Page 7

Chapter Seven

O rion bounced out of bed to head to the kitchen.

He wanted to make something yumtastic for his new lover. His mate. All he had to do was explore the dry goods and such to see what there was. Waffles? Scones? Pecan rolls?

So many options, if the stuff was there to be used.

He opened cabinets, peering in, cataloging. Okay, the flour and sugar had to be—ah. Cannisters on the counter. There was yeast, but no pecans…

“Unicorn!”

Orion whirled around at the bellow, his heart jumping into his throat, his hands up like some kind of demented ninja’s.

“Elliot. What are you doing over here, wee one?”

The magpie who watched over Elliot settled on the back of a chair as the little dragon held his arms up.

“Hungy.”

“Are you hungry, little one?”

Elliot stared at him as if to say, ‘I just said that, dipshit’. So he thought he’d try again.

“Do you like waffles?”

Elliot tilted his head, then nodded. “Wif bacons.”

“They’ve already got you started on bacon? You don’t even really have teeth yet.”

Elliot bared his teeth, showing off that he did, in fact, have a mouthful. They actually looked a little sharp, to be honest.

“Fair enough. Um, I will make bacon. I wonder if they have veggie bacon, here. We should get them to get some of those mushroom-based bacons. I bet you’d like those. They’re better for you than real bacon.”

Elliot just lifted an eyebrow. Orion could tell he didn’t care about Orion’s issues with health.

Also, apparently vegetarianism and mostly dragonism weren’t bedfellows.

“Bacon and waffles it is.”

He started puttering around the kitchen. He thought bacon would probably be safer in the oven just because that meant less spattering on little children.

But Elliot could sit and watch him make waffles.

“Does your father know that you’ve escaped? Does Uncle Cullen?”

“Cuncle!” Elliot roared, the foundations of the house shivering.

Oh, Orion did love how this little boy adored Cullen.

“That’s right, your Cunkle is sleeping.”

“Magic?”

“When he wakes up.” He assumed that Cullen would, at some point, wake up. He was pretty sure that he hadn’t broken Cullen in any actual practical way. Maybe round three had been a little crackly on the edges. It had been totally worth it. He was fairly certain his balls were going to fall off, of course.

He still wasn’t sure what baby and magpie were doing down here by themselves though.

Orion was honestly surprised that he was awake and up and about by himself. To be real Corbin seemed the type that would be up with the sun and asleep as soon as the sun set.

He really wasn’t sure about Cosmo, but that was pretty much the whole pregnancy thing, and Orion couldn’t blame them for that. You had to protect your own.

And Hawk, Elliot’s other dad, was still a mystery to him.

He got bacon on a sheet pan in the oven, then started a waffle batter. The waffle iron sat on a shelf in the pantry. And, oddly enough, there were oyster mushrooms in the fridge next to the eggs, so he could make himself fake-con.

The magpie watched him with those beady little black eyes never leaving him. It was clearly hungry too.

He hummed, whipping up waffle batter, not even blinking when the door flew open and Corbin rushed in, his green eyes searching the room.

“Elliot! How did you get down here?”

“I hungy. Unicorn. Bacon.”

“Ta-da.” Orion bowed deeply. “He just showed up, and he wanted bacon. I’m making waffles.”

“Oh, good. Thank you.” Corbin visibly relaxed. “Is there coffee?”

“Not yet. Were you watching him?” Are you the one in trouble?

“No.” Corbin started making coffee. “I went up to give Cosmo his tea to help with his morning sickness. It’s lasting forever. And I noticed that Cosmo was still asleep, Hawk was gone, and the baby wasn’t in his bed. And then I knew that you and Cullen were…being you and Cullen…together, and so I came to find him.”

“Good job.”

Elliot beamed, repeating, “Good job.”

“Thanks.” Corbin rolled his eyes. “You can’t just wander off, little one. You’re just little.”

“No. I beg. I hungy. Unicorn.”

Corbin nodded. “Yes, Orion is a unicorn.”

“Mine unicorn.”

Well, that was definite, and it kind of made Orion smile, although he thought that probably he was Cullen’s unicorn when it came right down to brass tacks.

“Where’s Cullen? Is he okay?”

“He’s sleeping the sleep of the…well adored.”

Corbin’s lips twisted. “Good save. Can I help with anything else?”

“Does Elliot need to clean up or anything?”

Was he still in diapers? He didn’t know. The little dragon was dressed. In the most adorable pair of zebra jammies ever.

“Are you ready to get some clothes on, Elliot?”

“No.”

“He’s all right.” Corbin shook his head. “Alphas.”

“I bet you’re all excited about the new little dragon.” Orion knew Cullen was over the moon.

Corbin nodded. “We are. Everyone’s very pleased. We’re also very confused by your appearance, but pleased.” Oh, for Corbin that was high praise, so he would take it.

