Chapter 30
Wondering if his son was awake, Steel quietly opened Daniel’s nursery door.
Peeking in, he grinned at the scene that greeted him.
His son, sitting in his crib, had surrounded himself with some of his stuffed animals and was talking to them.
Pausing for a moment, Steel listened to the different sounds his son was making, recognizing them as belonging to the real life versions of the stuffed ones in his crib.
He worried a bit about what Daniel’s ability portended, and made a mental note to ask his father if his research had turned up any more information.
When Daniel spied his daddy standing in the doorway, he pulled himself up in his crib, grinning at his feat before losing his grip and sitting down with a plop.
Stunned at what happened, his face scrunched up as if he were going to cry, but instead, he grunted and pulled himself up again.
Grinning at his achievement, he looked at Steel and gurgled, “Dada.” Then he promptly lost his balance and ended up sitting down again.
Frowning before looking back at his father, he reached out to Steel with both arms and called, “Dada!”
Steel was so used to tuning out the random sounds Daniel made that he nearly missed his son’s first word.
Gobsmacked, pride coursed through his body at the same time he thanked the gods that the first word out of his son’s mouth wasn’t a swear one.
When his son called to him again, Steel rushed to pick him up.
“Come here, my big boy! Two surprises for your daddy today, huh? Can you say ‘dada’ again? Dada?”
Snuggling in his daddy’s arms, Daniel gave a toothy grin. “Dada, dada, dada.” Then he lifted his head and gave a tiny fierce howl.
Chuckling, Steel said, “Yes, my baby boy, you are amazing. Let’s change your diaper and then go see your other dad. Won’t he be happy with your choice of a first word? Oh, by the way, thanks for keeping this daddy out of the dog house.”
~/~/~/~/~
Rolling over, Jackson woke to an empty, yet still warm bed.
Figuring his mate went to get their son, he took advantage of the time to send a text to Cody about Fionn.
Another fucking asshole father! That thought reminded him of his own who’d done such a number on him and his twin.
Looking back, he could now see exactly when Logan had changed in his teen years and knew without a shadow of a doubt it was caused by something horrible his father did to his brother.
But what? And does it matter what it was anymore?
It was clear Kieran had changed his brother back to what he once was and, for that, Jackson would be forever grateful.
Promising himself he would do something special for Kieran, Jackson glanced over at his bedroom door and found his mate standing there with a shit-eating grin on his face, holding their son.
“Okay, tell me, what marvelous thing did Daniel manage to do this morning?”
“What makes you think that?”
“Err, the sheet-eating grin you’re wearing?”
Steel walked over to the bed while pointing to Jackson and asked, “Daniel, who’s that?”
“Dada!” Daniel shouted, waving his stuffed wolf at Jackson.
Stunned, he stared at Daniel before shifting his gaze to Steel. “Did he just say what I think he said?”
“Yup!”
Holding out his arms, Jackson crooned, “Come here, babycakes. Come see your Dada!”
When Daniel saw Jackson reaching for him he wiggled, struggling to get out of Steel’s arms. Finally, when he was where he wanted to be, he snuggled against Jackson, grabbing the bottle Steel held out to him.
“First word, huh?”
“Yup.”
“And it wasn’t a swear word.”
“Nope.”
Grinning at Steel, Jackson said, “Lucky.”
“Absolutely!” Steel exclaimed, climbing back into bed and wrapping his arm around both of them. “Was that Logan who called earlier? Was it about what happened at the club last night?”
“Partly. Logan told me Fionn sensed a dragon last night just before Groose rescued him. After thinking it over, my brother is sure it wasn’t a coincidence and thinks it was Fionn’s father trying to kidnap his son.”
“So what does Logan want to do? Are they going to come home early?”
“No, he wants Fionn to come here and asked if we’d send the plane to get him.”
“Consider it done.”
“Thanks, but wait till I talk to Cody. As Fionn’s legal guardian, I need his approval.”
“Sure. In the meantime, I’ll text Robert to get the plane ready,” Steel murmured, nuzzling Jackson’s neck, before adding, “I’ve got to go.
My turn to make breakfast.” Giving his mate and son one more kiss, Steel slid out of bed and pulled on his jeans and a t shirt.
