After throwing on jeans and a sweater, she’d started to braid her damp hair when she heard a knock from downstairs. She paused, wondering if someone else had gotten the door.

  Then she heard another knock.

  So no, then. As she finished her braid, she hurried out of her bedroom to find Zephyr stepping out of his room as well.

  The look he gave her was heated; he wasn’t even trying to hide his lust for her. Which was both exhilarating and maddening. Because he wouldn’t give her what she wanted—uncomplicated orgasms. “Are we expecting anyone?” he murmured.

  She shook her head and they both hurried down the stairs. Everleigh had already said she’d call her with details when she had them, so Juniper couldn’t imagine who this was. But even before she opened the door, familiar scents greeted her. She smiled, opening the door to both Vega and Gabriel waiting on the doorstep. Juniper pulled Vega into a hug immediately.

  Vega Marius Stavros—hybrid daughter of Alpha wolf Finn Stavros and Lyra, bloodborn royal vampire—was one of the rarest of hybrids. Wolves and vampires didn’t tend to mix, much less procreate. Her jet-black hair was pulled up into a ponytail and she had on her standard jeans, heavy boots, a black T-shirt and a leather jacket. Gabriel basically dressed the same, which made Juniper smile as she stepped back.

  “Are you guys starting to dress alike now?” she asked as she fist-bumped Gabriel.

  “I can’t help it if he likes to copy me,” Vega said with a grin. She was relatively young but she held her power well, embraced who and what she was. It was like she’d been born for black ops work.

  Gabriel just shrugged, a grin playing at his mouth. He was about six foot two, an inch or so taller than Juniper, with pale green eyes, and he moved more like a feline than the wolf he was.

  “Not that I’m not happy to see you both again, but what are you doing here?” She’d seen them an hour ago when they’d picked up that vampire. They should be on their way to Montana to drop him off now.

  Vega grinned. “I asked a demigod friend to transport him for us. Only took a few seconds,” she said, laughing. “We want to help with this thing, and August said we’re cleared to team up if you need it.”

  “I actually might.” She stepped back, motioning them both to come inside. They’d already met Zephyr back at the warehouse, and he nodded politely at them as he shut the door behind them. “Are you guys hungry or anything?” she asked.

  “We’re good. Unless you were about to eat. I don’t want to stop you,” Vega said.

  Juniper was about to say they were fine too, but Zephyr said, “I’ll whip something up for us. You guys can talk about things while I cook.”

  She was surprised by the offer, but probably shouldn’t be. Zephyr had already proven he wanted to help out any way he could. And her dragon side really, really liked the idea of him feeding her, taking care of her. She wasn’t even sure why, but she swore she could feel her chains practically tingling right now, ready to unleash and latch around him again.

  Gah!

  “I’ll hang out in the kitchen with Zephyr,” Gabriel said as they reached the back door that led to the porch and patio.

  Juniper simply nodded and stepped outside as Vega gave her mate a quick kiss on the mouth.

  She wasn’t jealous of the couple, but a pang hit her square in the chest at the sight of their happiness. She was so damn afraid to want that for herself, to reach for it. Her entire life she’d never fit in—a dragon shifter with strange magical capabilities living with a bunch of wolves, half of whom were scared of her. And while she loved her parents, she’d always felt lacking. They were so calm, always looking for the peaceful solution whereas her first instinct was to burn things that pissed her off. She wondered if her…if those other dragons were like her. Or if she was like them, rather. She didn’t want to care about them, didn’t want to worry about getting to know them. But she did care.

  “I feel like I work more now than I did before The Fall,” Vega said as she sat down and stretched her long legs out in front of her.

  Juniper snorted softly as she sat across from her on the iron patio chair. “No kidding.” She glanced at the back door, wondering when Gabriel and Zephyr would come outside. Mainly she just wanted to see Zephyr. Because she had this growing obsession with the male that she couldn’t deny to herself. She might deny it to her crew, but not to herself. Not anymore anyway.

