Page 89 of Dante's Circle Reborn

Eva laughed. “Bears are the most touchy-feely shifters out there,” she said, and the other shifters in the room laughed.

“She’s got that right,” a wolf called out.

“Far cuddlier than dragons,” Dante said dryly.

The succubus that stood between them laughed. “You’re pretty cuddly, my dragon.”

Ashen held out his arms, and then Jace pulled him into a hug that was bone-crushing.

“I thought you died, baby brother. I looked at you, and you smiled, and then the flames touched you.”

Ashen closed his eyes and took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of family. “I’m alive. I’m here. Somehow.”

“I’ll never forgive myself for letting you get hurt,” the dragon said, and then Ashen remembered.

“It was a war. It was your mother.”

The dragon nodded, his jaw tight. “I am sorry.”

Ashen shook his head. “It’s not your fault. It might have even been the reapers themselves.”

“I’ll kill them,” Jace muttered.

“We already took care of that,” Eva said, her face a little pale. Ashen reached out and gripped her hand, and Jace looked between them.

“Your mate?”

“Yes,” Ashen said. “Although, we’re not bonded yet.”

“Well, let’s just tell the whole world that, shall we?” Eva said, and Ashen winced.

“Sorry.”

“No worries. However, you’re going to have to stop saying everything that pops into your mind.”

“He was like that as a little boy, too,” Jace said, his eyes wide with wonder. “We have more siblings, and our parents…”

“They’re all on their way.”

Ashen looked at Dante.

“You have been busy.”

“I’m a dragon. It’s what I do.”

Ashen sat there as he was introduced to everybody once again, even his niece and nephew, a baby dragon, and a baby bear, who looked into his newly unusual eyes and smiled, wanting hugs before shifting and playing on the floor like the babies they were.

When a small child bumped into him, he looked down and picked up the baby bear before kissing it on top of the head as if he had done it a thousand times before giving him back to Jace. He’d never met these children, he knew that. A different kind of pain slid through him over the fact that he’d missed so much.

“No worries. It’s almost like you’re back to yourself.”

Ashen shook his head.

“I’m not. I’ll never be.”

“None of us are who we were before the wars. But you’re here. I have to count that as a blessing.”

“Torrent?” a female voice said from behind him, and he turned.

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