Page 32 of Balthazar's Fire

‘Yes,’ Balthazar confirmed. ‘She is unharmed.’

‘You still like her, then?’ Michael sounded as hesitant as he had after Balthazar had woken from Oliver’s attack.

‘Yes, Father.’ On this point at least, Balthazar was emphatic. ‘I like her a lot, and I’m happy she’s safe.’

‘Then I am happy for you,’ Michael answered, although he didn’t sound overjoyed at the prospect.

Strange. Balthazar’s brow creased. Isn’t that what he always wanted? To see his sons settle down and produce heirs? Isn’t that what Michael’s contract was all about?

‘But what calls me to you at this hour?’ Michael added.

‘I was just thinking of the chimera.’

A cold shiver traveled along Balthazar’s spine as he recollected the monstrosity that Oliver had transformed into.

Balthazar had always been thankful for his dragon genes, reveling in the power and elegance of his kin, but seeing the chimera with his own eyes had only reinforced the point. Monroe’s monster was drooling and ugly. It was a wonder that when faced with its hideous snout, poor Cherie hadn’t had a heart attack.

‘If Oliver Monroe can shift into the beast,’ Balthazar mused, ‘does that mean there are others in his family who can also do so?’

‘I have pondered this myself,’ Michael told him. ‘And am afraid I have had to decide that yes, it almost certainly does mean there are others.’

Tension knotted in Balthazar’s stomach as his father articulated the same awful fate he had decided himself.

‘The father?” Balthazar queried. ‘Do you think it runs in the male line as it does with our family?’

‘I do not know,’ Michael admitted. ‘If there is a daughter then it is possible she also shares the genetic mutation. Your mother and I never had a daughter to test the theory for ourselves.’

‘There is a daughter.’ Balthazar remembered reading about her during the brief internet research he’d completed on his rival.

‘Then we should assume she, too, can shift,’ Michael answered.

‘How could we not know about this?’ Balthazar sighed, running his fingers through his dark hair as he lay in the bed. ‘Another family of shifters so close to ours and they didn’t even trigger our radar.’

‘We were wrong to assume it was only us.’ The regret in Michael’s voice perfectly embodied the way Balthazar saw the subject. The Vaughns had been so caught up in their father’s legacy that they had taken their eyes off the ball. While aware of the Monroes and cognizant that their empire was as immoral as it was illegal, Balthazar and his father had never really viewed them as a credible threat. Their business choices were, in their opinion, weak and poorly thought out, and although Oliver had always been a loose cannon, even Jonas’ son had rarely troubled them. It was only when he’d made an aggressive move to take over Drakon Finance that Oliver had been elevated in their minds. Before then, he only floated in their peripheral vision, little more than an annoyance. ‘Now we must hope they are not as dangerous as we fear.’

‘Do you think they know about us?’ Heart hammering, Balthazar contemplated what it might mean if Oliver and the rest of his clan knew that the Vaughns could shapeshift into dragons. ‘If they do, then the fallout could be catastrophic.’

‘I do not know, my son.’ From wherever he was, Michael let out a long sigh. ‘I also fear this outcome, but we must hope the secret is still secure. You have not told your new lover about your hybrid status, I assume?’

Anxiety churned inside him at his father’s question.

‘She had to discover it one day,’ he answered. ‘For the terms of your contract to be honored.’

‘You have told her?’ Shock radiated in Michael’s voice. ‘I expected you to tell your wife one day, but not a lady you have only just met.’

Balthazar frowned. He understood what his father meant, but feared Michael’s explanation was rather too simplistic.

‘I trust her, Dad,’ he told Michael. ‘And I cannot wait until I am married. I needed to be honest with her now.’

‘I did not tell your mother until after our wedding.’ His father suddenly sounded distant, as if the mere mention of his wife had affected his ability to communicate.

‘These are different times,’ Balthazar rationalized. ‘A woman deserves to know what she is committing to long before she says yes.’

Silence filled the space between them and Balthazar imagined his father struggling to come to terms with his son’s decision. Michael was from another generation, and Balthazar respected that, but despite his father’s disapproval, his instinct assured him that he’d done the right thing.

‘Father?’ Rubbing his temple, Balthazar wondered if his father had intentionally halted their conversation. ‘Are you still there?”

‘I am,’ Michael answered. ‘Although I cannot say I agree with your logic.’