Bruce nodded.
“Hell if I know. Magic can do some amazing things. It can also royally fuck you up. You boys up for both sides of that equation?”
Laddin nodded firmly—fiercely—and Bruce seemed to echo it.
“I’ll need regular reports on the boy as he grows. He was created during a Wulf, Inc. operation, so according to the Accords, we’re responsible for him. I’m going to need to keep a close eye on him.”
“How close?” Bruce asked.
“Daily visits while he’s little. Not because I need them but because I like kids. It’s the teenagers who piss me off.” Then he frowned, probably because Bruce was scowling. “Okay, weekly for the first three months. Then we can go to monthly. This is new territory here, boys. We’ve never had a demon turned adorable baby before.” He abruptly stopped speaking and peered at the child’s face. “Why does he have a scar on his chin?”
Bruce groaned as he fingered his own chin. “We did not give him my scar, did we?” he asked Laddin.
Laddin chuckled. “I think we did.”
“Youdid that,” Bruce accused. “But at least he got your nose.”
He did, and Laddin felt another wave of love for the child.
“What are you going to do about the fairy prince?”
So much for that warm rush of love. All of a sudden, everything inside him clenched tight.
“The fairy prince is not lying,” the director continued. “A human child is treated with reverence in Fairyland. He’d be cherished over there—”
“No.” It took a moment for Laddin to realize that he’d been the one to say the word out loud. Sure, he’d been thinking it, but apparently he’d been thinking it so loudly that it tumbled out of his mouth. “I’m not giving up my baby to that prick.”
“It is the law, though. You made a bargain.” The director was looking at Bruce.
“We’ll make another one.”
“No!” Laddin said loudly. “We’re done making fairy deals!”
The director grimaced. “You weren’t supposed to make the first ones.”
Laddin was about to argue, but Bruce cut him off with a wave of his hand. “Old news,” Bruce said. “Do you know of any way to keep the child?”
Aaron was starting to smack his lips, and the director set his pinkie finger near the child’s mouth. The baby rooted on that, opened his mouth, and started sucking on the director’s fingertip.
“Definite human instincts,” the director whispered.
And an unsanitary finger. But Laddin wasn’t going to say that aloud. Meanwhile, Bruce was pressing for a solution.
“Anything you could do to help—”
“I can’t,” the director said with a sigh. “I can’t break the Accords. It would mean war with Fairy, and nobody wants that.”
“But—”
“The fairies are legalistic creatures. Letter of the deal and all that. That’s how they usually screw people.”
Laddin already knew that, and he was getting uncomfortable with Aaron going to sleep in the director’s lap. That was his child and Bruce’s. If anyone was going to cradle the boy while he slept, it would be one of them. So he scooted forward in his seat and gestured for the return of his child.
But the director didn’t immediately hand him back. Instead he looked up, his eyes serious. “Are you sure you want him back?” he asked. There was a weight in his tone that meant so much more than the words themselves. But in case Laddin didn’t understand, he pressed his point. “The more you bond now, the harder it will be tomorrow. If you want, I’ll keep him for the night. I’ll make sure he’s—”
“No!” Laddin said, but to his shock, Bruce put a warning hand on Laddin’s thigh.
“Hear him out,” Bruce said softly.
