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Chapter 1: Kiara

I

’d been running for days. The search for my mother had led me all the way from Montana to the forests of Colorado, and I was so close to finding her that some nights, I swore I heard her voice coming out of the darkness. She was waiting for me, and from wherever she was, whoever had taken her, I was going to rescue her.

The last time I’d seen her was months ago when she helped me escape. My beautiful mother, with her wavy silver hair hanging off her shoulders, looking exhausted and disheveled after we ran from the warehouse we were kept in—that was the image that drove me forward. “Kiara,” she said desperately as the dragons searched for us with flashlights, “run, hide, don’t ever look back. Don’t come for me. I’ll make my way back to you, I promise.”

If I were younger, it would have been easier for me to run, hide, and wait. But not now, eighteen years old and brave. Fleeing while allowing my mother to fall into the light of the searching dragons was cowardly enough. I should have stayed by her side, but I was going to make up for leaving her behind.

The dragons were already on my trail. They must have caught wind of me when I brushed against the northernmost wolf territory in the Gunnison National Forest. I thought I would be safe by traversing these borders, but the moment I recognized the scent of the Inkscale dragons’ leader, Lothair Javier, I knew that here, I would find no respite. The silver lining was that here was where I suspected my mother would be, whether, in the clutches of the dragons or hiding, I didn’t know, but I would find out. It wasn’t easy to track a unicorn shifter. They left behind no scent and could disappear the moment you took your eyes off them. But there were other ways to detect one—an unusual sense of calm, a magnetic allure. I was sensitive to the presence of unicorns, being one myself. Well… half.

I was half unicorn, half wolf. And while I was blessed with the gifts of both shifters—a keen sense of smell, healing magic, and absence of an identifying unicorn scent—I was also cursed with the weaknesses of both. My allergy to silver made me vulnerable to some metals, and I could not touch fresh blood, despite my perpetual carnivorous hunger. I still carried the scent of a wolf. The Moon Goddess, Luna, influenced me just as much as the Sky Goddess, Welkin, and at times, I suffered from conflicting visions from both. Even if I tried, I couldn’t live the life of a normal human. My hybrid beast was at war with itself. The only sense of peace I had ever known was instilled in me by my mother, and ever since she was taken from me, my heart and mind have been in turmoil. I had to find her before the precarious balance of my grace, hunger, and anger erupted into a chaotic storm, and I tore myself apart.

Under the clarity of the stars, I ran northeast. The stench of burning oil stung my nose while the shadows churned ominously around me. Snapping branches betrayed the physicality of those shadows, dragons lunging after me in pursuit. I had made the mistake of spending too much time on the edge of this territory, and now the dragons were aware I was here. In the body of my beast, I looked over my shoulder and saw them crashing between the trees, vivid yellow eyes trained on me. Panting, I pushed harder, leaping over a fallen log. My paws beat the ground in swift silence while the dragons scrambled noisily over the tree. Where one staggered and stalled, the others chasing me climbed over the one that was stuck, rolling over one another like vicious ocean waves. A couple of them started gaining on me. I heard them rasping behind me. But I wasn’t afraid—this wasn’t the first time I had come into close contact with the dragons. I’d been fleeing from them for months. No, all I felt was determination.

A shadow eclipsed the starlight, and weight crashed into my backside. With a snarling yelp, I hit the ground and immediately twisted around to face my attacker. The dragon’s chest loomed over me, and its arms stretched around me and curved black claws poised to grip my flanks. I bared my teeth and snapped at the reptile. That didn’t dissuade it. Soon, the other dragons in pursuit would be upon me. I couldn’t waste any time. As the dragon reared back, jaws parted to grab me, I twisted my neck and bowed my head—the impact was immediate. I felt the weight against my neck as the dragon plunged its gaping jaws toward me.

Then, a squeal of pain. A torrent of steaming hot blood.

With all the strength I could muster, I tossed my head aside, alleviating the weight from my brow. A dark hole glistened in the dragon’s throat. The blood streaming down my face sizzled, staining my fur. The pain was enough to bring tears to my eyes, but I didn’t care. The dragon had impaled itself on the only physical aspect I had inherited from my mother—my spiraling, opalescent unicorn horn, now glistening a violent red.