“I like it, too!”
“Me too!
“And me!”
Allison’s little brothers all spoke at once, expressing their excitement about the food choice. It wasn’t really a secret that dragon shifters loved treasure. What was probably a lesser-known fact was that they also loved carbs.
To say that Allison was from a big family was an understatement. Now, as she sat with her siblings, mother, and stepfather, she felt warm and fuzzy and comfortable. It was nice to have people to care about.
Allison wasn’t a dragon shifter. She was totally, completely human. Her family had moved to Sapphire Island a long time ago. It had been years, in fact.
“It’s an old family recipe,” Lyla explained. “My grandmother used to make this, and her grandmother before her.”
“You’ll have to teach me,” Allison spoke with her mouth full of food. It was rude, but nobody seemed to mind. The little kids just laughed, giggling at how their big sister seemed to get away with eating while chewing.
“Definitely teach her,” Steve, Allison’s stepdad, chuckled. He smiled at Allison and nodded. “You’re a fast learner, kiddo. You’ll have no trouble at all.”
Allison smiled at her stepfather. He really was a nice guy. After Allison’s dad passed away, her mother had been lonely for a long time. When Steve waltzed into their lives, he had been the perfect boyfriend to Allison’s mother. Lyla had been lonely, worried, and isolated when they’d started dating, but it wasn’t hard to see how Lyla bloomed in their relationship.
Then Steve had dropped the info bomb on the family.
He was a dragon.
Not only was he a dragon, but he was from a place called Sapphire Island. There were lots of islands where shifters lived, he explained, but in his humble opinion, Sapphire Island was the best. He’d proposed, and Lyla had agreed, and the entire family had moved to Sapphire Island during Allison’s senior year of high school. She’d graduated with honors despite being the only human at her high school, and life had continued on.
“Then you can come over and feed us,” Trevor, one of Allison’s little brothers, nodded seriously.
Allison’s younger brothers, who were actually her half-siblings, still lived at home. They were constantly full of energy. Being around them for too long all at once made Allison feel wildly tired. She didn’t understand how her mother managed to juggle everything.
“You can feed me, too,” Yvette said, reaching for a piece of garlic bread.
Yvette was Allison’s full-blooded, totally-human sister, and she was only a year younger than Allison. Yvette had moved away from Sapphire Island once she’d turned 18. She came back for special events or for family dinners like the one their mother was hosting that evening.
“So, how’s work going?” Steve asked, turning his attention to Allison. Steve was a good guy. Allison hadn’t known, at first, how things were going to work in their family. It was strange to know that her stepdad was a shapeshifter. When Mom had first told her, Allison had laughed and thought it was some sort of joke.
It hadn’t been a joke.
“Not bad,” Allison said, sipping her water. “I like my job a lot, and I’m working on some fun projects now. This week, I’m helping to train our new project manager, which sounds much more boring than it actually is.”
“Sounds like fun, dear,” Lyla said politely. Allison’s mother was always very polite. She’d been raised by a very strict mother who had cared about proper manners above all else, and even though it had been years upon years since Lyla moved away, she was still very proper in her daily speech. Allison was just glad her mother had calmed down enough to let Allison and Yvette get away with casual behavior. When they were younger, their mom had been much stricter than she was now.
Then again, maybe giving birth to three dragon babies took a lot out of a woman.
“Can we be excused?” Allison’s tiny brothers were six, seven, and eight years old, respectively. They were half-dragon shifter and half-human. Once they hit puberty, they’d develop their ability to shift. At least, everyone suspected that they would. There was a chance tha
t being part-human would mean they couldn’t shift, but nobody really thought that was going to be an issue. Whether the boys could shift or not, Allison knew that both Lyla and Steve would love and support them.
“Sure,” Steve said. “Go ahead and start your homework, okay?” The boys had reading homework every night, and sometimes they had other projects to work on, too. Even though they were only in elementary school, it seemed like they were always working on something.
“But dad,” Caleb, the 6-year-old, fussed, “I don’t want to.”
“It’s important,” Steve said. “And I’ll come help you in a few minutes. Head on upstairs now.”
The boys grumbled. They didn’t seem too upset, though, because they shook the entire house as they ran out of the kitchen and toward the stairs. Allison waved as her little brothers took off. She wasn’t really sure how her mom managed to handle it. Allison’s mother wasn’t old by any means, but she was in her 50s. Allison was barely 30, and she was already exhausted. She couldn’t imagine having kids at all, much less later in life.
Once the boys were gone, the rest of the family finished eating, and then Steve went to help the kids with their homework. That left Lyla, Yvette, and Allison to clear the table and start the dishes.
“It’s because we’re girls,” Yvette muttered.