Chapter Eleven

“Hey Lyndi!” Blake’s high-pitched excited voice reached her before she’d made her way far enough down the tunnel to be able to see him, though she could hear Sera’s son playing with Lyndi’s younger boys.

They’d all come over for the afternoon to see Aidan, the first and oldest of her orphans, while he was there. Mike, Coahoma, and Attor were all still upstairs with Aidan and the team, while the rest of Lyndi’s kids were down here with Blake. Their antics echoed off the rounded cavern walls, drilled and widened to accommodate a full-sized dragon flying out of the mountain in full shift.

Blake’s senses were top notch if he could tell from a distance who was coming down the tunnel.

“Come play with us,” Blake urged.

All her boys, eager to help another young dragon the way they’d been helped, had decided to use the short time they were there to work with Blake on shifting to human. Though as she rounded a corner, what they were doing looked more like a game of chase to her, with her boys, all in human form, running around under Blake’s legs. They were going to get squished by a baby dragon not used to his own size if they weren’t careful.

In a move that sure seemed deliberate, he managed to sweep his tail under several of them, taking them out while avoiding them with the spiked end. Only William, one of the biggest and tallest, given he was nearing eighteen in human years, managed to hop out of the way in time, his dark hair flopping into his red-brown eyes with the move, so he missed the second swipe and ended up on his backside next to Elijah and Marin. They all rolled quickly to their feet and sprinted away.

Lyndi shot raised eyebrows at Sera who sat off to the side with Delaney and Cami and got a laughing shrug in return. Props to Blake for a move like that. Maybe he’d been in this form so long that he had the size thing figured out.

“Come on, Lyndi,” he called again, wearing what passed for a grin in dragon form, still gruesome even on his smaller face.

“The last time I played that game, I lost a chunk of scales,” she said with a laugh, holding up both hands in mock defense. “I don’t think Drake or Finn would be too pleased if I couldn’t do my job thanks to something like that.”

“I’ll keep you safe, Lyndi,” Elijah offered in his sweet way.

She caught a flash of his sandy mop of hair from under Blake’s belly. Unusual for a green dragon to have that color hair, but his mother had apparently been from the Americas.

“You’re the one who did it,” she reminded him with a wrinkled nose.

Elijah had to hop back as Blake dropped into a quick crouch trying to squish him. He didn’t quite make it and his burst of laughter was followed by, “You pinned me. I give!”

In a flipping maneuver, Blake launched himself out of the way, managing to corner William at the same time. Not an easy thing to do. A red dragon, William tended to be both quick and good at maneuvering, even in human form. Though the small scar on the bottom of his chin said he hadn’t always been so lucky.

Meanwhile, Elijah was left still sitting on the ground. So nice to see his serious face split in a rare, wide grin, though Lyndi made a mental note to get the kid to the orthodontist. Those teeth were not going to straighten themselves.

A tug on her hand had her looking at Marin’s face, his white-blue eyes turning bluer with his excitement, and she softened to goo. Currently her youngest, she still worried that his time alone in the wilds had left him malnourished. He was on the small side, even for his age, which in human years was closer to nine, but he looked more like seven or eight. “I’ll protect you, Lyndi.”

Her heart cracked, too heavy to stay whole watching them all now. What a world to be born into. How was she going to protect them? What if the Alaz came for them, too? Blew up her house with a grenade launcher, like they’d done to Aidan and Sera? What if they weren’t as lucky and didn’t get out in time? What if… Gods above, so many what-ifs.

“I already said I’d protect her,” Elijah called out from around Blake’s bulk. Then he managed to dodge around Blake, jumping from a stalagmite to a slim outcropping and down beside where she stood with hardly a blink.

“You did it the last two times.” Marin, standing closest, shoved his brother in the arm.

“Did not.”

“No one needs to protect me, because I’m a badass.” Lyndi grimaced. “Sorry, Sera.”

Her friend snorted a laugh. “Around this crew, I’ve given up saving his ears from swear words.”

Meanwhile, the boys all dissolved into laughter. “You’re the worst at this game, Lyndi,” William hooted off to one side. “You need more protection than Marin.”

Lyndi planted her hands on her hips, ready to defend her honor. “Only because I let you guys win.”

