Chapter 2

Chapter

Two

" S hhh. Grant. It's okay, kiddo." Jake Lothe rocked his son, holding him close. He was getting old enough to say whole words, and he was walking, but he still had night terrors about what had happened to his birth parents. Or at least that was what Jake supposed Grant dreamed about when he woke up screaming like this.

He hummed a soothing non-tune, just letting Grant feel how close he was. Letting his heat comfort the baby.

"Da," the baby sobbed. "Da. Hep me, Da."

"I'm right here, son. Everything's all right. Daddy has you."

Goddess help him, he was tired.

No one had expected Jolie and Susan to lose their lives. And especially not in some stupid-ass accident.

They'd been goofing off, daring one another to fly faster, higher, harder, and when the storm had blown in, they simply hadn't come back down fast enough.

Jake hadn't seen it happening.

He'd been putting together his new house. Getting ready for a party to celebrate the fact that he was the new guardian. That was the one thing he'd worked for his entire life and actually achieved.

The scream had been so loud throughout the entire wing. The ground had vibrated with the sound, and he ran outside, just in time to see them both plummet to the lake.

Both of them.

Ablaze.

He didn't understand it. He wasn't going to.

Everyone knew that they weren't immortal, but they lived a long, long time. Everyone knew they weren't supposed to die in their prime because of a storm.

Because of lightning and winds and stupidity.

That was the thing that drove him mad, the stupidity of it all.

He felt himself tensing, and he knew he was holding the baby too tight, so he forced himself to relax.

Grant stared up at him, those dark violet eyes piercing him.

Grant couldn't remember. Grant hadn't seen.

The problem Grant did have was every dragon in this wing—almost every dragon—had seen what happened. Every time they looked at Grant, all they thought was that he had lost his mothers.

Part of him was tempted to leave to go find another wing altogether and start anew. Just tell everyone no, he's mine and let it be that.

Another part of him loved this wing fiercely and always had. He was a guardian. He had wanted nothing but this for his entire life. And now that he had it in his hand, he found he couldn't release it. He couldn't simply walk away. No matter what.

"So we're going to make it work, baby boy. I promise." He pushed himself to keep his voice light, and he started walking, bouncing Grant a little. "I have you. And we're going to teach everyone to love you for you. I swear it."

Just like he did. Grant was sweet. Goofy. Happy. Most of the time. And he deserved a wing that thought he was amazing. Jake was going to work on that, one mind at a time.

He just had to figure out how to erase the memories of every dragon in the wing. No problem.

Bumper came wandering in, the wet nose pushing up to touch the baby's leg, then backing up enough that his whiskers tickled the baby, making him wiggle and chuckle softly.

"Hey, you," he said to the big, less-than-bad wolf. "How's it going?"

Bumper tilted his head from one side to another and gave him a lupine grin. Then Bumper leaned in and tickled the baby's feet with his whiskers again.

"I'm trying to get him to sleep. You're not helping."

That earned him a long stare, and he knew it—as well as he knew how to breathe—that the wolf was thinking, when did I ever promise to help?

Bumper had found him on his spirit quest. Or maybe he'd found Bumper. Jake wasn't sure on that fact any more than he was sure about how he'd known Bumper was the wolf's name, but he did. And they were together, and that was that.

Just like him and little Grant. In it for the long haul.

Grant started to fuss again a little, and he checked the baby's diaper. Nope. So he must need a little supplemental nutrition. Grant was totally eating baby food during the day, but he was growing so fast, and he needed a bottle at night still.

"Come on, bud. Let's get a bot, huh? I could have a little nosh too. I bet Bumper would join us, huh?"

"Ba Ba Ba Ba Ba," Grant chanted, obviously totally into this idea.

Jake headed toward the kitchen, wandering through the long halls of his low adobe. Most of the guardians had tall homes. Logan had two stories, so did Jason and Bea. Hell, Lars's house was four floors.

Well, if you counted the tower room, which he did, because that thing was a Victorian monstrosity.

But he'd been overjoyed at the long adobe with most everything one floor, but with other levels too. One room flowed into another into another into another. It was one of the perks of being a guardian of the wing.

You got promoted, you received a home, and it was amazing. The magic assured that your home was what you needed, and when one guardian left, and the new one came, where the old house was, a new one sat.

He'd been surprised because his affinity wasn't for platinum or gold or silver. His affinity was for the stones. Specifically emeralds, but rubies sang to him as well, and he could do some things with the diamonds that were pretty impressive. Still, the guardians tended to be the dragons that had metal affinities, the more precious the better.

He glanced out of the big plate-glass window into the night. The snow was still coming down, beginning to drift. It was getting so deep that it felt as if it was creeping.

Luckily, they were warm and snug in their homes. All he had to do was ensure that he didn't have to go out and do any guardianing. Right now, immediately.

Jake supposed he should do like Logan and have a manservant slash nanny slash housekeeper slash keeper of the keys slash ‘Oh my God Simon is amazing' type of dude.

But he was fairly sure Logan had grown up with Simon.

Not to mention, there was only one Simon in all of the universe, and Logan had somehow lucked into him.

Asshole.

Still, Dakota deserved the help just for putting up with Logan. That sweet omega was just up to his nostrils in wing business.

"There we go, buddy," he told Grant once he got the bottle made up. "That will hit the spot. And when you're back to sleep, I'll make me up a hamburger from that pack I got out of the freezer. And you too," he said when Bumper nosed him. "Yum."

Something about this storm wasn't going to let him sleep. It was…bringing something. He wasn't sure what. But he felt that in his bones.

He wasn't sure he liked it.

In fact, he was sure he didn't.

He almost called Justin to ask if he should call the others. Have someone—maybe Lars—go out on patrol.

But the snow was so deep, and he found himself waiting.

Just waiting to see what was up.