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Chapter Four

“L ike I’d make you do that.” Cullen wasn’t an asshole. At least he wasn’t that big of an asshole. “You don’t ask vegetarians to make meat. That’s nasty. Even I know that.”

Why was he letting this man be in his kitchen to make meatballs?

He knew the answer to that.

Because he had this horrifying idea that if anyone had seen this gorgeous magical creature out there in the world, they would just kill it, or worse, take him somewhere and experiment with him.

Cullen saw movies; he had lots of movies. He knew what people did to things that were different because he was a thing that was different.

Poe had found them. Tanya had found them. A couple of others had found them. A frigging unicorn had found them.

They were going to have to stop going out front.

Maybe they could go only to get Amazon access. Maybe they should build a thing where the Amazon delivery guy could put the packages. The driver could just open it up from the outside, then they wouldn’t have to worry about it, and they could just get the things that they needed.

Like Doritos.

They ordered Doritos by the caseload.

There just wasn’t a good Lunastra answer to Doritos.

Goddess knew those little nacho cheese triangles were fucking addictive.

“All right, we don’t have to have meatballs. I was trying to be nice. Don’t you want me to be nice to you?” Orion asked.

“Absolutely.”

He needed to change the sheets in the guest room.

Did he have a bed in the guest room?

Did he have a guest room?

Maybe he should see if he had a guest room. If he didn’t have a guest room, this was all going to be very awkward.

Because while there was space in the room that he used for his hoard, he didn’t feel as if just having his magical items available for exploration was wise.

Do I have a guest room, guys?

You don’t know if you have a guest room? Corbin asked.

How can you not know if you have guest room? Cosmo sounded way more rested now. Is he really a unicorn?

Yes, and I don’t know, I just never looked.

You never looked in your house?

No, Corbin. I mean, I looked at some stuff, but no, it kind of came as it was, and so I assumed everything was okay, but now I’ve got this unicorn, and he needs a place to sleep.

Sleep?

Yes, Cosmo, I want to give him somewhere to sleep.

Why? Surely he did just fine without you for years.

He’s making me supper! He offered to make me meatballs, and he’s a vegetarian.

And a beaver lawyer…

A what? Cosmo asked.

Can I come for dinner? Corbin put in.

Orion was grinning madly at him, most likely aware that he was having a silent conversation with someone, and it stood to reason that it was his brothers.

Who were going to die.

Guest. Room.

We don’t need a guest room.

That came from Orion and made him jump half a foot.

No? Why not?

Because I can sleep with you.

There was a deep twinkle in Orion’s gray eyes, a silvery swirl that he thought was the real color. The longer Orion was in his house, the more the I’m-just-a-human glamor was fading.

Cullen? Corbin’s mental voice broke in. Where did you go?

Nowhere. Sure. Come for supper. He’s making a lot of sauce. And Hawk is here to protect the pink one and the sprog and a half.

Cool. I’ll be over.

Orion stared at him. “Naughty fae dragon. Afraid to be alone with me?”

“No! But Corbin loves spaghetti.”

“Hmmm. I bet the nephew does too, but he’s not coming, is he?” One silvery eyebrow winged up. It had been a dull, I’m-prematurely-gray gray only moments ago.

“No. Because Cosmo could handle you, but my nephew is too young. I can’t trust you with him yet.”

“I do understand that, my dear.” Orion stirred the sauce, amazing scents coming from the pot. God, his belly was rumbling. “If your brother is coming, would you like to put together one of your charcuterie boards? I don’t mind meat being on the same tray at all. As long as there’s cheese and olives.”

“Yum.” He could so do that. It would give him something to do with his hands. He could build a nice appetizer and feel like he was contributing.

Orion bumped hips with him when he moved around to the fridge, which made his heartbeat speed up. Dammit. He didn’t need the worry of attraction. Not even to this amazing unicorn.

“Oh, now, don’t rule it out.” Orion slid an arm around him, nuzzling his ear.

That felt so good. Hot. Wonderful. Gave him a hard-on. And Orion smelled amazing, like red sauce and also musk and maybe…sandalwood?

“My soap. I got fond of it back in the Regency era.”

“That long ago, huh?”

“Yep.” Orion bit him gently just as Corbin burst in carrying a big loaf of French bread.

“You’re not going to sleep with him, right?” Corbin asked, his voice a little breathless.

“That’s why I asked about a guest room.”

“You still don’t know if you have a guest room?” Orion stared at him.

“When have I had time to look?” Cullen growled, plopping goat cheese on a board that had a twenty-sided dice burned into it that said Board of Cutting.

“You play D he’s not sleeping at your house. He’s sleeping at my house with me. I’m sorry.

Cosmo frowned. Don’t apologize if he’s your mate. Apologize if you’re just being a horndog and you’re lying to him, but if he’s your mate, you have to stand up for him.

Cosmo stiffened all of a sudden, and his eyes turned a blazing white.

“Papa!” Elliot screamed. “He sees, Papa.”

“I’m right here. He’s okay, don’t worry. Cosmo, love?—”

Cullen shook his head. “I think maybe it’s too late for that.”

Cunkle! Help me! Elliot scrambled to get to him, running and jumping into his arms, heedless of sauce or noodles or buttered bread, and Cullen held on.

“It’s all right, it’s all right, my gargoyle boy. It’s just a vision. It’s just a vision. It doesn’t hurt him. Look at me.”

Cosmo started talking, his voice a monotone. “He must be protected. At all costs. He must be.”

Well, that was rather less poetic than what normally came out.

What’s happening? Orion asked. He has visions?

Yes. And sometimes it can get a little scary.

What can I do?

Just hang on and let him ride it out.

Hawk had a hold of Cosmo, supporting his body, and Cosmo’s eyes rolled back in his head, his mouth still moving, but nothing was coming out.

“Cosmo?” Corbin looked so worried.

Hell, he knew exactly how the big green one felt.

“Unc?”

“It’s okay, baby boy. He’s going to be fine.”

It took what seemed like forever for Cosmo to snap out of it, and he sank against Hawk when he did, dazed. “Wow.”

“Cosmo?” It was his turn to ask.

“I—” Cosmo turned worried eyes to Orion. “Go to town. Get your stuff. You two will go with him. But then we need to meet with Mom and Dad and the dragons. We have a real problem on our hands.”