Chapter 28

Brielle crowded around the screen with Lola, Bella, Harlow and Axel as they waited for Star to pick up the video call. When her smiling face came on-screen, something inside Brielle relaxed. Her tiger knew that Star wasn’t her Alpha anymore, but until a few weeks ago Star had been their Alpha for a long damn time—since they were precocious kids getting into a hell of a lot of trouble.

“There was a real dragon living here!” Harlow shouted.

“Your mate’s brother is so going to mate with a sweet witch!” This was from Lola.

“Aurora is doing so well!” Bella shouted, unable to contain her excitement.

“You just missed out on the best chicken parm ever.” From Axel, of course. That male was always thinking about food.

Brielle didn’t say anything as the others all talked at once, shouting over each other.

Star blinked, her bright purple eyes vivid before she looked at Brielle. “You guys have a dragon?”

Brielle’s lips pursed together but before she could respond, Harlow blurted, “No, but she was staying with us for a week and we’re all going to visit her soon. She’s so stinking cute I kinda want to kidnap her but I like her owner too much to do that.”

Star blinked again as she stared at Harlow. “Who are you and what have you done to my stoic Harlow?”

Brielle grunted in agreement. She wasn’t sure what had happened to her twin, but lately she’d been a raging chatterbox. It was pretty nice, if she was being honest.

“Wait, did you say…Lachlan’s brother is getting mated?”

Lachlan popped into the image then, all serious dragon. “Rhys is mated?” he asked in that lilting Scottish brogue.

“No,” Brielle said before anyone could answer. “But he’s well on his way to claiming her. It’s just a matter of time. He just took her home because she expended way too much energy from a spell. Apparently she’s a pretty powerful witch.”

Lachlan stared at all of them as if they’d lost their minds. Then he kissed Star on the head and murmured something too low to hear before he disappeared from sight. There was the sound of a door shutting then.

“It’s just us now,” she said laughing. “My mate can’t believe Rhys is mating with a witch. Now…she’s the one who owns the dragonling?”

Harlow answered then and for the next twenty minutes they all talked over each other, everyone just excited to talk to Star. Brielle’s tiger was very much at peace, seeing how happy her lifelong friend, her former Alpha, was. It was clear that Star was happier than she’d ever been.

Once everyone was winding down, she cleared her throat. “You guys mind giving me some time with Star?”

“Of course not.” Bella blew kisses at the laptop and everyone else waved before heading out.

“So what’s up?” Star asked, straightening slightly. Behind her a big window was open, revealing that it was dark out, and Brielle was pretty certain she heard sheep in the distance.

“Just wanted to talk to you.” She flipped the chair at the desk around and straddled it. “You look good.”

“That’s what nonstop sex’ll do to a woman.”

Brielle snorted. “It’s more than that. How is everyone there? How’s everyone treating you?”

“Amazing. I was nervous coming here. It doesn’t matter that I’m not a dragon. They’ve all accepted me. I mean, there might be a few outliers but I haven’t dealt with anything internal yet. External is another matter,” she said, sighing.

“Supernaturals or humans?”

“Both. There are a lot of people suffering. So many people were traveling when The Fall happened and now they’re displaced, in a new country. We’ve been able to get some people home, but others have no home to go to. It’s…hard seeing so much suffering and adjusting to this new reality. I almost feel bad being so damn happy with Lachlan.” Star’s eyes flashed a deep violet then, a mirror of her feelings.

“I know. It’s the same here. We were out on a mission last week for King and found a group of human teenagers stuck out in the middle of nowhere. On the outskirts of the bayou. They’d been here visiting an aunt when everything went to shit. They just wanted to get back to their parents. But…” Brielle swallowed hard, pushing back the wave of emotion pushing up.

“Yeah.” Star’s jaw tightened once. Then she cleared her throat. “So how’s my baby sister?”

“Amazing.” She didn’t even have to think twice about that.

“Yeah?”

“She’s…blossomed. She and King have a weird sort of friendship. You know she’s become a liaison of sorts for him, but I don’t know. She’s coming into her own. She’s always been incredible but it’s like I’m watching a butterfly emerge. She’s powerful, something we’ve always known. But she’s growing into that power faster than I thought would happen.”

“You’re not just saying that for my sake?”

Brielle knew her tiger flashed in her eyes. “I would never lie to my Alpha. To my friend.”

Star’s lips kicked up ever so slightly. “I’m not your Alpha anymore.”

“Hmm.”

“King is your Alpha now.”

“I live in his territory. And I follow his rules. You…were my Alpha a long time. My tiger is still adjusting.”

“Do you want to come to Scotland?”

Yes. “No. I won’t leave Aurora. Not yet.”

“Hmm. Maybe not ever. Just give it time.”

She would. “So how are the girls settling in?”

Star let out a real laugh then. “Oh my, Kartini has already broken a few hearts.”

“So what else is new?”

“Exactly. Taya and Athena seem to be settling in.” There was something in Star’s tone though and she’d left out Marley.

“So…what about Marley?”

“I don’t know. She’s been quiet, reserved. Not like herself at all. I think I might ask if she wants to head back to New Orleans if I can’t get her to talk to me. I don’t know if Scotland is the right place for her and I don’t want her to stay out of a sense of loyalty.”

Brielle was surprised that Marley hadn’t opened up to Star, and made a mental note to call her later that night.

“So what’s going on with Harlow? Seriously?”

Brielle just laughed and shook her head. “I have no idea what’s going on with my twin but I like it.”

“I do too. I miss you.”

She sighed. “I miss you too. It’s weird not seeing you every day.”

“I know.”

“Being mated looks good on you.”

Star grinned. “I know that too. How’s my lion doing?”

“Likely to get his head cut off any day now by some male he’s pissed off.”

“I’m glad that some things haven’t changed.”

Yeah, Brielle was too.