Chapter 3
Chapter
Three
Kieran packed a baby bag for little Micah and made sure he was dressed in clean clothes that didn’t have any holes in them. He checked his hair one more time in the mirror, noting that his eyes looked haunted and worried but there was not much he could do about that.
Today was the day he was going to take Micah down into the main house. He was going to meet Kaden’s dads, who were Lachlan’s brother, Bryant, and his mate, Lars. It was possible he’d met them way back at the beginning, but he didn’t really remember it.
He went to pick up Micah and then the bag and went to the main door of their little apartment. He stopped there, hand on the doorknob, and he wasn’t sure if he could do it. He wanted to but he was so scared.
It was little Micah, though, who got him to turn the knob and head out the door. He’d had so much fun with his new friend.
The baby dreamed about it at night, babbled mentally about it all day long, and he couldn’t bear not letting Micah have this.
It was only fair.
Lachlan was waiting outside the door when he opened it. “Hey, I thought maybe you’d like a hand carrying the baby. You look amazing.”
He smoothed his braid and felt his cheeks heat. “Thank you. I’m very nervous.”
“I bet you are. I would be too. I was… I’m relatively new to this wing, but Bryant and I were together, though, so I was never totally alone.”
“I’m not either. I have you.” It popped out before he could even think about it, but he felt as though it were true.
“You do.” Lachlan took the bag of supplies and put one hand on the small of his back, warm and firm, that huge hand spanning most of the space there. “You’ll love Lars. He’s very funny. He cooks a lot. He laughs a lot. He lives in a house that looks like a fairy tale castle.”
He frowned over. “Like yours?”
“No, no, no.” Lachlan got them moving down the stairs. “Like a cottage with gingerbread and colors. Mine is more traditional, a castle with a ball pit.”
“A ball pit?”
Lachlan nodded his head. “A ball pit for the babies. We love when the babies come to visit. I love children, ergo ball pit.”
“Oh.” He knew what that was, theoretically. He’d seen the Big Bang Theory episode, after all. But he’d never been in one. “Is that safe?”
“It is. Absolutely. We actually clean it out every time the kids use it for any length of time and sanitize everything because, you know, kids.” Lachlan grinned at him.
“It’s very hard to lose a dragon baby in a ball pit.
If they get worried, they just set one of the balls on fire, melt it, and then you see them. ”
He stared at Lachlan, a little concerned, but Lachlan winked at him, obviously teasing.
“Okay, well, I think when Micah is a little bigger, he might like that.”
Lachlan nodded. “He might. Kaden’s not quite big enough for the ball pit yet. The twins, both sets, they’re big enough, and so is Grant. Little Gwyn, she’s not sure about the whole thing. She just likes to watch.”
“There are a lot of children.”
“There are lots, and it’s exciting because we’re all very close and related.”
Kieran wasn’t sure how he felt about that, either. He was the outsider, but Kaden had been so good with Micah… Maybe they would all be happy to accept him and his baby into the family, just as Lachlan was…
He made his feet move, one after the other. Made his stiff lips smile for Micah.
“I promise this will be okay. You’re safe here. The man who hurt you?” Lachlan stopped and met his eyes, and they were so beautiful, so strong. “That man? Lars killed him.”
His eyes went wide, and he gasped. “He did?”
Lachlan nodded. “It wasn’t me. I was here, taking care of you. It was him. He was pregnant with Kaden.”
“Oh, goddess.” He was going to pass out.
“You are safe here with us. You are safe here.”
“I—I want to be.” Was that a stupid thing to say? It was what came out, and he meant it. He could believe in Lachlan. If he said the bastard that had tried to kill them was gone, then he was gone.
So he moved with more enthusiasm.
Everyone was in a little family room, the furniture simple and solid, comfortable and cushy. It made him smile because Bryant looked like Lachlan. Not exactly, but enough —it was obvious they were brothers, big strong alphas.
Lars, on the other hand, was beautiful — this quicksilver, lean man with a mane of hair and a bright laugh. It was impossible to believe that he could have possibly hurt anyone ever.
Lachlan smiled and drew him in. “Guys, this is my friend Kieran, and this is little Micah.”
Kaden blinked up and waved, little fingers opening and closing hysterically. It was so cute.
“Would you like to go see Kaden?”
Micah looked to Kieran as if asking if it was all right, if he should be frightened, and so he made himself put on a brave face.
“He’s your friend, remember? And these are his dads.” He tried to release all the tension in his body.
Micah cooed, reaching toward Kaden. Yep. That was good. So he went to take Micah to the blanket where Kaden was playing.
