Margery was sitting by the dock outside Remy’s house, doing the final proof of the article on Carolyn and drinking a steaming mug of tea, when her phone rang. Carolyn had kept her up half the night chewing her ear off and making sure she included her top ten favorite books in the article. Carolyn kept changing her mind, though, on what books to list and in what order.

Not recognizing the number, Margery let it go to voicemail. It rang again. And again. Now, she started to get worried.

“Hello?”

“Margery, it’s me, Carla.”

She closed her eyes. She probably should have been expecting this, since she’d never called her after that last obnoxious email. “Are you all right?” Margery asked, because she sounded a little frantic and out of breath.

“I need to see you.”

Yeah, for a thousand-dollar photograph. It hurt Margery to have to say this to her baby sister. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“I’m pregnant.”

Margery opened her eyes and sat up straighter in her chair. “What?” Her boyfriend had knocked her up that quick? She couldn’t imagine her sister taking care of a houseplant, let alone a baby.

“I took a pill and went with a dragon. But I didn’t like him, so I ran away.”

Jaw dropping, Margery literally saw red. From the middle of the lake, Remy started swimming in. She could see the ripples he was making in the water. He must have sensed her outrage.

“Is this a con?” she asked. “Because if you just want to shake me down for money...”

“No, jeez. I thought I could come to you for help. Forget it.”

The next second, shame replaced her anger. This was her baby sister, and she really should give her the benefit of the doubt. Even if that made her a mark. “No, wait,” Margery said. “Tell me where you are and I’ll come get you.”

“I’m home,” she said. “Where else would I be?”

Home. Margery had sworn she’d never go back there. “Are you alone?”

“Yeah, Joe’s at work.”

“He has a job?” Margery asked. She was surprised her stepfather had gotten off his ass. Maybe he’d gotten arrested for drunk and disorderly and the court had ordered him.

“In a garage.”

Sounded like a nine-to-five job. She should be able to fly there, pick up Carla, and fly back before he knew it, and before a mob could form for pictures. If worst came to worst, and Carla was hustling her for a picture, they could get one of her flying away. But if her sister really was telling the truth, Margery couldn’t risk that she wasn’t compatible with the BabyDragon pill. She’d bring Carla back here and see if Joe and their mother had done irrevocable damage or if Carla could rise above her upbringing and stop stealing and hustling. Then she’d contact Nessie for help. “Okay, I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

Margery emailed the article off to her editor and walked out to the end of the dock. “Remy?” she called.

He was already there. He popped his head out of the water. “What’s up?” he asked, not bothering to switch forms.

“My sister just called. She claims to be pregnant by a dragon. I told her I’d come pick her up.”

“You don’t sound convinced.”

Margery folded her arms and grimaced. “I told you, she’s a grifter. She’s into all sorts of confidence schemes. I don’t trust her not to be making this up for a shit ton of money.”

“So don’t go.”

“She’s my only sister. And I left her behind once. I don’t think I could live with myself if I did again.”

Remy leaped up onto the dock in his human form. “Are we driving or flying?”

“It’ll be quicker to fly, but it’s on Long Island, so we could drive. Still, I’d rather get in and out quickly to avoid her father.” And any crazies with a cell phone or a camera.

“Leave a message with Arianna to let her know we’ll be in her territory helping out another BabyDragon victim.”

“I don’t want to rile up Reed if this turns out to be fake.”

“Better safe than sorry.” Remy kissed her cheek. “I’ll be right back. I need to grab some things from the cabin.”

She gaped after him for a moment. He hadn’t even tried to talk her out of it. He hated to leave his territory, and for him to blithely agree to fly in her claws while they tracked down her sister made her love him all the more. Unlike Casimiro, he didn’t want her to be something she wasn’t. He would have loved her as a human as much as he loved her as a dragon. And even if the Queens’ conclave told her she had to move, Remy would be at her side.

“You are my world,” he had said. And she believed him.

About twenty minutes later, they were off. Margery held Remy in one of her claws. Flying was freedom. Oh, how she’d missed it! She was so glad that her powers had come back. If she lost the sky, she would have been miserable. Though she’d spent her entire life preshift unable to soar on the wind, it had always been a part of her.

The sun played hide-and-seek with the dark clouds moving in. They might be flying back in a rainstorm, but even getting drenched didn’t bother her. She tilted her wing into a steep dive and then cut up at the last minute to take advantage of the thermal. Second nature to conserve the energy.