“We can blame it all on Yarrow. He’s the one who decided that he was worried about you guys.”

“I liked him. He seemed a good solid sort.”

Orion nodded. “In my experience, beaver shifters often are.”

“Do you know many? Beaver shifters, I mean?”

Of course he did. “Yeah, they kind of come in families.”

“Huh. Have you ever met a porcupine shifter? I think porcupines are incredibly cool.”

Why did this not surprise him?

“I met one from South America once. Loved crunchy things.”

“Yeah?” Corbin grinned hugely. “I love those YouTube videos of the non-shifter porcupines eating like, corn and popcorn and all.”

“They have the best cronches. You know what videos I like?” Orion asked.

“What?”

“Binturongs. You know, the bearcats?”

“Oh they have great whiskers.”

“Whiskies! Make wafs,” Elliot demanded.

“I am, my love,” Orion told Elliot. “But the waffle iron can take a bit. Let me heat up some syrup.”

“Warm syrups?” The little one’s eyes widened.

“Yes. It’s so much better that way.”

“Cullen has a little electric warmer. Here.” Corbin got it out for him. “He actually uses it for honey a lot.”

“Excellent.” He took the fun little thing and plugged it in, setting the clean pot on top and pouring in enough syrup for all of them. Well, he thought so. Corbin could eat.

Orion?

Hello, my love. Would you like to join us for waffles?

I smell bacon.

Yes. The little gargoyle insisted.

Ah.

I was going to surprise you with pastry in bed.

I love that. But I’ll come down.

“Were you talking to Cullen?”

“Hmmm?” He pulled out some waffles, then put in more batter.

“Just then,” Corbin said. “Your eyes went a little unfocused and you kind of went away.”

“’Way!” Elliot clapped his hands, and the magpie chittered and screeched.

“Good lord. Do they always do that?” He stared at the magpie.

“Gods, yes. I have a feeling it will only get worse over the years.”

“Wow.”

“Morning, you lot,” Cullen said as he wandered into the room, yawning.

“Morning, bro. You need to keep this one. He cooks.”

“He does.” Cullen yawned again. “Among other things. Hello, my little gargoyle.”

“Magic!” Elliot watched Cullen raptly. “Puweeeeese?”

The magpie chittered, and Cullen laughed. He cupped his hand and blew into it, and a flurry of tiny birds flew out, all of them cackling like ravens and crows.

The magpie chased, and he tilted his head, laughing. “Does he have a name?”

“Who?” Cullen asked.

“The magpie.”

“Eddie,” Corbin told him.

“As in Eddie Munster?”

“No, as in Ed Sheeran, but Eddie seems to fit him better.”

Orion laughed, humming a few bars of “Shape of You”, which was his favorite Ed Sheeran song.

“Very nice,” Cullen approved.

“Thank you, my love. Corbin, can you pull the bacon out of the?—”

“Do you all have my child?” Cosmo staggered into the kitchen, looking all askew, his robe not quite tied right, his hair everywhere.

“We do. We’re about to feed him.”

“Oh.” Cosmo glared at Elliot. “Did you come with Corbin?”

“Wif Ed!”

“Elliot! You are not to explore alone.”

“Wif unicorn!”

Orion whistled, pulling out more waffles. Nope. Not touching this convo.

“Now I know that Orion did not come up and take you out of your bedroom.”

Elliot just blinked innocently. “I hungy.”

Oh, I hate when they challenge each other. Cullen rolled his eyes. Hawk needs to come home. Cosmo’s tired.

Orion nodded, and Corbin poured more coffee.

Cosmo just stared at his son, and Elliot stared back, the air just sort of crackling between them.

Are they always like this?

Oh yeah. Elliot’s stubborn. It doesn’t help that he’s super dragony. He responds way better to Hawk. I think he’s going to be one of those huge ponderous dragons, you know? I can feel it in my bones. The good news is, that Elliot’s basically lovable, and he loves his dads. He’s sort of like a pit bull. He wants to please, but he really also has a little bit of obsessive tendencies and he’s a little stubborn.

Are you a pit bull too? Orion teased, though he knew better.

Cullen was more like a border collie. Quick, clever, easily bored, equipped with a desperate need for something to do, and awfully pretty.

Oh no, I’m totally more like a Pomeranian. A vampire Pomeranian.

Suddenly there was a low laugh, and Hawk came swooping in, his arms full of baskets of god knew what kind of fruit and a bunch of bread and rolls and bright blue flowers that he offered to Cosmo with a kiss.

How fascinating.

“Sorry, am I in time for breakfast?” Hawk’s eyes belied his breezy attitude. “Are the waffles ready?”

“They are getting there. I am a waffle-making machine.”

“Elliot, tell your father you’re sorry.”

