“I’m not giving your mom my kittens,” Peggy says, glaring at me. She hikes her backpack up on her back in a protective motion, but I smile at her.
“Don’t worry,” I tell her. “We’re going to have to deal with a lot for the next couple of days, and we can use all of the help we can get. My mother is a vet. She’ll be fine with the kittens.”
“A vet?” She asks. “Like, for animals?”
“Yes.”
“Is she like, your town doctor?”
“What? No! Shifters see shifter doctors. Normal animals see a normal animal doctor.”
“Oh,” Peggy says, but I don’t think she really understands, and that’s okay. I don’t have time to explain the dynamics of how caring for dragons works or the fact that our clan doctor left us to fend for ourselves. We’ve been operating at half-power, but we’ve been doing our best. Sooner or later, we’re going to have to find a proper shifter doctor to care for the clan.
Right now, my mom does what she can.
“What do I need to know?” Wilson says, looking at me.
“Well, I think that we need to find Cameron first,” Peggy says. “Because he’s the one I’m supposed to talk to.” She holds up her wrist, showing Ellie’s mark. “I promised.”
“She swore an oath?” Wilson looks at me, and I nod slowly.
“Do you know him? He’s part of this clan, right?” Peggy asks, ignoring his question, and Wilson just sighs.
“Come on, man. It’s time.”
I know he’s right, but somehow, I don’t want her to know I didn’t tell her. I don’t want her to think less of me or that I’m less of a man, somehow, for keeping this from her.
“What? Time for what?”
“Peggy,” I step forward and take her hands in mine. “I’m Cameron.”
This is the part where she slaps me.
This is the part where she calls me a creep and tells me to get lost, where she shouts that I should have told her earlier, where she tells me I could have stopped all of this from happening if I’d just been honest.
“You’re Cameron?” She asks, her eyes wide. She doesn’t quite seem to believe it.
“Yeah.” I swallow hard, waiting for the inevitable shouting, but it doesn’t come. Instead, Peggy looks relieved.
“Oh, thank dragons,” she says, wrapping her arms around me.
“What the fuck?” Wilson says, scratching his head. He seems just as surprised as me.
“I was hoping it was you,” she says. “This makes things so much easier. You already know everything and I don’t have to repeat it all to some weirdo I don’t even know.” She glances over her shoulder at Wilson. “No offense,” she adds.
He just shrugs.
“You’re not angry?”
“What? That you didn’t tell me your name?”
“Well, yeah. I thought you’d be upset.”
“No,” she says. “You saved me, and you saved Daisy, and you made everything okay. Thank you, Cameron. Thank you for everything.”
She hugs me tightly, then, and I’m not sure what to do, so I awkwardly pat her hair. Wilson bites back a laugh and I flip him the bird. Thankfully, Peggy doesn’t notice.
She pulls back and looks up at me. Then she reaches on her tip-toes and kisses me on the cheek. A wave of heat rushes through my body.