“What the hell?” yelled Mac. He stood in front of his brother who was still in his dragon skin and threw his shoulders back. He could feel all the muscles in his neck tightening. “Are you trying to get everyone here killed?” He knew Ash couldn’t respond, but his dragon ears worked just fine.

Caran appeared at Ash’s side. She held her phone in one hand and a bucket filled with liquid in the other. Her eyes were ringed with dark circles as if she hadn’t slept in days, and her hair was pulled back into a quick ponytail. Mac knew she’d put the serum in the liquid and that it would change Ash back to a human within a few hours. The problem was they didn’t have a few hours. He needed to talk to his brothers now about what came next.

Caran grinned and placed the bucket in front of Ash who bent down and lapped greedily. His long tongue cupped the water into his mouth. He threw his head back so it slid down his long neck.

“I’ve got it under ten minutes,” she said excitedly. She held up her phone and started the stopwatch. It started to count up from zero.

There was a deafening pop and crackle noise and Ash roared as his body began to shake violently. His leathery limbs pulsed and contracted, his scaled face contorted. Mac had seen his brothers change from dragon back to human many times, but it used to take days.

Getting to a dragon was fast, but changing back was slow and controlled. Caran had been working to speed up the transition, and it appeared she’d done it. But they still didn’t know the long term effects that the serum would have on their bodies. He wasn’t sure it was the right thing to do. Not until they had more time to do testing.

The dragon in front of him shrunk at a pace he’d never seen before. He couldn’t drag his eyes away. It was as if someone was letting the air out of a balloon through a tiny pinhole, deflating slowly but unable to be stopped. And it was happening to his brother.

But it came at a price. Ash’s dragon eyes were edged with pain. He was about to scream at Caran to stop this, to help his brother when suddenly it was over. Ash was human again.

The whole process had taken six minutes. Just six.

A huge crowd gathered around them. Everyone at Dragonspark huddled around, whispering and staring.

Damn it. They only let a few members know they could shift, and now Ash had to go and do a stupid stunt like this. This was supposed to be their secret. Mac could feel his anger rising as Caran beamed, covering Ash with a sheet to hide his naked body from the onlookers.

Ash shivered, his breathing labored and heavy. He lifted his head. “Not bad, right?” He coughed as he attempted a half smile. It clearly was an effort.

“What the hell, Ash?”

Ash closed his eyes as his breathing started to normalize. At least the effects didn’t last long. That was something. “We wanted to show you how Caran’s experiment has been going. It’s almost instantaneous now.” He stood up and wrapped the sheet around his body. Caran handed him his clothing, neatly folded into a square.

“You couldn’t just tell me?”

Ash grinned. He let the sheet drop. Someone gasped. He then proceeded to get dressed right there in front of everyone. “Where’s the fun in that?”

“The fun?” Mac couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “This isn’t a game. You nearly died!”

Ash’s face turned serious. “Which is exactly why we need to keep advancing. The old way isn’t working. I don’t want to be in that position again. I could have been helped faster if we had the serum the first time.”

Mac scoffed and threw his hands in the air. “We wouldn’t need something like this if she hadn’t have shot you.”

“And she would never have shot me if you didn’t break her heart.”

Mac’s mouth fell open. “You think this is my fault?”

“Oh god, I’m sorry,” said Ash. “That came out wrong.”

Lyson rushed between them. “This is a good discovery,” he said. “We can work with the medication to plan the transition easier. Come on Mac, I thought you were supportive.”

“You knew he was going to do this?” Mac couldn’t believe it. Both his brothers turning on him? Didn’t they know how serious this was? This wasn’t a game anymore. It had never been a game.

Juliana placed her hand on his shoulder but he shrugged it off.

“Mac, we wanted to show you.”

“I’ll be in my tent.”

* * *

Mac needed a moment. He reclined back on the bed and stared at the fabric that curved on a slope above his head. It had started to rain again. Not heavy like last night, but the light sprinkle was tapping against the tent roof and distracting his concentration.

Things were progressing faster than he could control. He wasn’t in charge anymore and that was his own fault. Things were so much easier before. Completing small jobs for the local residents in return for payment. It was simple and no one got hurt. Not seriously anyway.

Why now? Why did Tessa have to come back now? If she didn’t want Mac to know about their son Blaze, then she could have kept everything quiet and he would have been none the wiser. She could have kept her rhetoric and increased her power at Princess without giving him and his brothers any further thought.

There was something more that was happening. Perhaps Blaze had begun to ask too many questions. He was four now, probably becoming more curious. Had he asked too much about him? Maybe Tessa had become too threatened and it would be easier if she just got rid of Mac once and for all. Perhaps then she could tell the child that his father was dead and that would be the end of it.

No. She was crazy, but she wasn’t a killer. At least that’s what he’d always thought.

The tent door opened and Juliana stepped inside. “You okay?”

He sat up and buried his face in his hands, shaking his head. “I didn’t handle that well.”

She sat next to him and rested her hand on his arm. “Hey, he startled me too. I wasn’t expecting to see a dragon heading straight for me.” She gave his arm a quick squeeze.

“It was foolish of him to change like that. He takes too many risks.”

“It worked though didn’t it. He was back to himself really fast. Caran's a miracle worker.”

“Yeah, in front of everyone.” He rolled his eyes as he looked at her.

Juliana grinned. “If you think for one minute that everyone at Dragonspark doesn't already know the truth ... then you’ve been spending far too long in your room and not enough time mingling with the rest of us.”

“Everyone knows?”

She cocked her head to the side. “Of course everyone does. And they love you. All of you.”

“Who else?”

Juliana shrugged. “Everyone around here. Some in Greenslopes. It isn’t easy to keep a secret like that. People gossip in small towns.”

“Yet they continue to come to us for jobs.”

She moved across to her bed to sit opposite him. “Sure, why wouldn’t they? You help them with their problems and they pay you. It’s cleaner and quicker to trying to deal with the authorities. Even the cops turn a blind eye because who wants to do all that paperwork?”

“I’ve been hiding for too long.” He blew out a long breath. So, lots of people knew that he and his brothers were shifters. It made sense. He had thought that only a few select people knew, but he’d underestimated people before. It actually made him feel better that it was one less secret he had to hide from everyone.

“We all love you, Mac. You need to be less harsh on yourself.”

“I’m not the leader I want to be. I’m a failure trying to play a part.”

“Ridiculous.”

Mac shook his head. “Is it? Then why do people keep getting hurt.”

Juliana leaned over and took his hand. “They don’t get hurt because of you. They get hurt because of bad people in the world. People who don’t care about the consequences. You . . . You care about all of us here, so much that you’re willing to risk everything.” She grinned. “Even the crappy weather, so we can all be safe. That’s what makes a good leader. You care about all of us.”

“I care about some more than others.”

Juliana pulled her hand away. “That’s human, everyone does.”

“I worry about Blaze.”

“Because he’s living with Tessa?”

He sighed deeply. “Yes. But not just that. She wouldn’t hurt him, I know that, but she could be telling him anything she likes about me. I’ve got a right to know him too.”

“Of course you do.”

“But, I’m also scared of meeting him.”

“That’s understandable.”

“What if he doesn’t approve? Tessa would have fed him lies about how dangerous dragons are. Can you imagine what he would think if he met me? Or if he becomes a shifter himself. The self loathing of knowing he’s exactly what his mother hates.”

Juliana tapped her fingers on the bed sheets. “You don’t know what she’s told him and he’s still very young.”

“I always wanted a big family,” he mused. Juliana’s face blanched and turned cold. She shifted her gaze down to the floor. “What’s wrong? What did I say?”