Chapter 22

Damian leaned forward, squinting, and wiping a bit of ketchup off the corner of his mouth with his thumb. “Oh shit, Ry. You’re right. That does look like a constellation from back home.”

“What would a star map from the Realms be doing on Earth?” Mills asked.

“And how does it relate to this jar of yuck?” Jamison said, tapping on the jar’s lid.

“I don’t know. Yet. But I can ask Stella when I see her again.” The thought already pleased him. How soon would be too soon to call? His fingers itched to text her right away. “Even though it is probably none of our business.”

“Nice of you to decide that now,” Austin said. Zach turned toward him —his brother had been quiet, ever since he’d confessed to seeing Stella. “I’m having a hard time getting over the fact that you decided to help her in the first place, Zach, and by extension, all of her entire flea-ridden pack.” “Don’t be like that, Austin,” Zach said, shaking his head. “She’s a good person.”

“No, she has you convinced she’s a good person. That’s not the same thing as being one.” Austin stood and shrugged. “I’ve got to go train,” he said, stalking off.

Zach watched him leave, wondering how he could ever make his brother understand, as Mills set Grimalkin on the ground and stood too. “I want to run some tests on this substance. Maybe once we know what’s in it, we can see if it’s even worth pursuing.” She looked to Jamison. “You in?”

“With you? Always,” he said, taking hold of her hand with his human hand, and keeping the jar safe in his metal one as they mounted the stairs.

“Do you remember any of the other constellations on the map?” Ryana asked him. “Or—if I drew them for you, might they look familiar?”

Zach shook his head. “I doubt it, Ryana. I wasn’t paying that much attention.”

Ryana pouted, her wings waving behind her in thought, and then she turned to Damian, her half-brother, shoving her hands at him in mid-air.

“Okay, you can go now. I need to talk to Zach alone.”

Damian blinked, setting his plate down. “Did you just dismiss me?”

“We could call it that,” Ryana said. “Or we could call it you getting a plate of food down here and taking it up to your fiancée, and then going on to do whatever it is you two do so often up there, with each other.” She gestured dramatically up the stairs. “As long as you’re away.”

Damian stood, chuckling, and did as he was told. Before he left though, he gave Zach a quick look, in case the werewolf needed backup. Zach shrugged in response, with no idea as to Ryana’s plans, and the dragon-shifter made his way upstairs.

“And you too, Mister,” she said, shooing Grimalkin off. She whistled, and her red bird Lyka, who was every bit as magical as Damian’s cat, flew to her side. “Go play.”

Lyka zoomed lower to taunt the Siamese, and then zipped off, with Grimalkin a white blur behind.

“Well,” Zach said, once the two of them were alone. “To what do I owe the honor?”

Ryana dragged her chair nearby, and Zach turned around to face her. “You’re going to need to cut Austin some slack for a bit.” She tilted her head and her light brown hair cascaded down her shoulder.

Zach groaned and rolled his eyes. “Don’t I always?”

“No—I mean like, a lot, coming up. He’s feeling pretty moody and protective.”

“Oh, what, is it Thursday again? Or a Tuesday, perhaps?” Zach knew he would always have Austin’s back, but that didn’t mean they always saw eye to eye. He hardly needed Ryana to tell him that. “Ryana,” he began, to try to explain how their relationship worked, but she cut him off.

“I’m pregnant.”

Zach reeled back, looking from her to her stomach, to her again. “Ryana?” he asked, and then at seeing her smile light up, he smiled helplessly too. “Oh my God, Ryana—that’s amazing.”

She beamed at him, shrugging her shoulders and her wings. “I know, right? But—it’s bringing a lot of stuff up for your brother.” She reached out and grabbed Zach’s hand, resting it on her knee. “I know when you two were younger, you went through a lot.”

Zach nodded as his heartbeat slowed. Just the decimation of almost every Wind Racer pack member in existence. Just… that.

