A dragon shifter novel Chapter 87

The Fates Made A Mistake.

Cage

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The light hit me like a blade to the chest. At first, I thought it was some trick of the moon, a reflection, a spell gone wrong. But then I felt it. The rether twisting deep beneath my ribs, searing straight through my bone and breath. And when I looked up, when I saw where it came from, my entire body went cold. Rivers. Allison. Bloody. Rivers. The stray. The charity use that Scorched dragged in like some wounded mutt from the gutter. The one who barely scraped through lessons, who looked at magic like it might bite her, who couldn’t even defend herself properly. The light settled in my chest, warm and crawling, and I wanted to rip it out with my bare hands. No. No, this couldn’t be right. Pate didn’t make mistakes, they said. The Moon’s gift never failed. But if this, if she, was my fate, then the whole damned system was broken. I could still see her from across the courtyard, the light spilling from her like a beacon, blue threads of magic connecting her to, what, four others? Evander Drayke, of course. Perfect golden boy. Then Kael bloody Pierce, the mutt. Hill, the professor? You’ve got to be joking. And then the last… that thing that just stepped out of the shadows, horns and all, calling her Queen. I nearly laughed. Of course. Of course, she’d be the centre of some ridiculous divine spectacle. The stray with five mates. Perfect.

My fists clenched until I felt the crack of bone. The air around me pulsed with heat, the magic in my veins sparking like wildfire. Everyone else was too busy staring at her to notice me slip away. Good. I shoved through the crowd, not caring who stumbled or swore in my wake. The sound of laughter and music chased me down the hall, fading into the low hum of my heartbeat. I could feel the bond tugging, like a phantom thread pulling me back toward her, and I snarled under my breath.

“No.”

I wasn’t going to play whatever cruel joke the Fates thought this was. I didn’t want her. I didn’t need her. I’d spent years working to be the best, to claw my way up from nothing, to prove that I didn’t need anyone. That I wasn’t some fragile, dependent idiot who needed saving. And now they’d tied me to her. 1 reached my room, slammed the door hard enough to make the frame rattle, and pressed my forehead against the cool wood. My magic flickered around me, restless and hungry. The bond thrummed again, and I could feel it faintly, her emotions bleeding through like echoes. Confusion. Fear. A tangle of guilt and wonder. I growled, low and sharp, forcing the connection down, shoving it to the deepest, darkest part of myself. She didn’t belong here. Not in my head.

Not in my soul. The Fates could burn for all I cared.

I pulled out my phone and stared at it for a long time, with my jaw tight and my thumb hovering over the contact. Father. I didn’t want to do this. I didn’t

want to hear his voice or the disappointment or cold pride that only ever came out when I’d done something useful. But I needed answers. If anyone knew

how to… break a bond, sever it cleanly, it would be him, 1 pressed the call button before I could talk myself out of it. It rang once, twice. Then…

“Cage.” His tone was crisp. “I assume this is important.”

“Yeah,” I muttered, forcing the word through gritted teeth. “It’s… about the Moonlight Festival.”

There was a pause and the faint shuffle of papers. “Ah. So, the Fates have finally found it in themselves to gift you a mate. Took long enough.” The underlined dissapointment evident. “At least you’ve managed to do something right, boy.”

My hand tightened around the phone and 1 swallowed the retort barning in my throat. This wasn’t the time to start a fight.

“Yeah, well,” I said instead, my voice low, “you might want to hold the congratulations. It’s….complicated.”

A son hum sounded. That was his version of curiosity. “Go on.”

“Stor’s…” hesitated, the name sticking to my tongue like poison. “Allison Rivers.”

There was silence, then, a slow exhale. “The stray

“Teal And soptly she’s not just mine,

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The Fates Made A Mistake.

1coubt almost hear his brows lift through the line. “Explain.”

“She’s bonded to four others.”

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The silence that followed was heavy. Then he laughed. Great, he’s amused. “Well. Isn’t that fascinating)

The sound of him settling back in his chair came through the line. “You may have stumbled onto something quite unique, my son. Do you have any idea what this means?”

1 frowned. “That the Fates are playing a joke on me?”

“That girl,” he said, ignoring the jab, “is under current observation by the council. There’s an open investigation into her origins. She appeared out of nowhere with no lineage, no record, no proper magical registration, and somehow managed to hide herself from authorities and live alone in the scrublands for all these years? Something isn’t right about her.”

