Cato

I watch as Kili carries Moon out of the room and drop my head back against the couch.

“Warrior?” I grunt, not bothering to look over at him.

“Chaos?” he confirms, and I wave a hand in the air, getting up to follow him to our daughter’s room. She has a soft spot for Warrior and tends to listen when he speaks. Whereas, when I speak, her Dragon rises to the surface ready to bite my damn head off.

“Can we come in?” I ask, since her bedroom door is cracked open.

“Yes.” She doesn’t sound as grouchy anymore. She’s been extra harsh on Moon the last few years, and I can’t blame her for that, but that doesn’t mean I like it.

“You were unkind to your mother,” Warrior says, though he wasn’t there for the conversation. It’s not hard for any of us to figure out. It’s starting to weigh on our mate, and I don’t want Chaos to leave for two years thinking her mother betrayed Wilder when it’s the opposite.

“Sorry.” Chaos deflates. All the sass she had when we walked in disappears. Her eyes turn glassy as they flash to the eyes of her Dragon and back. “I’m just still so angry with her! She sent Wilder away! It’s not fair. He didn’t deserve that.”

“Your mother didn’t send Wilder anywhere, Chaos. He left. We lied because we didn’t want the six of you going after him thinking you could convince him to come back. He never attended any academy or whatever the story was.” I shake my head, waving a hand in the air.

“What? But we found him…” She cuts her words off, eyes going wide as she snaps her head up to look at us. Neither of us is surprised. We know exactly where our son is. As if we’d let him gallivant around the realms at just twenty-one and not follow his every move? That, and Wilder was the one to contact us about the other six getting tossed into a dungeon for attempted murder.

I lift my brow at Chaos, waiting to see if she’ll finish her sentence. When she doesn’t, I sigh.

“Give your mother a break.” I take a seat on the edge of her bed and wait for her to cuddle against my chest, the way she has since the day she hatched. She hugs me as Warrior sits on her other side.

“Some things aren’t for us to tell you, Dragonling,” Warrior says, taking her hand in his. “You will learn them on your own. All we’re asking is that you give your mother a chance before you leave. She will miss you dearly.”

“Why do you always have to use logic against me?” Chaos mutters her complaint, and I chuckle.

“We’re your fathers. It’s our job.” I run my hand through her hair for a moment longer, waiting for her breathing to even out once again before speaking again. “And it’s important for you to understand something else. There’s only one reason we haven’t started a war with a random monarchy, and that's our respect for you.”

“It would be poor form for us to fight your battles for you when you won’t even tell us why we’re battling them in the first place,” Kili adds from the doorway.

Chaos looks up at him, huffing. “I told you, I lost control.”

The three of us scoff at her in unison.

“And I’m a beautiful butterfly. Cut the shit, daughter. We’re not that oblivious. We raised you kids, after all.” Kili lifts a brow, and some of Chaos’s fire returns as she sits up.

“I’m an adult. I can take care of myself.”

“That you can, my little Dragonling, that you can.” I press a kiss to my girl's forehead and then stand. “Try not to burn the entire kingdom down while you’re at it.”

“No promises,” she snarks as the three of us leave.

“Why are they always so…difficult?” Kili gripes as we make our way down the hall.

“Because they are ours. Did we expect anything less? They take after their mother and fathers.” I shake my head, smiling. My children are somehow both the cause of all of my stress and my greatest joys in life.

I would set that entire fucking realm on fire for them, but I meant what I said. We have to let them fight their own battles eventually.

“Daire wants me to go with him to meet with Wilder,” Warrior says quietly, and I nod.

“Go. We’ll keep Moon occupied.” Kili jerks his head in the direction of the room where Daire goes to visit Wilder. “I believe Havoc and Mayhem followed you two last time though.”

“They did. It’s how they figured out where Wilder was,” I add.

“Well fuck,” Warrior grunts, making Kili and I chuckle.

“Fuck indeed,” I agree.

Time to find my heart-bonded.

Daire

Warrior stays close to my side, but I can hear his heart beating rapidly.

“What’s wrong?” I ask as we walk into the room on the south side of the palace. It’s opposite the room we all share with Moon. I don’t want her to know we’ve been meeting Wilder behind her back. Though, if I’m honest, she probably already knows.

She’s brilliant, her motherly instincts are fucking incredible. If I had to guess, the only reason she hasn’t brought it up is that she knows Wilder would have demanded we not tell her.

Which he did.

He’ll meet with myself, Warrior, and Kili, but not the others.

He knows the rest of his fathers are more likely to tell Moon or attempt to convince him to come home. Kili, Warrior, and I know that this is better than the alternative.

Wilder is doing what he thinks he needs to do, and none of us can stop him. All we can do is support our son.

“I knew the boys were following us. I had hoped they would convince Wilder to return. Moonlight and Chaos have both missed him,” he explains, and I nod. I’d suspected as much.