  “So is he part of your crew now?” Vega asked.

  “He’s working with us on this job. But I don’t know about anything past it.” She lifted a shoulder and hoped it came off as casual. Juniper didn’t even want to think about what would happen after this mission. She’d be sent off on another one and Zephyr would…probably stay here with his brothers. His family.

  Ask him to come with you, her dragon half purred. Juniper ignored her.

  Vega crossed her legs and glanced around the plush backyard. “I hear you. We brought on some new people the last couple months, though I’m sure August has already told you.”

  “He did.” Juniper had been working with August for decades, and Vega was young, had only been with them for a few years. She was good though, a skilled warrior Juniper was happy to have on her side.

  “So what do you want from me and Gabriel? I was serious—put us to work.”

  “You sure?” She knew that Vega hadn’t seen her family in a while and that she loved visiting, especially because she got to spend time with her little brother.

  “I’m sure. Once we kick ass, I’ll head back home. I think I was driving my dad a little crazy anyway. I tend to let my brother do what he wants and…” She shrugged, a grin playing on her features, her expression mischievous. “My dad doesn’t like it.”

  Juniper shook her head slightly. “How many vampires do you want to hunt down?”

  Vega shrugged. “You just tell me.”

  Juniper grinned. “Fine. How about five? King’s people are involved too so I’m splitting up all the names with my crew, his people, and now you guys.” She just hoped this stayed as quiet as King thought it would. She knew that her crew could be trusted, and right now all the humans were at healing centers and not talking to anyone. And King had guards stationed stealthily near that apartment site across the street. Anyone who went inside was getting picked up.

  “That works,” Vega said as Gabriel and Zephyr stepped outside.

  Like always, Juniper’s gaze was immediately drawn to Zephyr. The male was walking, talking sex. A huge, sexy dragon shifter with gray eyes that held wicked promises. She worried that she would never get him out of her system—and she hadn’t even gotten a taste of him yet.

  Still, she couldn’t stop herself from obsessing about him, wondering what he would be like in bed. Up against the wall. On the floor. Anywhere. Everywhere. Sitting on his face. Damn him for putting that thought in her mind.

  After a brief conversation with Vega and Gabriel, the two of them headed out to go see some of their own contacts, and Juniper and Zephyr scarfed down the sandwiches he’d made for them. Since she still hadn’t heard from Everleigh, she decided to get one thing out of the way while she had the time.

  So she called King and told him she was going to talk to the Nova dragons—her grandmother apparently—and he assured her that he had two wolves watching their location. Which did make her feel better. She trusted her skills but these were unknowns and it never hurt for someone to have your back. Though she never counted on it—except with her own people. They’d always had her back. And she’d always had theirs. And now Zephyr was included in that equation. The thought should terrify her, and it did a little, but…she liked that he was part of her crew. Even if temporarily.

  “Want me to go with you?” Zephyr asked as she ended her call with King, sliding her phone into her pocket.

  “You don’t have to do that.” Though she really didn’t want to go alone. Or at all. But she knew that she needed to at least talk to the strangers who claimed they were her family. Or they’d just show up again unannounced.

  Griffin was upstairs sleeping, Ren was with Grace right now—he’d wanted to stop by and see the human while he could—and Hyacinth had gone to visit the Magic Man. Juniper wasn’t even going to think about what was going on with those two.

  “I know I don’t have to. I want to. You shouldn’t go by yourself.” He held up a hand when she started to make a defensive remark. “Not because you’re not capable. You are the most capable being I’ve ever met. But this is a lot to deal with, and they’re essentially strangers. It doesn’t hurt to show up with another badass dragon at your side.”

  Her lips quirked up. “Badass?”

  “I am a very skilled fighter.” There was no smugness, just raw confidence in his tone.

