by Zoe Chant
But not tonight. Tonight, strings of tiny orange lights crisscrossed the narrow alleyway, turning it into a magical, glittering tunnel. The outside of the old, whitewashed pub had been transformed into a witch’s cottage from a fairytale, with fake cobwebs under the eaves and a mysterious, glowing cauldron bubbling next to the door. Jack o’ lanterns grinned cheerfully, candles flickering in the dark.
“Wow,” breathed Danny and Hayley together.
Griff smiled, enjoying the astonishment and delight shining from both their faces. “Halloween’s a bit of a special time for shifters,” he said as he led them toward the pub. “Traditionally, it used to be the night we let our animal sides run wild. Most of us don’t go out looking for some poor soul to chase down anymore, but we do still like to let our hair down a bit.”
“There’s Chase!” Danny waved excitedly at the pegasus shifter, who was standing near the door of the pub with a giggling pack of children gathered around him. “Hello, Mr. Chase!”
“Danny! Excellent, another child!” Chase hurried over, his entourage of kids following him like a line of ducklings. “Listen, I have a big favor to ask you. Also, completely coincidentally, I just so happen to have a great deal of chocolate.”
Griff blinked at Chase as light from the open pub door illuminated the pegasus shifter’s face. “What have you done to yourself?”
Chase spread his arms wide, beaming. “I, my friend, have outdone myself.”
Chase’s previously black hair was now almost every color of the rainbow, dyed in thick stripes from red to violet—every color, that is, except blue. That seemed to have been reserved for the rest of him.
His flight suit was blue. His boots were blue. His hands, face, and every single inch of exposed skin: Blue.
Griff shook his head. “I haven’t the faintest idea how you did that. Or, more importantly, why. What are you meant to be, a Smurf?”
“Your cultural references are sadly outdated,” Chase informed him haughtily. “If you were as down with the kids as I am, you would instantly recognize who I am.”
“Oh my.” Hayley giggled. “You haven’t. You’re actually…?”
Chase shimmered. Kids screamed in joy as the powder-blue pegasus pranced on the spot, his rainbow-striped mane and tail rippling.
“RAINBOW DASH!” Danny collapsed with laughter.
“What on earth is a Rainbow Dash?” Griff said, bewildered.
“Don’t ask,” said Chase’s mate Connie, coming up beside him. She rolled her eyes at her mate, who was now shamelessly posing for his delighted audience. “If you’d told me this time last year that I’d be spending the night before Halloween painting a horse blue, I’d have laughed in your face.”
“I didn’t even know you could paint horses.” Griff’s sharp eyes noticed that none of the dye was coming off on the hands of the small girls enthusiastically stroking Chase’s fur. “Ah…that stuff isn’t permanent, is it?”
“It wasn’t meant to be. I think Chase may have accidentally embedded it into his skin and hair, though, when he shifted back to human.” Connie smirked. “You should see where the rainbow stripes on his tail ended up.”
Hayley came back from admiring Chase, wiping away tears of laugher. “Hi Connie.” She gave Chase’s mate a brief, warm hug. The two had become fast friends since Griff had introduced them. “So, you weren’t tempted to go for a matching outfit? You’d make a wonderful Twilight Sparkle.”
Connie shot her a mock-glare. She was dressed as a WWII fighter pilot—though Griff strongly suspected that it was a real vintage uniform, not a costume. She did own a genuine, original Spitfire, after all. “Maybe next year.” She gave Hayley a long, speculative look. “That’s quite some costume you’ve got on yourself.”
Hayley blushed a little. “Danny picked it,” she mumbled. “He just thought it was a bunny costume, and I couldn’t really explain to him…well, you know.”
“Hmm.” Connie’s gaze flicked from Hayley to Griff and back again. She wound her arm firmly through Hayley’s. “Can I steal you for a little while? Girl talk, Griff. Would bore you silly.”
Hayley raised an eyebrow at him, and he shrugged back. He was no more able than she was to guess what was on Connie’s mind. “Have fun. You want me to look after Danny while you’re chatting?”
