by Zoe Chant
The little dragon shifted suddenly into a small, cute child, with dark ringlets and large brown eyes. After looking quickly around at all the adults staring at him, the little boy turned his face shyly against Heikon's chest.
"You can give it to her," Heikon said, his voice soft and gentle. "She's here."
He brought the little boy to Melody, who frowned in puzzlement, but didn't back away. "This is my great-grandson, Feodran," Heikon explained. "Feodran, give Tessa's daughter what you brought her."
The little boy shyly unclenched his chubby fists and dropped a glittering gold chain onto the blanket-wrapped bundle in Melody's arms. A green stone winked up at her from the pale yellow blanket, embedded in a setting encrusted with—
"Are those diamonds?" Melody asked.
"Is that a real emerald?" Tessa said.
"She's two hours old, Heikon." Ben sounded somewhere between amusement and exasperation. "At least wait until she opens her eyes before showering her with priceless treasures."
"The jewel is merely a symbol," Heikon explained. "With this offering from our family hoard, our children are bonded in future betrothal, the greatest honor my clan can bestow. This child will be the woman you'll marry someday, Feodran."
There was a dead silence, then Tessa said, "Are you high? The gift you said you were going to give my baby is an arranged marriage?"
"It's traditional," Darius spoke up. "And it's a tremendous honor, particularly given your child's ..." He glanced at Ben. "... unusual pedigree. We don't even know if she'll be a dragon. Truly, it is a surprising act of good faith on the Corcorans' part."
"Whoa." Ben caught his mate as she started to climb out of bed, fists clenched, looking fully prepared to take on both the dragon clanlords who were now eyeing her with wary bemusement. "Settle down, honey. This isn't happening. You got that, Heikon? No way. We're not betrothing our daughter to someone else's kid before she can even walk."
"Damn straight we're not!" Tessa snarled. "This is the 21st century, not the Middle Ages! Darius, we are having words!"
Feodran whimpered and pressed his face into Heikon's chest. "Now you've upset the child," Heikon said.
"You're the one who dragged the child here!" Tessa said, but she softened and patted Feodran's back. "It's okay, sweetie, no one's mad at you. It's very sweet of you to give my daughter a gift. It's a very nice necklace and I'm sure she'll love it ... once she's old enough not to eat it," she muttered under her breath.
"As for you, Dad ..." Ben growled through his teeth as he gently steered his mate back to bed. "I can't believe you knew about this and agreed. Well, okay, I can believe it—"
"It's not as if it's the first time he's done this," Melody said. Everyone looked at her. "What? Dad tried to betroth me, too, when I was just a little older than this."
"Wait, he did what?" Ben said.
"Betrothed me. As I recall, it was to the son of the Lachlan clanlord, wasn't it, Dad? Who was fifteen years older than me, and, as I recall, turned out to be gay anyway."
"My intentions were good," Darius said stiffly. "It would have worked out if either of you had tried to make it work."
"Dad. He's gay. And also at least fifty by now."
"So? We can live for hundreds of years! What's a decade or two, counted against that?"
"What about fated mates?" Gunnar asked. He'd been hovering near Melody, staying out of the fight as much as possible, but she was aware of his solid strength against her back, there to back her up if needed. "You can't just decide who your kids are going to marry. It doesn't work that way for us—for shifters."
"Hmph," Darius said. "Fated mates. Fated nonsense, is what it is. Dragons aren't as concerned about such things as lesser shifters. I wasn't mated to the mothers of either of my children."
"Yeah, and how'd that work out for you, Dad?" Ben said in a tone that indicated his patience was fraying to its snapping point.
"I'll just leave you lot to this, shall I?" Heikon said quickly, tucking Feodran firmly against his chest. "It's past this one's bedtime." Leaning close to the baby in Melody's arms, he murmured, "Enjoy your necklace, little one. We'll talk about the rest of it when you're older."
"No you won't!" Tessa declared, struggling to get up again while Ben held her back. "There are no arranged marriages happening in this family, at least not in my part of this family. Darius! I'm going to strangle you!"
