Ender warily eyed Killian’s chest. He couldn’t see the Fate, but he felt him against his back.
Instantly, his paranoia tried to rise up, thinking about why they were there, and he did his damn best to tamp it back down.
Like, either way, one reason was obvious. Toddles…that blasted traitorous bird, had blabbed. Yet, that didn’t fully cover the why…
“Awake?” a smooth, spine-tingling voice asked. He flinched when Killian ran a hand gently over his hair.
Looking up slowly, he met the Siren’s gaze. “Why did you come?”
One of Killian’s eyebrows, that he now noticed was perfectly shaped, slowly rose at that, before he snorted. “Really? I would think one finding out they’re about to be a father would tend to send people running in one direction or another.”
“I didn’t ask for you—either of you—to come. And they aremine, not yours,” Ender stated stiffly.
The Siren’s eyes narrowed on him. “While neither of us would ever try to take the children from you, the fact is, you can’t keep them from us either.”
“They—”
“Enough!”
Ender sputtered at being snapped at like he was a child.
“Ender, you are not our boss, and those babies are not just yours. I know you are used to being able to successfully shut down and out shout any opposition, but it is not going to work here.”
He huffed and went to sit up, but hissed as the thicker arm around him tightened, stopping him.
The Fate, who had been snoring behind him, snuffled, before grumbling, “Couldn’t give me a few more hours?”
“Let go!” Ender demanded.
Cyrus did instantly, so he sat up, and wrapped his arms protectively around his stomach, uncaring that he was completely naked. His stomach hid enough. “Boss or not, sperm donors or not, they are mine. They are in me, aren’t they?!”
“Ender, we are not trying to take them away from you. We just want to help.” Killian pushed himself up into a seated position, the Siren had apparently gone to sleep fully clothed. “Let us be there for them, and you.”
Ender rolled his eyes with a scoff. “For how long? A few weeks? Until they’re born? In case you’ve forgotten, I’m a wanted criminal. And you two goody-two-shoes are very much on the other side of the law.” His gaze flicked to the Siren’s left hand, eyeing the ring for a brief moment before meeting the man’s gaze again. “Nice ring. Sorry to blow up your engagement, but I'm happy to say that this is a complication you two are more than fucking welcome to ignore and forget exists.”
Killian stared, silent for a moment, before he slowly asked, “You really think this is something we could ignore?”
He smiled stiffly. “Easily. Now, go back to your government jobs and leave me alone, as now I…” he growled. “Now I have to move my fucking base, thanks to Toddles telling you two fuckers where it is. So, yeah, all that baby prep is out of the window! Like, do you even know how hard it is to secretly build a fucking underground compound nowadays?! Finding the land space is not even half the fucking problem!”
Cyrus heaved a sigh behind him. “Ender, we quit.”
His eyes widened as the words registered, and he looked back at the Fate, gasping, “You did what?!”
“Technically, you quit for me, I just agreed in the aftermath,” Killian drawled. The Siren’s voice was smooth as can be, but there was this underlying hint of danger in his tone that told Ender the man wasn’t too pleased with his partner about it.
“Aww, come on, Baby, I apologized,” Cyrus whined.
Ender wrinkled his nose a bit at the man’s tone of voice, as it seemed completely out of place with what little he admittedly knew about the Fate.
“Mm, still not forgiven,” Killian hummed sweetly.
Well, at least he was right about the Siren being a brat.
Scooting back a bit against the headboard, so he could see them both at once, Ender looked back and forth between the two, trying to tell if they were lying or acting suspicious in any way. Unfortunately, he honestly didn’t know them well enough to even know what signs to look for. “Are you two fucking with me?”
Killian chuckled. “We aren’t, as of—” The man tsked. “—I’m not actually sure what time it is, but it’s been at least a day since we became jobless.”
Frowning, he absently ran his hands over his baby bump as he continued to eye them.Why would they quit? What if this was a trick? Was it a trick?
