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Not only did he dole out money for them, but he went above and beyond by stopping by personally at least once a month. He ensured the kids had every resource available to them: food, education, safety, and even birthday parties.

“One day, you’ll be more powerful than even him. I’m sure of it!” Chloe’s words rang through Rowan’s mind.

Before she’d seen the poster on a trip through the market with her godmother, she’d imagined the Dragon King to be an aging old man with silver hair and a soft smile.

When Lilith caught sight of it, she’d bought it, proclaiming she wanted it as a dartboard. Rowan had asked who it was and after a long breath of curses, her godmother finally told her it was Alessandro, the Dragon King, but that Dirty Worm King would’ve been a more apt name.

At fifteen years old, Rowan found her first ever crush, and her godmother wanted to call him a worm.

Safe to say, Rowan seized the suggestive picture as her own and pinned up the same night.

When she first felt his magic in Black Cove, the power gap between where she stood against him floored her. But she had also been thrilled.

Did she trust him?

The answer was that she didn’t know. But she really wanted to.

Chapter 11

Alessandro eyed the two greatest pieces of evidence he had at his disposal. The flute that had been the source of his dragons’ madness and the totem that had caused the bear shifters to attack one another the day before.

Naseem, buried in scrolls in one corner of the office, was gathering information over the two pieces of treasures.

Aqua, Alessandro’s Water General, a thin pale woman with hair the color of turquoise, was extracting all the physical evidence from the pieces. Though from the huffs and groans, she wasn’t having the easiest time with her assigned task.

Blaise was tracking down the last known whereabouts of the flute, and Stone had gone to interview the Canadian bears over the history of the totem within their tribe.

Alessandro’s focus was on dwindling down a suspect list. Over the years, he’d kept track of those he’d pissed off. He hadn’t realized how long it had gotten, if he was being honest.

He referenced it against those who openly had grudges against shifters.

Creating a list of suspects that he would whittle down when his generals turned in their own data.

“There’s nothing here.” Aqua’s irritation was palpable in the air.

Naseem and Alessandro glanced over their screens to the blue-haired healer, who was glaring at the two objects with unsheathed animosity.

Alessandro shifted his body so he could dodge the objects he could feel she was close to flinging.

“Perhaps that’s a clue within itself.” Naseem suggested. “What spells can erase traces? Magic always leaves a trail of some sort.”

Aqua groaned. “Isn’t that your area of expertise? My talents end at healing and water related magic.”

Even if Blaise was the one general who received the most guff from his charges, Aqua was inarguably the least assured.

Alessandro had confidence when things got dicey that she would prove that he hadn’t been mistaken in choosing her over Elaine’s mother, Mezine.

But until then her insecurity over her position would hold her back.

“I could help you if you wanted me too, but I definitely will charge for my services.” Naseem grinned.

Aqua squared her shoulders as she turned to face him head on. “What are your terms?”

“I want one of your rotations.”

Alessandro raised an eyebrow when Aqua’s pleading eyes turned to him to beg for his interference. “I am but a beacon of hope for my people, not a tyrant.”

Naseem and Aqua both burst out into laughter.

“Half a week.” Aqua offered.

“Done.” Naseem agreed, and he moved his computer over to help her.

Alessandro resettled into his task. His dragon let out a breath of discontent. He had hoped the argument would have escalated so he could squash it.

His energy wanted a physical release. He’d prefer to seek the company of the white-haired elf that kept randomly crawling into his mind as he worked. But he would’ve taken a fight if only to take the edge off.

He wanted to curse. Instead, he adjusted his pants, leashed his beast and concentrated on the names rolling across his screen.

XOXOXOXO

When Rowan walked into her office the next morning, she hadn’t expected Louisa and Kin to be

in their chairs. Healed, and elbow deep into the work they had to catch up on.

It was a productive morning as Dew passed tasks out and kept them on schedule to be caught up by lunch.

As an incentive, Dew had threatened to take away morning coffees for a week from whoever failed to meet her expectations. It explained why Kin and Louisa had both been diligent in their work since the beginning of the day.

Rested, and a bit drugged with one of Lexine’s medicinal teas, Rowan had enough energy at her disposal to get through her workload before noon hit.

After lunch they would have to continue business as usual, but the only thing on Rowan’s mind was the plate of banh baos from the Vietnamese restaurant down the block.

“Finally, done!” She heard Louisa cry with relief.