“Have you spoken with Dakota about hiring another chef?”
“Not yet, but I’ll do it today.”
“Good. I’m at the end of my cooking repertoire.”
Smirking at his mate, Jackson said, “Maybe I should see about some cooking lessons for you?”
“Ha, ha, no thanks. My mom offered but I turned her down because I could see where that would lead to.”
“What do you mean?”
Snorting, Steel said, “Right now, mom is splitting meals with me…I’m doing breakfast and lunch, she’s cooking dinner…
but after I learn how to make more meals, my mom will think I should do all the cooking.
I can hear her now…‘Sweetie, but your meals are so delicious’,” Steel said in a falsetto voice.
“Nope, not gonna happen. I’m not walking down a street where I know I’m gonna get ambushed when I get to the end. ”
Jackson looked at his mate in astonishment, then burst out laughing, disturbing Daniel who growled before latching on to the bottle’s nipple again.
“Sorry, baby boy,” he said to his son, then chuckling, he looked at his mate.
“Thanks for that visual of your mother standing at the end of the street, brandishing a frying pan at you.”
Steel snickered. “Yeah, but you know exactly what I’m talking about.
Any time a parent wants to teach you something, before you know it, they have you doing it all the time.
I learned that early on when I would watch my father putter in the garden.
First, he talked, telling me what he was doing, then he showed me how to do it and before I knew it, he had me out there all the time weeding the damn sucker.
Uh-uh, better not to go down that path.”
Giggling, Jackson asked, “Is that what you plan to do with Daniel?”
“Damn straight. It’s a father-son rite of passage. Hey, I got to run or the natives will get restless if breakfast isn’t ready on time. Promise me you’ll talk to Dakota today?”
“Promise. Now go!”
Blowing a kiss to his two favorite men, Steel left their bedroom and as he walked down the stairs, he sent a text ordering the plane to be ready for an overseas flight to Edinburgh and back.
Jackson’s phone dinged twice. Picking it up, he read a text from Cody first, sent a reply, then read Steel’s. Smiling he sent back several eggplant emojis, so his mate would know what he was thinking about for later.
Taking the empty bottle away from Daniel, Jackson spent a while playing and tickling his son before saying, “Time for both of us to get dressed.” Rolling over to the edge of the bed, he sat up, pulled on his jeans and t-shirt while smiling at Daniel.
Then, picking him up, he said, “C’mon, babycakes, let’s see if anything will still fit you. ”
~/~/~/~/~
Cody responded to his brother’s text and then turned over to look at his sleeping mate, loving how Dylon’s face gentled in sleep, the hard edges softening along with the fierce look.
He heard Jake and Jessica stirring in the sitting room and knew they’d soon be up wanting their daddies so Cody rolled quietly over, and sat up on the edge of the bed.
Ever since they’d brought the twins home, it seemed as if the Fates were giving him a break from experiencing any more visions, so Dylon didn’t need to use the magic cuffs on him anymore when he slept.
That was a relief, because for the first several weeks, the twins were up a number of times each night and it wasn’t always because they needed to be changed or were hungry.
Cody knew his babies were still feeling insecure due to all the rapid changes in their young lives, but the many hours he and Dylon spent bonding with them was finally paying off because they now slept through the night without the crankiness both had suffered from before.
Slipping on some pajama pants, Cody walked softly into the sitting room, where he hovered over Jessica’s portable crib.
When he saw his daughter looking up at him while chewing on a stuffed bunny her grandmother had given her, he felt a warm glow come over him.
“Good morning, sweetkins. Did you have wonderful dreams?” he murmured to her while checking her diaper.
“I bet you did! Let’s get you changed before your brother wakes up. ”
Tickling Jessica’s tummy, Cody was rewarded with a sweet smile and he began to sing his favorite song to her about a dragon, while changing her diaper.
Scooping her up, he buried his nose in the rolls of her chubby neck, inhaling the baby scent he loved so much.
So wrapped up was he in his daughter, he never heard Dylon sneak up on him from behind, hugging both him and Jessica, causing Cody to squeal in surprise.
“Good morning, babe,” Dylon said, his rough voice skittering over Cody’s body.