That only sent them into fits of harder laughter. “Remember that time Elijah accidentally smacked you into the side of the mountain and you passed out?” William teased.

Elijah grimaced, guilt wiping away his grin, and he scowled at his brother.

Lyndi just shook her head. “Leave me out of it. I want to talk to Sera and the girls anyway.”

After some good-natured grumbling, and Elijah and William quietly arguing whether Lyndi would’ve been fine had she shifted faster, the boys returned to their game and she made her way over to her friend.

“Hey!” Sera called out, her smile reflected by the other two women with her.

“He looks happy,” Lyndi said, tipping her chin in Blake’s direction.

“Yes, but I’m his mother and it’s a mother’s job to worry.” Sera tucked a strand of pale blonde hair behind her ear with delicate fingers.

From beside Sera, Delaney tracked the motion, concern slipping into her gaze, though she didn’t say anything. After all, she’d been Sera’s friend first, having lived and worked at the winery Sera had owned before Delaney almost burned down the barn and the Huracáns had burst into their lives. No doubt Delaney could see as well as Lyndi that Sera had lost weight since she and Aidan and Blake had gone into hiding.

Sera swallowed. “What if Blake never—”

Pressing her lips tight, Sera cut off the words, whispered low enough that her son couldn’t have caught them anyway, even in dragon form. Too difficult to say aloud maybe.

More what-ifs.

Delaney reached over and squeezed her friend’s hand in silent support.

“You can’t think like that,” Lyndi said. “I’d be a wreck if I dwelled on every what-if for my boys. Blake is not feral, he’s in charge of his dragon. Maybe his dragon won’t let go as a protective measure.”

It made sense to her. Lyndi’s dragon was both her and something else. Separate and yet the same, and she was damn protective of Lyndi’s human side. Pure survival instinct because one could not exist without the other.

“Maybe,” Sera allowed. “It’s not like he’s had a chance to feel secure for long enough at a time, no matter how much we assure him. He’s seen too much, and we’ve had to move too often. Always watching overhead and checking over our shoulders.”

“He’s a good kid,” Delaney assured her. “Smart, polite, happy. You’re doing a great job.”

“Maybe once you get to Rune’s,” Cami offered. “I found it remarkably peaceful there. We never had any disruption, lots of hands to help share the load.” She grinned, dark eyes twinkling with mischief. “You might even get some alone time with Aidan. Give Blake a baby brother or sister.” Cami waggled her eyebrows suggestively.

“Oh, Lord.” Sera laughed loud enough that several boys glanced over a second before going back to their play. “I can’t even think of that right now. Life is too complicated.”

“What if it’s always complicated,” Cami pointed out. “We can’t stop living our lives just because of…” She waved a hand all around them.

Considering Cami, Lyndi tipped her head. “Wait a minute. You’re not…”

Cami rolled her eyes, though she smiled. “Not yet. Drake wants me all to himself for at least a decade, he says.”

“Horny buggers, aren’t they?” Delaney murmured, lowering her voice because of the boys.

Cami glanced up at Lyndi and patted the rock floor beside her. Only Lyndi couldn’t quite hide her wince as she sat cross-legged on the cavern floor.

They all looked at her a little cockeyed. “You okay?” Sera asked.

“Fine.” Damn, her voice had practically hit a falsetto on the one word.

The thing was, how did she tell her friends she was tender, in the best of ways, because of what Levi had done with and to her body not that many hours ago?

“If that look means what I think it does,” Sera murmured, “then I guess things must be going well with Levi?”

Unaccustomed heat, this time definitely a blush, surged up Lyndi’s neck into her face. “As you said…horny buggers.”

The women laughed, nodding their agreement.

Not that she was any different. Lyndi frowned over that. So easy to forget that Sera, Delaney, and Cami had been human until recently, but maybe there was a difference. “Did you find that you got hornier after you were turned dragon?” She couched the question softly, still aware of the boys playing nearby.

Perhaps being dragon herself was why she couldn’t seem to keep her hands or mouth or other body parts to herself anymore if Levi was around. Now that the invisible wall between them had crumbled to dust, it seemed to be game on. But if that was her nature…

“It’s about the same,” Cami mused. “I wanted Drake from the get-go, any way I could get him.”

“Um…ew,” Lyndi teased, wrinkling her nose. “Warn me next time. That’s my brother.”

