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It wasn’t only dragon-shifters who lived this way; it was part of the preternatural treaties. It allowed for the privacy of all entities.

“Mckenna.” Keahl, the old tackle division head, was the first to greet him when he walked in.

There was a low rumbling around the thirteen-person table, made of reclaimed wood, like all wood lawfully used.

Silence fell as he moved toward the head of the table.

Two large maps were fixed flat under glass in the center of the rectangle shape.

Taking his seat, Aodh averted his gaze, not ready to meet the questions that would be just under the surface of their eyes.

Yeongi took the chair to Aodh’s left, ready to take dictation or provide needed reports.

“Good day, son. I hear we should alert the educators that school may be in session soon.”

Chuckles rang out around the table from the Drahk, and Drahkelles gathered.

Aodh glanced at his father on his right. After he’d stepped down as Mckenna, Rhys Brandr took his place on the Wise One’s council. “Nothing is set in stone yet, Father.”

“At least tell us if the rumors are true.” Drago stroked his long, thin, white beard as he arched an eyebrow at Aodh from the other end of the table.

Drago was the oldest Drahk, more than two centuries in age.

He had been one of the division leaders when Aodh’s grandfather was Mckenna.

The elder’s markings held little illumination reflecting from the beast within him.

It was rare for Drago not to be in human form because when he shifted to his dragon, he would have to stay in that form for weeks before he had the energy to return.

All others in his phase of life had already joined the Great Spirit.

Sighing, Aodh met the older one’s gaze. “When have tales not been true among our people?”

Aodh shoved those words out as he scanned others in the room.

He still processed his feelings around the woman currently in his suite and wasn’t ready to openly discuss her.

It was too bad he didn’t have much of a choice.

Those present, more than anyone, understood how essential things were concerning Kai’s presence and what it meant to their very existence.

His father had been the last generation to provide young.

Those offspring had come before the Great Catastrophe since Aodh stepped into his position.

“Then tell us of this human.” Doryu was one of the three elder females there.

She was Keahl’s mate. She had managed the food supply source for the Thunder.

The livestock had been the only thing they needed to secure underground, not because of the contaminates of the chemicals the humans released in the atmosphere but because the animals would not have survived. Provisions were paramount.

“Humans. There are two. I’m unsure how they ended up on the other side of the wall. Alone.”

“Alone?” Adalina frowned. She had been his father’s aide. Even now, his father used her as a confidant when he wasn’t confiding with his mate, Aodh’s mother.

Aodh gave a sharp nod.

“If the humans are just opening the gate to let their people roam, it is a break of treaty,” Keahl declared.

“It is,” Aodh agreed. “However, I’ll reserve my thoughts until after I speak with Kai.”

“Kai. Is she the one in the healing chamber?” His father leaned back in his chair.

“No.” He met his father’s gaze. “Her sister, Morlie, is the ill one.”

“Another with the killing disease they can’t seem to get control over.” Adalina shook her head.

“No matter how the preternatural magistrates have assisted them,” Keahl growled.

Others grumbled their disenchantment with the human leadership. Aodh felt the same as those gathered. There were a lot of questions in his head he wanted answers to. He wasn’t sure how knowledgeable Kai was about all that was beyond the wall. “It is something that needs addressing.”

“Soon.” Drago’s heavy, quiet voice cut through the others’ speech.

Meeting the older dragon-shifter’s eyes, Aodh didn’t miss the flicker of the tangerine flame. It spoke volumes. Drago came from an older time and had seen much regarding how humans broke laws and treaties among themselves and the preternatural.

Keahl cleared his throat. “The sun will rise soon, and there are other things the Mckenna needs to address.”

Everyone nodded around the table.

“The word is out that you have claimed this Kai person.” Rhys balanced his upper body on the table by his elbows. “For pleasure or purpose.”

Both. Aodh bit back the word. Instead, he confessed to the wise ones what he felt even if his beast wasn’t entirely on board, “She is my mate.”

~YH~

It is done . They were the words that went through Aodh’s mind after he’d finished his meeting with the Wise Ones’ Council.

