“I am very pleased for you to become part of our family, Maximilian. Do not doubt that,” Saul assured him.
“Does this make you my grandpa, Uncle Max?” Astrid asked. None of the adults had noticed her listening. She peeked through the open archway from the living room, her bright eyes filled with fascination. “Do I have two grandfathers now?”
Ēostre darted her eyes to Max. He didn’t need to hear her thoughts to know she was leaving the answer up to him. As Saul stepped back, Astrid came forward shyly. Max lowered to a knee in front of her and smiled.
“I will gladly be your grandfather, Astrid. I have adored you since the moment your mother trusted me to meet you.”
“I think I like you more as a grandpa,” she told him in earnest. Her big ear-to-ear grin proceeded an exaggerated smooch to Max’s cheek. “Carry me!”
“Astrid Drakenstone, you are way too old to be carried,” Chloe chastised her gently.
“It’s all right.” Max scooped the girl up as if she were a feather. “Soon enough she’ll truly be too big so I may as well enjoy it while I can.”
Astrid whooped with glee when Max, showing off his muscle, tossed her up and caught her again.
“I suppose I do not need to warn you to take excellent care of my mother,” Saul said.
Max smiled. “I doubt she would allow me to treat her any other way.”
Eventually, they gathered for dinner in the infrequently used dining room where formal place settings for eight gleamed against a white tablecloth. Astrid and Chloe had put together one grand feast in Max and Ēostre’s honor, originally planned to celebrate his appointment to the White House’s top spot. In the end, it became a meal to commemorate their bonding, a reception fit for a pair of dragons.
“Svetlana and I will help you to bring everything inside,” Mahasti said.
“No, no. You sit down with the guests. That’s what Saul is for. Saul, come bring in these steaks,” Chloe called from the doorway.
Saul grunted and left his seat.
“Uncle Leiv taught me how to use his barbecue,” Astrid confided in Max as she set down a platter of grilled shrimp. A delectable, chili-lime aroma wafted from the bamboo-skewered morsels. “So I grilled these.”
“They look delicious. How did you know I liked spicy shrimp?”
“Because you like spicy everything,” the girl explained with a giggle.
“She burned the first ones,” Svetlana revealed, peeking from around Astrid’s back. “Then Papa had to eat all of them so she wouldn’t cry.”
“You weren’t supposed to tell!”
“But it was funny!”
Max laughed at the expression on Astrid’s face. Her cheeks were mottled pink and red, and her lips were pouted out. “It’s nothing to be ashamed of, Astrid. There’s a reason why I don’t do my own cooking,” he told her.
“Then it’s good you’re going to have a chef.” She leaned in and lowered her voice. “Grandma doesn’t cook either. It always comes out gross.”
“I heard that.” Ēostre laughed and claimed the first shrimp skewer. “However, you speak the truth, little one. I suppose I will need to take lessons.”
For Max, dinner passed with more questions than actual feasting, but he didn’t mind a second of it. He couldn’t recall the last time he’d spent an evening surrounded by close friends and loved ones, and the more he pondered it, the more apparent the answer became. Never.
“Can I come to your office to watch you work before you leave for Washington?” Astrid asked. “I can help out with whatever you need.”
“Yes, you may, and of course once I’m inaugurated in Washington, you’ll be able to come visit there as well,” Max said. “It should be educational for you at least.”
“Sweet!” Her bright blue eyes filled with delight. “Can I see inside the manor? Is part of it still a museum?”
“It is, my sweet. I only reside in a portion of the actual governor’s mansion. The rest remains untouched as a part of history,” he explained.
Within moments, Max and Astrid had made plans to visit a variety of museums, government offices, and landmarks in the nation’s capital.
Chloe shot him an exaggerated dirty look, feigning insult. “You didn’t invite me.”
“You’re not my new grandchild,” he teased, “but you and Saul are welcome to accompany Astrid. There’s room for all of you, including Leiv, Mahasti, and Svetlana.”
Leiv, apparently startled by the invitation, inhaled a bite of steak.