“No need,” Chase said grandly, shifting back into human form. “I shall watch him. I am watching all the children tonight. I am the official designated babysitter, so that all the hard-working parents can enjoy themselves safe in the knowledge that their precious darlings are in safe hands. Or hooves.”
“Chase,” Griff said suspiciously. “Did you kidnap these kids?”
“Why do people keep asking me that?” Chase looked wounded. “Is it so hard to believe that parents would voluntarily hand over the fruits of their loins to me? I am extraordinarily good with children, after all.”
Griff stared at him. “Since when?”
Chase shot him a glare. “Since always.”
“Since his biological clock started ticking,” Connie corrected, dryly. “Even though I’ve told him he doesn’t have one.”
“We have one. We only have so many fertile years available to us,” Chase said to her earnestly. “If we don’t get started soon, we’ll have difficulty fitting in all fourteen children.”
Connie jabbed him in the stomach. “You can have fourteen children. Just as soon as you work out how to become a seahorse shifter and gestate them yourself. I’m drawing the line at three.”
Chase beamed round at Griff and Hayley. “Last week she was drawing the line at two. I’m winning.”
Connie threw Hayley a pleading look. “You see why I need to talk to you?” She dragged her off toward the pub. “Please, please, please tell me many horrible stories about spending months throwing up constantly and waddling around like an elephant with a thyroid problem. Bring me back to my senses.”
Griff chuckled as they disappeared inside. “Fourteen kids?” he said to Chase. “Really?”
“I’m actually going for four,” Chase confessed. “Always start negotiations high.” He elbowed Griff in the side, giving him a sly grin. “So, you and Hayley were looking awfully cozy. Walking hand-in-hand, I noticed.”
“No comment. Did you happen to notice whether Ash is here, or were you too busy stealing children?”
“I am not stealing children. I plan to give them back.” Chase shrugged. “And he’s inside. Though you’d better catch him quick, you know he only ever puts in a token appearance at this sort of thing.”
“Good point.” Griff cocked an eyebrow at Danny. “Well, lad? You want to play out here with Chase for a while, or stay with me?”
No matter how much Griff might enjoy pulling Chase’s leg, he didn’t actually have any hesitation in leaving Danny in the pegasus shifter’s care. He knew that Chase’s playful exuberance concealed a protective streak a mile wide. Danny would be safe with him.
“I want to hang out with Chase,” Danny said promptly. His decision may have been slightly influenced by the fistful of candy bars Chase had just produced out of one of his many pockets. “Can I come and find you later, though?”
Griff ruffled his hair. “Anytime. Just ask Chase when you want me. He can find anyone, you know.”
Leaving Chase organizing the kids into teams for some sort of game, he ducked into the pub. The main room was packed with shifters of all sorts, laughing and talking. Behind the long wooden bar, Rose was handing out drinks and smiles. She wore an extravagant feathered carnival mask, the glossy blue-black plumes perfectly complimenting her flawless ebony skin.
Griff caught a glimpse of Hayley and Connie perched on stools at one end of the bar, along with Virginia, Dai’s mate. Hayley seemed to be in the middle of explaining something that required a great deal of hand gestures. From the somewhat horrified yet fascinated expressions on the other two women’s faces, Griff strongly suspected that the conversation had turned rather gynecological in nature.
Definitely not going to interrupt that.
He picked his way through the crowd, exchanging brief nods and greetings as he went. It was so crowded and busy, even his eagle wasn’t immediately able to spot Ash. He did see Dai, half a head taller than anyone else and wearing a glittering gold helmet and flowing red cape, but it was too noisy for Griff to catch his attention. Griff cursed his own inability to mindspeak to his teammates. That would have made finding Ash much easier.
The back of the pub had been cleared for dancing, with a tiny stage erected for a local all-shifter ceilidh band. The lead fiddle player struck an eerie, keening note across his strings, like an alpha wolf calling to his pack. The other members joined in, flute and guitar and accordion howling back in answer. The drum pounded like a heartbeat, and the band launched into a wild, racing tune. Shifters cheered, surging onto the dance floor.