“Jumping jehoshaphats! Did you have to scare me this morning?”
“Jumping jehoshaphats? Where in the world did that come from? And why are you using it?”
“Because there’s no way I’m going to be responsible for our daughter swearing in front of your mother.”
“Uh-huh but how come you decided on that expression?” Dylon asked, taking two prepared bottles out of the mini fridge in the sitting room and putting them in the bottle warmer.
“I remembered an old member of our pack use to say that all the time. Colton, Carson and I used to hang out with him and he taught us all kinds of useful stuff…like how to track without using your wolf nose…stuff like that. So when I was trying to come up with a substitute for a swear word, that one popped into my head.”
“My mother can’t find fault with that,” Dylon laughed. “Here,” he said, handing Cody a warmed bottle before turning his attention to Jake, who was practicing rolling over. “C’mon little man, time for a change. Now remember what I told you…no peeing on Daddy.”
“Jackson wants to talk to us after breakfast about Fionn. Last night, he was attacked. Groose and his men got there just in the nick of time, but Logan believes Fionn’s father was behind the attack.”
“Was Fionn hurt?”
“No, but Logan thinks he’ll be safer if he’s here…less opportunity for him to be kidnapped.”
“I can’t believe his father would risk losing his own hoard over this.
There’s something missing here,” Dylon murmured, picking up his son and sitting down in the rocking chair with him.
“I must talk to Logan…I wonder if there are any photos of the men who assaulted Fionn…of course, I agree that Fionn would be safer here than in Edinburgh. When will he arrive?”
“Don’t know but I’m sure my brother will have all that information.”
“Good.” Dylon gazed at his son, thankful they were able to rescue him and his sister before they could be sold.
“You know, babe, every day I wake up, I’m filled with gratitude I have you and the twins in my life so when I hear what Fionn is going through, I just want to shake his father until he understands how lucky he is to have a son. ”
“Agreed, but I doubt it will do any good. Fathers like that will never appreciate what the Fates have given them,” said Cody sadly.
~/~/~/~/~
Waking up early, Dakota smiled as he listened to the even breathing of Slate—enjoying the quietness of a morning without having to rush to get breakfast started.
He felt so decadent the last few days; he could sleep late and enjoy a morning blow job or a fuck with his mate before taking a long shower where more sex was always on the agenda.
But it was coming to an end—his pack needed him.
With all the changes Slate told him about last night at dinner, Dakota was especially grateful for his gift since he knew it would have been impossible for him to handle the additional feelings from the new pack members that would join them.
And he was eager to have Theo back so they could continue their cooking lessons; he’d need his help during the last months of his pregnancy.
His hand moved down to his belly and rested over their bean, amazed at his feeling of protectiveness for something that didn’t even look like anything yet.
But there it was—like it had always been part of him—so strong and growing stronger still.
“Dakota?” Slate asked, his raspy voice igniting his mate’s desire.
“Good morning, mate,” Dakota murmured.
“Is it time to get up?”
“Nope, go back to sleep, babe. We have plenty of time before breakfast.”
“Love you,” Slate whispered, before drifting off again.
“Love you, too.” Dakota listened as his mate’s breathing became slow and even.
His thoughts then wandered back to the many decisions he and Slate would have to make starting with what day he wanted off, what suite they’d choose, and where the nursery would go.
Then they had to see Colton and Ian when they came back so he could get a check-up to make sure their bean was okay.
And the list went on, but Dakota wasn’t concerned because his mate was an expert at handling all of it.
All Dakota had to worry about was keeping his kitchen stocked and figuring out what to cook each day.
Moving back against Slate, Dakota loved feeling his mate’s naked body against his.
The warmth emanating from Slate caused Dakota to feel sleepy again.
Closing his eyes halfway, he inhaled his mate’s rich scent that reminded him of his mother, but this time the grief he’d suffered since the massacre was more muted, softer, with rounded edges that could no longer cut him.
And that’s when he realized he could remember some of their fun times, memories previously lost by being cursed with always having to feel his father’s hatred.
Smiling as he fell asleep, his dreams were filled with happy memories of his childhood and his mother—stitching back together the part of his heart that had been torn when he learned of her death.