As I’m still basking in the afterglow, Maven gently reaches up and unclasps the collar around my neck. It slips off easily for her to toss onto the nightstand.
I can’t help but sigh wistfully. “It’ll be nice having that off, but still…”
Maven laughs. “Come on, let’s get dressed. They’ll be here soon. I’ll get you a better collar later, for whenever it’s just us.”
It’s official. I’m the luckiest dragon in the entire fucking universe.
Thirty minutes later, I’m trying not to look nervous as my entire quintet waits in the western library for my family to walk in. And when the doors finally open, I’m not surprised that my mother is the first one to storm through them, scanning the room with her remaining eye like a woman on a mission until she spots me.
At once, she’s crashing into me with shifter speed, wrapping her arms around me, and?—
Gods, why was I dreading this?
I hug my mom back tightly, letting out a shuddering breath and praying my voice doesn’t crack as all kinds of emotions crash over me. “Hey, Mom.”
“Baelfire Finbar Decimus,” she sniffs, pulling back to glare at me. There’s no real heat to it. In fact, her eye is teared up. “How dare—you can’t just—Decimuses don’t?—”
It’s the first time in my life I’ve ever seen my strong, decisive, militant mother struggling so much with her own emotions. My lion shifter birth father, Oscar, is the next to blur to my side, wrapping both of us in his big hug, which cuts her off.
“Thank all six gods. We were so worried about you, son,” he breathes.
“Bael!” Declan calls with a giant grin as he strolls into the library. Cace is right behind him, along with several members of their quintets and the rest of my parents. I’m suddenly swarmedwith nearly two dozen grinning, overly emotional Decimuses, all hugging me and welcoming me back.
Even Quinn is here, beaming as she runs up to hug my leg. She’s tiny for a seven-year-old, but her volume more than makes up for her height.
“Uncle Baelfire! You’re not a big meanie dragon setting Grandma’s house on fire anymore!”
I look at my mom. “Shit. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to?—”
“Of course, you didn’t. The house is mostly fine and none of us would give two shits if it wasn’t, anyway. What’s important is that you’re still—” My mom cuts off with a sniff, trying and failing to compose herself. “You know that I just care about my baby. Even when he scares the hell out of me and makes me lose sleep for months and then doesn’t find a way to reach out and reassure me after his curse is broken and he’s finally back in his own head,” she adds pointedly.
She’s right. I should have thought about reassuring my family, but—damn, everything’s just been happening so fast. Besides, I can tell she’s not actually upset about it. My mom’s good at understanding circumstances.
“Sorry,” I say anyway, before adding, “For everything.”
Declan throws an arm around my shoulders. “Wasn’t your fault, little bro.”
My mother wipes her eye before clearing her throat, trying to compose herself. “Thank all six gods that you have such a strong quintet. I can’t even tell you how often Everett’s aid answered my prayers, or how many times Crypt took care of the hunters before we could get there in time.”
Crypt was looking out for me while I was feral? I didn’t know that. I glance over at my quintet standing nearby, where the incubus is listening to Quinn as she chatters happily at him.
You were checking in on me?I ask only Crypt through the bond.
No.
Kinda seems like you were.
He looks at me like I’m a giant wart.Don’t flatter yourself into thinking I was even capable of concern for your idiotic hide over the last six months. I was numb. Whenever I grew bored between targets, hunters were merely an entertainment for me to kill off.
It’s hard not to snort out loud.Uh-huh. Sure. So it had nothing to do with protecting my scaly ass.
Get over yourself, lizard.
“Maven,” my mom says, interrupting our telepathic exchange as she disengages from the Decimus family huddle and approaches my gorgeous mate.
My mom is ten times more observant and intuitive than I ever hope to be, so I’m not surprised when she doesn’t try to hug Maven. She must have picked up on how uncomfortable it made my mate the last time they met.
Still, I can tell my keeper is trying to hide her nervousness as the rest of my family’s attention moves from me to the demigoddess in the room. I really have no fucking idea how they’ll react to her half-divine status, but luckily the ice is broken when Cace gets an eyeful of Everett’s face for the first time.