With the crowd thinning, Griff finally managed to spot Ash, alone in a quiet, shadowed corner booth. Griff was amused to note that, once again, Ash had come as a firefighter.
“You know, Halloween is meant to be for dressing up,” Griff teased, sliding into the seat opposite the Fire Commander. “Pretending to be someone else.”
“I am dressed up,” Ash said, mildly. He made a small, brief gesture, indicating his dark blue suit with its gold rank insignia. “This is a dress uniform. In any event, you are also just wearing formal attire, I note.”
“Ah, well, you have me there.” Griff straightened the plaid draped over his shoulder, smiling. “Though…my outfit choice may have something to do with the fact that I happened to notice that Hayley has a complete collection of Outlander novels. In hardback.”
The Fire Commander tilted his head a degree, acknowledging the point. “You are in a good mood tonight.”
Griff’s smile twisted, just a little. “I’m pretending to be someone else.”
“Ah.” Ash’s dark eyes studied him for a long moment. Even to Griff’s eagle-sharp senses, the Fire Commander was a completely unreadable book—not just closed, but bound in chains and locked away in a deep vault. “So the situation is unchanged. I am sorry to hear that.”
Griff leaned his elbows on the table, folding his arms. “I went to see Ivy this evening.”
Ash didn’t so much as blink at the apparent topic jump. “And is her situation also unchanged?”
“Aye. She still wants you to burn away her wyvern.”
“No,” Ash said flatly, without even a second of hesitation.
Griff let out his breath. “She just wants to be able to touch people, Ash. Even if that means becoming a mundane human instead of a shifter.”
Ash was respected in the shifter community for who he was…but he was feared for what he was. It was widely known that the Phoenix could burn anything. Not just physical materials like stone and steel, but metaphysical things as well.
Memories. Personality traits. Even a shifter’s inner animal. Griff knew that he’d only done it a handful of times, in situations of dire need, but it was the reason most shifters kept as far away from the Fire Commander as they could.
Ash shook his head. “She does not know what she is asking. If the Parliament of Shifters had not demanded that I use my power to punish arsonists, I would not do it to any shifter under any circumstances. Not even to my worst enemy.”
Griff looked out at the cheerful crowd without speaking for a long, long moment. “How about to a friend?”
“I will not burn away Ivy’s wyvern. Not even for you.”
“To a friend, Ash,” Griff said, very quietly. “Not for a friend.”
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ash go very, very still.
“Is this a conversation which it is safe to have?” Ash said at last, just as softly. “I would have thought your beasts would…object.”
Griff’s eagle was motionless, staring intently into his soul as though his thoughts were prey scurrying through long grass. His lion stirred a little, disturbed by the eagle’s focus but unable itself to understand what had caused it.
“If we speak elliptically, we should be fine.” Neither of his animals were good at abstract thought, or following a metaphor. Nonetheless, Griff kept a tight rein on his emotions, erecting a firm mental wall between himself and them. “I’ll let you know if there’s a problem.”
Ash nodded in understanding. “Do you remember Bertram Russell?”
Well, I did tell him to speak elliptically. Griff had no idea where this was going. “The dragon shifter who attacked Dai and Virginia?”
Griff had never met him in person, but all of Alpha Team had been involved in helping Dai protect his mate from the arrogant, ruthless dragon shifter. Ash, however, had been the one to finally stop Bertram. The Phoenix had burned away his dragon, permanently removing his ability to shift.
Ash toyed with his glass of water. “Do you know what happened to him, afterwards?”
Griff shook his head. “No idea. Didn’t really care, as long as he didn’t bother us again.”
“He is a tour guide at a small Roman heritage site,” Ash said quietly. “He helps visiting schoolchildren dress up in costumes and color in pictures of the mosaics. He answers their questions, as much as he can. By all accounts, he is happy.”
Ice ran down Griff’s spine. Bertram had been fiercely competitive, a brilliant academic with an ego the size of his dragon.
