She looked up. Something flickered in the sky far above the treetops.
*Is that a bird?*
Fleance pulled over and craned his neck out the car window. “That’s not a bird,” he called over to her, just as the creature’s wings flared out and caught the late-afternoon sun.Fleance
Fleance swore as he saw the flying creature’s wings glitter like black diamonds. “What the hell is he doing flying so far down the mountain?” he muttered to himself and reached out telepathically. Hopefully the kid wasn’t too far away…
*Cole,* he began warningly, just as Sheena’s voice exploded in his head.
*It’s a DRAGON!* she yelled. *I can’t believe it! A real dragon!*
“A real dumbass kid of a dragon,” Fleance grumbled. “Where are his parents? What are Hank and Opal thinking, letting him—”
He cut himself off, fully aware that it likely wasn’t a case of the Heartwells ‘letting’ their son fly out of the safe zone so much as a case of them turning their backs for the split second necessary for Cole to decide to stretch his wings.
Cole swooped closer, then canted his wings so he was hovering above the treetops. *Oh, darn, you spotted me!* he cried.
*A blind mole could spot you flying out in the open like that,* Fleance told him, and then realized Cole wasn’t angling his descent towards him. He was heading for the bursts of movement and shimmery flames where Sheena’s hellsheep was doing as poor a job of staying hidden as the dragonling was.
*Hey, Cole…* Fleance began. The last thing he wanted was the kid freaking out when he realized he was about to land in front of a stranger.
*WHEEE!*
Another voice chimed like a bell in his head, and Fleance’s chest seized up. Oh, God. Cole wasn’t the only rogue dragonling flying down the mountain: his little cousin, Ruby, was here as well, her brilliant red wings shining like her namesake as she did loops in the air.
Oh, God, Fleance thought. His hellhound was paralyzed inside him. Both of them?
He couldn’t fight the feeling that everything was about to go terribly wrong. Sheena was a stranger, of a shifter type no one in Pine Valley had ever seen before. Anyone who saw her wouldn’t see the sweet, infuriating woman he’d fallen for so suddenly and completely—they’d see a giant sheep with smoke pouring from her woolen coat, who was literally sneezing fire.
And the other thing they would see was him.
Not Fleance, who’d run into a burning building to save a woman he’d just met. Not the Fleance who’d stayed by that woman’s side as she defeated the most evil man he’d ever known, and who had finally found a pack and a place for himself that felt right.
They would see Flea. Hopeless Flea. Dangerous Flea. Flea who set fires, and hurt people, not saved them. Flea who couldn’t control his hellhound when faced with people who were breaking the rules…
…and two dragonlings taking a joyride down the mountain definitely counted as breaking the rules.
He could see it all unrolling, scene by scene. Cole and Ruby startled by Sheena. Him trying to reassure them, and it only getting worse, because of course the Heartwells would have warned their children away from him. And if any of the adults turned up…
His mouth went dry as his psychic senses pricked, alerting him to several shifter presences right at the edge of his awareness.
*Sheena,* he began, his voice halting, *it might be best to shift back for this.*
*Oh, no, really? I’m not sure my hellsheep bothered to bring my clothes with me this shift, and I don’t want to introduce myself to your friends in my birthday suit…*
He tried to keep his feelings under control, but a tendril slithered out along the mate bond.
Sheena paused. *Wait, you’re seriously worried about this, aren’t you? What’s wrong?* She yanked on the mate bond, and Fleance had a sudden vision of her pulling it up to her eyes and inspecting it. *Tell me what’s the matter, and I’ll—*
A booming echo replaced her voice in his mind, all he could hear of what was her hellsheep no doubt making terrible threats. The opposite of what he needed. He hurried out of the car.
*Cole, Ruby,* he called warningly. *I’m over here!*
*It’s cool, I see you!* Cole yelled back, flying in the wrong direction. *In the woods!*
*No, I’m back here, on the—* On the road. His brain seized. Was he really about to ask two shifted dragonlings to meet him on the main road into town? What if one of Pine Valley’s human residents drove past?
Before he could unfreeze, Ruby barreled into Cole in midair and they both dropped down through the canopy. A shriek cut through the air. Fleance broke through his fears and ran.
His hellhound bristled beneath his skin, half desperate to break out and run faster towards Sheena and the dragonlings, half cringing with guilt and misery with the knowledge that that would make him seem like more of a threat.
Ahead of him, branches cracked. Smoke billowed. Shrill dragonling voices shrieked and roared. He burst through into the clearing that his pack sense told him was where Sheena was, expecting the worst, and found—
Sheena laughing in delight. Smoke puffed out of her mouth. *You’re a lot smaller than I thought dragons would be,* she said to Cole, who was standing in front of her, jaw hanging open. *And YOU’RE even smaller!* she added, craning her neck to look at the tiny bright-red dragon clinging to her back.
*You’re not Flea,* Cole said, shrinking down.
Sheena laughed. *No, I’m Sheena! I’m a hellsheep shifter! What’s your name?*
*Umm…* Cole murmured, but Ruby jumped up, wings spread wide and tail whipping back and forth. Fleance’s chest relaxed. Sure, Cole had gone suddenly shy, but he wasn’t freaking out. Maybe this wasn’t going to be a disaster after all.
*CAN BREAV FIRE!* Ruby crowed, and demonstrated.
Or maybe it still was, he thought, as a nearby bush caught fire.
*WOW! WHAT A POWERFUL DRAGON!* Sheena boomed. *Er, I mean, oh dear! That’s very cool