Cami lifted her hands in a “what are you going to do?” gesture, unrepentant.

“The best thing,” Delaney said, clearly still thinking through the question, “is I can function on less sleep now, and that whole healing faster thing means I’m not as sore the next morning.”

“Actually,” Sera whispered conspiratorially, “the best thing is the orgasms.”

“Oh gods, yes,” came from the other two in twin groans.

“I’m not getting much sleep. That’s for sure,” Lyndi agreed.

“Well that explains why you’re a bit pale, honey.” Delaney leaned around Sera to grin. “I wondered if you’d caught a bug or something.”

Lyndi shook her head. “Dragon shifters don’t get bugs. I’m just tired is all.”

Sera grinned. “We all know how that goes. We have Blake with us, which means we have to get creative, but Aidan manages to find…ways.” Her expression turned near blissful for a few heartbeats.

I really hope I don’t look that sappy talking about Levi. Still, Lyndi grinned. “Is Aidan…er…”

Having only slept with human men, plus one bear shifter a while back, and none of her own kind, Lyndi wasn’t sure if they were all like Levi when it came to sex.

“What?” Sera asked.

Lyndi shifted positions and tried not to think about the way she’d been so thoroughly and beautifully fucked, though each move twinged inside her and reminded her. “I believe in human terms Levi might be considered…um…dominant.”

Sera didn’t bat an eyelash. “Sounds about right.”

“Yup,” Cami said. “A lamb in the streets, but a lion in the sheets.”

A snort of a laugh escaped her before Lyndi could stop it. But Drake as a lamb was just too much. “Again, eww.”

Delaney tipped her head, considering Lyndi. “I’m surprised you’d let Levi get away with it, though. Given that you’re a dragon already and all.”

“I know,” Lyndi murmured, glancing away. “But…”

“It’s just right?” Cami guessed.

Delaney and Sera both hummed in agreement.

She let out a shaky breath. “Exactly.”

More than she could put words to. As though letting go and letting him take the lead gave her all the power. If, for any reason, she said no, he’d stop. He’d never hurt her or make her do anything she didn’t want to. And so far there was nothing she didn’t want.

“What do you think that means?” Sera pressed gently.

Lyndi just shook her head. “All I can let it mean is that he’s damn incredible in bed.”

“Um…eww,” Cami teased with a wink. “Sister-in-law here.”

“Mom!” Blake’s screech pinging through their minds had both of them on their feet in an instant.

“Blake? What’s wrong?” Sera called as they hustled over to where all of Lyndi’s boys had gathered around where he lay on the ground.

They parted as Blake said, “Watch this!”

Sera jerked to a halt as her son began to shimmer and blur the way shifters did as they changed forms. It only lasted a few seconds, and when it stopped, he was still a dragon.

“Oh wow!” Sera whispered as she dropped into a crouch to look him in the eye. Then rose as he lifted his head.

“I’ve almost got it,” Blake boasted, head tilted at a proud angle. “I can feel it.”

“He did it all on his own,” Elijah said, his face almost as excited as Blake sounded, green eyes glinting with dark green flame. Just like him. He cared so hard. “Just stopped and said, I think I figured it out.”

“That is the best news I’ve had in a long time.” Sera grinned at her son.

“You should get Dad to come see.” Blake’s form practically vibrated with excitement. If he wasn’t careful, he’d ignite his fire.

“Why don’t you call him?” Sera encouraged with a grin.

The telepathy only worked when they were in dragon form, and as the only one shifted in the room, that made it easier for Blake. Only his happy dragon grin sort of froze, then faded. He jerked his head to stare at his mother, and had to be telling her something, because Sera’s smile disappeared a second later.

Before either of them could move, the sound of running feet slapping the rock surface of the cavern had all of them turning to find Aidan racing inside, not even attempting to be stealthy. A warning all by itself. Only he didn’t say a word, shooting past them, farther down the tunnel. Then he stopped and the shimmering around his body, so much more than what his son had just produced, warned them of his shift.

As soon as the first part of him was dragon, he was communicating. “Someone is coming.”

“From the back entrance or the front?” Lyndi asked.

“Front, but I’m not taking any chances.”

