The buildings were so colorful here compared to home. Everywhere I looked, pink houses and yellow businesses lined the bricked roads. We passed by a series of peddlers trying to hawk their wares, though they chose to avoid me. I threw the closest vendor a toothy grin and watched as he scrambled back a step. I didn’t particularly enjoy terrorizing the locals, but I also didn’t want them invading my personal space.

Wren and Jinx walked ahead of me, pointing out everything that caught their eye, then glancing back to make sure I didn’t miss it. Jinx, in particular, had taken an interest in a man with a monkey. When she turned to me with pleading eyes, begging for a photo with the wretched beast, I shook my head. Thankfully, she merely rolled her eyes, then led Wren over to the rocks where a bunch of lizards lay sprawled in the sunlight. I kept my distance, knowing that if they caught a whiff of me, they’d scurry off. Jinx, they could tolerate—she wasn’t as predatory as me.

Afterward, we continued into a few shops where Wren bought some knickknacks for her friends back home, and I bought Jinx a stuffed monkey to hang in her room. She got a kick out of the monkey’s Rasta hat and fake braids.

A few of the jewelry shops caught my eye. Not just for Wren, but Jinx too. And I pulled them in and bought them matching bracelets. At first, I wasn’t sure how Jinx would feel about that, but she seemed to be in a spectacular mood this morning. That, or she loved that I was spending money on her. Most likely the latter.

We exited the jewelry store and were discussing visiting a chocolate shop when a haggard old woman stumbled up to us, a menacing gleam in her eyes. Wren guided Jinx behind her. I couldn’t help but smile—I loved that she’d protected my daughter without a second thought. But that smile soon turned to a scowl when the strange woman snatched at my mate. I lunged between them, my lip curled back to reveal my teeth.

“Not interested,” I growled when I spotted her little bag of wares.

She gave me a gap-toothed grin, her eyes as bright as the sky. “No frettin’, dragonman. I won’t hurt anyone.” Her words came out in a thick Cajun accent—something more akin to home than here in the Caribbean.

That she knew what I was didn’t endear her to me. I let my eyes flash gold in a silent warning. While that typically cowed people into submission, this woman simply laughed and held out a hand.

“Come to me, child.”

“Jinx,” I hissed.

But it wasn’t Jinx who moved. It was Wren. A cloudy fog settled over her eyes, and she somehow dodged my hand when I reached for her. A snarl tore free of my lips, but before I could pull her back, she grabbed the woman’s wrinkled hands.

“There we be,” the woman mused. She shot me a reproaching glare. “See? Not so bad, ya? Tell me your name.”

I thought she spoke to me, but Wren answered in a dulcet voice. “Wren Marie Michaels.”

I fought back the urge to tear out the woman’s throat. I didn’t like anyone laying hands on my mate. Old woman, or not. “Get. Your hands. Off her.”

“Be calm, dragonman. Nothin’ to fear from me.”

“Dad?” Jinx clutched at my arm.

Every bone in my body wanted to rip this woman to shreds. Not only had she laid hands on my mate without permission, but it looked like she’d cast a spell over her. I drew in a deep breath and scented the magic surrounding us. Witches couldn’t cast spells—at least not that I’d ever seen. They focused their talents on cleansing auras and realigning chakras. Things that improved their overall wellness. But this woman had done something. Wren had fallen victim to whatever spell the woman had cast.

“Tsk, tsk,” the woman commented. She threaded her fingers through Wren’s and held them up to the sunlight as though studying them. “Dis will no’ do. Dis will no’ do at all. Granny Muriel were wrong. Should no’ have done dis.”

I froze just as I was about to shove the woman away. “What did you just say?”

The old woman cackled—the air around her sizzling with power. “Dragonman tinks he know what a witch is. Dragonman know nothin’. Not even da truth ’bout his mate.”

I shot Wren a wide-eyed glance. She swayed side-to-side, her eyes unfocused and a dreamy smile curling her lips.

“Girl here always wonder what it be like to fly. Her mama name her well. Wren for da little birdy she always want to be. But mama was wrong.”

Enough was enough. I turned back to the witch and grabbed her frail wrist. “Release my mate, right now.”

“Dad,” Jinx hissed. “People are looking.”

“Let them,” I growled. “We weren’t the first to offend.”

“Oh, dragonman.” Another loud cackle that turned more than one head. “Don’t ya wanna know who yer mate truly be?”

