Page 74 of Their Promise

Out in the barn, there was a doorframe that they’d used to mark our heights and a wall that they used to mark our animals’ sizes.

I stopped at the doorframe first, but neither Tony or I had changed since last year. Shifting into my snake form, I put my head at the beginning of the wall, in the corner, and spread my body down the wall until everything was against the wall and the tip of my tail was as long as I could make it.

“Whoa,” Triston said, “you’ve grown over a foot for sure. You can shift back now, I marked it. Branson get the tape measure.”

Shifting and walking over to him, my mouth dropped open at the difference from the previous mark to this one. “Whoa.”

“That’s what I said.” Triston chuckled.

Tony held the end of the tape while Branson walked down the wall until he reached us and read, “Twenty feet and three inches.”

“That’s two feet,” Riddick said behind us. “That’s quite a growth spurt, Lily.”

“Well, the research we did said she’d likely reach full maturity this year or next,” Mom commented. “So, it’s not too surprising she grew more, but that is a lot. Did you shed?”

I nodded. “Twice this year, which was abnormal, but I thought it was from the stress of trying to finish the school year.”

“I think we have to upgrade your rock and pool,” Caleb commented and we all turned to look at it.

“I still fit,” I said, shifted, and slid my way over to the rock, curling up on it to prove my point.

Mom shook her head. “You fit, but barely. I think a bigger one would be better.”

I slid into the pool and sighed at the cool water. I quickly realized that it was a bit too small and if I put my head just outside of it and draped my body across of the pond like I liked, at least a foot of my tail stuck out.

“Yeah, we need to dig that bigger as well,” Branson said.

Climbing out of the water, I shifted, and pouted. “Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize for something you can’t control, Lily,” Mom chastised me.

“It’ll only take us an afternoon to dig your pool larger,” Branson said. “It’s not a big deal.”

“And I think I know a rock about three miles north that should be big enough to replace this one,” Caleb said. “Tony and I can go out and we should be able to carry it.”

“I’ll go with you in case you need help carrying it,” Riddick offered.

“Should you really go through all that trouble if I’m likely to end up mated soon … ish?”

“Are you planning to never visit us when you get mated? Just going to act like we don’t exist and stop visiting your clan?” Caleb asked and folded his arms over his chest.

I rolled my eyes. “Of course not.”

He dropped his arms and smiled. “Then, it’s perfectly reasonable for us to make a space for you that you’ll enjoy.”

“That’s what family does,” Tony said and hugged me one armed.

“Speaking of family,” Mom said as she pulled her ringing phone from her pocket. “It’s Kara. Hello?” Her eyes widened and she looked at me. “We’ll be right there.” She hung up, marched over, and grabbed my shoulder. “We have to go help the snake shifter. She’s trying to eat something and it’s stuck in her throat.”

“Let’s go,” I agreed with a nod.

She teleported us to Great Nana Kara’s house in the elven territory.

“Where?” I asked.

“I’ll lead you,” Great Uncle Silverowl said, walked out of the house, and shifted into his owl form. I ran just behind him, letting him lead the way.

We ran towards a group of homes and I saw people in a semi-circle.

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