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“Of course, I fucking trust you. Are you crazy? What the fuck kind of question is that?”

Gideon’s voice is raised again, and the tsunami of the petrichor from a summer thunderstorm has Luca wild-eyed in an instant panic. He’s clearly gearing up for a repeat of last night’s fight, despite their current, relatively undesirable location.

“Is this about—?”

A frowning Finn is out of his chair so he can move Luca to the other end of the couch, beyond Grayson and the still-sleeping Nix. “That’s enough, you two. We cannot do this at 30,000 feet.”

Jay sighs, attempting to defuse this bomb before it ends in disaster for all of them. “I didn’t mean to provoke you, love. Look. If you can’t trust yourself to be good, trustmeto know you are good. You are so,soworthy of our high regard, love, and trust. Believe in me.”

Jay moves to Luca’s vacated chair and runs a hand over the back of Gideon’s hair. “I’m sorry.”

Gideon deflates at his touch, and his voice comes out more petulant than furious with his next words. “You’re sorry? For what? It’s all on me. Even if you don’t count all the shit in the past three months, he’s my father.Mine.I brought him to our door. How can you say I’m good when I am half him?”

Oh.

Jay hadn’t even considered that Gideon might feel that way when he’d been caught up in his assessment of the “big picture.” He feels like an idiot for not having factored in Gideon’s guilt at such a high level, imagining ithad only been about his immediate actions, not some misplaced idea that his genetics are flawed.

Jay has always maintained that it is Gideon’s efforts to be good, to do the right things, and to be more than he was born to be (in his father’s mind, at least) that separates him from who he could have been under Carnell’s roof. Such determination is a testament to Gideon’s strength of character.

Jay feels shame that, once again, he’d let his own agenda cloud his judgment.

“I have always believed that you are the best of men, Gideon.Weknow you to be the best of men.” He nods to his mates, who are all nodding somberly—except Nix, who is just now opening his eyes.

“Whew, that was some dream.” He finally notices that his mates are somber, and the tension in the room is high. Like Nix knows it’s Gideon’s inner turmoil setting the mood, he rubs the spot in his abdomen where he says his bonds to Gideon and Luca reside.

“It’s okay, Kitten. I’m just feeling sorry for myself.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake.” Grayson palms his face. “Look, we’re here on this freaking insane side quest—” He breaks off, looking to Rowan for confirmation that he used the gaming term correctly.

“More like a Quest, capital Q, no?” Rowan queries.

“Fuck, no. This isn’t our defining moment. This is just one more blip in our Happily Ever After. We find the bad guy, string him up, and move on with the best part of life.You’rethe hero, Gideon.”

“So what you’re saying is that Gideon is Shrek?” Rowan asks.

“Then I’m Fiona,” Nix says, raising his hand.

“That makes Jay, Donkey,” Luca giggles.

It’s so surprising that Jay laughs out of his nose. “So I’m the ass, then?”

“You’remyass,” Gideon leans into purr. “If you didn’t know it, I’m an ass-man.”

“Aren’t we all,” mutters Finn.

“Facts. I wanted to be Fiona,” Leo grumbles, as Nix climbs into his lap so he can console him with deep tongue kisses.

“You can be Fiona next time.”Kiss.“You’d be so pretty. Do you want a green dress?”

“No! He wants tentacles,” Rowan crows, while he hands Nix a pocket-snack cookie.

“Wha—what?” Nix’s eyes are wide.

Jay watches as the others embarrass Leo into explaining his tentacle porn habit to their new mate, and whispers, “I love you, Gideon. More than anything. I’ll do anything to keep you safe. Anything.”

There’s a strong hand behind his neck, and he’s forced to turn his watery gaze to his partner-in-soon-to-be-crime…in all things, really.

“Me too. All of it. You get it, though, right? Why it has to be me… at least in part? It has to be me, the same way it was for him.”