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Zenos shrugged. “Humans did terrible things to dragons for many years. And we did terrible things back. Yet dragons aren’t the only immortal beings who struggled with yer kind. When the watchers realized their horniness had created some tremendous problems for the planet, they woke us hibernating dragons to help them kill their monstrous children. After the dirty deed was done, though, they deeply regretted all that loss of life. So instead of showing gratitude to dragons for doing their dirty work, they blamed us for their emotional pain. They owe my kind an apology and they know it. I will hold them accountable for their misdeeds until they truly repent, which will probably be never. The assumption they have of their own superiority precludes any admission of having made a made a mistake.”

I huffed in disgust. “Yes, I’ve seen that for myself. Did ya go hibernate again after that?”

Zenos nodded. “Aye, I slept again and would have slept forever if people would have let me be.”

“What woke ya the next time?”

“I’m sure I don’t have to tell ya, lass, that all creatures bicker with one another. Humans are bad about starting wars and dragons are a close second. My father was one of the ancients—a black dragon who sacrificed his whole life to serve dragonkind forever. He’s like yer demon king in that regard. What remained of my mother’s dragon descendants wanted to kill me for some wrongs my family and I did. Some would say they had goodreasons but taking yer revenge on a whole family is always unfair. My father learned of their treachery and woke me before they could succeed. I’ve stayed away ever since.”

“I learned about dragons in magick school, but it was The Dagda who shared most about them. I knew the stories of dragons still existing were real from seeing them in my work. I also knew they sometimes were a problem for humans. What I didn’t know was they were a problem for each other. Ya’re the first to tell me that.”

Zenos shook his head. “There’s less of that going on now because they’re being meditated by one of yer kind. I’m speaking of a multi-talented witch who ironically turned out to be a descendant of mine. She takes dragon form and has mighty magickal powers when she does. We dragons live mostly in peace because of her insistence that we do. Because of her I’ve returned to my scholarly ways and can’t say as I regret it.”

“Wow,” I said, thinking of what it must be like for someone born human to learn to shift into the most apex predator in the world. I’d never longed for shifting talent, but now I think having wings might have been nice.

Then I thought of the demon wolves. They were also humans who would have to master the skill of switching forms. Magick had altered their genetic makeup too much. The longer they lived as wolves—the more their animal natures developed.

“So... anyway,” Zenos said, getting back to his story. “After my father saved me, he said I shamed my dragon mother and their love that had created me by hibernating too much. He ordered me to live again and made sure I did. That was several centuries ago now.”

I stared at him in shock. “Goddess, Zenos, yer mother and ya lived the dragon version of what the watchers did with humans. Ya’re a child of a dragongod—a child who shouldn’t have everexisted at all. It must have been hard for ya to live all this time with no others like ya. My family is all that keeps me sane.”

Zenos stabbed the air in front of me with a finger. “Ya’re quite sharp for a middle-aged witch, Aran. I like that in a female. I bet yer guardian does too.”

I snorted. “Ya’re not the only one with secrets, Zenos. The real reason the guardians hang around me is that one of them claims to be my ancestor. They kept right on having sex with humans even after the mess they made.” I chuckled dryly when he froze. “Did I surprise ya with that information? It sure surprised me when I learned it. We’ve all heard the stories but it’s vastly different to be told ya’re related to one of them.”

“No, Henry didn’t share that bit of gossip about ya,” he said with a smirk. Then his frown returned. “I can’t believe those bastards kept knocking up human women. That proves they’re not as high and mighty as they claim to be.”

Laughter bubbled up from deep within me. “Goddess, I learned that about them almost immediately. My ancestor, Orlin, tells me he loved my grandmother. Now he shows up randomly to visit. He’s also promised me that they’ve learned to mate with humans without creating monsters—unless ya consider me one. I know a few people who would think that about me. He also says there will be no more offspring because they’ve finally perfected birth control for their male human forms to keep them from replicating. The females got new bodies. The male guardians made them sterile. As ya can imagine, the females are rightly pissed at that.”

Zenos laughed loudly. “Ya’re a fascinating person, Aran O’Malley. Henry said ya saved a female guardian’s life and got stuck with being her jailer. Is that true?”

“Yes, but I had reasons to make that commitment. If ya turn yer head, ya can see them running around in that pen over thereplaying frisbee with their demon caretaker. She turned two humans into animals.”

“I can’t believe a guardianturnedhumans into other creatures against their will. It’s against their precious code to interfere that much,” Zenos said with a sneer.

My sigh was long. Not a day went by that I didn’t worry about whether or not Zara would succeed in changing them back. “The female guardian combined new magick with ancient magick that she learned from a race who were here before humans. That race mastered genetic manipulation. No one knows that old magick but her because she loved a male among them. A grief older than the human race motivated what she did.”

Zenos stared hard at me. I swallowed nervously and wished I could read his mind, but I couldn’t, so I just went on talking. Why did I care if he understood my reasoning or not? He wasn’t there when I made the original decision.

“If I’d killed Zara, I would have killed any chance of her turning them back into humans. The guardians went to a lot of trouble to make Zara as good a prisoner as I could expect to have to keep tabs on. We both stand to gain from our agreement if she learns how to undo what she did.”

Zenos snorted as loud as a bull. “For the sake of the guardian’s victims, ya walk the edge of the wicked female remembering the truth. That’s not very smart of ya, lass. The bastards are using ya to do what they don’t want to do themselves. That’s the same thing they did to dragons.”

Shrugging off his warnings, I sighed again. “If Zara turns the demon wolves back into humans, all my troubles will be worth it. She originally intended to do that anyway, but now she gets a legitimate chance. The details of her story remain the same. Only the plot points have changed.”

The dragon mage laughed. “Ya Irish are so whimsical in yer views.”

“And where do ya hail from, Zenos? Ya sound just like me. I know ya must be Celtic.”

“My hibernation was in yer homeland but not on yer soil. It was farther up north.”

“Oh. Ya’re a highlander,” I said, wrinkling my face. “That’s like someone from the south calling someone a Yankee here.”

“I don’t concern myself with that level of detail. I slept inside the rocky cliffs there. I woke up and stayed for a while. Mostly, I still call that land home, but I don’t label myself with any human term.”

My ears pricked at the sound of a vehicle. “I believe I hear a vehicle coming down the driveway. That must be the Wu Shaman returning at last.”

Both of us rushed out of my sacred space and headed back to the house.