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“Yes, that’s me. Is Dylan in trouble again?”

“We’ve had some trouble with him today,” the principal said coolly. “Serious trouble, in fact. You know we’ve had trouble with some verbal altercations with other students.”

“I do,” I said. What had he gotten into this time?

“Well, today at lunch, he punched another student and nearly broke his nose.”

“Shit,seriously?”

“Yes, seriously. We’d like you to come pick him up today. We’ll discuss his suspension. The other emergency contact listed said she would be available if you weren’t.”

I sighed. Fighting? Suspension? I knew Dylan was having a tough time, but his behavior was getting out of hand. “I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

I ended the call, grabbed my purse, and hurried out of my office. Thank God, my boss’s door was open. I stuck my head inside. “Hey, Suri?”

My boss glanced up from his computer. He was an older man, perpetually threatening to retire, with a build like a retired linebacker and a seemingly never-ending stash of novelty ties. He took one look at my expression and sighed. “Let me guess. You need to head to the school?”

“Sorry. I know it’s the third time this month.”

Suri waved a hand. “Don’t worry about it. I know it’s not ideal for you, either. What happened?”

I stepped into his office and shut the door behind me, then leaned against it. “Dylan punched another student.”

Suri let out a low whistle. “Sounds like his puberty is in full swing to me.”

“Did he say anything to you about it at the cookout last week?”

I was lucky that Suri happened to live in my neighborhood. He was my boss, but also a friend. And he was a shifter. Shifters weren’t exactlyrare,but they weren’t common, either. I was ahuman, but my nine-year-old son Dylan was a shifter. There were parts of shifter life—especially shifter childhood—that I simply couldn’t understand. The first time Suri had met Dylan at the neighborhood cookout, he’d immediately realized he was a shifter. Since then, Suri had done his best to mentor Dylan, but a mentor wasn’t the same as a father.

And Dylan didn’t have a father.

“He didn’t mention it,” Suri said. “But I could sense he was more on edge than usual. Have you thought about taking him to his sire?”

Grimacing, I shook my head.

“I know it’s not what you want to hear, but if his sire was an alpha, Dylan’s likely to be an alpha too. I won’t be much help to him if that’s the case. His dragon will want to be with his clan—his blood. If I’m around, it might actually make it worse.”

I knocked my head back against the door with athunk.“You think it’ll get worse?”

Suri’s brow furrowed. “I can’t say for sure. But I don’t think you should wait to find out. Go pick Dylan up. I’ll clear your schedule for the next few days.”

“Thank you,” I said. “Really.”

On the driveto the school, I turned Suri’s advice over and over in my mind. Dylan was only nine years old, but his dragon was already beginning to awaken. I’d thought I’d have a few more years to figure out what to do, but it looked like that wasn’t the case.

What the hell was I going to do?

I hurried into the school to the office. The principal met me inside. He had a disappointed scowl on his face that was unfortunately just as familiar as his disappointed voice on the phone. He had one hand on Dylan’s shoulder. Dylan’s mop ofblond hair hid his features as he stared down at his brightly colored sneakers.

“As I said on the phone, Dylan hit another student,” the principal said. “As we all know, that’s strictly against the code of conduct?—”

“He called me a dumb lizard!” Dylan said without looking up. “Why isn’t he in any trouble?”

The principal closed his eyes and exhaled. Apparently, this argument had already occurred a few times.

“Come on, Dylan,” I said. “I’m taking you home.”

“Miss Founty, this behavior can’t continue. We understand the challenges of shifter puberty, but Dylan is out of control. We suggest you look into additional outside help so he can better control himself.”