“You really are in trouble, aren’t you?” she asked.
His eyes grew hooded. If she had to guess, he was ashamed of his failure. “I will find an answer,” he said stiffly. “I am the last living prince of this realm, grandchild of the human baby Eric, and protector of this squeak.”
She winced at the strange sound. “This what?” she asked.
He started to answer again but then shook his head. That happened sometimes. There were words in the Fairy language that just sounded like mouse squeaks to her. Apparently whatever it was he protected was one of those words.
“So you’re a big deal here,” she said.
He dropped his chin back down on his fist. “Yes.”
“And you need a baby to save all that.”
“A human baby.”
“And you think I’m going to give you one.”
He looked up, and his eyes seemed to dance with merriment. It was a very fairy look, and it was mesmerizing.
“That isn’t going to happen,” she said. “You should know that.”
He nodded. Then he glanced outside as the second tower tumbled to the ground with a rumble like thunder. When he turned back to her, that flash of vulnerability was gone. He straightened up on the chair and he faced her like the prince he was.
“Very well,” he said calmly. “Then let us discuss exactly what will happen.”
Epilogue 2
GRANDMA HAS A CONFESSION
AARON WAS getting heavy. The child liked to eat, that was for sure. Laddin set the bottle down on the table beside the rocking chair Ivy had given them and watched as Bruce unpacked another moving box and pulled out a gruesome head.
“What the he—heck—is this?” Bruce demanded as he dropped it back into the box. They both knew he’d been about to say hell, but they were trying to clean up their language in front of the child. It wasn’t going so well for Bruce, and Laddin had already got enough quarters in the Curse Jar to buy a cheap espresso machine. He expected they’d have enough for an expensive one in another couple of months.
“That,” Laddin said, “was my favorite prop from the very first movie I ever worked on.”
“It’s going to give Aaron nightmares.” Bruce squinted at it. “It’s going to give me nightmares!”
Laddin laughed. “Put it in the garage. I’ll bring it out for Halloween.”
“Not until he’s a teenager. Gah, that thing is awful.” Bruce picked up the box, holding it away from his face as if it were something more than a latex prop. Laddin was chuckling as he lifted Aaron to burp him.
After three months of parenthood, Laddin felt like he was finally getting the hang of having an infant. And to add to that miracle, the baby had slept six hours last night, so they were hoping for a repeat tonight. Laddin missed sleep, though he did enjoy lazing in bed with the baby between them as he and Bruce talked about how quickly their lives had changed.
They’d finally moved into the townhome at the edge of the state park. They’d both signed on to work full-time with Wulf, Inc. and were now creating a home for their tiny family of three. Official move-in day had been yesterday, so today was a lot of unpacking, and hopefully an initiation of their very own bedroom right across the hall from Aaron’s nursery.
But only if the kid went to sleep soon, because honestly, Laddin was tired from working full-time while coordinating the move of his life from LA and Bruce’s life from Indianapolis to right here, right now, in the largest home Laddin had ever had. Who knew Michigan real estate was so cheap?
“Look who I found outside,” Bruce said as he came in from the garage.
Laddin looked up and gasped in true shock. “Mama? Nana?”
His mother rushed forward, with his grandmother a half step behind. They arrived in a wash of exotic perfume (his grandmother) and the slight antiseptic smell that always clung to his mother. And didn’t that smell like home to him?
“Laddin! Sweetheart! Is this our little boy?” Mama cried.
For the first time in his life, the phrase our little boy didn’t apply to him. The two women were cooing over Aaron, looking at his face and stroking his dark head of hair.
“Oooh, he’s got your nose,” his mother said.
“He’s got your magic,” his grandmother intoned, her eyes wide.
Over the women’s heads, Laddin looked in alarm at Bruce. They couldn’t tell his family about being werewolves or their magic or anything. Those were the rules, and Laddin was loathe to break them. It wasn’t just about the consequence of sharing the magical secret. He didn’t want to explain the whole demon thing, and honestly, the fewer people who knew about that, the better. In all respects, Aaron was a normal human boy.
Meanwhile, Bruce did his best to distract the women. “Let me take your coats.”
“Mamma mia, I’m keeping mine on!” his mother cried. “Why do you live in such a cold place?”
“It’s fifty degrees out, Mama. It’s spring.”
“In LA it’s—”
“Smoggy and filled with traffic.” Two things he did not miss from his old life.
His mother couldn’t argue with that, and since she’d managed to take her grandchild right out of Laddin’s arms and was now singing a Spanish lullaby to Aaron, whatever objection she might have had was lost.
Not so for his grandmother. She turned to both Laddin and Bruce and gave them an arch look. “We thought you were dead,” she said in a stage whisper to Laddin.
“I called you.”
“Your birthday was months ago. We didn’t know what had happened to you.”
Laddin spread his arms wide. “Nothing happened, Nana.” He glanced at Bruce. “Except I fell in love.”
“And got a baby.”
Bruce came close as Laddin shrugged. A moment later Laddin was being supported against Bruce’s side. It was a