And now he’s content in some little backwater local museum…
“Our animals are woven through our souls,” Ash said, when Griff didn’t speak. “Even I cannot tell where the fire will race, once I light the spark. I took a dragon, and ended up also taking a man’s pride, his ambition. I once had to take a man’s wolf, and it left him unable to work in a team ever again. What else could I end up inadvertently destroying? A man’s courage? His astuteness?” He looked straight at Griff. “Everything that made him who he was?”
Griff moistened his dry lips. “A man might be willing to destroy anything, in order to protect his mate.”
Something flared behind Ash’s eyes, a black fire like a dying sun. “I understand that well.” The crack in his calm lasted barely a heartbeat, sealed over so quickly that Griff almost doubted he’d ever seen that brief moment of anguish at all. “It is…possible, that I could burn away just enough, and no more. It is possible that I could take one thing, and leave another. But I do not know for certain.”
“I understand that. And I appreciate that you’d rather not be having this conversation at all. But…it might be the only way. If Hayley married a shifter, Reiner wouldn’t be able to claim Danny. And she has, ah, very firm opinions on which shifters she might be willing to marry.”
“I imagine that it is a very short list.” It was the closest Griff had every heard Ash come to making an actual joke. The Phoenix was rattled, underneath that rigidly controlled exterior. “Griffin, I must tell you something. To my…perception, you are indeed different to other shifters. I can sense the divide in your soul. But I cannot tell which half is which.”
“That’s all right. In a way, I’m glad.” Griff smiled with black humor. “You know the old moral dilemma about only having one space in a lifeboat, and having to choose which family member to save? Better not to have to make that choice. Better to leave it to random chance.”
Ash took a sip of his water. “Best not to be at sea at all.”
“That ship sailed a long time ago, alas.” Griff leaned back with a sigh. “Ash, I promise, I won’t rush into anything. I won’t ask this of you unless there is no other choice. But…it is good to know that I do have at least one choice. If it comes to it.”
Whatever Ash said in response was drowned out by Chase’s agitated mental voice abruptly crashing into Griff’s head. *Griff, we’ve got a problem. Reiner’s here.*
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Hayley
“Let me get this straight.” Connie held up her hands, counting items off on her fingers. “Bloating. Vomiting. Swollen ankles. Heartburn. Mood swings. Weird food cravings.”
“You forgot hemorrhoids,” Hayley said helpfully.
“I’m trying to forget the hemorrhoids.” Connie shuddered. “And on top of this, you spend the last few months unable to so much as get out of a chair without a fork lift truck. And, just to cap it all off, you then get to experience absolutely the worst pain of your entire life.”
Hayley sipped her cocktail, hiding her grin. “That’s about the size of it.”
Connie threw up her hands in despair. “Why would anyone do this voluntarily?”
“I’m beginning to wonder that myself,” Virginia murmured.
Hayley had only met Virginia once before, and she was still a little in awe of her. She was a world-famous archaeologist, after all. As if that wasn’t bad enough, she was also drop-dead gorgeous. Hayley had caught more than a few men wistfully eying Virginia’s stunning curves, accentuated by the skin-tight shorts and cropped vest of her Lara Croft costume. She was the perfect match to her mate Dai, as beautiful and strong as his dragon, and intimidatingly self-possessed.
Now, however, there was the tiniest crack in Virginia’s confident air. One of her hands had crept to rest on her rounded belly. Hayley put two and two together.
“Oh my God!” she gasped, her hands flying to her mouth. “Virginia, are you…?”
A hint of a blush darkened Virginia’s warm ochre cheeks. “We weren’t going to tell anyone yet, because it’s still so early. But yes.”
“I can’t believe it!” Connie threw her arms around the taller woman, hugging her. “Congratulations! When are you due?”
“Around May.” Virginia’s full lips curved in a wry smile. “From what Hayley’s been telling us, I’m now really glad I’m not going to be heavily pregnant in mid-summer, and wallowing in my own sweat like a hippo.”
“I wouldn’t have said all those things if I’d known!” Hayley exclaimed, feeling mortified. “I was exaggerating. Honest. It’s really not so bad.”
