Chapter 20
Chapter
Twenty
Evander needed to help Corbin perk up.
He was feeling so pulled down by gravity, and everyone had gotten so serious and…
It was just sad.
So he called his brothers to him, meeting them just outside the house in the Land of Summer.
“Brother.” Kristofer bowed with a flourish. “What is it you need?”
“I need Bron, but I don’t know how to summon him.”
“Ah. Well, we can do that, though you could have simply galloped to the Flower Mound.”
“I could have, but I don’t want to get that far from my mate. He’s having a rough time, my brothers.”
“I will go.” Gregor shifted into his stag form and ran like the wind, his antlers seeming to grow with every step.
Kristofer raised an eyebrow at him. “What is happening, brother? The roses are all wilting.”
He glanced at the garden, and his heart ached. “Corbin has been stuck inside. He’s feeling huge and unwieldy.”
“And?”
“And what?”
“What else is going on?” Kristofer indicated a top window, where an illusion of storm clouds passed across the glass.
Evander rolled his eyes. “Cullen is wallowing with him.”
“Ah. You need to get him out then.”
“Yes. Cosmo had a vision…”
That sharpened his brother’s gaze even more. “What did he see?”
“That Elliot was in danger. But nothing specific enough for us to know when or where it’s coming from. So poor Elliot has been cooped up as well.”
“Oh, poor lad. I know how he loves to roll in the grass.”
His most blustery brother loved Elliot as much as he did.
“So what exactly do you need Bron for?” His brother stared at him. “What is he supposed to do?”
Evander shrugged. “I’m not really sure, but someone has to do something. And I’ve tried everything else.”
That earned him a confused glance. “All right.”
To be honest, Evander was just worried. Both Cullen and Corbin were miserable. Cosmo wouldn’t come out of his room. It was as if a cloud had passed over their house, and both Hawk and Orion assured him this was not how it was supposed to go.
He heard a soft sobbing, and then the door swung open, slammed closed, little Serena flying to him, hysteria written over her tear-streaked face.
“What’s wrong, little one?”
She headbutted him. “Tisi bited me. Tisi BITED me!”
Well, hell. “Oh no, that’s not very nice. Were you fighting?”
She snorted and tossed her head, mane flying. Her denial was immediate and quite firm.
Bron’s huge dragon form appeared, the dark shape soaring overhead and landing with a thump.
Serena came right to him, almost before he settled, flying hard, her complaints about Tisi and her poor finger growing strident.
What on earth is going on?
Evander shrugged. “I think your triplets are pouting.”
He ignored his brother’s laughter.
That doesn’t surprise me. They do tend to feed off one another. Leave the children here with me when they get here. Bron smiled, winked. And then bring me the triplets.
“I’m not sure Hawk’s going to want Cosmo—”
Bron stared at him, smoke pouring out of his nostrils. Tell Hawk I want to see my son.
He nodded, because what else was he supposed to do?
Bron was still the guys’ father.
He opened the door, and little Elliot came rolling out, moving faster than he’d ever seen that little boulder go.
“Grandpa, grandpa, save me!” Elliot hid behind his grandfather’s wings even as Hawk came running to the door with Isabelle in his arms.
As soon as he hit the doorway, Isabelle popped out of his arms and headed toward Evander’s brother.
“I thought you said you were going to stay inside,” Hawk roared from the doorway of the house.
“No more inside!” Elliot roared right back. “No more!”
Hawk blinked at Bron.
“Pardon me, can you bring me my son?” Bron asked politely.
I’ll watch him. You tell Cosmo, I want him and the other two out here now. I’m not sure what’s going on, and I don’t really care, but I’m ready for it to stop.
Evander had to admit that Bron, in a full snit, was actually quite impressive.
Bron pointed one long-clawed finger at him. Go get Corbin. Now.
Evander headed in without another word, pushing past Orion, who was carrying Cullen and a very, very gray-looking Tisi in his arms.
“I heard we’ve been summoned. Corbin says he’s not coming. I don’t know why. I don’t think it matters.” Orion beamed at him, completely unconcerned. “I think they just need a change of scenery.”
“Don’t you tell me what I need!” Lightning flashed around Cullen’s head, but it wasn’t real. It was sort of half-hearted.
He headed into their rooms, finding Corbin wrapped in a blanket, green skin seeming unhealthy, with more than a tinge of gray. “Your father would like to see you.”
“He can see the other two. I’m too big to move.”
“You are not.” Evander lifted Corbin into his arms. “I can move you, and you weigh less than Elliot to be perfectly honest.”
“What are you doing?”