Kin had finished before both Rowan and Louisa and was taking a well-deserved break by propping his feet up on his desk and catching up with the news.

“No new shifter attacks?” Rowan asked, passing his office. He was at her side a moment later, jacket draped over his arm.

“No, but you’re all over the gossip rags. I’m actually surprised your mother hasn’t stopped by to give you a good lecture.” He extended his phone. The high definition of the image made it impossible for her to even try to deny it was her.

She was bloody, missing half of her shirt and slumped, drained of energy on top of the wolf.

“Apparently, a witch assured everyone that you said you were going home. I can’t believe you never told us you were so close.” Louisa joined them as they descended the stairs.

Dew fluttered around them before settling on Rowan’s head as they headed out to the beautiful spring day Black Cove was experiencing.

Downtown had been one of Rowan’s favorite spots during her time at Spellcasters Academy.

The bars and restaurants catered not only to the young collegiate students, but to a more mature crowd as well.

Each building was brick, but modern architecture had crept in.

Floor to ceiling windows and neon lights married old class to new class.

Rowan’s body still ached as her heeled boots hit the cobblestones of the sidewalks and she had a difficult time scraping out the pictures of injured casualties of the shifter attacks from her mind.

The news wasn’t being stingy with the more horrifying images.

Though they had been sparse on information over the sphinxes.

“I’m not.” Rowan bit out. “I was tired. He wanted to give me a ride.”

“Oh yeah. I bet he did. On his back, on his dick, whatever worked.” Louisa snickered.

Dew joined her laughter, but Kin glared at the brunette. “Must you be so crass?”

Louisa simply stuck her tongue out, “So where did lover-boy end up taking you, anyway?”

“To where his daughter found the robe.” She sighed. “There were absolutely no clues on who could’ve left it. It was near a popular trail. Marissa seemed okay, though. I thought she might suffer from some trauma, but up to the point I left, she had been playing with the other pups her age.”

“Ah, so you don’t deny that he’s your lover-boy?” Louisa waggled her brows, “Ten bucks, Kin.”

Rowan gasped melodramatically. “I just met the guy yesterday. How easy do you guys think I am?”

Save for succubus meals and Alessandro—and come on, he was the freaking Dragon King—Rowan didn’t just sleep around with anyone, thank you very much.

Kin rolled his eyes. “Yes or no?”

“No.” Rowan growled.

A grin spread over the kitsune’s face and he held his hand out for the ten-dollar bill. “Told you we were right, Dew.”

Rowan gasped, reaching up to pluck the fairy off her head. “Dew, y tú?”

Dew escaped her searching hands and hid in Kin’s glossy black hair. Louisa was laughing so hard she was clutching her stomach and wiping tears from her eyes.

“Kin promised me spring rolls if I sided with him! They’re my weakness! And technically I was on the side that made you less…promiscuous.” Dew cried from within the strands.

Kin grinned down at Rowan, unabashed. “Thanks for lunch.”

The words cut Louisa’s laughter off sharply.

Rowan caught her footing at the last second as Louisa attacked her with a side hug. “Ro, I am so sorry I attacked you yesterday. I don’t know what came over me.”

Rowan leaned her head against the cradle of the taller woman’s throat and smiled. “You were bleeding out, Louisa. I think you had excellent control, given the condition you were in.”

“You mean the condition I put her in.” The ten-dollar bill crumpled in Kin’s fist. “I’ve never lost control like that before. I don’t know what is going on with my beast. The dragons or wolves shouldn’t have affected it.”

Dew peaked her head out of his hair and patted his forehead to comfort him.

“Well, you reacted differently. The first time it was a whole day later, the second time you snapped out of it before the pack did.” Rowan pointed out.

Kin stiffened and froze in his steps. “I could snap again, at any time. How much longer until you have more potions to knock me out, Louisa?”

Louisa grimaced, “Ten days. It’s unfortunate you destroyed my collection during your first rampage.”

Rowan placed her finger on her chin. “It is strange. All the research we’ve done on beast interactions always highlights power structure and there are very few who can actually make you submit. Maybe we need to look at all of this from a new angle.“

Her jaw popped open as a picture of the most in depth magical encyclopedia ran through her mind. “Oh, my gods. That bat knew I would need it!”

Both Louisa and Kin waved away some of the concern Rowan’s outburst had attracted.

“Which bat?” Kin asked.