My pulse stuttered. “You knew about this? About her?”

“Of course,” he replied smoothly. “Nothing happens at that academy without my knowledge.”

1 felt the familiar anger rise, but he continued before I could cut in.

“This could be useful, Cage. You say you don’t want this bond, and I can’t blame you. But if you play along, gain her trust and observe her, you might learn something that could help us.”

1 stiffened. “Help us how?”

“She’s not normal. Something else is at work here. The council believes she may be… compromised. Dangerous, even. If that’s the case, we must know. And

if you can give me that information, I can protect you from whatever fallout comes when this inevitably unravels.”

The line was quiet for a heartbeat. My heartbeat.

“You’re asking me to spy on my… mate.”

“I’m telling you to survive this,” he corrected, voice like steel wrapped in silk. “The Fates make mistakes, son. They always have. You were cursed with this one, but perhaps it can serve a purpose. Play your part and pretend. And when the time comes… We’ll use her to set things right.”

A chill ran down my spine.

“Do you understand?” he asked.

My jaw ached from how hard I clenched it, Yeah. I understand

“Good. Then we’ll be in touch soon.”

The line went dead. I stared at the phose for a long while, the wards echoing in my head. Plas ir pare. I tossed the phones the desk suit Angel Por Yards is my face. If my father wanted a spy, ford get one. If he wanted answers. I’d Hood them. It this is what must be dime

wind whatever miss she’s wrapped up is that so be it. But as much as wanted to hate her, ‘eldu? shake the ungering warm magic hall brated wine. It made me fucking sick The fates made a mistake

www

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Thornhill Academy

Hummingbird.

Rhaziel

6440

The moon always did strange things to mortals. But even for a creature like me, one who had ruled over deinens and nightmares for centuries, tonight felt different. The veil between realms was thinner. The air is heavier. Every heartbeat in this place sings like a drum, echoing through the dark folds of the world that I called home. I hadn’t come here for a ceremon or spectacle. I had come because of her. A week ago, I had been wandering the mortal realm, following the scent of terror. Fear is like music to my kind, the notes of despair and chords of agony. And this one gods, it was exquisite. It was caw and powerful. Not the usual trickle of nightmares that seep from mortal mods, but a torrent of pure and primal dread that sent shivers down the spine of the shadows itself. 1 followed it through the cracks of dream and reality until I found the source. There. A room. A bed. A boy. But it wasn’t his terror that intrigued me. It was the creature feeding on it.

A wraith. It was pale and twisted, but wrong… It was different. I have worked with wraiths for longer than I care to count. I know the texture of their magic, the sharp, cold hunger that drives them. This one was not quite… itself. The energy tasted strange; it was soaked it something human and something ancient all at once. Its aura hummed with stolen light and had the rhythm of a heartbeat that diy not belong to it. I stayed in the shadows as it fed. It drew the boys fear from his dreams like nectar from a vein, draining every drop until his body finally went still. Then, sated, the wraith began to withdraw.

And that was when I saw it–It shimmered. Shifted and changed. One blink, and the wraith was gone. In its place stood a young woman. Her hair was as dark as night, her power clinging to her skin like mist. The air around her vibrated, as though the nightmare itself bowed to her will. I had seen monsters, gods and kings, but never something like her. So, I followed. For seven nights, I walked behind her shadow, unseen but ever near. I watched her laugh with her friends, stumble through classes, and touch the boy with the golden eyes. I watched her feed again each night, the wraith peeling from her soul like a reflection from water, bound to her by something deeper than death. And each night, the pull grew stronger. The bond that only the Fates could weave began to hum beneath my ribs, ancient and undeniable. I knew what it meant, because I had been searching for centuries for this feeling. I knew who she

was. My queen. My equal. The one meant to balance the darkness within me.

So, I came to the festival tonight. I came to see if the Fates agreed. When the moonlight began to descend, those silvery tendrils falling from the heavens

like spun starlight, I already knew. The crowd gasped as the first light struck the chosen, each soul illuminated by fate’s own hand. I watched, waiting. And

then I saw the silver light enter her. Allison Rivers. The light struck her chest, and I felt it like a thunderclap across my heart. The shadows around me pulsed in recognition, whispering her name. I watched as the energy within hey split, curling and twisting like blue fire. One thread shot into the drugom beside her. Another into the hell hound. A third into the professor. A fourth into the boy she had been feeding her wraith an. And then there was the fifth.

