Samantha woke to screaming.
Not the distressed kind—she'd learned to distinguish those through the bond and maternal instinct. This was the excited, sugar-fueled shrieking of children who'd discovered something wonderful and wanted everyone to know about it immediately.
She sat up, disoriented, finding Marcus's side of the bed empty and Kai already gone. Through the bedroom door, she could hear Callum's voice trying to establish order with the authority of someone who'd once commanded dragon legions and was now completely outmatched by seven threshold children.
"—absolutely cannot walk on the ceiling in the kitchen. House rules. Gravity applies to everyone."
"But it's more fun up here!" a young voice protested.
"I don't care if it's fun. The chandelier is not structural support!"
Samantha dragged herself out of bed, threw on the first clothes she found—which turned out to be Kai's shirt and her own leggings—and stumbled downstairs.
