Barrack gazed around the palace grounds. Over the centuries, he and his brother had spent most of their time either on Spaceports along the Outer Rim of the Star System or alien planets that ranged from desert conditions to water worlds. Some had been brutal, while others had been beautiful, but none of them had given him a sense of peace like this one did. He was home.

We home, his dragon chortled, pushing at him to be released. I fly.

Not yet. We must learn where this warrior and his mate are first so that we can find our true mate, was Barrack’s silent reply.

Want to fly, his dragon moaned in regret.

Barrack understood his dragon’s growing restlessness. There was not a lot of room on a Spaceport, especially for a dragon. Their need to fly, to release their dragons had been one of the reasons they had been forced to visit other worlds.

In the end, their time on these worlds had given them a chance to see and do things most warriors would have missed. They had heard about the Great War between the Curizan and Sarafin, but never fought in it. The few Curizan and Sarafin they had met had been like them, nomads.

This time they had transported down, leaving their spaceship above.

“My dragon itches to be released,” Brogan muttered, rubbing at his arm where the scales were rippling up and down.

“Mine as well,” Barrack quietly responded.

His brother looked around the courtyard as they crossed to another building in the palace. Their symbiots trotted behind them, reflecting the brilliant colors of the plants and sky in their excitement.

“It feels good to be back,” Brogan softly admitted.

Barrack gave a brief nod. They followed Zoran and Creon up the steps. He resisted the urge to look over his shoulder at the other two brothers who followed silently behind them. Only the one called Trelon had remained in space.

The small group paused and turned when the sound of happy squeals came from behind them. Barrack watched as two small dragons, one red with pink accents, the other pink with red accents, darted out from under a low hedge. A moment later, a small blue one emerged.

“Jabir,” Mandra Reykill suddenly called.

The small, plump dragonling stopped so quickly that he tripped over his front feet and did a roll in the grass. Barrack watched in fascination as the huge prince hurried down the steps they had just climbed to the little dragonling.

“Are you alright?” Mandra asked, bending and lifting up the dragonling.

The dragonling growled down at the other two dragonlings who had darted back into the bushes and were now peering through at him. A moment later, the dragonling shimmered and shifted. The small, slightly chubby boy was the spitting image of the huge Valdier prince. The boy wiped his nose before he leaned forward and wrapped his arms around Mandra’s neck.

“We are playing tags,” Jabir stated. “Mommy and Aunt Carmen is looking for us,” he added, looking over at Barrack.

“Does you have dragonlings? They can plays with us,” Jabir said with a smile.

“No, we have no younglings,” Barrack replied.

“Mandra,” a woman’s breathless voice called.

“Barrack,” Brogan murmured, stepping closer to his twin.

Barrack absently nodded his head. His gaze was focused on the same thing his brother’s was – the woman running toward them. Her white-gold hair was pulled back from her unusual face, and swung behind her as she jogged up to them.

“Sorry about that,” she laughed, reaching her arms out for the little boy.

“Aw, Daddy. You got me tagged,” Jabir complained, giggling when the woman tickled him.

“Now you get to tag me,” she teased, lifting him into her arms.

Barrack stiffened in surprise when she drew back and smiled up at him and Brogan. The woman’s eyes danced with mirth and a hint of curiosity. He could feel his brother’s confusion as well. Every person they had met for the first time from the time they were younglings had looked at them with caution or fear. There was neither in this woman’s gaze.

“Hi, I’m Ariel Reykill. This little guy is Jabir,” she greeted.

“She’s my mate,” Mandra added, a hint of a growl in his voice.

“Yes, I am. By the way, I just tagged you, too, so you get to cook dinner with Jabir tonight,” she teased.

“Yay!! I wants worms!” Jabir exclaimed in delight.

“Not again,” Mandra groaned. “We had worms last night.”

“If it helps, we’ve had something called macaroni and cheese for three nights in a row,” Kelan chuckled.

“Better than the stuff called peanut butter and jelly," Zoran muttered. “I have banned Cara from replicating any more of that disgusting mixture.”

“Are you serious? The girls and I love the stuff!” Creon exclaimed, surprising the other men and causing everyone to laugh.

