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Without looking at Bruiser, he tucked himself back into his pants, sitting up and drawing a spell on the far side of his pants—not that Bruiser could’ve known what it was for.

Then the mage was on his feet, striding back toward the cabin.

“This didn’t happen,” Uriel muttered.

Bruiser stared after him, trying to piece his thoughts together. This felt... wrong, in a vaguely familiar way.

The last time he was come drunk, with the scent of magic in his nose and the warmth of a small person in his arms... That had been Aerie, the omega who had writhed and begged for Bruiser, then run like a bat out of Hell before Bruiser could tell him the condom had broken.

How was Aerie now? Bruiser winced at the memory. He had tried to track down that omega, even asked his friends with special connections, but it was as though the omega had vanished into thin air.

Actually, Bruiser suspected that Uriel would have fled too, if it weren’t for the mission they had both agreed to.

Uriel had been so different, though. Angry beneath Bruiser, all hissing and spitting, but buried deep beneath that prickly exterior had been someone deeply vulnerable, quickly hidden away.

No matter how hard he’d tried for the past several months, Bruiser could not seem to forget Uriel Anderson. And now he knew the way Uriel looked when he came.

“My life is cursed,” he said to himself.

He picked up his towel and wiped off the grass stains. When he reentered the cabin, he found Uriel curled up with his baby, the bags of food untouched on the floor where Bruiser had dropped them.

Bruiser sighed. He was still going to feel like an asshole if he didn’t share the food, so he washed his hands, picked up the bags, and began laying out the boxes on the kitchen table. He reheated them in the microwave one at a time. “I bought enough for plenty of leftovers. Eat something before you fall over.”

Uriel’s shoulders tensed. “I’m fine.”

Bruiser scowled. “I’m not going to expect dinner conversation, or any kind of talking. But you should eat. I’m not the one responsible for a baby.”

The alpha clenched his jaw. He continued to ignore Bruiser for a few more minutes, but after a while, he stood up stiffly with the baby in his arms, slowly entering the kitchen.

Bruiser kept himself turned toward the microwave. He could hear Uriel shuffling closer though, opening and closing each box.

“Bah wah guh,” the baby said.

When Bruiser peeked over his shoulder, he found the kid staring at him.

Uriel’s baby girl had huge eyes, and they were really blue. Even though Uriel kept moving, the baby’s gaze was locked unflinchingly on Bruiser, as though she was waiting to see what he would do next.

He cracked a smile, but she only continued to stare. That unsettled Bruiser too. He felt as though he should do more to make her smile, but—She wasn’t his. He wasn’t allowed.

He wasn’t jealous of Uriel. Over a kid.

After a while, the baby turned back to Uriel and patted his face with her tiny hands. Then she grabbed his lower lip and flicked it up and down. Uriel sighed exasperatedly. “This again?”

He didn’t try to stop her, though. Bruiser watched as the mage picked a box of pasta with meatballs, just the one, without extra meatballs.

“Thanks,” Uriel said, still with his gaze lowered as he left the kitchen.

That felt wrong, too.

Bruiser had known Uriel for almost a year, and through that entire time, Uriel had been prickly, grumpy and combative, but he’d never shut down like this before.

Not that Bruiser knew what he should do about it. He’d fucked up out there, didn’t he? But Uriel had enjoyed the fucking on some level. What the blazes am I supposed to do now?

He couldn’t even ask his friends, because they were all weird about him and Uriel.

The microwave dinged. Bruiser pulled out the garlic bread and sat down at the kitchen table, in front of too much food, and began to eat.

In the living room, the baby gurgled.