Alpha Island: My Enemy Mate

RORY "Tell me you hate her!" Cybil taunted my fiancé while swirling her tongue all over his neck, and my heart skipped a beat. Come on, jerk! Do not disappoint me! I tried not to move, holding my phone up higher to record everything from a tiny little passage at the back of the palace shrine. This was the best moment of my life! Officially! The two of them were literally committing adultery, betraying a member of the royal family. This was just too good, and I had to bite my lip almost to the point of bleeding to avoid squealing in delight. I was almost free! This was a gift from the skies above, no less. My mother agreed to my engagement to Lance even after months of me begging her not to. I always knew that he wasn't the one for me, and now I had hard proof. No one would be able to argue with this! "That wolf waste?" Lance let out a loud chesty laugh as he unbuttoned Cybil's dress that was already barely covering anything. "You must be kidding! You know why I am marrying her. Politics and nothing personal." The blonde girl shook her luscious golden curls and giggled as he inhaled her n*pple into his mouth. Ugh. "I still can't believe I'll have to have kids with that," Lance went on. "Creating another abomination wasn't in my plans, you know." Ouch, Lance, ouch! It was surprising how his words could hurt me even after so many years. I grew up in the Dragon Kingdom; I knew very well what all of them thought of me. My father cheated on my mother with a girl from the Lycan Kingdom and received a gift in the form of me nine months later. The Lycans did not want me because when I was born, I had lilac strands in my hair and showed off some of my magic. They decided that I took after Dad and was, therefore, a dragon, so my biological mother just had someone drop me off here and never bothered to contact me ever again. My father's wife became my real mother. For some reason, they could never have their own children, so she raised me as her own. It did help that I had royal dragon blood in me, of course. Everything was going so well… right until my first shift when I was twelve. For months I didn't feel like I was in the best shape and did not know what was going on. All my muscles ached, and on some days of the month, I was particularly unwell. The healer couldn't figure out what was wrong because dragons generally didn't get sick too often. Nevertheless, the mystery was solved when my body couldn't take it anymore and shifted right in the middle of a midsummer banquet with hundreds of guests celebrating the Fire Goddess. Right in front of everyone… Such humiliation… That was a big show. Never before was a dragon princess revealed to also be a wolf. Needless to say, no one was thrilled about that. Since then, my life changed drastically, so yeah… Lance's words did not surprise me. "One kid, and we can throw her out!" My fiancé wrapped the girl's legs around his waist and thrust into her sharply. Cybil threw her head back, moaning way too loudly, considering where we were. Yet again, I was happy because her face was now visible to the camera. The picture was just perfect! "Then I will marry you, and we will raise a royal dragon together. Who knows where it will take us," Lance grunted as he kept pumping into her. "Yeah!" Cybil panted, digging her nails into Lance's shoulders. "The prince just lost his mate. He has no siblings, no kids. How long will it take him to lose his mind and die? Dragons do not survive without their mates. With Rory out of the picture, we may end up regents for the new king." "And then if no one is left and the king happens to not be that great, one of our kids can step in," Lance groaned as he stilled. He was already finishing. Wow, I didn't lose out in that department, did I? Not that I was an expert or anything, but this was way too fast, right? "That was amazing!" Cybil breathed out, already buttoning the front of her dress back up. Liar! Looking at her face, she was nowhere close to being happy. However, when Lance turned back to face her, she pulled him close and kissed him greedily. Luckily for me, they both stepped right into the light from one of the many fire torches in the room. So, when he pulled away, I had his face too. The relief surged through me. It was over. I would be free as soon as I showed this to Mother. Or the Queen. Or Darren when he returned. If he was here, I would go straight to him. He would have my back with this as he always did with everything else. Of course, my royal cousin was away, searching for his lost mate all over the world. A year ago, his fiancée Skylar and her friend Ava disappeared at a wedding we were all attending, and we hadn't found a trace of them since. Their abduction caused some ruckus within the four ruling clans. I loved Ren and Sky together. Just looking at them gave me hope that there was a partner for everyone. And looking at Darren now… he wasn't himself anymore. The happy, confident dragon prince, who was always trying to be the best at everything and create a better place for his people, had turned into an obsessive, broken man who was nothing more than a shadow of his former self. He wandered around the deepest and darkest corners of the world, searching for the woman he loved. And if I was absolutely honest, it was the only thing that kept him going. That tiny bit of hope that his Sky was hidden somewhere, and one day he would find her. I hated Lance and Cybil even more for counting on his death and making plans for when it happened. If I was honest, I hated them more for that than for what they were doing and planning to do to me. At least in my case, it was understandable. Who would want to be married to an abomination? This was why I never planned to get married anyway. All I wanted was to be a general by Darren's side. One thing was for sure; I didn't lack strength or magical reserve. I could stand up for myself and was trained by the best. I was Ren's third-in-command by right, and I earned that right just like anyone else would have to. Thankfully, this marriage nonsense would be over soon, and then I could get back to doing what I really loved. I snorted, and the sound echoed in the ancient temple. Shoot! Not wasting even a second, I escaped quickly. Nothing else mattered since I had the only thing I needed. Swiftly, I used the secret passages only the royals knew about, so even if Lance and Cybil tried to catch up with me, they wouldn't be able to. Back in my room, I quickly sent the video to the Cloud, then backed it up a few times. There was no way in hell I was wasting this opportunity. Then, after testing my speech a few times, knowing that I had to carefully choose my words with Mother, I was finally ready to go. Soon it would be dinner time, and I wanted to be done with all this before that. I went straight