“So he’s worried about me, you know? And the baby, and you—and everyone else. Like he usually is, but now times a thousand. He just wants everyone to be safe.” Her smaller hand squeezed his tightly, then let go as she rocked back. “I wouldn’t get involved, only remember when you butted

into my relationship? Well, turnabout is fair play.” Zach groaned, but she continued.

“We all do care about you, Zach—and Austin loves you, you know that. He just doesn’t want you to get hurt, right? And you can’t blame him, what with your pack’s history. So, I’m saying this as gently but as firmly as I can… there’s some other girl out there for you, Zach. I don’t know who she is, or where she is, but she’s waiting for you to find her. And she’s someone who's going to want you just the way you are—a little rough around the edges, too smart for your good, and sometimes a little moody, because, that’s a family trait. But she’ll know that you’re a good man, and she’ll be your mate.” Ryana gave him a hopeful smile.

“And she, whoever she is, won’t ever hurt you.” “Stella hasn’t hurt me, Ryana,” Zach began to protest.

Ryana crossed her arms in an instant to stare him down. “No? Really?”

Zach made a rueful snort. “I can already tell you’re going to be a good mom.”

“Thanks, me too,” she said, cracking a smile. “But really, Zach. Give up on Stella. Stop stressing your brother out, and by extension, me, seeing as I have to be the one to put up with him.”

There was no way he could promise to do that. Ever. “How about… I just never mention her to either of you again?” he asked.

Ryana cocked one eyebrow. “Fine. I’ll take what I can get.”

She picked up the piece of paper with the constellation on it to study it again and he wondered if she missed the stars of her home.

“Is there a story behind it? Like there are to our constellations here?”

“Oh, you mean like the fascinating stories behind the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper, which symbolize scooping things?” she asked, sounding intentionally naïve, before chuckling. “No, actually, there are.” She picked up the pen and drew a few more strokes between the dots that Zach had placed, sketching out the outline of a person. “Lezore comes from an old story—it’s rather like an analog to your Icarus here—he decided to climb too high up a mountain, and the gods threw him down from the sky.” She held up her completed drawing with a boy, one arm and one leg outstretched over the stars of the constellation, then slowly tilted it to land on the table beside Zach. “In winter, Lezore seems to fall behind the mountains of the Sarcoplex, where the Realm’s royalty is interred, so the myth always struck me as a warning to those in charge—don’t aim too high, otherwise we’ll shove you down into the cemetery.”

“Heh,” Zach said, picking the drawing up. He creased lines into it and put it into his pocket. “So who else knows?” he asked, looking pointedly at her belly.

She placed her hand where he was looking. “Austin. And

Mills can probably read it in my aura. And I’d never hide a thing from Lyka… but you still made the first five. So you should feel pretty special.”

“I do. Trust me. And, considering Austin’s nonexistent ability to keep a secret, I’m rather impressed. I might just wait ’til he decides to tell me and pretend to be all excited again, just for the sake of his pride.”

Ryana laughed. “I think you should. Also, if he asks, I need you to take my side in decorating our nursery.”

“Do I get to ask why?”

“Nope.”

Zach held both hands up, beaming at her. His brother was going to be a dad… and he was going to be an uncle. “Fair enough.”

She stood up, straightening her skirt. “So what are you going to do with the rest of your vacation?”

“Relax,” Zach said and shrugged. “Read books.”

“And attempt to see other, more appropriate women?” Ryana prompted. “Ones who won’t care that I’m a werewolf?”

“Mates can be human, you know.” She pointed a meaningful finger upstairs, where Damian was with Andi. “You just need to find the right girl is all.”

A phone buzzed in his pocket. He’d turned his work phone off, all the better to deal with Blackwood Industries fallout later, so it had to be his one. It buzzed again and again at irregular intervals. Texts were coming in. And seeing as everyone else who had that number was currently under the same roof with him, save one…

“I’ll work on it. I swear,” he promised her.

Ryana smiled sweetly at him and walked away.

Somehow he managed to not pull out his phone and check it until she was gone.