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“Long story, but basically he was an orphan with an abusive gaslighting father.”

Brayden winced. “Damn. That sucks.”

“It sure does. At least it did for him. He’s safe now and I won’t let anything hurt him.”

He felt the same way about Harden. He understood the determination in Zeke’s voice. There was no way he could let somebody harm his mate. He knew Harden could take care of himself in most situations and his bwostfol would take care of him too. The ciucui, especially, were incredible guard animals, but those ysidri were not to be messed with and, hell, the larparcas could kick like mules.

He wondered if they had anything like mules here on Lunastra.

Maybe not. It seemed as though they were way more invested in letting nature be nature here and not forcing animals to be together who shouldn’t be. Then again given the opportunity and no other horses about, a horse would breed a donkey so maybe that was natural.

“Where did you go?”

“Mules. It’s a long story.”

Zeke snorted and held up a board where one edge had been filed down into a beautiful, smooth, beveled edge. “How’s this? I was thinking about carving some vines into it in the middle but I wanted to get everything shaped and have you look at it first.”

“Damn, man. You’re amazing. Seriously. Go for it.” He was a little in awe. He was going to have to practice hard to get that far along.

Zeke beamed, obviously pleased. “I can teach you some tricks if you want. It doesn’t take long to learn once you’ve got the basics with a chisel.”

“Love that. Seriously.” He could see being friends with Zeke. Brayden was someone who had a difficult time making friends. He’d had his brothers growing up, and later in life they’d had Myk and his brothers, but they’d only seen them maybe every decade. This was different. This was a community that he could be in and Zeke was someone he could see regularly, have an ale with maybe, or come and sit in the workshop and talk while they worked.

A novel feeling, and warmth spread through his chest, making him red along his sternum. He’d heard all about chosen family in the audiobooks he would listen to while he and his brothers were on the road, but if this was what it felt like, it was so much better than what he’d read about.

Soon he glanced up and noticed that the day was fading. “I’ve been up here all day. Someone’s going to be angry at me.”

“Do you want something to take home for your supper?”

“Maybe?” Maybe he should just head down the mountain and offer to take Harden to the tavern.

Brother?

His head tilted. Sloan.

That was unexpected.

Harden is here having supper with us. I thought you’d like to know.

Is he all right? Is he ill?

I think he was more worried. I think he wanted to come talk to Tyr about something. But maybe you should come on down and have dinner with us.

Brayden glanced at Zeke. “Sorry, I think I need to go have dinner with my mate. He’s at Tyr and Sloan’s house.”

Zeke gave him a thumbs up. “I bet he had some questions just like you did.”

“It’s my thought, too, but I’m hoping he’s not feeling neglected.”

“Brayden, you said yourself the two of you hadn’t come up for air in days. I bet he’s just checking in to make sure there’s nothing wrong with him, but it’s not unusual to be that way. He’s been around a long time, and he’s never felt this way about someone, right?”

“That’s what he tells me, and I trust him.” He reached out and grabbed his light jacket. He would need it once he flew down there when he and Harden walked home together. “Is it all right if I leave the woodworking projects here?”

“Of course! Please, come up whenever you can, and maybe we could meet at the tavern and play cards. I would love to play rummy with someone.”

“Sounds amazing.” He wasn’t joking either. He loved rummy. He also liked poker and it was hard to teach people here. Maybe he could convince Zeke that they should get a dart board and play darts. “Then I’m gonna be off unless you need me to clean anything up.”

“No need. I’ll clean up anything we need to before I go back to the house.” After he shook hands with Zeke, which was more like gripping each other’s arms next to the elbow and doing a man hug, he went outside, and Brayden bundled all his clothes up together and took off to the sky.