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“How about a race?” she calls out as she lifts into the air. “I know running is good for your wolf.”

I don’t wait for her to say go. I take off into the trees while she’s still gaining altitude. My wolf surges up to lend me her speed. Trunks blur past me with leaves crunching under my feet. Claude’s laugh carries down to me over the beat of her wings.

It feels incredible. I whoop out loud and push harder through the burn in my muscles. I leap over fallen logs and dodge low branches. When the forest opens up ahead, I burst out into a clearing and skid to a halt in the grass.

Claude beat me here and is tucking her wings away. She isn’t even winded. I frown at her and try to catch my breath. “Damn, you dragons are fast.”

She winks. My wolf pulls me toward Ezra, where he stands with Tyrion across the grass. Claude gets to him first and shifts straight into mom mode. She lays the back of her hand against his forehead, the same way she checked me.

He holds my eyes and leans out of her reach. “Mom. Stop. I’m fine.”

Claude props her hands on her hips. “Then why haven’t you shifted?”

Tyrion frowns at his son. “Something is wrong with his dragon.”

“His dragon was being weird last night too,” I say as I move closer to them. “He couldn’t shift then either.”

Claude reaches for Ezra’s arm. “Let me get you to the medical center⁠—”

“No, Mom.” He steps back from her with irritation sharp in his scent. “I’m fine. Just my dragon being weird.”

Tyrion looks up at the sky with the same dreamy expression Ezra gets. “A star only holds its shape when the gravity pulling in and the heat pushing out stay in balance. Right now, you and your dragon are pulling against each other. Until you find that balance again, he won’t come out.”

Claude eyes her mate. He shrugs back at her. So that’s where Ezra gets his poetry from. I have to bite my lip to keep a straight face.

“To control your dragon,” Tyrion continues, “you need to become one with him. I learned to bond with my dragon young because I was raised by Stormscale.” He glances my way. “But this should be easier for you once you complete the mate bond with Aya.”

I look off toward the trees. No one needs my face right now. My wolf hears the words mate bond and pushes me at Ezra. I dig my toes into the grass and stay put.

When Tyrion tips his chin up to the sky again, his eyes glow. I scent rain on the wind. Clouds gather overhead. They darken and roll in from every direction to blot out the sun. The hair on my arms stands on end. My wolf quits pushing and paces instead.

Thunder growls somewhere far off. Otherworldly blue lightning flickers through the clouds in quick veins. Tyrion roars while he’s still in human form. It tears through the clearing, and the sky answers him. Wind yanks at my dress and whips my braid out behind me. The flashes speed up until a bolt breaks loose and slams into the ground beside him with a crack that leaves my ears ringing.

I scream and stumble backward, but Ezra catches me against his chest. His arms lock around my waist. Tyrion doesn’t flinch at the black scorch mark smoking inches from his feet. Burnt grass stings my nose.

I stare at him with my mouth hanging open. My heart won’t slow down. My wolf wants us out of here, but I’m already hoping he does it again.

Claude only has eyes for her mate. Her lips are parted. As far as she’s concerned, the rest of us might as well not exist.

“I’ve never seen you do that,” she breathes. “Not the full display. Not like this.” She steps closer to him. “I was just a hatchling during the war.” Her voice cracks. “I never got to see what Stormscale could really do. But this… This is beautiful, Tyrion. You’re beautiful.”

The storm clears out as quick as it came. Sunlight pours back down through the scattered clouds. Tyrion’s eyes are back to blue, but his scent is ash-quiet.

“I haven’t done that in a long time,” he admits. I understand why.

He’s fighting tears and losing. Claude goes to him. “Oh, honey. I’m sorry if this is triggering for you.”

He strokes her cheek. “I do not regret giving up my Stormscale name, Claudia,” he tells her. “I love you. I’d do it again and again and again.” He pulls Claude closer with his hand at the back of her neck. “Every star I’ve ever studied, every constellation I’ve ever mapped, they all led me to you, my love. Gravity is what keeps a galaxy from flying apart. You do that for me.”

She wraps her arms around his waist, and he hugs her tight. I’m not about to cry in front of Ezra’s parents, no matter how bad my eyes sting.

“I love it when you call me Claudia,” she sighs. “No one else gets to.”

He chuckles and kisses her temple. “As it should be.” He leans back to see her face. “My love. My Claudia.”

Watching them is like a scene out of a movie, the kind my parents would act out in the kitchen while my brothers gagged. Ezra squeezes me tighter. I relax back against him and enjoy the show.

But then Claude’s scent goes warm and musky. Ugh, I know that smell. I wrinkle my nose and turn my face into his shirt. Ezra catches it too and ducks down to my neck to breathe me in instead.