Page 28 of The Arrival of the Dragons

His mother hesitated a moment. She reached out and touched his cheek. “Are you all right?”

“Yeah, I’mfine. There was never any danger and?—”

But his mother shook her head sadly and she, too, turned and went back to the kitchen. Caden tipped his head back and let out a long sigh. While he had been worried about Valerius’ reaction to his detour to the park, he clearly should have been more worried about his parents’ reaction.

After deep breathing to center himself, Caden followed after them. No matter how old he was or how responsibly he acted, they could still make him feel like a child that was throwing a tantrum, and he couldn’t let that happen with this. It was too important that they understand he had to be out and about as Iolaire. Not just for himself and the Spirit, but for the people that they seemed to matter for.

His father and mother stood at the opposite side of the kitchen island from him. The enticing aroma of his father’s spicy, three-alarm chili filled his nostrils and his stomach growled audibly. He’d devoured everything in the picnic basket they’d brought to the pond, but it wasn’t enough. He was still famished and he adored his father’s chili in any event.

He craned to look past his parents at the bowls of toppings set out on the counter. There were cooked noodles, tons of cheese, sour cream and chopped green onions. Another growl exited his stomach. His father pointedly stepped in front of the Le Creuset ceramic dish.

So that’s how it is! They won’t feed me until they have their say!

Valerius, at least, would have let him eat and yelled at him in between bites. But his parents were playing for keeps. He crossed his arms over his chest and ignored his stomach. Iolaire was making pathetic eyes that if his parents could have seen them might have softened them, but they couldn’t see Iolaire and it wasn’t as if he could shift in the house!

“Do you even need me to tell you how irresponsible you were today?” his father asked.

Immediately, Caden’s back was up. What did his father know about shifting? And what did he expect? For Caden to never show himself except at pre-screened times?

“You evidently feel you need to tell me. So go ahead.” Caden crossed his arms over his chest and thrust his chin out truculently.

“Caden!” His mother sounded scandalized at his petulant tone.

Don’t act like a child. Keep it together.

Caden gritted his teeth together. “I’m sorry, Mom, but I already know what he’s going to say, and he’s wrong!”

“If you can read minds then read mine!” His father snapped.

They were like two bulls facing off. Iolaire was making nervous twitters, not liking this anger between him and his parents. But this had been coming for a while, he realized. His father thought he knew better about what being a Shifter was, let alone what being aDragonShifter was.

“You think I shouldn’t have gone to the park where Tilly and her friends were, because my very appearance there put her in danger! I should have arranged a private time with her. Right?” Caden ground out.

“That’s part of it,” his father answered tightly.

His father was too good a lawyer to concede that wasallof it. He’d think up another argument in moments. His mother tried to soften his father’s anger, but both of them were raring for a fight it seemed.

“Except that’s crazy!” The frustration just burst out of Caden. He was yelling, and his parents didn’t deserve all of this, but they were there and criticizing him. “Can Inevergo to a park? Can Ineverinteract with people out in the open? Can Ineverbe like every other Shifter? Or every otherDragonShifter?”

“You’re not like the others,” his mother breathed.

“Yes, I am! Those Humans First people couldn’t have evenscratchedme.” He shook his head with disgust. “And if I live my life in fear of them then they’ve won!”

“Your sister and her friends could have gotten injured,” his father pointed out.

“Unlikely! I can protect her. Iolaire can protect her and other people too! And I can’t meet Tilly secretly if I want to continue to be incognito!” He thumped his chest. “Don’t you get it that I have to live? That Iolaire has to live? We can’t be cooped up in the house! The people out there need and want Iolaire!”

“Are you done?” His father’s tone was cold. “Whatever you say now, what you did was for selfish reasons, and it wasn’t well thought out. Things are on a knife’s edge right now, Caden. It’s not a normal time where you can just do these things. Humans First tried to bomb our house. Landry is in jail. All the Dragons are coming here to meet you and you’re supposed to be trying to keep your identity a secret! But there you go flying into a public park, nearly starting a riot, and getting it all on the evening news!”

Caden swallowed. There was a lot of truth in this. But he still felt the unfairness of everything so keenly so he struck out, “You’re so willing to put me in charge of my own territory, but not go to the park by myself because I want to go? Oh, wait, that’s because you think thatyou’llbe running the territory, right?”

His father flinched. “Caden, that’s not at all the same. And I wouldn’t be?—”

“The world is fucked up because humans and Shifters believe that one or the other has to be on top! You want to make sure that I’m on top so that you can be on top, for once, too!” Caden roared.

“That’s not true,” his father whispered.

“Caden, apologize now!” His mother’s eyes were red with more unshed tears.

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