Prologue
Enzo
Nico holds Trixie in his arms as we search for Leigh.
“Gaius, I know I should be grateful you saved my daughter, but I swear to your father these gifts you gave them are a little much. How are we supposed to find her?” Abbie cries softly behind her hands, trying to hide the sobs so as not to scare Leigh.
“I bestowed the gifts I saw they would need in life. Your inconveniences in raising them are not my problem to bear. If the knowledge that they will live full, long lives isn’t enough reassurance for you, I’m not sure what you want from me.
” The arrogant prick adjusts his cufflinks as if searching for a missing two-year-old in the Scottish Highlands was not worth his time.
“Fuck off. I’ll find her.” I shift into my hellhound form and howl into the night sky.
This is just like any other time I play hide-and-seek with my nieces while their parents are out having ‘alone time’.
“Enzo,” Nico calls after me, but I ignore him, catching Leigh’s scent.
I take off running in the direction her smell is coming from. I hear my other brother, Dario, howl, and I slow down so he can catch up.
Nico is going to kill us if anything happens to her.
I growl at the voice in my head.
Whose idea was it to watch that stupid movie with them tonight and then tell them Hogwarts was a real castle in Scotland?
That shuts him up, allowing him to concentrate on Leigh.
There!
Her tiny form shimmers in the moonlight as her giggle reaches my ear.
“Zio found Leigh!” she shouts, shifting back to her bouncing Goldilocks human form.
I shift back and raise her into my arms.
“You naughty little one. It’s past your bedtime, and we told you and Trixie no games tonight. Now Zio Enzo and Dario are in trouble with your Papa.” I pull on one of her curls, and her bottom lip wobbles.
“No trouble, Zio.” She lets out a cry that would break a normal man.
But I’m a hellhound, and her tricks do nothing to me. She can pull her hysterics with her parents, but I’m sticking to my guns and punishing them both for the headache they’ve caused.
Terrible twos with magical children are not for the weak.
We’re about halfway back to my brother and his frantic wife when Leigh finally cries herself to sleep in my arms. Nico’s massive hellhound form crashes through some brush and sees us with his twin daughter. He shifts back and takes her from my arms.
“You two are never babysitting again.” Dario lifts an eyebrow at me like he’s saying ‘I told you so’.
“I think what you meant to say is thank you. I told her we’d be in trouble, and she cried herself to sleep. So go ahead and punish us all.” Nico kisses Leigh’s forehead with a sigh.
“Parenthood is so fucking hard.” I roll my eyes at him.
“At least you only have two.” I point out since we’re triplets.
“Yeah, but add in their powers, and it’s like having a dozen.” He rubs his hair out of his eyes, and I snort.
“And all the gray hairs to prove it.” His eyes lift to mine, and he grins.
“I hope you have a dozen just like you,” Nico whispers into the night air, cursing us the best way he knows how.
I look at Dario and chuckle for both of us.
“That’ll be the day.”