Page 10 of The Platinum Dragon's Courageous Mate

He didn’t even know what love meant at that point. He had Micah now, and he knew what love was.

“Oh, that’s terrible. Absolutely awful.” Lars reached out and patted Kieran’s shoulder. “I’m so sorry.”

“I…I’m not.” He lifted his chin, refusing to be ashamed. “I have Micah. He’s worth going through anything.”

Lachlan nodded, and he reached out, daring to twine their fingers together.

Smiling, Lachlan squeezed his hand gently. “I hate the circumstances, but I’m glad you and Micah are here. And look how happy he seems today.”

The babies were cuddled together, both of them dozing now. Lars stood and covered them with a blanket, his smile adoring and warm.

Kieran had a moment of wistful fondness. He felt a part of something for a moment, and he thought of what a good dad Lachlan would be, how he and Lachlan could be like Bryant and Lars, and how amazing it would be.

But it wasn’t his to have.

“I don’t suppose you like to play cards?” Bryant asked, and Lachlan grinned at him.

He and Lachlan played cards together for hours at a time.

“Yes. Yes, I do.” Kieran smiled. “Do we need to get some drinks and snacks?”

Lars sprang to his feet. “I’ll help. Come to the kitchen with me. I brought a few things and we can make some yummy drinks.”

He glanced at Lachlan, who nodded. “We’ll watch the wee ones.”

He followed Lars, half expecting to get lectured, but instead he got a warm, happy smile. “I love snacks. I think they’re so important, and I like to make weird drinks, not alcoholicnecessarily because not everybody loves that, but just weird mixes of juice and ice and sodas and fizzy things.”

Lars chattered on pulling out glasses and plates.

“Wh—what are your favorites?”

Lars grinned. “Anything with pineapple. Anything at all. I like strawberries too, but pineapple is my absolute favorite. What about you?”

His eyes went wide, and he blinked. “Me?”

“Yes. What do you like?” Lars beamed at him, getting out an ice bucket.

“I like…I used to love lemonade. I would drink it all summer long.” In fact, all of the sudden, he really missed the sweet silkiness of lemonade over ice.

“Well, we’ll have to make some soon! I love pineapple lemonade. We can all add what we want to it.”

“There’s pineapple lemonade? Really?” He forgot to be nervous. “Are you sure?”

That was wild and a wonderful thought.

“Yep. I love it. I think pineapple has enough sugar that you don’t have to add as much to the lemonade.” Lars waved the ice bucket. “Can you fill this?”

“Of course. So, did you grow up here?”

“I did. This has always been our home. Logan has done a lot to make it a wonderful place to live.”

“He really sounds like a great guardian.” He didn’t have the best experiences with guardians. Or wings. Or alphas.

“I think so. Of course, he’s my brother, so I sort of love him…” Lars shot him a wink. “Are you an only child? Do you have a family who are worried about you?”

“I don’t.” His shoulders slumped. “It never bothered me before I hooked up with the asshole and then had nowhere to go once I was pregnant. Who does that? Who uses someone else’s name?”

“Someone who has something to hide? Someone who’s a prick? We never worry about it, because we’d never do it.”