Page 77 of The Platinum Dragon's Courageous Mate

He watched Lachlan and Micah greeting other families.

His mate seemed so happy, introducing his son around, making sure everybody met little Micah. It was a huge honor for Lachlan, and of course Micah was over the moon, being with his papa.

“It’s amazing to me how many people are here.”

Samuel nodded. “It’s a nice, solid wing. It has to be, to need six guardians, right? We have the water, and we have a good, workable system. It’s lovely. I see why my sister loved it here.”

Kieran knew that Samuel’s sister, who was actually Grant’s mother, had been married to Samuel’s mate’s brother’s sister — because that wasn’t confusing.

They’d had a baby, and then they had both died when Grant was very young.

“I’m sorry about your sister.”

Samuel nodded. “So am I, but I’m not sorry I met Jake. He’s meant to be mine, and I can’t imagine not having Grant or the others. They’re all the loves of my life.”

“I’m so happy to hear that.” Kieran perused the little menu at the cider stand. “Oh, white chocolate decaf hot chocolate…”

“Yummy, huh? So that or cider?”

“I’ll get the cider. It has cinnamon.”

“Is that your thing? Cinnamon?”

Kieran nodded even as Samuel chuckled at him. “I’ve got cinnamon candies in my pocket. It’s that bad.”

“Impressive.” Samuel’s wink was knowing. “Cravings are wild things, and what you want is the only thing that works, right?”

“Yeah, this time though, it’s been almost fun.” He ordered three ciders, and also an apple juice for Micah before continuing. “With Micah, I didn’t have a partner, and now I have Lachlan to make fetch and carry. He makes cinnamon toast and cinnamon bread and cinnamon anything I want.”

“I understand. That’s like the best part.” Samuel winked over at him, playful as anything. “We have to make them feel useful.”

“True. I mean, Alban would make me anything I want. Anything she wants.” Kieran put his hand on his belly. “But it makes him so happy to provide, and it makes me feel so good to know he cares.”

“Yeah, I hear you, trust me. From what Jake tells me, it makes them feel pretty good to be able to provide. Back in the olden days, that was their whole job, right? To provide for omegas when they were hidden away in caves, wrapped around their nests. Now it’s not quite so easy for them to get what they are looking for.”

The lady at the coffee cart introduced herself again as Lulu, and they chatted for a few minutes. Then they took their drinks and caught up with Lachlan and Micah, who were now strolling with Jake and Grant, Gwyneth, and Gerri.

“Oh my goodness, so cute!” He couldn’t help but exclaim over their costumes. They had gone to the superhero theme and Grant was Iron Man, Gwyneth was Spider-Gwen, and baby Gerri was the Black Widow. Adorable.

So now he could see how Grant could possibly be problematic if he was trying to be a superhero while he was dressed up as Iron Man. That could cause a great deal of broken stuff.

“We gets candy,” Gwyneth told him, her little face incredibly serious.

“I see that.” He handed off a drink to Lachlan and had Samuel hold his other one while he poured Micah’s apple juice into a sippy cup. “Who’s our next victim?”

“Come on. You should totally meet the Jaramillo family.”

The Jaramillos were a lovely couple with two moms and a gaggle of children who ranged in age from maybe sixteen down to six. The children were handing out candy while the little ones roamed around, going back and forth between their own car and everyone else’s with their pillowcases full of candy.

They didn’t seem to have chosen a theme. The moms were both dressed as witches and all the kids had everything from a simple painted face on one of the teenagers that he thought was supposed to be something anime to a very well realized daisy.

Somewhere along the way they lost Samuel, but they gained Lars and his children. Kieran had never felt more a part of a community than he did right at this moment.

By the time he had met everyone and they had collected enough candy to feed Micah for at least a year, Kieran was starving. So he linked arms with Lachlan, Wiver dancing at their feet, and gazed up at Lach adoringly. “They said there was food inside the school.”

“That’s what they tell me. I think there’s going to be a fry bread. You know what they can do with that? They can sprinkle it with cinnamon and sugar.”

His eyes widened as his stomach rumbled. Lachlan laughed at him, squeezing his arm, still lugging around Micah and all of their gear. The man was like a pack mule. It was fabulous.