Scarlet studies me carefully. “You’re not here to change your mind?”
“No.” The word is immediate. Certain. “I'm where I’m meant to be. So is she.”
Ahya wiggles in Scarlet’s arms and reaches toward me again.
Scarlet hesitates.
Kelan steps slightly forward, undeniably powerful. “We mean no harm,” he says evenly. “We honor your claim. We won’t challenge it.”
Ronyn nods once. “We’re here to support our mate, not disrupt your pack.”
Scarlet searches my face one last time, then slowly steps closer.
She transfers Ahya into my arms.
As soon as my daughter’s weight settles against me, a warm brightness fills my bones. Our connection washes away all the pain her birth left inside me.
Ahya’s small hand presses against my collarbone. Then she pats my cheek. Her fingers trail over the column of my throat and settle over my heart.
Magic stirs. It’s a warm light flickers between us, unseen by the wolves but clear to the dragons behind me. Her awareness touches mine, curious and unafraid.
“You’re strong,” I whisper to her. “And brave. You saved me.”
She giggles.
Scarlet watches, wary but holding back.
“I don’t want to replace anyone,” I say quietly, looking up at her. “You’re her mother. You and your mates are her home.”
Scarlet’s jaw tightens slightly, but she nods.
“But she has magic in her veins,” I continue. “It connects her to me. She’ll need guidance one day.”
Nixon crosses his arms. “What are you asking?”
“I’m asking to be… something in her life.”
Scarlet studies me.
“A guardian,” I say. “A goddess-mother if you’ll allow it. Someone she can come to when her magic stirs or when shehas questions you cannot answer. Someone who will protect her, always. And for her to be a sister to her dragon siblings.”
Silence stretches.
Ahya presses her palm against my cheek again, then reaches back toward Scarlet, perfectly content.
I kiss her forehead. “She was born from magic with the power to unite the shifters of the earth. I was born from magic to bring back the dragons of the sky.” I tilt my head to the clouds above, and Ahya does too, reaching her hands up.
When she touches me again, I see images of a glowing future edged with gold. A red-haired woman runs with two bear shifter men, and behind them, three dragons partly shifted. There’s a scarlet-haired girl, a golden-haired girl, and a dark-haired boy, their wings spread and scales shining.
I look at her, stunned and so happy I can hardly breathe.
“Ahya,” I gasp. “Thank you.”
She smiles which plumps her perfect round, pink cheeks. I press a kiss to her skin, breathing her in.
She is my flesh and blood. She is my pain and sacrifice. She is my magic and the future that will keep the shifters of Blackwood Forest strong and united for generations.
I stroke her hair gently before returning her to Scarlet’s arms. She goes happily, leaning her head close to her momma’s neck and resting there. It’s a bittersweet moment to look on my child, happy in the life I released her into.
