Page 120 of Labor of Love

“No, we needed to get it out in the open because Laney was worried about how it would be taken once everyone learned that he carried a piece of the shadow line in him,” Marcus said. “Now he knows for certain that he’s among his own people.”

Truett’s finger beneath his chin was a surprise, but Laney raised his gaze to meet those green-gray glowing ones, to see Truett watching him with a tender look that was all caring and even a bit of awe.

“Are you sure the goddess didn’t send you to us straight from the heart of the moon?” Truett asked.

“If she did, she sure saw to it that I hit a few bumpy spots along the way,” Laney explained, hand almost instinctively falling to his belly.

“Laney is with child,” Marcus explained. “When he revealed his bloodline, he was taken into the city and abandoned. The so-called father denied the child and turned his back on him.”

“I should have told him when we met,” Laney said. “But I never used my abilities after that day I told you about. I just let myself get so caught up in the fact that someone wanted me after I’d been alone and wandering place to place for months that I went with it without thinking about the consequences.”

The last thing, the very, very last thing Laney expected was for Truett’s eyes to light up and shimmer like a meter shower,sparks dancing in them that left Laney a bit off kilter and lost like he was starting to drown in them.

“Are you saying that there will be a little one here in our home, joining us whenever we’re with Laney?” Truett asked, aura brightening even more as a wave of joy and anticipation started pulsing from him.

“In a little over six months,” Laney promised.

“I’m sorry the road that brought you to us was rough and filled with people who couldn’t appreciate you,” Truett said. “But you have just made this gargoyle extremely happy. There has not been a little one in our home for a very long time.”

“Ohh, how many children do you have?” Laney asked, turning to look back at Marcus, who wore a bemused expression on his face. “Are they among the family living here?”

The low bark Marcus let out sounded pained, while Truett let out a rumbling sigh.

“We’ve not experienced the honor of parenthood yet,” Marcus explained.

“I-I’m sorry,” Laney stammered.

“That’s why you being here is such a gift,” Truett said. “It’s something we’ve longed for. Now, in a little way at least, fate is allowing us a taste of what it might be like and a reason to keep hope alive.”

“For as long as I am wanted and needed her, I would be happy to remain and watch my little one grow up the way I did, surrounded by fiercely beautiful protectors who would teach as well as nurture their adventurous spirit,” Laney said.

Within moments he found himself engulfed in a warm, gentle hug, Truett at his front, Marcus at his back, with him nestled between those massive walls of muscle like he’d been tucked into a silk cocoon.

“Let me go put your clothes in the dryer,” Marcus said as his hands fell away from Laney’s body. “Then we can head out to the garden, unless you’d like to see your room before we fly?”

“If I so much as look at a bed I’ll be temped to fall in it,” Laney admitted. “And I would really like to fly before I sleep.”

“On your wings, with one of us?” Marcus asked.

“You have wings?” Truett blurted, turning him a little and frowning because nothing showed beneath the hoodie.

“I do and a much smaller form, which I would very much like to take so I could ride with you both tonight,” Laney explained.

“I would love that,” Truett breathed.

“Why don’t you take Laney to the courtyard and help him with the bindings on his wings while I take care of his laundry and our dishes,” Marcus suggested.

“It would be my pleasure,” Truett said, pushing the chairs back in after they’d stood.

They passed through the biggest living room Laney had ever seen before heading out massive stained glass French doors, to a garden space that smelled of night blooming jasmine and the lingering hint of rain.

“Ohhh, this is delightful,” Laney murmured, sucking in a deep breath before pulling the sweatshirt and t-shirt off together, desperate to feel the night air on his skin.

The only thing preventing full emersion in the experience was the cloth wrapped over his shoulders and around his torso, keeping his wings flat against his back.

“This can’t be comfortable,” Truett said as he moved around him, looking for the right place to begin unraveling. “It’s pressing into your skin. Why didn’t you have Marcus removed this for you sooner?”

“I’d only just told him about them as we were pulling up.”

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