The two boys made noises and reached for each other, and he smiled down at them, so proud of his baby boy. Then he wiped his hands on his pants and turned to face the adults.
“Hello. I’m Kieran. I’m sorry if we’ve met before and I don’t remember.”
Bryant rose, coming to kiss his cheeks, one after the other. “Pleased to meet you, Kieran.”
“I am too. So tickled.” Lars smiled at him, and the look was absolutely open and warm, relaxing him.
Kieran nodded and smiled on autopilot. He hoped it met his eyes, because he was scared but willing to be friends. In fact, Lars had this energy that made him want to hold out his arms and get a hug.
“Come on, have a sit. I think they’re going to be fast friends.” Lars motioned to the babies, who were well — it looked like they were playing. They were passing toys back and forth and babbling. It was actually very comforting to hear Micah use his voice.
It had felt as if that was never going to happen.
He sat there because he didn’t really know what else to do.
Once upon a time, he’d been social; he’d made small talk. He’d known just what to say when there wasn’t anything to say.
It seemed to be okay with Lars though. He just kept talking about nothing really, but it wasn’t irritating. It was kind of pleasant to not have to come up with anything.
In fact he could just let things flow, and Lachlan was laughing and smiling with his brother and with Lars, and Kieran got to see him sort of in his natural milieu.
He loved it. He loved the look on Lachlan’s face when Bryant teased him. He adored the laughter when Lars accused Lachlan of hoarding all the pastries. It was loud and genuine and just joyful. Kieran could remember joyful. It had just been a very long time since he actually felt that way.
But he could see that being the case here if he let it. He just needed to soak it in and breathe with it for a little while and listen to Micah squeal when Kaden handed him a stuffed rabbit.
At one point Lachlan came to sit next to him. His presence was huge and warm and comforting. “How are you doing?”
“I’m okay. I’m trying to be anyway. This is nice. You were right about Lars.” He glanced at Lars, who was talking animatedly to Bryant, his hands waving in the air.
“And Micah looks happy,” Lachlan pointed out. “They seem to be having a really good time.”
Kieran nodded. The babies were lying on their sides, face to face, looking for all the world like they were talking to one another. He assumed that there was nappage very, very close in their timeline, but he didn’t know.
“Kaden likes him.” Lars gave him a happy smile. “Seriously, he thinks Micah is neat. When I told him we were coming, he was very excited.”
His eyebrow lifted. “Do you think he understands?”
“Oh yes, absolutely. He knows we are coming to Uncle Lockie’s.”
Kaden burbled. “Lockie, Lockie, Lockie.”
“That’s right, and he was telling me all about the baby. He was rocking his little baby doll and singing to it. They’re going to be fast friends.”
Bryant winked around. “I think we’re going to try to have another one—”
“Oh!” Lachlan clapped.
Lars shook his head. “But not quite yet. I’d like to have a little bit more breathing space in between than my brother Logan did. He has two sets of twins, and they’re very close together. They are very, very, very. At least the girls.”
Lachlan chuckled softly. “Don’t malign my babies.”
“Yes, they do love their Uncle Lockie.” Lars chuckled and leaned forward. “The boys are very sweet and gentle and very much more like their omega father than they are their wildly head of the entire wing dad. That’s the girls. They’re going to take over the wing one day. I have no doubt.”
Lars nodded. “You see, there’s six guardians — Bea who you haven’t met. She’s very fierce and kind of solitary, and then her mate, Mickey, and their child, who is also very, very solitary. Then there’s my brother Logan, who is the head of the wing’s guardians.
“There’s me, my brother—” Lachlan said.
Bryant waved.
“Lars, and then Jake, who has two children, Grant and Gwyn.”
Kieran blinked. “So both you and Logan are guardians? That must be frightening, especially if you both are called at the same time.”
Lars nodded to him. “Yes, it is, because that means that someone has to take Kaden if we’re both called out, but fortunately we have a very peaceful wing.”
Kieran blushed and rolled his eyes. “Until me.”
“Well, yes, until you, except somewhere there was a very serious lack of communication.”
Kieran sighed. He hated disrupting things for others. He really did.
Stop. You’re not a problem at all. Lachlan reached over to touch his hand, smiling.
“It’s not a communication problem with you, but—” Bryant shrugged. “The assassin, for what it’s worth, he said that he was here to kill you, that he was going to kill you, the baby, and Lachlan because Lachlan got you pregnant.”
He’d been told this, and it was as ridiculous now as it had been the first time Lachlan had explained it.