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Rimi? What is happening?

At the sound of her twin’s voice resounding inside her mind, Rimi blinked her eyes open and spotted Keres standing guard over her. Instantly, his gaze met hers. She nodded that she and the hatchling were okay.

Oldrik. I am fine. Keres is here with me.

We all felt a wave of distress. What is going on? Did Keres attack you?

A growl of anger resounded around the cave. Rimi sent reassurance to her bristling mate.

No, Oldrik. Keres would end himself before hurting me or the hatchling.

The hatchling? Astonishment echoed in his voice. What hatchling?

The one I’m currently wrapped around to keep it warm.

She felt his attention shift slightly and then heard Oldrik say to Skye, You knew? Let me see your picture.

What’s in Skye’s drawing, Oldrik? Rimi asked.

It’s the pose from the cave. With an addition. There’s a sparkling white egg next to you, Oldrik reported .

I wish Skye had clued me in, Rimi said with a mental chuckle.

You’re okay?

I’m really good, Oldrik. I have no clue what I’m doing, but the hatchling seems to let me know what it needs.

It? Can you tell if it’s a male? Oldrik asked.

It hasn’t told me, Oldrik. Do I sense Ardon close by?

He is on the first watch outside the cave. Ask for whatever your family needs, Rimi. The horde is protecting you.

Keres joined the conversation, including all the members of the horde. Thank you. Remain outside. My dragon is not tolerant at the present. Seeing our mate in pain was torture.

It wasn’t too much fun on this side, either, Rimi chimed in.

We will make sure no one disturbs you, Drake promised.

Rimi met Keres’s gaze to reassure him before dropping her head back to the ground to rest. Her family was protected.

One week later, Keres emerged into the sunlight.

The brightness made him blink as his eyes adjusted.

Spotting three dragons circling above them and two standing guard a short distance away, he drew Rimi through the opening.

The hatchling filled her arms to almost overflowing.

Its adorable head rested on her shoulder.

Aahs filled the air as the mates got their first glimpse of the baby. Obviously warned by their dragons, Skye, Lalani, Brooks, Ciel, and Aurora stood away from the opening. Each held binoculars to their eyes so they could get a close view of the hatchling.

“So cute!” Aurora called, and the others chimed in with their good wishes.

The hatchling didn’t rouse. Having recently shared the dragon-family-sized feast delivered earlier by Keres’s staff, the small dragon had a full belly and snoozed deeply.

As if on cue, the beast shifted into human form in Rimi’s arms, drawing more admiration from the crowd before reverting back to his dragon.

Rimi glanced at Keres and nodded, as if urging him to say something.

“Thank you all for the many hours of vigilance you have given our offspring. We would like you to meet Slate. He is a perfect combination of my mate and I,” Keres announced.

“It’s a boy,” Oldrik announced with relief.

“We would have welcomed a girl with equal excitement, but yes, Slate is male. Be warned, he has an evil streak from his sire and wisdom from his mother,” Keres shared.

“So, he’s wickedly smart? That’s not a good combination,” Drake said with a chuckle.

“Of course it is,” Aurora corrected him with a glare.

“We will take our son into our mansion now that he can change into human form,” Keres shared. “He is able to defend himself now.”

“He’s still a baby,” Rimi said quickly.

The dragon shifters all looked at her indulgently.

Dragons grew quickly. For their survival, they were only vulnerable for a short time.

Once they could shift, they doubled or tripled in size each day until they reached full size.

Slate’s tail extended a few more inches to drag on the floor before their eyes.

Rimi wouldn’t be able to carry him after today.

“He needs to eat, Rimi. I will take him to the near field. Would you like to offer our guests refreshments?”

Rimi forced herself to set Slate down on the grass. She had loved bonding with the small creature she and Keres had created together. Letting him become independent was heart-wrenching.

“Rimi, I’m so glad to spend time with you,” Lalani said, slipping her hand around Rimi’s arm and squeezing it slightly.

“I’ve never been inside Keres’ house. Is it completely black inside?” Brooks asked.

“Our room is lilac colored. I love it. Slate’s room is gray. I hope he will like it,” Rimi said, worried.

“Of course he will. Come, show it to us,” Ciel requested.

