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“I didn’t do it, not really. The house did, the land did, the magic did, I guess, but I asked for it because I knew this is what you needed to feel safe.”

It didn’t hurt that now Harden could get to the barns without going outside in the snow or the rain if he didn’t want to. There was access to the entire piece of land here. It was a comfortable space, too — room for the animals, for Harden, for their son to play for days if he had to. Not that Brayden would ever allow that, but it was an option.

No, if they were attacked to the point where they had to hide out underground for a few days, Brayden would rain fiery hell down on somebody. Lots of somebodies if he had to, and he had brothers to help him.

“I love it.” Harden turned and hugged him hard. “Thank you, my mate. This relieves my mind.”

“I’m glad.” He kissed Harden gently on the mouth. “From now on you’ll tell me if you’re worried or scared or unhappy, right?”

“I will; just as you will tell me if your feelings are hurt or if you’re worried that we’re not right together.”

“Well, I’m glad we got that settled, because I’m hungry.” Brayden grinned at Harden, who pinched his hip in response.

“I feel like I am always hungry right now. I will just go see what my mother has made for us.”

They joined hands again and headed out to the upstairs kitchen and Brayden felt better than he had only an hour ago. He was glad he’d talked to his mother-in-law and also glad he had taken her advice.

This whole fated mates thing was harder than it looked.

Chapter

Seventeen

As it happened it was nearly two full moon cycles before they had their party.

So many things had needed to be taken care of. The bwostfal had had many babies and there was much improvement to the land Sebastian wanted to make for them. Harden was happy to do it all, and he had relaxed a great deal since nothing untoward had happened with Seren or any other attacks, for that matter.

But it was finally time to get their friends together and enjoy a night of revelry. His mother had insisted and she had already created a menu and been cooking all day long.

Harden put a hand over the bump on his belly because when he thought of his mother, his son’s happy little song intensified. He already loved his grandmother so much. The bump was incredibly noticeable now, even with his clothes on, but Harden didn’t mind. He felt physically much better than he had. Tyr assured him that it would get worse soon, but right now he felt good.

He dressed in one of his better tunics, one with ysidri embroidered on the hem, and a pair of easy pants that would not squish his son. Then he did his hair, brushing it out, tying it into a dozen plaits, all finished with beads and bells.

This wasn’t a fancy party, but sometimes it was nice to do his hair. It made things more special.

He looked out the window, smiling at the amazing late summer decorations that Brayden had arranged. There were streamers and long tables set out, games and places for the children to play, along with tossing games for the adults. It was going to be quite the festivity, and it made him smile just to see⁠—

Tilting his head, he frowned. What was that? There was a quickly moving cloud of dust on the path to his home.

He sent a gust of wind to dissipate the cloud and when it cleared, it appeared as if a caravan was heading towards them, a group with a strange covered cart of some sort.

He did not care for this.

He did not care for it at all.

Brayden, love. Something is wrong. Someone is coming.

He didn’t wait. He just ran down the stairs to the kitchen, where Mother was cooking.

“Where’s Brayden?”

Mother shrugged. “Up the mountain. I believe he was going to get some sort of thing that only could be acquired in the human world. I don’t know what it was.”

“All right, well, you need to get downstairs. Someone is coming, many someones. I don’t like it.”

She arched an eyebrow and peered out the window. “Well, then we should go see who it is and inform them that they don’t belong here.”

He wasn’t sure that this was going to work that way. In fact, every instinct he had told him to go run as fast as he could and take the ysidri with him.