We worked. The afternoon blurred into a medley of box lifting, curse words, and Skye’s running commentary on the sorry state of the American electrical code. She was faster than me, more focused, but I kept up, if only to give my body something to do while my head churned.
Dinner was pizzas and cheap beer, eaten on the half-finished deck. Everyone sprawled on camping chairs or hunched on steps, the sun burning away the worst of the paint fumes.
Aurelia handed out fresh cans and set her own on the railing. "Anything new from the outside world?"
Ashton sipped his beer, thoughtful. "Rumor mill says the witches are up to something, but Vivienne hasn’t dropped by in a week."
The conversation circled, but my mind was somewhere else, on a porch two miles away, a kid with a dragon’s smile and a wolf’s stubbornness.
I stared at the horizon, tuning out the rest. When I finally spoke, it was without warning. "I have a son."
The words detonated, and the clan stared at me in shock.
Drake recovered first. "You knocked someone up?"
I shook my head, the motion slow. "Not like that. It’s Krystal’s son. He's my son. And she’s my mate." They already knew the last part.
Aurelia’s mouth dropped. "You know now that I think about it, Bryce does have a little dragon in his aura. I didn’t think anything about it. I didn't fully notice."
"But now we know Krystal is under that spell, it makes sense that we all missed it." Skye studied me for a minute. "What’s your plan?"
"She wants to tell him herself, but I’m not going anywhere. She’s my mate, and I’ll be there for whatever she needs."
Erin, who had been sitting quietly on the edge of the deck, spoke up. "That’s fair," she said. "He should hear it from his mom."
Aurelia turned to her, surprised by the alliance. Erin just shrugged, her gaze even. "Once the spell is broken, Kystal will be open to the mating. I couldn’t imagine not being able to sense my mate. It’s got to be confusing for her."
The moment stretched. Then the sound of a car door slammed from in front of the house, and everyone looked up.
Vivienne strode into view, her heels sinking into the grass. She wore sunglasses the size of salad plates and a smile that could cut glass.
"Well, well," she said. "Looks like a full house." She swept onto the deck, pausing to let everyone admire her. "What’s the occasion?"
Drake grinned. "Zaden’s a dad."
Vivienne’s eyebrows shot up. "Is that so?"
I braced myself, but she just perched on the rail next to Erin and waited for the details.
Aurelia filled her in, condensing the last ten minutes into a single sentence. "Krystal's son, Bryce, is Zaden's."
Vivienne turned to me, her gaze clinical. "How old is he?"
"Nine," I said, not wanting to add anymore. My dragon grumbled in my head. For whatever reason he didn’t care for Vivienne very much.
"Has he shown any signs?"
I frowned. "Of what?"
Vivienne smiled. "Of the dragon. Or the wolf. Or something new?"
I shifted, uneasy. "He hasn’t shifted yet. Wolves don’t shift until they hit puberty either. For all I know, he could be a normal kid." It was unheard of for male dragon offspring to not be dragons, but Bryce was some sort of hybrid. I had no idea what that meant for my son.
Her eyes narrowed. "No kid in this town is normal. Especially not a dragon hybrid."
I bristled. "He’s not a science experiment."
She raised her hands, feigning innocence. "Of course not. I’m just curious. Hybrids are rare. Powerful. Unpredictable."
