Lance tried to relax as he waited for the call to the safehouse to go through. His skin felt itchy, like he was wearing a suit that didn’t fit.

We’ll go back and see her in a few minutes, he reassured his snow leopard. Come on. We can’t stay at her side every minute of the day.

His snow leopard grumbled, but calmed down. Slightly. Lance groaned. She’s looking after Maggie. They’re both safe here.

The videocall rang—and rang—and rang. Lance frowned. What’s taking them so long?

This was hardly the first time he had called in to check on Julian. The dragon shifter had recovered from his time on the island, at least physically. His mental state was a different matter. Julian kept his emotions close to his chest, but even through the video link Lance had been able to tell he was still hurting over what had happened to his family.

Lance didn’t blame him. Gerald Harper had killed Julian’s sister and her mate and stolen their eggs to use as collateral to keep the dragon shifter in line. The eggs were all Julian had left. It must have broken his heart to part from them, even if it was for their own safety.

Well, no longer. Frankly, if any off the assholes who’d tried to kidnap Maggie wanted to go after her or her siblings, they could face an angry full-grown dragon.

Lance pushed his glasses up. Two minutes, and no reply. This was more than unusual. It was worrying. Ignoring the screen on the wall, he put through a call on his cell phone.

The head guard from the safehouse picked up at once. He was panting. “What?” he barked into the phone.

Lance explained that he was waiting on their call, as previously arranged. He could practically hear the guard glare down the phone.

“Another one? Wasn’t the last one—ah, fuck. Look. He’ll be at the phone in a minute. It’s taken us this long to talk him down, though, so good news only this time, eh?”

Lance ended the call. Talk him down?

The hair on the back of his neck prickled. Something was wrong.

A soft chime told him that his video call had been picked up.

Lance looked up, automatically straightening his jacket and his glasses. His snow leopard bristled as Julian appeared on the screen in front of him.

Julian inclined his head. “MacInnis.” His normally brilliant eyes were shuttered and wary.

“Rouse. I hope I’m not disturbing you.”

“What could I possibly be doing that being hauled away by my guards twice in one day could disturb?” A tendon in his neck flexed, or maybe it was just the video bugging.

Lance frowned. Julian’s voice had a bitter edge to it, but he was used to that—this was something different. A deeper, blanker misery that his bitten-out words barely masked.

He leaned forward, wishing the video connection could conduct his feelings as well as a face-to-face conversation would. “Rouse. Julian. I’ve got good news.”

“Better than the news that the man who made me a monster is imprisoned?” Black glass glinted behind the dragon shifter’s eyes. “Better than the knowledge that I lost my sister and her children, but at least the creature who took them from me has faced justice, paltry though it is?”

“Julian, your sister’s children aren’t gone. One of the eggs has hatched. The plan’s changed. Hiding eggs is one thing, but a living dragonling? Keeping you apart isn’t going to keep them safe. They need a real family.” Lance smiled. “You’d better tell the guards to clean out a spare room, Julian. It’s time you met your niece.”

Julian stared at him, his face completely expressionless. There was no noise except the low hum of the audio connection.

Then Julian’s face twisted. “How dare you?” he snarled. “Is this some sort of trick? What could you possibly want from me now?” His eyes narrowed to black-gleaming slits. “More scales for your shields? Was this your plan all along?”

Lance sat back in his seat, winded. Julian’s rage crackled through the speakers, hitting him like a blunt force even through the hundreds of miles that separated them.

“It isn’t a trick. I’m not lying to you. One of the eggs hatched, and—”

“Impossible.” Julian’s lip curled, as though the word hurt to say. “None of them will ever hatch. Not now that their parents are dead. Not without…”

The video blurred, and Lance had barely opened his mouth when the screen went blank. Shit, he thought, scrambling for his phone. His call to the safe house guards rang—and rang—

“What’s your status?” he barked when someone picked up, thirty excruciating seconds later.

A weary laugh crackled into his ear. “We’re not hip-deep in angry dragon, if that’s what you mean.”

Lance sighed, dropping his forehead to rest on one fist. “Carter. How’s Rouse?”

“Catatonic.” On the other end of the line, Carter sucked in breath through his teeth. “It’s not good, boss. I’m no shrink, but this guy needs help. It’s like he’s fading away here.”

“He doesn’t have anything to live for.” Lance swallowed as bile rose in his throat. “At least, he doesn’t think he does.”

He shivered, the memory of Julian’s rage like acid on his skin. He told Carter to expect them in the next ten hours and hung up. His snow leopard paced inside him, feeding off Lance’s new sense of urgency.

Keeley would want to come. She wasn’t cleared to see the safehouse, but what the hell did that matter anymore? All the careful strategies he’d put in place to make the MacInnis Agency feel legitimate, and not a fly-by-night operation—what were they worth, when Julian was slowly killing himself with misery?

What were they worth when Francine betrayed you? Or Mathis disappeared?

Lance sighed and rubbed his forehead.

Whatever I’m doing here, it led me to her. You can’t knock that.

Heart lightening at the thought of his mate, Lance strode towards his office. Maggie’s psychic aura permeated the air around his office door like a golden mist. Lance smiled to himself. If anything could pull Julian out of his depression, it was that child.

“Sir, if I could have a word?”

Briers’ office was three down from Lance’s. He popped out of it like the world’s least wanted jack-in-the-box.

Lance bit back a sigh. His soul was scratching to get back to his mate’s side. “What is it, Briers?”

“I’ve got an update on the camera feeds from the subway,” Briers replied, his voice somber. “You’re going to want to see this, sir.”