When Elena departs, Dane steps out to call our parents and let them know what's up. Meanwhile, Ambrose examines me again as Sky looks on, asking questions as he listens to my heart and takes my pulse. His doctorly frown stirs my nerves like a stick poked into a nest of ants.

"What is it?"

He shakes his head. "Nothing new. I merely wonder..."

"What?"

He sighs and drapes his stethoscope over his shoulder as he straightens. "Elena's a crafty one, is all, as I'm sure you are aware. Nothing she said was a lie, and I got no sense of deception. And yet... Well, dragon gifts aside, my gut tells me she's up to something. Say 'ah.'"

Producing a small flashlight from his pocket, he shines it down my throat and flashes it in my eyes. Switching it off, he frowns down at me as if I'm an aggravating puzzle.

"There's nothing physically wrong with you, Martin, as I've said. You're a bit underweight, and a lot under stress, but aside from that, you're a perfectly healthy man. Wolf. Wolf-man." He waves a hand.

"And?"

"And it strikes me as odd, is all. Why wait until now? Why, when you've found a new mate, a true mate, at last, does she come forward with this proposition? The timing is terribly suspicious."

A bitter laugh bubbles to my lips. "If you think I trust her, don't worry."

He nods. "You know the parable of the blind men and the elephant?"

I shake my head.

"Three blind men examine an elephant, a creature none has encountered or heard of before. One feels the trunk, one a leg, and one places his hands on the beast's broad side. The first declares that an elephant is like a snake; the second that it is like a sturdy tree, and the last that it is like a wall. None are wrong, but none are right; for the whole is quite a different animal than the parts."

"What are you saying?"

Ambrose sighs. "Only that there's more to Elena's tale than meets the 'eye,' as it were — more than we can feel out by mere instinct. The fact she was telling the truth about her intention to kidnap Nico and Rio, for example, is troubling, to say the least. It's as if we're glimpsing edges of a greater whole. She's planning something, mark my words, and if this isn't part of it, well then I'll eat my proverbial hat."

"I agree," I say, "but I don't see what we can do about it besides stay on our guard. Besides, if she's not lying about our bond, then..." A shudder goes through me and I clench my jaw. "I'll do whatever it takes to be free of her."

Ambrose pats my knee and straightens to his full height. "That's the spirit," he says, and shoots me a wink like a flash of dark fire beneath his shadowed brows.

A shiver goes up my spine and I feel renewed respect for Noah. My shy, scholarly brother is the last person I'd have expected to tame a dragon, and the few glimpses I've had of his mate's inner nature make me glad he's on our side.

Noah himself appears in the doorway then, along with Julian and the children. Nico and Rio run to me and climb into my lap, while Flora and Miguel follow with more reserve. Sky moves over a bit and they wedge themselves on either side of me on the couch, leaning their heads on my shoulders. I wrap my arms around all four of them as best I can and give them a reassuring hug. Wolf families tend to be physical in their affections, finding comfort in close proximity and touch, and I feel tension I didn't know I was holding begin to ease as the heat of their small bodies warms mine.

"Are you gonna die, Daddy?" Nico asks, making my heart clench. I look up at Julian accusingly, but he shakes his head.

"Young wolves have sharp ears," he says.

I hug Nico against my side and stroke his fluffy curls. "Everybody dies, sweetheart. I will, too, someday. But I hope you'll be all grown up by then, and I'll be so old and crusty, you won't even miss me when I'm gone."

"We'll always miss you, Dad," Flora says, putting a little verbal blade through my heart. "Do you hate us?"

I lean away from her a little in surprise. "Why would you say that, Flora? What do you mean?"

She sniffs and whispers, "Because we're hers."

I take a shaky breath and blink back tears. "Oh, Sweetheart, no. I love you. You guys are the best things that ever happened to me. If I could go back in time... Well, I wouldn't change anything if it meant I couldn't have you."

"Really?"

"Really. I love you and your brothers more than anything."

"More than Mr. Sky?" Nico asks.

"You know there are different kinds of love, right? I don't love him the same way I love you, but..." I smile and look up to meet Sky's sea green gaze. "I love him just as much."

Noah coughs lightly as he takes a seat beside Ambrose on the sofa opposite, and I see he's holding the book Miguel found in the shop.

"Stop making fatherhood look so damned cute." He nods at Ambrose. "You'll give him ideas."

"No ideas I don't already have," Ambrose returns with another signature wink.

Noah clears his throat and adjusts his gold-rimmed glasses on his nose as he opens the book. "I've got the gist of this, I think," he says, "though I can't say it makes much sense. The 'Shadow World' doesn't seem to be the same as the Shadowlands that Julian and Dane have visited — fortunately. Instead, it seems to be referring to something else: a sort of dream or spirit realm. The book is about how to 'journey' there — basically out-of-body spirit travel. The 'Traveler' can move through this world and beyond, both on the physical as well as 'spiritual' planes."

"For what purpose?" Ambrose asks, dark fire lighting his eyes. As an incarnation of the dragon Ainach, I suppose Ambrose is more aware than most of what dangers await those who dare such journeys.

Noah shrugs and flips through the pages of the book. "All kinds of reasons, but mostly for knowledge of one sort or another. To learn the 'deep secrets' of the cosmos, or whatever. But also to spy on people or just find out what's going on in other place, and to carry messages through dreams."

"Sounds handy," Julian remarks.

"And dangerous," Noah says. "Most of the book is the author's account of getting lost in various nightmare places, and eventually finding his way back with the help of another lost entity, who'd apparently been trapped as an incorporeal spirit for several eons after losing contact with his body."

"What does it have to do with Miguel?" I ask.

"He's a shadow wolf, by the sounds of it."

I turn and see Dane in the doorway, phone in hand.

"A what?" I blink.

"Shadow wolf," he repeats. "I remembered some of it — the old stories and stuff. Talking to Dad brought it back, and from what I overheard just now, I think Miguel is right: he doesn't have a Wolf like the rest of us. His Wolf doesn't have a physical form. If I recall, Dad has spirit-walkers on his side of the family, way back."

"He shall need a good teacher, then."

A figure materializes from the shadows at Dane's back: a woman dressed in green silks that flow around her body like water. She has dusky skin, silky black hair, large dark eyes fringed by long lashes, and a serene smile.

"Oh, yeah," Dane grunts and jerks his thumb at her. "Snake lady's here."