Page 36 of The Broken Wolf's Redemption

“It’s good to see you again,” Seren said to Waverly’s hair since she’d buried her head into her neck. “It’s good to see you too, Briar May.” She nodded at Castor, who was on the couch with a napping Sadie on his shoulder. “The barely passable mate.”

Rome nearly choked on his own saliva when Castor shot a suspicious look his way.

Seren smiled innocently. “So I’ve heard.”

“He did kidnap my sister,” Rome said in his defense.

Briar May gave him a furious hands-on-hips pose. “Are you kidding me? That was because…” She cut herself off, seeing Waverly perk up in interest. “That was because of incidents which are in the past now. Everyone is happy. Well, we are. Yes, Castor kidnapped me to pay a debt, but he fell in love instead.”

“I can think of few worse things,” Rome muttered under his breath.

Seren grinned evilly. She deftly maneuvered Waverly onto her back. She had her shiny, gorgeous pink hair done in long braids. Waverly immediately grabbed them, but didn’t shout anything about riding her like a horse.

Christ, Rome would like to ride Seren like a horse.

Mount her like a stallion, at least. She could do the riding.

“Does anyone want a drink?” There. He could be nice when he wanted to be. He could be a good host. “That unholy terror you call a daughter was screaming up enough of a storm all afternoon that you should both be parched on her behalf.”

“Brother, dearest, I love you, but you’re truly horrible.” Briar May’s lips twitched anyway. She shared a look with Castor that probably begged him not to kill Rome.

Whatever. They were the ones who had come and intruded on his space.

“I want chocolate milk!” Waverly called from Seren’s back.

“Regular milk is fine,” he corrected.

She scowled at him. The sugar. Lord, it was in everything. He refused to let Waverly’s teeth rot out by age fucking seven.

“What would you like, Seren?”

“Water is fine.”

“For me too,” Briar May said. “If you have tonic water, Castor would love that.”

“Tonic water?” Rome gaped at him. “What kind of house do you think I’m operating?”

“Your sister was just trying to get your goat. She’s a wise woman with a good enough sense of humor and decency to put up with men like us.” He patted Sadie’s back. The little beast who never stopped crying and letting her rage at her doting, loving parents be known, had done them all a miracle and finally passed out.

Rome shuddered at the thought of any small child coming near him. If Waverly had been a newborn when he’d had to take her, he didn’t know what he would have done. It wasn’t the diapers and the spit up that got him. It was that horrible howling. His sister excused it as teething, but with Sadie, it was always something. She seemed like an old soul crammed into a baby’s body and there was no end to her impotent rage and the unjustness of only being able to toddle about in her chubby little body.

Fine, maybe she was a little cute, but she was a terror.

“What do you really want, Castor? Apple juice?”

“Do you have apple juice?” The bastard didn’t seem the least bit put off.

He was so happy, smiling sickeningly at Briar May half the time, the other half the time walking around like a contented fool with stars in his eyes over the little bundle he’d had a hand in creating, shocking given that Sadie was about as approachable as a bin full of metal scraps.

“I don’t,” Rome growled. “It’s also entirely sugar. If you want an apple, eat an apple. The organic kind because the others are full of pesticides.”

“Aww, you do care.”

Briar May walked over and patted Rome’s arm. He nearly showed his sister his teeth, but it was Briar May, and Briar May didn’t get growls from him, even when she’d earned them. There were twelve of them and twins between him, Kieran, Prairie Rose, and Briar May, but he detested Atlas and Axel on the merit of their being completely obnoxious little parasites, but the oldest four of them got along just fine. He’d defend his family with his life, but the rest of his siblings? There were so many that after a while he just started ignoring them.

“Water it is, then,” he grumbled.

“Let me help you,” Briar May offered.

---