“Maybe after he sees it first?” Rimi suggested. It didn’t seem right to share her offspring’s room with others before he had the opportunity to claim it. Dragons were funny about their space.

Ciel laughed at herself. “What a silly suggestion! I didn’t think.”

“You could show them my picture of you,” Skye suggested, smoothly filling the awkwardness. Rimi smiled at her in relief.

“Of course. It’s in Keres’s office.”

Glad to have a distraction from the worry filling her mind, Rimi led everyone into the mansion to her mate’s space.

There, on the wall behind his desk, hung the now colorful painting Skye had created.

Everyone gathered around to see how the talented artist had created the scene before Rimi and Keres had shared the news of their hatchling.

“You told your brother and his mates about the baby first,” Brooks said with a nod of approval.

“No. We didn’t tell anyone. Oldrik knew from my scent.” Rimi said. “Skye must have guessed?”

“How did you sense Rimi would have a baby?” Aurora asked, turning toward Skye.

“I could hear him. ”

“You knew he was a male?” Rimi asked in complete disbelief.

“Yes. Sorry, I knew first. I didn’t tell anyone. Not even Oldrik and Ardon,” Skye reported.

“I love this picture, Skye. Now I have to ask—how did you know to ask Keres if he had a cave with good lighting?”

“The question popped into my brain. I don’t know where it came from. Honestly,” Skye assured her.

“It’s okay, Skye. I’m not upset. This is astonishing. I love this picture,” Rimi assured her.

“It’s Slate’s first baby picture,” Lalani pointed out.

“His only,” Rimi said with a smile. Her hatchling wasn’t a baby anymore. Slate would be a full dragon in days.

“Miss Rimi, I have set up refreshments for your guests in the living room.”

“Thank you, Russell,” Rimi said with a smile to Keres’s butler. His staff would always have a special place in her heart. They had shown him loyalty, even when his growing madness endangered their lives.

“My pleasure. If you will follow me,” Russell said and led the way to the room where comfortable chairs beckoned everyone to relax.

A few minutes later, the mates sat with plates filled with delicacies from the kitchen.

Russell delivered a plate for her with generous samples of everything.

After struggling to find food repeatedly throughout her life, Rimi still battled an urge to claim everything for herself.

It was easier to have someone to serve her.

Besides, she had no idea what anything was.

Thankfully, no one said anything about her not visiting the buffet. She selected a cheese cube and popped it into her mouth. Yum! Russell had done it again, choosing items she would love .

“Could you all tell me about yourselves?” Rimi asked. “I’d like to get to learn more about each of you.”

“Of course. Brooks?” Aurora prompted.

“They always make me go first,” Brooks said with a charming grin. “I’m Rogan’s mate. He’s the red dragon. I met Skye on her way back to Wyvern along with another guy I happened to run into from our town. We stuck together for the trip home. I hung around for a while and met Rogan.”

“You mean three of you from Wyvern ran into each other on the way back here? The odds of that must be astronomical,” Rimi marveled. Just watching the number of humans wandering around, going in all directions, had amazed her.

“I’m sure fate had a hand in putting us together,” Brooks suggested and glanced at Skye, who nodded her agreement.

“I’ll go next. I’m Aurora. Believe it or not, I ran into Drake at the funeral of his previous mate. That was disconcerting, to say the least.”

“Drake’s the gold dragon, right?” Rimi asked.

“Yes. The hunkiest one,” Aurora said.

An uproar followed as the mates debated that bold statement. Rimi could tell they all enjoyed getting together from the teasing and chatter. She hoped she could be part of the group, even though she was so different from them.

After hearing Lalani’s story of being adopted and growing up elsewhere, Ciel introduced herself as the silver dragon’s mate. “The funniest thing is that we all have childhood dragon stuffies. I think they all came from the same store in the old section of town.”

“Keres gave me one,” Rimi blurted, not realizing what she’d just revealed.

“You’re Little?” Lalani asked before shaking her head and apologizing, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked.”

Several of the mates had rosy cheeks now, and Ciel and Brooks avoided Rimi’s eyes. “It’s okay. You can ask me anything. If I don’t know or don’t want to answer, I’ll tell you. I’ll be honest, I’d never heard of that term before meeting Keres.”