“I already know who she is.”

“Maybe. We shall see.”

“I won’t say this again.” I drew on my dragon’s strength and infused my words with as much power as I could. “Get your hands off her. Before I bite them off.”

“Sir?” someone asked.

The scent of wolf rose in the air. The same wolf from the deck—the one eager to challenge me. I let my dragon shine out of my eyes and fed him a glance that had the wolf staggering back a step. Anger flashed across his face the second he realized what he’d done, but dragon trumped wolf, and now he knew it.

The witch clucked under her breath. She released Wren and wavered back “I’m leavin’. But you, dragonman, might wanna to take yer lady back to da ship.”

I watched as the witch limped through the marketplace, her stride uneven on the left side. My dragon cataloged every one of her weaknesses in case she ever returned.

“Sir, you can’t handle the locals like that,” the wolf commented.

A savage snarl exploded past my lips. “Use your nose, pup. That was no local. That was a witch.”

The wolf shot the woman a stunned look. “She didn’t look like much like a witch to me.”

“And you don’t look much like an alpha to me,” I snapped. “Now, get the hell out of my face.”

He straightened his shoulders and met my gaze for a second before forced to drop it.

“Dad.” Jinx touched my hand. “You’re scaring everyone. You need to calm down so we can see if Wren’s all right.”

A part of me registered Jinx’s comment, but my dragon had all but taken over. The only thing I cared about was protecting my family. And if that meant taking a bite out of a few wannabe alphas, so be it.

“Wren?” Jinx called.

I stalked around Wren and faced her. She gave a slow blink, that eerily pleasant smile still pulling at her lips.

“Dad, what’s wrong with her?”

“I don’t know.” I leaned in and sniffed the air. The magic still surrounded her. It changed her scent enough that my dragon roared his displeasure.

“Maybe we should take her back to the ship, like the witch said,” Jinx said. “People are still watching.”

I unclenched my hands and nodded. Fire scalded the back of my throat, though I managed to swallow it before it exploded past my lips. My dragon rode close to the surface—too close—and because of it, I lunged at the first alpha who attempted to assist us. He’d done nothing more than touch Wren’s shoulder, but the unwelcome contact rattled my bones. Logically, I knew they only meant to help, but my instincts were running on overdrive.

Jinx eyed me as we headed toward the ship. “You gotta calm down, Dad. You’re going to set off every shifter around us, and in case you haven’t noticed, there’s a lot of them.”

I grunted, but nodded and tamped back the boiling rage inside. My dragon wasn’t so easily appeased. Someone had laid hands on our mate. It was my job to protect her, and I’d failed. But Jinx was right. We needed to get Wren to my room, and for that to happen, I needed to remain calm.

Passing through security went off without a hitch, thanks to our escort. At least they’d proved themselves useful in that regard. We led Wren to the nearest elevator, my blood pressure climbing as we waited.

“What did the witch do to her?” Jinx asked.

I waved a hand in front of Wren’s face and grimaced when she didn’t respond. “I don’t know.”

“Maybe I could go find her?”

“You aren’t going anywhere,” I snarled.

“Dad, I can help.”

“You can help by staying at my side.”

“Dad—”

“No.”

She rolled her eyes, then punched the elevator button again. “You can trust me, you know.”

“I never said I couldn’t.”

“But you won’t let me help.”

“Jinx…” I growled.

“Yeah, I get it.” She crossed her arms over her chest and watched as the elevator descended.

The doors opened with a chime, and we led Wren inside. The alphas dispersed afterward, trusting us to lead Wren the rest of the way. When the doors closed, I released a long breath and rolled out my shoulders.

“So, what are we going to do?” Jinx asked.

“Take her to my room and wait for her to come back to us.”

Jinx nodded. She shot Wren another curious glance, then me. “You really freaked out back there.”

“What?”

“On the pier. I thought you were going to shift.”

I grunted under my breath. I almost had, which would have been bad. Controlling any dragon was difficult—but a pissed off alpha? Near impossible.

Another soft chime and the doors opened. Thankfully, everyone was otherwise preoccupied at the pools or on the island, giving us lots of space to navigate Wren into my room. I eased her down onto one of the chairs, then gazed into her foggy eyes.

“Anything?” Jinx asked.

I shook my head. “Still the same.”

“She smells strange.”

She did. Like magic and something else. Something I couldn’t quite put my finger on.

“I wonder who that woman was. And did you hear what she said? Did any of it make sense?”

