Page 31 of Buzz Kill (Smoke & Mirrors Tavern #7)

AIDEN

“Ollie’s not here yet?” Sage asked as he dropped several trays on the counter followed by Levi with several more.

“She’s running late,” I explained. “Apparently Evie got upset and accidentally started a small fire.”

“Holy shit!” Levi blurted. “Is she okay?”

Sage snorted. “Evie is fireproof, but her clothes aren’t. They’ll have to calm her down before they can dress her again.”

“So she’s a fire demon, then?” Rowan asked from next to me where he was holding my sleeping son, Liam. “Like Ash?”

Sage shook his head. “They aren’t sure yet. So far she hasn’t produced any true fire, just sparks and embers which is a trait both Jet and Ash have. If she was a hellhound we think she would have shifted by now with how often Jet does it, but she is half human too, so it’s hard to say.” The moment the words were out of Sage’s mouth, he paused and his eyes darted to me with a wince.

I sighed and lifted my daughter Lily, who was currently in her human form, to my shoulder. “Don’t. If Liam is more human or elf than dragon, then that is something we accepted a long time ago and it won’t change anything. The clan he will one day rule with Lily is here in Eastbend, and no one here will judge him. Besides, being worried that your kid is going to shift every time you go into public is a little terrifying. Ollie shouldn’t rush Evie into anything until she’s old enough to understand. This one is already enough of a handful.”

“Can’t Elliot make her a glamour?” Sage asked.

“My brother is bringing it today. He had to go back home to Faerie to introduce Declan to his court as his mate and they insisted on holding a celebration. He created the glamour while he was there. As long as she doesn’t try to fly, it’ll be fine.”

Levi’s eyes widened and he paused in setting up the food. “Can she fly already?”

I rolled my eyes. “Not yet, thank the gods. But the others are already trying to encourage her. She gets into enough trouble just crawling around, it’s not something I’m ready for. Where are your little ones?”

Levi smiled. “With Mav and Kai, they’ll be bringing them soon. Connor was still loading up their car with more food trays when I left.”

I eyed the stack of trays they already brought in. “That seems like a lot of food.”

Levi shrugged. “We figured you could save the whatever you have left and take a break from cooking for a while.”

My lips twitched. I hadn’t cooked once in months. Lachlan had pretty much taken over the kitchen, but I was sure he would appreciate the break. “Thank you.”

Levi laughed. “Or Lachlan can take a break from cooking to play with the babies. Either way, we wanted to help out.”

“I appreciate it.”

The house became a flurry of activity as the rest of the gang showed up. Royce, Damien, and Kai unloaded several more trays while Connor carefully carried in two huge cakes. He settled them on the wide kitchen island before swooping over to steal Lily from my arms.

“How’s my little princess?” he cooed even as his eyes went to Liam in an obvious way.

Rowan sighed, but stood and settled a sleeping Liam into the bear’s free arm. Connor grinned happily and swayed with the babies. Even juggling the two of them, they barely took up any space in his massive arms.

“Already hogging the babies,” Maverick teased as he ushered Arie and Kota inside. It was still a bit of a shock getting used to seeing him in human form instead of a stabby black unicorn, but I was happy he was doing better now.

The two little ones went running over to Connor to see the babies and he lowered himself to the ground in a way no one his size should have been able to do so gracefully. And with his kids surrounding him and a baby in each arm, the giant bear was in heaven.

“You’re going to have to grow another arm when Evie gets here,” I teased.

Connor laughed. “I’ll make it work.”

“I’m here! Sorry, she’s teething and it’s become a whole thing.” Ollie rushed in with Evie bouncing on her hip. The little one looked okay now, but Elliot had likely done something to ease her pain.

The moment Evie saw Connor and the kids, she reached for them and Ollie brought her closer so she could see the babies. Connor looked like he was actually trying to figure out how to grow another arm when my brother swooped in and stole Liam from him. Connor pouted, but Ollie quickly plopped Evie in the open space and the little one started babbling like she was having a conversation with Lily.

Liam had yet to shift into a dragon form and we weren’t sure if he would be able to withstand fire and ice the way Lily could. In short, my baby girl was quite safe around Evie, but Liam was still an unknown. My brother had been lurking in the next room, baby proofing the house with the dragons, but he’d no doubt heard about Evie’s little fire mishap and he wouldn’t take any risks.

