The atmosphere that night is incredible, there’s a lot of laughter, the dragons are bugling in happiness and everyone is excited. I’m not sure I realized how much Nova expected to die when she shifted, but watching her with Amne, I realize that now she can relax and begin to really think about what it will mean to be a fire dragon. I knew Ajax and Kano had given up already and Naida and Keagan were too new to have let it sink in, but watching Nova’s excitement makes my heart soar. As we cook food and roast marshmallows, everyone is talking about happy things. Everett and Kaylani tell everyone about their plans to open a boarding school for all dragons, shifters, and hybrids to come and learn about themselves and each other. “It will be a place for those who don’t have homes, to live until they decide they are ready to leave,” Everett says, smiling at Kaylani. “So, Nova and I can live here?” Naida asks. “Oh, I have a home,” Nova says, coming to sit in Ishir’s lap. “You do?” Ajax a

This last month of my pregnancy has been very busy. Ishir found Nova’s real birth certificate and the missing person’s report for her two years ago. It broke my heart to see the sweet smiling face of what must have been Nova's school picture. “What happened to her parents?” “Car accident. Then she was sent to live with family that, from what I can tell, didn’t realize she’d gone missing for several weeks. They did put in the missing persons report, but they haven’t really done anything to search for her,” he told me. “Do you have pictures of her parents?” I ask him. “Yeah, I knew you’d want them. I’ll send them over to you. We could make a photo album, or get her one of those picture frames that uses electronic photos in a slide show,” he tells me but I just look at him. I have no idea what he’s talking about. “I’ll take care of it. You just worry about bringing our healthy daughter into the world. There is one more thing,” he says, his voice grim. “What?” “I think I found Olive

I feel like my heart is going to burst as I take Cyrene from Tana’s arms and lift her hand to mine, seeing Ancalagon’s blessing. “Cal?” I ask quietly, knowing he can hear me, even over the humming of the dragons. “She will be one of us, only different. She may have Ishir’s form, but she will have the heart of a dragon.” I’m not sure I understand what that means, but my heart is so full of love for both of my children, for my mate, for everyone that is here to support me that I just burst into tears. Ishir’s arms come around me, holding both of us, until my tears turn into hiccups. “You’ve had a lot going on in the last couple of weeks, my love. Why don’t you let Kenna watch over Cyrene and you and I can go lie down. Kenna already looks about ready to burst into flames in her excitement to hold our daughter,” he says and I turn, seeing Kenna bouncing on her toes. She holds out her arms and I put Cyrene into them, before leaning into my mate. “I’ll bring her to you when she gets h

We leave Everett to work his medical magic and hope that it works. When we step outside the medical wing, all the hybrid kids are standing there, looking solemn. “Did they die?” Keagan asks. “The boy did, but the girl still has a chance. Doc Everett is going to do everything he can to help her,” Ishir says as I watch Nova’s lips tremble. I open my arms and she rushes into them. I wrap my arms around her, crooning at her. “What can we do to help find them before more end up like this?” Ajax asks. “I need to go searching for them. I need to find them before they shift. I don’t know if there are others that have died or maybe, like the girl, they shifted and didn’t die right away and we could potentially save them. I need to get back to where we found these two. There were other scents on the ground that I want to search for,” Ishir says. “We can help,” Kano says. “Not yet. You’re still learning how to shift and in the forest, you have to shift above the tree line and drop to the g

After Ishir told me that the hybrids must have been close when we were there and that they came back and finished off the animals that they had started to eat, I knew we needed to get back out and start looking for them again. Avani took Merethyl to his cave of treasures. He has done that with all of her pregnancies because his DNA in their child mingles with hers and she begins to talk and act like a dragon. This time seems a bit easier than what I’ve heard of the first two, or maybe Avani is better at reading the signs and getting her away earlier. He took her early this time, so they will most likely be gone for two to three months, meaning we've lost one of our search party. He told Ishir that he will continue to search for the hybrids near his cave of treasures, but he won’t leave Merethyl for long periods of time and once she is completely overwhelmed by the dragon DNA, thinking she’s a dragon, she won’t leave the cave until she delivers. They’re having a girl this time, anothe