to her bedroom, only to find it empty. There were still a few places where she could be, starting at the wing of the palace where her charity fund office was located. Mum was big on charity. I strolled down the staircase in the main hall when I saw my mother's personal maid rushing in my direction. "Aurora," she looked at me with an anxious expression. "Follow me, please. Everyone is looking for me." "Everyone?" I arched my brow. "Yes," Triss insisted, taking my arm and pulling me after her, something a maid shouldn't be allowing herself. But she was my mother's favourite, and that came with a lot of power. I decided not to make a fuss about it. "Your mother, the King and the Queen are waiting." Hmm. This was good, actually. Three birds, one stone. We arrived in the King's vast office with high ceilings and tall windows. I rarely got to visit this place, but I was happy that we would be able to discuss everything privately. What I instantly disliked was that Lance was already there. Cybil was nowhere in sight, though. "Hi," I waved to my family and sneered at my almost ex-fiancé. However, I couldn't help but notice that no one seemed to be in a good mood here. Initially, I thought that they probably wanted to insist on me choosing a wedding date, but judging by the furrowed eyes and grim expressions, it couldn't be that. Something was wrong. "Rory, do you know what this is?" King Rodion was sitting in his chair with Queen Monica by his side. He placed something on the top of his huge desk and moved it towards me. It was a pocket watch, and I really didn't know how to take all this. No one used pocket watches anymore. "Something useless?" I chuckled, but no one joined in. If anything, the tension in the room was becoming insane, so I tried to get serious. I was almost a general, and maybe they wanted my opinion. I grasped the watch and took a closer look. It had some ancient runes engraved on the cover, which could only mean one thing. "It's an artefact," I said and smiled at the King. "What does it do?" "Funny you should ask!" Lance gritted his teeth, and I narrowed my eyes at him. Something was off. He always tried to be the nicest guy on Earth with me when we had witnesses. "What's that supposed to mean?" I gave him a look of disdain, but the come-in-five-seconds guy did not budge. This was new. Why was he so confident all of a sudden? "This was found in your room, Rory," the Queen said, clenching her lips. "It's indeed an artefact." "In my room?" I did not like where this was going. "Impossible! I have never seen it." "And yet traces of your aura are all over it!" Lance persevered. "So?" I smirked. "What's the big deal?" "The big deal, Rory," the King took the watch, locking eyes with me, "is that this artefact allows magic use under a barrier suppressing it." I still did not understand… "Like the one we were under when Skylar and Ava were abducted." The Queen was studying my face when my lips parted in shock. "Do you think this artefact was used to…" I started talking when I suddenly realised where they were going with all this. An artefact that could potentially help kidnap the future dragon queen was found in my room. Did they think that I had something to do with Sky's disappearance? Why would they? It was ridiculous! We were family, for gods' sake! Or were we? "This is the first time I have seen this thing," I said calmly and placed it back on the desk. "I cannot believe you are even asking me about this!" "Rory," the Queen forced a little smile on her lips. "This is just a tricky situation, and you are not accused of anything." Yet. I was not accused of anything yet. This was what she was really trying to say. "May I ask who found it?" I quirked my brow up. "Your fiancé Lancel," King Rodion replied, sighing. Lance was from one of the ancient dragon families. His words had weight, especially if he tried to spread the lies within other ancient families. They were the ones with the most power in our kingdom. "Well, in that case, I have something to show you!" I switched on the video on my phone and played it for everyone to see. Queen Monica scrunched her nose, hearing everything, and the King wasn't happy either. Mum stood there without saying a word, and I couldn't read her facial expression. Yet it bothered me so much that she didn't try to protect me. "See?!" I glared at all of them for doubting me. "He just wants to set me up!" A smirk formed on my lips, but it started to die down when no one reacted the way I expected. What was wrong with everyone today? "I already asked for our engagement to be cancelled," Lance said emotionlessly. "I couldn't take part in that farce anymore, and I came to your room to tell you first. I wanted to leave you a note and was searching for a pen when I found the watch…" That lying piece of… "Rory, just tell us who gave this to you and everything you know," the Queen took a step in my direction. "This is the first time I have seen this thing!" I almost yelled at her. "Why would you think I'd help anyone kidnap Skylar? I like her! And I love Ren; he is like a brother to me! We already established that renegades had something to do with it! Why would I help them?!" They all got silent, and I knew I had no hope. "Because renegades are hybrids." Lance voiced what was on everyone's mind. And I was one too. A wolf and a dragon. An abomination for both kinds… Tears burned my eyes, and I tried to blink them away. It wasn't the time to cry. I had to stand up for myself. "Do you have anything to say to us, Aurora?" King Rodion changed his tone to an official one. "I am not guilty!" I lifted my chin up. "I have always been loyal to my kingdom and my future king and queen." "Angela, what do you have to say about all this?" the Queen looked at my mother, but she was still silent. "Mum!" I stepped closer to her and touched her arm. "Why are you..." "In my life, you are my biggest disappointment, Rory!" My mother yanked her hand away from me, breaking my heart into a myriad of pieces. AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thank you for joining our next adventure! This is the second book of the Alpha Island series, and there are four in total. How did that happen? Easy! I am co-writing the series with one of my best author friends JM Snap. This is a very special sister books project. We write a book each at the same time, and our stories intertwine as we go. All books can be enjoyed as standalone stories, but it's so fun to read them together! Please, join our sss group Alpha Island ARC for this project. We have a lot planned for you there :) Books order: Books 1: Alpha Island: The Dragon's Mate (by me) Alpha Island: The Lycan's Mate (By JM Snap) Books 2: Alpha Island: My Enemy Mate (by me) Alpha Island: My Unbearable Mate (by JM Snap) If you have any questions - don't be shy! :)