My jaguar chuffed happily as Oni and I lay together in the grass. The afternoon sun warmed our fur while the fresh, fragrant grass was pleasing to the nose. There was just something about the crisp autumn breeze mixed with the warm sunshine that had called our names. When Oni had suggested we shift and enjoy some alone time before our friends descended, I hadn’t hesitated to jump on board with the idea.

I rested my chin over my thick, meaty paws and watched as my mate rolled onto his back to scratch an itch. His strong, compact body was covered in a beautiful golden coat, but it was his shaggy, reddish-brown and black mane that made me want to shift back to human form so I could run my fingers through it. As a human, Oni had jet-black hair with just a hint of red here and there in the right lighting. But in this form, the reds and browns meshed with the black into breathtaking beauty.

His eyes glowed bronze, a sign of the powers he’d inherited through his baba’s legacy omega line. Whereas normal shifters had a standard yellow-gold glow to their eyes, we legacy descendants had colors distinctly our own. If I were to look into a mirror right now, I’d see my eyes were glowing purple with a golden ring around the pupil. The only reason I had two colors was because of my parents’ dual powers that went back to their unique birth stories.

I pushed my thoughts aside when I scented visitors arriving. A large red-tailed hawk flew overhead, screeching as it circled a few loops above us before dive-bombing toward the ground, only to pull up at the last moment and gracefully settle onto the grass as a large dingo with royal-blue eyes and an adorable red panda, with what could only be described as an amber glow to her eyes, ran into the yard. Oni flopped back over onto his side, huffing out a low roar of greeting to his sister and her mates.

The red panda chittered as she ran forward to bump her head against Oni’s. Lei would punch me if I dared say it aloud, but she really was the cutest creature. Other animals soon began filling the yard. The familiar tawny coats with black rosettes scattered over them that so closely matched my own caught my eye as my brothers arrived.

I rose to my feet when Kyle’s leopard sprang forward, his silver eyes catching mine as he came over to rub up against me to say hello. A pair of wolves were next, followed by a coyote with Jude’s distinctive turquoise eyes shining intelligently from its face.

Our friends rubbed up against each other, brushing their scents on one another before joyfully running around the yard and letting their animals play.

My cousin Toby’s bear lumbered over, his purple eye glow setting him apart from the golden eyes of his sisters. My twin cousins, Faith and Destiny, were special in that Faith took after the jaguar genes in our family while Destiny was a brown bear like Toby and our omega fathers.

Phoenix and Aaron, though brothers, had different eye glows due to the fact that Phoenix was an alpha and had his dad’s orange glow while omega Aaron had his papa’s golden eyes since the legacy gift in Uncle River’s line had died out in his father’s generation. In order for the gifts to pass on, it went from alpha to alpha or omega to omega, but Uncle River’s dad had been born alpha, ending his family’s trait.

The last to arrive was Ian. That little Irish fox was always late, probably because he’d been lost in time with his nose in a book before shifting, truth be told. Lei tackled Ian as soon as he approached. The huffing noise I made was my cat’s version of laughter as I watched the two of them tumble around the grass like a pair of cubs.

As the smallest of our group, they could only safely play with each other. Just like our parents before us, we were an eclectic variety of shifters that somehow worked. We were friends, we were family—we were pack.

When Toby and Destiny stood on their hind legs and began wrestling a little too forcefully, Oni lurched to his feet with a loud roar. At once, both bears dropped back to all fours, dropping their heads meekly to stare at the ground. I relaxed into my shift and watched as my claws retracted and my furry paws became human hands once again.

Pushing up from the ground, I stood and brushed my hands off. “Okay, gang. I think that was Oni’s cue that playtime is over. I have a basket full of old clothes you’ve all left here in the past. It’s sitting over on the porch. Go ahead and change after you shift so we can get cracking.”

After everybody had done as I requested, we made our way inside. Oni caught my eye as he walked up to me. “Should we do this at the table? If we put the leaves in, there should be enough seating, right?”

Lei rolled her eyes. “I don’t think the length of the table has anything to do with where we park our butts, but point us toward the leaves and we can make it happen, preggo.”

Oni stuck his tongue out at her. “The table has benches and plenty of seats for our butts to park, as you so sweetly put it. I was actually thinking of having enough room for us to not be wedged all up against each other. I’m assuming we’ll be holding hands séance style, and I don’t know about you, but I want elbow room.”

My brothers were already pulling out the leaves to extend the table while I got drinks for everyone. Oni and Lei were playfully bickering over something or other when I joined them. Toby reached for the tray of drinks, tripping over his own feet at the last minute and falling against me. His stumble nearly made it all crash to the floor, but my brothers and I were quicker than mere gravity. Our eyes focused on the pitcher of iced tea and glasses of ice as we levitated them back onto the tray that was now hovering in midair.

