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She'd taken the news the night before better than he'd expected. But Dawn had explained that Daisy was used to challenges thanks to her problems at school, and even more recently, with her former best friend.
If she was this resilient at eleven, he could only imagine what she'd be like as an adult.
Dawn turned the doorknob, and they entered the room, only to find the brown-haired, pale-skinned Hayley Beckett already sitting at the table with various piles of paper in front of her.
Her messy bun, glasses, and mismatched buttoned cardigan didn't exactly scream a high-powered solicitor, but Blake wasn't going to judge by appearance. He knew better than anyone that focusing on the way someone looked could make people focus on the wrong thing.
She smiled and stood, reaching out her hand to shake. "You must be Blake, Dawn, and Daisy. I'm Hayley Beckett, but please call me Hayley. I'd like to say nice to meet you, but it's not quite the time. So take a seat and let's get started."
Hayley shook Dawn's hand, then Blake’s, and she even shook with Daisy, too.
Once they were all seated, Hayley continued. "The case is unique in that it hasn't happened in England for quite a while. However, if everything Bram told me is true, there are several points in your favor. So let's start with the basics and build up the case, okay? I need you to tell me everything about this woman who filed the complaint as well as what you've done to help Daisy adjust here."
Daisy spoke up before either Blake or Dawn could. "I can tell you some things. Like the bedroom they decorated for me. It has so many dragons, which I love, although I could always do with some more. Not to mention my new house is so close to my best friend, Freddie's. I can see him all the time now, unlike when we lived in Manchester. It's brilliant. It's almost like I'm always on holiday now."
Blake half-expected for Hayley to smile and tell Daisy to be quiet. Instead, the human asked Daisy, "What else did they do for you? Or what else do you like about living on Stonefire?"
"It's hard to remember it all! I have so many books now, new ones I didn't know existed. I also get to go to dragon school and am always surrounded by kids with flashing dragon eyes. Most of them let me ask questions. Only a few don't, but that's okay because not everyone likes me."
Blake jumped in at that. "Who?"
Daisy shrugged. "Mostly the older kids. But they don't like all my questions, or so Freddie tells me. He said that if I waited to ask questions later on, or maybe only once in a while, they'd be nicer to me. But I'm not good at holding back like that. I'm just curious is all, especially since I can never have an inner dragon and so I need to ask as many other dragon-shifters as I can. You know, just to make sure I know how it all works and stuff."
And yet, Blake still wanted to find the older children and have a chat with them.
His dragon sighed. She'll find her position within the clan like we all do. Whilst she's fairly alpha for a human, she will never be at the top of the hierarchy. Let her find her place.
I suppose.
Still, Blake didn't like the fact Daisy wasn't accepted by everyone.
Hopefully, Dawn could convince Daisy not to say those kinds of things during their hearing. He'd have to bring it up with her later.
For the present, he merely focused on answering Hayley's questions and taking note of what she asked them to do.
Their hearing date would come sooner than they'd like, and they had to be as prepared as possible.
Later that night, after Daisy had finally fallen asleep, Dawn curled up next to Blake on their bed and laid her head on his shoulder. She sighed. "The wait for the hearing is going to kill me."
He wrapped an arm around her torso and hugged her closer. "It gives us time to prepare, love. I know we jumped into things as far as the mating and the frenzy, but the DDA is harder to please than an inner dragon or an eleven-year-old girl."
She smiled. "I suppose that's true."
As Blake rubbed her upper arm with his thumb, she snuggled more against him. After so many years of fighting everything on her own, it was comforting to have someone to lean on both literally and figuratively.
Just thinking about everything Blake had done for her and Daisy brought up the feelings she'd been trying to control.
It was time to stop hiding and be forthright. Blake deserved that much from her.
She tilted her head up and met his gaze. She said, "I love you, Blake."
His finger paused a second on her arm before resuming. He then cupped her cheek with his free hand. "I love you, too, Dawn. And at some point, I think I'll have to thank Daisy for forcing us to kiss after the play or I might've never realized how much I needed you in my life."
She maneuvered until she could straddle his lap and hold his face between her hands. As she caressed the light stubble, she murmured, "Maybe we'll wait a few years before we do that, or we'll never hear the end of it from Daisy."
He grinned, which still made her heart skip a beat even though she'd seen it more and more often lately. "She's probably already going to take credit for it."
"Yes, but let's not inflate her head too much. She's already trying to lead her entire class in some sort of effort to get them to have more shifting practice, all so she can see more dragons up close."
