Chapter 22
Chapter
Twenty-Two
As it turned out, Kieran didn’t meet a good many of the wing until Halloween.
Between he and Lars competing to see who could be the most under the weather, the guardians gearing up for the time when the veil between worlds was thinnest, and Micah suddenly developing a temper —which brought his affinity to a messy fore— he was pretty well stuck in the house.
Still, it was Halloween, and he wasn’t going to miss Micah’s first one.
No way.
He checked to make sure he had all the things Micah would need, because it was chilly out there. His little costume, a full-maned lion, was fuzzy and warm, so that was fine. But he might get tired of it before the night was over. And they would have food out there, but he was still bringing snacks.
He was dressed as a tiger, which was great, because Lachlan was a bear.
Oh, my.
He grinned, grabbing some cinnamon candies to stuff in his pocket. He’d made sure his tiger pants had them for just that reason.
“Daddy! Bye-bye to Kay-Kay?”
He nodded. “We’re meeting your uncles and Kaden in the wing, baby boy. To get candy. Trick or treat, remember?”
“Twicky-tree!”
“That’s right.”
Micah clapped. “Kay!”
“Yep.” Trust Micah to be most excited about seeing Kaden.
Of course, Kaden was real, physical. Halloween was a myth. And Micah had yet to experience the magic of trick or treat.
“What else do we need?” Lachlan came in carrying Micah’s candy basket.
“Do you have the diaper bag and the stroller in the car?” He wasn’t going to panic. Lachlan was going to be there, Lars and Bryant, even Alban and Arthur. They were going to have a blast.
Dammit.
“I do.” Lachlan gave him a bright grin. “And I have all the stuff in case it snows on us. I have snacks. Alban packed us a nice big bag of some healthy stuff as well as cinnamon things for you.”
“I have cinnamon candies in my pocket,” Kieran said. “But I appreciate that.”
“I can never be too careful with my best man, my omega mate, and my little boy.” Lachlan was just beaming and Kieran thought this would be worth doing even if he was terrified rather than just a little nervous, which he wasn’t.
He didn’t feel like Lachlan was showing them off as much as he felt like his mate was hungry to get them integrated into the wing.
He knew Lachlan had opinions about how they needed to be a part of the wing, of the greater family of the dragons — not for Lachlan’s sake, but for his, and he thought mainly, mostly, for little Micah’s.
“Well, let’s go. We definitely do not want be late. It’s going to be so much fun.” Lachlan had gone for goofy bear ears and painted whiskers instead of a scary bear mask, which Kieran thought was the absolute cutest thing he’d ever seen.
His big, fierce guardian mate didn’t want to scare the children. He wanted them to know they were safe.
So sweet.
They all crowded into the vehicle, including Alban, and off they went. Wiver was curled around Micah’s legs and feet and was lying in the footwell on Micah’s side of the back seat. It was amazing how small he could make that long body.
Wiver didn’t like to leave Micah alone in any way, anywhere, anytime. He took his job as a protector very seriously.
Which was great, because he had a feeling Micah was going to start running faster than he walked at this point.
They headed out from the castle with Lachlan jabbering idly, and when it became clear Kieran was distracted and worried, he just turned on the radio.
The music was obviously some kids’ Halloween special station, and before he knew it, Kieran was singing along to the goofy songs and laughing, and he felt better.
Their first stop would be at the school, where there would be all sorts of games and bobbing for apples and trick or treats. Then they would go to Logan’s house, where all of the kids who were guardian kids would have another round of fun.
He didn’t think there were that many people in Oro Escondido until they parked at the school and his eyes widened at how many trunks there were for trunk or treat.
All the lights were on in the school and outside where they had set up the trunk-or-treat area.
It was all fairy lights and sparkly stuff.
“Wow.” Okay, that was surprising.
Lachlin smiled at him. “I know, isn’t it beautiful? I think everybody’s here. I just wanted you to meet your family.”
“I know my family.”
“Okay, so your extended family, your town.” Lachlan offered him a warm smile. “You realize how incredibly important you are to all of these people, don’t you?”
He shook his head. “Me? Why me?”
“You’re a guardian’s mate. Like Dakota, Samuel.”
He chuckled softly. “I can only imagine how much pressure Lars has.”
Lachlan nodded. “Lars is a miracle, like you. He made my brother happy. You made me whole. You gave me a family. Come on, let’s go play.”
Kieran relented. How could he not? “I’d love to. Let’s go.”
They gathered all the stuff they would absolutely need out of the car and left the rest for when they got to Logan’s house.
Micah was excited, singing a little song and bouncing about seeing his friends.
