Epilogue

Dante

I grabbed the groceries from the back of the van. If anyone had told me back in the day that I would own a full-sized van—and that every seat would be filled with just my family alone—I'd have thought they were out of their mind. But here I was, not only owning said van but thrilled because it symbolized how full both my heart and my life were.

The sound of my family laughing, and in Albie's case, singing, filled the air. I was home. Not home home, but our cabin. I walked around the back to see that Gideon had already set up the grill. We had brought everything we needed for our first-night-at-the-cabin barbecue here, except for the hot dogs. There was a local butcher who made the best ones in the state, and we always picked them up when we got here.

When Kai first saw the flier for this place, we were walking to our favorite coffee place. I humored him at the time, saying, "Yeah, we should look at it," but in the back of my mind, I figured it would be junk. After all, what real estate didn't sell right away and needed to have a flier in the realtor's window?

But the second we stepped onto the property, all four of us knew this was where we needed to be. And we were right. It was here where Albie, the twins Sarah and Lily, John, Allie, Ryan, and George all had their first shifts. And now, it was where our youngest, Steve, was about to take his form for the first time.

Seymour had scented Steve's shift coming close—dragons got a slight scent of ash during puberty—and this morning, when Steve told us he heard his dragon for the first time, we knew it was time to get down here—to celebrate his beast joining us.

Dinner didn't take long to finish cooking, and we all sat at the picnic tables with the fire pit roaring beside us, chit-chatting about our first shifts and the day that we had.

Steve stood up and took four steps back. "Dads," he said, looking at us, "it's time."

Seymour joined him, and the two of them walked to the clearing, all the rest of us following behind.

Seymour shifted into his dragon form, his beast encouraging Steve's to come forward. When his dragon finally listened, there were so many hugs, laughter, and cheers at the sight, at greeting his beast for the first time.

Steve's dragon laid down, putting his head on the ground, encouraging everyone to come over, and they did—with congratulations, hugs, kisses on his nose, and comments about how beautiful he was.

I stepped back, with Kai, Gideon, and the other kids all beside me, and we watched as Steve took to the sky for the first time. There were a few moments when I thought he might fall, and I flinched, fearing the worst, but of course, his dragon figured it out. All our beasts knew what to do. It was the human in us that did the second-guessing.

Steve and Seymour circled the sky a few times before coming back down to the ground. He wouldn't try his fire today—we had learned that lesson with Sarah. There were certain things young shifters had to ease into, and fire was one of them.

"Why don't you all get back to the tables." Gideon pointed the way, wanting to give Steve some privacy. It would also give us parents time to have a few words with him.

"That was… wow," Steve said, pulling on his jeans. "I mean, I knew… I'd seen your dragons… I knew, but… wow."

"Yeah, wow," I agreed. "You were stunning, Son." I cupped his shoulder. "And nice job controlling your fire."

He rolled his eyes. "I know. I was there. I remember. It was my favorite chair that melted."

"At least you weren't in it?" Seymour pulled on his shirt.

When Sarah's fire came out, it had startled her and she turned her head too quickly. It was funny now, but at the time, significantly less so.

"There's cake, right? That wasn't just a way to get them to leave?" Steve was done with being the center of attention or he was legit worried about the cake. Probably a bit of both.

"Nope, there's cake. Chocolate," I assured him.

He gave us a quick hug and then bolted back to be with the others.

Seymour took my hand. "Hey, I remember my first cake."

"You do?" I did too. It was hardly fabulous, but it did its job.

"Yeah. It was the first time I realized that maybe all of this might be possible."

We'd each had that moment—the one where we realized that Kai wasn't a dream, that the life we were planning for ourselves could actually be real. We each shared ours, and the sounds of our kids calling dibs on a second piece of cake got louder and louder.

"We should probably get back before the kids devour the cake or have a food fight." Kai's assessment was accurate. He kissed Seymour on the cheek and then did the same for Gideon and me.

"That's the last piece!" Lily was not impressed, and the entire mountainside now knew it.

Seymour grinned. "How little she knows. I have one hidden away for us, for later."

"Chocolate?" Gideon licked his lips.

"Chocolate."

"You're the best mate ever." I gave him a far-too-brief kiss.

"Hey, I thought I was the best mate ever." Gideon chuckled.

"You all are." And it was the truth.

"Works for me." Kai grabbed my hand.

And it worked for me too.

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