Chapter 1: Iniko

Iniko

Ever since the Elf War over a year ago, things at the Academy have become more strained. While my mother and the other Elementals have made sure that only elven troupes who agree to the dragons’ way of claiming are admitted to the Academy, elves still covet what they don’t have.

It makes me worried about what will happen when I finally shift. What if I’m mated to an elf?

Thankfully, any elf who wants me has to mated to me to put in a claim. Not that I’m a fighter by any stretch of the imagination. Personally, I’d rather hang out with my sisters and brothers. Well, most of them are my cousins, since they are my brother’s children.

Unlike Ancalagon, I’ve never wanted to fight, so I’m glad I’m not old enough for someone to try to claim me. Cal, however, always seems ready to challenge anyone who threatens our group or his family. I guess that’s why he’s our leader.

“Cyreeeeene,” I croon as I land. I don’t have a favorite sibling, not really, but there’s something special about Cyrene. Maybe it’s because she’s never been afraid of dragons, even though Ishir’s tiger gene is her dominant gene, maybe it’s because Cal gave her the Blessing of the Dragons, or maybe it’s just because Cyrene is one of the most beautiful people I’ve ever met inside and out, but she’s never held any fear of the dragons and even the most ferocious of us seems to adore my sister.

My mother walks out with two of my sisters, Cyrene and Brooke.

“Hello, my son. What brings you here?” she asks.

I lean forward and sniff her, smelling the milky scent of another kitten on her.

“Are you pregnant again, mother? Pretty soon, people will be saying it’s you who is planning to populate the earth with hybrids rather than Cal,” I say.

“Don’t you get fresh with me, Iniko. Once you shift and find your mate, you’ll see how it is,” she says, rubbing one hand on her stomach while stroking my face with the other.

“If you say so,” I say, turning to my sisters. “Want to go for a ride, Cyrene? You’re welcome to join us, Brooke,” I say.

She struggles with being a hybrid since she was human for more than half her life. Now that she’s part dragon and can shift, she struggles with what she is.

“Why don’t you go with your brother and sister, Brooke? It would be good for you to stretch your wings a bit,” Mom encourages.

Since I know my mother really wants Brooke to feel good about the dragon hybrid that she is, I tease her.

“What’s the matter, Brooke? Are you afraid you can’t beat me in a race?”

She narrows her eyes at me and puts her hands on her hips, making me grin.

“Look, little brother,” she says, stressing that I’m younger than her. I may not have shifted into my human form yet, but my dragon is still considerably larger than hers. “I’m not afraid of anything.”

It’s not true. My sister struggles a lot with what she is. Many of the people who live here at the Academy are hybrids. My mother and the other Elemental dragons have made a safe place for those who were experimented on and who were turned into something that had never been created before. Some of those hybrids, like Ajax and Elio, have accepted what they are. Others, like Tesha and my sister, Brooke, still struggle with what the scientists turned them into.

For me, I’m thankful that I was born of two dragons and I’ve never had to question who or what I am.

“Good, then you won’t have any excuse when you lose a race to the mountain,” I say, just as Cyrene settles on my back.

As I expected, Brooke leaps into the sky, shredding her clothes as she shifts.

“BROOKE! You know your father doesn’t want you shifting so close to the house!” my mother scolds, just as I leap into the air behind her.

“You’re not helping, Iniko!” my mother growls.

“I love you too, Mom!” I say as I race to catch up to Brooke.

“Bye, Mom! We’ll be back soon!” Cyrene says.

“Don’t go too far, Iniko. You’re getting close to your first shift,” she calls out.

“We’re just going to the mountain,” I call back.

“Go, Kiko, go!” Cyrene says, encouraging me to catch up to Brooke.

I love that Cyrene is nine years old and still calls me Kiko. She’s the only one who does. It’s just like she still calls Cal Calgon. No one cares to correct her because she’s Cyrene.

“You’re going to have to move faster than that, Brooke,” I growl, nipping playfully at her tail.

Brooke was one that had a horrible shift her first time. I wasn’t alive then, but I hear Doc Everett had to sedate her and add some of my father’s DNA to help her. According to my mother, Brooke is part water dragon, part polar bear, and part hyena. It was the hyena that was different from the others who live here that made it hard for my uncle to help her. Thankfully, my father’s DNA helped.

Personally, I think Brooke is gorgeous in her dragon form. She’s predominantly got my Aunt Kay’s sapphire scales but they are mixed in with some of my father’s emerald scales. It’s just enough to make it look like her scales are flowing like water when the sun hits them, like it is now.

“Iniko!” she growls at me.

“That’s my name, don’t wear it out,” I tease her. “Hang on, Cyrene.”

I wait until I feel her grab onto one of my neck ridges, then I dive under Brooke, before pulling up in front of her and cutting off her flight.

She growls at me and ducks out of the way so she doesn’t collide with me.

“You’re becoming more agile,” I say admiringly.

“She’s been working with mom. Show him what you can do, Brooke!” Cyrene encourages.

I turn in the sky and hover. She stops and glares at me.

“Come oooooooon, show me! I want to see!” I say.

“She’s getting really good, Kiko. Even Calgon said so,” Cyrene says.

“Cal’s seen you?” I ask, making sure I sound hurt, like she’s keeping it from me. “Now you have to show me.”

She gives me the dragon equivalent of an eye roll.

“Fine, but it’s not big deal,” she says.

I know my sister well enough to know she’s downplaying it in case I don’t find it as exciting or as important as she does.

“I’m waaaaaaitiiiiiing,” I tease.

She huffs, then begins to rise.

“She’s been working really hard on this, Kiko,” Cyrene says softly. She doesn’t need to tell me. If it wasn’t important to Brooke, she wouldn’t be struggling this much with showing me.

I watch as she flies high, then dives. She tucks her wings and begins spinning in fast circles, then she spreads her wings and twists on her wingtip before flying back up to where we are.

I trumpet loudly, letting her know how proud I am of her! I can tell she’s been working really hard on this. It’s a great defensive maneuver to use to avoid attackers. Ever since the dragons started getting attacked by elves, Defensive Maneuvers was a class added to the Academy for all dragons and shifters.

The hybrids struggle the most with it, because their instincts come from multiple animals who have different defensive strategies. For instance, Brooke’s polar bear instinct would be to attack to avoid capture. However, when you have harpoons and nets flying in the air, like the elves had, that doesn’t work for a dragon.

“That was great, Brooke!”

I see her shrug, but she’s smiling.

“Want to do cartwheels with me?” I ask.

Cyrene squeals on my back. She loves every opportunity she has to become a better dragon rider and me doing flips in the sky will help her build her leg strength, not that my sister is weak at all. Between my mother’s air dragon and Ishir’s tiger, she’s very strong, even though she hasn’t shifted yet. But riding a dragon is dangerous, difficult work and if she ends up mated to a dragon hybrid, like we all expect she will be, she’ll need to be able to stay on her dragon’s back.

“You know I’m better at cartwheels than you are, little brother,” Brooke teases.

“Yeah, I know. Why do you think I want to practice?”

Cartwheels for dragons mean that we spin as we circle each other. The goal is to continue spinning longer than your opponent. Being smaller, Brooke is more agile and able to spin longer than I am, which is exactly why I chose this skill. I know she’ll win and it will help her feel more confident in her own skills.

Since there’s no way she can beat me in a race of pure speed, this is something we can do to show her that everyone has their own skills that are important and valuable in the troupe. It also has the bonus of giving Cyrene practice holding on and I get to make both my sisters happy at once.