He took her hand, squeezing it for reassurance. “If it is the only way?”

Monalisa looked at him. “You can’t. You have no idea what the outcome will be. What if it makes your leg worse? Or…hurts you in some other way?”

“I won’t let it go that far.”

“How will you know?” She blinked hard, eyes shining bright. “Please don’t do this on my account.”

“I don’t have a choice. If I step into that ring unhealed, it will be very bad for me.”

“Forget the fight,” she pleaded. “This is my problem, I’ll deal with it. I’ve been dealing with it for years.”

He enclosed both her hands in his. “Monalisa, what you dealt with in the past, you did alone. No more. Going forward, we do this together.”

“Van…” She swallowed, and took a deep breath. “I just don’t want anything to happen to you.”

“I know. It won’t. I promise.” He looked up at Pandora. “I need a safe place to do this. The clearing behind Sebastian Ellingham’s. Do you think he would allow it?”

She nodded. “Absolutely. I’ll call him and set it up. It’s covered with snow, but that’s no big deal.”

“The snow will be gone when I’m done.”

She hopped off the counter to stand beside them. “When do you want to do it?”

“As soon as possible. I have dealt with this pain long enough.”

Monalisa’s grip on his hand tightened. “You don’t have to go through this.”

“I do.” He smiled, although he didn’t really feel like it. “It will be good to be in my dragon form again.” That much was very true.

Several hours later, they were trudging through the snow toward the clearing behind Sebastian Ellingham’s estate. Monalisa had driven Van’s Hummer quite skillfully, even if she hadn’t exactly gone the speed limit. But he’d rather her feel safe and them be a little late, than for her to get upset about driving an unfamiliar vehicle in the snow.

They’d parked at the head of the trail and were now almost at the clearing. Van had been surprised to see so many other cars, but no doubt word had spread about what he was going to attempt.

The open space had been used for many things over the years. The first transformation of a young shifter, the combat necessary to settle certain disagreements, bouts of good-natured wrestling among shifters in town.

Today, Van hoped it would not become blackened by the combustion of a dragon.

He’d known of one such tragedy in his lifetime—Yuri, a distant cousin, was hexed by one of the witches in his village. Yuri had defied the witch by dating her daughter. Fearing Yuri would take her daughter and fly away, the witch had cursed him to remain forever in his human form.

Yuri had laughed at the witch and told her not to waste her breath, that her magic wouldn’t work. Then, to prove to her how foolish she was being, he’d stepped back, spread his arms wide, and shifted.

Except, he hadn’t shifted. The witch’s magic had worked. The transformation had bottled up inside him, and with friends and family watching, he’d combusted into a ball of fire, turning to ash before their eyes.

The tragic event had left a lasting impression on Van, giving him a healthy respect for the women of the craft and an even greater fear of upsetting one of them.

But it had not been enough to keep him from working with Pandora, and his relationship with her was one of the best he had. She was an excellent friend, true and dear, and through knowing her, he’d come to understand that painting everyone with the same brush was a foolish way to judge people.

With that in mind, he hoped that what he was about to attempt would not result in the same catastrophe Yuri had suffered. He took some comfort in the fact that Yuri had been cursed, but he was here with the blessing and good wishes of some very powerful witches. That had to count for something.

As Van and Monalisa crested the small rise that led into the clearing, he stopped and tugged on her hand. “Look.”

Standing at the tree line, surrounding the circle, were a host of friendly and familiar faces. Pandora and her sisters were close to the front. She gestured for them to join the group. “Come on.”

Van and Monalisa started walking again. Seeing all those faces was a good surprise, but he worried that if things didn’t go well, his friends would bear an awful memory of this day for the rest of their lives, as he did with Yuri.

Perhaps that showed on his face, because Pandora broke away to approach Van and Monalisa as they neared. “I hope you don’t mind that everyone showed up. It’s for support, I promise, not in hopes of some kind of spectacle.”

Before Van could respond, Sheriff Hank Merrow stepped forward.

He cleared his throat. “Son, you want us gone, we’re gone. But if you don’t want to go through this alone, we’re here. We even cleared the space for you. Anything we can do to help, we will.”

Van looked past the sheriff. The snow was tamped down in a large area going all the way to the tree line. Van’s throat tightened at the show of support. He swallowed against it. These were good people. “Stay.”

The sheriff nodded. “In that case…” He held out his hand toward the crowd.

A pretty young woman separated herself from the group. She had blue hair and pointed ears. Elf, Van guessed.

She waved at him. “Hi. I’m Jayne Frost. I’m a winter elf, and my gifts tend to run toward the cold and icy.” She wiggled her fingers and fresh snowflakes fell out of thin air.