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“A ngela, can you help with a field trip?”

I look up from the geranium I’m repotting. “You want me to load up the tomatoes and cucumbers and take ‘em to the zoo?” I ask.

“No,” Graham rolls his eyes. “We have the Bright Stars preschool bringing in their pre-k class. Jerry is going to give the talk, and then he and the teachers will help kids plant their seeds. Can you just be crowd control? I have to call Manny at the garage and see if he can squeeze in one of our trucks. It sounds like it has a bad serpentine belt.”

“Sure, honey,” I say, and Graham stops beside me, frozen with the widest smile I’ve ever seen on his face.

He walks off, whistling.

I think he might actually be in love. And me? I’m... I’m thinking about it. I know my body is in love with the best sex I’ve ever had, with two gorgeous cocks, with a magical world and dragon rides across starry skies...

But I don’t think I should jump into anything while my life is so up in the air. Right?

Then you shouldn’t have said you were his mate. You shouldn’t have gotten all goopy and soppy and started thinking about the pitter patter of little feet—or the flapping of little wings, either. I don’t know what life is like in Scotland, but how in the hell would you raise a little magical kid here?

I get my question answered at eleven when eighteen kids troop into the back of the garden center and sit down on the concrete pad that makes up the floor. The kids are all cute, don’t get me wrong—but some of them aren’t entirely human-looking.

One little boy is blurry with speed, another is too pale to be normal, and one little girl has elf ears if I ever saw them.

And no one says a thing about it. Maybe they can’t see it, or perhaps in this town, no one cares.

All I know is that by one in the afternoon when they leave... I want one someday.

“Baby fever. It’s stupidly strong when you marry a Pine Ridge resident or work with cute kids,” one of the teachers catches my dreamy-eyed look as we herd kids onto the small yellow bus. “The guys here are so protective, you know? So dedicated to their families.”

And devoted to practicing making one, I think, but I don’t say it aloud to the nice teacher lady. “Yeah? Well, I don’t know too much about Pine Ridge. I’m new here.”

“Oh, yeah? I’m Izzy Walsh. Officer Walsh’s wife. Are you the girl who... who’s staying with the Kanes?” she whispers.

Crap, all the rumors about small towns are true. “Yeah, that’s me.”

“My sister lives next to you! Alban and Harper Wymark? You could not be safer. Alban’s a badass warlock, and the police force here always gets their man,” she mutters from the corner of her mouth.

“Does everyone in town know I have some kind of target on my back?” I squeak.

“Oh, no. Just the magical community. But that’s a good thing. This place is peaceful, and we like to keep it that way. No bad guys survive here.”

I swallow. “Survive? Does that mean people who come here to commit crimes d—”

“Gotta go! Max, slow down, honey, you’re going to trip in the gravel!” Izzy doesn’t answer my question, too busy helping Speedy Junior get through the parking lot. “Wind sprite father,” she says with a roll of her eyes and a bemused smile—like that means something to my rattled brain.

“Bye! Come again!” I wave and then sit down in one of the lawn chairs we have on sale.

“Three days on the job and you look like you’re about done in, young lady.” Jerry, the kindly senior gardener, offers me a water bottle. “You get overheated?”

“No, no. Just overwhelmed. So many cute kids.”

“Yep. I’m going to be a grandpa soon. Look at this.” Jerry whips out his phone and scrolls through. “See this? My daughter sent it to me last week.” He holds out a blurry ultrasound photo. “I’m going to be Poppy Jerry by November. Think I’m going to tell Ian that I want to cut back my hours so I can babysit.”

“That’s awesome that you’re going to be so involved in the baby’s life. I bet your daughter is glad.” I manage a smile, but I’m suddenly missing my dad. Not my birth father, the jerk, but Ronnie.

Hell, he would have spoiled my babies rotten, not just with material things but time and energy. He made my mother and me his whole world—and now I’ll never get to share it with him.

“Oh, hell, I’m sorry, Angela. Did I touch a nerve? My wife says I talk too much.”

“No, no! That’s great news, Jerry. I’m happy for you. I just miss my stepdad. He would have been a great grandfather, too.”

“I’m sorry. When did he pass?” Jerry asks, sorrow on his tanned face.

