the end of a traumatic confrontation with my ex and his extended family.

Gramps, as my sons, Harper and Thatcher, had taken to calling Christoph, was a gyrfalcon shifter and a leader among the magical communities in the Northwest Territories. His white wings, speckled with black, were magnificent and permanent, and the genes he carried passed to his only son, Benôit.

Benôit was my father. I had no memories him as man or bird, yet at least one of my sons, Harper, had inherited the gyrfalcon traits. Within hours of me being released from the dampening spell inked into that first tattoo, Harper’s air-based magic began to emerge in the form of feather tracts on his upper back.

The speed of his physical transformation, as one of his vertebrae began to enlarge and metamorphose into an anchor for wings, was wrenching, painful, and not entirely welcomed. Christoph had spirited the frightened eighteen-year-old to northern Canada to help him recover and to give him space to live among other winged shifters while he explored his options.

“What’s the latest on your eldest?” River asked.

“You reading my mind again?”

“Mm-hmm.” I couldn’t see his shy grin, but I knew it was there.

“Seriously?”

He continued to puncture my skin with the needle and didn’t answer.

“You know, you druids really have a lock on this whole enigmatic thing,” I teased, keeping my body relaxed. “How’re things going with Airlie?” Airlie Redflesh was another local witch. She had been one of thirteen at my initiation ceremony and assisted with the online lectures. Knowing I had a “thing” developing with one of River’s friends, she’d confided she had a mild crush.

The druid took his time answering. “Airlie and I have a date scheduled for Friday night.”

“Ooh, love is in the air.” My toes tingled in anticipation of chatting with Airlie afterward.

“Calliope, this is our first date.”

“Excited?”

“Terrified,” he said, lifting both hands off my back and leaning away. “She’s a water witch.”

“But otter’s one of your forms,” I pointed out, unsure why a mutual connection to one of the natural elements would be problematic. Tanner’s and my shared connection to earth made for compatible magic. And an intense physical attraction. I resisted the urge to push away from the chair and look over my shoulder. “It’s the one you shift in and out of the most. Airlie’s into water and you are, too, but in a different way—ouch. Isn’t that like a perfect match?”

“That’s what terrifies me.” River again settled into his task. I breathed through the constant, grating buzz of his machine, focusing on the floor and on parsing the magical signatures in the surrounding buildings.

I tried picturing how my older son’s recovery was going. The sparsely populated, physically spacious Northwest Territories were perfect for shifters and others like Christoph and Harper. The place was less supportive of Harper’s girlfriend, Leilani. She was a witch and a natural imbuer whose magic—a blossoming combination of witchcraft and spellwork—was closer to her fathers’. She had lobbied hard to go along to lend emotional support and, if needed, to work in the kitchens of the shifters’ compound. If she wanted to leave, home was only a few portal hops away.

“Oh, in answer to your question, Harper’s doing well according to Christoph. Leilani’s reports are a little less rosy, but I get the sense going north was a good decision for her, too.”

River hmm’d, then said, “You can get up and stretch—take a break. I’ll fill in the shaded areas next.”

“Thanks.” In the bathroom, I tried to peek at the design without success. The space was too tight to maneuver.

Back in the chair, I had to ask River my burning question. His friend—and my maybe-boyfriend—had been off the radar and completely incommunicado for weeks. Though I suspected the absent druid was behind the chunks of raw crystals I kept finding on my porch. “Have you heard anything from Tanner?”

“Sec,” he answered. “Let me get this going.”

Gaah. I had to close my eyes and concentrate on breathing in and out until my skin again acclimated to the sensation of the needle.

“You know Tanner’s teacher is one of the oldest and most venerated druidesses, yes?” he said.

I went to shake my head, when River lifted the needle and reminded me to stay still.

“I didn’t know that. But I don’t know much about druids.”

River exhaled through his nose. “Ni’eve du Blanc comes from a different time and she continues to live and teach at her own pace.”

“Is that your way of saying you have heard from Tanner?”

“I’ve heard through the grapevine that negotiations between Ni’eve, Idunn, and what’s left of the Keepers have reached a very delicate balance.”

Oh. A Keeper of the sacred trees that bore the Norse goddess’s beloved Apples of Immortality had gone rogue. That rogue Keeper—Ni’eve’s daughter, Jessamyne, aka the Apple Witch—had been involved with my maybe-boyfriend.

She had also set her sights on eliminating me from the competition for Tanner’s attention.

“Calliope, druids become druids because they survive their training, not by an accident of birth. Tanner’s a good man who takes his obligations seriously. He’ll finish with Ni’eve, and then he’ll be back.” River lifted his inking gun and released the foot pedal. “I need to take five,” he said. “My hand’s cramping.”

The druid’s timing was perfect. Talk of Tanner agitated me, especially when I pictured him spending day after day in his ex’s proximity. In France. I wasn’t the jealous type, but something about Jessamyne had always irritated me.

Okay, a few things. No more than four.

I tried tracing the chipped edges of the patterned linoleum floor squares then closed my eyes and recalled the way Bear’s paws had always—always—been a reassuring weight against my skin.

The stool squeaked and the cushion gave a funny sigh as River’s weight settled. “Okay, where were we?” he asked.

“You were giving me the background on Tanner and Jessamyne.”

The druid’s hmm competed with the buzzing of the machine. “My understanding is Jessamyne wanted the status of being her mother’s daughter and the arcane knowledge that came with being a Keeper. She made promises left and right regarding her

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