He nodded and loosened his blanket cocoon a bit. “Yeah. Thank you.”
The kettle had boiled, so Ciaran made them tea and handed a mug to Sawyer.
He sipped it and sighed. “Thanks. So what kind of baby shower gifts do we get for quadruplet cepharmorphs who also may be cats?”
Ciaran laughed. “I think we should probably get Aurin and Salem something. Like some ear plugs and Xanax.” He grinned. “Think they’re gonna need it.”
“They’ll each have all eight hands full,” Sawyer said, finally smiling.
Ciaran didn’t want to ruin his mood by bringing up what Cern had said, so instead he added, “Though maybe we could look online for some kid stuff. I mean, they won’t change into human form for a while yet, but it could be fun.”
SAWYER
Sawyer was outside early, waiting for Tobin to make an appearance. Ciaran was going through his inventory and organising his shipping. With everything that had gone down, and now with the hatchlings, it was easy to forget that Ciaran had a business to run.
He tried to be supportive and help when he could because to be real, Sawyer’s policing work wasn’t exactly time-consuming, so sometimes he’d help Otis in the store or Beau and Hudson in their garden.
But he was too distracted today.
“Why don’t you go knock on their door,” Ciaran called out from inside. Then he laughed. “I dare you.”
Sawyer stopped pacing and made a face. “Uh, no thank you. I don’t need to see what they’re doing. Or how they’re doing it.” Because damn. “Nobody needs to see that.”
Then he heard Fray laugh, and when he turned around, he saw Tobin and Fray coming out of Fray’s place and heading toward the café.
“Oh, here they are,” Sawyer said to Ciaran, then headed up toward the café to intercept them. “Morning,” he said as they got close.
“Morning,” Tobin said.
“You’re looking awfully chipper today,” Fray said, giving him a side-eye. “Which is not suspicious at all. Who are you and what did you do with Sawyer?”
Sawyer rolled his eyes and decided to ignore Fray. For now. “So, Tobin, I hate to ask, but Ciaran said he showed you the hatchlings, and I was kinda hoping you could use your... tele... Wi-Fi... I don’t know what to call it. Ability.” There, that was a better word.
“Wi-Fi?” Fray asked, then busted up laughing. “Oh, holy fuck. Wi-Fi.” He held his stomach as he laughed. “Oh, that’s the best thing ever.”
“Shut up,” Ciaran said, walking up behind them. He slung an arm over Sawyer’s shoulder. “He’s excited. Tobin, he wants to see what I saw last night, please. He’s been up since five waiting for you to come out.”
Tobin smiled. “Of course. Can we do coffee first?”
“Absolutely,” Sawyer said, holding the door to the café open and gesturing for them to go first. “Please.”
Fray snorted as we went past. “Wi-Fi.”
Sawyer shoved him, and Ciaran sighed. “I’ll go ask Kellan to join us.”
Oh, yes. They needed to tell everyone of Cern’s words of warning... “Sure. I’ll order you a coffee.”
They took a seat at one of the tables, and Dylan came over with a bright smile. “Everyone sleep okay, or did you spend the night worrying about those little babies like I did? Have they eaten enough? Were they scared? Did they cry?”
Kellan came out from the kitchen area, carrying a tray of plates and condiments. “As I told him, a hundred times, they are as safe as can be.” He slid the tray onto the table. “I checked on them first thing, and they’re all doing well.”
Fray nodded to the tray. “What’s this for?”
Dylan smiled. “You’ll see.”
Sawyer looked up at Kellan. “Ciaran was looking for you.”
“He found me,” he said, nodding toward the door to the back.
