Page 65 of The Dragons’ Eternal Mate

My stomach flip-flopped. “I’m human, though.”

“Still an Alpha.” Nina pushed me forward. “And we’re making a change in all that, aren’t we?”

I sighed. “Shit.”

Doing my best to look graceful and poised, I walked over to my guys. Nix wrapped an arm around my waist, pulling me closer.

All of them greeted me with measured smiles, radiating confidence and strength. I tried to suck down some of that courage for myself, steeling my spine as I faced off with the other dragons.

“Hello, I’m enforcer Lasser. This is Poe and Xander,” the one in the middle, with scraggly hair pulled back into a greasy ponytail, greeted.

Bastian nodded, his eyes never leaving them. The air was thick with tension, and even Nix was holding on to me uncharacteristically tight.

“We’ve met before,” Bastian countered. “May I ask why you’ve decided to come into the center of our horde lands?”

“We’re here to ask you one final time to return Alpha Byron’s daughter to him.”

Everything in me wanted to glance at Bastian to see his reaction, but we needed to show a united front, so instead, I simply stared at these intruders. There was no way in hell that Bastian would allow Allison to be taken.

None of my mates would.

“That’s not happening.”

Lasser grimaced, and a tiny flicker of amusement sparked inside me, adoring the way Bastian told him how it was. However, the next words out of his mouth made my stomach drop, and the world tilt on its axis.

“In that case,” the enforcer announced, letting his voice carry, “I need to inform you that Alpha Byron issues a formal challenge to the Alpha of North Oak.”

Everything stopped. You could hear a pin drop, and I clenched Nix’s hand. I wasn’t removed enough from dragon society to be happily unaware of what that meant.

A challenge? That’s a fight…

“When?” Bastian asked, somehow keeping his voice level.

The enforcer nodded, tight as ever. “Tomorrow. Midnight. At the border of our lands…” He paused. My mind buzzed with worry, waiting for his last words. Deep down I knew what a challenge entailed…but I needed to hear it. Confirmation that my world was possibly about to come crashing down around my ears.

“…to the death.”

Orsen

“We accept,” Bastian replied smoothly, and I almost didn’t hear him over the sound of blood rushing in my ears.

But I heard Rowan’s sharp intake of breath. Glancing over at her subtly, I watched Nix tighten his arm around her, leaning down to kiss the top of her head, whispering something as she clutched him hard enough to make her knuckles white. No doubt silently urging her to remain calm.

“Very well,” Lasser grunted, looking a little miffed that we’d chosen this route over giving them Allison. The three enforcers nodded, turning on their heels and walking out of the circle.

I gestured at a few guards, making sure they walked our “visitors” off our land. We needed to keep an eye on where they were coming and going from.

The crowd began to disperse, and Greylen called out, “We’ll handle this. Please go back to your cabins. You all deserve rest.”

It took several of the older dragons a minute to leave, the four of us ensuring them the challenge wouldn’t be an issue. When I finally could, I went over to Rowan, standing next to her as Nix rubbed his hand up and down her back.

“A challenge? You can’t do a challenge!” Rowan hissed, glancing between us with wide eyes.

Her fear was palpable, the scent distressing, and everything inside me wanted to find a way to make it stop. Her concern was understandable, though. A challenge was a fight to the death, after all, and Byron was no slouch in the strength department.

“We have to. If we win, Allison will be safe, and Byron won’t be able to support Cyrus anymore,” Bastian explained softly, resting his hands on Rowan’s upper arms.

Whichever Alpha won would be given the other’s territory. If Byron won, he would control all of North Oak, and all the people we cared about would be under his rule. If we won, we would have control of Birch Creek.