Chapter 23
Chapter
Twenty-Three
Lachlan hadn’t looked forward to the holiday season so much in decades, he thought.
Definitely not over the last five or six years.
Before he’d come to Oro Escondido, he had been so incredibly harried and stressed and busy all the time.
He hadn’t been able to enjoy them even with his brother Bryant.
After he’d come to Oro, he’d been scarred and injured and sad.
This year, he felt like he could take on the world. He had his mate to help him plan family things at their home. He had Micah to give gifts to and experience wonder with. And he had Alban, who was the perfect house dragon for them, helping them plan menus and find the Christmas decorations.
Not that they would decorate the tree until right after Thanksgiving, but it was coming and Lachlan felt anticipation welling up in his chest every day.
“We’ll have to go look for a tree soon,” he told Kieran a couple of days before Thanksgiving.
Kieran’s eyes went wide. “We’re not going cut one down are we? I don’t like the idea of killing trees just for the yule.”
“Oh no of course not. We’ll go to Joe Garza’s lot. He has trees in pots and then we can plant it after Christmas.”
Kieran relaxed. “Oh, that makes me feel better. You scared me.”
“No love, on this we’re aligned. No killing trees for our decorations. Yule is supposed to be about bringing back the light.”
Kieran chuckled softly. “No wonder it’s my birthday, hmm?”
Lachlan loved that his mate was the embodiment of light, and he was excited to celebrate the holiday and Kieran all at the same time.
Kieran’s birthday was going to be a separate party, one that celebrated his sweet love and the light that he brought into Lachlan’s life.
“So what’s on the agenda today, love?” Kieran stretched, putting his hands on his lower back and bending, which sort of made his belly show that much more.
“I have to do some rounds and then I thought we would sit down with Alban and finish up the menu since we’re doing Thanksgiving at our house this year.
” The menu was mostly finalized but they needed to make sure Alban had the last-minute requests from pretty much everyone, which was hysterical.
Like they had to make sure they had the right kind of marshmallows to put on top of Lars’s sweet potatoes.
“That sounds like a good idea. I am looking forward to all the munchies.”
Lachlan nodded. “One of the things I want to do is make sure that there’s enough for the kids to do.” He shook his head. “We do have the ball pit, but maybe some art projects, like dough ornaments or, oh, finger painting.”
Kieran shook his head. “Let’s not do finger painting. I tried that with my classes, and no.”
“Uh-oh.” He hadn’t heard about that but sometimes Kieran didn’t tell him about all the disasters. He would cherry pick one or two funny stories. Apparently art with mostly elementary school age kids was… messy. “Okay well maybe we should do things that don’t involve goo.”
Kieran shook his head. His expression was comically mournful. “Everything involves either glue or glitter, and glitter is even worse.” His eyes took on a haunted cast. “But that’s okay. We’ll set up a safe area for it.”
Lachlan bit back a laugh. “At least here at home you have me and Alban to help you clean up and Wiver seems to be able to ingest glitter without any issues whatsoever. He could be a glitter vacuum.”
“You are strange and unusual.”
Lachlan nodded, trying to sober up and be serious. “I am. I admit it. But I do love the fact that Wiver can do that.”
“Oh, I know, he’s amazing. And that tongue, it’s kind of bizarre.”
He had noticed that particular appendage last night when Wiver had— from the floor— snatched a piece of hot dog out of Micah’s hand while he was in his high chair. He’d caught it gently between his fingers and tugged and told Wiver no. One had to set boundaries, even with a familiar.
He wasn’t one hundred percent sure Wiver believed him…
Maybe eighty percent.
Wiver always minded Kieran better than him. Lachlan supposed he was the softie papa, not the more gentle but firm omega dad.
It was actually a little amazing. He loved how they were becoming a family, a—
He frowned, his head tilting.
Lachlan. Lachlan, someone’s at the coffeeshop asking about Kieran and Micah.
Amber’s voice was lined with stress.
What? Who? He stood from where he and Kieran had been sitting at the kitchen table, grabbing his phone to text Logan and Bryant. It was hard to have more than one mental conversation at a time sometimes.
some1 @ coffeeshop asking ?? about Kieran
What? Who?
I don’t know. Dragon. Your age. Skinny. Desperate.
What’s his name?
“Love, what is it?” Kieran looked very concerned, but Lachlan just shook his head, trying to find out as much information as he could before he told Kieran what was going on.
Amber was gone for several seconds, maybe a minute, then she came back. His name is Gareth.
Lachlan texted that to the others and then turned to look at Kieran. “Love, I don’t want you to panic but there’s somebody at the coffee shop out on the strip asking for you. Amber says his name is Gareth.”
Kieran’s eyes went wide. “That’s Micah’s…”
“No. We’re Micah’s fathers. Right now he’s just a sperm donor.” Lachlan wasn’t going to acknowledge this man until he had to.
Kieran nodded, his jaw firming up. “Right. Right. But that’s who he is.”
“Do you wish to see him, or should Logan move him along?”
“What does he want?”
So, he had to relay the question all over to everyone.
He says he wants to talk to Kieran.
Lachlan thought this was a terrible idea.
“He wants to talk to you.”
Kieran shook his head, but then he bit his lip. “Maybe I should. If he has news about his family, and if they’re going to be coming here…”
His instinct was to shout, to deny, to forbid.
But that wasn’t what he and Kieran had. They had the kind of trust where he didn’t have to worry about Kieran going in to see someone and getting hurt or getting taken.
Kieran would let him deal with setting up the meeting if that was what his mate wanted.