The last. Mine.

It did not know where to go, not yet. It wandered, confused, as if it could sense me but not reach me. I was still between worlds, my power anchored in shadow. So I stepped forward. The moment I crossed into the light, the bond found me. It struck with the sound of cracking heavens, slamming into my chest and roaring through my veins.

The crowd went silent. All that existed was her. The scent of her magic, the blue fire reflected in her eyes, the thrum of the bond resonating between our hearts. The sigils across my skin flared to life, pulsing in time with her heartbeat, I walked through the parting sea of bodies until tatood before hen My queen, My beloved. The one my soul had been chained to since before the down of creation. She looked up at me, wide–eyed, trembling and almostuneis radiant. I tilted her chin with a single clawed finger, my lips curving into a slow, knowing smile.

“Hello, I said, my voice deep as the void itself. “My Queen”

And as the band settled, I knew one thing with absolute certainty: My world had just changed forever

en between chasing his hand and staying

her vele sol, something that i

faded in thing doo

The hound stormed away first, fury in his wake. The dragon followed, muttering curses under his breath, his mate. The guessed one last hits to fur forehead, taking his territory like a fool and whispered some finally, he left And the moment he did, the balows to the courtyard sighed will relief. The air stilled. The her eyes follow him for a heartbeat Jünger night. They’d had their line. The drap. The hound. Even the damned janikant: Now !

wind, letting the dark sipple outraj In my palay The shadows feel imiantly stung ever the that the spilled k The gasped, the sound small and west, and be cubed

wkles, up her legs, mult

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Hummingbird

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“Don’t be afraid,” I murmured. My voice came out low and coaxing, the kind of sound that made even the bravest creature bow its head. “You’re safe, my

queen.

She opened her mouth to speak, to testion, perhaps, or to resist, but the shadows swept higher, carling around her waist, her shoulders, her throat. She didn’t fight. Some part of her knew. The bond recognised the call of its other half. I stepped closer, close enough to smell the faint trace of power that still lingered on her skin, the siphoned magic. A power that would burn the mortal world if left uncontained.

I reached out, brushed my thumb across her cheek. “You’ve sent enough time in cages, hummingbird,” I said softly. “It’s time you see what freedom truly looks like.”

And then the shadows consumed us both completely.

Thornhill Academy

Should I Hold Her Hand?

Rhaziel

6440

The world folded in on itself as the shadows released us. The soft murmurs of the academy, the warmth of the mortal air, all of it dissolved–replaced by the deep hum of power that lived and breathed in my realm. The air here was thick with magic. The ground shimmered faintly beneath our feet, a reflection of the sky above, where two moons hung heavy–one silver, or black. Obsidian towers spiralled upward in the distance, carved from the bones of fallen stars, and rivers of molten light cut through the darkness, glowing like geins of fire in the earth.

When the shadows fell away completely, she stumbled forward and gasped. “What–where-“Her voice trembled, her eyes wide as she spun to take it all in. “Where are we? What did you do?”

I watched her with quiet amusement as she took a shaky step backward, then another, stopping only when her back met the cool stone of the courtyard wall. Her chest rose and fell quickly, and that scent–her power, wild and sweet–filled the air.

“Easy, hummingbird,” I murmured, my tone calm and deliberate. I lifted my hand slowly, palm open so she could see I meant her no harm. “You’re safe. You

are in my realm now.”

Her throat bobbed as she swallowed. “Your realm?” she whispered. “You mean… this isn’t the mortal plane?”

I smiled faintly, inclining my head. “Not quite. This is our kingdom–the realm between the shadows and nightmares. The heart of demonkind.”

She blinked, confusion knitting her brow. “Our?”

“Yes.” I took a slow step toward her, watching the flicker of blue light pulse faintly under her skin, the mark of the bond still fresh, still settling. “My name is Rhaziel.” My voice echoed through the vast courtyard like a vow. “King of the Demons, ruler of the nightmare realms, sovereign of the shadows.”

Her lips parted slightly. “You’re… the Demon King?”

A hint of pride crept into my smile. “Among other things.”

