Chapter 24
Chapter
Twenty-Four
In the end, a few of the elders came over to meet at Tyr’s house so that no one had to leave.
Cade had gone to ask for that to happen.
They filled everyone in on what had occurred, and Sloan still felt a terrible rage that someone had tried to hurt his mate and his family.
Not to mention they’d tried to take Fredda, dammit.
He hated to admit that Mari was probably right, though; there was safety in separating the children that whoever these inky dragons were would consider special. Concentrating more than a few of them in one place was a terrible mistake.
Mari was kind enough though to let Tor and Tyr sleep for a while before they’d all had dinner together, and then Mari and Fredda and Aleana had flown back to the seaside.
The days settled themselves into a pattern.
The bees became more active as the weather heated up.
Sloan, Riley, and Brayden took turns flying patrols with Cade, dealing with the dragons from up on the mountain.
Harden also patrolled, but he did it on foot and on animal back saying that way he could see anyone who snuck down through the trees or who tried to come up from the hills without flying in.
No one else showed up, but it became a low-level hum in the village and at Cade’s compound and up with the Rocky Mountain clutch, a tension which had not been there before. A worry that their children were constantly in danger.
Sloan did love watching Tyr become big with his child, though, and he decided finally to take the bull by the horns and stop being angry.
He was sick to death of being scared and moping around.
So he called all those brothers along with Cade and Harden together for a different kind of meeting, sitting around Cade’s kitchen table.
Stella and Abe had come to visit Tyr and Tor, which they did more and more often now because Stella considered Tyr her second-best friend. She also loved their orblok and her baby, who lived with them as their familiars.
“What’s going on?” Riley asked. “Has something else happened?”
“Well, yeah. My mate needs a party.”
All of them stared at him like he’d grown two heads. Except Brayden, who grinned widely. “You mean a baby shower.”
Understanding crossed Cade’s face. “Ah, yes, they gave my mate one of these.”
“Yes, a shower. A happy baby party. He needs a happy baby shower.” He believed that his mate deserved all the happy baby parties. His mate had been through so much. There should be happiness and joy. “How do we make this happen?”
“We go to Cosmo, we tell them what we need, and we make an order. Balloons, streamers, cake topper, all sorts of presents, little girl clothes, all the things a little baby needs. It’ll be a blast.” Brayden was obviously lit up about this.
Riley chuckled. “And then we go to, like, Poe and some of the omegas in the village to see what they want to contribute, huh? Some local flavor.”
Sloan felt that damn warm glow in his belly. God, he loved his brothers. “That sounds perfect. I was at a real loss.”
Brayden’s shrug was expressive, dramatic. “Well, it’s really not your job. It’s really all of our jobs. Should we have it at the tavern?”
Cade shook his head. “No, no, no. We should have it outside. The weather is amazing. It’ll be a festival. A baby festival. That way the bees can attend.”
Riley rolled his eyes. “Do you know how weird that is that you want bees at the baby shower?”
Sloan shook his head. “I don’t think it’s strange at all. That baby’s going to be one with the bees. In fact, if she doesn’t come out striped with a little set of gauzy wings on her back, I’ll be stunned.”
That made Riley shudder a little bit. Her expression was almost horrified. “No bee nieces.”
“What? We have an owl one and a fish one.” He winked. “We’re the luckiest dragons on… well, Lunastra. How weird and wonderful is that?”
Completely wonderful. Cade beamed at all of them, looking like nothing more than a benevolent godfather. “So, I will arrange for tents and food.”
“I volunteer to go to the village and start that ball rolling. Poe can help.” Riley grinned, that inherent naughtiness right below the surface. “I’ll offer to help wrangle the triplets of doom.”
Cade growled softly, eyes laughing. “You mean of joy.”
“Doom-y joy.”
Brayden volunteered to go up to the portal and deal with and also get the Rocky Mountain clutch involved. Sloan’s job was going to be to distract his mate. He figured Tor would be the best person to handle the assist there.
“And I want pizza.”
They all stared at Riley, who flushed, his scales rattling. “I know, it’s not my party, but think about it. Beau Jo’s style honey cheese bread.”
Sloan and Brayden both moaned. Beau Jo’s was a Colorado pizza chain that had the weirdest but best bread with honey and cheddar cheese. And their pizza had a mile-high crust that tasted so darn good.
“I wonder if Corbin and them know anybody who can go down and get us sixty or seventy pizzas?”
Brayden leaned in and winked. “The Werebeaver. He would do it.”
Cade shook his head but didn’t argue. Cade had learned about pizza.
“Yeah, he’s an odd duck, huh?” Riley snapped his teeth kind of like a beaver, and he and Brayden had to laugh. That was just like Yarrow the were-beaver.
