Chapter 4

"She's reaching critical resonance," Vivienne warned, backing toward the chamber walls. "If she doesn't bond soon—"

"The museum will become a crater," Leon finished grimly. "Along with several city blocks."

"I won't be responsible for that," Maya gasped, the light now so bright it cast stark shadows behind each dragon. "Tell me how to stop it. Tell me how to make it stop."

The void dragon moved closer, and Maya's light seemed to bend around him, creating an eerie halo effect. "There is only one way to stabilise a light dragon's first manifestation. You must choose your primary bond."

"I don't know any of you," Maya protested, though her treacherous body was already cataloguing the way Leon's shadows seemed to dance with her light, how Kai's fire called to something wild in her chest, how the storm dragon's electricity made her skin tingle with recognition.

"You know us," the earth dragon rumbled, speaking for the first time. His voice was like shifting tectonic plates. "Your resonance recognises ours. Your dragon knows what your human mind refuses to accept."

The pendant spun faster, its light beginning to pulse in a rhythm that matched Maya's racing heartbeat. Around the chamber, the seven colored crystals began to glow brighter, each one reaching toward her with tendrils of colored light.

"The choice must be made freely," Vivienne called from her position against the wall. "That is the one inviolable law of the claiming. She must choose her primary mate of her own will."

"Then she'd better choose quickly," the ice dragon said, frost now covering half the chamber floor. "Because her resonance is affecting all of us. Much longer, and we'll stop being civilised about this."

Maya looked around the circle of dragons, each one beautiful and terrifying in his own way, each one radiating power that called to something deep in her bones. The analytical part of her mind—the part that had always been her anchor—catalogued their differences, their strengths, the way she did everything else,

“Can I at least know all your names first?” She asked, not knowing if it really mattered, but she hoped that it would help.

Vivienne answered, “Xander Voidwalker, dragon of void, Lucian Lightbrighter, dragon of light, Darius Stone, dragon of Earth, Cassius Stromrider, dragon of Storm, Kieran Frost, dragon of Ice, Lean Blackthorn, dragon of Shadow and Kai Morrison, dragon of fire.”

The names resonated through Maya like a physical force, each striking a different chord within her. She swayed, overwhelmed by the sudden influx of sensations—her newly awakened dragon nature responding to each male in ways her human mind couldn't process.

"This is absurd," she whispered, even as the golden light emanating from her skin intensified. "I'm supposed to just... pick one of you? Based on what? Your resonance?"

"Based on instinct," Leon said, his shadows stretching toward her. "Your dragon knows."

"My dragon," Maya repeated, the words strange on her tongue. "You keep talking about my dragon as if it's separate from me."

Kai moved closer, heat shimmering around him. "Because right now, it is. You're fighting the integration. That's why your power is destabilising."

The pendant above Maya's head spun faster, emitting a high, crystalline tone that made the stone beneath their feet vibrate. Cracks began to appear in the chamber walls, golden light seeping through them like molten metal.

"She's running out of time," Cassius said, electricity crackling between his fingers. "The resonance is reaching critical threshold."

Maya felt something shifting inside her—muscles and bones reconfiguring beneath her skin, her very DNA rewriting itself. The sensation wasn't exactly painful, but it was overwhelming, like being pulled apart and reassembled simultaneously.

"What's happening to me?" she gasped, doubling over as another wave of golden light pulsed outward from her core.

"The transformation," Vivienne explained urgently. "Your human form can no longer contain your dragon nature. You need to choose, Maya. Now."

Maya straightened, looking at each dragon in turn. Their expressions ranged from Kai's open hunger to Xander's unsettling, void-like calm, but all shared the same intensity of focus. They were waiting—seven apex predators, each hoping to be chosen.

"And if I refuse?" she challenged, though the words came out strained as another pulse of energy rippled through her.

"Then we all die," Leon said simply. "You first, as your power consumes you from within. Then anyone within a mile radius when your resonance detonates."

Maya closed her eyes, trying to block out the overwhelming sensations. Inside her mind, she felt something unfurling—vast wings of light, a consciousness both alien and intimately familiar—her dragon, awakening fully.

*Choose*, it seemed to whisper. *Before it's too late*.

When she opened her eyes again, they were pure gold, pupilless and glowing. The analytical part of her—the human Maya who had built spreadsheets and given presentations just hours ago—was rapidly being subsumed by something more primal, more powerful.

"I choose—" she began, but the words died in her throat as the museum above them shuddered violently.

Vivienne's head snapped up. "We have company.”

“Dragon hunters,” Kai growled.

The first crossbow bolt shattered against the chamber's ancient stone, followed by the acrid smell of silver and iron. Maya's newly awakened senses recoiled from the metallic stench as boots thundered overhead.

"The Order of the Silver Chain," Leon snarled, his shadows coiling defensively around the chamber's entrances. "They must have tracked our resonances."

"Seven dragons and an awakening light dragon," Cassius said grimly, lightning crackling up his arms. "We might as well have sent them an engraved invitation."

Maya felt her control slip further as fear spiked through her system. The golden light pouring from her skin became blinding, and the pendant overhead rang like a struck bell. Deep in the earth beneath them, something answered—a rumbling that spoke of tectonic forces stirring.

"Maya, you have to choose now," Vivienne urged, pressing herself against the chamber wall as golden cracks spread across the stone. "The bonding will stabilise your power. Without it—"

An explosion rocked the museum above, sending dust cascading from the ceiling. Maya heard human voices shouting orders, the distinctive whine of weapons charging, the measured cadence of a coordinated assault.

"How many?" Kieran asked, frost spreading from his feet as his pale eyes calculated angles and distances.