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Uriel was a jerk, but Bruiser was better than that. He drew a deep breath for patience and said, “I’m ordering food for delivery. You want some?”

The mage narrowed his eyes. “I don’t need it.”

“Yeah? And what are you going to eat?”

Uriel glanced at the travel case on his broom, but even Bruiser knew he couldn’t be carrying much; certainly not food for four entire days. Was he just going to stew in the corner while Bruiser ate? That would make Bruiser feel like an asshole, and he wasn’t about to be an asshole to someone in front of their kid.

The mage worked his jaw. Was he... going to agree?

“Their special today is garlic bread and pasta with meatballs,” Bruiser said. “You can even add extra servings of meatballs. They have chicken tortilla soup and mushroom soup, and brownies with vanilla ice cream.”

Uriel’s jaw ticked. He stared at the other corner of the cabin, looking pissed.

Well, the rental cabin had a fridge if there were leftovers, and Bruiser was looking forward to being a generous, passive-aggressive sort of asshole. So he threw a few more things on his shopping cart, and paid for that too.

“I’ve placed an order,” Bruiser said. “It’ll be there in an hour. Best start packing up if you don’t want to miss out.”

Uriel threw him a mocking look. “I don’t take an hour to pack and move.”

“Oh yeah? Prove it.”

The mage rolled his eyes and continued to feed his baby. Bruiser went around and checked the windows, listening to everything that wasn’t the baby’s suckling noises.

The thing about stretching out his hearing to catch possible intruders, was that he also made himself sensitive to Uriel’s breathing, and the thumping of his heart.

That was way more than what Bruiser wanted.

He wrinkled his nose and pulled out his phone, checking his alpha friends’ chat, and the team chat from the fire station. Come to think of it, there was nothing he could do here. His downtime involved working out. When he wasn’t firefighting, he was going on rescue missions with his friends.

Standing around without anything that needed his attention... He felt adrift.

Bruiser gritted his teeth. I should just head to the cabin and spend my time there.

And when he got there, what was he going to do?

Damn it. He hated this mission already.

Before Bruiser could do something rash, Uriel began to move. He tied a sling over his shoulder and under the bump of his baby, and collapsed the playpen on the floor.

To Bruiser’s surprise, the mage managed to fit everything into the small travel case on his broom. It took him fifteen minutes.

“We’re done,” Uriel said calmly, one eyebrow raised in challenge. “Where’s the cabin?”

“Three miles north. I’ll fly, and you can follow.” Bruiser double-checked the address on the map. Then he stepped out of the cabin and began to strip.

Uriel made a strangled sound.

“What, you want to compare dick sizes?” Bruiser asked.

The mage scowled. “You wish.”

He locked up the cabin and undid whatever enchantments he’d placed on it. When Bruiser shifted into a dragon and took off, Uriel followed on his broom.

It didn’t take long for them to reach the new cabin. Unlike the previous one, this had been done up nice—new roof, clean windows, rocking chairs on the front porch.

Bruiser landed and shifted back into a human, pulling his clothes back on. He unlocked the door with his access code and stepped in, flicking the lights on.

Ah, electricity.