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She was finding her home here with us, in spite of all the tragedy in her life beforenow.
“And we’re staking our livelihoods onthat,” a voice muttered just behindme.
The grizzly in me bristled automatically. I glanced around and spotted one of the couples who’d been sitting across from Ren at last night’s dinner—one of the ones who’d sniped at her for every minor mistake. The man was the one who’d spoken. The woman was shaking her head indismay.
“I know. It’sshameful.”
I gritted my teeth against a roar. My fingers itched to sprout my claws and smack those two bird-brain heads together. My hands clenched—and then I remembered everything Ren had said to mebefore.
She wouldn’t want me making a scene in the middle of this party on her behalf. I could defend her without going into full bearmode.
“You’d almost think—” the husband started, and I cleared my throat, turning all the way towardthem.
“You’d almost think what?” I said, letting my voice drop just low enough to be mildlymenacing.
The couple startled, their stances stiffening. The man’s jaw tightened. “I’m allowed to have whatever opinions I happen to hold about the people ruling overus.”
“True,” I said. “But if you’d seen how Serenity brought the monarch of all the fae to her knees earlier today, I don’t think you’d be complaining. Or do you thinkyoucould make the fae tremble at the sight ofyou?”
His mouth opened and then closed again as he struggled for words. Yeah, that’s what I’dthought.
“Talk to the guards who came along with us if you don’t trust your own alpha’s word,” I said. “They’ll tell you just how powerful our dragon shifteris.”
“I suppose we will,” the woman said. She grasped her husband’s elbow and tugged him away. Which was for the best, because if they’d tried to take another jab at Ren, I couldn’t have promised I’d have kept my animal instincts in check anylonger.
“Defending our dragon shifter’s honor again?” West said dryly. He’d come up beside me while I’d beendistracted.
I frowned at the wolf shifter. “If you’re here to snark, I don’t really want to hear it. After this afternoon, evenyouhave to admit she’s somethingspecial.”
West’s gaze slid past me to where Ren was still dancing with Aaron. Her hair flew out around her face as he whirled her around. Joy and love shone on her face. I couldn’t figure how any of us could have seen that and not felt his heartmelt.
And maybe none of us could. West’s expression softened slightly. So did his voice. “Maybe I do,” he said. “Watching the monarch turn tail and flee... That really was something, wasn’tit?”
A glow of pride filled my chest. “That was our dragonshifter.”
That was mymate.
* * *
Ren
Asudden hushfell over the crowd around Aaron and me. We’d just stopped to catch our breaths after dancing for three songs straight. I looked up, and my bodytensed.
A thin, pale figure had appeared at the edge of the courtyard, gleaming against the darkness. A fae man. He held his hand up with a motion I instinctively knew was a truce gesture. He meant no harmhere.
But that didn’t make me happy to seehim.
Aaron stepped forward to meet the fae man, and I followed. The man’s searching gaze stilled when it landed on us. He held out his other hand, which was shining with a sharperlight.
“The monarch wishes you to know her word has been kept,” he said. He whipped his handupward.
A scattering of tiny lights burst apart over our heads. The fragments glittered and faded into the cooling nightair.
“What—” I started, but the fae man had already vanished. Murmurs rose up through the crowd, startled and awed. I turned to Aaron. “What was that allabout?”
He looked up at the sky where the lights had disappeared, his expression solemn. “The monarch followed the terms of the treaty, according to their laws. The fae who acted to harm us and your mother have had their lights snuffedout.”
“Oh.” My stomach balled. I followed his gaze, thinking of those lives wipedout.