“Gosh, he’s just so beautiful,” Rowan cooed, staring at Liam. “I mean, Lily is beautiful too, but she’s always moving around and shifting. Liam is so calm and quiet, he looks like a little doll.”

For twins, Lily and Liam couldn’t be more different. My girl was spunky and curious, while she looked more like Bastian with her darker hair and different colored eyes, her personality was all me. Or so Alwin said. She preferred her dragon form because while her human form couldn’t even crawl yet, she could get around fairly well as a dragon now. Hence the baby proofing. Liam, on the other hand, looked more like me with his dark auburn hair, but he was the quietest baby I’d ever seen. In that respect, he was like a mini version of Alwin. He was smaller than Lily for now and he still slept a lot and rarely cried. And since he had yet to shift, he was still immobile.

We weren’t sure yet if Liam would ever be able to shift. Dragons were usually born in their dragon form, and fire and ice dragons all had two different colored eyes, one some variation of blue, gray, or green, and the other brown, which changed to red in their dragon forms. Lily’s eyes were the same as Bastian’s, but Liam’s were more like my bright green eyes. One was a blue-green color, and the other more of a hazel green with threads of brown. We didn’t know what it meant for him yet, but my job was to make sure he knew he was loved and accepted no matter what. I was so grateful that I had so many people around me to help make sure these kids never doubted how loved they were.

“I’m here! The party can start now,” Nikko announced as he and Tex stepped inside with boxes of liquor. “I didn’t know exactly what was needed for a royal celebration, so I brought everything.”

I snorted as Tex helped Nikko set up a makeshift bar on the small amount of counter space left after Connor’s food trays were stacked all over them.

“Sweet daughter Danu, I’m going to need a bigger house,” I grumbled.

Alwin peeled his eyes away from Liam long enough to glance my way. “I am working on it.”

Declan snuggled up to him, peeking down at Liam with a shockingly soft look that was replaced by unveiled amusement a second later. “He’s been trying to bribe your neighbors to sell him their houses.”

“It is not a bribe, I merely offered to purchase them.”

Declan chuckled. “Right. Anyway, it’s only a matter of time until he resorts to blackmail, so I wouldn’t bother looking up real estate listings just yet. He won’t be happy until he owns everything between your house and his. He’s basically building a second court here in Easbend.”

Alwin shifted Liam to one arm and wrapped his free arm around his mate, tugging him into his side firmly. “Are you done?”

“Hmm?” Declan murmured innocently, looking up at Alwin with so much love in his eyes I still had trouble believing it. “Done with what? Am I wrong?”

Alwin shook his head, but he didn’t defend himself and the fondness in his barely-there expression still threw me for a loop.

Nikko appeared next to Declan, passing over a root beer before sliding something stronger my way. I gratefully slipped the beverage while trying to wrap my head around those two.

A few weeks ago Elliot, with the help of my brother, found a way to mimic the wards on the Beaumont house in order to keep Declan, Rith, and Evie safe from the Prescott family. Not only that, but Declan’s presence was essentially concealed as long as he was somewhere within the wards. His family already knew he was in Eastbend, but getting to him would to be a whole lot harder now that those wards had been placed on their house and mine, as well as the tavern. And the weight that alone took off the man’s shoulders was obvious.

Declan was still Declan, he didn’t hesitate to play the bad guy and be the bearer of bad news when the situation called for it, and now that we knew it was coming from a place of experience and concern, it was easier to understand. But in recent weeks since those wards went up, Declan seemed to breathe easier, the ever-present dark circles under his eyes were gone, he didn’t reach for alcohol the moment he was conscious, and while he still always wore the fingerless leather gloves that we now knew hid spelled tattoos, the rest of his clothes no longer looked like he’d just rolled out of bed in them. It made me feel pretty shitty that we’d completely overlooked what his family was doing to him. That all he’d needed was to feel safe to come out of that downward tumble he’d been in. If it wasn’t for Alwin, who knew if any of us ever would have realized?

I’d tried to apologize to him once, but he wouldn’t hear it. He’d insisted that closing ranks to shut out any Prescott was exactly the right response, always, and he didn’t blame any of us for that. He’d also reminded me that aside from my brother, I was the most welcoming toward him out of everyone here. I’d been the first one to talk to him and pass his message on to Elliot. Which was true, but it hadn’t been nearly enough. None of us had treated Alwin’s mate fairly, but he didn’t hold it against us, and luckily, neither did Alwin. A very good thing, because we couldn’t be doing this without them.

