Page 6 of The Platinum Dragon's Courageous Mate

Kaden blinked and waved.

“He’s not really talking too much, a lot of “Papa” and “Dada”, but he’s still…mentally, he does great, and he can say, “Lockie.”

“Lockie Lockie Lockie!” Kaden crowed, so proud of himself.

“Can we come in? It’s just the two of us?”

Kieran backed up a little bit, waving them in. “Sure, I guess, yeah.”

Micah was sitting on the floor in a little purple outfit, playing with one of the activity toys that he’d brought in from outside. Kaden’s face lit up, and he wiggled madly to get down, get to Micah.

All right, that was what he wanted to see. The babies interacting at least a little bit.

Micah watched Kaden with the same wide-eyed stare Kieran was looking at him with, but he didn’t look scared. He looked interested, maybe a little intimidated, but… Lachlan put Kaden down on the floor and told him, “Be good now. Micah’s not used to people.”

Kaden scooted over rather than getting up to walk and leaned into Micah’s space but not close enough to be weird. “Babb.”

“Yep it’s another baby just like you.” Lachlin gave Kieran an encouraging smile, like “See? Easy.”

Micah stared, tilted his head, then reached out, making grabby hands, and Kaden took his hand and squeezed it, then lunged over and hugged Micah close. “Babb!”

Micah looked startled, and then he grabbed Kaden back, holding on tight. Amazing little sparkles began to pour from the little dragon, glittering bits of purple and green.

“Oh my gosh,” Kieran whispered, “Look at that! He’s making magic!”

Lachlan nodded, “That’s amazing.”

“It is.” Kieran began to cry, tears streaming down his face, a look of wonder in his eyes. “Look at all of that.”

Kaden, who dealt with Logan’s twins, both sets, along with Samuel’s children, was remarkably copacetic with this whole thing.

Mari and Ari, who were Lachlan’s dearest friends in the world — just ask both of them, and they would tell you — both blew fire like their father, while the twin boys were super easygoing. One made plants grow; the other spoke to animals. Then Grant could teleport at will, and little Gwenyth could create clouds in whatever color she wanted. No one knew what good that was, but she was a happy little bee, and no one minded.

So there was a lot of magic in Kaden’s life. He just accepted it all.

In fact, he was gathering up the sparkles and throwing them in the air and cheering. Every time he clapped, a little spark flew.

“Is he going to set something on fire?”

“Not if we can help it.” He winked at Kieran. “Honestly he’s pretty good about it. He just likes to make little bits and pieces. Nothing that would set the floor on fire or immolate himself.”

“Oh good.” Kieran said it a little faintly, staring at the two babies as they played, but nothing did start smoldering, so that was a good sign. “Thank you for this. I see now that what he’s been missing is other babies and children, who can show him how he needs to develop.”

“Hey, it’s not that bad but it would be great if you came down and met some of the other kids at some point.” When Kaden stiffened under his arm, he squeezed a little. “And until you’re ready to do that I can bring them up here, one or two at a time.”

Kieran let out a big gust of air. “No, I really need to give him the full experience. We won’t come down today. I can’t promise we’ll leave the house any time soon.”

“Oh my sweet, there are times that I don’t leave the house for weeks at a time.”

He chose his battles these days, and there were people that he trusted immensely, like Bryant and Lars and Lars’ brother Logan and his mate. He loved going to their houses and just hanging out and being friends, but sometimes a call for guardianship would leave him mentally and physically exhausted for weeks, and he would have to recharge.

“You’re sure it’s not a giant imposition?”

“I’m absolutely sure, although I can’t guarantee that this one’s omega dad won’t be up here trying to sneak in and meet you early.” Lars could be stubborn and he was a force of nature.

Kieran grinned “If he’s as magical as this one, that shouldn’t be too much of a hardship.”

“You’ll love him. I promise everyone does. He’s charming, he’s funny, and he rarely takes no for an answer.”