Kieran turned those big eyes on him. “If someone brings him through, can he come through the wards? Like a one-turn exception?”
“Yes, Logan could escort him.”
“I think that’s the safest. That way, I don’t have to leave the wards. I want to stay with you. Lars can watch Micah.”
Keep him there, he told Amber.
Logan can you go get him? We’ll let him come in only with you, and Kieran will send Micah to Lars.
Are you sure, Lach?
Yes. We find out what he needs, then we make him leave.
Where do you want him?
He didn’t know if he wanted the dragon here, but every one of the other guardians had children, so this space was safest.
Here, but I need you to stay.
Of course. I’ll bring him in. You get Micah to Lars.
“Alban! I need you to fly Micah to Lars. Now.” He bellowed it, not willing to make it sound anything less than urgent.
“Yes, sir.” Alban grabbed Micah and Wivern in a single armful, their little one confused and unhappy.
“Da?”
“Go with Alban. Daddy will be there in a few minutes.”
Micah’s little face screwed up like he was going to cry, but Lachlan looked at him. “I need you to be strong for me, my boy, it’s going to be fine but Daddy needs you to go help Lars and Kaden, okay?”
“K?”
“He’s going to be there and he’s going to need you, yes?”
Micah straightened his little shoulders, sitting up in Alban’s arm. “Yes. Go.”
Alban nodded, immediately striding outside. The whomp of giant wings sounded as he took off to fly.
“They’re going to be okay,” Kieran said, as if he was trying to convince himself.
“They’re going to be fine. Alban is fierce and Lars is one of the best guardians in the wing, especially for children; he’ll make sure they’re safe.” Lachlan opened his arms as Kieran walked into them. “I worry more about you.”
Kieran cuddled in close, lying on him for just a moment. “I’m not. I need to see what the hell he wants, find out what he knows about my abduction, and then I’ll send him on his way.”
“Good deal, love.” He squeezed his mate hard, all of his growly alpha instincts engaged.
Kieran chuckled against his chest, then pushed him away. “Stop it. I can hear it coming up through your body, the noises. You’re ready to just grind him into dust.”
“I am. He got you pregnant, and then he left you high and dry for somebody to use you as some sort of revenge plot.”
“Yeah, I have to admit, it wasn’t great…”
Lachlan snorted, and then they started to laugh, the sound without any humor.
“His family is powerful and awful. He wasn’t strong, he didn’t know how to fight them, and—”
“Don’t make excuses for him. You and Micah almost died.”
“Do you think I could have had a love affair with someone who would kill my son?”
What was he supposed to say to that? He didn’t, but—
“And don’t forget, if he hadn’t left me, I probably wouldn’t be here with you now.”
That was unfair, using that against him. Was he supposed to be grateful to this Gareth guy for abandoning Kieran to his tender mercies?
Kieran gave him a sweet smile and reached up to stroke his cheek. “And they are tender mercies. I love you so much. Trust me, he means nothing to me except that we share a connection through Micah.”
“I’m not worried about you. I know you’re my mate. I’m worried about my family’s safety.” Lachlan shook his head. “We’re not going to let him have access to Micah. Right?”
Kieran chewed his lip. “I’d rather not—”
“Good.”
Kieran sighed softly. “But it’s not an absolute. Micah is biologically his son. We don’t have proof Gareth did anything wrong.”
“We don’t have proof he didn’t.” He didn’t understand why Kieran wasn’t more pissed off.
“I hear you, but we will, right? If Logan can bring him through the wands?”
Oh.
That was a comfort. If this Gareth wanted to cause Kieran or Micah real harm, the wards would hold.
“Exactly. It all depends on what happens now. You know there’s a reason he’s here. I need to find out what that is and react appropriately.”
Kieran sounded so logical, but Lachlan could feel the tension in his mate’s body and he knew how much stress this was putting on his lover.
We’re coming in, Logan told him. We passed the river without a blip. I’m driving him, so it’ll be about twenty minutes.
Perfect.
Lachlan smiled at Kieran. “Why don’t you go get the front room ready for us to meet with him? I’m going to make sure the wards around our house are solid. Logan says we have about twenty minutes.”
“The front room is just fine. Alban cleaned it this morning. I’d rather help you with the wards. I want to see what it is you do.”
His eyebrows went up, but Lachlan nodded, “Fair enough. Come on we’ll start with the front door.”
He walked Kieran through the magical process of strengthening the wards that would keep things with evil intent out of their house.
Kieran would use different magic in order to create such a ward because he was a light dragon, but that would be just as strong, possibly stronger than what Lachlan could do.
They worked on all the doors and windows and then headed upstairs quickly to strengthen the ward over top of the house from one of the turrets.
By the time they were done with that, he could hear the crunch of gravel on their drive as Logan pulled in with his big SUV. So they went to stand in the foyer and wait, holding hands, giving each other strength and comfort.
Kieran took a deep, deep breath when the car door opened and a man stepped out, Logan coming around from the other side and taking his arm in a firm grip and leading him toward the front door.
“Is that him?” Lachlan asked.
Kieran nodded, brows lowering in a deep frown. “It is him but he doesn’t look good. He’s almost skeletal, and he has new lines on his face.”
Lachlan studied the guy as he came to the front door. Through the slight distortion of the windows on either side of the door, he could tell that Gareth was almost gray and his lips were set in a hard, unhappy line.
Lachlan answered the door then stepped back, allowing Logan to bring Gareth inside their house.
Please. Please don’t be a mistake.
He let Kieran take over then, because it was up to his omega what they gave this man. Period.