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Vrann had been watching the boys with growing interest. When Matt showed him the little toy car he'd brought along, the boy's face brightened. He looked up at Tarek as though asking permission without saying a word.

Tarek gave him an encouraging nod. "Go on. You can have a look, if Matt doesn't mind sharing."

"I don't mind," Matt said immediately, holding it out.

Vrann accepted the car carefully, and the two boys were soon discussing its wheels while, in turn, Vrann let Matt examine his toy shuttle. Evan joined in, and within minutes, the three of them had found something to talk about.

Tarek watched them for a moment, his expression quietly pleased. He didn't hover or insist on directing the conversation. He simply stayed close enough that Vrann could look back at him whenever he wanted, and each time the boy did, Tarek answered with a reassuring smile or a nod. I felt that warm tug in my chest again. This was the sort of thing that mattered to me. Not grand declarations or someone making a show of how wonderful a father he might be. It was the little things: patience, attention, kindness, and the willingness to make a child feel safe in an unfamiliar place. If Tarek and I were going to build a life together, my children would be part of it. There was no version of my future in which I could separate the two. I needed someone who understood that, and watching him with Vrann gave me reason to hope he might. But I’d been fooled before. Philip had demonstrated all of those things, so I needed to proceed with great caution.

But don’t forget, it’s impossible for a Dragonii to cheat. They can only bond once, and only with their fated.

Every second that passed, I was becoming more certain that the fated mate thing was very real, the Mylos AI had indeed cracked the secret to finding them, and Tarek was mine.

"He's a good kid," Tarek said quietly, following my gaze.

"Vrann?"

He nodded. "He's had a difficult few months. His great-grandmother raised him, and she's moving somewhere she'll have friends and support around her. Thalen and Evan have agreed to adopt, and I’m really pleased to have gotten the privilege of being his escort to them as our first assignment.”

"Me too."

Tarek looked at the boy again. "He deserves somewhere he can settle and feel safe, and something tells me he’ll be exactly where he needs to be.” There was no grandstanding in his voice. He said it as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. I liked him even more for it, even as his words seemed to have added importance in regard to our own personal situation, whether he’d meant them to or not. Before I could say anything about that, a cheerful voice called from behind us.

"Darren!"

I turned and saw Sarah Bennett approaching with Nick Carter and his sons beside her. Sarah had a bright smile on her face and the unmistakable air of someone who had already decided that the day was going to be a success, whether the rest of us were ready for it or not.

"There you are!" she said, reaching us and giving me a quick hug as the boys hurried over to join the others, intent on meeting Vrann. "I was beginning to think Bob had sent everyone to a different docking bay just to see what would happen."

"I wouldn't put it past him," I said.

Nick laughed. "He told me he'd arranged everything perfectly, which usually means we should expect at least one surprise."

"Only one?" Tarek asked.

"So you’ve met Bob already then," Sarah observed.

We all laughed, and some of the tension I'd been carrying began to ease.

Sarah turned her attention back to Tarek. "Sorry, I’m being rude. I should have introduced us first. You must be our new sheriff, Tarek, and Darren’s mate. I'm Sarah Bennett, and this is Nick Carter. I'm planning to open a boarding house once we get settled, and Nick's going to be the new schoolteacher. We both have mates waiting for us on New Haven."

Nick gestured to his boys. “And those three rapscallions playing over there are my sons, Jake, Tom, and Gil. Our dog Sunshine is back in our quarters, along with Sarah’s dog, Sweetie.”

Tarek shook their hands. "It's good to meet you all."

"And this little fellow must be Vrann," Sarah added, crouching slightly so she was closer to his height. "Hello, sweetheart."

Vrann gave her a shy smile but stayed beside Tarek. Sarah didn't push him to talk, simply smiled and told him that there would be plenty of children for him to meet once he arrived.

"Thalen and Evan have a little boy, Jason," Nick added. "He's nine. I think you two will get along."

Vrann's eyes brightened. "How old is he?"

"Nine," Nick repeated. "He's probably looking forward to having someone new to play with, and look -now there’s a whole bunch of you.”

“That sounds like a whole lot of fun times ahead,” Tarek agreed.

Vrann grinned, and I found myself smiling. Tarek had a way of making reassurance feel natural, as though he wasn't trying to manage anyone's feelings so much as letting them know they didn't have to manage everything alone. So did Nick, and I found myself thinking how lucky the children of Walnut Grove truly were to be getting him as their teacher.