“The past can’t be changed. Don’t tell Wilder. He’ll be upset, but the only thing preventing Moon from going off the deep end is that she knows we’re communicating with him.”

“She doesn’t know we visit him.”

“Maybe, maybe not. Doesn’t matter much. We need to make sure he keeps agreeing to these visits, or Moon will move us to that fucking realm.” I huff. We go to him because he can’t leave, while we can travel easily between the realms with the Fae Realm’s portal.

I shut the door to the room, counting to ten before tugging it back open. Sure enough, my most mischievous children are right there. They stare at me with wide eyes, surprised they’ve been caught.

“Mayhem, Havoc.” I lift my brow, watching as they shift uncomfortably.

“Just take this with you. Give it to him, so I know he’s okay.” Mayhem lifts his hand, revealing a small smoke ferret. I roll my eyes.

“You know he won’t take it.” I shake my head and sigh. “Fine, I’ll show him the ferret, but if he says no, you need to respect that.”

“Agreed.” Mayhem nods, so I take the smoke creature and shut the door.

Once Warrior and I step through the portal, we’re in Wilder’s bedroom. He was sitting at his desk waiting for us when we entered. He gets up and greets us both with a hug.

“How’s Mom?” He always asks the same thing.

“She misses her son. Soon she’ll miss the entire lot of you. Don’t be surprised if she visits often.” Wilder nods at my words, and I frown. He looks so fucking tired.

I’m not super happy that my daughter will be in a realm known to be heavily populated by Succubi, but it’s been inhabited by other species over the past few centuries, so it’s not only Succubi. Just like there’s more than Fae in the Fae Realm.

Wilder being here is bad enough, but at least I don’t have to worry about him falling for someone.

“And Chaos?”

“She misses you. No less than you miss her, I’m sure. Are you sleeping enough?” I ask, noticing Warrior’s remaining quiet from his spot against the wall.

“I’m sleeping fine. I’d be better if the rest of them weren’t about to be in the heart of this fucking hellhole, but there’s not much I can do to prevent it without risking the lives of everyone I love. For now,” Wilder grumbles.

When Warrior first brought him home he hardly spoke a word. It took him three years to open up, but then the boys and Chaos were old enough to follow Wilder around, and his speech blossomed.

Over the years we realized he only got quiet around people he didn’t know. So quiet, you’d think he didn’t speak at all.

“Keep yourself out of harm's way. If I have to explain to your mother that you’ve been injured in some way, contrary to what she’s said in the past, she is capable of wiping out an entire realm. So unless you want your mother to commit mass murder, be smart.” I rest my hand on his shoulder, and he flinches. I don’t ask what’s wrong this time, I step back and wait for him to tell me, or not.

“I’m the prince’s new guard. I’ll be by his side eighteen hours a day, including at the academy.” The bomb he drops is unexpected. I stare at him for a long moment.

“Well…” I trail off, because…what?

“It’s not what you’re thinking. And if it is, then don’t freak out.” Wilder cringes.

“You’re planning to kill him and his parents,” Warrior says, speaking for the first time since we arrived.

“Okay, so it is what you’re thinking. You cannot tell the others, they’ll try to help. I need them to stay as far away as they can…”

“They’ll hate you for this. At least until they figure out your plan, then they’re probably going to kick your ass,” I say, crossing my arms over my chest. “Can you handle your brothers, and Chaos, turning against you? Can you look them in the eyes and successfully lie?” I watch the young man before me switch in an instant. One second he’s looking slightly panicked, and the next, he looks oddly like Kili when in assassin mode.

“I can. I will protect them first, always. Even if it makes them hate me.”

“Promise me one thing. If it becomes life or death, and it’s either the enemy or you, you choose yourself. I don’t give a shit what kind of consequences we’ll face, or what the backlash is. What I do care about is your mother kidnapping every necromancer in every realm and forcing them to resurrect you. She will destroy everything that gets in her way for you kids.”

Wilder is quiet for a long moment as he considers my words. When he pushes his blond hair out of his face, he sighs and then nods.

“Remember we love you, and we’ll always be here for you.” I ruffle his hair the way I have since he was young, then Warrior approaches Wilder.

“The day I found you, I knew who you’d be to us. You’re ours. No matter what.” Warrior presses his forehead to Wilder’s, both their eyes falling shut for a moment. “Everything will be okay, Wildling.”

Warrior and I leave before things get too emotional. When we return to the palace, the ferret still on my shoulder, Mayhem growls at the sight.

“He saw it. He didn’t ask for it. You know what that means,” I sigh as the ferret returns to its master, Mayhem cursing to himself. Havoc’s already gone. Those boys…

“Love you too, son.” I chuckle as Mayhem stomps off.

Now it’s time for me to return to my goddess’s side.