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Harley tucked herself next to me. She pulled her feet beneath her body and leaned against my side. I cracked the seltzer for her and draped my arm around her shoulders, and we both watched as Dylan chattered away to the clan members surrounding him.

“He really fits right in, doesn’t he?” Harley murmured.

I squeezed her closer. “Never doubted he would.”

Striker leaned closer to Dylan, and then burst into exuberant laughter. “The call signs? Well, they’re earned.”

Dylan peered at Hawk curiously. “How do you get a call sign like Hawk?”

Hawk rubbed the back of his neck. “Oh, we don’t have to talk about that?—”

“During his first shift,” Striker said, “he tried to catch a squirrel, but misjudged the dive, hit the ground, and bounced like a volleyball all the way into the lake. Since he’ssucha good hunter, we started calling him Hawk.”

“Oh my god,” Hawk said. “Should we talk about how yours comes from the Lakeview bowling alley?”

“No, no, there’s no need for that,” Striker said. “We’d better brainstorm potential call signs for Dylan. You don’t get one until you shift, kid, but that doesn’t mean we can’t test drive them.”

“I think ‘Joker’,” Hawk said, “since he’s a mini-Ace.”

“No way,” Dylan said. “I want a cool name. Like Bullet. Or Trebuchet.”

“You’d fit right in with Tank, here,” Striker said. The reason for Tank’s call-sign was obvious: he was built like one, taller than me and all muscle, but he was as sweet as a kitten. As long as you didn’t piss him off. Tank had a son, too, I remembered suddenly. And he was around Dylan’s age. The thought of Dylan leading the next generation of shifters in the clan made my dragon rumble with pride.

“Trebuchet?” Tank asked. “Where did you even learn that word?”

“I got this cool new game…”

Harley laughed as Dylan began to recount the plot of his latest video game to twenty full-grown dragon shifters. She took a sip of her seltzer and wiggled a little closer to me.

After the chaos of the morning, my dragon was finally settled. Warmth and pride spread through me as I watched my son with my clan members—the members that I hoped, one day, he might lead.

A missing piece of my life—of myheart—had finally slotted into place.

I’d spent so long trying to live without Harley. Trying to build a life where I was a good alpha, a strong leader. But there was an emptiness at the center of it all. Having Dylan laughing with my clan and Harley tucked into my side feltright.

They belonged here, in Lakeview, with me.

I couldn’t let them go back to Atlanta. I knew it with a surety that spread through my body like a slow-burning flame. Summers wouldn’t be enough. I couldn’t lead the clan through the year knowing Harley and Dylan were in Atlanta without me.

I had until the end of the summer to convince her to stay.

19

HARLEY

“How’s that feel?” Stephan asked. The low rumble of his voice sent delicious heat rolling down my spine.

“Really good,” I hummed. “Ugh, right there.”

He pressed his thumbs harder into my neck, right where my shoulders met my back. We were standing beneath his big rainstorm showerhead again, enjoying the quiet of the morning before Dylan woke up. I’d slept in his bed last night, not wanting to be alone after the car accident. But we’donlyslept. Barely even kissed. Somehow, that felt just as intimate as sex.

Now, I was beyond grateful for his seemingly infinite hot water tank. I’d woken up sore all over from the car accident, like my whole body had been tossed around. Which it sort of had been. My neck especially hurt from the whiplash. The paramedics had said it would.

He slid his thumbs up and down the tense muscle, and the scent of his woodsy body filled the air around us. I let my eyes flicker shut with a hum as a deep pleasure replaced the ache.

“Don’t fall asleep on me,” he said with a chuckle.

“M’not,” I mumbled, even though I definitely could’ve. I felt so safe with him. If I passed out while leaning against him, Iknew he’d bundle me up and carry me back to bed. Too bad I couldn’t do that. I was sure there was a pile of paperwork waiting for me, since the rental car was definitely screwed. “Did the SUV make it to the shop?”