After everyone had said goodnight and left, and Jocasta and Ramone came to clean up for the evening, Dragos settled Niall on his shoulder again, took Pia’s hand and led her down to the beach.

The sunset threw a magnificent kaleidoscope of color across the water and sky. Niall shook himself alert, changed into his Wyr form and careened down the beach, kicking up his hooves and stabbing at rocks in the sand. Skeeter had already gotten used to Niall’s shapeshifting and chased the baby, barking ecstatically.

When Niall whirled to point the tip of his horn at the dog, Dragos intervened. “Niall,” he said in a tone that brooked no argument. “Do not.”

Niall wavered. Swishing his tail, he regarded his father, while a hint of smoke curled out of one delicate nostril. There was such an assessing look in the little shit’s eyes, Dragos fought a serious battle to keep from laughing.

“He is going to challenge you…,” murmured Pia. Her complexion was reddened with the effort to hold back her own laughter. “I foresee years and years of challenges coming.”

“I know,” he murmured in reply. He repeated more loudly, “Do not stab the dog.”

Niall broke from the contest of wills by tossing his head and cavorting away.

Dragos waited until the baby wore himself out and changed back into his human form. Then he said gently, “We have to talk again about binding him.”

They had gone around and around on the subject before. Sometimes the Wyr faced the challenge of raising a child who was so strong and dangerous they had to cast a binding that would keep the child in its human form until it grew old enough to exercise self-control. Most commonly, the tactic was used on lion Wyr or other predators that might be inclined to violence.

Her expression darkened. “I hate the idea.”

“I do too. But he’s too strong willed and chaotic. If we don’t bind him, at least sometimes, one of these days he’s going to shapeshift at the wrong time, and his Wyr form will no longer be a secret.” He paused. “I can protect both of you better here, but the danger of exposure is still very real. As soon as we decided to create a new society in Rhyacia, we allowed for that danger to exist. The only way we could have circumvented it is if we had come to live here by ourselves. And that kind of isolation wouldn’t have offered a real life for any of us.”

“No, I know.” She picked up a handful of sand and let it sift through her fingers. “The situation never came up with Liam. He was too…”

“I think the word you might be looking for is sensible.”