Chapter 137

Anila’s POV

While I was engulfed in the dark woods, I grabbed my wand out of my boot and cast the spell for light to light the area up so I could see better. I had my wolf and bear sight, but it was still difficult to see the items I was looking for. I wanted to refrain from shifting right now because I wanted my animals to be well-rested and prepared for when I needed them the most.

Besides, most of the others hadn’t shifted. Some of the bird shifters did, but aside from that, everyone was wandering around different sections of the forest in their human forms.

“Don’t overthink it,” I heard Zach’s voice in my head through our mindlink. I paused at the sound of his voice and looked around, wondering if he was nearby. It made him chuckle which solidified that he could see me.

“Where are you?” I asked him out loud.

“I’m not near you. I’m still where you left me. But I can see you through my mind’s eye little mate,” he told me, his voice sending a warmth throughout my body.

“You can talk to me in my head?” I asked him, amazed by that.

“We are bonded. So yes,” he told me.

“Can I do that with the others?”

“Not sure about the wizard boy. But Harley and Xaden yes,” he answered. “Now stop getting distracted and focus. Use the spells that Damien taught you. Remember, not everyone here is a wizard. In fact, most are typical shifters. You have an advantage.”

I thought about what Zach had said and then all the spells that Damien taught me. Hadn’t he taught me a finding spell? I tried to think about how it went; most spells were in Latin because it was the wizard's natural language.

I stared down at the paper, focusing on each word as I waved my wand over the pages and spoke the spell that I remembered Damien teaching me forever ago. The words on the pages started to glow and suddenly they were bouncing off the page. They were glowing so brightly; that I had to squint to look at them as they bounced around the forest ground.

I followed the words that were now moving on their own and glowing brightly. They started to pause right beside their items. I smiled as I grabbed the first time. The moment my fingers grazed it, the words would disappear and reappear on my paper.

Well, this was going to be easier than I thought, I thought to myself as I started towards the other items.

They were fairly spaced apart, but it didn’t take long to collect everything and bring it back to the arena.

Zach and Damien were cheering for me as I ran across the arena and towards the judges, giving them my list and the items that I collected. I was the first one back, but a few seconds after I reached the judge's tables, others were merging from the woods as well.

“Congratulations, Anila,” one of the judges said, smiling at me. “You win the first round!”

He announced it loud enough for everyone to hear and the arena went nuts. I couldn’t help but smile and pump my fists in the air from the victory.

I felt Zach’s arms wrap around me as he twirled me around, his lips finding mine as he gave me a deep and lingering kiss.

“You used the finding spell, didn’t you?” Damien asked with a grin.

I nodded and hugged him next.

“Thanks to you. I was able to find these items with ease,” I told him. He kissed my cheek, and I chuckled.

However, the happy feeling in my chest didn’t last long. A loud screeching brought our attention to the sky and my heart fell deep into my stomach when I saw what now everyone was seeing.

Dragons.

They were flying through the sky and as I saw in Ember’s visions, their eyes were glowing red. For a second, everyone remained frozen as they flew through the sky, their mouths agape. But then the panic started to set in and everybody, including the judges and faculty, started to scream out in terror.

They thought the dragons were going to attack them, but even I could see that they weren’t paying attention to what was beneath them. They were on a mission; they were having somewhere else.

My eyes remained on them until they had completely flown over us and were out of sight.

“One of them was the Alpha King,” Zach murmured, his eyes remaining glued on the sky. “I would recognize his dragon anywhere.”

“The Alpha King shouldn’t even have a dragon,” I said through my teeth. “It’s because he has the Dragon Stone. Who yields the Dragon Stone, yields the Dragon. It should belong to Jaxon. We need to get it back.”

“And how do you expect to do that?” Damien asked, his brows furrowed.

Before I could speak another word, a thumping sound behind me caused me to freeze. The screaming and running from nearly everybody around me were enough for me to know that a dragon had landed directly behind me.

Damien and Zach stood in front of me, their eyes on the Dragon behind me and their eyes wide. They didn’t run screaming or try to drag me away, so I knew I wasn’t in any immediate danger.

