“When Mahon and I met, there wasn’t a lot of him left,” Martha said. “Even when he was human, he was full of bear rage. But I knew there was a man in there somewhere, so I went and found him. Before we got married, he gave me a set of jewelry: a ring, earrings, bracelet, and a pendant. He said it was because I was the stronger bear.” She smiled. “Back then we didn’t have the fancy shapeshifter-safe alloys, so it’s steel. But the stone is the real thing, peridot. I want you to have it.”

Oh my God. “I can’t.”

“Yes, you can. I gave one to each of my girls when their weddings were coming up. Marion has the ring, George has the earrings, and Natalie is getting the bracelet. I want you to have the pendant. You don’t want Curran to wear it instead of you, do you?”

“I can’t.”

“Why not?”

I opened my mouth.

“Yes?”

“Mahon doesn’t even like me. He barely tolerates me.”

“Of course he likes you. I like you, too. Now, he didn’t always think you were a suitable wife for his special son, but he always liked you.”

Could’ve fooled me. “What changed?”

“We saw you carry the djinn,” Martha said. “We were both there and we saw you give it up and hand it to Curran and then we saw him give it back to you. What the two of you have is a rare thing. We don’t love Curran like a son. He is our son, one of our children. Mahon may be an old stubborn bear, but he isn’t blind or stupid. He knows Curran won’t do better. We are lucky to have you for a daughter-in-law.”

It was the stupidest thing, but I felt like crying.

She took the chain and put it into my hand. “You wear it. I want you to.”

• • •

THE CHAIN FELT nice around my neck. I liked the weight of it. I helped with the dishes. Curran came back in at some point and helped me put the plates away. Then we said our good-byes and stepped outside.

If I could’ve hugged this evening, I would’ve, and I wasn’t the huggy type.

“Who came to visit?” I asked as we crossed the road to our lawn.

“Jim.”

I knew that tone of voice. That was his Beast Lord voice, neutral and calm right up to the point when it exploded into a roar.

“What did Jim say?”

“What did you say to him?”

Careful. Thin ice, proceed with caution. The last thing I needed to do was explain to him why I wanted to take Erra’s bones out of storage or what I would be doing with them. “About what?”

He stopped in front of our house. “Don’t play with me. What did you say to him about us getting married?”

“Nothing. We didn’t discuss it.”

“You said something, because he dropped everything and drove all this way to tell me not to marry you.”

“What? Why?”

“Because he’s concerned my feelings might not be my own.”

Jim, you jackass. I knew he was paranoid, but this was completely crazy. “Whose feelings does he think you’re having?”

“He thinks I’m being influenced by your magic.”

“Oh. Good to know. The magic that I’ve never been able to use on anyone else to make my life infinitely easier? That magic?”

Gold rolled over his eyes. “What did you say?”

Oh, so the lights came on. Someone was fussy that his best friend came over all worried. “Such concern for Jim. So touching.”

And we have a full-on alpha stare. Good to know where I stood on his ladder of important people.

I moved, circling Curran. My magic trailed me like a mantle in the night.

“He told me that he would kill me if I decided to use my power for my own gain. I told him the truth.”

Curran moved with me. Anger flared in his eyes. He was still giving me the alpha stare. So it’s like that, huh? Alright. Let’s play.

“I told him that if I decided to use my power for myself, he would pledge his allegiance to me and he would like it. He would trip over his own feet to proclaim his devotion.”

“Why the hell would you say that to him? He’s the Beast Lord.”

Oh noes. I paused. “Yes, how could I forget? What was I thinking? What do you suppose he will do?”

The magic waited, all around me. As if the entire ocean of life that was my land had taken a breath in anticipation.

“Do you think Jim might punish us? Or do you think I would kill him and laugh afterward?”

He raised his hand and motioned to me. “Okay. Come back to me from wherever you just went.”

“I remember one time Jim and I did a job and he left me in the middle of a cage of live wire because the Pack needed him. I sat in there for eight hours, until the magic wave ended.”

My own power was out now, fully on display. Curran shifted his weight on his feet. He felt it. He was ready to pounce.

“Oh, another thing I remember, when the rakshasas poured molten metal on Derek’s face and Jim didn’t know what to do, I stuck my neck out for him and he let his crew rip into me. And when I asked him how could he do this after he and I worked together for years, he told me I wasn’t a shapeshifter. I would never be good enough.”

“Jim has issues.”

I smiled at Curran, my voice almost singsong. “Do you know why my father has problems with the shapeshifters? Because their magic is so old. It’s primal. It predates even his. You have a special connection to the land. You are a native power.”