“I heard her.”

“And?” Jinx paced the room, her arms wrapped around her middle.

“And, I don’t have any idea what it meant.” Which wasn’t exactly true. Wren had mentioned a great-grandmother named Muriel. Odd that the witch had mentioned the same name. Of course, who knew what the witch even meant by it. Or if she’d pulled it from Wren’s mind. Clearly, I wasn’t completely up to date on my knowledge of witches. Here I’d thought they led holistic lifestyles—not this one, though.

“So, now what?”

I pulled over another chair and sat. “Now, we wait.”

“That’s it?”

“There’s nothing more we can do.”

The minutes dragged as we impatiently waited. Every now and then Jinx would sigh and return to pacing before flopping onto the bed. Me, I sat like a patient hunter, monitoring Wren’s breath and heart rate. Though under a spell, her vitals seemed normal. Reassuring, at least.

It wasn’t until my watch chimed the next hour that I noticed a change. Her pulse suddenly quickened. Jinx caught the subtle sound and crawled close on the bed.

“Wren?”

“Shh,” I murmured. I closed my eyes and listened, counting her heartbeats. Every few seconds, it spiked into a thunderous gallop, then quieted.

“Dad, what’s going on?”

“I don’t know.” I rose from the chair and cupped Wren’s clammy cheek. “She’s running a fever.”

“A fever?” Jinx scooted closer. “Is she sick?”

I drew in a deep breath and sifted through a plethora of scents. Magic, dragon, human, but no sickness I could discern.

A moan slipped past her lips.

“Wren?” I crouched and combed my fingers through her hair. “Can you hear me?”

“Keaton?” she rasped.

My muscles loosened. I had to believe that if she could talk, she’d be fine. We just needed to give her a little time to find her way back. I leaned in and kissed her. “I’m right here.”

She gave a long, slow blink, the haze dissipating from her eyes until all that remained were the warm brown eyes I’d fallen for.

“There you are,” I whispered.

A soft smile crossed her lips. “What happened?”

“You tell me.”

“That woman…” Wren’s eyes closed as she groaned and cupped her head. “Every inch of me hurts. My head is pounding.”

I frowned.

With a whimper, she tucked her head into her chest.

“Wren?”

She gasped, her arms clutching her midriff. “Keaton. Something’s wrong.”

I dropped to my knees. “What is it?”

“My skin.” She shuddered beneath my touch. “My bones. It all hurts. I can’t breathe.”

What the fuck… “Jinx, call for the ship doctor.”

Wren slid off the bed and curled into a ball on the floor. “Keaton…”

“Help is coming. Just hold on.” What the hell had that witch done? I leaned over, my hands hovering above her.

Snap.

Wren’s sudden scream had me scrambling back. I watched in awe as her shoulder stretched and popped out of the socket.

“Dad?”

“Stay back!”

Crack.

Wren convulsed on the floor, her tears breaking my damn heart. But I couldn’t do a thing for her. No one could. I’d seen this sight far too many times. How the witch had done it, I hadn’t a clue. And now wasn’t the time to contemplate the impossible.

“She’s shifting,” I told Jinx in a grim voice.

“What? But she’s not a shifter!”

Were the situation not so dire, I might have scoffed at such a comment. Yesterday, Wren hadn’t been a shifter. Today—all bets were off. That witch had done something. Don’t ya wanna know who yer mate truly be?

“Keaton…”

I stole closer to Wren, careful not to touch her. If my suspicions were correct, and she was shifting, touch would only hurt her. Didn’t matter how many years passed, I still remembered my first time. The feel of my skin crawling and bones breaking… The last thing I’d wanted was to be touched.

“That woman was a witch,” I told Wren. “She did something to you, and now you’re shifting.” Question was, into what?

Another long groan.

“It’s okay.” My calm words hid the rage and fear battling within. I wanted to help her, but there wasn’t anything I could do other than wait. “You can do this.” Truthfully, I wasn’t sure if she could. Not everyone was made to be a shifter. And not everyone survived their first change after forcibly turning. Most of us were born shifters. Not a single soul in my clan had been changed.

Wren lifted her head, and her lashes fluttered open, but the sight that welcomed us stole my breath.

Golden eyes stared back at me, complete with a thin black slit down the center. I’d seen those same eyes many times before—in the mirror.

“Holy shit,” Jinx breathed.

“She’s a dragon,” I whispered.