The twins hatched almost two months ago and today was their blessing ceremony, which was an elven tradition, as well as their naming celebration, which was a dragon tradition where new royals were officially introduced to the clan and granted their titles. Alwin and Declan would be dressing up in full royal elf finery to bestow the blessings of the court on the twins and request the blessings of the gods. Bastian asked Titus to assist us in the naming ceremony, which would require about twenty pounds of royal dragon garb adorned with jewels and leather.

Since I was stuck somewhere in the middle, both an elf of The Midnight Court as well as the royal mate of the Frystfyre Dragon Clan, Lachlan had spent weeks sewing custom outfits for me and the twins that incorporated both of our cultures. They were beautiful, but heavy, and I’d flat out refused to be stuck in it for the entire party. The compromise was a casual get together to celebrate the twins where I could eat and hold my kids without worrying about staining expensive elven silk, and then a fancy backyard ceremony under the stars, concealed from my human neighbors by a glamour Elliot was gracious enough to provide.

With the twins, the costume change was a must. Which Liam proved a moment later when he spit up on Alwin’s shirt.

“Sorry!” Rowan said, rushing to hand Alwin napkins. “That always seems to happen when I feed him!”

Alwin didn’t flinch at being spit up on. He changed diapers like a pro and he could soothe a crying baby as well as Lachlan. My brother let Declan wipe the spot off his shirt while he gave Rowan tips for burping a baby.

Nikko sidled up to me and rested his chin on my shoulder. “If I had ovaries they’d be exploding right now. Who knew your brother was such a hot daddy type?”

I elbowed him in the gut. “Shut up. You’re a mated man now, stop ogling my brother.”

Nikko snorted. “I’m mated, not dead. I can still look. Besides, Tex would totally agree with me on this one. This softer side of your brother is definitely something to see.”

That I couldn’t argue with.

Connor’s startled “Oh!” had us all turning to find the babies in his arms had enough of being coddled and while it wasn’t unusual to see Lily in her dragon form, the little hellhound pup next to her was new.

“Guess that answers that question,” Nikko murmured.

Jet appeared in the doorway a second later as Ollie was scooping up Evie into her arms. Ash, Zane, and Elliot were right behind him and they all surrounded her to coo over their daughter, who was only interested in getting down to explore. When Evie was about to wiggle out of their arms, they were finally forced to let her down to play with Lily. Jet stripped and shifted before picking his daughter up by the scruff of her neck to trot into the living room where Lily’s nest was set up since it was a much safer place for the girls to play. Connor followed behind with Lily in his arms, reluctant to give up his cuddle time.

“I’m here, where are my babies?” Ophelia announced, making her grand entrance. Unlike me, she was decked out in some hippy version of a wiccan-like high priestess or something, complete with a headdress and insane amounts of crystals. The woman was nuts, but I loved her for it. She’d insisted on performing her own blessing today and we’d agreed to plan around “the perfect celestial alignment” to accommodate her weird little addition to the ceremony.

“They’re playing. You’ll have to save your communing with the moon for tonight.”

Ophelia stole Liam from Alwin’s arms, something not many were brave enough to do, and shook her head at me. “We’re not communing with the moon, we are asking for the blessings of the fates. It’s more important than ever with how things have been around here lately. Declan and Alwin bought us some breathing room with the hunters, but we still have the dark mage and the council with their eyes on Eastbend. With the fates protecting them, we won’t have to worry.”

Crazy old woman. But if it made her feel better, every one of us would let her do her weird ceremony for our kids.

“I hear The Origin Order has had their hands full with the fight they picked with the Prescott family,” Sage pointed out.

Ollie snorted. “Maybe they shouldn’t have started something with one of the strongest sorcerer families in the country right after they lost their leader, half their men, and most of their donors.”

“They had to,” Alwin interjected. “Declan infiltrated the facility right under their nose and revealed himself as a Prescott sorcerer just before their leader was killed. He placed the suspicion on the Prescott family and all but issued a challenge. If the hunters failed to seek revenge for the death of their leader, their reputation as hunters would be ruined.”

“It was a good plan. That’s why I’m surprised Declan came up with it,” Ollie teased.

Declan’s eyes were glued to his drink, but he shook his head. “There was no plan, I was just trying to piss off my father. Alwin was the one who went after Sherman and got the information we needed to scare off all the donors.”

Alwin was about to argue when the wolves arrived and my house was suddenly bursting with people. Elliot set up the backyard glamour to give us more room to spread out as I turned to Royce.

