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“How long has it been since anyone’s come here?” I asked. Everywhere I looked struck a new chord of recognition in me: the long stretch of the landing field, the rustling leaves of the trees, the craggy peaks of the mountains to the north that spilled down into rolling green hills that surrounded the rest of the estate. All my nerves were twanging, even though it’d only been a minute since I’d stepped off theplane.
I sucked in a breath. The breeze held the delicate floral smell of clover. That was familiartoo.
“We’ve taken turns sending kin by to do basic upkeep over the years,” Aaron said. “We didn’t want the place to fall into disrepair.” He rested his hand on the small of my back. “We trusted you’d be back. But it won’t feel all that homey yet. They’ll need to uncover the furniture, stock the kitchen, do a more thorough cleaning, allthat.”
I stepped toward the trees. The hiss of the breeze moving through them sent a prickle down my back. Calling to mywings.
This was where I’d first learned about being a dragon. Where I’d first seen a dragon fly. My mother, gleaming bronze against the sky. My throat chokedup.
“It doesn’t need any of that to feel like home,” I said. “It justis.”
I strode down the path the way the other shifters had gone. My mates drew up close behind me. I felt each of their presences by me: calm, eager, proud, and wary. And all of them here for me, trusting that I’d been right to bring ushere.
I’d better make sure I justified thattrust.
When we emerged from the short stretch of trees onto the plains of tall grass that surrounded the house, my breath caught in my throat. Kylie came to a halt besideme.
“Holy shit, Ren. That’s somehouse.”
It hardly even looked like a house. It was a castle, twin turrets on either side of the broad arched door, a parapet wall in between, the stones that constructed it painted stark white with red and gold trim around the door and windowframes.
My mother’s voice trickled up through my memory, bright with amusement.A regular medieval fortress. Keeping us dragons safe instead of keeping the royalty safe from dragons. Our ancestor who commissioned this place had quite the sense ofhumor.
These fields, I’d run through with my sisters. Ducking low to let the grass cover us, springing up to surprise each other with a mock growl. Our dads would join in the games, slinking beneath the cover of the waving blades in their animal forms, waiting to make a gentle pounce. Only my bear shifter father had been too big to really hide. We’d clamber onto his back and send him lumbering after theothers.
My gaze drifted to the thicker forest behind the house. Pines and cedars mingled with oaks and maples there. The shadows streaked darker between theirtrunks.
But not as dark as the night when we’d fled. The air sharp in my lungs, the branches whipping against my arms, pebbles rattling away under my scrambling feet. My mother’s hand clamped so tight around myfingers—
I yanked my eyes away. My heart wasthudding.
“Ren?” West said, watching me. How much did he see? It hadn’t occurred to me that I might not get away with quite so much around those watchful green eyes now that he was no longer trying to convince himself he didn’tcare.
I dragged in another breath, letting the clover smell and the summer warmth relax me. Focus on the present. Focus on the happy times before. Anything but that onenight.
“I’m all right,” I said. “Come on, let’s getinside.”
The front hall was fine. The front hall wasgorgeous. The pale moss-green walls I’d seen in my vision now snapped into clarity. A crystal globe dangled from the ceiling, that I knew could beam with light when darkness started to fall outside. The swooping doorways opened into wide, airy rooms with huge windows that would be letting the sunlight pourin.
My feet carried me farther into the house as if of their own accord. And maybe that was my mistake. Not bracing myself. Not watching for the first hint of horror so I could pull myselfback.
Or maybe there was no way I could have avoidedit.
My ballet flats squeaked on the polished floor, and my stomach lurched. Like the squeak of my sisters’ feet as we’d dashed this way—like the strangled squeal that had burst from Verity’s throat as the rogue’s jaws clamped down onher.
I whirled, trying to pull myself away from the memories, but my gaze stuck on a spot on the wall. A perfectly even green spot—they’d washed it and painted over. But I could see clear as anything where the splotch of blood had been, just beyond that door. Where it had dribbled across the floorboards to where my wolf father hadslumped.
My lungs seized up. I threw myself down the hall faster. “Ren!” Kylie called out. Like my mother, in my memories.Faster. We can’t let them catch us. Oh, please, Ren, stay withme.
A sob had choked her throat. A moan had carried behind us. One of the rogues had stepped into the hall behind us with his rifle. It all rushed at me, faster and faster: the click as he reloaded. His mocking chuckle bouncing off the walls. Another puddle of blood. The smear of fingerprints across thebaseboard.
I spun again—and crashed into a broad, solid chest. Nate’s arms came around me. “Ren,” he murmured, dipping his head low. “I’m here. We’re here. All that is overnow.”
I pressed my face into his shirt, but my pulse rattled on. More memories bubbled up and burst in my head. My mind was spinning. I couldn’t think. I couldn’tbreathe.
“Let’s get her to her room,” West said, somewhere behind me. “There wasn’t any fightingthere.”
“Hey.” Aaron’s voice, always so measured even with its faint rasp. “Here we go, Serenity. You just need a little time to settle in. You were right. This is still your home. Hold on tothat.”