I slowly turned and saw Ember looking down at me. But that wasn’t the most shocking part.

“Xaden, Harley?” I asked, staring up at my mates who were seated on Ember’s back. Then, my eyes flickered to the third person on her and my heart swelled. “Jaxon…”

“The Alpha King has control of the Dragons,” Jaxon explained to me as he slid off Ember’s back, landing in front of me. “It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have given him a dragon. Because of that… he was able to take control of all the dragons using a dark spell.”

I quickly lunged at him, wrapping my arms around him. Despite all that was happening, I missed him like crazy. I didn’t realize how badly I missed him until this very moment. Tears spilled out of my eyes before I could stop them. On top of missing him, I was also terrified that something had happened to him. Having him block me for almost a week was gut-wrenching.

“I was so worried,” I whispered against his chest.

He wrapped his arms around me and held me close, nuzzling his face in my hair and taking in a deep breath as if he were committing my scent to memory.

“I am sorry for worrying you,” he said softly, holding me tightly. “I won’t make a habit of that. You have my word.”

I wanted to scold him for blocking me, but something was telling me now was not the time for this.

“Where are the dragons going?” I asked him.

“To the human nation,” he told me. “He wants to take over.”

“We can’t let that happen,” I said, shaking my head as I looked into the direction the Dragon’s went.

“Which is why I’m here. We need to follow them,” Jaxon said, a worry look in his eyes. “I need to make things right and get them back. I think you might be the only one who can break the curse on them and get their minds back in control.”

“Me?” I asked.

“How am I supposed to do that?” I asked.

“Isn’t it obvious?” He asked, his brows raised. “You are the Moon Queen, Anila. You can do anything.”

My heart hammered in my chest at the sound of that. The Moon Queen.

I was the Moon Queen.

All 5 of my mates were looking at me expectantly.

“Go with him,” Xaden said, stepping towards me. “The rest of us will catch up to you because I have a feeling you’re going to need us. But you need to get there as fast as you can and make sure they don’t do too much damage.”

I nodded and looked up at Jaxon.

“Come with me,” I said it like an order, but really, it was a question.

He nodded as he put a hand on my shoulder, running his thumb down the nape of my neck and causing goosebumps to form on my flesh.

“Of course,” he breathed.

I didn’t bother saying goodbye to the others because we really didn’t have that much time. They said they would be there, and I needed to trust that they would.

“Jaxon,” Xaden said, stopping him from boarding Ember. “Now that we are aware of the situation, we aren’t going to let him get away with this. I know we don’t exactly trust each other, but when it comes to Anila., I trust that you can keep her safe.”

Jaxon, who looked like he wanted to argue and tell him that he didn’t need to warn him, swallowed his pride and gave him a curt nod.

“Of course,” he finally said, though it sounded as if it pained him.

“For Anila’s sake, we need to trust each other. We are all her mates, and we all want what’s best for her. We also don’t want to see this world fall apart,” Xaden continued. “With that being said, I know you were trying to handle the situation on your own. I know you want that Dragon Stone back. I need you to trust us for once.”

Jaxon’s jaw tensed as he looked at the rest of my mates. I wasn’t sure what they were planning, but it was clear they had something in mind.

“I might have a plan on how to get the Dragon Stone back,” Zach surprised me by saying. “It’ll require some teamwork, but as long as we are trusting each other and all on the same page, I think it could actually work.”

Jaxon looked at him for a long while before looking at Xaden. After another beat of silence, Jaxon reached his hand out to shake Xaden’s.

Xaden took it and the two shook hands.

“I trust you,” Jaxon finally said.

Xaden nodded and then turned to me, a smile decorating his lips.

“We’ll be there soon,” he assured me. “Go with him.”

I wrapped my arms around him and kissed him tenderly before pulling back, tears glistening in my eyes.

“Thank you,” I whispered, my voice cracking as the emotions began to become too much.

I turned to Jaxon, and he lifted me into his arms, helping me get onto Ember’s back. He climbed on behind me and not before long, we were airborne.