All Chapters of Dragon's Last Hope: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

"What is that?" Maya whispered, though part of her already knew."Your inheritance," Vivienne said simply. "And your awakening."The museum's lights flickered, and Maya smelled smoke.“Ah, it appears that your mates have arrived as prophesied, all seven, a millennium ago,” Vivienne said matter-of-factly.Maya's knees nearly buckled. "My what?"The scent of smoke intensified, accompanied by something that reminded her of winter storms and deep ocean currents. She glimpsed shadows moving with inhuman speed across the courtyard through the museum's reinforced windows."Seven bloodlines," Vivienne continued, carefully rewrapping the pendant. "Fire, ice, storm, earth, shadow, light, and void. Each drawn by the same resonance that's been building inside you for weeks. Your mother's lineage is... unique. Light dragons are exceptionally rare, and when one awakens—""This is insane." Maya backed toward the door, but her body betrayed her, trembling with an anticipation she couldn't understand.

"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

The first hunter appeared at the chamber entrance—black tactical gear, silver-lined visor, a crossbow that hummed with electromagnetic energy. Maya felt the wrongness of the weapon like acid on her skin, but instead of recoiling, she found herself calculating angles and vulnerabilities with a predator's instinct."Seven dragons," the hunter announced into his comm unit, his voice mechanically distorted. "Confirmed light dragon manifestation. Requesting immediate backup.""Too late for that," Maya said softly, and let her human form finally dissolve completely.The transformation was nothing like the gradual awakening she'd experienced upstairs. This was instantaneous, reality-bending around her as flesh became scale, bone became wing, and her consciousness expanded into something vast and terrible and beautiful. Golden light erupted from her draconic form, temporarily blinding the hunter's equipment.Around her, her seven mates underwent their own transformations—Leon's sleek shadow-w

*I am Maya Chen,* she projected back, her consciousness riding the ley lines with instinctive ease. *Last of the Celestial High Dragon line. And I'm here to save us all.*The response was instantaneous—forty-three minds reaching toward her like drowning swimmers grasping for a lifeline. Through the connections, Maya felt their stories: centuries of hiding, of watching their kind dwindle, of believing they were alone in an increasingly hostile world.*Impossible,* came another voice, this one from somewhere in the Siberian wilderness—ice dragon, female, pregnant and terrified. *The High Dragons are myths.**So were light dragons, until an hour ago,* Maya replied, letting her royal resonance pulse through the global network. The effect was immediate—every dragon on the planet suddenly felt the unmistakable harmonic signature of the bloodline that had once ruled them all.Through her bonds with her seven mates, Maya felt their amazement at what she was accomplishing. High Dragon abilitie

"The sky's voice," he said by way of greeting, his fingers leaving trails of harmless lightning across her golden skin.Their joining was elemental in the most literal sense, like being embraced by a summer thunderstorm, powerful yet nurturing. The storm crystal pulsed with silver-blue energy as their bodies moved in rhythm, electricity arcing between them in visible currents that should have been painful but instead felt like pure vitality flowing through her veins.Through their bond, Maya glimpsed Cassius's memories of riding hurricane winds, of dancing among cloud formations, of centuries spent as the unpredictable variable in dragon politics. His adaptability added a new dimension to her tactical awareness, teaching her to embrace chaos rather than merely control it.The fourth bond locked into place with electric intensity, the resonance in Maya's chest shifting to accommodate yet another harmonic layer. With each completed connection, she felt herself becoming more than she had