19
Lorenzo
“She’s doingwhat!?”
I couldn’t hide the shock in my voice when Dante delivered the news. A few months after Charlotte’s birth, Raja and I had taken a night off for ourselves and left Gabriel and Dante to babysit. They assured us everything was fine, and that Noah and Charlotte were getting along quite well, so when I got the call later that evening that Charlotte was climbing the walls, it was one hell of a surprise.
“Exactly what I told you,” Dante said. His voice was half surprised and half ecstatic. “I think you and Raja better come see this.”
I glanced at Raja, who shot me a concerned glance. The comforter was up to his chin and his nose was buried in a book, but both of them were quickly forgotten at the news that his daughter was up to something. “What happened? Is she okay?”
I held out the phone so Raja could hear Dante as well. “Oh, she’s okay, alright. Trust me when I say you guys have to come over and see.”
Raja and I quirked a brow at each other.
“This better be good, Dante,” Raja growled as he kicked his pajamas off.
* * *
“How is she doing that!?”Raja shrieked.
Currently, our daughter was in the middle of climbing a curtain. Halfway off the ground. When we first arrived and saw her clinging to the fabric, we both panicked, assumed she would fall and get hurt.
“It’s okay, I have a safety net right beneath her,” Gabriel had quickly reassured us. Then I saw the glint of clear magic - there was a thick layer of it right beneath Charlotte. In addition, Dante was standing right beside her, ready to catch her at any time.
Dante grinned at us when we walked in. “Look! Isn’t this awesome?”
“No, seriously, how is she doing that?” Raja asked again. “She’s in human form - she shouldn’t be able to hold herself up like that!”
“Not quite,” Dante said, beckoning Raja. “Look closer.”
We huddled around Charlotte and realized what he was talking about. Charlotte might still have been in human form, but her hands weren’t. They were, very clearly, the paws of a black panther - and coming out of them, jutting into the curtain, were sharp claws.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” I muttered.
Raja gasped. “So, she’s like me? She’s a panther?”
“Obviously her transformation isn’t complete and she can’t really control it yet, but yeah, I’d say so,” Dante said. “She certainly isn’t a wolf, that’s for sure.”
Charlotte grunted and slapped another paw against the curtain. As she did so, she lost her balance and fell backwards a very short distance onto the clear magic net beneath her. It wasn’t a hazardous situation at all, but it apparently surprised her. As her back touched the magic, two small silver wings popped out of her back.
“Whoa!” Raja cried.
“Holy shit,” Dante muttered.
Noah, who was crawling around on the floor, pointed to Charlotte and said, “Dagon!”
“Yes, sweetie, she’s a dragon, too! Just like you!” Gabriel said excitedly.
“Silber,” Noah added.
Dante grinned. “Yep, a silver dragon and a black panther - just like her dads!”
I looked at Raja, whose expression shone with excitement and joy and shock all in one. He quickly picked up his daughter and nuzzled her. “I’m so proud of you, Charlotte Kali! Look at how talented you are already! Of course you are, you’remydaughter after all.”
I kissed Charlotte’s forehead. “I’m proud of you, too. You’re not even a year old and you’re already doing a better job of hybrid shifting than I ever did.”
Charlotte gazed up at us with her beautiful violet eyes, which were a shade lighter than mine. Her black hair matched the black of her panther paws, which she batted playfully up at Raja’s cheek. I could practically hear Raja purring with happiness.
