Ronan’s lips tightened, but he nodded his agreement.

I glanced up at the setting sun and stood. “I need to visit the females. Grab Kieran, and I’ll get Wyrren. We will meet back here and I’ll shift us there. I don’t want any of the unmated drakens near them.”

Ronan took two steps and dove out the window, his gold and bronze wings stretched out behind him.

She stared at me, her eyes watching my every move. Wyrren stood next to me while Kieran and Ronan stayed further away. The witches had secured for the female drakens an old lava tube at the base of the mountain. They didn’t want to be near anyone else, barely tolerating the witches who came to check on them. The wide, open spaces of the witch village made them nervous, while the dark caves of the cliffs reminded them of the fortress. The hollowed-out lava tube was a compromise. It allowed them to roam outside away from the prying eyes of others but also to retreat back into the volcano should they feel threatened. A pair of lavender eyes regarded me suspiciously, narrowing in contemplation. I immediately recognized her as a distant cousin of mine. When she spotted Wyrren, those eyes widened with genuine surprise.

“Knew you’d be around, old man.”

Her voice was raspy and low, broken from centuries of screams followed by decades of silence. The sharp angles of her face were brought into relief from being continuously starved. Her hair was completely white, as was the case when a female never took a mate. She was a white beacon, her coloring pure as her scales flickered with iridescence. Despite the purity of her color, her eyes told a story of horror and abuse. Those hardened, distrusting eyes turned to me.

“You will not force me to mate,” she snarled at me, her white wings flared wide.

I raised my hands and lowered myself to one knee. “You have my word.”

Enya had been one of our fiercest warriors until thirty demons had come for her while she went on a hunt. She’d killed nearly all of them before being taken. Enya’s face twitched at my words, as if she didn’t believe anything that anyone said to her. She glanced at Wyrren, but his expression was unreadable.

“You knew I was taken alive. You never came for any of us,” she said.

I deserved her hatred. I deserved her anger. Because she was right. Part of my bargain had been that we didn’t leave the mountain. We didn’t pursue any of the draken prisoners. I had left our female prisoners to rot. I threw my hands out wide, lifting my chin high until it was parallel to the sky.

Kieran sputtered, taking a step forward. “I don’t think—”

I pushed him back with a thought, my blood magicks sparking to erect a barrier so he couldn’t interfere. I owed her this much. Enya screamed and lashed out at me, her claws raking my face from my forehead to under my right eye. I didn’t resist, and I didn’t strike back. I heard Kieran holding Ronan back behind me, grunting as he tried to get to me. Enya wasn’t done. With a tortured shriek, she struck me with her bare hands, and she kicked me in the side, striking out at me anyway she could. If she would have had her weapons, she would have likely killed me. As it was, she was weak from centuries of abuse, her muscles atrophied and not holding the strength they once did.