“He’s talked to you about it?” Aurora asked.

“Yes, when he gave me Rumble. That’s my dragon.”

“I love that name. Mine is Silly. He’s a silver dragon,” Ciel shared.

“It turns out we all have a lot in common. That’s probably the fated mate thing,” Brooks pointed out. “Perhaps there’s a personality component to all of us, in addition to our family roots.”

“Did you ever think you’d be a dragon’s mate?” Lalani asked.

“No. I knew a dragon would capture me at some point. My mother didn’t share any details about how Oldrik and I were conceived. My impression was that her survival after our hatching was unusual,” Rimi told them.

“Female dragons do not have easy lives. You’d think the other dragons would treat them like queens,” Brooks stated fiercely. Rimi could tell he was ashamed of his sex.

An image of her sitting on a gold throne heavily adorned with jewels popped into her head, and she chuckled. Noting their quizzical looks, she said, “Sorry, I pictured myself like a queen bee there for a moment in all my regalia.”

“I want to see that. We need to have another tiara party,” Aurora suggested, earning a groan from Brooks. “You can wear your ruby crown, Brooks. That will be extremely manly.”

“Deal,” he agreed. “Has Keres shown you his hoard?”

“No,” Rimi said, shrugging. “Does he have one?”

“Oh, yeah. Keres has one,” Ciel laughed. “All the dragons do. Hey, you should have one, too. Keres should create a space for your own lair. ”

Rimi shook her head. “I’m sure a female doesn’t get a treasure spot.”

“Who says? There aren’t any others to ask,” Skye pointed out. Her voice made everyone turn. Skye didn’t speak often. When she did, they listened.

As if on cue, the shifters walked in. All the mates turned in unison to look at them. Keres arched an eyebrow at their attention.

“Why do I think we got here at the wrong time?”

“We were just discussing tiaras and the fact that Rimi doesn’t have one. And that led to us asking if she had her own hoard. Don’t all dragons have a hoard?” Ciel asked in a sugary, innocent tone that made Argenis shake his head.

The other dragon shifters stepped away from Keres in a deliberate attempt to distance themselves with a blended “Ooh!” of sympathy.

“Keres, it’s not important,” Rimi rushed to assure him.

“It is, Snowflake. We will work on remedying that when we finish our visit with our guests,” Keres assured her, seeming completely unfazed by the attention.

“Mommy?” Slate called her name to get Rimi’s attention before climbing up on her lap. Already, he was almost too big.

“You’re getting so big. How many cows did you eat?” Rimi asked, groaning under his weight dramatically to entertain the young dragon.

“Two!” he announced proudly.

“Two whole cows?” Rimi asked in amazement.

“Well, Daddy helped with the last one,” Slate admitted.

Keres rubbed his flat stomach. “It’s a tough job being a parent” he whined, making everyone laugh.

When the shifters had settled with their mates, Keres asked, “Catch us up. Is there any news about the powder attacks? ”

“It’s been quiet since the two guys in Rogan’s barn alerted us about the shipment coming in. We caught that before it hit the border. When you’re ready to join the patrols again, message us,” Drake told him.

“More will come,” Argenis predicted. “I think we’re dealing with some kind of fanatic. It has to be one person pulling the strings. Who knows what his motivation is, but he is definitely targeting dragons.”

“All we can be is vigilant and make sure those in our inner circle are loyal,” Drake suggested.

“The news of Slate’s birth will spread,” Keres commented warily.

“That will piss them off,” Oldrik predicted.

“Count me in on patrols immediately,” Keres added.

“Can I ask what the powder attacks are?” Rimi asked. She wanted to learn about anything they felt would affect Slate.

“Oh, you haven’t heard?” Lalani asked.

“A faction of humans have discovered a powdery substance that is lethal to dragons and humans alike. They have orchestrated attacks against almost all the horde,” Keres explained.

“Will they come after us?” Rimi asked, glancing deliberately at Slate.

“It is possible. Slate, do not go off on your own until we eliminate this threat,” Keres instructed.

Limiting a young dragon’s freedom was almost impossible. Hopefully, Slate would heed his sire’s instructions.

“You can protect me, Slate, when Keres is on patrol.”

“No way. I’m going with him.”