene pans around Conyac, Trav and his men. The princes are both so heroic and strong, like the soldiers from the war in Iraq, but larger than life. I feel my core twitch, thinking of how powerful they both are, how much they both want me.

  I bite my lip as I watch them organize the army. They are so commanding. It reminds me that they were both just holding me between them. To have that much alpha male attention directed at a woman like me makes my heart thud hard against my chest.

  There had been men in the war who'd been interested, but they mostly saw me as a fellow soldier, even though I was a photographer. I suppose I was more feminine to them than the actual female soldiers were, but I was pudgier and less toned than the girls they fought alongside. Many of them had women back home who embodied everything I was not, namely the kind of woman who stays behind and waits.

  Even though I’m screwed up by all the action I saw back in the war, staying behind grates at me. I narrow my eyes. My inner dragon growls an agreement. We should be out there too, fighting.

  When the men are organized, both Conyac and Trav shift in a glimmer of light and movement into massive, powerful dragons. They are as big as semis and dangerously beautiful. My inner dragon groans at the sight of them. She wants them. She wants to claim them as her mates. Both of them? I ask her. She shoots my brain with her sonic blast of sound waves. I grip my head and moan in pain.

  "What is it, my lady?" Gizmel asks concerned.

  "It's nothing," I lie. "I think I know my dragon's power though. The same as my mother's. Sonic blast."

  "I knew it! Very good fortune, my lady. It is a deadly powerful talent."

  "Great," I mutter. My dragon snickers at me. Don't ask me how a dragon snickers, but she is able to do it in the most sarcastic annoying way possible.

  I look back at the scrying bowl. Trav is a massive red dragon with glittering scales that reflect the sunlight with an orange and black cast. Conyac, on the other hand, is shades of blue. His smooth scales radiate between pure, stark white, and Prussian blue. He is just as big as Trav and for a moment, I fear they might start fighting each other. Instead, they leap into the air as the Org army approaches.

  Chapter Seven

  Trav and Conyac fly straight for the oncoming army of gigantic deformed humanoids. They look like orcs, trolls, or some similar creature from fairy tales and video games. Behind the vast army of horrid bodies, I see three giants of the same race. They are bigger even than Trav and Conyac in dragon form. They hold trees for clubs, and their footsteps are like earthquakes, shaking the ground. I gasp in fear.

  Conyac unleashes his icy breath on the giants. Two of them are frozen solid in an instant. He lands on one with his claws and fangs bared, cracking the frozen monster into a million pieces. The ice falls and crushes the men around its feet. The army scrambles away as Trav breaks the second behemoth.

  The third giant swings his club and nearly bashes Trav just before he juts away. Trav flies upward and arcs in the air, blowing his fire breath at the beast. The monster catches fire, screaming as the super hot flames lick his flesh. It tumbles to the ground, trying to roll out of the flames. But it's like an oil fire; nothing will put it out. The giant burns on the ground, igniting the Orgs who didn't make it out of the way in time.

  The rest of the army continues toward Castle Warren. I gasp when I see how close they really are. Conyac and Trav swoop in behind the army, biting and clawing at the Orgs on the ground. They are a substantial foe with tooth and claw, but nothing compared to their full dragon power. Trav's men come in from the front, swords swinging. There is a cannon in the midst of the battlefield. A resounding blast sounds outside. I run to the window, just as the entire keep rumbles with the shock of the hit.

  "Oh no!" I yell.

  "Fear not, my lady," Gizmel says through clenched teeth. He isn't very convincing.

  Conyac and Trav transform in the midst of the battle, fully clothed in their armor, their enchanted swords in hand. They fight like ninjas, taking out dozens of Orgs as they swing and dance in battle. I'm awestruck by their power and beauty. It is a sight to behold these men fight, even though it is brutal and bloody. They dodge the enemy with ease and make a path through the Org army toward the keep.

