“Then… why?” Honey flapped her hands, indicating the camp in general. “Why any of this? Why didn’t you fire me straight away, as soon as you knew?”
Zephyr put down his pen. He folded his hands, looking up at her, still perfectly calm.
“This camp is my life’s work. There is only one thing that is more important to me.” Zephyr’s dark eyes moved past her, to Buck. “And that is family.”
“Fine words, jarl Zephyr!” Ragvald boomed. He clapped Honey on the shoulder, hard enough that her knees buckled. “Rejoice, shield-sister! Now we may stand side by side with no secrets between us, as shield-siblings should! This calls for a celebration!”
Honey took in Moira’s small, repressed smile; Leonie’s unabashed grin. Even Buck’s scowl had lightened to the point where he almost looked happy. Only Conleth looked less than delighted by Zephyr’s pronouncement.
“Conleth,” she appealed to him, since he seemed to be the only person in the room who hadn’t lost his or her mind. “Talk some sense into Zephyr. You can’t let him do this.”
He blew out his breath. “It is a high risk plan, Zephyr. And if it goes wrong, I can’t guarantee that I’ll be able to fix matters. There’s a reason I was trying to keep this whole mess from you. If Lord Golden finds out, you’re not going to be able to claim plausible deniability.”
“Oh, hush,” Leonie told him. “How would he find out? None of us are going to tell him.”
“Us, no.” Conleth drummed his fingers against his desk in a swift, agitated rhythm. “But I’m not wild about relying on the continued good will of a preteen boy. Especially since we’re talking about a Golden.”
Ragvald made a deep, rumbling sound, like a disturbed bear. “Friend Conleth speaks wise words. Dragons cannot be trusted. And the Golden clan are the most vile and ruthless of all their kind, without any form of honor. It is not the child’s fault, but betrayal runs in his blood.”
Buck shook his head. “Ignatius wouldn’t betray anyone. If anything, he’s loyal to a fault. Look at how he idolizes his ass of an uncle.”
“If that was meant to reassure me, it had precisely the opposite effect.” Conleth held up a hand as several people tried to speak at once. “Hear me out. I’m not saying Zephyr should terminate Honey’s contract with extreme prejudice. But there’s an obvious alternative that doesn’t involve the risk of an irate dragon investor suing us into a metaphorical smoking crater. Aren’t we all ignoring the very large, winged, lightning-wreathed elephant in the room?”
Every eye turned to Buck.
He scowled back indiscriminately. “Why are you all looking at me?”
Leonie bit her lip. “Conleth’s right, Buck. Thereisan obvious solution.”
Buck’s expression shut down, as completely as a screen switching off. Honey had only ever seen him look like that once, that morning when she’d found him under her bed.
“No,” he said flatly.
“We already talked about that,” Honey said, realizing why everyone was staring at Buck expectantly. “Buck can’t turn me into a hellhound. He doesn’t have control over his shifting, and he’d have to bite me in his other form.”
“Ah.” Zephyr shifted position. “Actually, that’s… not entirely true.”
From the way Buck started, this was a surprise to him too. “What do you mean?”
“It’s true that a hellhound usually has to be in their shift form to bite and turn someone, but that… ah, doesn’t apply to you two.” Zephyr cast a rather pained glance at the other shifters, coloring a little. “Look, could someone else explain this, please? I can’t give the birds-and-the-bees talk to my own uncle.”
“Nobody needs to give me that talk,” Buck growled.
“Sorry, but apparently we do,” Leonie said, mouth quirking. She turned to Honey. “Biting is part of the hellhound mating ritual. And Buck doesn’t have to shift forthat.”
“Thankfully,” Conleth muttered. “And now I need to pour bleach into my ears to remove that mental image from my brain.”
“He has to bite you to seal the mating bond,” Leonie continued. “When he joins your souls, it’ll turn you into a hellhound at the same time, through the strength of the psychic link. It’s the one circumstance a hellhound can Turn someone while in human form. That’s how I knew you couldn’t be fully mated, you see. Because you weren’t yet one of us.”
“Oh.” Honey saw the misunderstanding now. She made an attempt at a smile. “Sorry, I should have made this clear earlier. Buck and I are together, but it’s nothing to do with his animal. We aren’t actually true mates.”
Silence.
“It was all just part of the act, you see,” Honey clarified, when no one said anything. “The kids got this silly notion into their heads, and, well, we had to play along, and then it evolved over time into a real relationship.Youexplain it to them, Buck.”
He didn’t. He just stood there, not looking at anyone, as blank as death.
After what felt like an eternity, Zephyr cleared his throat.
