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“Did you think I couldn’t smell your scent in the trees?” he snarls as he closes the distance. “I knew you were here. I was just waiting for you to be stupid enough to try and sneak in here, and of course you did.” He flings a hand at Aya with his lip curled back.

My dragon rises to meet Levi with smoke stinging up the back of my nose. I force him back down. This is Aya’s father in his own house. He has every right to come at me. I keep my hands where he can see them.

Aya scrambles out of bed with her nightgown swirling around her thighs. “Dad, no, wait, hold on⁠—”

Levi puts a hand up at her without turning his head. “This is a conversation between your father and your future mate. Stay out of this.”

I nod at Aya to do what he says. She backs off with her scent gone sour with worry. My dragon hates me for making her do it. He shoves from the inside, and I lock my knees against him. I knew the risks when I climbed through her window. Now I have to face the consequences.

Nia crowds the doorway behind Levi with her robe clutched shut. Aya’s brothers are trying to push past her.

“You panty-sniffing, nasty dragon,” Levi spits at me. “You think you can just climb into my daughter’s bedroom in the middle of the night? You think that’s how you win my approval?”

My dragon snarls at the insult and sends heat up behind my eyes. He wants to roar, but I keep my voice down. “I came to check on her,” I tell him. “I saw what happened in the clearing tonight. I saw how upset she was.”

“So you decided to trespass on my land and sneak into her bedroom like a thief?” Levi laughs in my face. “You’ve got balls, boy, I’ll give you that. But balls won’t save you from what’s coming.”

“I am not a boy.” My dragon pushes the growl out deeper than my human throat should be able to carry it.

Levi plants his foot in my chest and kicks me backward out the window I snuck in through. Glass explodes. Shards slice my skin as I tumble into the dark. I hardly feel them over my dragon’s roar. He takes over and throws my wings out to break my fall. I touch down on the grass in a partial shift with blood running down my arms. Smoke pours from my nostrils and ears while I glare up at the house.

Levi leaps out of the shattered frame and drops into a crouch. When he straightens to face me, he reeks of his wolf and the fight he wants. I’m more than happy to give him one.

Aya shows up at the broken window with glass crunching under her bare feet. I need her off it before she cuts herself. Behind her, Nia snaps at Aya’s brothers to stay back.

With my wings still spread wide, I could be over the trees with a push off the ground, but I keep my feet planted. Flying off would prove everything Levi believes about me, that I’m a coward who isn’t worthy of his daughter. My dragon will die here before he runs from a wolf.

Doors bang open across the clearing as the wolves of House of Zorah pour out of their cabins. Their scents are sharp with anger. Jacob steps out of the shadows to join his cousins on their way toward us. They spread out around me and Levi until we’re boxed in. I track every move they make.

Aya jumps from the window and hits the grass running for me. Gabriel steps into her path with a warning growl.

“Stay back,” he orders, even though he’s not her alpha. Smoke leaks out of my ears at another male bossing our mate around.

Aya looks from Gabriel to her father. “Please,” she begs. “Please, you have to stop this.”

“No, don’t,” Jacob tells her with a shake of his head.

Levi’s eyes never leave my face. “This is my daughter,” he announces. “He trespassed on our land, and I have every right to reprimand him.” He prowls around me in a circle. “He’s a stupid, selfish boy with no honor. I smelled him in the trees when he thought I didn’t. I wanted to see what kind of man my daughter is dealing with. An honorable one, or a selfish one.”

He stops and plants himself in front of me. “And now I have my answer.”

Aya turns to Jacob with her nightgown balled in her fists. “Please, you have to stop this. You’re alpha.”

He rubs his face and shrugs. “I’ll allow it.”

“You dusty—” Aya snaps, but he cuts her off.

“I’m damned if I do, damned if I don’t,” he sighs. “I’m dusty either way. Levi is right. What Ezra did is unlawful.”

Aya rounds on her uncles. “Then send a dragon call for his alpha!” she pleads. “This isn’t right!”

No one listens. Her tears spill over. I catch the salt of them through the pack’s musk. The mate bond yanks at me to go to her. I curl my hands into fists at my sides and stay where I am.

“How about a battle?” Levi says. “You clearly have an issue with boundaries, boy.”

“I am not a boy,” I snarl, and Aya’s uncles laugh at me. I lift my chin and ignore the heat crawling up my neck. “I’m up for the challenge.”

Levi’s smile has nothing friendly in it. “You dragons love to use your precious magic to get out of shit. And you know I can’t kill you.” He jerks his chin at me. “A fair fight. Man to man. You beat me, I’ll stand aside and let you take Aya with you right now.”