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Shalen nodded. “If the gods came here once, they will return.”
Lexi shook her head. “No, Artemis has always been here. She is good. She is—”
Lark rolled his eyes. “You,” he finished her sentence. “She is you.”
The Universa did their look exchange again. “You are the goddess?”
“Incarnate.” Lark supplied.
Lexi glared at her mate.
Belesh sighed. “So many things. So much to do.” She turned to gaze at Maggie. “But one thing I can do for you, when this is all over, little one. I can help you conceive with your dragon husband. This is an easy fix and something we have done several times.”
Maggie gasped, her eyes flying over all the heads of the people. I spun around and found James standing in the doorway to the kitchen. He appeared dazed, which meant he had heard what Belesh had said.
His hands tightened around the books he held in his hands before he relaxed them once more. His intense gaze went directly to Belesh, focusing on her.
“If you can do that, we would be forever in your debt.” His voice was deep, filled with all the hope and sorrow he felt. Maggie already had several miscarriages in their quest to expand their family.
Those two wanted children, but their differences were such they couldn’t. Dragons laid eggs. Lycanthropes had live births. I wasn’t sure what the geneticist could do to overcome those odds, but if she could, it would rock James and Maggie’s world.
Belesh just shrugged, but it was Shalen who answered him. “Hello. I’m Shalen, Holden’s father. I am an Universa. My mother changed my appearance so I could fit in here on Earth. And in case you didn’t know, there are some dragons who can have live births. We can modify your genes to allow you and your progeny to do the same. Then you should have no trouble conceiving. And the child could be a wolf or a dragon. Or possibly even have aspects of both.”
A hand covered Maggie’s mouth as her eyes filled with tears of joy. James stared at her, the hope almost painful to see.
“Thank you. Thank you for this. And we will accept your offer once we get things settled here.”
Belesh stated, “No problem. This was one of the first modifications I had done when I was first learning with our Malen. It is simple enough. Even easier if magic is available.”
Renth took this moment to trudge down the stairs. It seemed like the lecanifer was going to tumble head over heals at any minute as he took each step, his hips rising much higher over his head. Stairs weren't made for huge, long, cat-like beasts.
Vasteria did a double take when she saw him, gasping out, “What is that?”
I gave her credit. She didn’t scream, nor did she run. “That is Renth. He’s a lecanifer and my familiar.”
She breathed out, “He is beautiful!”
Shalen twisted around, frowning, looking at me. “How did you bond with one? They are elusive!”
I studied Renth as he moved over to check on each girl. As Lauren was the only one still standing on the floor, he bumped his head into the girl’s belly. She giggled, dropping Vasteria’s hand and wrapping both arms around his head.
“Renth!” Roxy wiggled in her grandmother’s grasp enough so that she put her down before she fell.
“Roxy. Why can’t you be still for a minute?” Holden exclaimed, exasperated.
The red-headed demon ran over to the lecanifer and tried to drape herself on his torso. She barely could reach his back, so she leaned up against him instead.
Shalen glanced at the girl in his arms. “Do you want to go with your sisters?”
Hope studied him, her expression solemn. I could see she was looking at the situation from all sides. After a few minutes, she shook her head. “No, grandfather. Renth will be wherever Soren is, and he is family. I will play with him later. Roxy needs him the most right now. And Lauren helps him with her.”
Shalen’s eyes turned to gaze at Holden, who just raised her eyebrows. “I don’t know what to tell you, Dad.”
Shalen readjusted his hold on the girl before turning back to me. “To repeat, how did you even find a lecanifer, let alone bond with one?”
Lexi giggled. “That is a long story. But the gist of it is both Soren and I were way too young for our mates, despite recognizing the relationship long ago. So we went to the planet where our other sister, Betta—you haven’t met her yet, but her mate is a Peace Guardian—had ended up on, by accident. She had aged several years there before Stet found her. We planned our stay on that planet to allow us to reach the age we wanted, which is the same as our mates. So now we can finalize our bond, if you know what I mean.” She waggled her eyebrows at the older man.
“Whew! That was a mouthful!” Shalen laughed, looking over at his daughter. “This was one of the pups you were helping when you met Shane again?”
