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Harden came out of the stall with his tools and closed the gate behind them. “Really? What sorts of things?”

Brayden laughed a little bit because he hoped Harden liked what he was doing and didn’t hate it instead. “Working with the house to make space for a few things for us.”

“Oh, that sounds wonderful.” Harden kept their hands linked as they walked. Then he pulled Brayden to a stop, so where they were looking at each other again. “I’m so sorry if I hurt your feelings. I’ll try not to do it again.”

“I imagine we’re both going to do it more than once over the years. I just— I was asking your mother about doing something to maybe break you out of these doldrums, and she told me just to come talk to you. It would be so much better if I did. She was right.”

“But what did you want to do to break me out of my doldrums? I am curious.” Now he got a bright smile, one that he loved to see on Harden’s face.

“I was thinking a little party, nothing big, just a little get-together here with my brothers, maybe Samuel and Justin, Sebastian.”

He didn’t hold his breath, but he wanted to.

Harden, though, smiled wide. “That sounds lovely, but don’t forget Cade and Poe. We mustn’t leave them out. It would hurt their feelings very much.”

There was his mate. He loved to see that focus in him again.

“No, of course. Tyr and Sloane, Cade and Poe, all of the children. I’m sure your mother would come up with something for the babies to do for games or crafts.”

Harden rolled his eyes. “My mother would rise to that challenge like a phoenix from the ashes of a terrible forest fire.”

That surprised a laugh out of Brayden, because it was so dramatic and Harden had actually done the hands with it, holding them out in front of him like someone from a video game, railing at the gods. Fucking hilarious.

“Well, there. I can help with the food and I bet Sebby would come down and do it, too. You know how much he loves to pretend like he can cook.” Actually, Sebby was a pretty decent cook. He just did simple stuff. He’d been taught how to make brown bread, meat stews, and eggs, that sort of thing.

“Tyr will bring things too, and you, Cade, and your brothers will buy things from town.” Harden reached out to rub a thumb over his cheekbone, then over his lips. “You honor me well. I’m sorry if I’ve been distant.”

“I just need us to talk about it when we get this way, okay? I’m going to take your mom’s advice from now on and just come to you, but I also need you to come to me if you’re feeling alone or need to be alone for a little while and not getting it.”

Harden studied him then nodded easily. “Fair enough. Now what is it you wanted to show me?” Harden took his hand again.

“I’ve been working with the house. Poe and Sloan both told me that Cade and Tyr’s houses grew to accommodate their needs as well as what was already there.” He tugged Harden along with him while he talked, because he didn’t want to lose this good mood that Harden was in. He knew hormones could make it change rather dramatically in a matter of seconds.

“Yes. Cade’s house grew down into the roots of the trees, while Tyr’s expanded both up and down.”

“Right. I thought about what I wanted first, and it wasn’t space for me. There’s plenty of that. We spend all our time together, even in the bedroom, the kitchen, or the living area. What I want is safety. If our boy and our ysidri are going to be so special, then we needed areas under the house that could easily keep us safe should there be some sort of an attack.” Brayden hoped that made sense. He also hoped it didn’t make Harden sad.

Harden tightened his fingers around Brayden’s hand. “It does make sense, although it also does make me sad to think that it’s necessary. The old archives that Cade’s father maintains talk of a time when it was dangerous, but it was long before my lifetime since that happened.”

“And it may be that we don’t have to worry about it. It may be that it doesn’t come to pass.” He didn’t want to scare Harden.

“But if it does, sadly, we have to protect them. I understand.” Harden was beginning to droop, and sadness and regret were seeping through their bond. “I was so excited when Seren was born, and I saw her. It was the same for our son, but what if I have doomed him to a life of hiding and running, being hunted?”

“Baby, we haven’t doomed anybody to anything, not Seren and not our son. We’re going to figure this out and they’re going to have long, joyful lives.” He believed that one-hundred percent, and he pushed his feeling through their bond, sending it into Harden’s body through their joined hands. Now he knew what the crux of the matter was — why Harden was avoiding him, why he was spending so much time in the barns. “Seriously, come on, and let me show you. I think you’re actually going to be impressed and it’s not sad to look at.”

He dragged Harden with him, and by the time they made it to the gently sloping ramp that now led to their lower level, Harden was giggling at him because Brayden was sort of dancing him along. Harden’s mom had seen them, but she ignored them completely, making whatever it was she was making at the stove, stirring intently even as her shoulders shook with laughter.

They made their way together through a tiny maze of twisting hallways that would be easy to defend because they doubled back on themselves. The area then opened up into a large cavern where he knew a warren of rooms was going to be building itself on either side.

Harden’s breath caught, and he stared wide-eyed. “Look at all of this.”

“I know, it’s amazing, isn’t it? The best part is that we now have an underground tunnel that leads out to the barns.”

Harden turned to him, blinking, shaking his head as if he couldn’t quite understand what Brayden was saying. “A tunnel to the barns.”

“Yeah, that way, if we need to get through and get to Seren and all of the other bwostfal, then we have a way. And that little twisty and turny hallway is not the only way to get down here so we could come down in dragon form as well.”

Mouth hanging open, Harden just stared at him for the longest moments. He threw his arms around Brayden and hugged him. “This is amazing. Look what you did!”