Page 58

Which is probably why they were falling from his fingers.

“What the hell do you mean it didn’t come up? Why didn’t you tell me?”

Orion shrugged, looking more than a little uncomfortable. “That’s a secret.”

“I’m your mate.” Okay, well that hurt like a blow to the chest. He thought they were supposed to share their secrets. He thought that was part of the deal. And not in a boo, here’s this thing that I can do that you can’t because my feelings are hurt because I can’t go outside anymore. “I didn’t do that to you, you do realize?”

“Do what?” Orion didn’t get to be hurt here, even if he looked butthurt and surprised.

“Pay attention.”

“I thought I was paying attention.” Orion looked confused, and that just made Cullen even more angry.

“I didn’t make it to where you couldn’t go out without us. I didn’t do that. I had no idea.”

One of Orion’s brows went up. “You knew how to fix it.”

For a second, he couldn’t breathe, and he shook his head. “No, I didn’t. I just knew that you were with us when we went to Lunastra, and you were with us when we went to the Land of Summer. That’s it.” Did Orion really think that he would do that? Surely not. He wasn’t a dick.

“I have to go. I’ve got to go back and get Elliot from Cosmo. He needs help.” Cosmo was fine, of course, but Cullen wasn’t.

He thought maybe he would just stay with his mom for a day or two. Hell, he still had a room at her house.

Well, they still had a room.

They’d all only ever shared until this house, actually. They’d always just shared a big room.

He would blame Hawk, except that they’d moved into their respective houses before Hawk ever showed up. He supposed in that they should blame the boss.

Well, maybe he could go talk to Gavin. Except Cosmo wasn’t with the boss, and he didn’t want to lie to Orion.

What did it matter? He was just going to go somewhere. Somewhere not here, because…

Well, just because.

Orion caught him when he would have walked away. “Hey. Can we talk about this? Please? And sit down while we do it? Sans toads.” Orion led him into their part of the house, holding his hand so he didn’t get away, and sat him on the couch. He took a deep breath before continuing. “Look, this is all new to me too. I’ve had a lot of changes in the last month or so. A lot. And it wasn’t something I wanted kept from you. I just didn’t get my shit together and tell you.”

“Okay, but you know that I didn’t do this to you, right? I didn’t know. I would never… I don’t want to trap you.”

Orion grinned at him. “If I wanted to go, I would just ask you. As in let’s go outside, and off I’d go. Or let’s go to the dragonland. Or let’s go to the Land of Summer. Let’s go. Did I panic at first? Yeah. Because it’s weird. Now the real question is, can I go out with Elliot, with the new baby? How about Hawk? What about your brothers? There’s so many different questions. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. I’d say that I would never do that, but…” Orion blew out a hard breath. “But it happens. I get frustrated, and maybe I make jokes or roll my eyes, and I’ll try to be better.”

“Me too.” Cullen stared at Orion. “And did we just have a grown-up conversation?”

“Yes, let’s not do that anymore, all right? It’s creepy.”

“I concur. No more adulting.” He cuddled into Orion’s side. “So, tell me about the Glade. Is it full of unicorns?”

“There are unicorns, not a lot. There are winged horses. There are satyrs and dryads and nymphs. All sorts of magical creatures.” Orion kissed his nose.

He loved that. It sounded like Fantasia come to life. “Wow, that’s cool. You’d probably get in trouble if you took me.” Which was a sad thought. “Do you have parents over there? Still? I mean, obviously you have parents. Do you think they’d want to meet me?”

Orion shrugged. “I don’t know. My fathers are fiercely independent. I’m not sure that they remember that they have a child. I think that if I showed up and said, ‘hey, your grandchild is on the way’, they would respond with ‘who are you?’”

“That’s ridiculous. Who could forget you?” Cullen couldn’t even imagine. “You’re the most magical, amazing being I’ve ever seen.”

“Ha!” Orion shook his head and rolled his eyes. “In the glade, I’m just another magical creature.”

“Dude. Then I must be like hideously ugly, like an ogre.” All of a sudden, he could feel himself turning green, warts popping out all over.