Corbin (Dragon Guardians #3)

Chapter 1

Chapter

One

“Mom. I don’t want to talk about this.” Corbin had a vicious headache. The last thing he wanted to do right now was talk to his mother.

He had a still mostly unconscious fae man in his bed. He had tomatoes growing outside like wild things. And he wanted a pineapple milkshake.

None of that needed to involve his mother.

“Son, you’ve got to wake him up. Either that or just let me take him back home.”

“No, that’s not possible.” Not until Evander woke up. Not until they made sure that there was no vampiric blood in him. That he wasn’t infected.

It was one thing to have it in the human world. It was another thing completely to have it in the fae world, in the Land of Summer. The enormity of such an infection could have ripples throughout all the damn dimensions.

“Son…”

“Mother, really. You know what could happen.”

“I do. But I think you do not understand who he is.”

“I don’t really care who he is.” Which was a lie. Goddess, it was a lie. Because he really cared. Evander was stunning. The palest skin. Long black hair. To be fair, Corbin had no idea what color Evander’s eyes were. But in his head, they were green. Bright, leafy, beautiful green.

That poor body slept and slept and slept, but it never lost any of its form. Evander had broad shoulders, narrow hips, and long legs, and the most beautiful long-fingered hands he’d ever seen.

“I need to get him some help.”

“Mom? Drop it. He’s here. He’s with me, and he’s not going anywhere.” And he wasn’t about to do this shit with his mom, dammit.

He was tired, and he couldn’t handle her poking.

Her lips tightened fractionally, but that was her only physical response. “Very well. I shall leave it to you.”

He met her gaze, trying to express how serious he was. “I have this. I swear to you. I have this.”

She smiled at him, her expression still worried; her eyebrows were drawn up, and the corners of her mouth were down, but she said, “All right. I trust you.”

“As you should, lady.” He softened it with a smile, but it was the truth. He’d never given her a reason not to distrust his abilities, but of all of the triplets and their lady mother, theirs was the difficult relationship.

That was what happened when two beings were so much alike—both exceptional at growing things, both of them using the same energy.

It was amazing.

It was also a little maddening because while Cullen and Cosmo both felt some independence from both of their parents, he always felt like he was in his mother’s shadow. Goddess knew he loved her, but at the same time, he wanted to be out from under the scrutiny she constantly put on him.

So he drew in a very deep breath, smiled at her, and gave her a little bit of a bow. “Thank you. I appreciate it. Was there anything else?”

Her face softened into a less haughty expression. “I wanted to see my sons. I wanted to make sure you were healthy, and I wanted to visit my grandchildren as well.”

“Have you seen how well both Tisi and Serena are flying?”

“Already? Well, I mean, Serena is too?”

He nodded. “Those two babies are totally from the Glade. Totally. So magical.” The Glade was this amazing magical space that had given them his brother Cullen’s mate. A unicorn.

Tisi was a winged horse, and Serena was half-unicorn, and somehow that showed itself in butterfly wings.

His mother laughed, the sound like bells tinkling. Maybe like bluebells in the Glade, where each flower had a sound. “Well, this I must see.”

“Hmmm. Check Cullen’s mood first. On occasion, it bugs him.”

“I’m not sure I understand. What bothers him?”

“That the kids can hide out on the ceiling or on top of the big bookshelf in his living room. He and Orion are both a little too big to just fly around the front room, but the kids can do it because they’re little.”

She chuckled, and for the first time, they were in perfect accord. “Yes, I remember what it was like to have little flying children who could do things I really couldn’t. Thankfully, your father was more than willing to chase you.”

Cullen raised his eyebrows, widening his eyes, and going for innocent. “Really? We bothered you by flying around? I don’t remember that.”

“Yes, you zipped around like demented dragonflies.”

“Demented? See how you talk about us?” He rose from his table because she had appeared from the corner of the room much like her friend Arian would do, who was also a fae lady. “Shall we go see them?”

