I could get used to this, Destiny thought contentedly, lying back in Ethan’s arms. She was filled with delicious satisfaction after making love with Ethan the night before, and again first thing in the morning. Then, reconsidering, she thought, I hope I never get used to it. I hope I always appreciate it like it was the first time.

She knew that she always would.

“What’re you grinning about, nerd girl?” Ethan inquired.

“Everything, nerd boy. You. Our life. The team. Our trip to India. The family we’re going to have.” She pointed at the wall across from their bed, where his sword and her tiger claws were hung in a place of honor. “My waghnakh.”

He chuckled. “And after all your angst about accidentally stealing them.”

They’d been so excited about seeing Haley and Elliot, and all the wonderful changes in their lives, that it had been weeks before they’d gotten around to unpacking their backpacks. Only then had Destiny discovered that they’d flown back to the US with priceless Indian antiques that they had no easy way to return.

She’d telephoned Mataji, who had been their point person in the plan for Indian shifters to dispose of the dinosaurs and “discover” the Golden City. As it turned out, Mataji had been about to call her to give her an update. She informed Destiny that the dinosaurs had been given a decent burial (a thousand feet deep, Destiny hoped), and that her mongoose shifter niece and her elephant shifter girlfriend had been recruited to discover the city “on a camping trip.” The Indian archaeological society had been so delighted that they’d offered the finders a pair of swords from the city. As they were neither history nor weapons nerds, they’d declined with thanks.

“Considering that, you should consider the weapons yours,” Mataji said. “They’re going to start letting tourists visit once they reconstruct the tower they think collapsed in an earthquake. You two should come then.” The old woman laughed. “Though I don’t expect they’ll let you sleep in the palace.”

“We’ll survive roughing it in a hotel,” Destiny said, and ordered a pair of brackets to mount their souvenirs.

Gazing at her wagnakh, she had to admit that the joy it gave her was undeniable proof that she was the biggest history nerd ever. It was the cherry on the cake of her happiness. She had everything she’d ever wanted.

Except for a winged kitten.

But she had almost everything she’d ever wanted. And she could play with Carol and Shadow whenever she—

There was a scratch at their front door. She and Ethan sat bolt upright, then threw on bathrobes and went to investigate. A fluffy white furball sat on the doorstep, wagging its cotton puff of a tail. It had very pale gray-blue eyes, the color of a frozen sea, which instantly fixed on Ethan. With a joyous yelp, the puppy leaped into his arms and started licking his face.

“It likes you,” Destiny said.

“I can—yecch.” Ethan wiped his mouth. Holding the puppy at arm’s length, he said, “I can tell.”

The puppy, deprived of a face to lick, yelped indignantly. The front of Ethan’s bathrobe went white with frost.

“What the—” Ethan put down the puppy and prodded his robe. The front was frozen solid. “Brr. Did the puppy do that?”

It thumped its tail on the floor and yelped again. A sprinkle of snowflakes, each one perfect and beautiful and unique, fell out of the air and landed on the rug.

“Guess we know where you came from,” Ethan said to the puppy. To Destiny, he said, “But how in world did it get here?”

“Lucas said one of the magical animals could open portals. I guess it was this little guy.”

Ethan was grinning so wide it nearly cracked his cheeks. “Hey there, Snowy. Wanna make some snowballs for us to play catch with?” Then he caught sight of Destiny’s face and put his arm around her. “He’s not just my dog, you know. He’s ours.”

“No, I think he’s really yours.” As if to underline her words, Snowy curled up on Ethan’s bare feet and fell asleep. “It’s okay, jarhead. I’ll survive not having a magical pet of my very—”

A winged kitten landed on her shoulder.

Destiny jumped in surprise. It dug in its pinprick claws to keep its grip, spreading out its wings for balance. She craned her neck to get a better look at it. The kitten butted its head into her cheek and purred enthusiastically. It was smaller than Carol and Shadow, small enough to fit into the palm of her hand. Its fur was fluffy and white, like Snowy’s, but its wings were feathered and blue as a jay’s.

“It’s beautiful,” Destiny breathed.

Welcome, little sister, said her tiger.

The kitten folded her sapphire wings and purred.

