The next morning sunlight streamed through the curtain covering the window. We’d slept the entire night.

“Robert. Wake up.”

"Good morning," he said.

"Good morning. Turn over."

He rolled to let me see his whole back. "I feel great."

"The scales are gone." I felt the places where I’d stuck him with the sharp tip of the scales last night. There was no trace of the hard triangle patches, not even a scar.

He turned around again and the sheet fell off his nakedness. He didn't seem to mind as he sat and crossed his legs to stretch. "They disappeared before I fell asleep."

I glanced at the window and felt the winter brightness of the day that dawned. Studying him, I remembered his glorious red dragon self. I needed to see that his entire hide was fine. "We should go outside and check you, in the sun."

He rubbed his muscular abdomen. "After breakfast. I'm hungry."

“Me too.” I blushed as I remembered the night before. We quickly cleaned up and put on fresh clothes—this set read Prada. "Samantha had good taste."

He shrugged as he slipped on his jeans. "She ordered online with my credit card. You can change whatever you don't like. I told her to get you a subscription where they mail you outfits."

A subscription service sounded perfect. I wasn't Aura and wouldn't get to shop with her again until she transformed herself. It would be nice to have a cousin.

We walked downstairs holding hands, and headed right for the kitchen.

The refrigerator door was open as we entered. Grayson held a bottle of orange juice and a plate of bagels.

"You're up early," Robert said.

Grayson put the plate on the counter. "Something inside me woke up last night and I can't shake it loose."

I took the orange juice from his clutches and then retrieved three glasses. I set the table as Robert asked, "How does it feel?"

Grayson stared at his brother without blinking. "Like I have to go to California."

He was leaving? I flinched and then realized I'd get stronger as a dragon, every day. I held my head higher and then walked over to take the bagels. "Why?” I asked. “We should eat."

Grayson took a deep breath. "I think this is a mating feeling. It’s urgent. If I leave, will you be okay?"

Robert nodded yes, but I couldn't just let Grayson walk out the door. I crossed my arms. "I would like to check Robert and make sure that he's healed before you go."

"Go see while I make you both plates then,” Grayson said. “I'll leave after we eat. I want to say goodbye to Helen and Harper, since I might be gone a few days."

Robert and I walked to the front door. I held a glass of orange juice in my shaking hands, but the only thing we heard outside were birds chirping. Today was a normal day, but danger was now a constant I’d have to be on guard for.

Robert ran out to the courtyard and transformed into a crimson dragon. Then he twirled in the sky and breathed fire. I checked every scale I could see under his belly and once I felt better, I waved him down.

As he landed I walked over to his surprisingly smooth scales to pet him. The sharpness of the edges never pricked through me. He shook like a wet dog and I searched for any missing scale. Everything was there. “We did it.”

He transformed into Robert and took my hand to walk inside, where I’d set the cup on a planter by the door. He drank down the waiting juice.

When we returned to the kitchen, Grayson had somehow materialized eggs, biscuits and bacon—there was no sign of the bagels. Robert licked his lips as he stared at the table. "You cooked?"

"It's our last meal for a while. I thought I should be full before I fly off," Grayson answered.

A dragon and he could cook. Whoever he mated with would have a lovely partner, and I looked forward to meeting her. I pointed to the kitchen door. "Where is Mrs. Adams?"

"She slept in the kids’ room with Harper and Helen."

To keep them safe. Coffee permeated the air around us.

I walked over to the machine and dug out three cups from the shelf to pour us coffee. "Things will be fine, Grayson. Don’t worry."

He retrieved the milk and cream for the table as Robert sat. Grayson closed the refrigerator with his hip. "We're family. One day soon, six out of twelve of the flight will be in this corner of Maine."

The call of the dragon would be in all twelve of us and our flight would be united. My pulse raced. I belonged to a family and a flight. Together, no vampires would be able to get to us and we'd protect humanity as well as Robert's two little ones. I served the brothers their cups and sat down. "So you'll bring your mate back here."

"A flight should stick together." Grayson stirred milk into his coffee.

Everything smelled heavenly. This was a perfect beginning. Robert dished eggs from the bowl. "How do we find the other half of the flight?"

He winked at me and placed a biscuit on my plate. "We have to believe they will find us. The more of us together, the greater the call, I would imagine."

I smiled. Robert was my husband and this was now our life. There was nothing I would change. "Sounds good. Let's eat breakfast and worry about the rest of the world later."

Robert slathered butter on a biscuit. “Who knows, maybe we will gather all twelve, which hasn’t happened in a millennia.”

This surprised me but I didn’t ask questions. If we dragons all survived ‘til adulthood, perhaps we’d grow as a family instead of shrink into smaller numbers, as my grandfather feared.

None of that was for today.

Birds chirped outside the window. While those might not be the church bells that drew me to Robert's side, I didn't need them. We were all right here, together.

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