18. Date Night

18

DATE NIGHT

Hadley was missing when Telos did a head count, shortly after he left the bathroom. “Where’s my other annoying brother?”

“I sent him on an errand,” Mav said, brushing past him in a rush of tingles.

“To get food?” Telos asked hopefully.

Raptor scoffed. “You spent so much time fucking, we ate your share of the takeout.”

Mav winced. “Ah, crap. No, I didn’t send him to get food.”

Telos whirled around with a scowl. “Then what did you send him out for?”

“That’s not for you to know yet.” Mav shrugged placidly, which only raised Telos’ hackles.

“‘Yet’. Which means I can know now,” Telos muttered.

“Nope.”

“Fucker. At least make him get dinner while he’s out.”

“You could send your own butler,” Mav said.

“Hilly-Billy’s watching Estie.”

“Hilly-Billy is also sticking around to keep an eye on you,” the butler said with a huge wink.

Telos flipped him off and turned back to Mav. “Besides, you’re the one responsible for food; you were—” He cut himself off before the rest of the words fell out of his mouth. You were the one pounding me into the bed.

It was enough to make him flush. Mav’s mouth curved into a sinful smile. And three phones came out, their owners typing furiously into them.

“What the hell is with all the phones?” Telos demanded.

None of them answered him. They were all dickwads.

“I want Thai food,” Telos said primly to Mav.

Mav pursed his lips. “I was going to order burgers.”

“Burgers are not as tasty,” Telos grumbled.

“They are if you add enough pickles, bacon, and mustard.”

“Only weirdos like mustard.”

“You’re just uncultured,” Mav said.

Duke snapped his fingers before Telos could get in another word. “We’re leaving in an hour and a half. Sort out your crap before then.”

Telos bared his teeth at Mav, who bared his teeth back.

Well, it was time to pull out the big guns.

Telos jabbed a finger at his abdomen. “ You knocked me up, and the baby wants Thai.”

The room went so quiet, Telos could hear someone’s stomach rumble. Probably his own.

“Fine.” Mav pulled out his phone, tapping into it. But the corner of his lips twitched into a tiny smile, and he didn’t even look mad when he tucked his phone away.

Ignoring the flutter in his chest, Telos looked away—only to catch Uriel watching them, an envious longing on his face.

Huh.

Uriel turned to his baby when he saw Telos looking, the tips of his ears growing pink.

What was that? When Uriel didn’t explain himself, Telos went to Hilly-Billy, scooping Estie out of his brother’s arms. She blew a spit bubble and stuffed her whole hand into her mouth.

“I hope Mav is getting you a present, sweetheart,” he cooed at her. “He might be showing up a bit more since he made you a sibling. In fact, he better get on your good side, fast.”

Mav hurriedly pulled out his phone, tapping into it again. Telos grinned.

Hadley returned before Telos could attempt to get on Mav’s nerves. To Telos’ surprise, he had Telos’ favorite dishes from the Thai place: Pad Thai, and a container of spicy seafood soup.

“You know my favorites?” Telos asked suspiciously.

Hadley waggled his eyebrows. “I only bought what Dragon Master ordered me to.”

Telos whirled around on Mav, who was staring fixedly at his phone. “Don’t pretend you didn’t hear that.”

Mav looked up, his mouth pulling into a sheepish smile. First the breakfast food, and now this.

How long had he been paying attention to Telos? These were all things he couldn’t have found out during this mission. Telos flushed, grabbing the food containers and stomping back to where he’d left Estie.

“You should put some pickup lines in the fortune cookies,” Hadley whispered loudly.

“Thai food doesn’t come with fortune cookies,” Mav said dryly.

“My restaurant gives them out,” Raptor said. “Even though it’s culturally inappropriate.”

Crush frowned. “Are you trying to offend people?”

“Hey, customers ask for them.” Raptor shrugged. “Besides, who doesn’t like to open fortune cookies?”

“We should make fortune cookies with pickup lines,” Hilly-Billy said excitedly. “Dick-shaped fortune cookies with the fortunes sticking out of their tips. They’ll sell out so fast. We can even supply your restaurant with our special pickup line fortune cookies. So many romantic dates will be a success because of them.”

Telos’ teammates coughed.

Hadley pulled out his phone. “I’m going to tell our brothers. We’ll cut a deal with Dicky Mems, and his pickup lines will spread across the world. ”

Mav grimaced. Telos fully expected him to murder Hadley’s dreams right there.

But Mav took one look at Telos, and sighed. “Sure, email the pickup line author. Why not?”

Hadley beamed like he’d been filled with a million stars, and Telos melted. Mav was being nice. Nice.

He wandered over and bumped their shoulders together. “Better start eating, or we’ll be running out the door with noodles hanging out of our mouths.”

Mav snorted. “ You’ll be the one doing that, not me.”

Telos flipped him off and attacked his own food.

Duke sat down with them to go over the revised plans again. Telos listened, half-watching the sky darken beyond the broken windows.

With each tick of the clock, the team grew more restless, eager to begin their mission.

Then, finally, Duke nodded. “It’s time.”

Ace and Raptor leaped up to check them out of the hotel. Mav and Crush did a sweep of the rooms to make sure nothing had been left behind—Uriel and the butlers were taking the babies to another hotel they’d booked for the night. Telos helped to carry the bags out, before stopping by the spelled car with Uriel, the butlers, and the babies. “Stay safe, all of you.”

“We will,” Uriel said.