"I'll just walk you out, Heikon," Darius declared, and he and Heikon swiftly vanished.
"I'm gonna kill him," Tessa said conversationally. "If not today, then eventually. I'm going to stab that man to death with a tiny oyster fork in the middle of an uncomfortable family dinner someday. Melody, may I have my daughter back, please?"
"Uh, sure." The baby had been sleeping quietly in Melody's arms, seeming undisturbed by the quarrel going on around her. Melody carefully deposited her back on Tessa's chest. "What do you want to do with, um ..." She held up the necklace. Those were definitely real diamonds.
"I guess it'll be a good start to her college savings fund," Ben said, with a sigh. "I don't suppose you could put it in Dad's safe for me?"
"I'd be happy to." Melody folded it up in her palm. Although she didn't feel the covetous urge for sparkly things in the way some dragons did, there was something very satisfying about holding the gold and jewels, if only for a few minutes. "Is there anything else you two need? Er, you three, I mean."
"A restraining order to keep Darius a hundred yards away from me at all times," Tessa said grimly, and then yawned. Her eyelids were starting to flutter shut.
"He'll stay out of this room for awhile if he knows what's good for him," Ben said. "He has to take the doc home, anyway."
Melody gave her sister-in-law another hug, then Ben, and Ben and Gunnar shook hands. "Congratulations, man," Gunnar said. "I don't know much about babies, but she's real cute."
Melody and Gunnar left, hand in hand. "Were they serious?" Gunnar asked. "About the arranged marriage."
"I'm afraid so. Luckily, my dad does roll with modern times, in his own way, even if he won't admit it. Give him a little while, and he'll probably have convinced himself that breaking the betrothal was his idea, and pat himself on the back for how modern he is."
She let herself into her father's office, and then discovered that the safe no longer responded to the code she used to use. She tried the other passcodes that she knew of her father's, and none of them worked either. If she had been able to open it, she was willing to bet she would have discovered the little case with the dragonsbane had been moved somewhere else.
"Can't get it open?" Gunnar asked.
"No. I guess he changed the code." She placed the necklace carefully on her father's desk.
"I might be able to crack that safe for you."
"Thank you for the offer, but there's no need. It'll be perfectly safe here. No one is going to steal it from the depths of a dragon's lair."
"What if your dad mistakes it for one of his?"
"He won't. Dragons know every piece of their hoard by sight, trust me. He'll know what it is, and he'll keep it safe for her until she's older."
"You trust your dad that much?" Gunnar asked as they turned away, leaving the office to its shadows.
"It's not a matter of trust; it's a matter of honor. My dad has his flaws, boy does he ever, but if it has to do with his honor, you can trust him a hundred percent. He wouldn't steal his granddaughter's dowry."
Gunnar was quiet and contemplative as she locked the office door again. "Are you all right?" Melody asked him. "Is it about your brother?"
"No. Like I said earlier, Nils made his choices, most of them a long time ago. No ..." He gave his head a brief shake. "It's not Nils. I was actually thinking about something your dad said earlier, about dragons living for hundreds of years. Are you going to live for hundreds of years?"
She immediately understood why that was bothering him. "And you're afraid you won't?"
"I know I won't," Gunnar said. "Unless you know
something about me that I don't know."
"It doesn't quite work like that." Melody chewed her bottom lip. "From what Mom told me, your lifespan adjusts itself to your mate's. I think that means you'll live longer than most bear shifters, and I won't live quite as long as an unmated dragon would. But that's okay. I don't want to be two hundred years old anyway. I just want to live out a normal lifespan with you, and watch our kids grow up and have kids of their own."
"Kids?" he asked quietly, taking her hand.
"If you want them," she said quickly.
Gunnar leaned in to take her lips in a gentle kiss, and then rested his forehead against hers. "I want whatever you want," he murmured. "Whatever makes you happy. Forever."
Epilogue: A New Journey
"A Complete World History of Twine," Gunnar read carefully off the flaking spine of the hardbound book. "Really? We're keeping this one?"