“A gift for your inner eleven-year-old,” said Ethan, and kissed her. The kitten arched her back and flapped her wings in alarm. “Relax, kitty. We can share her.”

“I think it’s just scared by your giant face.”

“Hey, you love my giant face. Let’s get inside and get dressed. I’m about to freeze off my other giant thing you love.” He gestured at his frozen bathrobe front.

As Destiny dissolved into giggles, the kitten launched off her shoulder, seized her bathrobe cord with all four paws, and flew into the living room with the end trailing on the floor. Destiny snatched at her suddenly-open robe. Snowy woke up abruptly and pursued the cord, barking. The cord froze solid and clattered across the tiles, startling the kitten enough to drop it. Snowy began to gnaw on his prize as the kitten flew into the bedroom and perched on the brackets that held Destiny’s tiger claws.

“I can tell it won’t be boring around here,” Ethan remarked. “Got a name for her?”

“Sky,” said Destiny. As they returned to the bedroom, a thought struck her. “I thought Snowy was the animal that could open portals. But Sky’s here too. Think it was really her?”

“It might not have been either of them,” Ethan pointed out. “The portal creature helped all the other animals escape. It might be something we haven’t even seen yet that’s still out there somewhere, sending its buddies where they belong.”

“Think anyone else who didn’t get a pet at Apex will get one now?”

“What, you mean like Merlin?”

A little guiltily, she admitted, “No, I hadn’t been thinking of those guys. I meant like Grace and Ellie and Journey. I know they wanted one… but you’re right, if any animals come back for anyone else, it’ll be for the people who were actually there when they got released.”

“You never know,” Ethan said thoughtfully, watching Sky and Snowy chase each other around the living room. “They are magical.”

There were too many happy occasions to have separate parties for each one, so they celebrated the twins’ birth, Ethan joining the team, and Ethan and Destiny’s engagement all at once. Grace and Rafa, who had the biggest backyard, were the hosts.

Like all shifters who owned their own house, Rafa had made sure his backyard was enclosed in a high wall. Like the wall around Destiny’s backyard when she’d been a child, where she could play outside without fear of exposure. She eyed this wall, which Grace had painted in vibrant colors, with the memory of feeling trapped, relief that it was over, and a strange kind of nostalgia. She’d had happy times in her backyard, too.

Raluca came to greet her. She wore a dress of her own design that was elegant without being formal, in a shimmering blue-gray that set off her silver dragonmarks. To Destiny’s amusement, her purse and shoes matched the sapphire dragonette perched on her shoulder.

“Did you pick a name for her yet?” Destiny asked. Raluca, who like Lucas had already known about dragonettes and how unusual it was for them to bond with humans, had taken that task very seriously indeed.

“I have. Her name is Doina.”

“That’s pretty,” Destiny said. “Does it mean something?”

“It’s a very old name from my own country. And also a type of music, the kind one might hear in a remote village.”

Doina trilled a musical note, making both women smile, then flew away.

“I saw you looking at the wall,” Raluca said, a little hesitantly. “Does it remind you of your own?”

When Destiny had returned, she had finally told her entire team and their mates the full story of her childhood, which not all of them had known. They’d reacted much as Ethan had, with sympathy and respect. By then that didn’t surprise her.

“A bit. Mine had ivy growing all over it. A wall of green, like a jungle…” For the first time, Destiny realized why the Indian jungle had never seemed alien to her. “Huh.”

Lucas and Journey joined them. She was bedecked with precious jewels, as usual, with her mating gift of a golden dragon pendant in the hollow of her throat. But none of them outshone the glittering brilliance of Treasure, the diamond dragonette that had appeared and bonded with them both, and was now coiled around Lucas’s forearm.

“Lucas and I had a wall that was special to us, too,” Journey said. “It was part of a maze, all covered in roses.”

“That sounds beautiful,” said Raluca.

“It was,” said Lucas.

Treasure flew up to join Doina in an aerial game with Carol and Sky. Shadow stayed on Shane’s shoulder and watched.

“Lying in wait,” Shane said fondly.