“You might as well forget it, Zoran. You’d have a rebellion on your hands,” Ariel chuckled as she bent to set the little boy down on the ground.

Jabir immediately shifted and took off after the two little dragonlings who had been watching them from the bushes. Barrack’s gaze moved back to the woman when she sighed, and reached up to brush a lingering kiss against Mandra’s lips. Barrack was captivated by the sight.

“I’d better go. Amber and Jade have been constructing booby-traps throughout the garden. Abby and Trisha are finding them while Carmen and I chase the kids. I’ll see you later, big guy,” she murmured, her eyes flashing with an emotion that Barrack didn’t understand until he saw desire burning in the other warrior’s eyes. She glanced back at him and Brogan as she said, “It was nice to meet both of you.”

Barrack’s gaze followed the woman as she took off after the squealing children. His mind was still trying to process the fact that this female appeared unconcerned that she had been in the presence of twin dragons. He started when he sensed the others turning to continue to their destination. Brogan caught his attention with a silent message, and Barrack nodded. They did have a lot to learn.

* * *

An hour later, he and Brogan stood in the empty conference room staring out at the garden. Their conversation had been brief. Zoran had not asked many questions, which had surprised both of them, but there had been genuine sincerity in the other man’s eyes that had been reassuring.

“Do you believe him?” Brogan asked.

Barrack’s mouth tightened for a moment before he shrugged. “We know it is possible,” he replied. “I don’t remember seeing women such as them before. They are not Valdier, yet they can shift into a dragon.”

Brogan shrugged. “Lord Kelan called them ‘human’. I have not heard of the species before. Perhaps they are dragon-shifters as well. Do you want a drink?” he asked, turning away from the window.

Barrack shook his head. He could feel his brother’s impatience. Although Barrack was anxious to retrieve his and Brogan’s true mate, he was also curious about the scene he could see through the window. His lips twitched when one of the women suddenly shifted and began chasing two dragonlings. One was white, while the other was black. There was something different about the black dragonling. Her wings and tail reminded him more of a bird than a dragon. Both dragonlings squealed in delight and took off running with the female behind them.

“Brogan, look!” Barrack hissed with bated breath.

Brogan looked up and walked over, then swiftly inhaled a breath. As the black dragonling passed through shadows, she completely disappeared.

“The white one, Barrack,” Brogan pointed out.

Ripping his eyes away from the black dragonling, he watched as the white dragonling began digging with incredible speed. One moment she was there, the next she was gone. The female dragon pounced on the hole and looked down, then suddenly rolled to the side when a large black dragon appeared behind her. The female snapped at the male and they circled each other.

“She needs help,” Brogan growled, setting his glass down on a table near the window.

Suddenly the female turned, wrapped her tail around the male’s front legs, and pulled him off balance. “I don’t think she does,” Barrack said. Brogan stilled at her speed and skill. The move had caught the larger dragon unawares and he was flipped, landing on his back with his wings spread out. In a flash, the female was on top of him, her mouth wrapped around his throat.

“The younglings,” Brogan muttered in concern when he saw the tiny black dragonling appear out of the shadows.

“She isn’t hurting him and he isn’t fighter her,” Barrack said as the dragons started nuzzling. The white dragonling popped out of the hole, grabbed the ear of the huge male dragon, and yanked on it. Barrack smiled. “They are family,” he said.

Unexpected pleasure washed through him when he heard Brogan chuckling. Long forgotten memories of themselves wrestling with their father returned. Along with those memories came a wave of regret.

“It is one of the Princes,” Brogan murmured.

Before their eyes, they watched the family of dragons shift.

“Lord Creon. That must be his mate and younglings," Barrack stated.

The two dragonlings transformed into sisters who were clearly the same age. One had the black hair of her father while the other had the white gold hair of her mother. Two things hit the twin dragons at the same time, leaving them both shaken as they watched what could only be a miracle. First, there were two females – a rare sight when they were growing up. The second was the knowledge that they were staring at twin dragons – female twin dragons.

“We have been gone far too long, brother,” Barrack murmured. “I could use that drink after all.”