Page 3 of Bound to Four Alphas

Letting her head fall back against the tree, she thought through her options. The shock of the hawk seemed to have snapped her senses back into place, and she needed a plan. Right now.

The rope, while tight, was not impenetrable. If she could find a sharp stick, she might be able to saw through it. Failing that, she could try to injure her wrists a bit more, get enough blood flowing that her hands could slip through. She grimaced. It wasn’t ideal, but she needed to get out of the forest as quickly as possible. She was a sitting duck in the clearing.

With a fortifying breath, she began pulling at the rope again, wincing as the scrapes reopened.

“That’s an interesting tactic you’ve got there, mind talking me through it?”

She shrieked and fell backwards as the voice, smooth and charming, spoke from seemingly nowhere.

She looked up, heart racing. Though the hawk hadn’t moved, its eyes glinted with amusement.

“I-I … can youtalk?’

The hawk fluttered its feathers. “Silly girl,” it said, its beak not moving, “you’ll only hurt yourself more if you do that. I watched those little men tie those knots. You’re not getting out of them alone.”

Selena’s mouth opened and shut a few times, no words coming out, and somehow the hawkrolled its eyesat her.

“As fascinating as it is to watch you flapping your mouth, we don’t have much time, and you need to answer some questions.”

The hawk spread its wings—hiswings, if the voice was anything to go by—and floated down to the ground before her. Up close, his golden feathers seemed to shine from within, and his eyes were flecked with green. Sitting down, the hawk was taller than she was, and looked down at her with gleaming condescension.

“Tell me, little omega.” His voice was a low purr. "What exactly have you done to—"

A branch snapped, and the hawk whipped around, feathers bristling.

Selena shrank back, desperately searching the tree line for any sign of movement, but there was nothing. Another branch snapped, then another.

“W-what is that?” she whimpered as the hawk launched upwards back into the branches of the tree, never taking his eyes off the forest.

“That,” he replied in a voice full of dark excitement, “is why we don’t have much time.”

More branches snapped, and Selena’s eyes whipped to the tree line, stomach roiling in fear as a great, dark shadow moved just behind the first few trees.

In a voice barely louder than a whisper, the hawk said, “Greetings, Malek.”

The answering rumbling roar shook the very ground beneath Selena’s feet.

Chapter 2 - Kaelen

The evening had started much like any other.

He had barely had time to complete a brief patrol of the border before the sun set, signaling his required return to court. He growled his displeasure, wanting to spend more time out in the skies, the cool night air against his scales, but his responsibilities beckoned him back to the vast palace carved in the side of a long-dead volcano.

Kaelan landed in the great gaping mouth of the dragon door, sharp claws scraping against the basalt floor, great wings shaking out behind him. Some of his advisors were ready to meet him in their human skins, hands clasped demurely behind their backs as they bowed to him. Behind them a few of the younger nobles, the sons of the members of his court, were brawling and rolling over each other in their dragon forms, but they stopped when he arrived to lower their long necks, golden eyes flashing.

He looked to the older dragon behind them, green scales glimmering. “Greetings, Iveir.”

“My King.” The general lowered his head. “How was your flight?”

“Too short,” replied Kaelen, “but there are more important matters to attend to. Such as relations with the wolf clan.”

With this, he turned on the group of young dragons, who at least had the decency to look sheepish.

“Now, do you boys want to tell me why I received word from Ronan that there has been anotherincident?”

The largest of them, Phane, stepped forward, wings tucked tight against his sides. “It was my fault, my lord,” theyoung alpha said. “We were just out practicing formations and some of the wolves were chasing after us. Things got … messy.”

Kaelen growled, the sound reverberating through the cavern, and the boys shrank back from him.

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