Page 14 of Dragon’s Midlife Secret Baby (Shifter Nation: Enchanted Over Forty #1)

Kendrick had his elbow propped on the arm of his chair as he listened. He leaned against his hand, two fingers stretching up toward his eyes. He nodded as Beck concluded his reasoning. “I think you’ve made the right choice, but I know it wasn’t an easy one.”

“It wasn’t, and I just have to hope that I didn’t screw everything up by making it.” He’d seen the pain on Chelsea’s face when he’d left, not to mention the confusion on Corbin’s.

“The risk would’ve been greater by staying, considering everything you’ve told me. It seems quite likely that this person could still be after you—or any dragon they can get a hold of.”

Getting his memories back should’ve been a relief, but Beck still felt weighted down. A little of that had eased now that he’d explained it all to Kendrick and the older man was on board, but his dragon was still uneasy. “I just hope we can get to the bottom of this.”

“We will, but for now, you need to rest.”

“I don’t want to—”

Kendrick held up his hand to stop him. “You may be the future Alpha, but right now, I’m the one holding the position.

You got your stubborn streak from my side of the family, and I can see the exhaustion in your eyes.

You need to take some time to get your head right before you can do anything about this problem.

Take the room at the top of the stairs, on the right.

We’ve only got the first two floors occupied right now, so that will give you a bit of peace and quiet. ”

A gentle knock came on the door, and Kendrick called out. “Come in.”

Lilith peeked in the room. “Sorry to interrupt. Beck, I just wanted to see if you were staying for dinner so I know how much to make.”

“He is,” Kendrick replied for him, “and for breakfast and lunch for the foreseeable future. Would you mind taking him up to his room? I told him to take the one at the top of the stairs.”

“Sure.” Lilith opened the door a little wider and looked around. “Do you have a bag or anything?”

“I didn’t have much of anything to bring,” Beck explained. Though the coven had given him some clothes to wear for the moment, he hadn’t taken anything more than what was on his back.

Lilith took this in stride as they approached the main foyer with the twisting staircase. “I’m happy to go out shopping with you sometime. You’re going to need at least a few things.”

“Maybe sometime,” he hedged. Lilith was right, but Beck didn’t really care at all right now about material things. “You don’t have to take me all the way up. Go back to whatever you were doing. I can find it.”

“If you’re sure. Dinner is at six!” She trotted off into the kitchen.

Beck climbed the stairs. The house was only somewhat familiar to him, but at least this time that wasn’t due to a magical mental blockage.

He’d simply not stayed there very long before he’d gotten his own apartment.

Beck knew enough about the layout to make his way upstairs without burdening Lilith.

He reached the second-floor landing. Only bedrooms were up there, and he believed Ewan was down at the end.

They’d given Lilith the room with the biggest closet.

Kendrick would be down on the first floor, and Griffin had probably taken over the second-floor room that Beck had only occupied for a short time. He continued up the stairs.

It wasn’t difficult to find his new quarters.

Beck stepped inside. The dormered windows that poked through the mansard roof meant the walls and ceilings were at odd angles here and there.

That made furniture placement difficult, but not impossible.

In fact, he kind of liked the way it felt, like he was tucked away from the world.

Beck crossed to the window and looked out over the surrounding rooftops.

There was no chance of seeing Chelsea’s house from there, but he thought about her anyway.

Their connection was special, a binding of two souls that every shifter looked for.

It was the kind of bond that could withstand many things, yet he found himself hoping that theirs was strong enough to see them through this.

At least he knew now, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that he’d never left Chelsea on purpose.

His thoughts turned to Corbin. How could he be a good father to his son when he was practically in hiding? How could he ever explain to Corbin, even once he was much older, that he’d completely missed out on the first part of his life? How was anything ever going to be okay again?

Beck may have had his mind back and was with his family, but he was so uneasy, he could barely stand to be in his own skin.

When he heard a knock on the door, he expected it to be Lilith with another suggestion. “It’s open.”

Instead, Griffin stepped in. “Kendrick said you were back. Physically and mentally.”

“I am.” Beck held out his hands and then let them drop, trying not to take that as an insult. “At least for now.”

“Yeah. You gotta make sure the coast is clear.” Griffin lingered near the door, shuffling his feet.

“Listen, I’m sorry this has worked out the way it has,” Beck began.

“You know I didn’t leave on purpose, that I wasn’t trying to abandon the clan or anyone else, but I’m sure it looked and felt that way for a while.

I guess I just want to apologize that you had to step into my position, but also to thank you for doing it. ”

Griffin flapped his hand dismissively. “It’s fine.”