He turned his head, almost at the end of his shift, the top of his spikes forming as he did, almost scraping the ceiling in this smaller section of the tunnel, and bent a significant look on Sera and Blake. “Hide.”

“Get topside,” Lyndi ordered her boys as she too shifted. The room blurred a bit before her as her perspective changed and grew.

“You should hide, too,” she told Aidan. “Let me take care of it.”

His stare was conflicted. “I can’t just leave you—”

“I’m supposed to be here, you’re not. Your mate and child are what’s important. I can handle myself.” No matter what her boys…or Levi…thought.

If he was human, she’d swear Aidan’s face would’ve drooped with relief. Harder to tell with a dragon. Without another word, he shifted back, though the process took a minute. Once he was small enough, Lyndi stepped in front of him, her focus entirely on the tunnel. Long and only large enough for a single dragon to fly so far, whoever it was would have to stop and crawl soon. Levi’s ridged head would be knocking off stalactites in the section where she stood.

But no one came. Not that she relaxed. Instead, she decided to check farther down the tunnel.

Levi’s voice sounded in Lyndi’s head before she could do more than take a step forward. “Tineen is here. No others that I can detect.”

Shit. Had he followed Sera and Aidan? The timing was too suspect, except they’d been here almost twenty-four hours. Night was no doubt falling by now, turning the golds and pinks and purples of dusk to navy and black.

“Is anyone else coming?” she asked.

“Not that I can sense, but I can’t say for sure.”

He must’ve been on patrol outside then.

“What do we do?”

“We’re going to have to risk getting Aidan and Sera out now.” Levi’s voice rang decisive and strong.

“I agree,” Aidan said aloud from just behind her. “We can’t be found here.”

“Position yourselves at the tunnel exit,” Levi instructed. “As soon as I give the signal, go.”

No time to deal with the shock that wanted to freeze her mind and steal her thoughts. Lyndi directed her thoughts not to Levi but to her boys. “I have an idea. I need the younger boys back down here. Fast. All of them.”

…

Levi hovered in the air where he’d remained on patrol. He struggled to hold his dragon back as the leader of the Alaz team landed below him near the training center and shifted even as he walked inside, the shimmer of the motion trailing behind him like a dark cape. His timing couldn’t be an accident. He had to be here for Aidan and Sera.

Drake, not Finn, had come topside to meet the man. “What are you doing here?” Drake demanded.

Levi held in a snort of grim laughter.

Finn might have been more diplomatic. He played the game. Drake didn’t even acknowledge the board let alone the rules. Still, of all the people they didn’t trust, Tineen was now highest on the list after what they’d learned between Shula’s group and now the attack on Aidan and his family. Dragon shifters weren’t exactly high on forgiveness, which meant even if Tineen wasn’t gunning for them after what happened in Yosemite, he would still happily push them off the plank if he got the chance.

“I come with news.” The man sounded calm, reasonable. Levi’s dragon slashed his tail in the air, and the human side was inclined to agree. That calm hid something else. What fucking news?

Drake grunted as he waved the man inside. “Let’s tell the Alliance you’ve arrived before you share your…news.”

Smart. Make sure the Alliance sanctioned this visit.

“No need.” Tineen’s voice floated out the open door to the training room. “I’ll contact them when I return to my territory.”

“Of course you will.” Drake was practically snarling by now.

Levi didn’t catch anything else as the two men entered the mountain, the hidden door closing automatically behind them, sealing them off. Soundproof from the outside, even for dragon shifters. Hell, even bat shifters would struggle to hear anything coming from inside.

He counted out another two minutes. Just to be sure. Using every second to scout the area around him.

“Kanta? Anything?” He sent the thought to the other man on patrol with him.

“All quiet,” the green dragon came back immediately.

“Now.” He sent the thought to Aidan and Sera only.

From where he was, on the other side of the mountain but high enough to monitor the entire facility, Levi watched for them to leave, waiting for a ripple of blue to appear among the greens of the pine trees. Instead, a flash of maroon caught his eye.

Maroon? Only one dragon among the dragons in that mountain was that color. William. One of Lyndi’s boys. Levi frowned, sharpening his gaze on the color. At the same time, he fluttered closer to the ground like a falling leaf, dropping as low as he dared.

Then grinned. On the inside at least. His dragon was in full protector mode, dead serious. Both of them proud, though.