“How’s the tavern coming?”

“Renovations are just about done, it’ll be ready to re-open in a few weeks. Our new mayor was kind enough to get our permit for the back patio pushed through so that’s the last thing we’re waiting on and we can get everything moved in while the contractors are working on that. Maddox has been working like crazy on wards that can detect the concealment magic without exposing our customer’s glamours and whatever latent spells they carry, but it’s hard to test what will actually work. Since our last wards only protected against magic attacks and the bomb itself wasn’t magic, it would have been impossible to defend against. But that hasn’t kept Mad from beating himself up over it.”

Bastian’s win as mayor was one more foothold the hunters lost in our town. It left us a little time to focus on the other issues, but we all knew it wasn’t over. Sherman was gone, but Cranson had picked up the pieces and continued on. Frustratingly, there were just as many people willing to buy into his lies as there were that deserted. Some people just liked hurting others and they would use whatever rationale was offered to make it happen. Those remaining hunters were rebuilding at the moment, but that phase wouldn’t last forever and we needed to be prepared.

“I don’t know much about magic,” I admitted. “But inactive spells can’t be easy to detect. And protecting against one kind of concealment magic while allowing all others…” I shook my head. “Even if he manages it, there’s no way to know if they’ll find a different way around it in the future. He can’t possibly predict every scenario, it wasn’t his fault.”

Royce shook his head. “You know how Maddox is. It’s exactly the fact that he can’t protect all of us a hundred percent of the time that’s killing him. But…” he hesitated, like he wasn’t sure if he should say what he was thinking.

“But you don’t think he’ll be able to protect us from what’s coming?” I guessed.

Royce’s lips pressed together and a frisson of fear tickled my belly a second before strong, reassuring arms wrapped around my waist. I leaned back into Bastian’s chest feeling instantly reassured and I let out a heavy breath.

Royce had come into this town when he was a young bear and new single father and it didn’t take long at all before this town and the people in it became his. Phee and I were already regulars at the tavern before he’d bought it and we’d adopted him into our little family immediately. It was hard to see him carrying this weight on his shoulders, but our family had grown exponentially in the past few years and at the very least, he didn’t have to carry it alone.

“Things will likely get worse before they get better,” Bastian said, his deep voice rumbling against my back. “But we will be prepared. You are not alone. Our clan will defend this town alongside you.”

“As will my court,” Alwin agreed, stepping up next to me with Liam in his arms again. Apparently, he’d managed to wrestle him back from Phee.

“Yeah, they’ll have all the space they need to move in once he buys up all the houses on your block,” Declan added, earning a side-eye from my brother.

I sighed. “The dark mage is a threat. He’s dangerous and it seems there’s no line he won’t cross to get what he wants. But I would feel a lot better if he was the only one we were worried about. Don’t suppose there’s a chance the council has forgotten about us? Maybe Chase got Lancaster addicted to cosplay and they’re traveling the country attending comic conventions.”

All eyes turned to Sage who’d been trying to coax Keir out of the shadows — something that wasn’t likely to happen with so many people around. At the comment, Sage shook his head. “Last I heard from him was two weeks ago. He let it slip that they were in Oklahoma, but I haven’t heard from him since. Luca, Keir, and I are leaving tomorrow to go looking for him, but since we have little to go on, all we can do is head for the council headquarters and hope to catch them before he takes Chase in. Our only advantage is that Chase can’t fly and they don’t seem to be in a hurry getting across the country.”

“New plan,” Ollie decided, showing up behind us with her mini hellhound in her arms. “Since Auggie thought it was fine to kidnap Chase, why don’t you return the favor when you catch up to them?”

“Are you telling me to kidnap a member of the council?” Sage asked incredulously.

Ollie shrugged. “You have a vampire and a shadow demon helping you, it should be doable in theory.”

“I wasn’t arguing the logistics of it!”

“Just saying, it’s an option.”

“I think we’re looking for options that won’t escalate things with the council,” I interjected.

Ollie sighed as if we were all raining on her parade. “Fine, whatever. If you change your mind, I have plenty of pointers.”

“That’s… good to know,” Sage stammered.

“It’s time!” Ophelia interrupted, removing her sandals to step out onto the grass barefoot. She set up all of her crystals and branches or whatever in a huge circle. “Bring me all the little ones. Seth, Kai, and Maverick, you too. Levi, bring Kota and Arie here, please.”

