Page 236 of Hunters and Prey

Allie conceded his point with a wave of her hand.

“Well,” she said. “It’s an interesting thing to ‘so what’ about, brother, given what Dragon is. But blowing past that for a minute…”

She hesitated, glancing at me before making that shrugging motion a second time.

“Dragon is the father of my son,” she said, matter-of-fact.

I frowned, looking between Black and Allie.

For a long moment, none of us said anything.

Then my puzzlement turned into outright anger.

“What?” I said.

WE ALL GOT READY to head into town.

I was exhausted, truthfully.

A big part of me wished I could have spent a few hours in their guest room, sleeping, but Allie convinced me not to risk pulling me and Black back to our version of Earth, since sleeping while stressed had triggered a few jumps from this version of Earth, too.

She really wanted me to see that seer, Zarat.

Now she and Revik really wanted Black to see the elders, too.

Allie’s husband came back into the house with their son, maybe an hour later, and by then, Allie, Black and I were in their living room, and Allie was explaining how their son, Narik, had been conceived via a rape by a being that also called itself Dragon, and whose light––or soul, or whatever you wanted to call it––resided in a clone from Revik’s DNA.

Black spent most of the story staring at her like he thought she was pulling our leg.

He didn’t interrupt her, though, or stop listening.

Funnily enough, Allie and Revik’s daughter, Lily, seemed fascinated with Black too, and walked up to him a few times, just staring at him.

“Bug off,” Black said to her finally, his voice a growl.

I was a little shocked, but the little girl just laughed.

Then she walked up to him, and hugged him, wrapping her arms around his neck.

I had no idea what to make of that, either.

When I looked at Allie, quirking an eyebrow, she just shrugged. Her expression seemed to be warring between amusement and puzzlement too, though.

“Come on, Lily,” she said then. “Leave him alone.”

Lily straightened at once, but only scoffed, looking at Black. “He doesn’t mind,” she pronounced. “He’s only pretending to be grumpy.” Glancing at her mother, she added, “He’s daddy’s cousin, right? So he’s family. Why can’t I hug him?”

At that, Black burst out in a laugh, as if in spite of himself.

Allie and I only exchanged looks, but I saw something in her jade-green eyes relax.

I could tell something about Black both puzzled and intrigued her. Rather than angering her, like it had her husband, it seemed to make her want to know more about him. Not long after Lily went outside to look for her father and brother, Allie started firing questions at Black, wanting to know all about his upbringing on Old Earth.

I tried not to be jealous when Black bluntly, and without much prompting, answered all of her questions. Despite his caginess with me about his past, at least up until recently, I tried not to be offended at how forthcoming he was with her.

“So this part of you,” Allie prompted, looking between us. “These parts of both of you… they didn’t start to manifest until after you’d completed your mate bond?”

Pursing my lips, I looked at Black.

---