Chapter 2: Chapter One

-Twenty-Three Years Later-

I took in a deep breath. This was it, my final test and last bit of training before I could move on to more advanced training. I was to go almost all the way through SEAL training, sixteen of the twenty-four weeks, ringing the bell at the end of the diving phase.

As I walked into the meeting hall, I looked around, noticing I wasn’t the last one but I was close. There were a couple of wolf whistles when I walked in, making my eyes narrow and my dragon pace. “Niamh calm down,” I spoke inwardly to my dragon.

She simply growled and continued her pacing. I tried not to roll my eyes on the outside and settled for attempting to push her to the back of my mind as I made my way to an open chair.

“Don’t be bothered by those asshats,” the guy next to me said, sticking his hand out for me to shake, “Dustin Randall.”

I grabbed his hand and shook it firmly, “I’m not too worried about them. They’ll be ringing that bell soon enough. Amaya Drake. It’s nice to meet you.”

We didn’t get the chance to say anything else because the meeting was called to order. We were given ten minutes after the meeting to settle into our bunks. Randall and I were able to get bunks together.

We were changing before heading out for a ten mile run. “Holy shit Drake. What happened?” He motioned to his neck and back.

“I was struck by lightning when I was seventeen. I barely survived,” Niamh snorted in the back of my mind. That lightning strike was what revealed my true nature, and it felt like I was going to die, so it was kind of true.

“Fuck,” Randall said with a grimace.

“Yeah. We better get going. We don’t want to be late and make it fifteen miles,” I said, heading for the door.

We made it with a few minutes to spare. I felt the guys staring at me, whether it was because I was wearing sweats and a sports bra or because of my scar, which went from the base of my neck and spread over my left shoulder down my entire back. It looked like a tree branch colored white and raised on my tan skin. I was used to people staring so not even Niamh is bothered.

A small gust of wind pushed the scents of the crowd to me. I tensed for two reasons, one there was a wolf shifter here and two Niamh roared loudly in my head, “Mate.”

“Daniel, I just caught a whiff of my mate. I don’t know which one he is but I also don’t know if I’ll be able to push Niamh down if we come face to face with him. There’s also a wolf shifter here,” I relayed to Daniel through mind link.

“Just take a deep breath and put her in the maze like we discussed.” He linked back calmly, “I’ve already spotted the wolf. It’s one of the Princes, though what he’s doing here I don’t know.”

Great a fricking royal on top of dealing with this mate bullshit, I thought to myself. I did as he said and imagined the most complicated maze I could in my head and dropped Niamh into it. We began the run, Randall and I stayed side by side. He was a little slower than I would like, but we ended up in the middle of the group and that was good enough for me. My mate was somewhere ahead of us, but the Prince was somewhere behind us. Super now he would know there’s not one but two dragons here, I thought to myself with a mental eyeroll.

At the end of ten miles I was barely winded. Shit if I wanted to keep up my conditioning I would have to run some extra miles early in the morning. Randall was laid out breathing heavily when he looked up and saw me barely breathing hard. He rolled his eyes, “How?” He barely managed.

I just shrugged, which earned me another eye roll. “Everyone on their feet. We’re going to pair you off to test your hand to hand skills,” Daniel said, pushing a little dominance into his voice for Niamh’s benefit. He began naming pairs, “Jackson and Drake.”

Of course Daniel would pair me with the Prince. Niamh chuckled in my head. She loved combat and the idea of going against a wolf was enough to get her to shut up about our mate for now. Randall hit my shoulder, “See you after. Good luck, your guy is built like a Mack truck.” I took in the Prince, who looked like he stood at about six foot seven inches and weighed just shy of two hundred and forty pounds. It was clear he was mixed with his caramel skin, and if he were human, he wouldn’t have any problem getting women.

I smiled, “Thanks. I’ll be fine.”

I watched as the Prince walked up to Daniel, his back stiffened slightly when he smelled the dragon in Daniel, “I can’t be paired with her. I’ll destroy her.”

Niamh growled, but I smirked. Before Daniel had the chance to say anything to him, I walked up, “Don’t worry about me,” I said before whispering so only he and Daniel could hear me, “Your Highness.”