Beck moved away from the window and sat on the bench at the end of the bed.

He didn’t know why it felt so awkward to just be there talking to his cousin.

Sure, some time had gone by, but that didn’t mean much of anything for people like them.

Plenty of humans didn’t see each other for a few years at a time.

“It’s not really fine. I feel like I left everyone in the lurch.

The witches were able to break the spell over me, but remembering everything is actually helping a lot less than I thought it would. ”

“So, what are you going to do now?” Griffin finally left the doorway and sat on the edge of an armchair in the corner.

“Try to find this guy,” Beck said simply, though he knew it wouldn’t be a simple matter.

“Yeah, but then what? You weren’t strong enough to overpower him the first time, otherwise we wouldn’t be having this conversation,” Griffin pointed out.

“He caught me by surprise,” Beck replied quickly. “I was also living alone at the time. Apparently, that wasn’t a good idea, but we didn’t know we had threats in the area.”

Griffin hadn’t shaved in a couple of days, and he scratched the dark stubble that’d emerged. “So you left the witches to keep them safe, but now you’re bringing all that danger back here.”

“I’m not trying to bring the danger to anyone. I’m just trying to keep my son and mate safe. There’s nothing wrong with that; even Kendrick is fine with it.” He was getting aggravated, feeling like he had to justify his decisions. Beck’s head was starting to hurt again.

“Well, of course, he did,” Griffin scoffed. “Even if he thought it was a bad idea, it’s not like he’d turn you away.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Beck asked. The idea of anyone taking him in when they shouldn’t be didn’t sit well with him.

Griffin let out a harsh breath. “Kendrick is a protector. He wants to keep other people safe and happy. That’s been his job as an Alpha for quite some time now.

For the most part, he’s pretty good at it.

What he’s not taking into account here is that we’re a very small clan now.

It’s not like the good old days when a clan could be the size of a village, when there were enough of us to band together and really make a show of force.

We’re just a handful of dragons, and we’re up against someone so powerful, they can keep us from shifting.

Well, that’s kind of disturbing if you ask me. ”

He didn’t want to admit it, because his cousin was getting under his skin, but Griffin had a point.

They didn’t know what they were up against. “Kendrick isn’t a fool,” he said.

“He might take some risks if they line up with his goals in life, but he’s not going to do anything to jeopardize the clan. ”

“Not on purpose,” Griffin agreed.

Beck folded his arms in front of his chest. “So, what are you suggesting?”

“I’m not making any suggestions. That’s not exactly my place anymore, is it?” Griffin snarled.

“Right. Okay.” Beck thought he understood now.

“I don’t want my sudden presence to throw you off, Griff.

You’ve stepped in for me, and right now, you probably know a lot more about the day-to-day running of the clan than I do.

That’s a burden you didn’t expect to take onto your shoulders.

I apologized already, but maybe what I should be doing is letting you know that you’re still vital to what happens around here. ”

“What?” Griffin’s head tipped back on his neck.

“We can take it slowly,” Beck suggested, tipping his palm up and spreading his fingers. “It doesn’t make sense for me to jump straight back into my work here, not with everything else going on. You keep doing what you’ve been doing, and we can work the rest out.”

Griffin stared at him for a couple of seconds, just long enough to make Beck wonder if his cousin had heard him correctly.

“I don’t think any of that is going to matter if we die.

We’ve been fighting for so long to keep on going, but with this new enemy out there somewhere, I don’t know how much longer we’re going to last. Everyone is so glad you’re back that they’re missing the bigger picture.

” Griffin thrust himself up off the chair and stormed out of the room.

“Griffin,” Beck called after him, but he could already hear his cousin’s footsteps thumping down the stairs. With a sigh, he put his head in his hands. Griffin wasn’t being very mature about this. If he was scared of this mysterious magician, he should’ve just come right on out and said it.

He realized he couldn’t criticize Griffin in the least when there was so much that Beck had yet to say.

He didn’t know what he’d done to deserve the punishment he felt he was getting.

He had no clue what this enemy of his was capable of doing nor what his clan would do to fight him off if he should show up.

Was Griffin right? Had he simply shifted the danger from one household to another by returning to the clanhouse?

Perhaps that meant he should go somewhere else, but where?

He couldn’t ask anyone else to take him in, and he didn’t dare touch the clan’s treasury to pay his own way.

He let out a grunt of frustration. His memories weren’t the key to his future at all. Beck was completely in the dark, powerless. Anger built inside him, stirring up his dragon.

It would almost be easier to forget everything again.