I fell asleep in the recliner, but woke when Asher came in around five in the morning.

"How's the babe?"

"Her name is Hailey," I said, completely aware of the goofy grin plastered across my face and not giving a damn about it. "Where is everyone else?"

"Half the kids are camping out on the floor in Ryan's house, the other half are on the floor in the double wide. We stopped at Wal-Mart and wiped out their stock of sleeping bags." Asher collapsed into Jesse's chair and rubbed his hands over his face. "Those kids are orphans, Kurt. Almost every last one of them. What are we going to do with them? We can't put them in the human system. Maybe some of them have families out there, if we can find them. Grandparents or aunts and uncles. But until then... we're going to have to feed them. Clothe them. We've been putting so much of our time and effort into tracking Wamp, we haven't been bringing in a lot of money... this might just wipe out what we have. If it weren't for the kids and the babies, I wouldn't worry so much. We have roofs over our heads. We can take on a few jobs and get by, hunt for food if need be, but that isn't enough if we're taking care of all these kids."

I reached silently for my phone and pulled up my main investment account, then tossed the phone over to Asher. He blinked at the number a few times without comprehension. "What's this?"

"That's the money I've invested from our jobs."

"We didn't make nearly this much from jobs, Kurt."

"No shit, Sherlock. That's what you get from investing. The rate of returns is good. I've just been reinvesting it because I haven't had a need for the extra cash, but even if I just pull out the interest, that's enough to cover the cost of three times the number of kids we brought home."

Asher blinked a few more times and now that he knew what he was looking at, his eyes widened. He tossed my phone back to me. "I can't ask that of you, Kurt. That's your money."

"You're not asking, and neither am I. What kind of shit person do you think I'd be if I didn't chip in to take care of those kids? Or my pack."

Asher rocked quietly. "Thank you."

I grunted. I didn't think what I was offering deserved any thanks.

"What about Wamp? Where is he?"

"The artreans have taken over Kit's house for the night and are guarding him there. We'll have our chance to question him in the morning, and then he's their responsibility."

As much as I wanted to take justice into my own hands, it was a small relief to know that soon, he would be out of our hands and I wouldn't have to worry about him anymore.

Asher stood, rubbing his hands on his knees. "Well, I'm going to get some sleep. I'll see you in the morning."

* * *

In the gray light of the cloudy morning, Wamp didn't look dangerous at all. He looked frail. Broken. But his eyes burned with an untamed fury. We may have broken his power, but not his will.

Asher had offered to hold the questioning at his house, where Ben could participate, but Ben had turned him down.

"He means nothing to me now that my son is back. What pain he has caused me, he should pay for, but he isn't worth any more of my energy."

My heart swelled with pride at my mate, though I wasn't quite as even minded about things. I stood in witness for him as Asher sat calmly in front of the bound man.

"Why were you seeking out gifted children?"

Wamp leaned back against the chair. "What? Can't your pet seer figure that one out?" He smirked in Caspar's direction.

"Here's what I think." Asher leaned back and crossed his ankle over his knee. "I think you planned to set up your own little empire. Pushing around a couple of betas and omegas wasn't enough. They left you, and there was nothing you could do about it. They always had someone more powerful to protect them. And that's what this is all about, isn't it? Power. What were you going to do? Bring all shifters under your rule? Just Tennessee? Or were your ambitions greater than that? Were you considering taking over the humans too?"

Wamp sneered. "As if I care about such paltry and weak people."

"Weak like yourself?" Asher mused. "Who is it you're trying prove yourself to? Mommy? Was she hard on you? Complain you were just never enough?"

Wamp's face was darkening. Asher was close to the truth, but not there.

"Ah, it was Daddy. You just weren't enough, were you. Too weak. Too lonely. Too insecure. Had to grasp at what you could, didn't you? Just to show Dad you were worth something."

That hit a sore spot. Wamp lunged against his restraints. "I am the Son of the Dragon! I prove myself to no one."

