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The word hit me like Dragon Fire under the ribs, old as blood and bone, fierce enough to shear through a century of Hell-forged denial.

This time, I did not tell him no.

I did not shove the truth back into the dark. Did not reach for the comfortable cruelty of refusal. Did not pretend the Dragon King inside me had mistaken panic for destiny.

I looked at Maisie– red-faced, furious, bright with Magic that Hell had just dared to notice– and answered Sully with the only words I had.

“I know.”

Sully went still. Not calm. Never calm. Ancient Dragon Kings did not do calm any more than Texas Rangers did convenient feelings. But the violent surge inside me shifted, no longer clawing to be accepted. Only watching. Guarding. Waiting.

Outside, the shadows moved.

Not randomly. Not like beasts smelling blood and throwing themselves at the nearest wall. I had seen Hell creatures hunt for a hundred years. I knew the difference between hunger and instruction.

One slithered toward the window nearest Maisie. Its long shape flattened along the glass as the bronze Ward light slammed into it. Another peeled away from the front and circled toward the rear wall. The third stayed by the door, low and patient, cutting off the obvious exit.

Coordinated hunting.

My first instinct was murder. They needed to die. Sooner rather than later. By my hands.

Sully wanted Dragon Fire. I wanted steel in both hands and every creature outside arranged in pieces across the dirt.

The Hellmark pulsed, hungry and smug beneath my skin. And that was the warning.

Predictable Dragon response. Attack. Burn. Defend the Mate with enough power to make Hell salivate over the shape of my Magic.

No.

I opened my fist one finger at a time.

Bernie’s communication shimmer flared over the table. Carrick’s voice came through, sharp enough to cut glass. “Do not let Maisie release any more Magic.”

Maisie blinked at the spell. “Well, that’s inconvenient.”

“Confirmed is not the same as classified,” Carrick said. “The mark knows her Magic is interacting with yours. We do not know how much more it can learn if she gives it a full Magical response.”

My blood went cold. “No shift.”

“Right. And no full Alicorn release,” Carrick confirmed. “If Hell does not yet know what she is, do not teach it.”

I moved before thought, one step meant to put my body between Maisie and every ugly thing outside. Then I stopped.

Not because I no longer wanted to shield her. Every instinct in me demanded it. But protection was not ownership. Fear was not permission. I had learned that lesson with blood on my hands and Hell at my back, and I would be damned twice before I turned Maisie’s choice into another cage.

I turned to her instead. “What do you need?”

Maisie stared at me like I’d sprouted extra horns. “Did you just ask instead of ordering?”

“Don’t make me regret personal growth.”

Her mouth opened. Closed. “Okay. Weirdly hot, but not the time.”

Guy’s voice burst through the tether. “The watch stations can be isolated.”

I snapped my gaze to the shimmer. “Explain.”

“Old Warden design,” Guy said. “If one station became Magically compromised, it could be temporarily cut from the larger Ward network. Keeps corruption from spreading. Keeps a compromised station from mapping the rest of Arrhythmia.”