Filed to story: Reclaimed Book by Roxie Ray
“Check it out,” I said.
“Whoa,” Dylan whispered. “No way.”
Hawk had spent all yesterday afternoon with me converting this bedroom. We’d switched out the queen bed for a lofted double bed and stuck some bean-bag chairs under there, plus a television and a video game console. There was open floor space, a new desk, some bookshelves, and even some Lego sets. Hawk and I had even strung up some color-changing LED lights, since Mia said they were popular among kids.
Dylan looked at me, wide-eyed. “Is this…”
“It’s your room,” I said. “If you ever need to stay here.”
Dylan surged forward and wrapped his arms around my middle. He squeezed me with a surprising amount of strength-well, not surprising, considering he was a dragon shifter and also my son-then let go before I even realized what happened. “This is amazing!” he said, then bounded over to the video game console to look at the games I’d picked out with Hawk’s help.
I cleared my throat around the sudden lump that had formed there. Harley was lingering by the door, her hand over her mouth.
“Sorry if it’s too much,” I said quietly. “I don’t want you to think I’m trying… trying to fix everything with money. I want to make sure there’s a safe place for him to stay.”
Harley dropped her hands and smiled. It was a small, sweet smile. A genuine smile. God, I’d missed that smile. “I’m not going to complain about you spoiling him,” she said. “It’s… Wow, it’s a lot to take in.”
“I set up the room next door for you, too,” I said. “Didn’t get you a Playstation, though, so if you were expecting one of those…”
Harley’s eyes popped wide. “You did?”
I nodded. “I meant what I said at Liz’s. If you need another place to stay, you’re always welcome here.”
Dylan laughed with delight, and we both watched as he examined the Lego sets on the desk.
“He really needed this,” Harley said. “Thank you.”
My throat tightened again. “We’ve got a lot of shifter business to cover,” I said to Dylan. “You want to get started?”
“Yes!” Dylan punched the air with excitement. “Let’s do it.”
I led Harley and Dylan back downstairs, then out the back door. Hawk was grilling on the deck, with Mia and Bella supervising. They waved at us as I led Dylan down the wooden stairs and onto the wide, grassy expanse between the house and the lake. Harley followed a moment later, with a quilt Mia had given her and a glass of lemonade.
Harley spread the blanket out on the grass a few paces away from us and sat down. She took off her shoes and swept her braids back off her shoulders. Already there was a thin sheen of sweat on her forehead in the midday sun. She smiled at us.
Logically, I knew she was watching us to keep an eye on Dylan. She hadn’t seen me in ten years-of course, she wouldn’t leave us to our shifting lessons alone. Having her eyes on us only made me more determined to get this right.
I knelt in front of Dylan. Now that we were outside, about to start, he worried his lower lip in his teeth. “What are we gonna do this time?” he asked. “Is it gonna hurt? Like my teeth did?”
“It’ll probably feel weird, but it won’t hurt that badly,” I said. “When it happens involuntarily-without you deciding to do it-it always hurts a little more. If you learn to shift in bits, like I’m going to show you, it’ll hurt a lot less.”
Dylan watched me for a moment, then nodded. My dragon rumbled, pleased that my son was checking me for lies.
“It’s a little scary, isn’t it?”
Dylan nodded again.
“I remember when I was your age, when I went through my first shift. My dad was so excited, but I was really scared. But my dad was a good teacher, and that made it a lot easier. So, we’ll do the same, me and you, okay?”
“Okay,” Dylan said.
My first shift had been complicated by the fact that Sean hadn’t shifted. Not at the same time, at least. Sean was my twin brother. Although I had been born first, we should’ve shifted around the same time. But when I started my shifter puberty, he had yet to show any signs, and it made him miserable. He watched Dad walk me through it, and I knew he was jealous. Those few months between my shift and his had been awful. And then when he had shifted, three months after me, Dad wasn’t nearly as excited as he’d been for mine.
To Sean, it was just another way I was the favored son. He was always competing with me. I, on the other hand, only wanted my brother.
I shoved those thoughts aside. Now was not the time. It was Hawk’s fault for bringing him up, anyway.
“We’re going to start with some partial shifting,” I said. “It’s a good way to ease in.”
“Partial? What does that mean?”
“This.” I raised my hand in the space between us and extended my claws. They were long, sharp, and a deep, abyssal black. They shone like onyx in the space where my fingertips were moments before. Partial shifting was as easy as breathing to me, but it hadn’t started out that way.
“Whoa!” Dylan said. “That’s so cool!”
My dragon rumbled in delight. “You’re going to learn how to do it, too.”
“Seriously? You think I can learn today?”
“I know you can,” I said with a smile. “You were so good with your fangs, this will be a snap.” I retracted my claws, and my hands went back to normal. “First, I want you to close your eyes. Take a few deep breaths. You’re going to feel your dragon. Really focus on him, okay?”
Dylan closed his eyes and nodded. He took a few breaths. My dragon rumbled again. We could both sense Dylan’s dragon-awake, energetic, and eager to be freed.
The sun rose higher in the sky as I walked Dylan through the mechanics of partial shifting. It wasn’t easy to explain. A lot of shifting was instinctive and emotional. It was more like teaching a nine-year-old how to meditate. I could sense his frustration when it didn’t work, as well as his determination to get it. He and his dragon both wanted to make me proud.
Of course, he’d already made me proud. But I was glad to feel his determination, anyway.
Then, after about an hour, he got it.
“Dad!” Dylan’s eyes shot open. He lifted both hands, displaying ten perfectly formed, small, sharp claws. They were the same onyx-black as mine. “I did it! Look! I did it!”
Dylan jumped around with excitement, only pausing to stare in wide-eyed awe at his claws. Then he raced toward Harley, who was still sprawled on the blanket, watching us. “Mom! Look! Look! I’ve got claws!”
Harley laughed and admired his claws while Dylan posed and bared his teeth ferociously.
I sat back on the grass, propped on one elbow, and watched them as Dylan played around. The sun was warm overhead, and the lake lapped at the bank behind us. The smoke from the grill smelled good, and soon we’d all be sitting down on the deck to have lunch together.
“Ace.”
I looked up. Hawk was standing at the railing of the back deck with Striker next to him. Striker’s arms were crossed across his broad chest, and there was a deep furrow in his brow. He’d recently cut his dark hair down to his scalp, and sweat dripped from his temples. He looked pissed. If he was showing up at my home, looking like that, then something serious had happened.
I jumped up and hurried onto the deck. I glanced down at the yard. Harley’s attention was torn between Dylan still showing off his claws and me above her with Striker.
I sighed and turned to Striker. “What is it? Is it Blakely?”
“No,” Striker said. “There’s been a problem with one of our shipments.”
I stepped away from the deck railing and moved closer to the house, out of Harley’s eyesight. “What happened?”
“We lost the whole shipment,” Striker said. “Stolen. Two of our guys got a little beat up.”
“Everyone okay?”
“Just bruised and pissed off,” Striker said. “Nothing a little retribution won’t fix.”