Chapter 24

Chapter

Twenty-Four

W hat have I done?

What have I done?

What have I done?

He paced in the room that Gavin had given them, his eyes on fire. His head pounded where he'd been hit with a falling rock, and his belly danced a little with the baby kicking, echoing his agitation.

Hawk was going to be stuck here now.

And he was going to lose his mind.

His brothers were going to kill him, when he got right down to it. They were supposed to be guardians. The three of them. And he'd just messed it all up.

"Cosmo."

He jumped, almost slipping and falling. "Boss. I didn't hear you."

"No? I heard you." Gavin's voice was rich and familiar and fond. "How are you? You seem stressed."

"I am." He threw his hands in the air. "Hawk is trapped here now, and our house is out there." He waved toward the entrance to the house that faced the dragonlands.

Stressed didn't even begin to cover it, if he was honest.

He was scared. He didn't want to be scared. He wanted to be happy.

Gavin sat down in the easy chair next to the big bed. "How do you know he's trapped?"

"What? What do you mean?" He didn't follow.

"How do you know Hawk is trapped here? Have you tried to take him home?"

"No. No, do you think it'll work? If he can't, will it hurt him?"

"It shouldn't. I've tried." At his surprised look, Gavin chuckled. "You know me, kiddo. Say I won't. It just spat me back out here."

"Oh. I think he'll be happier if he can visit—here and his home, and I wanted you all to learn to love him."

"What can it hurt to try?" Gavin blinked at him. "You're really very pregnant."

"I really am."

"And you rescued the twins in the caves."

"I really did." He never even hesitated.

"You always were fearless."

"Not anymore." Cosmo put his hand on his belly. "But I had to go. They were so scared."

"Yes. Eagan's going to lock them in their rooms."

He chuckled. "I bet. They were also extremely contrite."

"Your mate went to seal up the cave entrance with Ty?"

"Temporarily, I hear, but yes."

Gavin nodded. "Smart move. No unauthorized exploring."

"No, they could have been terribly hurt." It made his heart ache.

"They're fine." Gavin rose. "So are you. Now, when your mate gets back, take a little walk."

"Right. Just try it. If not, I will live here with him. I love him."

"I can tell. And your brothers would be here and there as much as possible to be with you. In fact, new guardians might even be chosen." Gavin held up a finger when he would have protested. "Which is what leads me to believe that Hawk is more mobile than you think."

He tilted his head. "Oh. Oh, boss, that would be perfect. You don't know how I've worried about bringing a child into a house where it's trapped there. I want—I want him to know your babies. I want him to be able to play with Violet and Cordelia. And Leah and Esther. Ichi and Robin, Alex, all of them. I want him to know the twins. I want him to know Arielle. And little Sebby. Everybody. All the babies."

"You're going to give yourself palpitations or put yourself into early labor or something. You've got to calm down. Have you had some sort of a vision saying that everything was going to hell?"

The world seemed to stop at Gavin's words.

Then he saw it again.

The vampires.

The vampires are going to try to get through.

They're going to come through and try to infect the world. Infect all the worlds. What they've done was sunk into the house. And they want to come. And feed and feed and feed and feed.

His eyes were filled with crimson, and he couldn't breathe because there wasn't any air left, and he was gurgling, and the world was spinning and he needed to get out, and…

"Enough. That's enough. That's just enough." His brothers were there, holding his hands, and Hawk was there stroking his hair, and…

He was back where he belonged.

"Where did you go?" Corbin asked.

"I don't know, I was scared. Vampires are going to come."

"Here?" Corbin's eyes widened. "We fortified the house."

Hawk held him, then kissed his cheek. "We'll be ready for them, love. I vow it. We'll defend the lands. That's what you and your brothers are meant to do, and I am your mate."

It was as if the words wrote themselves in fire on the air. Hawk's immense store of magic swelled and burned, sealing the vow with a tiny flow of lava.

Cosmo had never seen anything like it, and as it winked out before it burned anything, he laughed, his chest feeling looser.

"You're amazing," he told Hawk. "I love you."

"I love you too. Together we can take on anything."

"And we made a baby."

"I'm going to barf." Cullin faked a spew of sparkling flowers.

Corbin chortled, grabbing one out of the air, and suddenly, it was a real flower. He handed it to Cosmo. "What do we always say? With us three, anything is possible."

He perked up. "You're right." He grabbed Hawk's hand. "Come on."

