Two weeks later …

“Welcome back to the Fire lair, Doctor Roberts,” Blaze said, opening the file in front of him. “I hope you have some good news for us.”

“I do.” His mate nodded once. “At least, I believe the news to be good, although it’s not exactly what we were hoping for.”

Blaze sighed. “Oh boy, is that your way of preparing us for the worst?”

“Not at all.” She turned the pages in the file on the table in front of her until she reached the one she was looking for. “First, some feedback on the new dragon species.”

“Yes, our children.” Blaze smiled and sat back, relaxing in his chair.

“The final results of the DNA testing I conducted came in last week. They are in line with what we are seeing in the children. I will state each case. Firstly, little Quake of the Earth kingdom. Capable of breathing fire. His marking showed flecks of gold. The little one has since also developed the ability to produce lightning …” She paused, expecting a reaction. There was none.

Meghan cleared her throat. “Blue flecks also appeared within the marking to match that ability. It is my understanding that camouflage ‒ an Earth dragon trait ‒ only appears once a child reaches five years of age.” She looked over at Granite.

“Yes, that’s correct. Otherwise we’d lose our babies and small children on a regular basis.” He smiled, it was tense.

There were some laughs around the room but everyone quickly went back to looking at Meghan, waiting for her to continue. She sat right next to him this time. It was that, or not attend this meeting. Tide had been very fucking clear about that. They were right by the door as well. Just in case they needed to make a speedy exit. He was not putting his mate at risk. Forget that!

Meghan cleared her throat. "Another new development is with young Declan. He had green flecks appear in his chest marking, which is a sign that he is able to breathe underwater."

Granite nodded. "Yes, that's correct." This time the male's smile came easier. "Declan should be able to breathe underwater but my mate won't let me test the theory."

There were some chuckles and snickers. Tide had to smile as well. Meghan waited for things to quieten down before continuing. “That brings us to the Air prince and future heir to the crown. Your son, Thunder.”

Thunder gave a deep nod.

“Young Bolt has developed the ability to produce lightning, as would be expected.”

“No other abilities?” Coal piped up.

Meghan shook her head. “Nothing at this stage.”

“So, the only normal child then,” Volcano mumbled, folding his arms.

Meghan ignored the remark. “Fjord is seven weeks old.” She beamed like the proud aunty she was. Oblivious to the potential fallout of what she was about to say. “The little one developed his green markings within the first two weeks, as is customary.” Everyone hung on her every word. “However. He recently developed a new ability. He can …” She licked her lips smiling broadly, possibly a little too broadly. Okay, so she did have an understanding of how this could pan out. “He can breathe fire and has developed gold flecks within his outline.”

Blaze frowned. “So, your son is able to breathe fire?” he asked Torrent.

“Yes.” Tide could see that Torrent was working hard at looking relaxed. His hands were folded on his lap and he leaned back in his chair. The truth was, ever since little Fjord first breathed fire, Torrent had been on edge. Tide couldn’t blame him one bit.

Granite seemed to relax, the male even huffed out a breath. It was as if he took solace in the fact that now at least he wasn’t alone.

Meghan cleared her throat. “That brings us to the Fire youngsters. Firstly, Coal’s son, Carmine, can both breathe fire and make lightening. He has the relevant markings. Blaze’s son, Burn, can breathe fire.”

“Finally,” Granite mumbled. It was true, they had all been on eggshells waiting and praying the heir to the Fire throne would develop the ability. They could all breathe just a little easier now.

Meghan waited for the murmurs to die down. "He also has green markings to show that he can breathe underwater."

Blaze smiled. "I am happy to report that he can, in fact, breathe underwater. Since Burn is a now a little boy rather than a baby or toddler, we were able to test the ability, relatively risk-free."

“Wonderful news.” Torrent looked like he meant it.

“So,” Blaze clapped his hands together, “what does this all mean, Doctor Roberts?”

“I could delve deeply into DNA sequencing and even more deeply into … never mind …” She could already see their eyes haze over and their minds wander to other things. “I won’t go into that kind of detail. What I can do is state categorically that there is definitely a fifth species of dragon. A species that is capable of all five abilities.”

“I knew it!” Granite shouted. The others talked over each other. Meghan waited for the noise to die down. “All of the abilities are dominant traits in all of the children.”

Tide could scarcely believe how relaxed Blaze looked. They had been expecting something along these lines though. The evidence certainly had pointed in this direction. Maybe that was it.

“Also,” Meghan went on, her smile was wide and bright. His heart clenched just looking at her. “I’m happy to report that Fjord was born immune to silver.”

The whole room rose to their feet. Thunder roared with excitement. Blaze clapped Coal on the back. Tide hugged Meghan and she hugged him back. It took long minutes before everyone was reasonably under control. “Creating a vaccine such as this won’t be an overnight affair,” Meghan cautioned.

“But in the meantime, we can keep up with the immunotherapy treatments in pregnant females,” Blaze said, his chest expanding and contracting rapidly. Excitement was etched into his every feature.

“Yes, the programs will continue in each of the kingdoms. I am expecting more cases like Fjord.” Meghan smiled.

“How long until the vaccine is ready?” Coal asked, also smiling. They all were.

“I can’t say for sure. It could be months,” she pulled in a deep breath, “but it could be years. The next step is to develop a trial vaccine and to begin testing it.”

“How far are we away from that?” Blaze’s brows were raised, his eyes were lit.

“If we can begin testing on grown shifter males, very soon, on account of your ability to heal so quickly.”

“Done. Get started, Doctor Roberts. Inform me … us …” he looked around the room, “as soon as you have anything to report.”

For the first time, ever, Tide felt a calm settle over the room. Could it be that their truce had now evolved into something more? Actual peace maybe? That they could finally call themselves united? Tide prayed it was true.