“Excellent. What Leiv wishes to say is that we would be happy to visit,” his wife said for him. The bear shifter nodded a couple times and coughed into his fist, red-faced.
“Yes!” Svetlana cheered. “Hey. Do I get to call you Grandpa, too?”
Saul grunted, mock scowling at the two girls. “Neither of you ever ask to come to work with me. Don’t you love the movie studio?”
“I still love you and the studio, Daddy. Grandpa Max is just more interesting,” Astrid said.
Joining Leiv in a near-death dinner experience by choking on her wine, Chloe set the glass aside and coughed a few times into her hand. Saul’s scandalized look made it better. Shifters and children made for dangerous dinner partners.
“Oh, oh! Grandpa Max, I want see your dragon! Mom said you were going to give me lessons for my fire, and you’re the only member of the family I’ve never seen in their true form. Are you really going to give me lessons?”
“I am,” he agreed amiably, chuckling at her enthusiasm. “Your grandmother has asked me to teach you as I once taught your father and mentored him. Using one’s breath weapon requires great focus and power, but you seem to have acquired a fair amount of your grandmother’s magic, too.”
“I did?”
“Yes, my sweet. Which is why I plan to let you fight me.”
“Max,” Chloe began, “I don’t know if she’s ready to fight an adult dragon.”
Maximilian chuckled at the woman’s natural protectiveness. “It’s only practice. Astrid will have a chance to stretch her claws, so to speak. Years ago during less civilized times, she would have begun to learn to defend herself from the time of her birth. A dragon cub can slaughter a human with ease.”
Saul took Chloe’s hand and kissed her knuckles. “He’s an excellent teacher, my love. I was a bit of a slow learner when it came to my breath, but Maximilian had me up to par in weeks. I trust him with Astrid’s well-being.”
“Well. All right. It isn’t that I distrust him, it’s…” Chloe sighed and waved them off with her hand. “Give me a moment for my meal to settle. I’ll fetch my camera before you begin rampaging in the fields or whatever.”
“I’ll meet both of you outside. Come Ēostre, you should join us. Perhaps you and I should do this instead.”
Ēostre’s startled eyes darted to Max. “Oh, I don’t know—”
“C’mon,” Max insisted again, nudging her with his arm. As she began to relent, he dropped his voice to a whisper. “We’ll put on a show for Astrid, and I’ll even let you kick my ass since she’s never seen a good battle. What do you say?”
“I say I could kick your ass whether you allowed it or not.”
Max raised a brow, intrigued by her mounting display of confidence. He’d always loved that about Ēostre, admiring her spirit. “Is that a bet?”
“Do you remember what happened last time we placed a wager, Belenos?”
He grimaced at the memory. While the moments on the beach with her had been precious to him, he hadn’t forgotten the uncomfortable scrap of material tugging its way uncomfortably into the wrong places. “Then prove it,” he challenged.
“Gladly.”
Max tipped back the rest of his wine and grinned as he stood. “Thank you for this excellent meal, Chloe.” Hopefully I haven’t enjoyed too much of it to hold my own against Ēostre, he thought.
***
They met outdoors in a wide-open space where the ground had been razed and leveled. To reach it, Max wal
ked briskly past the field where Brigid met her end, discovering the wound, even seventeen years later, was much too raw to look upon it.
Max and Saul chatted amicably while he stripped and set his clothes on the fence, but the latter opted to remain in his human form.
“I haven’t overstepped my bounds, have I?” Max asked him. He transitioned to his natural state, shedding the human flesh in favor of tough, ember-colored hide. His wings flexed then unfurled, spreading vibrant feathers with ruby plumage toward the sky.
Saul shook his head. “Hardly. I may have taught her to fly, but that seems to be where the line should be drawn. We haven’t had any luck, aside from a few sparks.”
Maximilian stretched out his claws and raked them over the hard-packed soil, thrilled for the chance to adopt his dragon form. The opportunities didn’t come often lately. While they waited, he enjoyed the cool November air against bare skin. No matter the time he spent in human garments, he never quite adjusted to their changing styles of clothing.
