Vivienne continued, "I’ll need a weekly sample. Hair, blood, whatever you can spare. The more data, the better."
I set my jaw, feeling the spike of old family politics in the air. "We’ll discuss it as a family. Thanks for the warning."
She dipped her head, not conceding, but acknowledging the line I’d drawn.
As I left, Aurelia fell in step with me. "You handled that well," she whispered. "Just watch her. She likes to set her own rules."
"She won’t get anywhere near him," I said.
Aurelia laughed, dark and soft. "You keep saying that. But she’s already here, and she's not going to hurt him."
I drove back to the cottage in the dark, windows down, the mountain air cold enough to sting. The dragon in me smoldered, not with anger but with a weird, clarifying sense of purpose.
Vivienne wasn’t a threat I could burn away. She was a force of nature. But I was a Beck, and for the first time, I had more to protect than just my own hide.
When I pulled up to the cottage, the only lights were the porch bulb and a faint glow from upstairs. I killed the truck engine and let the hum of the night settle in, unrolling the tension from my spine one vertebra at a time.
Inside, the place was quiet. Bryce’s door was cracked, a sliver of lamplight stretching across the hall carpet. I peeked in, and he was out cold, clutching his wolf plush, legs tangled in the covers, one arm flung overhead. The energy in the room was calm, almost serene. The headaches were backing off, for now.
In the living room, Krystal slept on the couch, a battered paperback splayed on her chest and her mouth barely open. I pulled the Afghan from the back of the couch and draped it over her, careful not to wake her. She didn’t stir, but her hand found the edge of the blanket and pulled it closer.
I wandered to the kitchen, poured a glass of water, and stood by the window, watching the yard go blue-black under the stars. I checked the cameras on my phone. If anyone came close, I’d know.
But I wanted more than that. I wanted to see it for myself.
I set the glass down, slipped out the back door, and let the night swallow me. I waited until I was out of sight of the house, then let the change come.
My body knew the drill by now. The world stretched and refit itself. bones expanding, skin hardening, the old pain replaced by an ecstatic, shattering heat. My hands split to claws, my jaw lengthened, and my lungs flared wide. A rush of wind, and then I was off the ground, the yard shrinking below.
Flight never got old. Not after a hundred years, not after a thousand. Up here, the worries of the ground fell away. I could see every inch of the property, every heat signature in the trees, every rustle in the grass. My dragon’s senses picked up things no camera could. the trace of a fox in the underbrush, the shape of a barn owl on the hunt, the weird, static hum of magic when it lingered in the air too long.
I circled the house, then the property line, running the same path I’d walked that afternoon. From the air, I could see how the land folded around the house, how the shadows moved when something was stalking. Nothing moved tonight, but the sensation of being watched was gone. The blue flicker I’d seen on the cameras didn’t show itself.
I banked high, catching an updraft, and scanned for anything out of place. Every muscle in my body was alive, every sense tuned to threat. But all I found was peace, the house glowing like a lantern at the center of my little world.
I made three full loops, then hovered over the backyard, out of reach of the floodlights. From here, I could see straight into Bryce’s window, the curtain pushed to one side, the kid’s silhouette soft in sleep..
The night was calm. The air held nothing but the memory of old storms.
I promised myself I’d do this every night, as long as it took. As long as there was a chance.
I drifted down, landed soft in the shadow of the shed, and waited for my heart to slow. Then I slipped back into human skin and went inside.
Krystal had rolled to her side, one hand under her chin, the book still perched on her ribs. I took the book and set it on the coffee table, then knelt and kissed her forehead. She smiled in her sleep, and the mate bond lit up, hot and sure.
Chapter 26
Krystal
We spenttwenty minutes repacking Bryce’s duffel for the third time. I ran through every worst-case scenario in my head, even as I lectured myself to get a grip. He was just going to a sleepover, not a dragon’s den or an open-air witch market. He'd be with wolves, friends who understood he was going through something unusual. Still, the urge to pack myself into his duffel was strong.
Zaden tried to play it cool, sprawled on the living room rug, tossing a foam ball back and forth with Bryce while pretending not to check the time every two minutes. The mate bond let me feel the way he cranked his own anxiety down with each toss, showing Bryce that this was just another Friday, nothing to worry about.
"You got your toothbrush?" I called, holding the bag up for review.
Bryce looked at me over his shoulder, the ball snug in his fist. "You put in two," he said. "One is electric, and one is normal. You’re crazy."
Zaden grinned, all teeth. "It runs in the family, bud."
