“So, do we know anything about the new recruits?” I asked Sophie as I diced freshtomatoes.
Sophie and I had thawed a little; she had seemed friendly when I was helping her in the kitchen, so I thought I would take advantage ofit.
Sophie shrugged. “Just that they are twin brother and sister. Both bearshifters.”
I dropped the knife I had been holding and it clattered onto the granite counter. “Bear shifters!” I whisperscreamed.
Sophie tipped her head back and laughed. “You’re adragon.”
True. Enoughsaid.
By the time we were done frying forty taco shells, my wrist was sore. And I wasn’t sure we’d have enough food. Bear shifters … they must eat more in one meal than I did in the entire day. Come to think of it, my appetite had increased a little since I started shifting, but not as much as the others. I wondered if it was because I was only half dragon. In the end, Sophie and I decided to take the leftover ground-up chicken and make a quick chicken enchilada soup to dip the tacos in. Sophie would never say it, but she liked watching me cook; she was learning. I’d already taught her how to make an avocado aioli and she’d actually written the recipe down. I decided not to pull the boys in for their cooking lessons untiltomorrow.
We were just setting the pot of chili on the dinner table when the front door opened. Sophie and I turned at the same time as the two giant shifters walked in, dwarfing the alpha. The guy was nearly seven feet tall and packed with more muscle than a professional wrestler. He wasn’t my type but he was good looking, I would give him that. Caramel skin, brown hair, and hazel eyes. His sister was nearly six-feet-tall, her hair long and curly, hanging low about halfway down herback.
Sophie leaned in closely and whispered into my ear. “Dibs.”
I just smiled, secretly glad that her sexual attention was pointed away fromLogan.
“Everyone!” Keegan announced. “This is Roxy and Ruben. They are bred from a long line of skyborn protectors and are very excited to be joining theteam.”
Gear and Cooper rushed in to introduce themselves first, while I hung back with Sophie. “So there are people still training their kids to protect the skyborn, even though there is only one left?” I asked her. I had remembered her saying she was trained to protect since the age ofthree.
Sophie looked over at me with only mild annoyance, which meant I might be growing on her. “First of all, there’s two now. You keep forgetting that. Secondly, yes. My family and dozens of others train their young to protect in the hopes that the remaining skyborn will find them and hire them. The money isn’t great. I could make more doing something else, but protecting Logan … and you … it’s a greathonor.”
Wow. That was almost a compliment. “So, if you had kids one day…?” I let the question hang in theair.
Sophie nodded. “They will learn to protect. Just as Idid.”
Wow. I imagined there was some secret list out there that Keegan had of shifters who were secret skyborn protectors, and when one died or he needed to add to his pack, he just picked off of his list.Crazy.
“Sloane?” Logan was calling me to the door with his hand outstretched. I stepped forward, taking his hand, and ignored the pulse of heat it caused to creep into my stomach, where my dragon layresting.
“This is Sloane Murphy, the other skyborn,” he told the twins, and I dropped his hand and wavedsheepishly.
Ruben and Roxy both bowed. “It’s an honor to be a part of this team,” Ruben said with a very slight Russianaccent.
Roxy looked a bit star-struck. She wasn’t your typical beauty like Sophie, but there was something unique in her features, exotic, that gave her a beauty that was rare. “A female dragon…” she breathed, staring at my hair. The hair shock was common; my hair was redder than a tomato, and I added an apple-red shampoo wash that kept it away from the orange and more into the cherry-red variety. But the dragon awe was new and I wasn’t sure how to handle it. Luckily, Loganwas.
“We are honored to have your service. Sloane is … unique, and we’ve just had a run-in with some druids looking for her, so we’re going to need more help. It’s great to have you. Come onin.”
He ushered them inside, but I was still hanging on the way he had said “unique”—like it was a disease, like there was something wrong with me.There was. I knew it and I was just waiting for Eva to confirmit.
I shuffled to the table, just as Danny walked through the front door wearing an adorable red plaid scarf and holding a steaming to-go Starbucks cup. “So, this is one of the perks of being let into the inner circle—taco Tuesday,” he stated, looking at the table full offood.
Keegan pointed to the bear shifters. “Ruben and Roxy, this is Danny, our pack sorcerer and coffeeaddict.”
Danny’s eyes danced at Keegan’s mention of coffee addiction. It must be an inside joke betweenthem.
“Hello.” Danny waved a hand in their direction and then gave me awink.
He crossed the room to stand near me. “I know Sophie didn’t cook this amazingness up by herself. She’s not that talented.” He pointed to the table and Sophie stuck her tongue out athim.
I smiled. “Ihelped.”
Danny squeezed my upper arm. “I love that shirt. You’re my spirit animal,” he whispered, and I just laughed. His quirky unpredictable personality had grown onme.
Danny and I took a seat with everyone and silently started to eat while the others dug in. Sophie had taken it upon herself to sit next to Ruben and shove her cleavage in his face, peppering him with a thousand compliments. Meanwhile, I was quite shocked to hear Dom actually speak when he said about ten words to Roxy, asking her about her favorite model gun. Poor Nadine kept stealing glances at Gear and I eyed her tattooed arms finding a new one eachtime.