Ian shook his head. “‘Sure, and don’t I love ta see these ones and their parlor tricks, eh?” For a nerdy bookworm, he had an Irishman’s humor along with a streak of snark in him about a mile wide.

Jon flipped his middle finger to Ian while we maneuvered the tray through the air, letting it hover before slowly allowing it settle onto the table. “You want to see a parlor trick? I’ll give you a parlor trick,” Jon grinned. Sammy and I rolled our eyes as we took our seats and watched as Jon made the glasses rise again and go flying through the air before landing gently in front of each person at the table. When he made the pitcher rise as well and go around the circle to self-pour tea over the crackling ice in each glass, Ian began to slowly clap.

“Well done, boyo. Sure and if ya didn’t show me.” He caught my eye with a wink. I bit back a laugh as I realized that this had been his intention all along. Our friends had always loved to watch my brothers and I do the Fantasia routine with household objects.

Oni hadn’t been amused when he’d walked in to see the kitchen floor being cleaned by a self-propelled broom and dustpan after we’d first moved in together, until he’d realized that I could follow it with a mop and neither of us would ever have to scrub the floor. He’d laughingly called it cheating, but had decided to allow it. Because let’s face it, housework sucks.

Fingers snapped in front of my face. “Wake up, loser. No daydreaming, save that for your own time. You and your brothers are supposed to take us on a dreamscape, remember?” Lulu playfully rubbed her knuckles over my scalp in a rough noogie before scooting around the table to join her mates.

Oni nodded. “While I take exception with you calling my mate a loser, no matter how jokingly it was intended, I do agree that we need to get to the matter at hand.” He held a hand to his mouth as his jaw cracked wide with a yawn. “Sorry. But yeah, I get sleepy in the afternoons so we should probably get to this, I think.”

I turned to Jude. “Do you share your dad’s skills in hypnosis? I was assuming so, but I probably should’ve asked you about it when we planned this last night. If you can pull us into a dream state while Kyle focuses on his vision, my brothers and I can pull us all in with him.”

“Yes, I can do that, I should think. Oni was right, I think joining hands would be best so that our powers can flow through the circle.” Jude looked around thoughtfully for a moment. “I don’t think it matters too much where everybody sits since our powers will flow through the circuit. However, I do think that maybe one of the trips should sit beside Kyle. Since Destiny is gifted with remote viewing, she should sit on the other side. Perhaps if she’s there, we will be able to see more of the area around the site of Kyle’s dream and, more importantly, pinpoint where it is to return there.”

“That works for me,” Destiny easily agreed as she hopped up to go sit beside Kyle while my brother Sam quickly took the seat on the other side of him. Jon and I smothered smiles at Sammy’s immediate acquiescence. Usually he tended to second-guess himself, but Kyle had a way of making everyone feel comfortable at his side.

“Should we light a candle or something?” Kyle bit his lip as he looked around the table. “I think we need a focal point, don’t we?”

Jude shook his head as he took a seat directly across from Kyle and held his hands out to Jon and Aurora who sat on either side of him. “No. Just close your eyes and let your minds clear. Remember, once we are there, we have to follow the rules that the trips explained last night when we planned this experiment. No touching each other if we find ourselves in a dreamscape.”

At our nods of agreement, he closed his eyes and a feeling of serenity flowed through the air. “Now let us begin. I would like for everybody to focus on letting their minds drift into a white space. Just listen to the sound of my voice while Kyle focuses on his dream. Kyle, I want you to think of your dream, and only that. Think about what you saw, the colors, textures, and auras of the room. Picture it in your head as you clear your mind and let yourself be slowly drawn back there. The trips will allow us to join you when the time is right. Just listen to my voice and let yourselves drift. When I tell you to open your eyes, we should all be standing in Kyle’s dream.”

Jude’s melodic voice was soothing despite the heady current of powers I felt swirling around the room. Jude and Oni had been right, we’d made an open circuit. If I were more intrusive, I could follow the flavor of each power back to its source and borrow from it, if I wanted. My friends would probably be unsurprised to know that my brothers and I could do that, but we’d always refrained from going there. Too much power could never be a good thing. I shook my head, forcing the thoughts from my mind and focusing on Jude’s voice again.

“…open your eyes and see where we are.” My eyes popped open as Jude said that and sure enough, we were standing inside of an ancient home. The room was luxuriously appointed with heavy curtains and plump, colorful pillows. A guy who looked disturbingly similar to Kontar was lounged on a brocade bench wearing nothing more than jewels and a white, linen skirt while eating figs. His hairless chest was bare, but shone as if it had been rubbed with oil. A girl close to him in age sat beside him while she slowly rubbed a perfumed oil into her hair.