  And he wasn’t wrong. It warmed her from the inside out that he wanted to go with her so she nodded and stood, picking up her empty plate as he picked up his own.

  “Okay, let’s get this over with,” she muttered. Still, she was glad to have the sexy dragon by her side.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  The energy rolling off Juniper as they walked down the sunlit street was palpable. And when she looked at her phone’s screen for the third time, Zephyr said, “Any news?” He hadn’t heard her phone buzz.

  She gave him a sheepish look and tucked her phone away. “No.”

  She hadn’t covered her hair today. Instead she’d braided it, then coiled it at her neck. She’d tugged a wool knit cap over her head so most of the silver was covered. It didn’t do much to hide how magnificent she was though. She was a tall, lithe predator. A sexy powerhouse.

  “So you’re just obsessively checking in the hopes that there is news so you don’t have to go see your potential biological family?”

  She lifted a shoulder, her mouth curving up slightly in admission. “Pretty much. I’ve never been so nervous in my life. I shouldn’t even care what they think about me. I don’t know these people. They abandoned me,” she snapped out, her smile fading.

  “If they abandoned you, then why does your grandmother want to see you now?” Zephyr sure as hell didn’t trust them, but he’d seen the way that older dragon had watched Juniper last night. There’d been a lot of pain rippling under the surface. The female didn’t mean Juniper harm—if she did, she’d already be dead. By his hand.

  “We don’t know that she is my grandmother.” She shoved her hands in her pockets as they reached a crosswalk.

  He wished he had the right to hold her hand, to touch her, to claim her. Sighing, he scanned the surrounding areas automatically. There weren’t many kids out right now, either because they were in school or it was too cold out. But there were a few joggers and other adult humans walking little dogs.

  “Fine, there is a probability that we are related,” she murmured when he didn’t respond. “Maybe.” And she sounded positively sulky about it.

  But there was no maybe about it. The similarities with their unique silver hair coloring and the magical chains… They were at least from the same clan. “I told you that I was stuck in a Hell realm for a long time,” he started.

  She seemed surprised by the change in subject but nodded as they crossed the street. “Yeah.”

  A park was to their left and he smiled to see wolves running around it while a female was teaching art to a class of young humans. “It felt like I was only there for forty years by earth standards, but in reality I was there thousands of years. I lost so much time. By the time I finally escaped, I discovered that most of our family was gone.” Except his three younger brothers who were basically strangers to him now. “It’s…good to have family. And I know you already have family that is not biological, but there is no harm in adding more people to your circle.” He wanted Juniper to have more people to love her, to support her, to hopefully somehow convince her that she was worthy of being loved. Because he was starting to realize that was her real issue, why she was keeping him at a distance. She didn’t want to let anyone in.

  “I know. I’ve just been living this reality for over a hundred years. I guess I’m having a hard time processing that I might actually have biological relatives and that they might want to know me.” She frowned to herself as they sidestepped two human females jogging.

  “Do you remember anything from before you met your parents and Ren and Griff?” Zephyr only knew the basics, but he wanted to know all of it. Wanted to know everything about Juniper.

  She shook her head and then rubbed her temple. “It’s weird. Anytime I even try to think about my past before them, I get massive headaches. My mom thinks it could be a PTSD-induced reaction. She’s used her healing magic on me in the past when I’d get nosebleeds. I eventually stopped trying to think about the past.”

  Zephyr frowned, not liking what she described at all. “Did you ever look into—”

  “Spellwork? As in, did someone create a trap in my mind?” She shoved out a sigh. “Yes. That was actually the first thing my mom thought it might be, but she probed using her magic and couldn’t find anything.”

  “Your mother is a wolf, not a dragon.”

  She blinked. “What does that have to do with anything?”

  “Maybe nothing, but you might want to have Greer take a look at your mind, see if she can find something.” Greer was not only a dragon, she was a powerful healer.

  Juniper made a noncommittal sound and slowed her steps.