Telos clapped him on the shoulder. Then he got into Mav’s rental car, his blood thumping in his veins.

As one, all four cars moved out of the parking lot. They followed Uriel’s car first, waiting until Uriel, Hadley, and Hilly-Billy had checked into the new hotel and moved their things into their rooms. Uriel gave the signal when they were done—a text on their phones.

And now the mission was truly underway.

Duke and Ace took the lead in their car, followed by Crush and Raptor. Telos and Mav brought up the rear.

Even though he wasn’t driving, Telos kept his eyes on the road. He leaned across the center console, though, nudging Mav’s arm. “Do you feel ready?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be.”

“Date night, date night,” Crush, Ace, and Raptor chanted from the other cars.

“Shut up,” Duke growled.

Mav snorted. “Way to pressure those omegas, guys.”

“We’re not,” Crush protested. “It’s just a meeting.”

“A very violent meeting, with many kidnapper deaths,” Ace pointed out. “That makes it...”

“...A blind date with violence!” Ace and Raptor sang in perfect synchrony, even though they were in two different cars.

“Date night, date night,” Crush added.

Duke sighed loudly from the first car.

“Don’t pretend, you want a date too,” Crush said.

“Shut up,” Duke retorted.

Telos turned on the radio to the only station he and Mav could agree on, lowering the volume so they could barely hear it. Even so, Mav began tapping his fingers on the steering wheel in time with the music. After a while, he began mouthing the lyrics, too.

Telos stared. “You know the lyrics.”

Mav frowned. “Why can’t I?”

“You didn’t sing on the trip to Uriel’s.”

“I wasn’t sure if you were going to laugh at me.”

Telos winced. “Well, I won’t now. It’s actually... It’s kind of adorable, when you sing along to the radio.”

Mav’s eyebrows went up. “I didn’t see you singing.”

“I didn’t want you to laugh at me.”

Mav snorted and shook his head. “I won’t.”

“Fine.”

“Fine.”

They sat in silence through three songs, awkwardly, until Telos’ new favorite song came on and he did a shimmy in his seat. “ So wonderful, so beautiful, ” he sang, louder as he grew more confident. “ You’re the one thing that’s too good to be true. ”

“ So majestic, so fantastic, ” Mav joined in, low and rumbling, his voice sending a shiver down Telos’ spine. “ I don’t want to hide my feelings in the attic. ”

No one’s going to talk about feelings, Telos decided. Out loud, he asked, “You know this song?”

Mav scoffed. “You’re not the only one with a radio.”

Then the chorus came on, and they both sang, “ One love, one wish. I’d be anything for you, even a fish. My heart is pure and my love is true, for you I’d be as stubborn as a mule. ”

Telos couldn’t help grinning; Mav was singing in the car with him.

“Gag,” Raptor said in the other car. “That was too much.”

“Shut up,” Mav told him. “You’re the one going on and on about date night.”

“Date night, date night,” Crush chanted again.

“We’re getting close,” Duke growled.

Telos and Mav straightened. Duke gave the signal; he and Ace branched off from the highway. Some time later, Crush and Raptor took the next exit. Then it was Telos and Mav’s turn; they went down a deserted side road followed by a gravel path, driving for a while before pulling onto the road shoulder. Mav killed the engine.

It was silent in the car for a few moments, the engine ticking.

“Worried?” Telos asked quietly.

Mav pursed his lips. “A little, yeah. About you.”

Telos wanted to roll his eyes. But every mission carried a risk, more so now that he had a new life in his belly. He couldn’t run headlong into danger like he was used to doing. “I’ll keep the baby safe.”

Mav breathed out. “Please.”

Both of them stepped out of the car, tossing their clothes into the trunk. Mav shifted into a golden dragon; Telos joined him in the air as a smaller pterodactyl, a black one to blend easier into the night.

“Got your spells?” Mav rumbled.

“They’re in my pouch.” Uriel had charmed a small leather bag for Telos; it would shrink and expand with his body as he shifted.

Telos took the lead, turning them in the direction of the kidnappers’ hideout. In the distance, two other shapes appeared in the sky: Ace carrying Duke, Raptor carrying Crush.

They approached the hideout carefully, quietly, circling it from high in the sky to avoid detection. One by one, the pairs landed and moved through the forest to the compound’s boundary walls.

“So far so good,” Telos whispered into his enchanted mic when he’d done an audio sweep. “Nothing out of the ordinary.”

Mav stepped closer, grasping Telos’ arm. “Stay safe.”

Telos nodded. He was about to shift when Mav pressed their bodies together, touching his nose to Telos’ jaw.

“Don’t get hurt.”

Telos’ heart skipped a beat. He nodded and leaned into Mav’s warmth for a second. Then he stepped away. “I’ll do my best.”

He shifted into a beetle and flew over the barbed wire wall, circling the compound once. He checked the smaller buildings first, the ones he didn’t have time for during that initial scouting mission. When he was satisfied, Telos flew around the largest building, crawling under a door.

Then he was buzzing down dimly lit hallways, double-checking that the building’s layout was exactly as he remembered.

The east hallway was clear. Telos dropped to the floor and crawled under the door, confirming the prisoners’ identities: several babies, four men—Walren with the short leg, Ivo with the scarred eye, Nat with the missing finger, and Killian who was curled up tight in a ball between his friends. All of them were holding their babies, probably for comfort.

Telos stopped halfway between them and the door, shifting into a baby. He coughed to get their attention.

Ivo blinked. Then he sat upright, his eyes wide. “There’s a baby.”