“Taking you to see your father. He needs to see you. You need to see him. It’s a family thing. Your other brothers are there too.”
“I know. Orion came in here and kidnapped Cullen.”
Kidnapped seemed like such a dramatic word. “Did you hear that Tisi bit Serena?”
“He’s usually in such a sweet mood. He doesn’t like it when Cullen’s unhappy.”
Evander could understand that. “I don’t like it when you’re unhappy either. It makes me sad.”
“I don’t like being unhappy. I don’t think I like being pregnant very much either. Everyone else was so happy. Every time I try to do something to make everything happy, it just goes to shit.”
“Love, you are not at fault for Cosmo having a vision.” That had been what had set off this chain of events, and no, it wasn’t Cosmo’s fault either.
“And your father is not taking no for an answer.”
Not to mention that Hawk had told him Cosmo had gone through some truly miserable moments while pregnant.
“Father can be a bit bossy.”
“I know.” He chuckled. “So can I.”
“You can.” But Corbin was already perking up, wasn’t he?
“So now we go see your dad and let him cheer you up some.” He carried Corbin out into the sunshine.
“Ah, just the son I wanted to see!” Bron cried out.
Corbin just looked at his father, blinking a little bit, still holding on to Evander’s neck with both arms for dear life. “Hello, Dad. How are you doing?”
“I’m doing well, son, but you look a little dull. It’s been too long since you got out here and played in the dirt.”
“I just haven’t felt like it. You know how it is. Mom was the same way, wasn’t she?”
Evander looked at Bron, who rolled his eyes. “Occasionally. I think that we ought to go flying.”
Evander couldn’t help it. He felt his eyebrows rise up like a dragon taking off a little too fast.
Corbin sniffled. “Dad, I can’t fly. You know that I’m too overbalanced now. I could hurt myself and the baby.”
Bron snorted. “I don’t mean you should fly. I said we should.” Before Evander could even blink, Bron was shifting and changing into a huge dragon, his wings outstretched. He held out one paw. “Come, my son,” he said. “Step into my paw, and I will carry you.”
Corbin glanced up at Evander, who nodded, smiling happily. That was a perfect compromise. “I’ll run with you, Bron, if you’ll stay low enough.”
Kristofer laughed. “Who wants to ride me?”
“Me!” Little Isabelle threw her arms up in the air, her little face creased with joy.
Elliot frowned. “Too heavy.”
Before anyone else could even think to speak. There was a thundering of hooves. And Gregor, who had not returned with Bron, arrived with Evander’s father. “You’re not too heavy for me, son,” his father trumpeted. “My Elliot needs a ride as well.”
Three of the guardian brothers were grinning now, even his Corbin, and they all looked incredibly pleased. “We would fly with you, Dad. You and Corbin.”
“Come along, all of you.” Bron crouched and then sprang into the air, Corbin cradled gently in one huge clawed hand.
He didn’t rise up too high, but he did easily take Corbin up with him, and Cullen and Cosmo shifted, and all of a sudden, the sky was filled with dragons right there in the Land of Summer.
Orion boosted Elliot up onto Evander’s dad’s back, and then they were off and running. Orion changed into his unicorn form and took his kids along for the ride.
He couldn’t imagine what the inhabitants of the Land of Summer must be thinking about such a thing, but it was astounding.
He was sure. Bright, colorful dragons, unicorns, and the Lords of the Hunt all running together, flying, leaping with squealing little children on their backs and in their arms.
The beauty of it and the joy of it made him incredibly happy, and he could hear his mate in his head just screaming out for sheer happiness.
Even Hawk was cheering them on from back at the house.
He could hear the roar of it trumpeting his pleasure, and Evander felt bad for him that he couldn’t come flying with them, or that Hawk couldn’t have Bron fly with him in Lunastra.
They would never get to be together as father and son-in-law that way.
It doesn’t matter, Hawk said to Evander in his head. Not as long as my mate is happy and as long as his brothers are with him. I can see you from here.
You’re the best of dragons, Hawk.
I am blessed beyond all reason, brother. I spent millennia lost and alone, and now I have a family. I have more family than I could ever count. Hawk seemed deeply pleased, utterly at peace.
He smiled at Hawk’s thoughts. He hoped that someday he would be as at peace and easy with all of this as Hawk was.
Run, be with your mate, and let this blow out the cobwebs.
That was what they needed— simply to blow out the cobwebs.
So he snorted and leaped into the air, coming down running. He needed to get out there and play with the others. His mate and their loved ones.
While Elliot was making wonderful, wild noises like the wind through the standing stones, and his father bugled in response, the sound clear and sure, a noise that he’d been born hearing.