“Is it safe to leave Evander?”

He took another deep breath. “Yes. I’ve been safely leaving him here for hours at a time. Come, Mother.”

She followed him out of his part of the house and over the hallway into Cullen’s area, which had a totally different look. His house was sort of cottagecore, maybe a little whimsy goth, whereas Cullen’s was rainbows and magic tricks and prisms and all things shiny.

He knocked, because his mother would’ve just waded in, but he never had any idea what Cullen and Orion were going to be up to if the children were napping or even if they weren’t. Sometimes it was a good thing to knock because there were flying projectiles. With hooves.

Cullen answered the door, and his face broke into a wide grin. “Mother, it’s good to see you.”

“Thank you. That’s a much more appropriate reaction than I got from Corbin.” She swept past them both into Cullen’s part of the house, and Cullen raised his eyebrows at Corbin.

Corbin rolled his eyes and shook his head and mouthed “Evander.”

Cullen pursed his lips and shook his head, backing up with his hands up next to his shoulders as if to say, “What are you gonna do?”

Both of them followed her into the house, where they caught up with her in the kitchen. She greeted Orion, who was Cullen’s mate and also a unicorn, with a sweet kiss on the cheek.

“Hello, the son of my heart. How are you today?”

He swore he could hear Cullen’s teeth grind as hard as he felt his were.

“I’m glorious now you’re here. Babies, come and see your mhormia! She’s here!”

The temptation to scream ‘incoming’ is huge, he told Cullen, who almost didn’t smile.

Both Tisi and Serena zoomed into the room, little Tisi neighing his head off, Serena giggling as she chased him.

They circled his mom’s head for a few seconds before finally landing on the floor to rub up against her legs.

It was the cutest thing ever—a little black pegasus baby, a beautiful little dragon butterfly unicorn baby.

They made his heart happy.

Mom laughed softly and knelt down, loving on them both, the two babies nuzzling up into her fingers.

“How good to see you, Calla.” Orion hugged his mother gently, then scooped up the babies so she could kiss each one of them on the ends of their little snouts. “To what do we owe this honor?”

“Like I told Corbin, I wanted to see my grandchildren and my sons. I’ve missed you all.

” She gave Corbin an arch look when she said it, which told him she missed him coming to see her in the fae world, instead of her having to come here to see him.

He would leave Evander in his room and go to a different part of the house, but he would not leave him to go to a different dimension.

“Well, I know Evander’s taking up so much of his time, but you’re always welcome to visit.”

Don’t say that!

Cullen’s words made Corbin choke on his own spit. Right? She’ll have to come through my house!

“Thank you, sweetie. Now, who wants to make me a cup of tea?”

Orion gave them both an ironic grin. “I would be happy to, lady. What kind would you like? Mint hibiscus?”

She flipped her skirts around and settled on a chair, then held out her arms for the babies, who came and snuggled down to her, assuming their human forms as they did.

“Hibiscus would be lovely. Thank you. And you know as well as I do, Cullen, that Evander could come to recuperate in the Land of Summer.”

Now Cullen did roll his eyes where she could see. “Mom, we’ve discussed this before. Evander has been bitten, and we have to make sure he’s safe before he goes across to the fae world. I think you just want us to shove him across into the Land of Summer so Dad can eat him.”

She blinked in mock shock, but the curve of her lips said she was amused. “Now, Cullen, you know I would never do that.”

“Nonsense. You would love it, but I won’t have it.” Evander was his mate. He wouldn’t say it. Not now, maybe not ever.

He didn’t have to.

It was the truth.

All he had to do was know it, and know that as soon as Evander woke up, things were going to escalate quickly.

As long as Evander wasn’t a vampire now.

That could really complicate things because he really wasn’t going to have babies with Vampire Boy.

Of course. If he was a vampire, they would just have Orion do whatever it was he’d done before, and at least then, Evander could just sleep. He didn’t seem unhappy.