Ēostre and Astrid, both as dragons, joined them a few minutes later. As an older girl, Astrid had developed a human’s modesty and shyness, so all of the male shifters in her life always respected her privacy by vacating the area for her to shift, if she hadn’t already shifted elsewhere. Max’s eyes were for his new mate alone, however, roaming over Ēostre’s sleek, silver body in appreciation.
My Ēostre is beautiful. I must carve another sculpture of my beloved to capture her radiance as she is now.
“Grandpa Max is bigger than Daddy!” Astrid exclaimed as she bounded up, resembling an energetic pup.
Saul grumbled.
“Indeed, I am, little one. But I am also older and adult dragons do not cease growing until we near our first millennia.”
“How old are you and Grandma?”
“Very old,” he said.
Astrid sulked, dissatisfied with the vague answer. “You don’t look old.”
“We both have many years left, Astrid. Be content with that. Now, are you ready?”
“Yes!”
“Now… I wish for you to imagine you are striking a match.”
An hour later, Chloe was shivering with a shawl around her shoulders while Saul and Ēostre speculated from the sidelines.
“Perhaps she isn’t yet ready,” Saul said.
“There is always the possibility Astrid will never acquire the talent for using dragon’s breath,” Ēostre pointed out, reluctance in her voice. “We shouldn’t push her too hard when we don’t know how she’ll develop.”
“Please. If none of you will be quiet, I’ll have to ask you to leave,” Max said.
Astrid’s face scrunched in concentration, giving her a comical expression. She coughed, cleared her throat, and made a few raspy, dry noises in a desperate attempt to produce flames. When nothing happened, her expression fell.
They’ve made her nervous. It’s no wonder Saul has made little progress, Max realized. He would have to forbid them from attending again.
“Forget them,” he told her in a low, quiet voice. “Right now it’s just you, me, and the target. Focus on the hay bale, little one. Visualize your inner spark and see it growing. What’s your favorite color?”
“Gold,” she whispered.
“Then breathe in deeply as I taught you, let the air fill your lungs, and think of only gold. The hottest, purest gold. There can be no fire without air, my sweet.” He tapped her side with one of his claws. He demonstrated, taking in a deep breath, letting it expand his ribs, and then slowly releasing it in a steady stream of white smoke and fire. Astrid watched him with awe-filled eyes.
It felt like only yesterday when Saul stood in her place, sniffling and upset. Fafnir lacked both the tolerance for failure and the time to teach his own son. Ēostre, rightfully distraught by the turn of events, had visited Shasta with her cub in tow to ask for help.
All Saul had wanted was to impress his father, so much he couldn’t surpass his own anxiety to make it happen.
“Your father will be proud of you no matter what, Astrid, because he loves you and you are the most precious thing in his entire world. He may love your mother with all of his soul, but you are the true reason his heart beats. Remember that,” he said in her ear before stepping back. “Exhale.”
Astrid’s attention darted to Saul. He smiled back at her, warm, welcoming, and with nothing but love in his eyes. Max waited beside her with his own breath held. For her, he maintained his composure, exuding nothing but patience, the direct opposite of the three observers.
All of the air compressed from the cub’s lungs at once in a single determined breath. One lightning bolt flashed amidst an explosive jet of gold flames. Chloe squealed and raised her camera.
“Oh my God, she did it!”
The hay bale they’d set up for a target remained intact, but the fence behind it didn’t fare so well. Her breath weapon blasted a large hole in the wood and sent flaming splinters flying through the air. Astrid ducked her head and sniffled.
“Don’t be discouraged. You did fine.”
“I set the fence on fire,” she sulked.
“Yes, you did. But you called on your fire — an incredibly large amount of fire, I might add — so that’s progress. Next time we’ll work on your aim.”
“You mean, you’ll still train me?”
Max ducked his head down and rubbed his cheek against hers in affection. “Of course I will, Astrid. I promised, didn’t I? And I always keep my promises.”
She peeked upward at him, the sadness leaving her face to be replaced with hope. “Are you still going to show me a fight?”
