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“There’s something I want to show you,” I told Harley and Dylan. “If you don’t mind?”

“What is it?” Dylan asked, eyes wide with excitement.

“Cool your jets, kid,” Harley said.

“It’s worth being excited about.” I grinned. “This way.”

I led Harley and Dylan up the stairs to the second floor. My room was at the far end of the hall, and the bedroom next to it had been converted into my office. I pushed open the door to the third bedroom, which had been a guest room for clan members.

“Check it out,” I said.

“Whoa,” Dylan whispered. “No way.”

Hawk had spent all yesterday afternoon with me converting this bedroom. We’d switched out the queen bed for a lofted double bed and stuck some bean-bag chairs under there, plus a television and a video game console. There was open floor space,a new desk, some bookshelves, and even some Lego sets. Hawk and I had even strung up some color-changing LED lights, since Mia said they were popular among kids.

Dylan looked at me, wide-eyed. “Is this…”

“It’s your room,” I said. “If you ever need to stay here.”

Dylan surged forward and wrapped his arms around my middle. He squeezed me with a surprising amount of strength—well, not surprising, considering he was a dragon shifter and also my son—then let go before I even realized what happened. “This is amazing!” he said, then bounded over to the video game console to look at the games I’d picked out with Hawk’s help.

I cleared my throat around the sudden lump that had formed there. Harley was lingering by the door, her hand over her mouth.

“Sorry if it’s too much,” I said quietly. “I don’t want you to think I’m trying… trying to fix everything with money. I want to make sure there’s a safe place for him to stay.”

Harley dropped her hands and smiled. It was a small, sweet smile. A genuine smile. God, I’d missed that smile. “I’m not going to complain about you spoiling him,” she said. “It’s… Wow, it’s a lot to take in.”

“I set up the room next door for you, too,” I said. “Didn’t get you a Playstation, though, so if you were expecting one of those…”

Harley’s eyes popped wide. “You did?”

I nodded. “I meant what I said at Liz’s. If you need another place to stay, you’re always welcome here.”

Dylan laughed with delight, and we both watched as he examined the Lego sets on the desk.

“He really needed this,” Harley said. “Thank you.”

My throat tightened again. “We’ve got a lot of shifter business to cover,” I said to Dylan. “You want to get started?”

“Yes!” Dylan punched the air with excitement. “Let’s do it.”

I led Harley and Dylan back downstairs, then out the back door. Hawk was grilling on the deck, with Mia and Bella supervising. They waved at us as I led Dylan down the wooden stairs and onto the wide, grassy expanse between the house and the lake. Harley followed a moment later, with a quilt Mia had given her and a glass of lemonade.

Harley spread the blanket out on the grass a few paces away from us and sat down. She took off her shoes and swept her braids back off her shoulders. Already there was a thin sheen of sweat on her forehead in the midday sun. She smiled at us.

Logically, I knew she was watching us to keep an eye on Dylan. She hadn’t seen me in ten years—of course, she wouldn’t leave us to our shifting lessons alone. Having her eyes on us only made me more determined to get this right.

I knelt in front of Dylan. Now that we were outside, about to start, he worried his lower lip in his teeth. “What are we gonna do this time?” he asked. “Is it gonna hurt? Like my teeth did?”

“It’ll probably feel weird, but it won’t hurt that badly,” I said. “When it happens involuntarily—without you deciding to do it—it always hurts a little more. If you learn to shift in bits, like I’m going to show you, it’ll hurt a lot less.”

Dylan watched me for a moment, then nodded. My dragon rumbled, pleased that my son was checking me for lies.

“It’s a little scary, isn’t it?”

Dylan nodded again.

“I remember when I was your age, when I went through my first shift. My dad was so excited, but I was really scared. But my dad was a good teacher, and that made it a lot easier. So, we’ll do the same, me and you, okay?”