Remy whooped like a child on a roller coaster, so she darted in and out of the clouds, doing loops and barrel rolls. “Stop. I’m going to puke,” he laughed.

“Good. Me, too,” she said, turning her face to the sun.

And that’s when she saw the dragons out of the corner of her eye. She faded up into the clouds, for a better look.

I’m invisible.

But they were coming straight at her hiding spot.

“I don’t like the look of this,” she said. There was a Chinese dragon, a Celtic dragon, and a chimera. “How are they finding me?”

“Me,” he said. “You can fade into the clouds, but my human shape in the sky is a dead giveaway.”

Margery sped through a cumulus cloud formation, hoping the puffiness would cloak Remy in her claws. It worked for a minute, but then the big Celtic just plowed through.

“Shit.” Margery dived and just managed to escape the Chinese dragon. What the hell was going on here? Was this retaliation about the article? She gritted her teeth and flew higher toward the sun. She wasn’t in human form. If they wanted to take her, they were going to have to work for it.

“Leave me alone,” she shouted to them. “I have a consort and a protector.”

The three dragons didn’t answer. She put on the speed, but they followed. Worse, they were gaining on her.

“Fly out over the water and drop me. Then hide in the clouds.” Remy said.

“No, I’m going to land. They won’t dare try to take me in public.”

“Don’t bet on that.”

She whirled and caught her pursuers unaware. Dropping like a stone to give herself more speed, she tucked her wings and positioned herself as aerodynamically as she could. She wasn’t expecting the breath weapon from the Celtic dragon, though.

An arc of lightning hit her in the back, and she reflexively opened her claws. As the second bolt hit her, agony raced up and down her spine. She almost didn’t feel the weighted net engulf her.

Remy!

She watched him fall, unable to move to protect him. Unable to swoop down and save him. They weren’t over water. He was going to crash into the pavement.

“Remy,” she cried, and the third lightning bolt made the world go black.

***

REMY SPREAD HIS ARMS and legs out to stop the speed of his descent and watched in horror as his consort was electrocuted and netted. The three studs didn’t spare him a second glance. And why should they? He was useless as tits on a bull up here.

Or was he?

Water called to him. He smelled it. There, in the cloud.

Come to me.

Rain fell, soaking down on him as he fell toward the earth. He sent the raindrops like little bullets into the chimera’s fat ass. It yelped and whirled to fight the invisible enemy that was shredding its skin like shrapnel.

“Over here,” he snarled, sending an arrow of water into the Celtic’s flank.

The Celtic just flew on with an unconscious Margery in his claws. The Chinese dragon spared him a glance over his shoulder and followed the Celtic. The chimera, enraged and bloodied, dived for him.

Remy shifted, and the bulk of his tail slammed the chimera upside all three heads. “Who sent you?” he snarled.

“Die.” The chimera came after him, all teeth and claws.

Remy let the attack hit so he could coil his body around the other dragon, trapping the wings under his constricting bulk. Tucking his chin to save his throat from being ripped out, he squeezed tighter as the chimera ripped chunks of his flesh away. He concentrated and made the rain fall like hail on the parts of the chimera’s body that weren’t gripped in his coils.

After a moment more of pounding and squeezing, the chimera realized they were plummeting to the earth.

“Are you trying to kill us both?” he shouted.

“My Queen is dead. I’m dead anyway.”

“She’s not dead. Smythe gave specific orders. I would never accept a contract to kill a Queen.”

The chimera didn’t realize the rain was pushing them out to Long Island Sound, slowly. Remy hoped it would be enough. But as if the ocean sensed his thoughts, a spray fountained up and coiled around them. The stream yanked them down, fast.

All three of the chimera’s heads screamed as they headed toward the water at a breakneck speed.

“Where’s he taking her?”

“Smythe Industries,” the chimera babbled. “Let me go.” He struggled, but Remy only tightened around him more.

“Why does he want her?”

“He wants to leverage her freedom for another shipment of pills.”

The coil of water turned into a bubble, and they hit the water with enough force to send a massive wave all over Jones Beach. But the bubble protected them from impact. The salt water stung his eyes; he preferred the crisp freshwater of lakes and rivers. The sheer power of the ocean drenched his cuts and bruises, and he roared in agony even as they healed up. Talk about pouring salt into fresh wounds. With a final squeeze of his coils, Remy broke the chimera’s back and watched him sink and drown in a painful death.

Remy was not a stone-cold killer. But he would not stand for an attack on his Queen.

Kill him.

This time his mother and he were in perfect agreement.