"One of my… boyfriends has a brother that was injured by a dragon."
He seemed shocked by that. "He made it out of that alive?"
I nodded. "So did Sullivan."
"I don't even mess with dragons—not that there's many left. Burnt to a crisp would take centuries to come back from." He frowned. "It would take a lot of power to heal an injury that substantial."
"You have a lot of power." I cringed, knowing he was probably going to say no. "Please?"
He was thinking way too hard about his answer, and I shook my head, standing up. "Forget I asked."
"I'll do it on one condition." Oh, no. If he challenged me to a thumb war or a game of tic-tac-toe to decide something important, I was going to kick his ass. Instead, his condition was even worse. "You invite me to stay for breakfast."
To sayI was on edge was an understatement. Not only did Apollo want to stay for breakfast, he also trusted me not to poison his food, so I was staring at the ingredients I'd pulled out of the refrigerator and trying to figure out how to cook bacon.
He'd taken the shield he had up down, and it was only a matter of time before the guys wandered out to see what the hell I was up to.
Looking up information on the internet, I decided to cook the bacon in the oven and turned it on before getting out a cookie sheet. I could follow directions no problem, but as I slid the cookie sheet in the oven and set the timer, I considered waking one of the guys up to help me.
No.
The longer they stayed asleep, the better. My dad was going to skin them alive and make them run for the hills as soon as they met.
Cracking eggs was a little trickier than slapping some bacon on a tray. I watched a few videos and moved by the sink in case things didn't go my way. Scrambled seemed the easiest option.
The first egg was an epic fail, so many small pieces of shell getting into the bowl I had to dump it.But after a few, I got the hang of it, and before I knew it, I was pouring the eggs into a hot pan.
Bacon? Check. Eggs? Check.
The timer on the oven went off and I peeked inside. It looked done, so I grabbed a potholder and took it out, putting it on an empty burner to cool. I stirred the eggs, doing a little happy jig when they didn't stick to the pan.
It had been so long since I'd attempted to cook anything, and finding even a little success made me want to learn. Now that I wasn't going to be staying at headquarters, I'd have to learn anyway.
"Who the fuck are you?" My back stiffened at the sound of Zayn's growly voice.
He was halfway into the open concept kitchen and living room and his eyes were narrowed on my dad, who sat on the couch still watching cartoons.
"Wren, put a muzzle on your little friend. I'm trying to watch this." My dad didn't even spare Zayn a glance.
"Zayn-" Before I could explain it was my dad, Zayn headed straight over the back of the couch with his fist drawn back and claws out.
My dad's laugh sent chills down my spine as Zayn swung but was stopped by my dad grabbing his wrist and twisting it behind his back as he stood.
"Ah! Fuck!" Zayn attempted to free himself but was shoved face-first onto the couch. "You son of a bitch!"
Apollo let him go. "If this is how all of your boyfriends are going to treat me, I'm not staying for breakfast."
"No! Zayn, this is my dad." I rushed to put myself in between them as Zayn got off the couch, rubbing his wrist. "Dad, this is Zayn."
My dad grunted and sat back down on the couch. "Should have known the unhinged one would try to attack me."
Zayn growled, and I shoved him away from the living room and to the island. Dread filled me, already seeing them at each other's throats. This was not how I wanted their meeting to go.
"What's that smell?" Zayn scrunched his nose, forgetting about his hatred toward my father, and looked at the stove.
"Oh, no!" I rushed to my eggs, flipping off the burner as the smell of burned food started to fill the air. They weren't on fire but had been well on their way. "Damn it."
Zayn shouldered me out of the way and stuck the spatula in the eggs. The bottom was completelycrusted onto the pan. "Get more eggs out of the fridge."
