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She gave a little squeal and swatted at me. “That’s not?—”

Laughing, I set my hands on her hips and pulled her against my chest. She wound her arms around me and we swayed in the kitchen to music that wasn’t playing. I thought about Forest raiding the garage earlier today. That was exactly the kind of thing I didn’t want Harley to be around for. I thought about telling her, but what good would that do? She’d already seen the grudge Forest held against me. The raids wouldn’t stop anytime soon.

We had enough to focus on with Dylan’s upcoming shift. The business was my responsibility.

When the oven timer went off, Harley hummed, then reluctantly pulled away. She pulled the pizzas out of the oven, and the scent made my mouth water. Harley sliced one with expert ease, then I slid half of an entire pizza onto a plate.

“That for you?” she asked.

I laughed. “No, I’ll take it to Dylan. And if I’m right, he’ll probably sneak down here for the other half in an hour. You go ahead and start eating, I’ll be right back.”

I gave her a quick kiss, then went upstairs to Dylan’s room. I knocked on the door, then stuck my head inside. As I’d expected, he was curled up in his bed, buried under the covers and playing on his handheld console, despite having a big television in his room.

I set the plate of pizza on his nightstand. “Try to eat something, kiddo, you’ll feel a little better.”

“Mm,” Dylan said in response.

I smiled faintly. I knew exactly how terrible he felt, but I was glad things were speeding along. My dragon was eager to meet his son. I leaned down, tousled his hair, then planted a kiss on the top of his head. “It’ll be over soon, Dylan.”

I could feel his dragon wrestling right under the surface. Any day now.

25

HARLEY

Apiercing scream tore me from sleep.

It was a wordless, blood-curdling shriek of pain. I scrambled out of bed, my head spinning and my heart in my throat. The sheets tangled around my legs, and I nearly fell on my face. “Dylan!” I cried as I ran down the hall. Stephan was right behind me.

I threw the door to Dylan’s bedroom open.

“Mom!” he cried out. He was in the fetal position in the middle of the floor, twitching and writhing in pain, his fingers clawing at his arms like he was trying to scratch through his skin.

My knees hit the floor. I reached for Dylan, tears in my eyes, desperate to make the pain stop—then Stephan was next to me. He scooped Dylan into his arms and cradled him against his chest. The worst of Dylan’s pain seemed to stop. At least, the shaking stopped, but his face was still contorted as he bared his fangs.

“It’s happening,” Stephan said.

“Is this normal?” My heart was still beating a mile a minute, and I was still terrified at the sight of Dylan in such extreme pain.

“It is,” Stephan said in a calm, soothing voice. “It’s normal. I promise.”

“What can I do?” I asked desperately. I ran my hands over Dylan’s sweat-soaked hair. “How do we stop it?”

“All we can do is be there for him,” Stephan said. He kept Dylan close to his chest and leaned over to kiss me on the forehead. I exhaled and felt like I could breathe again, though fear still ran cold through me.

Stephan knew what was going on. He knew how to keep Dylan safe. We’d get through this. He hurried down the stairs with Dylan in his arms. Dylan had a death grip on Stephan’s shoulders and was still groaning in pain, but it wasn’t the desperate screams of earlier. Those screams would haunt my nightmares for a long time.

Outside, Stephan sat down on the grass and pulled Dylan into his lap. I sat next to them, so I could see Dylan’s face, and my hands itched to reach for them.

“Dad,” Dylan whined. “Dad, it hurts all over.”

Stephan met my eyes and nodded with a small smile. Dylan was talking. That was good.

“You’re ready for this,” Stephan said. “Remember all the practice we’ve done with your fangs, claws, and your tail?”

Dylan nodded. He sat up a little and swallowed hard.

“You’re going to let your claws and your tail out first, okay? Then after that, you’re going to feel like your dragon wants to keep going. Remember that feeling?”