After a lifetime of dream walking, even I was impressed by the detail—right down to the heady perfume of her oil. I’d never entered a dream from the past, at least not one cast by someone else. I’d had my share of dreams from my own past that my brothers and I still visited from time to time, but we’d never gone back millennia. And especially not into an ancestral dream. Hell, I wasn’t sure I even remembered they were a thing. I zeroed in when I realized the dude in the skirt was talking.

“I mean it, Neema. I’m sick to death of our parents kowtowing to that silly general who has taken our town hostage. Rhakotis is a peaceful fishing town, and he wants to make it into a bustling metropolis? Who in their right mind would want that?”

“Hush, Kesi. Your only problem with the creation of Alexandria is your fear that our family might lose its reign of wealth. More people means more ships. More ships means more money for the family coffers. Just think of all the product we can ship to far-off lands.” My stomach curled at her words after having heard Uncle Kontar mention his family’s history as slavers. Surely she wasn’t referring to people as product?

“Alexandria, indeed. What kind of a narcissistic clown names a city after himself? Mark my words, Neema. General Alexander will be lost to history. Nobody will remember his name, let alone his puffed-up attempt at making Rhakotis into a city. It will fall to shambles within a decade, and our family will once again rule the area. If only our parents would see it my way, and quit kissing his fuzzy Greek ass.”

Neema laughed as she set the bottle of oil aside and reclined against her brother’s chest. “You must keep such thoughts to yourself, Kesi. Whether or not your words prove to be true, right now the Greek has taken over and our parents are simply protecting the family by getting into his good graces. After the meal we shared last night, he allowed our family to keep our estate. Our wealth will remain intact, which is what our parents had in mind when they accepted his invitation. You need to learn to get your nose a little brown if you want to succeed and continue to prosper in this new political environment. I know you hate change—who doesn’t? But we must at least pretend to accept his plans in order for our family to continue to thrive.”

Her brother ran an agitated hand through his hair before flopping back against the pillows with a disgusted snort. “The man is a pig. I cannot believe they made us have dinner at his home. The Grecian scum are beneath us in every way. While they call themselves enlightened, I’ve yet to see them build lasting monuments like our pyramids. Our society is the one that is correct. His kind are just a bunch of blowhards who think they are above us as they sit around discussing their precious philosophies. At least tell me you gifted yourself a souvenir or two while we were there? Everything he owned was made of silver or gold. To my way of thinking, a trinket or two that wouldn’t be missed was little payment for the suffering we endured by sitting at his table.”

Neema tittered. “I would never do anything so foolish as to steal from the Greek general. Alexander is a great man, just ask him, he’ll tell you.” She rolled her eyes then stood and arched her back like a cat. “No, brother, I took no trinkets. I have my eyes on a larger prize than mere pretties. I plan to have our parents arrange a marriage for me with one of his ranking officers.”

Kesi sat up with an expression of horror on his face. “Neema, no! Surely you wouldn’t be so foolish as to soil our family line with Grecian genes. Besides, why would you want a husband who would be off fighting whatever war the Greeks decide to wage next?”

She gave her brother a slow wink. “That, my dear Kesi, is exactly why I would marry one of his officers. They have their own wealth, yet short lifespans. If our town does become the proud city of Alexandria that the general has proclaimed it shall, then I will be sitting pretty at the top of the heap. And even better? I’ll be a wealthy, young widow who can do as I please after my husband stupidly gets himself killed fighting someone else’s war. I keep telling you, brother dearest, you must think ahead and see the larger picture.” She wagged her finger at Kesi. “And I’d better not hear of anything having been taken from the general’s home last night, or you’ll have me to deal with. I’ll not have my plans disrupted by our family name being stained from your sins.”

“Bah. Leave my quarters, I’ve heard enough of your nonsense for one evening.” Kesi waved a dismissive hand at his sister before reaching for another fig.

“I mean it, Kesi. Do not dare ruin my plans or you will face my leopard. Her claws and teeth are much sharper than yours.” She left the room in a huff while her brother stared after her with a look of distaste.

He shook his head and muttered under his breath. “My cat’s claws and teeth would be sharper too if I honed them on whetstones and flint. Silly wench thinks I don’t know her secrets? Bah. I have my own secrets though, don’t I?”

We watched as he bent to stretch his arm under the chaise, reaching far back into the shadows and rooting around before pulling out a gold apple. Oni sucked in a breath, his hands coming to his mouth as he watched the ancient man polish the apple on his skirt and toss it negligently into the air like one would with an ordinary piece of fruit. He caught it with a laugh and tucked it close to his side. He picked up what looked like a flint knife, then walked over to the window and opened the curtains to show a nighttime sky.