Another flying kitten leaped from Rafa’s shoulder and landed on Grace’s outstretched arm. When he did, his glossy black wings and fur, which had been the exact shade and sheen of Rafa’s mane of hair, changed to match the bubblegum pink of Grace’s handknit arm warmers, a gift from Rafa’s mother.

Her pregnancy was starting to show, but she’d found a stylish black maternity dress, then taken a pair of scissors to the hem. It hung in artistic rags and tatters about her curvy hips, accentuating leggings the same bubblegum pink as the arm warmers.

“Show them your new trick, Leo,” said Grace. “Revert fur!”

Catmeleon’s wings stayed hot pink, but his fur returned to its former glossy black.

“Good kitty,” said Grace, petting him. “Now we match.”

None of them worried any more that their pets would be spotted by outsiders; they’d found that all the magical pets had the ability to become invisible, like mythic shifters could, and had trained them to do so in public. Snowy didn’t need that training, but Ethan had to teach him not to create snow or ice in public. Justin had first trained Trio to heel, so he didn’t seem to have a leash sticking out into thin air.

“I feel bad for Ellie and Hal,” Catalina said. “They’re the only ones who didn’t get a magical pet.”

“They have two beautiful babies,” Rafa pointed out. “That’s plenty!”

“Still…”

Then Hal and Ellie, the last to arrive, came into the backyard. Ellie was carrying Elliot, while Hal cradled Haley in one arm and something else in the other. Haley was crying, and Hal was jiggling her and crooning.

“Aww, Haley, don’t cry—” Catalina began, then peered at the other thing Hal was holding, half-hidden in the folds of his overcoat so all that could be seen was some brown fur. “Hey! What’s that?”

“We found it curled up at the foot of our bed this morning,” Ellie said.

“A flying kitten!” exclaimed Destiny. Sky landed on her shoulder, flapping her bluebird wings to keep her balance as she too craned to get a look.

“Nope,” rumbled Hal. “Thank God. I’ve seen the havoc those things wreak. If I had twin babies and one of those things flapping around all day, I’d have a nervous breakdown.”

“You would not,” said Ellie. “All the same, I’m just as happy this little guy doesn’t have wings.”

“Or an excitable disposition,” Hal added.

He turned his arm so everyone could see the creature he was holding. It was a fat little thing, as round as it was tall, a fuzzy brown creature like a living teddy bear with a fluffy squirrel’s tail. It blinked yellow owl eyes at everyone, then clambered across Hal’s chest, pulling itself along with oversized blunt claws like a sloth, until it could cuddle up with Haley. She immediately stopped crying and began to coo.

“It’s a natural babysitter,” said Hal with relief.

“More like a living lovie,” said Destiny. “What is it?”

“An owl-bear-sloth-squirrel,” suggested Grace. “An owbesloque?”

“Yes, my mother told about owbesloques,” Rafa said. When everyone stared at him, he began to laugh. “I’m kidding. I have no idea what it is.”

“Nor have I,” said Lucas.

“What’s its name?” Journey asked.

“Bob,” said Hal.

“Bob?” Raluca’s accent made it sound like a very strange and exotic name indeed.

Ellie shrugged. “We both thought it looked like a Bob.”

Hal’s phone rang in his coat pocket. Elliot instantly began to cry. The owbesloque clambered over to cuddle him, whereupon Haley started wailing. The phone continued to ring.

Hal looked out at his team. “Help.”

They sprang into action. Ethan scooped up Haley and held her so Bob could snuggle them both, Catalina pulled up a comfortable chair for Ellie to sit in, and Destiny fished the phone out of Hal’s pocket and answered it. “Protection, Inc., how may I help you?”

“Destiny,” Hal said. “That’s my personal line.”

She recognized the voice at the other end of the phone as Roland’s. “Destiny? Is Hal there?”

Doing her best to keep a straight face, she passed the phone to Hal. “It’s for you.”

“Yes?” Hal, juggling the phone as he lifted Ellie’s feet to prop them on a stool he’d pulled up, hit the speakerphone button.

Roland’s voice came through loud and clear. “I hope the family’s doing we—over there! By the lamp!”

There was a crash and cursing in the background. Ellie playfully covered Haley’s ears. Nick, completely serious, glanced at her and then covered Elliot’s.