He sat and answered as many of their questions as he could about the situation between him and Kai, which amounted to next to nothing.

He would be as lost as the elders until he sat down and spoke with Kai about her life behind the wall and how they left.

Some of those answers he would not only need to guide his people but so those on the preternatural magistrate, the PM, could lead their kind.

However, for now, he was headed up the stairs to his office instead of returning to his suite. The purple glow of the sun filled the land when he’d been with the older shifters. He did not analyze his current actions.

“Yeongi, assemble the division leaders. Notify Hugo in Com and tell him I want him to present a status report on the European situation.” Aodh entered his office and headed for his desk.

There were things he needed to sign off on and review boundary reports from the security team.

“I said I did not want to discuss it until tomorrow, but I’d prefer not to make myself unavailable without putting something into place. ”

His aide wrote down his instructions feverously. Yeongi paused. His eyes flickered a flame of yellow—curiosity—as he met Aodh’s gaze but remained silent and quickly returned to dictation.

“Yesterday, my flight to check the northwest boundary lines was disrupted.” Aodh did not feel the need to vocalize that his seeing the vehicle, Kai’s truck, had diverted his plans.

Not only because his aide had been in the meeting with the wise ones and knew those details now.

More importantly, evoking Kai into his thoughts was a mind trail filled with many snares.

Ideas would result in images—images that would have his body in complete need, and that need would send him racing toward her.

No. Aodh prided himself on staunch control of his urges.

It was best to keep busy.

“So, have Edjer ready to brief.” Aodh glanced down at the report pile. He would get to them, but it would be quicker to get the update verbally. Especially since he wasn’t sure how long he would be in his office today.

“Anything else, Mckenna?” Yeongi stood on the other side of his desk instead of taking one of the two chairs.

“No. That’s all for now.”

Yeongi nodded and headed toward the door.

He had a smaller office on the other side of the second floor.

Previous Mckennas had their aides set up at a desk in their office, but Aodh believed everyone had a right to privacy, no matter their position in the Thunder.

It also helped his aide communicated on the radio without Aodh being disturbed by all the chatter through the device.

Before the Great Catastrophe, communication between people and countries was more accessible.

It could be accomplished through several avenues—cell phones, computers, gaming systems—but once all those technologies had failed, destroyed by natural disasters, human missiles, and vengeful hackers, it had been a unanimous decision of the PM to outlaw it.

Once humankind had locked and buried itself underground, things changed drastically, and all seven continents were left to shifters, and the world righted itself.

Aodh crossed to the maps mounted on the wall across from his desk.

A replica of those on the long table downstairs.

He stood before the one that displayed the North American continent.

In the file closet within Yeongi’s office were old maps of the world and how each continent used to be formed.

Things were different now. If anyone who had seen the previous one looked at the map before him, they would not know what it was. Everything had changed.

Reaching out, Aodh traced along the borders of his territory.

His responsibility. Outside of the markings for bodies of water, it was simple.

Bear Territory, Dragon Territory, Wolf Territory, Fae Territory, Vampire Territory.

Similarly, the other six continents had sectioned off with other shifters and the like, who were allowed to rule and live as they wanted.

Managing conflicts that usually stemmed from territory infringement had been easy without human interference and fear of mass hysteria.

Shifters handled those situations without battles or bloodshed.

Sometimes. Occasionally, even weres and shifters had to test the limits and let off some steam.

In those moments, individuals walked away bloody or maimed, never dead.

It was unlawful unless ordered by the magistrate for severe violations.

Most of those violations were ruled on by the PM, but the Alpha or Leader over the individual handled the execution of the verdict.

Aodh continued to trace the areas under his domain.

It was the largest territory. As they were dragons, and with all the dragon-shifters across the globe now living in one region, they needed the space to fly without being in another’s area and appearing as a threat.

When a dragon’s shadow crossed over man or beast, it caused trepidation.

Aodh felt the warmth of his dragon’s joy and grin inside of him. Aodh chuckled.