She flipped her skirts around and settled on a chair, then held out her arms for the babies, who came and snuggled down to her, assuming their human forms as they did. “Hibiscuswould be lovely. Thank you. And you know as well as I do, Cullen, that Evander could come to recuperate in the Land of Summer.”
Now Cullen did roll his eyes where she could see. “Mom, we’ve discussed this before. Evander has been bitten, and we have to make sure he’s safe before he goes across to the fae world. I think you just want us to shove him across into the Land of Summer so Dad can eat him.”
She blinked in mock shock, but the curve of her lips said she was amused. “Now, Cullen, you know I would never do that.”
“Nonsense. You would love it, but I won’t have it.” Evander was his mate. He wouldn’t say it. Not now, maybe not ever.
He didn’t have to.
It was the truth.
All he had to do was know it, and know that as soon as Evander woke up, things were going to escalate quickly.
As long as Evander wasn’t a vampire now.
That could really complicate things because he really wasn’t going to have babies with Vampire Boy.
Of course. If he was a vampire, they would just have Orion do whatever it was he’d done before, and at least then, Evander could just sleep. He didn’t seem unhappy.
Evander didn’t seem to be trying very hard to wake up, but then again, it wasn’t every day that you turned into a vampire, drank unicorn blood, and got better. That was probably hard on the psyche.
Corbin blinked, suddenly finding a cup of tea in his hand. He wasn’t exactly sure how it had gotten there. It was possible he just hadn’t been paying attention. It was also possible that Cullen was getting altogether too good at this whole illusion thing, and he was drinking illusory tea, and everyone was laughing at him.
He shrugged.
One way or the other, the tea was nice.
It’s real tea,Cullen told him on a tight band in their heads.I think you need it to calm down.
That was probably true enough. No one could infuriate him, bother him, or poke at him and prod at him like his mother. It made him crazy, but at the same time, he loved her so much, and she did have a great deal of wisdom stored up in that tiny body of hers.
That was why this whole thing with Evander was so shattering. Because it made him want to ignore all of the wisdom of all of his family and friends and just beg Evander to wake up and be with him.
He didn’t though. He did the wise thing, and he watched.
He had a chair set up at the end of Evander’s bed where he could sleep, curled up under a heavy blanket, so he could feel Evander’s slightest motion.
Don’t worry, love. If I were you, I wouldn’t wake up while my mother was here either. He sent the words like he would talk to his brothers in his mind. Because he didn’t know whether Evander heard it or not, but at least that way his mother didn’t.
Mate.
The word came to him, and he tried not to jump or show any sort of other reaction because he didn’t want his mother to know he’d heard that. Perhaps he was just imagining it, but the word rang in his head clear as day.
Yes, Evander, what do you need? Are you well?
I’m hungry.
He wished he knew exactly what Evander meant by that. Because he really wasn’t feeling like being a tasty snack.
On the other hand, it was probably not very kind to starve your mate to death either. So he was going to have to figure this out.
“I’m going to leave Mother here to watch the babies and enjoy their flying. I have to use the facilities, so I’ll be in my rooms…”
He stared at Cullen for a second.Keep her here. Do not let her come into my house. Clear?
As Crystal. “We should also see Elliot and his baby sister, Mom, because if they found out you were here and you didn’t see them, there would be tears.”
“Of course, my darling. I would love to see them, and also I need to see Cosmo.”