Soon she was surrounded by wolf pups, children of all ages, a kitten, a tiny hellhound, and a baby dragon. Alwin had reluctantly passed Liam off to Kai and he swayed with the baby in his arms as Phee performed her ritual under the stars. While I wasn’t one to put all my faith in the fates, it was a nice little prayer ceremony. As she neared the end of her blessing, something caught my eye and I glanced up in time to see three stars seem to gleam brighter in the night sky. A second glance made me doubt myself, but then Bastian smiled down at me, telling me he noticed it too.

“Perhaps the fates are listening, hm?”

I laughed. “Maybe they are.”

“I hereby bestow upon you the titles of Prince and Princess of the Frystfyre Dragon Clan,” Titus announced as he placed the delicate woven crowns I’d made on Liam and Lily’s heads. “We offer our hearts, our loyalty, our swords, and our honor.” Titus and every one of the dragons placed a fist over their hearts and bowed deeply to the twins. “May the gods guide and protect you on your journey.”

As he finished up our ceremony, Alwin and Declan stepped up dressed in formal elven robes delicately embroidered with gold in the same fashion as the patterns on mine and the twins. With Seth assisting, Alwin performed most of the blessing himself in elvish, but Declan was learning the language and he spoke his part pretty well for someone who wasn’t yet fluent. Once they blessed the children and promised the protection of The Midnight Court Alwin ruled over, they asked the gods for their blessings as well and while I wasn’t an especially religious person, I joined them in the prayer, asking whoever was listening to keep my little ones safe.

When the ceremonies were over, the kids eagerly went back to playing and the formal atmosphere dissipated as everyone went back to chatting and eating. I remained outside half listening to Bastian and Titus talking as I stared up at those three stars, now completely ordinary in the night sky.

Alwin came to stand by me with the twins in his arms. “The babyproofing is done. There are many more gadgets now than there were when you were a child.”

I snorted and took Liam from him, settling him against my shoulder. “That was a long time ago.”

A soft smile curled the corner of Alwin’s mouth just slightly and I stared at my brother like he was an alien body snatcher.

“Did you just smile?”

The smile had faded almost instantly and Alwin merely shook his head at me. “I am capable of emotion under the correct circumstances.”

“Since when?” I grumbled.

Rather than returning to the robot the man usually was, he doubled down and wrapped his free arm around my shoulder, pulling me into a side hug. “It is a good day. Our family has grown. When I did this ceremony for you we had no one but each other. Today we pass on blessings to your children with our mates at our sides and surrounded by family and friends. It is mostly thanks to you. Every day I am grateful that you came into my life.”

“What about the time I ran into a satyr while drawing in the shrubs and invited him and his harem over for dinner?” I teased.

I’d been about ten years old at the time and knew nothing of the satyr legends or that I’d pretty much invited them over for an orgy when I’d offered up my brother’s hospitality. Alwin winced slightly at the memory, but like so many other times I’d made his life difficult, he’d long since forgiven me.

“Almost every day,” he corrected teasingly. “Despite all the trouble you got into when you were young, you’ve brought so much joy and love into my life and I’m not sure I’ve done the same for you. It was difficult for me to understand what you needed from me at times, but I hope you know that I love you and our family. No matter what happens, I will keep you all safe.”

I stared at my brother for a long moment before calling for his mate. “Declan! My brother’s been body snatched!”

The man appeared a moment later and his eyes immediately went to Alwin. He looked him up and down and a soft smile curled his lips as if he could read everything he was thinking with one glance. It was still so weird to see the two of them like that.

“He’s just in a good mood,” Declan chuckled. “Look at him, he’s loving this.”

Everyone around us squinted at the stone expression on my brother’s face, even as he cradled a sweet sleeping baby in his arms. While most everyone shot Declan a confused look and went back to their conversations, my brother’s expression did soften ever so slightly at the sight of his mate and I knew without a doubt that Declan was absolutely correct.

“You did more for me than I’ll ever be able to do for you,” I finally told Alwin. “You’ve been the best brother I could have asked for. You saved my life more than once and had nothing but patience with me. I love you too. And I’m glad I was able to make up for what a little shit I was growing up with a loud, obnoxious family for you to love now.”

Alwin’s smile made a reappearance as his mate joined him in watching Lily sleep and I couldn’t help but feel like the fates had blessed me beyond belief. Life wasn’t always easy, but I’d been given so much. So many of us had. Now, we just had to do everything we could to keep it.