At least ten or twelve of his lover’s boys left the facility with Aidan and Sera in a large mass. Cover that Aidan’s family could hide among until they got higher and were able to simply disappear in the sky.

“Lyndi.” Levi shot the thought at her. “You are brilliant.”

“Let’s hope so,” came the grim reply. “Keep an eye on them as far out as you can? They’re going to lay several false trails, then circle back in an hour.”

“Remind me to kiss you when I get down there. With lots of tongue.”

“Lovely mental image.”

“I didn’t say where I was going to kiss you, skatt min.”

“Scat? Did you seriously just call me animal droppings?”

Even Levi’s serious dragon rolled through a chuckle at that one. “Far from it—”

“Levi. Get your ass down here.” This from Finn, one of the few of them who could shift small parts of himself, allowing for telepathic communication while predominantly human.

“Heads up, Lyndi. I’ve been summoned. I’ll watch your kids for another five before I come but that’s the longest I can delay.”

No answer. Had she shifted back to human?

He’d have to worry about that later. Instead, he flew farther east, keeping an eye on the departing group until they blended into the sky above where he hovered. Best he could do. Tipping his wings, he swung sharply back, gaining speed as he shot to the mountain. He had to take the time to move around to the west side entrance, even though the tunnel was closer. Tineen had been well aware of where Levi was located on patrol as the black dragon had been stopped by him. Coming in from the tunnel would appear odd.

“Where are you?” he sent out as he landed, waiting to start his shift until he heard back.

“Headed down to the tunnel,” came a grim reply from Finn.

That had been damn fast. Given the size of the facility, the fact that Tineen went straight for the tunnel said a lot.

Levi took the elevator, which was fastest, happy to get out of that death trap the second the doors opened to the lowest floor. The sound of voices hit him long before he made it as far down as they were.

“What’s this about practicing?” Tineen stood in the center of the chamber, arms folded, addressing the question to Lyndi who stood facing him down with a sneer to rival her brother’s.

Levi focused on Tineen. It was either that or bodily put himself between the black dragon and Lyndi, which would be the wrong move on so many levels. He frowned through the protective cauldron of fury, taking in the other man’s expression. Something was off. Tineen was, at most, mildly curious with his eyebrows lifted, and his tone matched, like this was no big deal.

The tension that dripped through the room, slipping and spilling between every other person gathered there, could’ve fed a river of undulating nerves.

Probably because they could still smell Aidan and Sera down here. They’d only just left. Granted, their scents were layered under Lyndi’s boys, but still. Would Tineen pick it up? Levi circled the group to move closer to Lyndi, though he didn’t dare get too close. He made sure Tineen noted his presence, giving an exaggerated nod at the man as he caught his gaze.

“Late, beta? Took you long enough to check the perimeter after my arrival.” Tineen interrupted Lyndi who snapped her mouth closed with a glare quickly concealed. Then he turned to Drake. “You might want to pick a different second-in-command. This one seems lazy.”

Asshole.

“And where is your beta?” Lyndi asked in a cloyingly sweet voice.

After years of having it directed his way Levi recognized it as a warning signal that her temper was not far behind. He could have kicked her and kissed her at the same time, standing up for him that way. Sweet, especially given she was usually the one finding fault with him, but also dangerous.

Tineen’s gaze slid to her and stilled, though, after a moment, he seemed to ease into himself again. “Why do you ask?”

She shrugged. “It’s dangerous to travel alone these days. I wouldn’t want something to happen to you.”

Words that could be interpreted as a threat, except for the fact that she’d delivered them with her dark eyes wide and innocent, and a tone that a well-meaning grandmother might have used, as though she were sincerely concerned.

“Indeed,” Tineen said. Was that a sneer? It certainly wasn’t an answer when the question was, in actual fact, a real one. Why was Tineen alone? Or were more Alaz members close by? Just out of range of their patrol, maybe. Would they track Aidan and Sera? Capture them?

Tineen pursed his lips, then shifted his gaze to Lyndi. “So…you said you were practicing down here?”

“Yes,” Lyndi said. Then tucked her hands into the back pockets of her jeans and stared back with a patient expression. Defying the other man with direct answers, but no additional information.

That’s my girl.