Her voice shook, but her defiance held steady. “Then why am I here? What do you want with me?”

I stopped in front of her, close enough to see the quick flutter of her pulse beneath the skin of her throat. “I brought you here because you are not inst mine, Hummingbird. My hand rose, hovering just shy of her cheek. “You are our Queen.”

She froze. “Your queen?”

“Fate’s decree,” I said simply. “The bond we share was written long before either of us drew breath.”

Her blow eyes shimmered as she stared at me, uncertain, torn between fear and understanding

“I don’t understand,” she whispered.

“Yi will,” I promised softly. I turned, gesturing to the horizon where the twin moans hled silver and black lighter the city below hos plur Kingdom responds to your heartheat now, it has already begins to change.”

Her gaze Miched to the homon, where faint Dust began to sprend

ane of the motion civers, blue and crystalline, Her

Jerce law and steady, “You have spent your ide being touted to what you

12:51 pm pppp

Should I Hald Her Hand?

nor guso. I stepped closer until the shadows curled around our feet again. “Here, you are Queen”

She hesitated, her lips pacting like she wanted to argue, but all that came out was a soft, unsteady breath. “I don’t even know you.”

“No,” I murmured, my smile softening. But your soul does.”

She’s trembling, 1 can feel it, not in her body, but in the air around her. Her fear hums through the magic of my realm like a plucked string. faint and fragile It curls against my skin, whispers through the shadows. I’ve led legions, devoured nightmares, bent entire armies to their knees with a look- and yet the sight of this one small woman, standing before me with her chin Cited up in brave defiance despite the tremor in her hands, unravels me in ways I cannot name. She’s trying not to show her fear. Daring, clever little thing. But her heartbeat betrays her. It flutters, light, and erratic, like a hummingbird’s wings, My hummingbird.

I take a step closer, and she sucks in a sharp breath, her chest rising fast, eyes widening as though expecting the monster I am, I stop immediately, forcing my voice low, careful, softer than it has ever been in my long life.

“I will not hurt you,” I tell her again. “Not now. Not ever.”

Gods, she’s beautiful when she’s unsure, all that fire trapped behind hesitation. I want to see it freed. I want her to know she could scorch worlds, and I would still kneel at her feet.

“I am here,” I continue, the words strange on my tongue, softer than they should be for a king made of shadow. “To cherish you. To worship you. To love

you, in this world and any that come after.”

The words are true, too true. They strike something deep inside me, and I realise that for the first time in centuries, I am afraid. Not of death, or war, or

gods. I am afraid of getting this wrong, of frightening her when all I want is to make her feel safe. She looks up at me, those impossibly blue eyes searching my face like she’s trying to see if she can trust the beast before her. I’ve never been soft for anyone. Never been gentle. I don’t know how to he. But for her,

I want to learn.

“Would you….” I pause, catching myself before my voice rumbles too deep. “Would you like to see our kingdom?”

She blinks, hesitant. “Your kingdom?”

I smile. “Our kingdom, Hummingbird.”

Her gaze softens just a little at the word. She nods, shy and quiet. “I would like that.”

And suddenly I have no idea what to do with my hands. Do I hold hers? Would that scare her more? Do I offer my arm? Gods, that seems ridiculous What if she does not want to hold my hand? Perhaps I should carry her–no, absolutely not. She’s too delicate for that. I might beenhet… side, P’un a atorme el indecision. Outside, I only incline my head, gesturing ahead of us with what I hope looks dignified and not awkward.

“Come, then,” I say softly.

She steps closer, close enough that her shoulder brushes my arm, and the simple contact nearly undoes me. Her warmth sinks through my skin, and us help but wonder–ahurdly what her band would feel like in mine. Her fingers would be so small Would the flinch was at would she lut yet bold fer

there?

1 gling down at her the walks beside me, the moonlight catching the strands of her dark buis My Image Page, bees The

dm shifts to for her heartiest The shadows pulse slower now, calme, as mygdom elf know who it by

will. And I will stand by her wide and watch her us the learns to command willst

She wa

12:51 pm pppp.

Should I Hald Hier Hand?

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what a way to redistribute the cards! Now if the council tries anything they’d basically be declaring war on the demon realm as she’s its Queen Ldon’t think that would be… More

7 days ago