He stiffened further at the use of his title and he had probably scented the dragon in me as well. “Right. Let’s do this then.”

“Control yourself,” Daniel said sternly through our mind link.

I gave him a smirk, which I’m sure inspired confidence. Niamh wanted to put the Prince in his place, but I threw her back in the maze. “Okay show me what you’ve got, Little One,” Jackson said, squaring off opposite me. My eyes narrowed even though I knew I wasn’t little; I was above average at six one. He smiled at my expression, “Had to see what you would do, Little Duck.”

I glowered even harder which made him chuckle. Soon we were trading blows neither one of us giving an inch. Daniel gave a five minute warning. Jackson and I circled each other, and I didn’t make my move until I saw the twitch I came to know as his tell for when he was about to make a move.

He swung, I ducked and hit him twice in the ribs, making sure it wasn’t hard enough to break them just to hurt a bit. We went back and forth trading blows. Soon enough Jackson got in a good hit that caused me to lose focus with Niamh for a second, but that second was all she needed to bust through the maze I had her in and make an attempt to push to the forefront.

Jackson saw my eyes flick and didn’t move to strike me again, instead he kept his hands up and whispered, “Deep breaths. You’re not in danger here. We’re in training.”

It sounded like I was in a fish bowl but I fought Niamh back and rebuilt the maze. She fought a little less this time when I slammed her in there. I let out a shaky breath and whispered, “Thanks,” he nodded in response.

Daniel called an end to the hand to hand training. Randall came over with his partner, who was a little shorter and leaner than Jackson with tan skin and stunning green eyes that took my breath away. As his scent washed over me, Niamh crashed into the wall of the maze roaring for her, our, mate. Randall introduced him to me as Nicholas Grey. “You can call me Fox,” he offered me his hand. I stared at it like it would bite me before grabbing it. I stiffened as electricity raced up my arm from our joined hands.

Niamh roared louder but the maze held. I winced, “It’s nice to meet you. This was my partner, Alex Jackson.”

“Call me Jax. It’s nice to meet you both,” Jax said, shaking both their hands.

“Nicholas Grey. He’s my mate,” I mind linked Daniel.

“Are you good?” He linked back not looking up from what he was doing.

“Barely. Niamh is fighting harder than she’s ever fought. She broke through while I was fighting Jax.”

“Let me know if I need to step in and get the Prince up to speed, sooner rather than later, please,” Daniel requested before turning to all of us and allowing us to go to lunch.

“That’s one hell of a right hook you’ve got, Jax,” I started as we headed to the mess hall.

“You kept up really well. Where did you learn to fight like that?” He fired back.

I subtly touched his arm to indicate we should slow to lose the other two, “Dad always wanted sons, but only got daughters. You know the same old story.”

Randall and Fox were busy talking strategy, so they didn’t notice we slowed or that they were losing us. When we were finally alone, Jax turned to me, “So what are two dragons doing here?”

“Training. I’m going through my final test with my dragon. Control. Daniel’s dragon is the only one that’s more dominant than mine. Look I scented my mate and then met him just now with Randall. Daniel wanted me to tell you just in case, but also so you’re up to speed on everything,” I said in a hushed tone.

“Well fuck a duck, and I don’t mean you. That’s way more than you bargained for I’m sure. I’ll help in any way I can. How’s your dragon right now?”

“Fighting as hard as she can to get out and get to her mate. She doesn’t care that he’s human,” I said with a sigh.

Daniel strolled over, “You in?” He asked in the same hushed tone we’ve been using. Jax nodded, “Great. Let’s get some food.”

Jax and I grabbed our trays and made our way over to Randall and Fox. “What happened to you guys?”

“Instructor Holland wanted a word,” I responded, not being too specific.

Fox’s brow furrowed, “About what?”

“He wanted to know where a duck learned to fight so well,” Jax said, smiling at me.

I elbowed him a little harder than necessary, causing him to cough. Randall laughed but Fox wasn’t buying it; he didn’t question it though. We finished up quickly and moved through the afternoon activities without much incident. Niamh almost broke through a couple more times but didn’t make it.