“The twins and Ellie are great,” Hal assured Roland. “What’s going on?”

Roland raised his voice to be heard over the commotion. “Have you seen any odd little creatures like the flying kittens and so forth in the cages at Apex?”

There was another crash and more swearing, then Merlin’s eager voice saying, “Whatever it is, I want it!”

Hal somehow managed to keep a straight face as he replied, “Yes, actually. Have you?”

“Possibly,” Roland replied. “We just had a… creature of some sort… get into the office, which Carter says is impossible with the security system he installed.”

“Carter’s with you?” Hal inquired.

“Well…” Roland lowered his voice. “He said he was just going to install a security system and then leave. He’s still here, though.”

Carter’s annoyed retort came through loud and clear. “Because I obviously need to fix it! Then I’m leaving!”

Roland and Hal both ignored this. Hal asked, “Well, what does the creature look like?”

“I’m not sure,” Roland said. “It moves too fast to get a good look at it. Whatever it is, it’s flittering around the office knocking things over.”

More crashes. More swearing.

“That sounds like Pete,” Hal said.

“Yes, Pete decided to join us on the condition that—”

“Roland!” Pete yelled. “Not while you’re on speakerphone!”

Undisturbed, Roland said, “And of course we were very happy to have him.”

In the momentary silence, Ransom’s voice sounded clearly. “It seems attracted to bright lights. If we turn off the lights, then hold a flashlight in front of an open window, it might fly out.”

“Ransom too?” Hal inquired.

Ransom replied himself. “On a very temporary basis.”

“And we’re happy to have him, too,” said Roland. “On any basis. Hmm.”

“What?” asked Hal.

“It’s gone now,” Roland replied. “Ransom’s trick worked.”

Merlin’s irritated voice rose in the background. “I said I’d take it!”

“It’s not like you didn’t have plenty of chances to catch it,” Pete retorted. “Next time bring a butterfly net to the office. Or maybe I should bring one, for you!”

Hal spoke louder, to be heard over the arguing. “Got a name for your team yet? Or do you want to be Protection, Inc: The Other Office?”

Roland chuckled. “I was thinking of Protection, Inc: Defenders.”

“Good name,” said Hal. To his team and their mates, he said, “Want to wish them luck?”

Everyone called out their congratulations and good luck wishes. Catalina’s voice rose above the rest. “Hope you get a flying kitten, Merlin! Hope you get two!”

Hal put his phone back in his pocket and went to put his arm around Ellie. By then Ethan was holding Elliot, who was asleep and drooling on his shirt, and Destiny was holding Haley, who watched the party with a surprisingly intent expression in her hazel eyes.

Lucas, elegant in his tailored suit and gold chains, took a hasty step back to avoid getting splashed with the bottle of barbecue sauce Nick was brandishing at Rafa, while Rafa used his longer arms to reach around Nick and douse the chicken wings with his preferred sauce. Journey and Raluca were sharing a plate of traditional Brandusan pastries that Journey had baked. As Journey gestured expansively with an apricot tart in her hand, Doina dove from the air and snatched it from her fingers.

Shane and Justin were talking quietly, with Shadow lying in wait on Shane’s shoulder and Trio dozing at Justin’s feet. Behind their backs, Fiona was stealthily setting up a small robot dog, though Destiny suspected that Catalina and Grace’s snickers had probably given the game away.

“Take a good look, Haley,” Destiny said. “It’s your family.”

Elliot woke up, but didn’t cry. Instead, he too gazed out at them all with the same intent look in his sea-colored eyes.

“And yours,” Ethan said to the baby boy. Without changing his solemn expression, Elliot blew a bubble.

“Okay, jarhead,” Destiny said. “Now I want twins too. So they better run in the family.”

“I’ll do my best,” Ethan promised.

Yes, purred her tiger. We will have a fine pair of cubs nine months from now.

Do you know something I don’t? Destiny asked, excited and hopeful. They’d been trying, but she hadn’t expected it to be this soon.

Ethan nudged her and whispered, “Hey, my tiger just said—”

“Mine too,” Destiny whispered back. “Do you think they really do know?”

Her tiger purred, Wait and see.