"Someone might want to know all about twine," Melody said quickly. "And then where will we be? Completely out of books about twine, that's where."
They were both sitting on the floor of what had been, until recently, Hidden Treasures Used Books. Now it was a disorganized space full of heaps of books, cardboard boxes, and half-empty shelves. The door had a CLOSED AND MOVING sign hanging from it, but it stood half open to let in the afternoon sunshine.
"I can't help noticing we aren't putting very many books in the donation box," Gunnar said. "You know we don't have space for even half of these."
"I know, but Gaby's already said she and Derek will store everything we're not taking at the farmhouse. They have plenty of room there. There's no need to get rid of anything at all."
Gunnar rolled his eyes affectionately. "We're going to have to buy a house the size of your dad's mansion to store all our books, aren't we?"
"Maybe just a storage unit." Melody cleared her throat and put two more books in the box beside her knee, labeled POETRY H-M in black marker. The DONATION box was still empty except for a very scuffed copy of The Little Engine That Could, and that only because Gunnar had pointed out they already had two copies in much better shape.
"A storage unit the size of a warehouse, maybe," Gunnar teased.
Melody grinned and poked him in the leg with her toe. He caught her ankle and rubbed his thumb above the hollow of her heel, just above the top of her sensible shoe.
"Gunnar," she protested, making no move to escape. "We have to get these books boxed up and sort out the ones we're taking with us."
"You sure that sorting books is all you feel like doing today?"
Her foot twitched in his gentle grip. "Absolutely," she declared. "Book sorting and nothing else."
Gunnar massaged her ankle and grinned as her eyes half-closed in bliss.
"I could come back later if I'm interrupting something." Tessa's cheerful voice came from the doorway, as her shadow fell across the book piles and half-packed boxes.
"We're just sorting books," Melody said quickly, attempting to pull her foot back. Gunnar hung on, grinning at her.
Tessa came in. She had her daughter in a front carrier; a tuft of the baby's dark hair was visible, nestled against her chest. "Brought you two lunch from Gaby's café," she said, holding up a paper bag. "Sandwiches and some of her world-famous bear claws."
"Oh, yum." Melody took custody of the bag. "Thank you."
"Hey, there's a price. No free lunch in this world. I also came over to see the RV," Tessa went on brightly. "Gaby told me you finished the last of the interior work, and you had it here at the bookstore today so you could load it up. I didn't see it out front, though."
"No, it's behind the store, in the alley." Melody gave her foot a gentle twist, and Gunnar regretfully let go so she could hop to her feet. "I'll show you. Hon, could you bring a box since we're going that way?"
"Does it matter which one?"
"No, not really—Not that one!" He'd started to pick up the box of poetry books she'd been working on. "That's not full yet. Take the ... um ... how about that box of mysteries there. We still need to fill up those shelves."
Gunnar shared a fondly commiserating look with Tessa and picked up the box effortlessly in his strong arms. Carrying another box with the lunch bag balanced on top, Melody led the way—at least until she was confronted with the need to open the door leading back to the alley. Tessa hurried forward to open it for her.
The alley behind the row of businesses along Main Street was actually more of a gravel parking area, easily wide enough to accommodate a recently remodeled and repainted motor home. For the last few weeks, ever since Melody had bought it, the RV had been parked at Gaby and Derek's farm, taking advantage of the farm's workshop and Ben and Derek's combined woodworking expertise (which Gunnar had been picking up with a flair). Melody had thrown herself into every aspect of the RV's makeover, from providing the basic designs to cutting shelves to long hours painstakingly painting the exterior.
And now it was done. Where there had been a beige, ordinary-looking motor home, now there was a brightly painted vehicle that declared in bold letters on the side: HIDDEN TREASURES TRAVELING BOOKSTORE.
"Hang on, I'll just pop the sides out so you can see the whole thing," Melody said, dropping her box next to the door and hopping up inside.
Tessa poked her head in after her friend. "You're really going to have room for both of you in here and a bunch of books?"
