38. Harley

THIRTY-EIGHT

HARLEY

It was December, and it had been almost two months since Tate had claimed me. I still hadn't shifted. On one hand, I was happy. I had enough to worry about without transforming into a giant dragon. On the other hand, I couldn't figure out why it hadn't happened, and was ready for the shift.

I knew it had done something to me. Over the past few months, my senses had heightened astronomically. I could hear and smell things I never could before. Small things, like telling the difference between the scents of different types of wood––like the dining room table smelled different than the kitchen cabinets. I didn't even know different woods could smell different, but there it was.

My body was also more connected to my baby. His magic was like a warm glow coming from inside me; it was actually something I could feel. The same was true of Tate and the guys. Something connected us that hadn't been there before. There was no way to adequately explain it, but even though I hadn't turned into a dragon, I knew I was no longer human.

Mariah and I were sitting on our porch watching Steff and Tate carry boxes across the street to his house. Our house now. We had decided to move into his place. It had an extra bedroom that would work as the baby's nursery. His home was bigger in general, and we would all have more room. I'd already messaged Maddox to tell him thanks for the home the last few months, but we'd be moving by the end of the month.

Jordyn was carrying a box and talking a mile a minute to Blayne about where to put all the things in her new room. To his credit, Blayne never lost the smile and did exactly as she asked. I was truly at peace and happy, even though I knew danger was still looming. Right now, however, there was nothing that could stop me from soaking in as much happiness as I could.

A smile slipped onto my lips as Kayden helped Mariah haul her desk across the street. The boy had become a pretty normal staple at our house. He was obviously smitten with Mariah and fell over himself doing anything and everything to make a good impression with me and Tate. The fact that he was over so much had forced me to have the dreaded talk with Mariah about protection for sex. Her face had been flaming the whole time, but she'd promised to come to me if she ever thought she was ready for the next step with Kayden. After the talk, I believed she would.

A sharp cramp tugged at my belly, and I winced. I rubbed at the spot and ignored it. I'd been having Braxton-Hicks contractions for weeks now, and it was becoming routine at this point. The baby was due soon, but I still had a few weeks. At least, I'd thought that was the case.

A few minutes later, another contraction hit me. Painful enough to make me sit up in surprise. Not wanting to freak anyone out yet, I sat and waited. Three more contractions came. When the fourth one hit, I knew things were about to start happening.

"Tate!" I called across the street.

He stopped and put the box down. "Yeah?"

"Car. Now."

"Car? You need to go to the store?" Tate asked dumbly.

Steff smacked him on the back. "No, numb nuts."

Tate glanced at him as another, more painful contraction had me bending over in pain. Realization washed over Tate's face, and he sprinted toward me. Less than three minutes later, I was in the car, trying to breathe through the pain. This wasn't my first rodeo, I knew what to expect and how to handle it. Tate, on the other hand, was close to losing his damn mind. The stoic and calm man I'd grown to love was now freaking out. It got to the point that laughter bubbled out of me.

I placed a reassuring hand on his arm. "Stay calm, big guy. We're gonna be fine. You'll be an amazing daddy."

Three hours later, Tory James Mills was born. As I lay in bed, exhausted, sweaty, and sore, I smiled as I watched Tate pace the room slowly, holding his son. He was in love the first instant he saw him. I could see the love radiating from his eyes. Adoration, pride, and happiness seemed to radiate out of Tate's face as he watched Tory sleep.

After he laid him in the heated bassinet, he stepped over to me and took my hand. He kissed my knuckles, then pulled something out of his pocket. Before I could see what it was, he slid the ring onto my finger. Even in my fatigued state, I gasped and put my other hand to my mouth. Tate had claimed me, as a shifter. But I was born in the world of humans. In that world, a ring on a finger signified something equally as powerful as claiming.

Tate said, "I've taken you as mine in the ways of shifters. Now I want to take you as mine in the way of humans. I want you to be mine in every way possible. I want you to have my last name. I want you to be with me forever. Harley, will you marry me?"

As the tears flowed, I was barely able to get the words out. I managed, "Yes, yes, yes," while sobbing and laughing at the same time.

I slept better that night than I'd ever slept in my life. Content with my baby in his bed beside me and my new fiancé napping on the couch across the room. My body was already feeling better. With the girls, I'd been in pretty significant pain for days. As I slipped off to sleep, I decided there were several benefits to being a shifter.

Less than a week after we got back from the hospital, I called for Tate. I'd finished feeding Tory, and I was feeling feverish and dizzy. Sweat poured off my body, and my skin felt like it was on fire.

Tate came in seconds after I called. When I told him what I was feeling, his eyes went wide. "It's time."

"Time for what?" I asked.

Without answering, Tate leaned out and called across the hall, "Mariah! I… uh… your mom wants to take a walk in the woods. Can you watch the baby?"

"Yeah, sure. I guess. Weird, but whatever," Mariah called from her room.

The woods? Oh shit. My skin was burning and itching too much for me to ask questions, but I had a pretty good idea what he meant. He helped me up, and I leaned on him as we went outside. My body was fully healed from giving birth, but my legs were like jelly. My hair was soaked with sweat by the time we got to the backyard and into the forest. We got to a semi-open area in the trees, and Tate eased me down onto my knees in the moss.

"Okay, Harley, look at me. You need to relax and find that other part of you. The magical part deep inside. Do you feel it?"

I was shaking with fear and excitement. I could sense something. A warmth deep inside my mind and chest. There was something else there as well. I'd never experienced it before, but it was like something else was inside my mind. Something somehow both foreign and familiar. It was scary, but not in the way I'd imagined. It was a similar fear I had just before giving birth.

"I'm not sure how it'll work for you, since you're human, but it should be similar," Tate said as he rubbed my back.

Closing my eyes, I focused on the sensation, pushing deeper into myself. Like the layers of an onion, everything that made me who I was peeled away slowly. Inside, deep down and brand new, something else rose up to greet me.

"Trust the dragon, Harley. She's part of you, she won't hurt you," Tate murmured in a soothing voice.

Doing as he said, I relaxed my last defenses. Opening my body fully to the new entity that had been born out of my soul, I freed the dragon within me. When I did that, my whole essence was immediately filled with fire. Not a destroying or painful sensation. It was a warm blanket. A loving hug from a lost relative. With my eyes closed, I still sensed the way my body was morphing and shifting. When I finally lifted my eyelids, I looked out at the world through wholly different eyes.

My wings stretched out, and I tilted my head around on a thick, muscled neck to inspect my new body. The other presence was right below the surface, like a twin sibling. I loved the dragon the way I loved myself. It was amazing to have this gift, for that was exactly what it was—a gift. Tate gazed up at me with pride, awe, and love. Within seconds, he himself had shifted. Leaning close to me, he pressed his snout against mine.

Deep in my mind, telepathically, he whispered, "You are so beautiful. I'm so grateful for you."

Not only could I hear his thoughts in my own head, but they sounded more sincere. Not that he didn't mean it when he spoke, but through the mind, things were purer. I nuzzled against his neck and sighed.