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“Exactly.” Aaron nudged me toward the hall. “Serenity knows her limitations. If she needs more from us than we’d naturally offer, we can trust that she’ll ask. I think what she needs most right now is to have all of us there by her side, celebrating with her.”
Which was all the more reason we should get back to the festivities.
We emerged into the back yard to the sound of voices raised and instruments blending together in harmony. As the final part of her celebration of our disparate natures, Ren had invited all those among my kin who performed music of one sort or another to play a song or two for everyone. Those watching the band of raccoon shifters playing now were swaying along in time with the melody. Ren stood near the front of the crowd, her face lit with pleasure as she took in the music.
During the Christmas before this one—Ren’s first as dragon shifter—we’d still been so busy picking up the pieces and getting our domains back in order after dealing with fae and vampires and rogues that the holiday had passed with relatively little fanfare. I wasn’t sure how much she’d celebrated her last few years before we’d found her, when she’d been scraping by mostly living on the streets. But she’d occasionally mentioned the private holiday moments she’d shared with her mother while they were still together: sparkling trees and colorful window displays, curling up together in their apartment watching classic movies over hot chocolate.
If the events she’d put together over this week filled even a little of that hole, I guessed I could understand why she’d put so much energy into them. My heart ached, in a good way, seeing the happiness in her expression right now.
Damn, I really hoped I wasn’t about to break that.
I caught the eyes of a few of the book’s contributors in the crowd and motioned them over. The white-haired badger shifter, the elegant horse shifter, and the wizened black bear shifter came to join me. Yvonne’s eyes sparkled as she smoothed back a silver mane no less impressive than that of her animal form.
“It’s time?”
“Seems like as good a moment as any,” I said.
We let the raccoon shifters finish their song, and then I stepped forward with my hand raised for attention. “Ren,” I said, beckoning her. “You’ve given us the gift of this incredible celebration. Now I and my kin have a gift for you.”
“Nate,” our dragon shifter said, glancing around as if checking that no unexpected figures were going to appear in the crowd like the fae monarch had yesterday night. She walked up to us and came to a stop in front of me with a curious expression. “I’m starting to get the impression there’ve been a lot of other preparations going on behind my back while I was busy with my own.”
I couldn’t help grinning at that comment. “You’re not the only one who wants to honor the people you care about.”
A flush colored her cheeks. Her gaze slid over the shifters who’d accompanied me. Yvonne spoke up in her clear smooth voice.
“We disparate kin have many different natures and perspectives, as you pointed out so well in the dining hall. One of the beliefs we—and all shifter kind—can unite under without hesitation is the certainty that your mother, our last dragon shifter, was a leader we’re proud to have called our own. And we’ve been more than pleased to see how you’ve been following in her footsteps.”
Ren blinked hard. “Thank you,” she said, and was that a wobble in her voice? Damn it, Aaron might be right about the tears. Hopefully on both counts and not just the first.
“We can only imagine, as difficult as it was for us to lose an esteemed leader, how hard it was for you to be torn from your community and then to lose your mother as well,” the bear shifter said in a gentle tone. “Which is why, when our alpha asked us to help bring her back to you in the only form we can, we were more than happy to.”
I offered Ren the gift bag. She eased it open with trembling hands. When she pulled out the book, she just stared at the cover for a moment, reading the gilded lettering there.A History of Haven Drake.
“I asked kin from all across my people—and some from the other groups as well—who spent time with your mother while she ruled to share some of their memories from her time as our dragon shifter,” I said. “So you can get to know that side of her in a way you didn’t have the chance to before. Over a hundred of her people—and yours—sent me recollections.”
Ren opened the book slowly, turning from the title page to the table of contents to the beginning of the first account, from an old wolf shifter who’d worked on Ren’s mother’s estate while Haven was growing up and who had helped organize the ceremony of her ascension. Aaron and I had decided to include the stories in chronological order, for lack of any better guiding principle.
Our dragon shifter ran her fingers over the first few lines. The tears the avian alpha had predicted glimmered in her eyes. But the smile that came with them reassured me that they hadn’t been brought by pain.
“Thank you,” she said again, nodding to the three shifters standing with me in turn. “I’ll need to thank everyone who contributed. And… thankyou.” She threw her arms around me, still clutching the book, hugging me with all her dragon strength.
Applause broke out in the watching crowd. I hugged Ren back and bent over her when she eased away to claim a kiss. If I hadn’t already been convinced, the enthusiastic press of her lips to mine would have told me I’d chosen my gift well.
I motioned for the next group of musicians to jump in with their performance. Ren stayed tucked close to me as she looked over the book again.
“The only problem is that now I want to abandon my own party so I can start reading,” she said.
I kissed the top of her head, my heart swelling with so much love it threatened to burst through my chest. “I’m sure my kin can spare you for a little while.”
She paused, and then she shook her head, tucking the book under her arm. “This week is about all of us celebrating together. And anyway, it’ll probably be better if I take those memories in gradually so I completely appreciate each one.”
“Whatever makes you happy,” I said.
Her arm tightened around me. “I am happy,” she said. “So much.”
She did sound happy, but a faint tremor had crept into her voice as well, bringing me back to the concerns I’d mentioned to Aaron earlier. I didn’t think our dragon shifter was going to appreciate me asking yet again whether she was all right in front of so many of our kin. So I settled for resting my palm on her belly next to her hand, encircling her and our unborn daughter in all the steady warmth I could offer.
Chapter 5