His little eyes were so wide because there was so much to see: all of the noise and lights and people in costumes but nothing was scary. It was all child appropriate.
“This is amazing, guys.” Kieran looked around. “Do you always do so much?”
Lachlan nodded. “Yeah, we tend to try to give the kids something special for the holidays, Halloween, Christmas, all of them. I know that you were with us last year, but everything was different.”
“It was.” He’d been hiding. Trying not to make waves. Scared.
But now he was brave, dammit. He was a guardian mate. That was enough to make him puff up a bit, to be proud.
“Come on, love. We’re going to be a menagerie, all three and a half of us.” Lachlan held out one arm, and he took it, waving to Alban, who was passing out candy for them.
Micah made a wild squealing noise. “Tweeeeet.”
“That’s right, baby boy. Oh! Look at the giraffe!”
“Da! Da! Raffi!” Micah lifted his little stuffed giraffe and waved it. “Raffi. Baby!”
Kieran chuckled. “That’s right. That’s a little giraffe. A giraffe baby.”
“Should we go say hi?” Lachlan led him over to the family with the giraffe. They also had a little girl with amazing blue scales and a feathered mane who was dressed as a pirate.
And then they were making the rounds, everyone greeting Kieran warmly either in Spanish or English, some dragons bowing to them, others hugging them tight. All of them exclaiming over Micah.
He couldn’t have been more proud.
Samuel, who he knew well, came up and hugged him, their bellies huge together, an older dragon following along beside him.
“Hey, you! I wanted to introduce you to Cerridwyn. She’s the principal at the school. We told her you might be able to teach an art class for the kids, and she wanted to meet you.”
“Oh, how lovely to meet you, Cerridwyn. I’m Kieran.”
She smiled, her grass green eyes so bright and fascinating. She was dressed as some sort of tree spirit, and he could tell his son was utterly fascinated with her. “I’ve heard a great deal about you. And this must be Micah.”
“He is. Say hello, Micah.”
Shy, suddenly, Micah only waved, opening and closing his little fingers in the way of toddlers. Like a blinking eye.
“Yes, hello, little one. You’re the cutest little lion ever.”
“Tank oo.”
“Listen to you!” Cerridwyn beamed. “I would love help with art classes.”
Kieran chuckled. “Well, I’m not sure I’m enough of an artist to—”
She waved a hand in an airy way. “Nonsense. You just need to love art. If you can instill that into the little ones, you’ve done a wondrous thing.”
“I—I mean, if you think it’ll help…”
“I know it will.” Her scales clattered, and the sound was merry, cheery. It was so obvious that she loved working with kids.
“I’d be happy to. Genuinely.”
“Come by the school, and we’ll make up a little schedule of classes. Maybe two half days?”
Suddenly he was nodding, agreeing to a job.
She wandered off, and he kind of blinked at Samuel and said, “Where are the kids?”
“With their father.” Samuel sounded so very practical. “Where they belong right now.”
Oh, he understood that a bit, and Grant was old enough and powerful enough to get into real trouble, so better to be with his alpha dad if he was feeling his wild oats. “One of those days, huh?”
“Yes.”
“Oops. Tough one. You don’t want to be too harsh because it’s a holiday.”
“Precisely, but he needs to know I don’t want to be part of it.” Samuel winked. “So. He is with the alpha dad.”
“Well, do you want to go get a hot cider? I saw a little kiosk that was selling them.”
“That’s our in-wing coffee shop. The best lattes in town are there — decaf and leaded.” Samuel seemed as if he knew what he was talking about no question.
“Well, the hot cider sure smells amazing. I’d love some.” He knew Lachlan stopped by here a lot because he enjoyed supporting local businesses.
Kieran imagined his mate had been way more social before he’d been hurt.
“Perfect. They’ll be okay without you for a moment?”
“They will, and I’m happy to go with you. Get some of my own.”
Samuel smiled at him and nodded, and they headed back toward the little kiosk that was decorated in yellow and purple lights, with hay bales and pumpkins. “The lady who runs the coffee shop knows Lach really well.”
Kieran chuckled. “I don’t doubt that one bit. He loves his fancy coffees. And he’s not picky about where he gets them. Logan gets them out on the strip sometimes. Alban makes them. Or he gets them here in the wing.”
He watched Lachlan and Micah greeting other families.
His mate seemed so happy, introducing his son around, making sure everybody met little Micah. It was a huge honor for Lachlan, and of course Micah was over the moon, being with his papa.
“It’s amazing to me how many people are here.”
Samuel nodded. “It’s a nice, solid wing. It has to be, to need six guardians, right? We have the water, and we have a good, workable system. It’s lovely. I see why my sister loved it here.”