Alpha Betrayed: A Dark Shifter Romance

Juliet

I rain fire down on my father, his priests, and the man with the mustache like I've never done before.

I more than breathe fire.

I funnel it from my soul and send it exploding from the core of my being.

I let the rage filling my belly fuel me, building the flames higher and higher, until they emerge from my beak as a bright white funnel of annihilation.

The man with the mustache and the priests all fall to their knees on the platform, where they quickly turn to ash. But, once again, Hammer proves that he's part cockroach by jumping onto the grass and rolling away from the worst of the flames.

But he's scorched pink and black and whimpering as he limps away, dragging one leg painfully behind him. It looks like his shoe melted onto his foot and is causing him difficulty as he tries to shift into his wolf form.

His arms shift into long, furred paws, but he winces as the change hits his raw, scalded chest. The rest of him is still human when I hit him with another blast of white fire.

I'm your father, he screams into my head as his spine arches and a guttural cry of suffering rips from his throat.

You're nothing to me and soon, you'll be nothing to Zion, I say, not caring if the pack hears me. I'll erase you from our history so thoroughly that in fifteen years no one will remember there ever was a Hammer Zion. Rot in hell, Dad.

And then I finish him. It only takes a few more seconds for his body to start to disintegrate and his heart to stop. When it does, a part of me expects to feel something-regret or pain or at least some faint sadness that this is how my relationship with my father ends -but I feel...nothing

Nothing except anxious for the people I care about and eager to get the f**k out of here before the dragons stop trying to shove through that portal and realize things aren't going according to plan over here.

This way, to the water, Coralie cries, motioning for me to follow her across the field toward a river in the near distance, where most of Zion's pack is already fleeing. Ford is beside her with Catherine just ahead, helping a slim girl with a long black braid who seems to have an injured leg.

I do one final circle, laying down a line of fire on the grass in front of a handful of guards who seem confused about where to go next, then follow them.

I don't fully trust my mother, but the fact remains that I wouldn't be free right now without her. Neither would Ford or Catherine, but I don't intend to turn my back on anyone who's not in my inner circle, not in this world or in ours....assuming we can find a way back there.

Flying low over Ford's head, I ask, Any idea how we get back to Earth as we know it?Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.

“No f*****g clue," he calls back, glancing up at me as he continues to jog along at the back of the pack. "Hammer said his priests could pull it off, but I'm pretty sure they're dead, right?"

So dead, I say, silently cursing myself. But Coralie allegedly has knowledge of archaic magic. Maybe she can figure something out.

She'd better figure it out quick, Catherine says. Because we're about to have company.

I glance back toward the portal to see the second dragon-the bigger, bulkier, angrier looking one-waddling toward us at an alarming pace, his massive chest already puffed up and ready to deliver a blast of flames I'm pretty sure is going to make mine look like a sparkler in the hands of a child on the Fourth of July.Updated by , visit for more free novels.

Unfortunately, I'm the only one with any shot of fighting back against Mr. Big, Bad, and Scaly.

But f**k...am I ever tired of saying goodbye just in case.

I love you, Ford. If I don't come back in one piece, name a cranky, obnoxious pack holiday after me. Before he can reply, I spin and fly back toward the dragon, grateful there isn't time to look the man I love in the eye before I go. I'm not sure I could stand to see the despair in his expression.

Because this fight?

It likely isn't one I'm going to win. I know that even before Big Waddler digs his claws into the grass and lets loose such a funnel of fire that it feels like I'm flying directly into the sun.