"What's an alpha?" Jess asked.
The corner of Mace's mouth quirked. "A natural born leader. Shifter clans have them. When you end up with more than one alpha in a group, there are often fights. Do you think you're an alpha, kid?"
"I never used to be," Reive said simply. "I was happy to go along with whatever my clanlord wanted. I thought it was my duty to my clan. But ... I feel different, since I went through all of this. Better. Stronger. More in charge." He wrapped his arm around Jess's waist and tugged her closer to him. "I don't want to fight anyone, but I also don't think I'm going to be anybody's underling from now on."
"I don't think either of you have to worry about being anyone's doormat," Mace murmured. "Gargoyles don't really have the same clan structure as dragons do. On the other hand, I've lived alone for a long time and I'm set in my ways."
"Like I said, I don't want to fight," Reive said. "I'll go where Jess goes. But I think, eventually, we're going to want to set up our own clan, whether it's here or somewhere else."
Jess leaned into his side. "I think in a way, we already have. But I'm so glad I know where I come from. It's wonderful to know more about my mother, and I ... I still haven't quite managed to wrap my head around having relatives. Should I call you Uncle Mace?"
"If you must," Mace said dryly.
Jess smiled. "I think we'll both have to figure it out together." She held out the papers to Mace. "Do you want these back?"
"You can hold onto them if you want. I have copies." He grunted with effort as he heaved himself out of the chair. "I think I might go lie down for a bit. Unlike some people, I'm not 25 anymore. Help yourself to whatever you want, and see Ruby in the kitchen if there's something you need."
After he had gone inside, Jess leaned into Reive for a bit. It was very peaceful, with that incredible rural quiet that she was slowly getting used to.
Finally she said, "Do you really want to live here?"
"I meant what I said. I want to be where you are." He rocked her slowly, a gentle swaying in place. "What about you? Can you picture yourself living here?"
"Well, it's not like we'd be stuck here, right? We can go wherever we want in the blink of an eye."
Reive's arm tightened around her. "I don't know how I feel about you trying to do that stonewalking thing again. I almost lost you the last time."
"I feel like I'm the one who should be afraid of it. But I'm not. You got me out." She turned her head to kiss him. "I know you can help me get back no matter where I go. I think it might be a little while before I'm ready to try again, but I'm actually looking forward to it."
"That makes exactly one of us," Reive murmured. "I can tell you're going to give me gray hairs."
"You're an alpha," she said sweetly. "You can handle it."
"Touché."
"What does that feel like, anyway? Being an alpha."
"It's hard to explain. It's kind of a sense of ... not being in charge, exactly, but being in charge of myself. My entire life," Reive said, "people have been ordering me to do things I didn't want to do. And I did it, because I felt it was my responsibility. But I don't think I'm going to be taking orders anymore."
"You know what I think?"
"What?" he asked.
"I think I like that very much about you, Reive."
Reive
It felt like a lifetime had passed since Reive had seen the mountain that used to be his entire world. From the air, it looked smaller, somehow. It was high autumn here in the mountains, and the hills flamed with gold, red, and the dark furry green of pines. He couldn't have asked for a more beautiful way to introduce his mate to his former home.
"You know," Jess said, leaning forward so he could hear her over the wind rushing across them, "I could have stonewalked us here in no time."
"Flying is more fun," Reive said. He stretched out his stone dragon body, enjoying the clean rush of the air. He was still learning how to fly with his new body weight. It tired him in ways that it didn't used to, but he was also stronger than he once was.
"Or flown with you." Her tone was still playful, but there was a hint of genuine annoyance. Back at the hotel, they'd had ... not an argument, exactly, but a slight difference of opinion about it. Jess preferred the idea of flying in under her own power.
"I know. But I don't know how Uncle Heikon currently feels about gargoyles, and I don't want to them to attack first and ask questions later, you know?" He twisted his head around to look at her, sitting on his back between his wings. "You don't have to do this, you know. I don't want you to be in danger, not ever, not even from my clan."
"I'm not in danger," she said cheerfully. "If anyone gets to be too much, I'll just turn to stone, or let the ground swallow me up."
"I bet you would too," he muttered.
After that one terrible night at the tidal pool, it was still hard for him to watch her vanish into the ground, even knowing that she was being careful about it. And she was careful; they had agreed on ground rules beforehand—she started small, and was extending her trips slowly—and he knew that he had no right to protest something she clearly enjoyed. It was hard to forget the sheer terror of knowing that she was underground and there was nothing he could do to help her. On the other hand, as Jess liked to point out, first of all he had helped her, and second, she'd already had to watch him die once that evening, so it was only fair to return the favor.
"What is it?" she asked, leaning forward. "I can feel you being smug about something."
"Only thinking about how I have the most amazing mate of all time. Everyone is going to be so jealous when I introduce them to you. And don't tell me you doubt it, or else I get to say I told you so at least a dozen times this weekend."
She playfully bopped his neck scales with a fist. "You're the worst."
"Excuse me, as your alpha—"
"Excuse me, as my what?"
Draconic throats were not well suited to laughter, but Reive opened his jaws anyway, and rumbled his pleasure to the clouds.
As he entered the Corcoran family territory, he was joined by several of his younger cousins, flying as a proud escort all the way to the mountain. He landed on an upper terrace, settling more heavily than a normal dragon despite his efforts to adjust for his increased weight. The cousins touched down one at a time, surrounding him in an honor guard.
Jess slipped neatly from his back to the floor, and tapped it lightly with a slipper-clad foot. She was testing the stone, he knew. It was good and solid underfoot. Gargoyles knew such things.
So did he, now. He had never been interested in rocks at all before meeting Jess. Now they fascinated him. He'd read every geology book in Mace's library and bought a bunch more.
He didn't have the same rock sense as Jess did, but he had a faint echo of it. She was able to tell the composition of a rock and find all of its stress lines just by touching it, and she was steadily honing her rock-sensing ability under Mace's tutelage. Reive couldn't do that, but he was slowly beginning to pick up on the finer details of the rocks around him through a combination of careful observation and some sense beyond his five natural ones. Mace had donated a room in Stonegarden for Reive's growing rock collection. Someday, when Reive and Jess had their own place, he would have a special display room for his finest rocks. He was already planning it.