"Son of the Dragon?" Asher echoed in surprise. "What do you mean?"

Wamp clamped his lips shut and refused to speak. Asher questioned him for another hour, but it was pointless. He was done speaking. The artreans made their final preparations to return home. Element guarded the phoenix, who was bound just as tightly as Wamp.

"Is it really necessary to send the boy with them as well? He's young; he didn't know what he was doing," I protested quietly.

"He is an Ancient," Asher responded. "We don't have the facilities to contain him while we wait for his memories to return. If they return."

I barred my neck in acceptance. I didn't like sentencing a child, but he wasn't a child, was he? He simply looked like one. 

We saw them off with our gratitude, and then stood in the green grass for a while after they had left. Something crashed in Ryan's house and he buried his head in his hands. 

"I'm going to kill them all," he grumbled.

"You can't do that." Dallas nudged his shoulder. "We worked so hard to get them here."

There was another crash and we all winced that time. "I guess I better go make sure they don't kill themselves, then."

"Kurt!" I turned at the sound of my father's voice. Rob and Gavin trailed him. Gavin had woken about two hours after the battle had wrapped up, none the worse for wear. "I guess we're heading out, then," he said.

"Okay. Good."

Simon kicked me, and I realized what an ass I sounded like.

"I mean, I'm glad we were able to find Gavin. Give the family my best."

My dad nodded and stuck out his hand. I stared at it. He'd never shaken my hand before. Shaking hands was for equals, and Dad had never considered me an equal on any level.

"Gavin told us about you saving him, carrying him outta that place. You done good, boy."

I pushed back the tears that threatened at my Dad's rare praise. Crying would undo all the approval I had won from him. "Thanks, Dad."

I shook Rob's hand and was about to pull Gavin into a hug when a screech ripped through the sky, shaking the ground, shaking my very bones. As one, we looked to the sky. A monster, huge and shiny and black, swooped low over our houses, skimming the tops of the trees before opening its mouth and letting loose a long bellow of flames. 

A dragon.

The dragon dove into the woods and we heard the roar of his flame even from here. Then just as quickly as he came, he leaped into the sky with something clutched in his talons. 

"Wamp," I yelled.

"The artreans!” Dallas joined me. 

We shifted as we ran, ripping through the simple clothes we wore around home in the morning. I was faster than Dallas, but for once in my life, I wished I wasn't. There was nothing left. A large black scar marred the forest. I could barely recognize the remains of the artreans who had become our friends in the last few hours. They were simply black lumps of coal now. Element. Gadget. Zeus. Blade. X-ray. Dead.

I counted the blackened remains. Only five. The dragon must have taken Wamp and the phoenix. 

I spun around in a circle, trying to make sense out of this.

"Well," Ryan said finally. "It looks as though we've got our work cut out for us boys."

No one seemed to pay attention to his attempt to lighten the mood. 

Dragons. It was one thing to hear them talked about, another thing entirely to see them in person.

"What are we going to do, Asher?" Simon asked. 

"Right now, we are going to bury our companions. After that... after that, it may be war, gentlemen."

His words echoed in my ears. I had thought that with Wamp captured, the worst of it was behind us, but it appeared that it had only begun.

We returned to the pack property to retrieve supplies to honor our friends' deaths and to inform Meredith, who had elected to remain at the house a few more days to see over Ben's recovery. I tried to capture the elation I had felt that morning, sitting with Ben, rejoicing at the life he'd brought into the world. Sitting and talking with Asher about the future of the kids. But that moment was gone. It couldn't be recaptured. The only thing I could do was take things one day at a time, and enjoy the moments of respite as they came.

* * *

No one in the pack noticed a small pile of ash swirl in a circle—slowly at first, then gaining speed, turning into a small whirlwind. When the whirlwind died and fell away, it left in its place a naked young man with red hair who looked around the blackened circle with growing horror before running into the forest in the opposite direction.