Levi had to hide a grin at the flash of irritation in Tineen’s eyes. For once, Levi wasn’t the one dealing with the kind of frustration she could engender.

“She had my permission to use the facility,” Drake said. The red dragon was still on the cusp of a snarl, lips curled.

“I’m still not sure what you mean by practicing.” Tineen ignored Drake to ask Lyndi, tone not quite so congenial.

“Shifting,” Lyndi said. Still keeping it to one-word answers.

“What?” Hall interjected. “Don’t the Alaz team practice?”

Tineen flicked him a dismissive glance then looked around the chamber. There was only room in any part of the tunnel for one dragon to fit, even at its widest points. “In here?”

“Yes.”

Tineen blew a breath out of his nose. “Why in here?”

“I find younger shifters should practice in different environments. Don’t you?” She blinked at him like this was completely normal.

It wasn’t. She’d never practiced in here or had her boys do that. Though, now that Levi thought about it, that wasn’t a half bad idea.

Tineen’s expression turned strangely satisfied. “Are you saying the youngest members of the team need more practice?”

He slid a glance to the older of her boys, who were now technically enforcers if not officially sanctioned by their kings, well aware of who they were no doubt.

Lyndi gave the guy a pitying smile that would’ve made a lesser shifter growl. “Of course not. I’m talking about my younger boys. As I’m sure you remember, younger dragons’ instincts are triggered more easily. Today, we were practicing close quarters shifting and flying.”

“Uh-huh. And where are the younger ones now?”

“Most of them just left down the back exit.” She waved behind her. “I sent them to do a practice run in daylight, before they head home.”

“I see.” Tineen nodded slowly. “Which of these remaining are…yours?”

Lyndi’s face was one she’d shown Levi often through the years. How she managed to appear both disdainful and like she thought he was pretty damn stupid while smiling sweetly he still had no idea. “Mike, Coahoma, and Attor are behind you.” She indicated the oldest of the boys with a wave.

“The younger ones,” Tineen clarified through gritted teeth.

“Oh.” Lyndi made a sound he’d never heard from her. A giggle that gave her an air of ditziness that she would normally hate to project. “Of course. Like I said, the others have gone. Only Marin, who is my youngest at the moment, is still here.”

The boy, suddenly looking all of his nine years when usually he seemed younger, moved out from behind a glowering Hall to her side to have her wrap her arm around him in a casual motion that Levi knew was more about protecting her kid.

Tineen studied the younger boy. “Have you made your first shift yet?”

Marin glanced to Lyndi who nodded at him to go ahead. “No, sir.”

Tineen’s eyes narrowed as he lifted his gaze back to Lyndi. “You are aware of the danger?”

“Yes. Has the law changed regarding orphans?”

Unlike rogues, who not only could be killed on sight, but their kind was encouraged to do so, orphans didn’t have to be shunned. It just happened.

“No,” Tineen said slowly. But the way he watched Lyndi, a light in his eyes Levi didn’t trust, he was headed somewhere with this. “You expose our best fighters to him?”

Marin flinched, though the kid raised his chin in a move so like Lyndi—brave and stubborn through his fear—it made Levi’s heart turn over. If the Alliance wouldn’t miss Tineen’s absence and come looking here first, Levi would happily snap the man’s neck right now. Holding back his dragon had him stepping back more abruptly than he would’ve liked, the motion a tell, hands in fists. He wasn’t the only one. Drake’s eyes might light them all up in red flame if they glowed any brighter.

Coahoma, younger and less controlled, didn’t entirely manage it. “Watch it,” he snapped, his dragon so evident that his voice wasn’t his own. Like a cross between human and a monster. Even Levi’s dragon, focused intently on Tineen, paused at the sound.

“Watch yourself,” Tineen warned. “Your place as an enforcer is temporary, and even then, knowing who has leverage is a smart move, son.”

“I’m not your son, asshole.”

“Thank the gods for that.” Deliberately Tineen turned his back on the younger man. A show of no respect. Or sheer stupidity, but Levi knew the other man wasn’t stupid. The provocation was deliberate.

Coahoma drew back a fist, his face a picture of rage and fire, only Levi stepped right into him. “Stop.”

Immediately, Coahoma halted, fist still cocked, expression torn between the rage of his animal and the need to obey a man who was one of his leaders as well as a mentor and friend.

