“Ha, ha, no thanks. My mom offered but I turned her down because I could see where that would lead to.”
“What do you mean?”
Snorting, Steel said, “Right now, mom is splitting meals with me…I’m doing breakfast and lunch, she’s cooking dinner…but after I learn how to make more meals, my mom will think I should doallthe cooking. I can hear her now…‘Sweetie, but your meals are so delicious’,” Steel said in a falsetto voice. “Nope, not gonna happen. I’m not walking down a street where I know I’m gonna get ambushed when I get to the end.”
Jackson looked at his mate in astonishment, then burst out laughing, disturbing Daniel who growled before latching on to the bottle’s nipple again. “Sorry, baby boy,” he said to his son, then chuckling, he looked at his mate. “Thanks for that visual of your mother standing at the end of the street, brandishing a frying pan at you.”
Steel snickered. “Yeah, but you know exactly what I’m talking about. Any time a parent wants to teach you something, before you know it, they have you doing it all the time. I learned that early on when I would watch my father putter in the garden. First, he talked, telling me what he was doing, then he showed me how to do it and before I knew it, he had me out there all the time weeding the damn sucker. Uh-uh, better not to go down that path.”
Giggling, Jackson asked, “Is that what you plan to do with Daniel?”
“Damn straight. It’s a father-son rite of passage. Hey, I got to run or the natives will get restless if breakfast isn’t ready on time. Promise me you’ll talk to Dakota today?”
“Promise. Now go!”
Blowing a kiss to his two favorite men, Steel left their bedroom and as he walked down the stairs, he sent a text ordering the plane to be ready for an overseas flight to Edinburgh and back.
Jackson’s phone dinged twice. Picking it up, he read a text from Cody first, sent a reply, then read Steel’s. Smiling he sent back several eggplant emojis, so his mate would know what he was thinking about for later.
Taking the empty bottle away from Daniel, Jackson spent a while playing and tickling his son before saying, “Time for both of us to get dressed.” Rolling over to the edge of the bed, he sat up, pulled on his jeans and t-shirt while smiling at Daniel. Then, picking him up, he said, “C’mon, babycakes, let’s see if anything will still fit you.”
~/~/~/~/~
Cody responded to his brother’s text and then turned over to look at his sleeping mate, loving how Dylon’s face gentled in sleep, the hard edges softening along with the fierce look. He heard Jake and Jessica stirring in the sitting room and knew they’d soon be up wanting their daddies so Cody rolled quietly over, and sat up on the edge of the bed. Ever since they’d brought the twins home, it seemed as if the Fates were giving him a break from experiencing any more visions, so Dylon didn’t need to use the magic cuffs on him anymore when he slept.
That was a relief, because for the first several weeks, the twins were up a number of times each night and it wasn’t always because they needed to be changed or were hungry. Cody knew his babies were still feeling insecure due to all the rapid changes in their young lives, but the many hours he and Dylon spent bonding with them was finally paying off because they now slept through the night without the crankiness both had suffered from before.
Slipping on some pajama pants, Cody walked softly into the sitting room, where he hovered over Jessica’s portable crib. When he saw his daughter looking up at him while chewing on a stuffed bunny her grandmother had given her, he felt a warm glow come over him. “Good morning, sweetkins. Did you have wonderful dreams?” he murmured to her while checking her diaper. “I bet you did! Let’s get you changed before your brother wakes up.”
Tickling Jessica’s tummy, Cody was rewarded with a sweet smile and he began to sing his favorite song to her about a dragon, while changing her diaper. Scooping her up, he buried his nose in the rolls of her chubby neck, inhaling the baby scent he loved so much. So wrapped up was he in his daughter, he never heard Dylon sneak up on him from behind, hugging both him and Jessica, causing Cody to squeal in surprise.
“Good morning, babe,” Dylon said, his rough voice skittering over Cody’s body.
“Jumping jehoshaphats! Did you have to scare me this morning?”
“Jumping jehoshaphats? Where in the world did that come from? And why are you using it?”
“Because there’s no way I’m going to be responsible for our daughter swearing in front of your mother.”
“Uh-huh but how come you decided on that expression?” Dylon asked, taking two prepared bottles out of the mini fridge in the sitting room and putting them in the bottle warmer.
“I remembered an old member of our pack use to say that all the time. Colton, Carson and I used to hang out with him and he taught us all kinds of useful stuff…like how to track without using your wolf nose…stuff like that. So when I was trying to come up with a substitute for a swear word, that one popped into my head.”
“My mother can’t find fault with that,” Dylon laughed. “Here,” he said, handing Cody a warmed bottle before turning his attention to Jake, who was practicing rolling over. “C’mon little man, time for a change. Now remember what I told you…no peeing on Daddy.”
“Jackson wants to talk to us after breakfast about Fionn. Last night, he was attacked. Groose and his men got there just in the nick of time, but Logan believes Fionn’s father was behind the attack.”
“Was Fionn hurt?”
“No, but Logan thinks he’ll be safer if he’s here…less opportunity for him to be kidnapped.”
“I can’t believe his father would risk losing his own hoard over this. There’s something missing here,” Dylon murmured, picking up his son and sitting down in the rocking chair with him. “I must talk to Logan…I wonder if there are any photos of the men who assaulted Fionn…of course, I agree that Fionn would be safer here than in Edinburgh. When will he arrive?”
“Don’t know but I’m sure my brother will have all that information.”
“Good.” Dylon gazed at his son, thankful they were able to rescue him and his sister before they could be sold. “You know, babe, every day I wake up, I’m filled with gratitude I have you and the twins in my life so when I hear what Fionn is going through, I just want to shake his father until he understands how lucky he is to have a son.”
“Agreed, but I doubt it will do any good. Fathers like that will never appreciate what the Fates have given them,” said Cody sadly.