Elliot gave Hawk a cheery smile. “Sorry!”

Cosmo stared, then dropped the flowers on the table with a thud. “I’m going back upstairs. You can be with your son and enjoy your breakfast.” Cosmo didn’t even storm off. He just walked away.

“Do you not want waffles?” Corbin asked.

“No.”

Hawk sighed and shook his head. “Son, I swear by all I hold holy. I’m not sure I’m going to survive you being a teenager. I’ll take Cosmo a plate in a bit.”

“Is he all right?” Orion hated having so much drama, and Cosmo seemed so grumpy.

“This pregnancy has been tough. He’s been sick the whole time. The healers in Lunastra say that he’s fine—his magics are a little unbalanced.” Hawk glanced at Elliot, who was now happily playing with a couple of bright stones the magpie had brought over. “This one’s not helping. He’s just such a dragon. What are we going to do when hormones hit?”

Cullen shook his head and smiled. “Just send him down to Cade. I bet Cade and Poe could deal with him just fine.”

“Now who were they?” There were so many names, and Orion hadn’t gotten to meet any of them yet.

Give him time. It hadn’t even been a week, he thought.

Cullen offered him a warm smile. “You know how we’re a portal now? Go to the Land of Summer on one door, the human world out another, and then if you go out through Cosmo’s house, then you end up in Lunastra. That’s the dragon world. I’m pretty sure you don’t get to go there.”

“And why not?”

Cullen shrugged. “Because you don’t get to go there. I guess you can try; it won’t hurt you. I mean, the dragons might hurt you—I don’t know how they feel about unicorns. How do dragons feel about unicorns?”

Hawk snorted. “I think you’re okay, and I’m a dragon. After all you’re making waffles. I know an entire slew of dragons that would be all over that.”

“That would be something that we’d have to look up in the library, maybe?” Corbin said. “Or talk to Dev and Ollie? Maybe Brandon?”

“If you can find him.” Cullen rolled his eyes and took a rock out of Elliot’s mouth. “At any rate, Cade is one of the guardians of the village that’s down at the bottom of the mountain and Poe’s his mate. He’s like a horse guy, Poe, I mean. He was a cowboy when he was here.”

This was complicated. He might need to make notes. Maybe a chart. “Wow.”

“Right? It’s a whole new universe.”

Orion nodded. He’d really stepped right into something this time. Yarrow would just lose his mind.

“So you guys let human-world peeps into the other realms?”

Hawk shrugged. “Occasionally. But we’re also here to keep them out. Guardians.”

He put a stack of waffles on the table, then poured more. “Okay. Okay, cool. That’s fair. So the veil is like, narrowed down to here?”

Cullen nodded, expression speculative. “Both lands are pretty big. I bet there’s more portals somewhere, but so far, we only know this one.”

“That makes sense to me too. I mean, can you imagine if this was it?” Cullen rolled his eyes. “We’d have to be insane to think we could defend it, just the four of us.”

“Five.”

“What?”

Corbin stared at Orion. “You’re here now. You know about us. Congratulations, you’re fucked.”

“Huh.” Panic hit him right in the chest, and Orion fought the urge to go all hoof and horn and make a run for it.

Shhh. It’s okay. It’s better than okay. Really. He’s just being an ass . Cullen stopped on the way to the table to kiss his cheek.

Right. Sorry. Sorry. Centuries of magical pens and fences and dungeons…

I would never lock you up. But I thought —Cullen lowered his gaze. I thought we were mates.

Oh, we are. I am here to stay. I just had a moment. It’s a lot of change.

It is . Cullen buttered and syruped a waffle for Elliot. Hawk would have, he thought, but he was catching a glass of orange juice before it went over the side of the table. Elliot had fast hands. I’ll help you through it. We’ve had a little more time to adjust.

Hawk set the orange juice down, very little having sloshed out. Corbin handed him two full plates. “Take these up to Cosmo. We’ll watch little bit.”

“Thank you so much.” Hawk bowed his head at all of them, then grinned at Orion. “And thank you for making bacon. I know it is not something you eat.”

“Your son insisted.”

“Ah. Yes. He is very bacon-focused.” Hawk chuckled. “Be good, my son.”

“Yes, Papa!” Elliot bared his sharp little teeth.

He poured more waffles, then sat down with his, buttering and syruping liberally. Yum. He loved that sweet and creamy flavor on top of crispy goodness.

He licked his fork, then glanced up to find Cullen watching him. Thankfully, Corbin was busy with Elliot and didn’t see the violet fire that Cullen sent his way.

He hummed, reaching out with one hand, and Cullen took it, the vibrations between them strengthening as they touched.

Yeah, okay, maybe he was here to stay, but the panic was gone. This was his mate, and Orion was here for Cullen. He would support this sweet fae, and his home and family, with everything in him.