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“Good. It’s faster than what Corbin and I do.” He met Orion’s gaze. “We let them starve to death. It takes weeks.”

Orion stared at him. “You’re not serious.”

“As a heart attack.”

“But—”

“Honey, I get that you’re all golden light. Your nature is to help. But vampires get nothing from me. Zero. Zip. They’re a parasitic disease, and you see what they do to magical creatures. To be honest, what they do to humans is just as bad. It’s just faster. Usually.” Cullen waved a hand. “I’m not going to be sorry.”

Orion nodded. “Okay. Yes. Yeah. It’s just a little?—”

“Bloodthirsty?” he teased.

“Something like that.” Orion rose. “Just a little surprising. That’s all.”

Cullen shrugged and tried not to be hurt. “They like to drain magical babies best. That’s their jam. They keep them alive, too, so they’re terrified and they spend their short lives in agony. One of my jobs is to go out and save them, and make sure that we get rid of the nest.”

“You torture them!”

What did Orion want him to say? “I’m going to rock the baby and get him to sleep.”

“Okay.” Orion watched him, then kind of followed him around, looking a little sad. He wondered if it was because Orion was disappointed in him, or if it was because they’d had a little snarl.

Finally, Orion looked at the baby and bit his lip. “I need to go talk to Father.”

“Sure.” He would call his mom to see if she could come to look at the baby, and also to tell Arian that the rescue had been a success. “I’ll see you when you get back.”

Orion came to drop a soft kiss on his head. “Don’t be mad at me for too long, okay?”

“I’m not mad. Seriously. But I don’t feel like I have anything to apologize for, either.” He knew Orion was still pretty hyped up from the rescue, so he would leave it at that. He didn’t want to fight.

“I don’t either.” Orion stroked the wee one’s cheek, then headed over to lay his pendant on the table. The door opened, Orion strode through, and the door disappeared.

And he sighed.

He hated being at odds with his mate.

“Did I hear there was a pegasus—whoa.” Cosmo wandered in. “Baby with wings.”

“Yep. He shifted a few minutes ago.”

“Nice.” Cosmo glanced around. “Where’s Orion?”

“He went to talk to the dads.”

“Ah.” Cosmo wandered to the kitchen to peer in his fridge. “Why are you mad at him?”

“I’m not.” Cullen knew he was sharp about it, though. It stung to feel like Orion disapproved of him.

“Uh-huh. Tell.”

“He didn’t like what I told him about how we dealt with vampires. He said we tortured them.”

“Mmm.” Cosmo grinned and came to sit across from him, holding a carton of pudding and a spoon. “Yeah, he could be shocked by that, huh? I mean, he did rescues, but I bet he popped in and popped back out with the baby or the magical creature or whatever.”

“Yeah.” Cullen rocked the baby back and forth, even if he was already asleep, the bottle drained.

“But, he’s a creature of pure light, Cull. He might have lived among humans for a long time and he might be a snarky hottie on the surface, but he’s still from the Glade or whatever. He has a right to be a little shocked. Just like we’re half dragon and half fae, and the fae have been warriors for the ages. And we’re used to being a little ruthless. So you both need to get unmad.”