"What? Where are we going?"

"Don't ask questions, just come, and remember I love you!"

H awk jogged away with Cosmo, who was tugging him along like a small tugboat pulls an ocean liner. He didn't ask any more questions, however. He just moved down the stairs and to Gavin and Jules's front room.

Where there was an entire clutch of dragons.

"Uncle Cosmo!"

"Uncle Cosmo, you have to introduce us to your guy."

"You have to!"

"You need to!"

"You have to tell us who this is."

Little ones, mid-sized ones, big ones, all different colors. There were bubbles and bears and flying. And was that an owl?

Hawk blinked and just sort of stood there, frozen as he was absolutely and utterly surrounded in a rainbow of babies and gorgeous dragon magic.

"This is my mate; this is my mate. He is ours now. He is Corbin and Cullen's new brother and my mate. We're having a baby." Cosmo danced him about.

An amazing young lady with wild red curls and the barest spattering of black and red scales came up along with a rather large young man that had a very practiced stern face. "He's good though, yeah? You're going to be a good dad and a good mate. Right?" the young man asked.

"Cosmo chose him, of course. He'll be fine," the young lady snapped.

"You didn't even know him before now."

"Neither did you." Those red curls were tossed in a mass of aggravation.

"Yes, well…"

"And I'm older. I'm the eldest. I get to make the rules." She poked the boy's chest, making him grunt.

Another little girl moved up, riding a bear, and frowned at both of the other two who were arguing. "This is my uncle Cosmo. He met me first. I am going to be the godsister of the baby, and this is going to be the godbear. Esther, tell them."

The bear, who was not small under any stretch of the imagination, turned to the other two and roared.

That sent all the other little dragons into a tizzy as they rolled and tumbled and fought to get to Esther and love on her.

The young lady threw her hands up in the air. "Children." Then she held her hand out. "I am Arielle Drake. I'm the eldest of the Estes Park clutch's children. I'm very pleased to meet you."

Hawk shook her hand, sparks traveling up his arm, but he ignored them. "It's very nice to meet you as well. And you are?"

The young man also held out his hand. "I'm Sebastian. Everyone calls me Sebby. She's mean."

One of the elder dragons chuckled. "Sebby."

"What? It's true. She's bossy and she always tells everyone what to do, and she always thinks she knows everybody and everything."

"That's because I do know everything. You were raised in a barn."

"Arielle." Another dragon nation was heard from. "Please be polite."

"Fine, you were raised in a very nice barn."

Cosmo cracked up. "Guys. He's good, I promise. Come here and hug me. I have to take him to the house. I wanted him to meet you all first. Of course I will be back, I promise. Maybe we can all have supper. Together, a big pizza party."

Do they have pizza here? Hawk asked.

If not, we'll order pizza and we'll bring it over. Trust me, they're not worried. It's not unusual for me to order sixty pizzas at a time. Cosmo's eyes sparkled.

Good to know.

"Can I come with you?" the girl on the bear asked.

"No, Lia. Next time, you and Esther can walk with me as far as the casita, okay?"

She pouted but subsided quickly when Cullen made it rain a shower of illusion stars. "Make a wish!" Cullen said.

Cosmo tugged at his hand, and Hawk followed, the dragons parting like the proverbial Red Sea to let them through.

Cosmo did take him right back up to the entrance of their house, where he stopped, looking uncertain.

"I'll go first," Corbin announced.

"I'll go second!" That was Cullen.

"We'll go together." Cosmo grabbed his hand.

"All of us." He glanced at Cosmo. "When uncertain, I find it best to do it at a run."

Cosmo laughed, the sound full of wild magic. "Then let's go!"

Together, they sprinted toward the door, three colorful little dragon elves and him, and whoosh. They were in.

They all four blinked, and then the triplets let out a wild cheer that was unlike anything he'd ever heard.

That was the fae in them, that wild light, that fire. He had never seen anything quite like it, but his entire soul responded to the sound.

Hawk added a roar to the commotion, because this was truly his home now. He knew he wouldn't lose it if he went into the dragonlands, and he would be able to live with Cosmo as they needed to live. As Guardians.

Together.

And their children would be able to have friends, family, a wide support group.

It was more than he had ever expected.

It was heaven.

"We need to order those pizzas." Cosmo's eyes were filled with tears, but there was no unhappiness in them. That was pure joy. "We have a party to get to."