When he climbed through the window, we casually walked through the brick walls that really didn’t exist for us to see him walk about two meters away to the corner of the house. After furtively looking around as if to make sure he wasn’t being watched, he used the knife to dig a hole under the edge of the foundation. He held the apple up to admire it a final time, then kissed its surface before dropping it in the hole and covering it over with dirt and tamping the ground flat to cover what he’d done.

When he crept back to the window and stopped to wash his hands in a standing bowl of water, Oni reached out to touch my arm. We all gasped as one as we found ourselves back at the table looking around at each other in disbelief. Oni shrugged. “Sorry if you guys weren’t done yet, but I couldn’t handle another minute of watching that asshole.”

Even Jude smiled at that one. He shook his head sadly. “It pains me to think that our father descended from those people.”

Kyle grinned across the table at his twin. “Chill out, dude. We’ve improved over the generations, or so I’d like to think.”

As everyone started to talk over each other, I noticed Aaron had grabbed a pen from the sideboard behind him and was scribbling something on a napkin. “What are you doing there, pipsqueak?”

Aaron smiled at my use of his old nickname. As one of the younger members of our group, he’d always trailed behind us and tried to keep up. Although we were all adults now, childhood memories couldn’t be forgotten.

He tapped his finger on the napkin. “While you guys were watching that bugger dig his hole, I was looking around at the night sky and surrounding area. I’m pretty sure that I can make us a map that will take us where we need to go. The only problem is, I’ll probably need to be along for the ride. I’m not trying to insinuate myself into your adventure, it’s just that my mapping skills are weaker at a distance. Let me get close, and I can get you within an inch of where you want to be.”

Toby flashed a goofy grin at Aaron. “I know the gifts from your dad’s omega line were lost with his dad, but I really think that your natural empathy and mapping skills show that you have at least a touch of whatever skills used to run in your line.”

Aaron shrugged. “Either that or I have spent way too many nights during my family’s travels staring at the skies and learning the star patterns around the world. But thank you for believing in me.” Toby flushed bright red; my awkward cousin never took compliments well.

Ian distracted my thoughts when he began drumming his hands on the table. “If Aaron goes, we all go, right? Sure and you can’t have an adventure without takin’ all yer mates along for the ride, yeah?”

Lulu’s eyes danced at the idea. “Yes! I totally vote we crash their adventure. Getting to quest like our parents did would rock.”

Jude shook his head sadly. “It’s too bad we don’t have magical creatures like they did to visit first. Although, we could stop to visit Effie and Maon on the way just to make our own quest parallel with our parents’.”

“Shut up,” Kyle laughed. “You just like visiting their cottage. I have to admit though, I am a little jelly that we didn’t get to see Effie’s phoenix form before the goddess made her human. Although Maon does make some killer cookies, so that’s always a draw for me.”

I shook my head with a grin. “Visit them on your time, we need to find this damn apple.”

Oni and I were drinking our breakfast smoothies when the girls came pounding at the front door. I knew it was them because I could hear them talking excitedly on the other side of the door. “Sit tight, babycakes. I’ll let them in.”

“Please, did you think I didn’t already know that?” Oni smirked.

I grinned and dropped a kiss on the top of his head before walking over to open the door. They came rushing in with Aaron at their heels. Lei brushed past me as she headed for the table and opened up her laptop the second her butt made contact with the chair. “Come on in, Lei. Make yourself at home,” I quipped as I followed her to the table with everyone else at our heels.

“Shh, Connor. You just wait until you see what my girl found,” Lulu said excitedly.

“With Aaron’s help,” Aurora pointed out.

Aaron shrugged. “I don’t need recognition, it’s enough that we were able to make this important discovery.”

“What’s going on?” I asked as I sat down beside Oni and looked around at their excited faces.

“What’s going on is that not only do we have coordinates, I found Uncle Kontar’s family land. It’s not a myth, it really exists. I can’t wait to tell him the news.” Lei spoke in a rush as her fingers danced over the keyboard.

Lulu bobbed her head up and down, a stray feather catching my eye and making me smile. She’d been doing that since she was a baby, letting feathers from her bird form show in her human hair for decoration. “My girl had to search through a lot of databases to find it, but it’s still registered to his family’s name. We even saw it on Google Earth; that’s what Lei’s about to show you.”

Lei blew her mate a kiss and nodded triumphantly as she turned the laptop around for us to see the screen. The land itself was barren without much more than what looked like a large pile of rubble at the center. As she zoomed in, we could see bits of stone and pillar from the partial building that remained. As we all stared in awe, Oni tugged at my shirtsleeve.

“Get your phone out, Connor. You need to get Kyle and Jude over here to see this and we need to start planning the trip. This baby is coming in three weeks. If we’re going to go before he arrives, we need to get on it.”

Our guests looked at us expectantly when Lulu spoke in an uncharacteristically quiet voice. “You guys are going to let us come along, right?”