Chapter 44: Becoming Stronger

Slowly turning, Dolores blinks away from her sleep and sees a tiny Dragon sleeping on the edge of the pillow beside her. *Jasper!* Dolores's body thrums with the excitement of seeing her mate again. She moves to touch him but stops, not wanting to disturb his slumber. He looks too cute to bear waking him in his tiny Dragon form, and he must be tired if he used his little free time to fly down the mountain and into her room.

Dolores leans her head on her palm. Propping herself up to watch him. She misses the days where they could lounge around together, reading and learning about one another. Since they both came of age, they have barely had time to be with each other longer than a day.

Diana's voice rings through the hall outside Dolores's room, announcing breakfast. Sighing, Dolores strokes her pointer finger down the length of the tiny Dragons nose, stirring him awake. Yawning probably the most adorable yawn that Dolores had ever and will ever see, Jasper blinks awake, blowing a cloud of smoke from his nostrils as she shifts back into the gorgeous lean male.

"Hello, my sweet." He hums, leaning in and placing a lingering smokey kiss on Dolores's lips.

"Hello." Dolores melts under his kiss, reaching up for another.

"I was worried about you?" Jasper whispers to her lips. "Rose and Thomas told me all that had happened, and as soon as I was able to, I left to find you."

"I'm fine," Dolores promised, but Jasper still roamed his hand over her shoulder, down her back. Heat blossomed everywhere he touched. "Jasper.." She breathlessly begged.

A feral chuckle escaped him. "I'm just checking for injuries." He nipped the thin skin between her shoulder and neck. "It's not my fault you decided to sleep naked."

"Stop." Dolores giggled, playfully pushing Jasper away. "My mother just called for breakfast. Do you want to come with me?"

"If that breakfast is you.." He purrs, his eyes darken with mischief.

Dolores blushed as heat poled between her legs. Jasper gently pushed her flat onto the bed, hovering over her. Dolores parted her thighs, feeling her stomach flip in anticipation; Jasper smiled a devilish grin as he lowered himself between her legs. He blew a warm breath onto her center and then—POOF.

Dolores sat up and saw the tiny Dragon angrily lying between her knees. She covered her mouth to stop the uncontrollable laughter that threatened to escape her.

"Well, it looks like you're more tired than you thought." Dolores laughed.

Jasper eyed her, clearly annoyed, but his tiny body flopped to the bed when he tried to shift back. Dolores chuckled, lifting him to her. She kissed the top of his nose.

"Rest. We can play later when you have your strength again." Dolores laid the tiny Dragon onto her pillow, rising from the bed to dress for the day. Since she arrived back in Grey Tail Pack, Dolores had taken to wearing trousers and loose tunics.

Tying her long silver white hair in a thick braid behind her back, she thought of a way to hide Jasper's tiny form. Biting her lip, she picked up the tiny Dragon, placing him between her breast beneath her tunic. Dolores blushed as Jasper settled himself and felt the rough heated scales gently scrape against her soft skin.

Dolores *almost* forgets about the tiny Dragon between her chest as she finishes up breakfast and makes her way with Ellie and the Silent Maw Pack survivors to the back of the manor. Ellie and Dolores begin their morning training routine as the survivors go into the forest to hunt.

They return midday with no game and many injured. Dolores and Ellie rush to them, helping the wounded into the seating room. Diana rushes out with a basin of water and fresh linens.

"What happened?" Dolores demands.

"There were Rogues everywhere in the woods." A survivor answered. "We managed to kill them but not before they injured most of us. These rogues were fiercer than I have ever seen."

"Why doesn't the Alpha of this Pack secure the surrounding of his territory?" A wounded survivor growled as Diana placed a warm cloth on his clawed leg.

Dolores shook her head, unable to answer. Memories of when she and her mother were almost raped by rogues that roamed the outskirts of the Grey Tail Pack flooding her thoughts. She needed to do something to ensure that what happened to Dolores and her mother and these males never happened again.