"It'll be a little cramped," Melody admitted. "But we'll have the whole great outdoors for camping, too. I've never camped out, and Gunnar says he's always wanted to. We've kept the bathroom and kitchen, and some fold-out sleeping space inside. And everything else," she declared with a flourish, "is bookshelves."
With the RV's pop-out sides opened up, there was a surprising amount of bookshelf space. Tessa oohed and ahhed over it, and admired the little fold-down wooden bars that Ben and Derek had rigged on each shelf; they kept the books clamped firmly in place while the RV was moving, and could be moved down, out of the way, when it was parked.
There were also some very special shelves, separate from the others, for the books Melody didn't intend to sell. These shelves currently held Melody's forty or fifty most important books (cut down, with great agonizing, from her several hundred most important books) and, just as important, the small but growing collection of Gunnar's books, including The Story of Ferdinand and some workbooks for dyslexic students that they'd been working on together.
"With this, we'll be able to take our bookstore to towns across the country," Melody said, briskly shelving books from the mystery-novel box as she talked. "Towns that are too small to have ever had their own bookstore, and towns that used to have one that closed. We can go to farms and ranches and schools, nursing homes, Walmart parking lots—and big cities too, inner-city neighborhoods that don't have any bookstores, local fairs and festivals ... I can't wait."
"I'm really impressed," Tessa remarked, handing books to Melody to be shelved. "Some couples might've had a conflict if one wanted to travel and the other wanted to run a bookstore. You two just found a compromise."
"It certainly helps that I don't mind traveling too, as long as I've got my books. If Mom can travel with her music hoard on a digital player, why can't I take my books with me too?"
Tessa coughed something into her hand that sounded like "ebook reader."
"Hey! One small step at a time! I do have an ebook reader ... well, a few of them, actually ..."
"I know you have at least one, since it was what I gave you for Christmas last year."
"Oh hush. The point is ... baby steps." She inhaled deeply of the book smell mixed with the sharpness of newly finished wood from the just-installed bookshelves. "I'm a dragon. I need to be able to curl up with my hoard around me."
"Just your hoard?" Tessa asked, smiling, and both of them looked through the window of the RV at Gunnar, shoulders flexing under his T-shirt as he lowered another box of books to the stack outside the bookstore's back door.
"Okay, yes, I like to curl up w
ith more than just books." Melody could feel her cheeks turning pink. "And sometimes we curl up and read books together. In bed."
"That definitely sounds like your idea of a perfect evening."
Melody cleared her throat and slipped another book into its slot on the shelf. "The point is, maybe someday an ebook reader will be enough for me, but for now, I have my traveling hoard and I have my mate, and that is enough." And Gunnar could travel; that was the best part. They'd finally gotten the legal paperwork cleared up, and he was a free man.
"I'm glad you're happy." Tessa hugged her friend, swinging the baby carrier to the side to avoid squishing the baby between them. "You'll have to write, of course. Send postcards. And definitely tell me when Ben and I can expect a new little niece or nephew."
"One thing at a time. You'll just have to deal with being Aunt Tessa to Gaby and Derek's kids for now, not to mention Mom to your own." Melody kissed the top of the baby's soft little head. "But you'll be the first to know, I promise."
"Are you coming back to the farm tonight?"
"Not sure," Melody said. "Any specific reason?"
"Just hoping we'll get to say goodbye before you leave."
Melody had to laugh. "We're not skipping town without saying goodbye, don't worry. I mean, look at all of this. We've still got a ways to go before we're ready to leave."
***
Later in the afternoon, Tessa was long gone back to the cabin up in the hills that she shared with Ben, and Melody walked around the now-echoing bookstore, retrieving books from dusty corners where they'd slipped down behind shelves or gotten kicked under chairs. She took down a notice for a music act that had played at the biker bar months ago.
They weren't quite done packing up the bookstore. There was still some work to go—a couple of days, at least, before it was empty and clean and awaiting its next tenants. But she'd already moved out in her head and her heart. Most of the books were safely tucked away in the RV or boxed to be moved to Derek and Gaby's farm, and she was already fantasizing about getting on the road.