Beck frowned. “That’s not good. Shifters have never been this publicized before. I don’t like it.”
“Neither do I,” Clancy added. “But with everything that’s been going on, it would have been hard to keep it secret.”
“Would it be so bad?” Billie asked, eyeing Clancy. “I mean, my family’s known about shifters for a long time. It wasn’t a problem for us.”
“Hard to say,” Clancy replied. “Although, I doubt most people are like you and your family.”
She laughed. “Good point.”
“Either way…” Harrison chimed in, holding up his beer in a toast. “Whatever happens, we’ll get through it together, as a crew, like a family, just like we always have.”
A cheer rose around the table. Then everyone went back to eating their food, and Mel moved a little closer to Dallas, whose mouth turned up in a smile as he put an arm over the back of her chair.
“By the way, Reno,” Harrison added. “What did Troy want to talk to you about?”
Reno’s easy smile flashed away, his face serious as he leaned back in his chair and folded his arms. “Can’t talk about that. It’s personal. Family stuff.”
“Oh, come on, Reno,” Clancy said, grinning. “Tell us.”
“I would, but then I’d have to kill you,” Reno replied coolly.
Everyone around the table went silent, staring at Reno, but then he just shrugged, his face breaking out in a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Just kidding.”
There were a few nervous laughs while everyone resumed their dinner and conversations, and Mel turned to face Dallas.
His eyes glowed as he watched her.
“What’re you thinking?” she asked, curious.
He didn’t respond but instead pulled her into a soft, quick kiss. When they broke apart, he nodded, his eyes still on her. “I’m the luckiest tiger alive.”
Mel pursed her lips. It felt like her heart could explode with happiness and affection for this wonderful man.
“We’re lucky I took the assignment,” she said, smiling. “I never would have found you otherwise.”
Dallas shook his head. “No, I would have found you somehow. Someday.”
Mel nodded slowly. Maybe he was right. They were meant to be together, and, looking around the table, they were right where they needed to be.
Everything was perfect.
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Zach, Isaac Morningstar III, touched the chunky iron chain around his neck as he caught his reflection in one of the dingy shop windows he passed. Anger contorted his expression as he withdrew his fingers and started again down the street of the bad neighborhood he’d been dropped in.
He was still getting used to the modern world since he’d been woken up some months ago, but even he knew this wasn’t the type of place he would ever have chosen to go back to when he had full access to his dragon powers and a massive treasure trove that allowed him to live in comfort whenever he felt like being in human form.
And yet here he was, leveled, humbled, shackled by this collar until the oracle who watched over shifters was sure he could be “trusted”, barely able to partially shift, with no money and nothing but the clothes on his back.
Despicable state of events.
Not that he blamed the oracle. In his day, hundreds of years ago, dragons had been more akin to powerful, despotic demigods who terrorized humans when it pleased them and roamed the countryside freely. In human form, they were often dukes or lords with power to match, able to hide in the countryside in a massive estate if they so chose. To hell with caves.
Here, dragons had been remodeled to become something much more civilized. Now they worked in pairs, enforcing the laws of the shifter community and protecting shifters and humans in their area.
Protecting them.
The thought was ludicrous. Zach had never in his life met someone he wanted to protect, and he doubted anyone here in the selfish, petty human world was going to change that for him.
Thunder cracked overhead and he looked up with an annoyed scowl to see dark clouds overhead. A few more steps and he felt the patter of rain on his shoulders and shook his head in disgust. He looked around him to gain his bearings and saw a shop across the street that seemed friendly.
A human woman stood in the front window, smiling as she chatted with a man in front of her in a low chair. She had long hair, a mix of dark brown and red that shimmered over her shoulders. Soft, pale skin with rosy cheeks. A sweet mouth.
She was touching her male client’s hair, and Zach felt an odd rumble of jealousy at the sight of it.
She was providing some kind of service. Zach would go over and see what, and get out of the rain at the same time.
When he pulled open the heavy glass door, all eyes turned to him. Various men and women with striking colors of hair looked up at him in shock. Their clients, all arrayed in black cloaks, stared as
