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Smiling, Harley rolled off my lap as Dylan came thundering down the stairs. “Dad! Fix your dinner so I can have the leftovers. I’m hungry again.”

“There’s ice cream, too,” Harley said.

“Ooh! I’ll have that first.” He raced into the kitchen, giving me nothing more than a hearty wave. I was glad to see him so lighthearted. At least the stress of this battle with Sean hadn’t reached him.

“Where’s Cassidy?” I asked as I stood up off the couch. I was starving. Finally eating dinner sounded almost as good as ravishing Harley. A good second option, at least.

“Locked up in her room with Striker,” Harley said with a smirk. “She said they had totalk. But”—she lowered her voice—“I think they might be doing a little more than that.”

I chuckled. I’d been pretty sure that was happening when Striker brought his fancy white noise machine from his room in the clubhouse. With a bunch of dragons sharing space, we’d gotten pretty good at masking—or at least, attempting to mask—our private endeavors. “Well, that explains why Striker asked to skip the clubhouse meeting. First time he’s ever done that. He said he wascompromised.”

“That’s one way of putting it,” she said, laughing.

I went into the kitchen and gave Dylan a big hug. He whined theatrically and reached for his ice cream bowl as I got him in a headlock. It felt like I hadn’t seen him in ages, and we roughhoused around the kitchen for a few minutes before I finally fixed myself a plate. Dylan dived into the leftovers moments after finishing his ice cream. Such was the metabolism of a teenaged dragon shifter. Harley watched us with a fond smile on her face.

I wanted this for the rest of my life. My son, happy, laughing, and well-fed. My wife on the couch. The warmth of the house around us.

This was all I needed to be happy. All I wanted was for us to laugh and love and live freely together, without any threats from my old life hanging over our heads.

I had to see this through to the end.

“All right, Dyl, I’ve got to get a little more work done.” I ruffled his hair. “Don’t stay up too late playing video games.”

“No promises,” Dylan said through a mouthful of bread.

I leaned over the couch and kissed Harley briefly. Dylan was too focused on his meal to even comment on it.

“Good luck,” she whispered against my lips. “Don’t take too long.”

God, I was ready for this to be over.

I climbed the stairs and stepped into my office, closing the door behind me before my sharp ears could pick up any soundsfrom Cassidy’s room. Whatever she was doing with Striker—right now, that was her business. And I had something a lot more important to attend to.

I pulled Forrest’s phone out of my pocket and punched in his passcode—four fives in a row, simple bastard. I scrolled through his recent calls and found most of them had been to Sean and Blakely. He had a small life, it looked like. Pathetic. Getting kicked out of Lakeview might be the best thing that ever happened to him.

I tapped Sean’s name. The call connected after a single ring. “Where the fuck have you been?” Sean barked. “I’ve been trying to reach you all day. You think you can just ignore me after everything I’ve done for you?”

Sean’s cold voice had my dragon roaring back into life and sent rage burning through my voice. “Forrest’s been busy having his ass handed to him.”

Silence.

“You won’t be working with him again. Ever.”

“Ace,” Sean hissed. “How nice to hear from you.” His voice was icy and unnervingly emotionless. Different from the voice I’d just heard on the phone. Different from the voice I remembered from my childhood.

My dragon knew what was happening. I wasn’t speaking to Sean as a whole man—a whole shifter with both a human side and a draconic side. It was as if Sean had been cleaved down the middle. Right now, I was speaking to his dragon alone.

He was losing control. I just had to give him that last push.

“You’re really this stupid?” I snapped. “You think that idiotcopcould get past me? You really thought that would be the way to take me down?”

Sean snarled into the phone, and I didn’t have to see him to know his fangs had dropped.

I took a deep breath. I had to keep pushing in a way that would hurt him. Hurt us both.

“Shit like this is why Dad chose me to be the alpha,” I said slowly, clearly, making sure to enunciate every word. “Every choice you make isn’t just reckless, it’s stupid. You’re not smart enough to lead a clan.”

“You don’t knowanythingabout leading a clan!”