“Well, that’s torn it,” Conleth muttered, in the ringing silence that followed.
Golden stared from his nephew to Honey in outraged disbelief. “Is this true?”
“It was an accident,” she said quickly, scrabbling for any way to repair the damage. “They didn’t know when they hired me. It took me a while to figure out the misunderstanding, and when I did, I didn’t dare tell anyone that I wasn’t supposed to be here.”
“The full picture only emerged yesterday,” Conleth said, which Honey supposed wastechnicallytrue. “Of course we took immediate action.”
Golden showed no sign that he was listening to any of them. All his attention was fixed on Ignatius.
“Thisis the reason you dragged me out here?” Golden demanded. “For ahuman?”
Ignatius flinched, dropping his gaze. He nodded.
Golden shook his head, lip curling in disgust. “This is ridiculous. I sent you here to learn from a strong alpha, someone who would finally trigger your dormant dragon. Not to be contaminated by lesser minds. The human goes.Now.”
Ignatius whispered, “Then so do I.”
“This is not up for discussion, Ignatius!” Golden swept his nephew with a glare. “And you are not going anywhere. For all its faults, this camp is still the best place for you to learn to shift. You will spend the rest of the summer sincerely applying yourself to finding your dragon, or I will be very disappointed in you.”
“If Honey goes, then so do I,” Ignatius repeated. He’d gone white as a ghost, but he lifted his chin, looking his uncle in the eye. “I have to. Because—because—”
And looking at that pale, scared young face, Honey finally understood.
She went to him, enfolding him in her arms before he could force the words out. She hugged him close, feeling the way his thin body was shaking.
“Don’t,” she whispered in his ear. “Not like this. Not for me. But thank you.”
“Unhand my heir, human!” Lord Golden wrenched them apart. He shoved her away, so hard that she stumbled, off-balance. “Enough of this farce. I will personally—”
What Lord Golden would personally do, she never had the chance to find out. With a deafening thunderclap, a searing bolt of light struck the ground, blasting the dragon shifter off his feet. Honey instinctively grabbed Ignatius again, shielding the boy with her own body.
The eye-searing light faded. The stormwolf crouched in a ring of scorched earth, teeth bared, wings bright with leashed lightning.
And then it was gone. Buck stood there instead, fully dressed, energy crackling around his arms.
“Hmm.” He shook out his hands, scattering sparks. “Going to have to work on that. Don’t always need to makequitesuch a dramatic entrance.”
“Indeed,” Zephyr said from the ground, sounding slightly pained.
“Sorry. I’d offer you a hand up, but I think that would be a bad idea right now.” Buck looked round at Honey, electricity still dancing across his knuckles. “You all right?”
Dumbfounded, all she could think to say was, “You’re wearing pants.”
He glanced casually down at his jeans. “Huh. So I am. Told you my animal was just screwing with me. Motherlover could have taken my clothes along the whole time. Someone want to tell me whathe’sdoing here?”
Buck’s lightning blast had thrown Lord Golden against the outside wall of the office. The dragon shifter stirred, groaning.
“Uncle!” Ignatius exclaimed. He wriggled out of Honey’s hands, hurrying over. “Are you okay?”
Golden waved the boy off. He clambered groggily back to his feet, his white dress shirt now marred by scorch marks.
“You,” Golden managed, glaring at Buck. “Youstruckme.”
“If I’d actually hit you, we wouldn’t be having this conversation,” Buck replied. “Consider it a friendly warning. Keep your hands to yourself in future, because you damn well won’t get another one. Now why are you here?”
“To see that my rules are obeyed!” Golden jabbed a finger in Honey’s direction. “That woman is not a shifter!”
“No, but I am.” Buck’s voice dropped into a low, dangerous growl. “And she’s my motherloving mate.”