Jasper's voice filled her mind as she mulled over how she would keep these beings safe. *"Start with the smallest thing. One step at a time."*

Right. Dolores silently responded. She would start small. "Ellie!" She called, and the young female jumped to alert at the sound of her name. "Let's return to our training. My mother and the other survivors can tend to the wounded."

Ellie followed Dolores back outside, and they began their training. The entire morning they had run through their balance and archery, but now they needed to hon their fighting skills. Dolores showed Ellie what she had learned from her lessons with Daflon, but she knew that wouldn't be enough. A Silent Maw wolf joined them and offered to train them in hand-on-hand combat as if he had heard Dolores worry.

Over the next couple of days, Dolores and Ellie trained aside the Silent Maw wolves. Jasper remained in his tiny Dragon form, regaining his strength. Dolores had learned that he had not slept since she left him over a week ago in hopes that he would settle his duties for a period so that he could be with her again. The method had worked but forced him to remain in this tiny form until his strength returned to him.

During another round of combat training, Dolores left the grounds to retrieve water. Placing the bucket under the water pump, she noticed a small tail brush against a bush outside the border of the manor. Squinting, she saw four more small tails and a pair of grey tipped ears poking through the bushes.

Dolores smiled, giving the pups a small wave. "Hello." She gently said, noticing the pups couldn't keep their eyes from the males training behind her. "Do you want to try?"

The bushes shook as the pups spirited away, not answering her. Dolores assumed they had been told she was some evil rogue to be feared and didn't want to anger the Alpha. Dolores filled the bucket of water shaking her head at the irresponsibility of the Alpha. These poor pups probably had never seen a training session, let alone received any training.

Picking up where she left off, Dolores spotted the same grey tipped ears as she dodged survivors' punch. When Dolores offered four pups, they joined them, shifting into three petite males and one female. Dolores, Ellie, and the survivors showed the youngling some basic defensive moves, teaching them to breathe through their movements.

By dusk, the younglings were laughing and had learned at least three moves to defend themselves. They even warmed up to Dolores and Ellie, commenting on their strength and gentle beauty. The two Princesses laughed, hugging each youngling before they ran back to their homes.

The following day only two pups returned.

"Where are the others?" Dolores asked them.

"The others are from the Beta family and must attend the banquet being held by the Alpha." The small female youngling answered. "The Alpha will often have an extravagant gathering for the two households."

"Yeah, everyone knows that his gatherings are nothing more than drinking, dancing, and debauchery until daybreak." The little male youngling huffily adds.

Fury raced along Dolores's veins. How dare the Alpha Jack use money that the late King gave the Grey Tail Pack to entertain himself while the werewolves around him suffer and live in squalor.

*"You are a Princess. Use your power."* Jasper whispers with her mind.

Dolores sucks in her bottom lip. I may be a Princess, but I have no power. Here I was, a rogue and always will be.

*"You are wrong, my sweet,"* Jasper insists. *"You are a Princess, the one chosen by the Dragons. Power flows through your blood."*

Dolores bits at her bottom lip, considering Jasper's encouraging words. Smiling at the two younglings, she instructs a Silent Maw survivor to continue training them before she leaves to find her sister Ellie who was helping her mother fold laundry in the seating room.

"Ellie!" Dolores rushes to her surprised sister. "Will you come with me to the Alpha banquet tonight? I believe it is time we show him who we are." Dolores can feel the fire behind her eyes as she asks Ellie.

Noticing Dolores's wrath and resolution, Ellie agrees. Diana stands and leads the two of them to her rooms, where she wordlessly hands them each a gown perfectly made for them. Ellie and Dolores dress, and Diana arranges for two of the Silent Maw werewolves to escort them to the banquet.

With her heart pounding beneath her chest Dolores laces her fingers with Ellie's as they make their way to Alpha Jack's lavish banquet.