“That’s right. Listen to your elders.”

Levi clamped his hands down on Coahoma’s shoulders, holding him in place. In that moment, he realized what Tineen was up to. He was trying to push buttons until he had a reason, any reason, to shut them down.

Tineen’s gaze took in Levi’s hands and moved to his face. “Gold dragon,” he murmured. “Shouldn’t you be on your way to your king? Our man was called back recently.”

Ice settled in Levi’s veins, because there was something about the way Tineen spoke that felt like a threat.

“I leave tomorrow.”

A smile. “Good.”

Coahoma wasn’t who he needed to worry about. With a snarl that sounded more like a small dog, Marin kicked Tineen in the shin before Lyndi could yank him behind her.

Every person in the room stilled and waited. Emotion pulsed through them, though you’d never know from their expressions, as they watched the Alaz enforcer closely.

After a second, Tineen tipped his head as he turned his focus back to Lyndi, the expression reminding Levi of a buzzard picking at a carcass. “I’ll talk to the Alliance about your orphan program,” he said. “I’m sure we could use more like it.”

What. The. Fuck?

Lyndi couldn’t hide her own similar reaction, shock rippling across her face, but she held her tongue.

“Once they’ve successfully learned to shift and are deemed ready to reenter society,” Tineen said next, “I’m sure it’s best that they be reintegrated. Returned to their individual settlements, if possible, or to their individual clans. We’ll see what Mathai has to say, hmmm?”

Lyndi’s face went as white as bones bleached by the sun a heartbeat before her eyes lit with a red inferno. “The best place for my boys is here, where they’ve grown up,” she said. “They have a home and a colony of their own already.”

Tineen nodded slowly as though truly considering her point. “I’ll be sure to pass that…view…on to the Alliance members.” Like he was on her side. “But without you here, I’m sure they’ll agree with me anyway.”

Levi’s dragon flexed against him at those words. What did Tineen mean without her here?

Lyndi had gone starkly still. “What?”

Tineen smiled, his expression a sickening combination of gleeful and triumphant. “I’m not supposed to say anything, but a mate has finally been chosen for you. Blessed may your union be.”

The words may as well have been grenades dropped among them. Levi’s hearing went silent. Everything inside him screamed that this couldn’t be true.

“I don’t believe you,” Lyndi whispered.

Tineen cocked his head. “Mathai will be here in person to officially tell you the good news. In five days. It’s why I had to fit this inspection in now. To be sure things were safe for his arrival.”

“Who?” Lyndi was still whispering, seeming hardly able to get one word out at a time. Levi had never seen her so shaken in all the centuries he’d known her.

Tineen’s smile turned brutally smug. “Me.”

He took a step toward her, but paused, maybe thinking better of it, especially when a growl ripped from Lyndi’s throat, echoing off the cavern ceilings. Only by a miracle did Levi hold his own back. The panic-dipped realization that he couldn’t give this asshole anything else to use against her was the only thing keeping his dragon in check.

Instead of snarling back, Tineen’s smile only broadened. “I look forward to taming that fiery spirit…mate. But I can see I have surprised you. I’ll give you some time to become accustomed to the idea before we talk further.” Abruptly, he turned to Drake. “Let’s see the rest of the mountain.”

Moving closer to Lyndi, Levi took her arm and blocked her view of the Alaz leader as Drake took him away. Because her expression said she was ready to rip the fucker’s gizzard out. Most of the others followed, only her boys remaining behind. As soon as he was sure Tineen was out of earshot, the sound of the elevator telling him the others had gone up a level, he turned to face her.

Lyndi stared over his shoulder in the direction the Alaz leader had departed, eyes still flickering red, lips clamped so tightly, he had to wonder if she was trying to keep herself from vomiting.

Then she stepped into him. Automatically he wrapped his arms around her, absorbing her small body, trying to give her his own strength.

“What are we going to do?” she whispered.

Levi said nothing. What could he say? The crushing weight of all of this shit hitting at once was threatening to crush him. To pulverize him until he couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe. He had to fix this. But how?

How? The word echoed inside him as he tried to comfort Lyndi and settle the fury that wanted to be released.

His dragon railed inside him with a violence that threatened to drag him under.