I swallow hard. Hopefully not yet. “He’s just got... got a condition that’s keeping him from traveling to be with me right now,” I croak, and excuse myself.

***

I BARGE INTO IAN KANE’S office, which is currently where his brother is making phone calls and talking about hemi engines. I wait impatiently, arms crossed and pacing.

Graham hangs up and looks at me. “Some afternoon delight, princess? Or are you just eager to get to the mall?”

“You have connections with someone who knows Joey Genovese. You have magical friends. Can’t you find out what’s going on?” I beg. “Without tipping them off as to where I am?”

Graham opens his mouth, then closes it with a heavy sigh. “My boss knew someone who knew Genovese. My boss in the CrossRealms was an incubus.”

“A sleeping sex demon thingy?” I ask. “Those are real, too?” Well, duh, Angela. Why wouldn’t they be when dragons are?

“I thought he was a harmless one. I mean, some things which people call demons are not from Hell, or aren’t inherently evil. So...” Graham paces as I sit on the edge of his desk. “Genovese and a lot of people involved in bad things are very superstitious. They believe in curses, the evil eye, all that. I’m not sure how much Genovese knows or believes, but they were able to trace you to Binghamton, and then... You dropped off of magical radar. The people he knew called up the people they knew to find someone who knew about Pine Ridge.”

“Pine Ridge? This tiny little dot on the map?”

“It’s a paranormal-friendly community. It’s not undetectable or anything, but the fact that people using magic could find you, and then they couldn’t... It looked like you went to a place where bad forces couldn’t easily penetrate. Where were you staying the first night you came to town?”

“Country Pines, that motel on the edge of town,” I explain with a frown. “You know that.”

“I do. But Country Pines is for people with magical abilities. It’s cloaked. You wouldn’t have been able to see it if someone in the know hadn’t taken you right to it. By staying there, you made it where any regular Joe would be stumped trying to find you.”

“But you’re not a regular Joe.” My mouth feels dry. “Your boss sent you to find me? You were working for someone who knew my father, all right, but it was one of his enemies!”

“I was already in Pine Ridge, and he knew where you might be. But, Angela, listen!” Graham runs to me, grabs my elbows, and blocks me when I try to leave. “They told me you ran away from your boyfriend. A case of cold feet before the wedding. They didn’t tell me it was some arranged marriage that you had no say in! When I found out, I did everything I could to help and protect you. I swear on my life. On my amulet. Little wren, please believe me.” Graham lets go and steps back. His voice and eyes are entreating me, and even though I’m upset, I know he’s telling the truth. He looks too miserable to be lying.

“You should have told me this earlier,” is all I can say.

“I know. But then you might not have trusted me, and I wanted to protect you. You needed help, and I... Even before you put on the amulet, you made me realize I wanted to be a better man. When I saw you, I was immediately drawn to you. You didn’t become my mate when you put on the amulet; you could claim my amulet because you were meant to be my mate. You are the person who made me a true dragon, not again, but for the first time.” Graham grips one of my hands in both of his and brings it to his lips. “You made me shed all the murky parts of my past with one look, Angela.”

“I did?”

“I swear it.”

“Then tell me the truth—is there a way you can find out what’s going on with the Argento and Genovese families? Is there some turf war? Is Genovese just going to pick Bride Number Two, whoever that might be? Am I really safe here?”

Graham rubs his chin and sighs. “You are safe here, at least from any dark forces Genovese wants to send. You’re heavily guarded and as cloaked as can be, thanks to the work of the Pine Ridge coven and a dozen other things. As for what he’s doing... I can ask Ardy Walsh, the police officer who is also a Pooka. He might be able to find something out without tipping others off that we’re looking into it.”

I nod, making a mental note to look up Pookas later.

“Can I still take you to the mall?” Graham asks in a timid voice that doesn’t match the magnetic, larger-than-life personality he has.

“Sure. And grocery shopping, too. I want to cook tonight,” I say. “Lasagna. I need comfort food.”

“Anything you want, my princess.”

“Would you please stop being so irresistible?”

“See, that’s how I know you’re my mate. My brother says I’m insufferable, and you say that I’m irresistible. We’re meant to be.”

Graham sounds so happy and peaceful when he says it that I’m starting to believe him.