  They fight with the Warren soldiers, side by side, until the Org army has dwindled to a much smaller number. As if by an instinctive command, the entire Org legion turns and begins to retreat. Trav's army continue to pursue them, taking out the rest of the Orgs they can catch. When I see Trav and Conyac returning, I hurry down the stairs to greet them.

  I run down the stairs into the courtyard and find them both battle weary and bloody. As two sets of eyes fix on me, I stop. The men surround them in the chaos of post battle. Broken limbs and bloody gashes cover the soldiers. Trav and Conyac move toward me as one. I take a sharp breath in and hold it, not ready for what I know will come next.

  Trav reaches me first, stopping short before me. He is covered in blood, his own mixed with that of his foe. Conyac comes behind him. He falls to his knees and puts a fist to his heart. Trav, seeing the gesture, joins him on the ground.

  I look at them kneeling before me, confused. "My lady, I have fought to defend the realm. To prove my worth to you."

  "I have fought bravely, and led my army to defeat the enemy that threatens us all. My sword and my fire are for you, lady," Trav intones.

  "My ice and my sword," Conyac follows.

  "Okay, okay," I say, embarrassed by the display. "Just get up. I want to go back to Skyland. Can someone please take me?"

  "I will take you," Conyac says, standing.

  "I will take her," Trav growls.

  "But the Orgs are at your door, Warren. Shouldn't you stay?" Conyac says, a smirk on his lips.

  "I will go where the princess goes," Trav snarls.

  "Fine. Both of you take me back. I want to get home before nightfall and sleep in my own chambers. I don't like staying here."

  Conyac gives Trav a triumphant look, and Trav snarls at him. I roll my eyes at them both. I'm so tired of this competition.

  My inner dragon tells me I know how to end it, and I'm beginning to get the idea myself. I just don't know if I can bring myself to say it out loud, let alone consciously choose it and live it.

  "Let's go," I groan. The princes lead me back to the carriage, and I sit beside Gizmel. "I am so tired of this," I tell Gizmel after the princes have shifted. Trav grabs the handle.

  "The princes are overzealous, my lady, but they are right in being so...enthusiastic. What you saw today was a mere fraction of the Org army. It was a test, a shot across the bow, if you will. They are testing our readiness and our strength. Without the power of hilock, the Org will soon defeat us."

  I sigh and look out the window. I know what is coming. I'm going to have to choose one of them. No one ever said I could choose both; even if I really wanted that, which I'm beginning to believe I do, it probably isn'
t an option.

  My inner dragon begs to differ, but I still don't believe it. I don't want to believe it. The idea of being married to one of them, making love to one of them, fills me with anxiety, let alone doing it with two. How would that even work? I see a vision of exactly how mating with the two of them would work, and I squeeze my eyes closed and groan.

  "What is it, my lady?" Gizmel asks.

  "It's nothing. I'm just trying to come to terms with the whole hilock thing. What is that all about anyway? What exactly will the man I choose do again?"

  "He will plant his mating seed inside you and give you the mating bite. You simply have to take him."

  "And what would happen if both of them did that?"

  "I don't understand, princess. Are you asking how both might make hilock with you?"

  I blush, glad this didn't come up when the princes were present. I bite my lip and scrunch up my eyebrows. "Well, it could happen. They're always trying to get a piece of me at the same time."

  "I suppose both could perform hilock at the same time," he says thoughtfully. "Then both would receive the king's power." A flash of inspiration crosses his face, and he smiles at me as if I’ve just discovered the cure for cancer.

  "That's it!" he yells. We land gracefully on the ground in Skyland.

  Chapter Eight

  "What?" Conyac says, as he opens the carriage door. I've been so distracted, I haven't even noticed we've landed.

  "The princess had an idea of how to speed along the choosing process," Gizmel says. "She thought..."

  "I thought," I say, cutting him off. "That I would make love to each of you once, without making hilock and then it would make it easier for me to decide." What just came out of my mouth?

  Conyac scratches his chin, thinking. Then a slow smile crosses his face. "Done. But I get to go first."

  Oh for God's sake.