“Wait.” That was Harden “Is he a beaver or a duck?”
“Beaver.” They all spoke together.
“Then how are they an odd duck?”
Sloan tried to explain. “It’s a saying, like, she’s pale as an orblok.”
“Ahh.” Cade laughed. “Poe has many such sayings. I am not certain I have heard him use that particular phrase.”
“Yeah, it just means he’s a strange guy, but he’s super nice.” Riley shrugged. “I hope he likes pizza.”
Brayden chuckled. “I know that he likes to have a reason to run out and run errands. The triplets are less and less likely to go out these days.”
Sloan nodded. “I can see that. It’s really hard to notice the fact that there’s a set of crayons.”
Cade snorted when Harden frowned. “Crayons?”
Cade nodded. “Those wax coloring sticks, my friends. Corbin, Cullen, and Cosmo are too colorful for the human world, and having more and more trouble faking it.”
“Is it the contact with us, do you think?” Harden waved at his own body.
“I think so. Partially.” It made perfect sense to Sloan. “Anyway, partially I think it’s having babies. Having babies makes that harder, and especially when they move across the veils of all sorts of lands.”
It stunned him that there were so many options. Fey. Dragon. This grove or glade or whatever. He always got that mixed up. It was wild.
Cade leaned in like he was sharing a secret. “I must admit, it is all very complex. I prefer our lives. They’re simpler. If I wanted complex, I would be in the city.”
Riley snorted. “Cities are just like any other place, Cade. I mean, there’s dragons and magic, and okay, that’s a little weird, but it’s just busy.”
Because you were all, like, citified before now.
Shut up. I’d been to Denver.
He rolled his eyes but didn’t bother to say anything. He just sipped his cazik and waited.
Poe bustled in then. “So did you all solve the problems of the world?”
“Possibly. We want to hold a baby party for our dear Tyr.”
Poe’s eyes lit up at Cade’s words. “A shower? Oh, that would be so much fun! How can I help?”
“We need pizza.”
“Riley, you’re obsessed.” Sloan waved a hand in the air. “He’s a nutjob.”
“Well, yes, but we like him.” Poe winked.
“We do. Very much.” Sloan had to chuckle at the way Riley preened.
“Mate, I think that we need you to help interface with the Rocky Mountain clutch and Cosmo to bring honey… breads?” Cade was obviously confused.
“I’ll write it down, but we want Beau Jo’s,” he explained.
Poe’s eyes lit up. Literally. “Beau Jo’s. Oh gods…”
Cade’s head tilted his way and the dragon suddenly very interested. “That was a sex noise.”
“Yeah.” Poe danced. “Okay. Okay, we’ll work this.” Poe grabbed a piece of paper and a pen. “Hats and presents and decorations. Theme?”
“Uh…” Sloan had no idea. “Bees.”
Poe looked at him for a long minute and then nodded. “You know, totally. We can totally do that. You know that Winnie the Pooh is all about the honeybees. We have a theme.”
Sloan blinked and then started to grin, joy flooding him. “Oh, Poe, that’s perfect. That’s absolutely perfect! Why did I never think about sharing that with Tyr? Poe, we need that book—the original, not the Disney one. Can you get me the book?”
Poe nodded, obviously tickled to death. “I will get you the book. You have my word.”
The Lunastra dragons all looked utterly befuddled.
Sloan would explain, but it really didn’t matter. What mattered is how it was a perfect idea, and that his mate was going to be out of his mind with joy. This was right on the money.
Absolutely what they needed.
“Oh, dude.” Riley slapped hands with him. “That rocks.”
“Right? So good.”
“If you say so,” Harden muttered, clearly out of sorts at being left out.
“I’ll explain to everyone,” Poe said. “No worries. Now, here’s the plan…”
Sloan grinned. Tyr had the best friends, and he had the most amazing brothers.
This was going to be awesome.
“Why are we going to Cade and Poe’s?” Tyr asked.
He hoped he didn’t sound as grumpy as he was.
He and Sloan had worked all day in the garden and the hives, the lovely summer weather perfect for a long day of weeding, watering, checking the honeycomb, communing with the bees, and playing with a growing orblok.
But now he wanted to take the extra weight off his feet, grab a cold drink, and sit in his parlor, relaxing with his mate. Or maybe dip in the cold pool and then soak in the hot one so he wasn’t so pulled down.
But now Sloan wanted to take him to supper at Cade and Poe’s. He loved his friends. He did. But—
“Come on, Tyr. It’ll be fun.” Riley came up behind him, putting an arm around him once they were side by side.
“I know. I do.” He sighed. “I’m just being… how do you say it? A butthead?”