Evander didn’t seem to be trying very hard to wake up, but then again, it wasn’t every day that you turned into a vampire, drank unicorn blood, and got better. That was probably hard on the psyche.

Corbin blinked, suddenly finding a cup of tea in his hand.

He wasn’t exactly sure how it had gotten there.

It was possible he just hadn’t been paying attention.

It was also possible that Cullen was getting altogether too good at this whole illusion thing, and he was drinking illusory tea, and everyone was laughing at him.

He shrugged.

One way or the other, the tea was nice.

It’s real tea, Cullen told him on a tight band in their heads. I think you need it to calm down.

That was probably true enough. No one could infuriate him, bother him, or poke at him and prod at him like his mother. It made him crazy, but at the same time, he loved her so much, and she did have a great deal of wisdom stored up in that tiny body of hers.

That was why this whole thing with Evander was so shattering. Because it made him want to ignore all of the wisdom of all of his family and friends and just beg Evander to wake up and be with him.

He didn’t though. He did the wise thing, and he watched.

He had a chair set up at the end of Evander’s bed where he could sleep, curled up under a heavy blanket, so he could feel Evander’s slightest motion.

Don’t worry, love. If I were you, I wouldn’t wake up while my mother was here either. He sent the words like he would talk to his brothers in his mind. Because he didn’t know whether Evander heard it or not, but at least that way his mother didn’t.

Mate.

The word came to him, and he tried not to jump or show any sort of other reaction because he didn’t want his mother to know he’d heard that. Perhaps he was just imagining it, but the word rang in his head clear as day.

Yes, Evander, what do you need? Are you well?

I’m hungry.

He wished he knew exactly what Evander meant by that. Because he really wasn’t feeling like being a tasty snack.

On the other hand, it was probably not very kind to starve your mate to death either. So he was going to have to figure this out.

“I’m going to leave Mother here to watch the babies and enjoy their flying. I have to use the facilities, so I’ll be in my rooms…”

He stared at Cullen for a second. Keep her here. Do not let her come into my house. Clear?

As Crystal. “We should also see Elliot and his baby sister, Mom, because if they found out you were here and you didn’t see them, there would be tears.”

“Of course, my darling. I would love to see them, and also I need to see Cosmo.”

Corbin headed out, trying not to roll his eyes again, because his mother never mentioned Cosmo’s mate, Hawk. He thought probably it was because Hawk reminded her too much of their father, who was a dragon and a great alpha one at that. But it really wasn’t very nice.

She was a wonderful woman, his mother. But she was very much a product of her class, which was the highest in the ruling courts of the fae.

He hurried into his home, leaving the outer door unlocked so Mother could leave if she wished to.

Then he headed back to where Evander was, locking the door behind him.

I’m here.

And if he was lucky, nobody would try to bite him.

What’s wrong with me?

You were bitten by a vampire. You were very ill, and you’ve been sleeping.

He could feel Evander’s shock. For how long?

A year. An entire year.

He’d been caring for Evander as best as he could. Corbin had moved him so his muscles stayed supple. Fed him broth and sips of juice. Cleaned him.

The shock grew, and it almost gave him a splitting headache. A year. It’s like Sleeping Beauty. How could I be out for a year? I was— There was a long pause. I was bitten by a vampire. Don’t come here, don’t, I might hurt you.

Do you feel like you will?

He didn’t bother to point out that he was right there, and if Evander was going to bite him, it would’ve happened already. Also, he would’ve just decked Evander hard.

One of the best things about being half-dragon was that he was half-dragon. Dragons tended to be bigger than the average fae. Apparently, dragons were immune to actually turning into vampires.

Very handy.

But Evander was all fae, and he knew that could be dangerous. He finally made his way into the bedroom where Evander lay still on the bed, and he peered at the man, trying to decide whether he was awake or just his consciousness had returned.

Bright blue eyes opened, burning right into him, and Evander licked his lips. Then his tongue ran across his teeth. “Well, they don’t seem to be sharp. I believe that’s promising.”