“Do you still want to see one?” he countered playfully.
“Yes!” she cried, the sparkle returning to her eyes.
“Go join your parents then. Ēostre! We’re up.”
The corner of Ēostre’s tooth-filled mouth raised then she prowled forward, her white talons clicking against pebbles and hard bits of rock in the barren soil. Her wings folded close as she assumed her battle stance and tilted her head to watch him, sizing him up, trying to predict his movements.
“We will be cautious with our dragon’s breath,” Max said. “I don’t want to cause you harm.”
“Nor do I want to harm you, my mate. I will pull my punches, so to speak, and tone down my assault. Your hide is too handsome to be covered in scars,” she teased.
“No magic,” he said.
“Of course. I want to play with you — not harm you. What good are you to me broken?”
Despite their agreement, it was still bound to be one exciting practice round.
Max lunged to her right side and feinted with his right claw. He snapped his teeth at the base of her wing when she writhed to the side to avoid him, only for Ēostre to roll out of the way. She sprang up again before his claws even hit the ground. She struck like a cobra and was on his back, hissing and growling before he flung her off.
Shit! Ēostre was faster than he remembered. He exhaled a line of fire to ward off her ferocity.
It worked. She shrank back from the flames, giving Max the opportunity to steal the upper hand. He dove through them toward Ēostre and hit her with his bulk, winding her. If she’d been anyone else, they would have gone at one another for blood. Instead, they writhed and wrestled across the ground, laughing when Ēostre snuck in a thwack with her tail.
From the edge of his vision, he saw Astrid watching with rapt attention from her father’s side. The two elders separated, Ēostre scrambling to place distance between them while Max kept her in his line of sight.
“Use your breath, Grandma!”
Blue-white lightning crackled across the space between them, faster than Max could blink. Lances of electricity seized his body in a state of paralysis, and while neither of them were fighting with the full force of their ability, it still stung his toughened hide. He came out of it in time to bat her away as she lunged forward. She dodged his next slash, darted in beside him, and left a stinging mark down his fla
nk.
“Ow,” Max said. He twisted around for a look at the scratches in his hide. Ēostre’s claws could have cleaved him down to the muscle if she’d wanted. Male dragons might have had the greater size and brawn, but their talons were blunt compared to the terrifying weapons held by their female counterparts.
“Was it too much? Did I hurt you?”
“No, no. Mere scratches,” he assured. “Hardly any blood.”
“Grandma wins!” Astrid bounced from side to side with her excitement. “Right, Daddy? That means she won, right? Grandpa Max said ouch.”
When Ēostre approached to fawn over his flesh wound, Max took the initiative. He tackled her, pinning her to the earth and disturbing a cloud of dust. She squirmed and nipped at him in an effort to regain her freedom, but he didn’t budge.
“That’s cheating!”
“It’s very fair,” Max disagreed. “She can’t get away without using magic.”
Ēostre pushed with her hind claws, but her talons, despite their razor sharp tips, couldn’t scratch his belly where his skin was toughest.
“Ugh,” she grunted. “You’re heavy.”
“And you’re beautiful.” Max touched their snouts together and growled playfully. “But I have won our spar. Do you concede?”
“I suppose I can give you this win,” Ēostre replied before nipping his shoulder.
“Get a room!” Saul called.
“Yeah!” Chloe agreed. “Not on my lawn!”
“There are young eyes watching,” Astrid said.
Laughing, Max let Ēostre up from beneath him. She shook the dirt from her radiant, white feathers and cheerfully leaned against his side, unfazed by her defeat.
“I see nothing has changed, and you still spar like you’ve taken lessons from the Patriots, Maximilian.” Saul chuckled and set his arm around Astrid’s back. “A warning to you, my daughter, he plays dirty, as you have seen. He’s crushed me countless times in the past, and my bones still remember it.”
“I’m not afraid,” Astrid said. “When can we practice again, Grandpa Max?”
“I’ll take a look at my schedule and make sure to dedicate a few hours to you as often as I can.”
Smitten Page 14
