Chapter 27
Cain
“So,” Talon asked, “make any headway with Nyx?”
It was early the next evening, and we were sipping whiskey on his battered leather couch.
Talon had handed Jude off to me so he could kick back on the couch, and the little guy had fallen asleep on my shoulder, gumming my collarbone.
My white button-up shirt had a damp spot from his drool, but whatever. It would wash out.
I wasn’t wired for families, for fatherly love.
That had been burned out of me at a young age.
But when Jude snuffled and resumed gnawing like I was his favorite chew toy, something a lot like love smacked me in the heart.
The last, jagged edges I’d carried since his birth—loss, jealousy, the dull ache of being on the outside—smoothed out.
I cupped Jude’s small round head and met Talon’s eyes.
“She’s good. We’re talking.”
My mouth tugged up before I could stop it. Last night we’d talked for hours, broken up by her drawing a version of me in velvet and a crown, then sending the poor bastard into battle against murderous pixies.
“Talking?” Talon smirked. “S’that what the kids call it these days?”
My eyes narrowed a fraction. “Yeah, talking.”
“And?”
I glared at him over Jude. “Since when do we gossip about women?”
“Since my best friend forgot all his charm and kidnapped his mate.”
“I didn’t say she was my mate.”
Talon snorted. “You’re mooning around like a teenager with his first crush.”
“The hell I am.”
He just lifted his brows.
“Seems like I remember you doing the same thing,” I muttered.
“That’s why I know the signs.”
I feathered my fingers over Jude’s soft curls. “Well, I made some headway with her. We’re not there yet, but…”
Talon lifted his whiskey to me. “My money’s on you, bro.”
“Thanks.” I put my glass on the coffee table and shifted Jude to my other shoulder.
He mumbled in protest, eyelids fluttering.
Talon came to his feet. “Let me put him down. I want Eden to get some sleep before he wakes up for his next feed.”
I handed the baby over. “Anytime you need help with him, just say the word. I like holding the little guy. I don’t even mind him chewing on my shoulder, even if he has the jaws of a baby shark.”
Talon’s cheek creased. “Now I’m really worried. Who are you and what’ve you done with my best friend?”
When my mouth flattened, his smile only widened. “I like the new you,” he said and headed into the bedroom with Jude.
When he returned, he refilled our glasses and sprawled onto the chair next to the couch, legs outstretched on the copper-and-gray rug.
I rolled my glass between my fingers. “You know I’d do anything for you, man? You and the little dude and Eden, too.”
His thick brows climbed. “Of course I know, you ass.”
“Just making sure.”
I took a long pull of whiskey, then almost choked as the phone in my pocket buzzed. Nyx’s phone.
I put down the glass and shot to my feet. “Nazaire must’ve got back to us.”
One look at the screen and my heart dropped to the soles of my shoes. “That motherfucker.”
Talon was up instantly. I angled the phone so he could see the photo—a woman in a cell.
His jaw hardened. “Do you know who that is?”
I met his eyes. “No. But I bet Nyx does.”
“Hades,” he muttered.
I pocketed the phone. “Brien and Twilight need to see this. And then I’ll have to show Nyx.”
He shoved his feet into low boots. “We’ll both go.”