  He nudged her once. “If you don’t want to do this—”

  “I do.” She picked up her pace again. “I’ll just get this over with and then be done with them.”

  He doubted she would just “be done with them,” especially if she got a chance to get to know them and they turned out to be decent, but he kept that to himself. She was processing a lot right now on top of having a high-pressure mission. And he didn’t want to be an extra problem for her—but that didn’t mean he was going to let her go. No, he was going to keep showing her that he would be there for her.

  “What was it like in the Hell realm you were trapped in?”

  He was surprised by the question, but answered. Because he wanted this female to know everything about him too, and he liked that she was asking. It meant she cared. “Deadly. Dangerous. Sort of what humans would consider prehistoric times. I stayed in my dragon form most of the time until…” He cleared his throat. “I met some humans, became friends with them.” Then one day he’d lost all his friends to violence, something he was still dealing with. Before that time, he’d lost people, of course—he’d been part of a warrior dragon clan after all. But being stuck in that realm with so many humans, actually befriending them, it had changed him on a fundamental level.

  “And?”

  “And…they died. One human in particular, Circe, was a small, scrappy thing, but she was tough. For a human. She fell into the Hell realm because of a freak accident. We became friends.” It was odd to think he’d become so close to a human. After Circe, he’d befriended more of them and had started to view them differently. Not as weak and useless. They’d been fearless, determined to survive and thrive against all the odds. And they’d been so open and welcomed him into their circle.

  “Did you love her?” There was an odd note to Juniper’s voice.

  He looked at her in surprise. “Yes. But not the way you’re asking, I think. I loved her like a sister. But I couldn’t protect her. Couldn’t protect the family I’d made there. I’d been away because of a threat, and while I was gone taking care of it…another group of dragons swooped in and killed them all. It was a massacre. Killing for the sake of killing. They didn’t take anything, they just killed everyone.” He still saw their bodies, the blood, the ashes, when he closed his eyes sometimes. It had gotten to the point where he didn’t all the time, but it would sneak up on him when he was exhausted.

  Juniper took his hand in her own, squeezed once.

  He squeezed back and didn’t let go—and she didn’t pull away. He was surprised, but didn’t let on—he didn’t want to spook her into dragging her hand back. “I didn’t make friends after that. I was looking for a way to escape anyway.” He’d been hunting a treacherous vampire-mage who’d trapped Zephyr there—and himself inadvertently. He’d been hunting the male because he’d known that was how he would eventually escape. It had taken what felt like forty years.

  “I’m glad you escaped. And I’m sorry about your friends.”

  “Thank you.” Their deaths had been long ago, but sometimes it felt like yesterday and the guilt would never leave completely. At least he’d killed every single dragon who’d killed his friends. He paused with her, stood on the sidewalk outside the huge place.

  It was clear King had housed the new dragons here as a show of respect given the location and size of the house. It was surrounded by a lush yard and large enough for a group of dragons to feel comfortable. “You ready?”

  “As I’ll ever be.”

  * * *

  Juniper was glad Zephyr was with her as they stood uncomfortably in the oversized sitting room of the double shotgun house. The place must have been gutted and everything opened up because this room was large—with enough space for all the damn dragons inside.

  Staring at her and Zephyr. But mainly her. They’d been shown into the sitting room and over the last ten minutes six dragons had arrived, all smiling politely at them.

  A chandelier glittered prettily overhead and a small fire was crackling in the fireplace. Tea candles were placed strategically around the room, throw blankets were artfully draped over the pristine white couches. This room was all whites and creams and boring. It was like something out of Architectural Digest, if that had still existed post-The Fall.

  All the dragons were tall, elegant, and dressed in clothing that reminded her of Gucci. Thanks to years of doing black ops and having to infiltrate various events, she knew her fashion. She didn’t think it was actually Gucci, but the cuts of the jackets were similar. It was like they all went to the same tailor.