Wondering if his son was awake, Steel quietly opened Daniel’s nursery door. Peeking in, he grinned at the scene that greeted him. His son, sitting in his crib, had surrounded himself with some of his stuffed animals and was talking to them. Pausing for a moment, Steel listened to the different sounds his son was making, recognizing them as belonging to the real life versions of the stuffed ones in his crib. He worried a bit about what Daniel’s ability portended, and made a mental note to ask his father if his research had turned up any more information.
When Daniel spied his daddy standing in the doorway, he pulled himself up in his crib, grinning at his feat before losing his grip and sitting down with a plop. Stunned at what happened, his face scrunched up as if he were going to cry, but instead, he grunted and pulled himself up again. Grinning at his achievement, he looked at Steel and gurgled, “Dada.” Then he promptly lost his balance and ended up sitting down again. Frowning before looking back at his father, he reached out to Steel with both arms and called, “Dada!”
Steel was so used to tuning out the random sounds Daniel made that he nearly missed his son’s first word. Gobsmacked, pride coursed through his body at the same time he thanked the gods that the first word out of his son’s mouth wasn’t a swear one. When his son called to him again, Steel rushed to pick him up. “Come here, my big boy! Two surprises for your daddy today, huh? Can you say ‘dada’ again? Dada?”
Snuggling in his daddy’s arms, Daniel gave a toothy grin. “Dada, dada, dada.” Then he lifted his head and gave a tiny fierce howl.
Chuckling, Steel said, “Yes, my baby boy, you are amazing. Let’s change your diaper and then go see your other dad. Won’t he be happy with your choice of a first word? Oh, by the way, thanks for keeping this daddy out of the dog house.”
~/~/~/~/~
Rolling over, Jackson woke to an empty, yet still warm bed. Figuring his mate went to get their son, he took advantage of the time to send a text to Cody about Fionn.Another fucking asshole father!That thought reminded him of his own who’d done such a number on him and his twin. Looking back, he could now see exactly when Logan had changed in his teen years and knew without a shadow of a doubt it was caused by something horrible his father did to his brother.But what? And does it matter what it was anymore?It was clear Kieran had changed his brother back to what he once was and, for that, Jackson would be forever grateful. Promising himself he would do something special for Kieran, Jackson glanced over at his bedroom door and found his mate standing there with a shit-eating grin on his face, holding their son. “Okay, tell me, what marvelous thing did Daniel manage to do this morning?”
“What makes you think that?”
“Err, the sheet-eating grin you’re wearing?”
Steel walked over to the bed while pointing to Jackson and asked, “Daniel, who’s that?”
“Dada!” Daniel shouted, waving his stuffed wolf at Jackson.
Stunned, he stared at Daniel before shifting his gaze to Steel. “Did he just say what I think he said?”
“Yup!”
Holding out his arms, Jackson crooned, “Come here, babycakes. Come see your Dada!”
When Daniel saw Jackson reaching for him he wiggled, struggling to get out of Steel’s arms. Finally, when he was where he wanted to be, he snuggled against Jackson, grabbing the bottle Steel held out to him.
“First word, huh?”
“Yup.”
“And it wasn’t a swear word.”
“Nope.”
Grinning at Steel, Jackson said, “Lucky.”
“Absolutely!” Steel exclaimed, climbing back into bed and wrapping his arm around both of them. “Was that Logan who called earlier? Was it about what happened at the club last night?”
“Partly. Logan told me Fionn sensed a dragon last night just before Groose rescued him. After thinking it over, my brother is sure it wasn’t a coincidence and thinks it was Fionn’s father trying to kidnap his son.”
“So what does Logan want to do? Are they going to come home early?”
“No, he wants Fionn to come here and asked if we’d send the plane to get him.”
“Consider it done.”
“Thanks, but wait till I talk to Cody. As Fionn’s legal guardian, I need his approval.”
“Sure. In the meantime, I’ll text Robert to get the plane ready,” Steel murmured, nuzzling Jackson’s neck, before adding, “I’ve got to go. My turn to make breakfast.” Giving his mate and son one more kiss, Steel slid out ofbed and pulled on his jeans and a t shirt. “Have you spoken with Dakota about hiring another chef?”
“Not yet, but I’ll do it today.”
“Good. I’m at the end of my cooking repertoire.”
Smirking at his mate, Jackson said, “Maybe I should see about some cooking lessons for you?”
