Page 102 of Starborn Husbands

“Not watching Trinket. He got one of our blades again,” Antares says.

Knew it. Probably happens too often when the dads aren’t here.

“Formerly my blade,” Jericho says, correctly assuming that it’s my blade now. He’ll have to earn another one. “Which should prove that I’m the idiot in question, okay? So will you stop stabbing us?”

“Nope. Three more to go.”

“Delph isn’t even here,” Jericho complains. “Phoenix is on Earth!”

“Don’t care.”

“Did you come from the fucking jungle?” Jericho says with frustration bleeding into his tone.

“That’s what I asked,” Antares says. “But it was a stupid question. Atlanta is the jungle.”

Jamie, still nursing his hand, smiles. “I missed you, Atlanta. Welcome home.”

He throws his arms around me in a Dad-style hug, and for once I’m inclined to squeeze him right back.

* * *

It’s not until much later, when I can’t distract myself from thinking about Gem, that the dads get home.

Dad tears up. “Atlanta?”

I’m bigger than Dad’s thin frame, so it’s easy for him to latch onto me even though his arms don’t go all the way around. Too many words shoot into my brain, things I want to say. So many, I can’t keep up. I can’t decipher which words are best. My brain moves so fast that by the time I finally settle on some words, it feels like we’ve moved on from the moment, rendering any words I would have said irrelevant.

My grunt is all I’ve got for him, but thankfully Dad speaks Atlanta.

“How many of them did you stab?” he asks, instead of any other burning questions I know he’ll have.

“Four so far.” I got Delphy when he got in from his mission. Frankly, he should have been on higher alert, and then maybe he would have stopped the blade going clean into his ass cheek. I went easy on him.

“Efficient.”

“Treyu’s next. Getting abducted by an archangel was the last straw for him. I’m kicking his ass.”

I’ve been avoiding meeting Father’s eyes since my parents walked in the door. I’m the one who deserves the ass-kicking for letting it come to this. I’ve been too easy on Trey all along. He’s a soft spot for me, but not anymore. I had misgivings about him with that angel dick, and I should have stopped it before it started. Father was all about letting Treyu make his own mistakes, but I don’t work that way.

Now look where he is. I should have pushed harder for Father to tell Treyu he had to end it with Merrick.

Taking a heavy breath, I meet his gaze. It’s a hard one but creased with more concern than anger.

“We tried to stop him?—”

Father holds up his large palm. “Gemini and Zhang told us what happened to Treyu. They left out the part about you coming home. Get over here, son.”

Dad lets go, and I rush a hand over my shaved head until the hood falls over my shoulders. It’s not that Father’s never hugged me, but this wasn’t the norm a century ago. A tight nod and a grunt sufficed for greeting.

His arms squeeze me. “Didn’t know how good it was going to be to have you home until right now. I could use you, but something tells me you’re not staying.”

“Can’t,” I say, pulling away. “I’m a fugitive. Drank from the cup illegally.”

“Atlanta Orion,” Dad admonishes.

Now I get the crossed arms and the frown I was expecting from Father. But if I’m gonna be Gemini’s man, I have to be a man of my own. Matching his strength, I pull words that come easy.

“Had to,” I explain. “I’m in love. I want you to do the marriage runes for me and Gemini.”