That would serve Evander right, having the baby pop out looking like a giant dragon, like Hawk.
Evander spent a lot of time sparring with Hawk, so it stood to reason that it could happen. Magic was a weird thing.
He headed down to the kitchen, knowing Evander was off with his brothers running after saying he needed the exercise. But he thought maybe Evander was enjoying bonding with his brothers again. Somehow the mating and the strange thing that they had all endured together with the vampire woman, had mended the brothers’ relationship quite a bit.
Corbin approved. He only wished Alyster was there to be in on it, but apparently, he was the one who was the easiest to get along with anyway.
“Hey, bro.” Cullen popped into the common room kitchen just as Corbin walked in the door, and that doorway hadn’t been there the last time he’d been in the kitchen, so he had a feeling Cullen and Orion were coming back from the Glade. Sure enough, Orion came in the door right after him and raised his eyebrows at Corbin.
“Hey, you two. Where’s the kids?”
“We left them with their granddads. They’re taking them for the night. Having some sort of odd G lade slumber party that involves lots of weird creatures.”
Orion sighed. “They are not weird, Cullen. They’re just myriad.”
Cullen opened the fridge to peer inside. “See what I said? Weird.”
Corbin bit back a grin. “So, who’s gonna make me food?”
“Why can’t you make yourself food?” Cullen asked, pulling out a jar of something he couldn’t identify.
He rolled his eyes. “The morning sickness is better, but I still can’t make food and eat it. If I cook it, it makes me sick.”
“Well, that sucks.” Orion grinned at him. “What would you like to have?”
Cullen stared over his shoulder, glaring at Orion. “You’re not really going to cook for him, are you? He has a mate for that.”
“Yes, but his mate is off in the Land of Summer running with the Wild Hunt brothers.”
Corbin was the one to frown at Orion now. “How do you know that?”
“He told me he was going to.” Orion started rummaging through cupboards.
How weird. He knew Evander and Hawk were becoming good friends, but he had no idea Evander and Orion spoke to each other without the rest of them around.
Cullen went to him. “Orion is just jealous of Evander’s horns.”
“Antlers.” Orion intoned very seriously, but his eyes were twinkling. “He has antlers. My horn doesn’t shed during the year.”
“Can you make me grilled cheese?” Corbin begged. “I miss grilled cheese.”
That and a can of soup were his go-tos when he was all by himself. But right now, just putting the cheese between two slices of bread made him gag. Spreading on the butter, and it was all over. In fact, right now he was feeling a little queasy.
“Of course I can.” Orion went to the fridge and pulled out bread, cheese, and butter. “Do you want soup to go with it?”
Cullen was already pulling out a can of chicken noodle. “I don’t know about you, but when I was pregnant, tomato was too acidy.”
“It is.” He rubbed his belly. “And you know I rarely eat chicken soup, but now with this baby being Evander’s, I’m totally eating meat.”
Cullen gave him a patently false smile. “You ate plenty of meat anyway, you’re half-dragon. I mean, I know you like plants, but don’t retrofit it.”
He pulled out a chair at the kitchen table to sit down. “Yeah, yeah. You’re right. I shouldn’t try to rewrite history, huh?”
“You can rewrite it, you just can’t make anybody believe it’s true.” Orion put a pan on the stove and started hunting the can opener. He never could seem to find it. Corbin thought maybe the house spirits moved it, so Orion couldn’t dig it out right away. It was like a game.
Corbin loved this. He loved family time. No matter what happened… One of them would get down, one of them would get mad, some of them would fight. It didn’t matter. They alwayscame back together in the kitchen. Where all things were equal and all slates were clean.
Orion and Cullen moved around each other, making grilled cheese in a hot pan and heating up the soup. Cullen made himself some kind of charcuterie board with cheese, meat, grapes, and God knew what else, and it looked really good. They all liked snacky food.
