It seemed like yesterday that Dad and Papa had rescued them. Now, Henry had three kids, Ollie had the twins, and Emily had a baby on the way. Ben had his medical degree, Natasha sold real estate like a fiend, and Jack had found his own dragon mate.
Koios and his siblings hadn’t been so lucky. They hadn’t had a pack, or doting fathers, or grandparents and great-grandparents to spoil them. They’d had to look out for themselves.
Nana patted Koios’s hand before leaning over and kissing his forehead. When she stood, she turned to Ben once more. “So, what’s the plan?”
Ben paused with his mouth full of steak sandwich. What was the plan? He’d told Koios they’d continue working on his physical therapy, and they would. But when Koios woke up, he’d want information.
After swallowing his food, Ben answered. “I’m going to get some books from Henry’s library and see what I can find out about harpies and dwarves. I’ve never treated either of them.”
“And the curse?”
That was trickier, and Nana knew it. Ben popped a few blueberries into his mouth to stall for a minute. “I have a couple ideas.”
Nana smirked, her ability to read his mind as uncanny as ever. “I’m sure you do. I’d best get to baking, then. Wouldn’t want to be unprepared when our guests arrive.”
“Honey biscuits?” Ben asked.
“What else?”
Nana smirked as she left the room. Goddess, he loved her. Losing Grandpa William had made Ben so much more aware of Nana’s age, but she wasn’t ready to leave them. Not by a long shot.
He grabbed his phone instead of continuing his lunch and called Henry. His brother answered with a whimper.
“Dadda said no tornadoes in the house! And don’t start a fire! Draco! Save me from our children so I can talk to my brother!”
Ben cackled and leaned back in the chair. “I take it the terror triplets are in rare form today?”
“Today?” Henry replied with a laugh.
“Fair point. The goddess certainly knew what she was doing when she gave you eight mates. You need all of you to take care of those three.”
“Circular logic. We wouldn’t have them if we weren’t together.”
Ben grinned. “I’ll have to come visit soon. I miss the little rugrats. Are they over their blood-drinking phase? Because those little vampire teeth hurt.”
“No such luck. But hey, speaking of visits, Dakota is coming by in a little while to see Koios. How is he?”
“Stable,” Ben said, stealing a glance at the bed. “And one reason for my call. I need to borrow some books from your library.”
“Of course,” Henry said. “What are you looking for?”
“Harpies, dwarves, and something called a valravyn.”
Henry gasped. “A valravyn? They are super rare and don’t really spend a lot of time in the human realm. What do you need information on them for?”
Ben chuckled without humor. “Because apparently Koios’s wing problem is actually caused by a valravyn’s curse.”
“Well fuck.”
“Fuck!” A tiny voice yelled the word and Ben cackled.
Henry groaned. “I’ve been trying so hard. Papa says we’re worse than Nick, and that’s saying something. I’ll send the books over with Dakota. I don’t have a lot on valravyns, though.”
“Anything will help. Thanks, Henry.”
“No problem. Now, let me go convince my children not to drop the F-bomb with every other word.”
After he hung up, Ben checked Koios’s vitals, then left the room to gather a few supplies. They had an old TV that used to be in the waiting room in storage. He carried it into Koios’s room and set it up on the opposite side of the bed. Then he shot a quick text to Papa, who arrived a few minutes later carrying the big whiteboard they’d used in their classroom growing up.
